Gale Force, page 7
“How is the SEW Solutions operation going on Sajave?” she asked.
“Smoothly,” I answered. Solar Electric Wind Solutions had an exclusive contract to provide electricity for all of Sajave. Not coincidentally, the company had been one of a few oligarchs who’d secretly bankrolled Jodane’s presidential run in violation of campaign laws.
The president governed by the political motto, “If a crime occurs and nobody gets caught, did a crime really occur?”
One hand washed the other. SEW Solutions had donated to Jodane’s campaign so the president reciprocated by awarding the company the lucrative Sajave energy contract. In further gratitude, SEW Solutions then granted Jodane’s drug-addicted prostitute daughter a seat on its board of directors, a position that came with an extremely generous stipend, a large percentage of which funneled into the president’s pocket.
With all the handwashing going on, how dirty could politics get?
“Both of their projects?” Jodane asked. In addition to its massive solar and wind farms, SEW Solutions operated a recycling center on Sajave.
“Both of them,” I replied and then admitted, “There have been a few small issues with the sand, but I’m confident it will be worked out.” The dunes resisted management. They covered areas they shouldn’t. Then dust devils blew and uncovered secrets better left buried.
Her eyes narrowed. “Geo-Tech should have the sand under control by now.”
“They’re trying.”
“Have them fix it immediately or get another company.”
“Right away,” I said, wondering at the urgency. By everyone’s accounts, the sand posed an annoyance, but it had always been an annoyance. People managed to work around it. Even SEW Solutions.
“Sit down!” She motioned.
I dropped onto the edge of a gilded antique club chair.
“Phase two is ready to launch,” Jodane said.
Now I got the urgency. “How soon?”
“Three months. MORE will break ground on the Sajave Sands Resort and Spa.” Members Only Real Estate developed exclusive residences and properties for the wealthy elite. They owned a five-star hotel on the moon, but this would be its first resort on another planet.
Political assistance with the construction of the resort had always been part of Jodane’s grand plan for Sajave since MORE had donated even more money than SEW Solutions, and, as it happened, Jodane’s daughter also sat on MORE’s board, earning another generous stipend.
Until now, the resort had been in the planning stages.
Oxygen, water, a temperate climate—once Sajave’s near-perfect conditions for human habitation had been discovered, the MORE Corp had recognized the huge investment potential. A brand-new resort world catering to the richest of the rich could be established. It would be like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, only grander, more luxurious, unique.
MORE had purchased access to the president, and, like any VIP customer, they expected to get their money’s worth. They’d gone to Jodane for assistance with their project, and she’d readily complied by fast-tracking their permits and ramping up colonization.
Phase I laid the groundwork. The government enticed ordinary folk to Sajave with lucrative employment contracts and other benefits to build a population base and establish infrastructure so that when the wealthy arrived, they would have services and staff.
In Phase II, the MORE Corp would construct its vacation playground for the elites, the Sajave Sands Resort and Spa. What better way to appeal to the jaded tastes of the Earth’s oligarchs and billionaires than with an exclusive, invitation-only resort on an alien planet catering to every rest-and-recreation whim?
However, trekking through sand on a safari or viewing the dunes from your lanai was different from being battered by dust devils and being unable to enjoy a glass of champagne on your balcony. Or having windows frost so badly that you couldn’t see out. What good was a view if you couldn’t see it? I’d read the reports.
“I’ll get with Geo-Tech and ensure the sand won’t be a problem,” I said, wondering how the hell I would accomplish that. My job was to act on behalf of the president and facilitate her special projects, aka favors, and ensure no conflicts occurred. According to my company source, Geo-Tech wasn’t even close to a solution, and they’d been working on it for years. What were the chances another company could solve it in three months?
“You’re dismissed.” Jodane had all the personality of a pit viper, but it wasn’t the strike you saw coming you had to worry about.
I reached the door, and she spoke again. “And, Tempest?”
I turned.
“It goes without saying that under no circumstance should MORE’s clientele ever cross paths with a SEW Solutions project on Sajave.”
“I understand.” I slipped out the door.
Her creepy henchman stood sentry in the corridor. I could feel Bane watching me as I strode away like everything was hunky dory when I was probably living on borrowed time. My job title said special liaison, but it should have read presidential liaison to shady corporations with whom the corrupt chief executive has a secret financial relationship, but either that was too long to engrave on a brass nameplate or it revealed a tad too much.
“Everything okay?” Marcus, my assistant, peered up from his computer as I entered.
“Fine. Just a routine briefing.” It would be disloyal to the president to admit anything else, and walls had ears. Three certainties existed: death, taxes, and that my office was bugged. “Connect me with the president of Geo-Tech.”
Chapter Nine
Gayle
“Are you all right?” Kaylee rushed to intercept me. “I’ve been so worried. I had no idea you intended to venture into the dunes alone.”
“I’m fine. I’m sorry I worried you. Is Breeze very mad?” Only twenty-four hours on the job, and I’d screwed up. I never should have let my issues with Axel affect my work performance.
Kaylee hunched her shoulders and winced. “She asked me to send you to her office as soon as you got back.”
