The Christmas party was larger and more elaborate than the prior year. After a rather heated discussion about elitism, they had settled on a three tier arrangement for the party. Tower One would showcase the luxury section, and guests who were likely to be able to afford to live there were issued a pass to enter this section of the party. A second set of guests were able to enter the park area in the original Proteus level two. These guests consisted of employees of the core Genysis companies and their families. The overlap between these guest lists were the owners and management.
The final group invited were contractors, and employees of various companies Angela had started in the area. They were taking over the main house and large tents had been set up outside to accommodate dinner tables, buffets and open bars.
Since parking for this many guests was impossible, they had converted twenty air trucks to shuttle guests from several locations. For most of these vehicles, they added rows of seats in the cargo sections, but a couple had been equipped as flying limousines. They had comfortable couches and tables with a server offering drinks or snacks. Scheduling all this was a challenge, but the logistics managers for their carrier ship worked out a plan to avoid any VIPs having to ride in the regular air bus. With some VIPs sharing the ride for each trip, their scheduler had to avoid putting political enemies or business rivals in the same group. Instead of complaining about this chore, their head of logistics seemed to delight in potential matchmaking and business partnerships that could be encouraged.
The air transport would arrive at either the main house or the floating docks. Core employees would take the underwater gondola, while the VIPs had a short submarine ride from the docks to Tower One. Several submarines were available that they used for tours, These were mostly a transparent aluminum bubble with seats and a small engine. A single pilot, trained as a tour guide, would guide the submarines on a short tour before arriving at one of the Tower One airlocks.
Adrianna had complained the most about how much effort and money they were spending on VIP guests. Ironically, her company would benefit the most if they impressed these people, but she felt guilty about the excess. Scott didn’t really understand her feelings. They had built all this luxury from basically nothing, so why not enjoy it? Their employees were well paid and excited about the party. Even the servers they had hired seemed happy to be part of such an unusual event. They were also making more here for one night of work than they could make in a month working at a local hotel or restaurant.
Despite the happy atmosphere, Scott noticed that some of the guests were rude to the servers. He wondered why some people thought that money and power entitled them to treat people poorly. Scott hesitated. Should he do something about it, or let it slide? Angering an important politician might endanger their business. Melinda had also noticed the behavior.
“Excuse me Deputy,” Melinda gave the corpulent man a stern look, the Mexican equivalent of a national congressman.
Looking puzzled, the man answered, “Do I know you, young lady?”. By pure luck, he had accidentally stumbled on Melinda’s weakness, her vanity. What might have been a disrespectful comment to another woman disarmed what would likely have been a brutal tongue lashing.
“Um, yeah. Anyway, I would like you to speak with more respect to the people serving us. If you can’t behave, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Melinda’s initial anger had calmed, but she still spoke with natural authority.
The man almost snapped a response, but just in time he realized who he was talking to. As his face drained of color, he stammered “Are you Melinda White?”. A small crowd was now watching the conversation.
“Yes. Look, I was advised not to have everyone who annoyed me dragged out of here, so I’m giving you a warning. Please be respectful to my employees or else we will have a problem.” Melinda had raised her voice a bit so half the room could hear her.
The Deputy had sharp enough political instincts to read the room at this point. “Yes, of course. I apologize. I must remember that not all servants are trained to the same standards as my own. I will be sure to be more forgiving going forward.” His apology sounded like a backhanded insult.
Melinda’s eyes narrowed. She paused and the Deputy seemed to realize he might have gone too far. Then she sighed. Scott had the impression she had switched from
Scott was relieved and a bit impressed how the situation was handled. They had probably made another enemy, but the man had lost a good deal of influence and respect with others at the party.
“Hello, are you Scott Henderson?” A middle aged man asked. Scott found himself drawn into a series of conversations with business leaders and a few politicians. They seemed interested in his opinions about how the local economy would develop and the political situation in the United States. One middle aged woman seemed very excited about meeting him. She had seen a video that circulated after his mission in Algeria. To the embarrassment of her husband she shamelessly gushed about how strong he was.
At this point, Scott excused himself, heading over to the employee party. Matt saw him leaving and called out.
“Hey Scott! Are you heading to the next party?” Matt worked his way towards him. He bumped into people, apologizing along the way. A few heads turned towards them. With a couple billionaires leaving for another party, they might have suffered from a case of FOMO. No doubt they wondered if there was an even more VIP party somewhere.
“Yeah, I wanted to visit the Security guys at the employee section and say hi to my family.” Scott said, keeping his voice low but noticing several guests nearby were listening.
