Chapter 11

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

The world went dark and for a moment the three were in the endless blackness of the ether. Then Nick recreated a replica of the first Langar Foods lab near Woodstock, New York. Since his first attempts to form his own bedroom, he'd made great strides in building realistic worlds. To help him make an accurate portrayal of the lab, he combined his own memories, satellite photos of the plant, design information in private company networks he was able to break into, and footage from public sources.

They stood in a huge, well-lit room with a low roof. The walls, floors and ceiling were all white, and lit by regularly spaced, diffused lighting fixtures. Around the room were large transparent plastic vats, which held a viscous translucent liquid. A handful of men and women, dressed like surgeons in disposable paper garments, hair nets, and face masks, scurried around the facility, checking on vats and reading computer displays.

"Well, I have to admit this is kind of impressive," said Laura as she took in the view. "I taught myself the science but I've never bothered to look at a facility. It is bigger than I imagined."

"So how does this pile of kak turn out heaps of yummy chow?" asked Kobus, slipping a few more blueberries into his mouth.

"I'll show you." Nick shifted the world from the hangar into an old-fashioned industrial farm. They floated below a clear blue sky over an endless sea of corn stalks, which rustled slowly in a breeze. "Twentieth Century agriculture increased crop yields by introducing huge quantities of inputs. Water, pesticide, fertilizer, and so on."

"Yes, yes, we know. And eventually the water table receded, and fertilizer became more expensive, and the food supply was breaking down," interjected Laura impatiently.

"Yes," said Nick, slightly wounded at Laura's insouciance yet determined to impress her. He made a gesture with his hand, and one of the corn plants, complete with its tangled roots, lifted out of the ground to float alongside them. "Food production was so... inefficient. If you look at this corn, well, you have the roots, and the stalk, and the leaves, and the cob that holds the corn kernels. None of these are eaten, but they must be grown anyway."

"No, they're eaten. They're fed to animals," interrupted Laura.

Nick stifled an angry sigh at Laura's repeated interruptions and shifted the world to a cattle station, with hundreds of cows and bulls jammed muzzle to tail in a giant feedlot, and continued talking. "Yes, some of the waste material from agriculture was used to raise livestock. But if you think about how they grew meat, it was still an even worse waste of resources. For every steer ready for slaughter, you need bones, organs, a brain – a ton, literally, a ton, of wasted production that no one was going to eat."

"And there's always the ethical issues of animal mistreatment, ne," added Kobus, rubbing his furry chin with his bear's paw.

Laura gave him a scornful stare.

"What?" growled Kobus.

"Anyway," continued Nick, amplifying his voice slightly to regain his audience's attention. "You also have to consider that in order to grow a mature adult cow or steer, you have to grow the beast from newborn calf – from fetus, actually – to full-grown animal. That means you're supporting all those useless organs and bones for months or years before you finally get to harvest the meat. It took eight pounds of feed to make one pound of grown cow, and of that one pound less than half was usable meat, so you're really talking about almost twenty pounds of grain to make a one pound steak. So, in a way, you could say that for one person to get a steak dinner, twenty people had to miss lunch."

"If you feel this strongly, you must eat only vat food yourself," said Laura.

Nick paused and looked down. The private chefs his family employed to cook every meal certainly didn't use vat foods in their gourmet dishes. "I, uh, eat vat foods sometimes."

Laura laughed. "So while vat foods are good enough for the rest of the world, you deserve something better?"

"It's not like that."

"Yes it is. It really is. And I'm glad you realize it. So enough with the save the whales speech. Show us your food laboratory again."

Nick gave her a dirty look, but brought them back to the Langar Foods lab. "So, what my dad did – with my mom, although she doesn't like to take credit – is to figure out how to grow that corn kernel, or that steak, without needing the corn plant or the cow. Or the fields and feedlots, for that matter."

He continued proudly. "It's an almost perfect chemical process. For plants like corn, it cut costs by ninety percent. For meat the savings were about ninety-nine percent."

"Truly amazing," said Laura. "But, as I've said already, I know all this."