“I’d better go now, then.” I handed her the case with the samples. “Would you put this in the lab?” After depositing my flute case on my office sofa, I left with Axel. He was quiet as we walked to the elevator. “Go ahead, you can say it,” I said.
“Say what?” he asked.
“I told you so.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
He didn’t need to. I sighed. “What if she fires me?” I’d never been terminated before. I couldn’t think of anything more humiliating.
“I’d be surprised if she fires you. Recruiting people to Sajave is not easy, and your professional qualifications are exemplary. However, she might chew you out. Just say yes, ma’am, no, ma’am, it will never happen again, ma’am, and then work your ass off.”
“Have you ever been fired?” I asked on the elevator. He’d changed jobs several times when we’d been married but always by choice.
“No, but I’ve had my ass chewed.”
“Not since you’ve been with C-Force.”
“Oh yeah!” His hearty, uninhibited laugh caused my insides to curl. “Quint tore a few strips off my hide a time or two. It happens to everybody. Good employees do their jobs. Great employees take risks; sometimes those risks don’t pan out.”
Except my risk had been a stupid personal act of rebellion. “So, what you’re saying is you’re great at what you do,” I said.
“Of course! I’m the best,” he boasted with a cheeky grin before sobering as we exited onto Breeze’s floor. “But I made a mistake this morning.”
“When I sneaked out.”
He nodded. “I let down my guard.”
I felt terrible. “I hope you don’t get into trouble because of me.”
He shrugged. “I’m a big boy. I can handle it. Don’t worry about it.” He was being exceptionally nice after the stunt I’d pulled.
“I’m sorry. If I still have a job after this meeting with Breeze, I promise I’ll behave. I won’t ditch you anymore.”
“I appreciate that. But just so you know, you won’t get another opportunity.”
“Fair enough.”
We entered Breeze’s office. Stephanie, her assistant, sat at her desk. Having been around Axel, I now recognized the faint metallic gleam to her skin. She was a cyborg. The signs of security had been all around me. “Go on in. She’s waiting for you,” Stephanie said.
Axel placed his hand on the small of my back to usher me into the office, but he smoothed his thumb in a caressing gesture of moral support. His concern and touch did funny things to my stomach. My skin tingled with awareness. I remembered how it used to be between us—tempestuous, fiery, deeply intimate. We’d loved so hard.
I gulped at Breeze’s somber expression and the presence of two cyborgs seated at the conference table with her. Were they here to escort me off the premises like they had Martin Janey? Tack Grayson, her personal bodyguard and significant other, whom I’d met yesterday, looked fierce. The other man I hadn’t met. Despite the mirrored glasses hiding his eyes, he emitted intensity.
It’s as bad as I thought. I’m in big trouble. She is going to fire me for sure.
With a jolt, I realized part of my dismay at leaving Geo-Tech came from the fact that I wouldn’t see Axel anymore.
“Quint,” Axel said. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”
So the man with the glasses was the C-force team commander, Quint Stroud. Geo-Tech had called in the big guns. Because of me? I took a deep breath.
“Given the change in situation, I needed to be here,” he said in a raspy voice.
“I am so sorry,” I jumped in with an apology. “I shouldn’t have gone to the dunes without Axel. I promise it won’t happen again.” I braced for a no-it-won’t-because-you’re-fired reply.
“No, you shouldn’t have, and it absolutely cannot happen again, especially in light of the new development,” Breeze said.
“New development?” Axel narrowed his eyes.
She motioned at the table. “Have a seat, you two.”
I was relieved I wasn’t being fired, but my anxiety didn’t abate. What could have happened since yesterday to cause such somberness? To bring in the C-Force commander?
“I got a call from my boss who’d been contacted by Tempest Waters, a special liaison to the president,” Breeze said.
“The president?” I asked.
“The president.”
I sucked in a breath and then got another shock when Quint removed his sunglasses.
His eyes were solid silver orbs. Was he blind, or did he have special cyborg vision? I tried not to stare.
“Ms. Waters has given Geo-Tech one month to get the sand under control, or our contract on Sajave will be revoked,” Breeze said.
“But that’s impossible,” I said. “We can’t control the sand.” Maybe Breeze hadn’t bothered to fire me because my position would end in a month anyway. Her job, too. All Geo-Tech jobs.
“No, we can’t. That’s why you need to fast-track your research,” Breeze said.
“Did you tell your boss you believe the sand is alive and sentient?” Axel asked.
“I thought it prudent to hold off until we had proof.” She looked at me.
“I made progress already,” I said. “I got the sand to react to music.”
“React how?”
“It danced.”
“Danced?” She widened her eyes.
“I played the flute, and it formed wisps and swayed to the music. I’d taken my instrument with me to the dunes. I recorded everything. I need to review the vids and seismic results, but I think it’s very possible the music provoked a reaction.”
“Other than getting it to respond to music, were you able to establish any other connections?”
“No—”
“Yes,” Axel said.
What was he talking about? “It responded to the music,” I reiterated. “I broadcast a recording saying, ‘I want to speak to you,’ in different languages but got no reaction—except to the lion’s roar.”