Scott glanced around before leaving. Melinda was happy chatting with Governor Conde and his wife. She had one hand on the shoulder of a man in military dress uniform, possibly a General. Nadia was having an intense discussion with a group of three serious looking men Scott didn’t recognize. Nadia’s husband stood a little to the side looking out of place. Scott could sympathize. Nadia had lost at least twenty pounds since Scott had met her and she looked very different from the frazzled housewife with squalling kids he first met. Hair, makeup and a very expensive gown gave her the graceful look of an old money diplomat. Her husband must have caught Scott staring, but he seemed amused and gave Scott a grin.
“Are you going without Adriana?” Matt asked, interrupting Scott’s thoughts.
Scott looked a bit guilty. “Um, she needs to stay here because she’s selling this place. I guess we’re kind of broken up now. Not that we were ever really together.”
“Oh.” Matt said. Matt’s girlfriend Zaliha had joined them at a slower pace. She didn’t seem as surprised by this news as Matt.
Scott tried to change the subject. He noticed an actress he vaguely recognized seemed to be paying attention to their conversation. Scott hadn’t watched many movies or TV shows over the past year so he couldn’t recall her name. “I guess Barry and Elsa never bothered to show up at this party?”
“Professor Springer is here, but I guess Barry decided this party would be too tame.” Matt answered.
“Might have been a good choice. If he acted like a complete idiot, it might start another war.” Scott nodded.
Zaliha spoke up, “Elsa said they were at the non-employee section. She sent a text saying Barry wanted to meet some people who weren’t ‘rich and boring’. Also, they have the pool bar there.”
Matt groaned. Scott didn’t fully remember the last Christmas party, but he knew that many people had ended up in the pool before the end.
“Excuse me, did I hear there was another party here?” An attractive brunette asked. It was the actress who was eavesdropping on their conversation. Scott’s memory finally managed to pull out the name Tracy Grey.
Matt seemed more impressed than Scott. “Oh wow, hi. Are they going to have another season of…” Zaliha interrupted him with an annoyed glance and a sharp elbow.
Matt blushed and looked a bit embarrassed.
Zaliha answered, “Yes. There is a party for employees in another section of Proteus which Barry labeled the ‘Reindeer’ party. One is mainly for business clients at our beach house, Barry calls this the ‘Elf’ party.”
“So this must be the ‘Santa’ party. Which one are you heading to?” Tracy asked.
Matt and Scott exchanged glances.
“Elf”. “Reindeer”.
Zaliha giggled a bit. “I think Matt is tolerant of our friend Barry’s antics. I guess we’re going to the party at the house. Maybe you could keep Scott company at the employee party, so he doesn’t show up alone like a loser?”
Scott gave her the evil eye but didn’t argue.
“Sure!” Tracy smiled. Scott wondered if he should be worried.
----------------------------------------
Scott and Tracy were the only passengers in the small submarine heading towards the original section of Proteus. Their pilot kept quiet with a nod to Scott.
“This place is amazing! I can’t believe you guys built all this in a year.” Tracy gushed, her eyes wide admiring the towers, elevators and farms illuminated by the decorative lights and the soft glow of hangar entrances on the seafloor.
“It is hard to believe. Having the right people let us get farther than I would have ever imagined when we started all this.” Scott said, taking a moment to appreciate just how much his life had changed from the socially awkward nerd with no money and average grades. Now he was in a submarine with a famous actress, and she seemed impressed with him.
“I have to admit, I saw that video of you throwing some soldier through a doorway. It kind of blew up on Social. All these people were speculating about whether it was a fake and other nonsense. I hate to admit this, but I had a bit of a crush on that other guy in the video.” Tracy admitted with a slight blush.
“Dammit! Carl always gets the girls,“ Scott protested, but he was in a good mood and laughed it off.
“Yeah, well it died down until a week ago someone connected this 50 billion dollar deal with a mysterious company in Mexico. People matched your name and picture between both stories. I got a bit caught up in the whole thing, as people were making up stories about you and guessing how many billions you had. There are at least a few ladies on the internet who want to know more about the action hero billionaire. When I was invited to your party, my agent begged me to get my picture taken with you.” Tracy explained.
Scott was disappointed, realizing Tracy’s interest was likely just for publicity.
“Oh, I guess that’s not a problem. I can get you a picture with Carl too, if you want.” Scott said, his tone cooling.
“Um, no! That's not why I wanted to come here,” Tracy explained, noticing his reaction. “Look, you don’t know me, but I’m honestly just excited to see all this. I’m not some gold digger or anything. You don’t seem to know who I am, but I have my own money and don’t have a problem getting boyfriends. Yuck, that sounded like bragging. I’m a bit nervous. I meet all these famous people, but it still happens sometimes.” Tracy’s words came out a bit quickly.
