42 - Chapter 40

“Well I have thought about other locations,” said Tasha. “The problem is one of getting access to resources both material and labour.”

“What do you mean?” asked Hanna.

“Well,” said Tasha. “We could buy some islands in the Pacific, large ones, essentially giving us sovereignty. The problem is how to build anything there. We would need to ship all the resources, get people to move, and build the support infrastructure. It will be bad enough building our own city, if we have to add everything else on top we can add years to the time to complete.”

“I see the problem,” said Hanna. “Yet we can build anywhere in the developed countries.”

“America is already too expensive,” said Tasha. “Also we can leverage the situation to get access to labour from across europe. The UK has access to some of the best shipping routes in the world. If the government tries to play hardball then we can move. In the contract that I had Sunny prepare, I have asked for exemptions from the limitations of Brexit. That will allow us to source both materials and people from the single market. If we get an area with access to the sea, we may even be able to build our own port.”

“Isn’t this getting too ambitious?” asked Hanna. “Normally even one of these projects, a port, a hospital, a power plant, a water treatment and desalination plant, or a satellite control centre would be considered a major project on its own. To try and do them all together seems like madness.”

“It is madness,” said Tasha. “Yet I do not believe we have a choice. If we truly want to be self-sufficient then we have no choice but to build everything from scratch. We can prioritise, and leverage the existing infrastructure in the short to medium term, but we need to get moving on the wider plans. Have you made a decision on whether you want to accept the system?”

“I am still undecided,” said Hanna. “It feels like a big step.”

“It is a big step,” said Tasha. “It doesn't mean that you should not take the opportunity. At higher levels it will allow you to physically compete with those from the syndicate.”

“Give me some more time,” said Hanna. “In the meantime let me learn more from our new vampire allies.”

With that they ended their meeting. Tasha was frustrated by Hanna’s lack of urgency. She did not feel that Hanna could see the level of threat she believed they were facing. To be fair to her, Hanna was going by what Tasha had told her so far. Everything that was happening was far beyond anything that they had been trained for. She still felt that Hanna would be best placed to use the system for maximum benefit.

However that did not mean that she would hang around forever. She needed to get moving. She decided to call Sunny.

“Hey Sunny,” said Tasha. “If you are free come and meet me in the secondary suite. Any of the security people can guide you.”

“Sure I am in the hotel,” said Sunny. “I will be right up.”

Within a few minutes there was a knock on the door. She let Sunny in and secured the door behind him.

“What is this room?” he asked, looking around.

“This is a room that we have adapted to keep information secure,” said Tasha. “We call it a SCIF.”

“And why did you need to meet me here,” he continued.

“How much do you trust me?” asked Tasha instead of answering his question.

“Your plans are crazy,” said Sunny. “But so far you have kept your word, and given me no reason to doubt you professionally. Personally, we have not known each other long, but I feel like I can trust you. At least until you give me a reason not to.”

“So,” said Tasha. “You would not be aware of my background. I am sure you have tried to have me looked into, but I doubt you found much.”

“No,” said Sunny. “You have been frustratingly mysterious.”

“The reason for that is my background,” said Tasha. “I was trained in the special forces, then transitioned to military intelligence.”

“You are a damned spook!” exclaimed Sunny. “That would explain a lot of the gaps when investigating you.”

“Yes it would,” said Tasha. “The reason I have called you up here, is that I have reason to believe that we are going to be facing a grave threat.”

“You mean the company?” asked Sunny. “Do you know what kind of threat?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“No,” said Tasha. “I am really trusting you here. I believe the threat is to our whole species. And no I can’t tell you why I think that and I have no idea what kind of threat.”

“So that is the reason you are pushing to build your own town,” mused Sunny. “You want to build a fort where we can all be safe, if something were to happen.”

“Yes,” said Tasha. “I need you to do everything you can to push this forward.”

“Well,” said Sunny, after some thought. “We don’t actually have to wait. We can start the design phase now. We are already onboarding some architecture firms. We can have them start to design the individual buildings. We can also start to buy out the appropriate companies in both construction and building materials, as well as logistics companies. Hummm…it would be faster to buy smaller private operations, though we would need to buy multiple to get the scale we need. Otherwise we would need to buy listed firms, that would give us the scale but take much longer.”