Kobus swallowed the last of his blueberries as he broke in. "I love this stuff, it's all so ongelooflik. Show us a vat!"

Nick placed them inside one of the large, plastic containers filled with a thick, translucent liquid.

"Disgusting," said Laura, taking a drag from her cigarette. Nick had adjusted the physical rules of his simulated world so that despite being suspended in a thick liquid, the three could talk without trouble. He hadn't foreseen that Laura would abuse the rules by smoking. He paused for a moment while he changed the physics, and Laura's cigarette was instantly extinguished, quickly becoming a soggy mess.

"Hey, I was smoking that!" she protested.

"Sorry, but this is a non-smoking facility," Nick grinned. Yet he was unnerved at how angry Laura appeared. Luckily, Kobus guffawed so loudly a blueberry came out of his nose, which eased the tension.

Nick continued explaining his family's business. "So, how this works is, you put all these proteins and sugars and vitamins into what we call a delivery medium, like the slurry in this tank. Then you put in a frame impregnated with stem cells, and add some heat, some other biological materials, and voilà, you have a nice juicy steak."

As he spoke, a curved plastic mold appeared in the vat. Quickly, red and white specs grew on the mold, and expanded and merged with each other until they had formed a perfectly shaped, nicely marbled, slab of meat. "In reality, this process takes about a day," concluded Nick.

Kobus nodded appraisingly. "As indrukwekkende as I hoped, bra."

Laura had been brooding intently during this part of Nick's tour, but now interjected, "Can we get out of this vat? I thought the point of all of this was to make our own company. I'm sure you don't want us to compete with your family business."

Nick shifted them to a luxurious conference room. They sat in comfortable chairs around a beautiful cherry wood table, modeled on the kitchen table in his family's apartment. The walls were padded with sound absorbent leather, and the floor was covered with a beautiful pattern of colored tiles. A gilded chandelier provided soft yellow light.

"Tell us about Langar's financials, ne," suggested Kobus. "Langar sells, what, twoe triljoen meals a year?"

"Yep, that's right," said Nick trying to hide the pride he felt. "Enough to feed two billion people a year. About a quarter of the food in the world."

"Probably half the food in the world if you don't count bugs and fungi," Laura said with a look of disgust.

"Insects and fungi are the lowest-end food," allowed Nick. "Langar's products cost a bit more. That's mostly because bugs can grow just about anywhere, but my parents' products must be shipped from factory to customer, and transportation costs money."

"Transport... ja, how many facilities do you have?" asked Kobus.

"This one in New York, one in Salinas, California, which ships a lot of its production to South America and Asia,. And then Portsmouth serves Eurasia and Africa," recited Nick.

"Only drie?" Asked Kobus, incredulously. "No wonder transport costs are so high!"

"My dad would rather keep production concentrated in a few large facilities he can easily monitor. But my mom is pushing him to open more factories, especially in Asia."

"Ja, I've heard Langar vermorsels any potential competitors before they can grow."

Nick paused. It was true that his father had used every means at his disposal, including some that were unethical, to prevent other labs from developing technology similar to Langar's. He donated so much to politicians that he could get the government to extend and enforce his patents however he wanted. And he even had leverage over foreign competitors – he could just threaten to cut off food shipments unless the local government shut down the offending entrepreneur. No regime was willing to suffer mass starvation in the hopes of developing a domestic food producer months or years in the future.

"My father is afraid that the technology is dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands."

"Of course it is. Still, even after transportation, the prices of Langar foods are so low." Laura pointed to the soggy cigarette she still held. "A steak doesn't cost much more than this."

"My parents set prices just a bit above costs. The company makes just a two percent profit pretax."

"You're practically giving them away," protested Laura derisively. "How did your family become one of the richest in the world if you're only making a two percent profit?"

"When you're selling twoe triljoen meals a year, twoe persent adds up pretty fast, ne" mused Kobus.

