Page 66 of Night's Fall
“You’re in bed,” he noted.
“Just finishing one last 3D of a design beforeIcall it a night,”Itold him.
“I won’t keep you,Ijust wanted to say goodnight.”
I wanted him to keep me.
To that end,Iasked, “How’dyour day go?”
“Darling, you need to sleep,” he replied.
“Are you tired?”Iinquired.
“Aren’t you?”
I was, but with him on display,Ialso was not.
“I’m more curious about what you’re doing onThoth, if you want to tell me.”
“You can know anything about me,Laura.”
Totally.
This male was not for real.
“Then tell me, how’d your day go?”Iurged.
He gave me whatIwished for, telling me about the state-of-the-art loading dock one of his construction companies was in the midst of building, a major coup for the aging satellite.
Tech had advanced so much, and so many other space stations had been built since, the beings that lived onThothwere experiencing lower tourism, faltering trade and the resultant heightening of the cost of living, which wasn’t awesome, considering there were a lot of beings out of work.
If newer ships found it easier to dock and offload, more supplies and materials could be brought in, upgrades could be done.ButsinceAlekseiwas already exclusively using labor sourced from those who lived there, he was already infusing much-needed capital into the local economy.
There were issues, however, because a rival construction company saw the merits of having the offloading permits, and they were playing games using the local council, which was stalling construction.
Not to mention, theSpaceJunkies, an outspoken protest group whose mission it was to dismantle all of what they called “space debris.”Thisincluded industrial, botanical and resort stations, but also unmanned tech and energy satellites, which were essential to planetary and off-planet infrastructure and the mustering and storing of solar power to fuel it.
They were working hard to stymie the progress ofAleksi’sconstruction of the docks, sayingThothwas outdated and therefore should be decommissioned and demolished.
“The locals aren’t happy about theJunkiesflying in and sharing loudly their home should be struck, returned to the planet and melted for reuse.It’snot a good situation, and the council isn’t helping by waffling between bribes from my rivals, what it would mean if they pissed me off, and pressure fromJunkiesupporters,” he said.
“It sounds like a mess,”Istated the obvious.
“Fortunately,I’mthe only one paying salaries, which have been halted because the work has been.Becauseof this, there’s an increasingly loud call for a general election to replace some of the council members.Theytend to enjoy their positions.We’recommitted to the project, but we can’t pay beings not to work, and it isn’t us that’s halting progress due to bureaucratical bullshit and implied demands to best the bribes my competitors are offering to delay the approval of permits.Thiskind of thing does get messy and protracted, but in the end, the beings hold the power.”
“Well,Ihope whenever that end might be doesn’t make those beings suffer any more than they already are.”
“Several of my meetings have been with union leaders,” he shared. “We’reforming a united front.I’mhoping by the timeIleave, enough members of the council will buckle, and they can be back at work beforeIstep on my ship.”
I hoped that too.
However…
“This is important,Aleksei,”Itold him something he knew. “Ifyou haven’t done all you need to do,Cat’sopening will survive.AndI’llbe withSirk, so you won’t have to worry about me.”
“I’ve never been certainIcould make it, darling.ButI’mdelighted you’ll understand ifIcan’t.”
“Of course.”
