39 - Chapter 37
“Are you seriously telling me that I can get a system like yours?” asked Hanna.
“I am not sure exactly what you will get,” said Tasha. “It is called a subordinate system. So based on the name it will be linked to mine in some way. Apart from that I don’t have any more information.”
“I guess that also means that you can’t remove it?” asked Hanna.
“I am not sure,” said Tasha. “It is a risk, but could potentially give you a massive boost. With the kind of magical creatures we are learning about, anything that levels the playing field would help. Still the choice is yours.”
“I know, it’s just so sudden,” said Hanna. “The lack of information is a concern.”
“On the other side,” said Tasha. “My system has given me access to billions, and also helped me to find and deal with those responsible for the deaths of my family. So far it has gone out of its way to protect me and my interests.”
“Yes,” said Hanna. “But there is no guarantee that it will do the same for me.”
“I don’t think, if I give you the system,” said Tasha. “That it will be so focused on you. I think it is more likely to give you tools to support me. Yet, you are already here supporting me, so that should just empower you in your role.”
“That is a fair point,” said Hanna. “At this point we are already aligned on my plans. So the only risk is that this will tie me in, potentially taking away my option of leaving.”
“Yes,” said Tasha. “That was my analysis too. Mostly upsides, with the biggest downside being you being locked in.”
“Give me some time to think about it,” said Hanna. “It is a big decision. Unless you want to offer it to someone else.”
“No,” said Tasha. “You are my only option at this point in time. If the system gives me more options, then I can look at that at that point. I would like your input on that.”
“I also assume,” said Hanna. “That you would want me to test the limitations of the system so we can make better decisions in the future.”
“Yes,” said Tasha, “Exactly so.”
“Ok,” said Hanna. “Like I said, give me some time to think about it.”
“Sure,” said Tasha. “No rush, and no pressure.”
With that they ended their meeting for the evening. Tasha decided that she just needed to relax for the night. Tomorrow would be another busy day.
She also needed a lot more calories to maintain her new stats, so she decided to go out to eat. She noted to herself with a chuckle that if her calorie intake kept on increasing, she would need all the money just to pay for her food everyday. It also meant that it would be near impossible for her to get fat.
She decided to go for a wander around Covent garden, and get something to eat at one of the many wonderful restaurants that were there, or maybe even more than one. She left the hotel and went on her walk. It was nice to be back in her favourite part of town.
As she walked down Drury Lane, she reminisced about the shops and restaurants she remembered from her younger days and how things had changed. She turned into the square, and the familiar sight was soothing. This was not the first time she had come to the west end to decompress after a tough operation. There was something about the area that she enjoyed, that allowed her to relax and forget her troubles.
She decided to go to the bistro, it had been a long while and she missed their lovely pork belly. As she was on her own, they seated her quickly. It took a while for her meal to come out, but it was just as delicious as always. She focused herself on enjoying the meal and let all other concerns fade away.
After a leisurely meal, she wandered around the square, looking through some of the stalls in the market. On a whim she decided to indulge and entered Laudres, the french patisserie. She left with half of their stock of macaroons in assorted flavours. As she munched on the macaroons she wandered from Covent garden, down to the Strand and along to Trafalgar Square and Admiralty arch. On a whim, she moved down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace.
She lost herself in the walking and snacking, playing with her inventory function. She had deposited her massive bag of macaroons into spatial storage. She was using the walk to train her ability to take out only one macaron at a time. She tried to see if she could retrieve the delicacy straight into her mouth, and found to her surprise that it worked. Given the fact that she also stored water in her storage, this opened up more options for the way she could use the function.
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As she wandered past Buckingham palace, keeping her distance from the tourists, and moved down Constitution Hill, she became more proficient in the use of her new abilities. She reached Marble Arch and turned down Piccidially, moving alongside Green Park, back towards Leicester Square. She was still hungry, so decided to stop by Chinatown for some dimsum.
It was a few hours later and several meals later, that she returned back to her suite at the hotel. The walk had cleared her mind and allowed her to process some of the shocks of her Malaysia trip. She had come close to dying several times, so needed the time to process her thoughts before throwing herself into the next crazy plan. This had also been part of her extensive training, the only part missing was the professional support of a mental health professional. If this was to become her new normal, she would need to add a medical unit to her list of businesses.