“Why don’t we do a mix of both,” said Tasha.

“Yes,” said Sunny. “Though you do realise you are going to push prices through the roof. Not only for the businesses, but also for the services for the ordinary people. We are going to need thousands of trades people, and if we pay more than the market rates to get them, we are going to empty the market.”

“I know,” said Tasha. “This has been one of my concerns from day one. If we are just buying big companies, then we are not really affecting the market too much. Just moving numbers from one bank to another. When we start to build, we are going to drive inflation through the roof. It won’t just be in the UK. We are going to cause a global economic crisis. It’s going to hurt a lot of people.”

“We are also going to piss off a lot of powerful people,” said Sunny. “Including a lot of governments.”

“Yes we are,” said Tasha. “That is going to be unavoidable. Though I may have some additional resources that we can call upon. Let me think about it.”

“I will go and start to implement your latest crazy plan,” said Sunny, though his smirk took the sting out of his words. He sauntered off to start his work.

Tasha called Malim. “Hey Malim, are you in a secure location?” she asked when he answered.

“I am,” he replied. “What do you need.”

“I have plans to build a city from scratch,” said Tasha. “I am wondering if there is a way to speed up the process by using syndicate resources. I need things to move as fast as possible. No politics, no union issues, no material hold ups, just fast work.”

“There are ways,” said Malim after some thought. “Though this will massively increase our exposure. How will you get our people into the UK though?”

“We own the mining companies,” said Tasha. “I am sure we can hire people via that company in Malaysia, then do an internal transfer and request visas on that basis. Let me look into it. Start making preparations on your side. As soon as we are ready, we need to be able to move.”

This was turning into another quest in its own right. The planning and logistics would be an absolute nightmare. She really wished she had one of those systems that let her build a building with the click of a button. Even though hers gave her infinite wealth, in reality it was limited by what she could do with it. She thought about the depiction of such things in popular media. It was made to look so easy. The protagonist would have infinite wealth, and they could click their fingers and make it possible to do anything fast.

The reality could not be further from that vision. Even if she was willing to be open about her motivations, and her means, not that it would achieve anything apart from making her a target, she could not just make her vision a reality at the click of her fingers. The largest companies in the world had spent billions on building factories or campuses. They had access to what amounted to unlimited wealth for all intents and purposes, it had still taken them years to complete the projects. Tesla managed to build their gigafactory in seven months, but that was after learning from experience. Apple took four years to build their second campus. And those were single projects with budgets in the billions.

Just the nuclear power plant being built in Sizewell was anticipated to take nine to twelve years and cost upwards of £20Bn, and that was just a part of an existing site. The plans Tasha had were about building multiple projects of that size, at the same time, and yet she did not feel like she had decades to spare. Her instincts were telling her to get there as fast as she could, even if her actions caused problems. She hoped that including the vampires would help speed up the process, especially if they could bring magic to bear on the project. Though that would also significantly increase the risk of exposure. Still, some risks had to be taken to reach her goals.

***

Malim sat thinking over his conversation with Tasha. Her request had been completely unexpected. She was building her own town, she had said. She had enough money to be able to buy out all the companies to push her work to the front of the list.

So why would she want to risk exposure by bringing in the supernatural community. Of course, bringing them in could speed up the projects several fold, but the risk would be massive.

No, there was more to this then was apparent on the surface. They had agreed to become vassals to that infuriating woman, but not to risk themselves. Such overt help would put the clan at risk. It may even kick off a civil war in the syndicate. He really needed guidance from the Ancestor.

***

John paced in his spacious office. He had been spending his hard earned capital, both political and financial to try and work out what that woman was intending to do next.

It seemed she had surrounded herself with loyal people. No matter what he offered, he could not get anyone close to her to reveal anything. Either they were also out of the loop or she was making it up as she went along.

The latest had come from his sources in the British government. She had been granted a meeting with the prime minister, and had put forth a proposal. Only a few very senior civil servants were aware of the actual details, but the prime minister had been excited. Obviously they were talking about something that would be good for him politically.

However, that was such a wide range, that it did not help in allowing John to snipe that woman’s deals. He felt something big was brewing, he could almost work out the shape of what she was trying to do, but he just could not get close to the details.

He needed to get better sources. He would find out what she was up to, even it was the last thing he did.