Nick never knew whether to be proud or ashamed of his family's wealth. His parents had taught him the ideals of selflessly serving society to make the world better. And in some ways, they had lived up to those ideals themselves. They had fallen short in many ways, too. His father had bought political influence and used it to crush all potential competitors, and his mother reveled in a life of fabulous wealth and isolation. "Yeah, when you add it all up, it makes us one of the most profitable companies in the world."

"Second most, right after Petro China," added Kobus.

"Yes, it's certainly not bad. How much does your family own?" Laura asked.

"My dad owns 40 percent, and my mom 39. Don't you guys already know all of this?"

"Ja no, it's a private company, so the financials are geheime," explained Kobus as he shifted in his chair. "We could probably get the information if we really wanted."

Laura stared up at the fine crystals hanging from the chandelier.

Nick filled the silence. "So, anyway, that's my family's company. As Laura pointed out, the question we're trying to answer is: what kind of company should we build?"

Laura turned her attention back to the conversation. "There's no need to discuss it."

She seemed to find reassurance in the blank expressions of Nick and Kobus. "Petro China is the most profitable company in the world. Even food is trumped by energy. Let's beat Petro China at its own game and make the biggest company in the world."

Nick gulped. Energy was a dirty business. He'd been expecting they'd form a high technology company.

Kobus stared in astonishment at Laura and asked "Are you fokking serious? Grootste company in the wêreld? And go up against the oil majors, with their private armies and government alliances?"

"First of all, Petro China is run by mere natural people," she answered defiantly. "Second of all, I've been building up an energy company for two years, so we won't be starting from scratch. I'll let you each buy a 24% stake; if you don't have enough cash now I'll give you an earn-in."

Kobus looked at Nick and looked back to Laura, before nodding his assent. "Well, I still think it's a fokking crazy plan. But why not?"

He extended his paw, palm downwards, to the center of the table.

Laura reached out and placed her hand on top of his. "Deal."

Nick hesitated for a moment. Laura and Kobus stared at him expectantly. Slowly, he extended his hand and placed it on top of Laura's. "OK, deal."


***

Willy walked into the briefing theater and announced "All right, kiddos. I hope you're ready to begin field training."

Sarah suppressed a groan. She was ready to finish preparation and begin her real job. Since the day Colonel Jaeger had taken over their physical drilling, she had felt herself becoming tougher and tougher. Jaeger's regimen emphasized nimbleness and endurance rather than strength, and Jaeger often used the rugged terrain of the ranch itself for conditioning. The run from the ranch across the stream to the wall and back, the course that had seemed so imposing on the first day of the competition, became their daily warm up. After weeks of climbing the mountain, fording the river, and racing through the surrounding scrubland, Sarah felt her already healthy body becoming firm and toned.

At the same time, her competence with the TacWave had grown to the point that she was fully confident in her ability to operate in the ether.

"More practice?" complained Michael. "Are we ever going to get out in the real world?"

"You'll be up against real opponents," explained Willy. "I'm just calling it training because the stakes are low and no one will get hurt."

Sarah looked over towards Michael and raised an eyebrow. He returned her glance. They both faced their first mission with a keen sense of anticipation mixed with trepidation.

Sarah asked: "What's our assignment?"

"I was afraid you'd never ask," responded Willy with his characteristic wink. "A group of three MindWave users, or Aeons, as they like to call themselves..." He paused. "I'm not sure if you know what an Aeon is, but this particular term—"

Sarah hadn't known what an Aeon was a moment ago, but thanks to her TacWave, she knew now. She recited the information she had just learned. "According to the Gnostic religious tradition, an Aeon is a semi-divine being that has emanated from the true God."

Michael furrowed his brow. "There's an interesting parallel, Willy. A MindWave gives its users intuitive access to almost unlimited knowledge. According to Gnosticism, intuitive knowledge is a sign of divinity, and the hallmark of an Aeon."

Willy stared at them for a moment, nonplussed. "I don't know why I bother asking you if you know a word's definition when you have a dictionary in your brain."