In fact, that would not be a bad idea. When she managed to get permission for a SEZ from the government, she would offer to build and staff a full hospital in the zone. That would give her access to excellent medical facilities for her team, without raising too many suspicions. She would even be happy when the politicians took credit for adding to the list of requirements to approve the SEZ.
She took a long hot bath, then went off to bed.
The next day she woke early and spent a little time in the studio practicing her martial arts and sword forms. She went for a swim and a sauna, then showered and dressed for a busy day at work.
As she walked into the business suite that they had commandeered for their offices, she saw Sunny, AJ, James and Ree chatting as they sat around a tray of pastries.
“Morning all,” said Tasha. “How is everyone doing? Did you miss me?”
“Of course we missed you,” replied Ingrid.
“Nah, we were too busy working while you were galavanting across the far east,” said Sunny, not even bothering to hide his smirk. “Next time you can stay and do the boring work, and we will go swanning off.”
“Actually that’s a good idea,” said Tasha. “Let’s organise a trip for the senior management team. You guys can decide where as long as it has wifi. Hire a private plane for the trip, we should be able to get everyone on a G5.”
“Are you serious?” said AJ. “Do you have any idea how much work we have to do?”
“Yes,” said Tasha. “But what’s the point if we don’t get to enjoy ourselves. It doesn’t have to be long. Also increase the team sizes enough so everyone can get away with working four day weeks. Then we can send people off for the occasional break.”
“That would not work for most people with kids,” said James. “It would be unfair to offer a perk that everyone can’t use.”
“I am sure between you there are ideas of what would work,” said Tasha. “I will leave it to you to sort out. Now, tell me about what has been happening. I need to know where we are on the SEZ and the bank buyout.”
“We are ready to execute the bank buyout,” said Sunny. “We have all the organisations prepared and parties ready to front the deal for us. We can take over the bank whenever you want. If we go fast, then it will cost us more. If we take our time, no one will even know what is going on.”
“Take your time, we are not in a rush,” said Tasha. “There is no point wasting money if we don’t have to. But I still need it to happen fast enough that no one tries to leverage us.”
“Sure,” said Sunny. “I will send the execute order today.”
“Are we using other brokers,” said Tasha. “Or have we just purchased a few firms?”
“We have the paperwork lined up,” said Sunny. “Instead of them buying for us, then transferring the shares to us, they will buy and hold the bank shares, and we will buy the investment firms in turn. That way we can’t be accused of impropriety.”
“And don’t worry,” said AJ. “We are doing a deep dive of their books to make sure that they are not carrying bad investments. We will ensure we get rid of anything problematic, or at least discount the price for it.”
“That is great,” said Tasha. “What about the rest of the businesses we wanted to purchase. There was a long list.”
“Some are complete,” said James. “Several are in process, we are doing proper due diligence as we are not in a rush, or are we?”
“We are not yet,” said Tasha. “As soon as we get the go ahead for the SEZ, we are going to be. We also need to get builders, and associated trades. We are going to have to build a whole town from scratch, and also all the facilities. I want a fully self contained town. That means, power plants, hospital, police station, fire station, water purification, sewage treatment, schools, perhaps even a university.”
“You realise how much that is going to cost us,” said AJ. “We are talking about 100s of billions of pounds.”
“Yes, the idea is to have a fully self-sufficient town,” said Tasha. “If Apple, Tesla and others can do it, why can’t we?”
“That is a fair point,” said Sunny. “I think we are still not used to the financial power we now wield. In fact, at this point our cash reserves are probably more than most of the FTSE 100 companies combined.”
“Not quite yet,” said AJ, “But almost.”
“Now tell me where we are on the SEZ,” said Tasha. “That is the biggest hurdle to our plans.”
“Well, we have a meeting setup with the PM’s cabinet office for next week.” said James. “I will go and meet them. Hopefully we can get them to agree to set up a meeting with you and the PM.”
“With the new list of priorities that Tasha just threw at us for our own town,” said Sunny. “They will be begging us for the meeting. Let me know when the meeting is. If they don’t want to give us the SEZ, then I am sure someone in Europe will.”
“Ok then, we have a plan,” said Tasha. “The last question I have for today is, should we buy one of the large social networks?”