Page 67 of The Heir
“Good, then have that added to the summary,” I said and felt a little triumphant.
For the first time during this summit, Linea added her voice to the mix. “Why not let the tourists sleep underground? You must have vacant apartments at the lowest level, don’t you? With all the apartments being built above ground now, surely something must be freed up for Indiana to create a hotel down there.” Linea looked to the other Motlanders. “If you were here as a tourist, wouldn’t you want to experience an authentic French experience of living underground?”
Several of them nodded. “That’s a great idea. I believe many Motlanders would be eager to visit and see France with their own eyes.”
Victor drummed his hands on the table. “That’s not a bad idea, but in that case, I believe we could run a hotel ourselves.”
“What? No. It was my idea,” Indiana protested.
Zola arched an eyebrow. “You’re hardly the first to suggest a place for visitors to stay.”
Indiana and his father were great businessmen, and I could tell it irked him to miss out on a potential source of income.
“I really think a break is overdue,” Holly interjected. “Could we do a short bathroom break?”
When people began mingling around, Linea pulled me to the side.
“Is something wrong?” I asked her.
“You’re not happy with the negotiations so I wanted to give you a small tip.”
“I’m listening.”
“The French think of the antiques from the outer zone as trash. They aren’t sentimental like Northlanders. I get the sense that they feel they should pay you to clean up their trash and that they’re laughing on the inside that you made it a point of negotiating.”
I bit my lip. “Why are you telling me this on the last day and not the first?”
“You can easily get them to agree to unlimited export of antiques without taxes and over the years that can become a lucrative business for the Northlands. I assume you’ll tax the money Indiana will make selling the old stuff.”
“Of course.”
“And about that request for a loan you denied the French when they wouldn’t meet your price for building materials? How about…” Linea pulled me further into the corner. “The French aren’t thinking big, yet. Culturally they are still in a mindset of survival. And the Motlanders don’t have a materialistic bone in their bodies, but you…”
“Yes?”
“Well, one thing the French have in spades is pride. You could play to that if instead of giving the French a loan, you could offer to buy their assistance. Their scientists are experts at cleaning lands and as far as I know, no one has laid claim to any of the less polluted areas down south. You Nmen are always complaining that you don’t have access to beaches. You could have beach resorts in Southern Europe.”
My neck stiffened. “Keep talking.”
“A large part of the world is wasteland because of pollution, but with the speed at which Europe is being cleaned…” She left the rest for me to figure out and my head was already spinning.
“But if we claimed that land, it could be several generations of work before anyone can use it. Why would we pay the price when we’ll never reap the rewards in our lifetimes?”
Linea blinked her eyes. “Isn’t that what great leaders do? They think ahead and make plans that will benefit their country long term. Wouldn’t it fill you with joy, knowing that future generations will have access to warm beaches that belong to the Empire of the Northlands?”
“Empire. Hmm… I like the sound of that.”
Linea smiled. “I figured that you would and I’m happy that you like the idea because the French are too proud to admit how desperate they are for the loan. You Northlanders are rich and if you help them finance the expansion of their own territory, it’s a win-win.”
“We’re already helping them with Explorers.”
“I know, because you are good people.”
Maybe I should have admitted that the deal with the Explorers wasn’t as pure as she might think. I suspected Aubri’s motives for running the academy had to do with her desire to be in a physical job where she could be the boss of strong men. My father had jumped on the idea because Freya had sold it to him as a perfect gift to our mother. Creating a troop of Nmen Explorers had made him look generous and altruistic, but most of all it had made my mother swoon because she loved him for making the world a better place.
“I need to talk to my sister, but this could definitely work.”
Two hours later we finished up the summit of 2467. The French no doubt felt that they’d scammed us Northlanders out of money. After all, we had asked to import what they considered trash and we had agreed to give them money to help us clean areas that they had no interest in anyway.