"It's not in my brain," retorted Michael. "I went online to find the information." After careful discussions with Dr. Lee, Willy had equipped Michael and Sarah with small external antennae that connected to their TacWaves to allow them to access computers wirelessly. Sarah's antenna was the chain of her crucifix necklace, which was linked to the single tiny data port of her TacWave by a super-thin optical cable that was invisible when mixed into her hair.

"Whatever," said Willy, waving his hand dismissively. He turned back to the holovision. "Anyway, let's get on with the briefing. Sparkwise Energy was founded two years ago by—"

"We know who the founders are." Interrupted Sarah.

"It's a private offshore company," protested Willy. "How do you know?"

Michael filled in. "They had to file company registrations with various authorities. Obviously they used a complex holding structure to hide their identities but it's pretty easy to follow the trail with our TacWaves."

"Are you sure it's legal for you to go prying into government registries like this?"

"I'm quite certain it's illegal. Should we stop?" asked Sarah.

Willy paused for a moment. "No, keep it up. This way we can finish briefings a lot faster." He looked at her sternly and added, "But don't get caught or I'll have to fill out a stack of reports this high." He raised his hand far above his head.

Sarah and Michael exchanged quick smiles.

Willy looked at them with uncertainty. "So... where do I need to fill you in?"

Michael began, "Well, we can see that they started with a relatively small capital base for an energy company two years ago, when only the original founder, Laura Sophia Mayer, was involved. Since then she's done some really smart trades and grown fast. The company has been buying up key pipelines and storage facilities within North America. With the new investments from Jakobus Van der Merwe and Vinicius Lal, the company looks set to grow fast."

Willy stared down at the tablet that held his notes, scanning the screen as if he were trying to catch up.

"By the way, do you know that the two newer cofounders got the stake money for Sparkwise Energy by illegally trading stocks and bonds using fake identities?" asked Sarah.

Willy looked embarrassed to be confronted with this information. "Really? I thought they just used their parents' money. Can you prove that?"

"Easy enough. But it will be hard to enforce the relevant laws and regulations against them, due to their choice of holding structures and jurisdictions," explained Michael.

"We'll notify the Treasury or the SEC or whatever—"

"Treasury," said Sarah.

"Great," Willy responded, sounding a little unsure of himself.

There was an uneasy break in the conversation.

"Anyway," Sarah picked up, "We know a lot about the company. What we don't know is what you want us to do about it."

"Michael, I want you to remotely surveil the original founder, Laura Mayer, over the ether. She's one of the first people to get the MindWave implant, and we believe she's the most proficient user. Our psych profile shows her intelligence is off the scale, but, well..." he paused, weighing his words. "After she first connected her MindWave to the internet, she had... psychotic episodes. She was institutionalized under court order, but her family used its money and influence to have her released after a month.

"All of her family members have died in various accidents since then, yet no one's been able to pin any murder charges on her."

Michael looked grim. "So, I'm up against a fellow orphan. But this one's an orphan by choice."

Sarah suppressed a shiver as she looked at the holographic image of Laura that Willy had projected into the room. The scarlet red hair and statuesque physique reminded her of the woman warrior she had fought with at Five Mile Creek.

"The psychological evaluation that was partially completed before her release from the institution suggested strong paranoid and narcissistic tendencies. She only trusts other MindWave users, and has become estranged from everyone else. Michael, don't make contact, and don't be seen. Just report on her activities."

Willy turned to Sarah. "And I want you to get close to one of the new investors. Vinicius Lal, he goes by the name 'Nick'." The holovision screen depicted a three dimensional bust of Nick.

"All right," said Sarah haltingly, trying to conceal her surprise. Every schoolchild knew that Langar Foods, the company founded by Nick's parents, had rescued the world from a horrible famine in the late 2020s. She'd exclusively eaten Lal foods since she could remember, even here at the ranch. Sarah had even lived half her life in an orphanage founded by the Lal family charity.

The bust of Nick displayed by the holovision was strikingly handsome, with long black hair, green eyes, and sculpted features. Even the unmistakable MindWave exhaust ports at the back of his skull didn't detract too much from his looks. Out of the corner

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net