“How did you get a lion to say I want to speak to you?” Tack asked.
“I didn’t. It was a lion’s roar. If the lion said anything, it was probably, ‘I’m going to eat you.’ I played some animal vocalizations—dog, dolphin, a few others—to try different sounds. The sand jumped when the lion roared. I did, too. I wasn’t expecting that to be on the recording.”
Quint turned his head toward Axel. “So, what was the connection?”
“The sand tried to protect her. It formed a dust devil and attacked me,” Axel replied. “Deliberately charged at me.”
“Why did it think she needed protection?” Tack asked.
Axel shot me an apologetic glance. “Gayle went AWOL. By the time I found her, I was steamed. We got into an argument. The sand started to swirl, and then it flew right at me. It obviously didn’t like me shouting at her.”
Quint shook his head. “That’s a pretty big assumption.”
“The alien was protecting her from a perceived threat,” Axel insisted.
“That’s the impression I got. A dust devil enveloped him. When I jumped in front of him, the sand fell away,” I said.
“It’s hardly definitive,” Quint argued. “Don’t scientific experiments have to be reproducible? Unless you want to try to provoke another dust devil…”
“It wasn’t an experiment as much as an experience.” Was the commander always this negative? Did he truly have doubts, or was he playing devil’s advocate?
“We could try to reproduce it—” Axel said.
“No, it’s too dangerous,” Tack cut in. “I’ve lived on Sajave long enough to see the damage dust devils can do. Even with protective armor, it’s not worth the risk.”
“Besides, this is our first contact with the alien life-form,” Breeze said. “Interactions should be positive, amicable. We don’t want to approach the alien with anger or strife.”
Or force it to take sides, I thought.
“I think the alien likes Gayle,” Axel said.
“More like, it was upset you interrupted the recital,” I joked then added more seriously, “Music conveys emotion. Music is a universal language. It can communicate peace and calm, love, joy, passion, sadness, distress, anger, aggression.”
Breeze nodded. “That makes a lot of sense.”
“Tomorrow I’ll return to the dunes and try other instrumentals, a variety of music. I played my flute today because I had it with me. I’ll play the flute again but also broadcast various forms of recorded music.” I’d try other compositions conveying different emotions, emphasizing the positive ones and avoiding the negative. No bellicose war marches or funeral dirges.
“What makes you think recorded music will achieve the same effect?” Quint asked.
“The lion’s roar was recorded. But you raise a valid question. I can digitize the music I played today and see if I get the same response from a recording.”
“And then what?” The commander turned those disturbing silver eyes on me, and I revised my impression he couldn’t see. He could see way too much. I also had a hunch he was unimpressed with what I may have accomplished. “Even if the alien reacts to the emotion in the music, that hardly proves intelligence,” he said skeptically.
“It does if it reacts appropriately to different emotions.” I held my ground. “There is no agreed-upon meaning of what constitutes intelligence. As we’re dealing with an alien life-form, we need to keep an open mind. We can’t assume its intelligence is the same as ours.”
“She’s right,” Axel said. “Among humans, there are different kinds of intelligence. Is someone who understands computer code more intelligent than someone who can speak five languages or a musician who composes complicated musical scores?”
My heart hitched at his support.
“I’m sure you’re right, Gayle,” Breeze said. “I think what Quint’s concerned about—what we’re all concerned about—is that our biggest hurdle isn’t getting answers; it will be convincing the government to accept those answers. Anecdotes won’t suffice. We need hard data, and we need it fast. We’ve run out of time.”
“Because of the deadline.” I nodded.
“And because another situation has come to light.” Breeze looked at Quint.
“C-Force has received some disturbing new information. The MORE Corporation will break ground on a massive luxury vacation resort midway between Miestas and Ville in three months,” he said.
Axel whistled through his teeth. “Not another city, then.”
“What’s MORE?” I asked.
“It’s a real estate development company catering to the uber wealthy. You know the swanky five-star resort on the moon?” Tack asked.
“That’s theirs?” I’d heard rooms started at $50,000 a night—and that didn’t count travel costs.
“MORE is one of President Jodane’s top campaign contributors,” Quint said quietly. “As is SEW Solutions, which provides electric power for Sajave.”
“I saw the solar and wind farms when I arrived.” It had been impossible to miss the hundreds of thousands of glass panels pointed at the sky—so many, the farm had been visible from outer space as a blotch on the planet. Another swath turned out to be windmills. I’d gotten a close-up when the ship had flown right over the solar and wind farms on the way to the spaceport.
“Both companies will lose a fortune if forced to vacate Sajave,” Quint said. “The loss will rebound on Jodane.”
“Future campaign donations will dry up,” Tack said.
“Plus, a major source of the president’s personal income,” Quint said. “Sandra Jodane sits on MORE’s board of directors.”
I frowned. How did the daughter’s position benefit the president? But that wasn’t the only question that arose. “What does Sandra Jodane know about real estate development?” The black sheep of the family, Sandra had been in and out of trouble her entire life, but, due to her mother’s influence, managed to evade prosecution.