Scott realized he had been unfair. “Right, sorry. I can’t really get my head around the idea that I’m famous now, and then immediately assuming the worst. I’m not very good at normal social interaction,” Scott explained. Even saying this he noticed the lack of the usual nerves and weirdness that crippled him when talking to attractive women. Was this another effect of Melinda’s brain surgery?
“Not sure if I believe that, but OK. I saw you talking with a couple US Senators, the CEO of a tech company, and an Oscar winning actress. You looked completely confident the whole time!” Tracy laughed. That was who he had just talked to at the party? They had seemed so interested in asking him questions, he never really learned much about them.
“OK, maybe I didn’t know who they were. All the social skills were on their end!” Scott protested, but he didn’t hate that she had been watching him.
“Sure… so I have to ask.” Tracy began.
“Yes?” Scott prompted.
“Melinda White is CEO of all these companies, and you are one of the main owners. You must work with her a lot. She sounds totally amazing, and she is gorgeous! Is there anything going on between the two of you?”
“Ewwww!” Scott replied, “She’s more like a grandmother to me.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
OK, there was ONE time Scott had admired a woman from across the pool until she turned around, and it was Melinda with a new hairstyle and bathing suit. He had nearly thrown up his lunch. Stupid hormones, and stupid Spa treatments making old ladies look hot!
Tracy tilted her head to the side. “Huh? She only looks a few years older than you. That’s a weird thing to say.”
“Right, sorry. I met her a while ago. Kind of a long story, but I can’t forget how she looked when I first met her. She’s older than my parents, and used to look rough. She’s also a bit crazy.” Scott began to explain.
“Seems like you are being too hard on her. Are you guys in some kind of power struggle?” Tracy asked.
“Oh gosh no! Melinda is the best! Now I sound crazy.” Scott said frantically, realizing he didn’t want this girl thinking he was a jerk. “Right, so she’s a genius and looks great now because of medical treatments she invented with our friend, Elsa Pittman. Melinda and I have a weird relationship. I love her like family, but she’s always trying to kidnap me for strange medical procedures. I don't even know why I’m telling you all this!” Scott trailed off nervously.
Tracy’s lips curled into a smile, “I can tell there is a long story here, but maybe you can tell me later. I think we are nearly there.” She pointed to an airlock hangar opening in front of them.
Taking the elevator from the hangar, the couple entered the large open space of the second level of the original Proteus section. Hundreds of people were spread out in small groups while a large cluster was damaging the grass in the park with energetic dancing around a small stage with dueling DJs. The entertainers had elaborate outfits and one looked familiar. With half his face covered in a robotic mask and two extra robot arms flipping records, it was Phillip, one of the robotics experts that worked with Matt.
The party was livelier than the dignified event in luxury Tower One. The average age looked younger, although Scott knew that was deceptive with all the Spa employees who had taken advantage of heavy employee discounts.
“This place is amazing!” Tracy looked around, breathless. The area was in nighttime mode, with various shops and businesses lit up around the edge of the park. The sky had an ultrahigh resolution projection of the night sky, but it looked like the sky would appear without light pollution. They had finished the pond earlier that month, and more than a few people were already swimming in various stages of undress. The park had fast-growing tropical plants and flowers, defining a number of paths throughout. The trees were unimpressive, but Scott could tell they were growing quickly.
“It’s coming along nicely. I live on the level above, and my offices are below. I usually eat on this level a few times a week,” Scott explained.
“When I heard people lived underwater, I was picturing some drab cabins like you have on the inner parts of cruise ships. This place is nice! Do you mind if I take some pictures?” Tracy asked.
“Sure, that’s great. You already warned me your publicist wanted you to be seen with me.” Scott replied. He figured he should try to get used to being a celebrity.
“Oh, I didn’t mean you needed to be in them. That would be great if you wanted, but I just figured I’d take a few selfies to prove I was actually here.” Tracy looked embarrassed, but also excited.
Scott was about to respond, but he noticed Angela Stein approaching. She was a successful venture capitalist and Melinda’s best friend. Their relationship had become more relaxed and friendly the past few months, so Scott greeted her with a smile.
“Hi Scott! Sorry to interrupt, but I’m a fan of Ms. Grey. Melinda and I watch her show together every week. I’m Angela Stein, I’m one of Scott’s business partners.” Angela flashed a dazzling smile at Tracy.
“Nice to meet you!” Tracy said graciously. She might have inched a little closer to Scott, perhaps feeling threatened by Angela’s dark beauty.
“Scott, are all your co-workers gorgeous?” Tracy asked.
“Umm sort of. Elsa’s Spa does great work, but Angela has always looked good.” Scott awkwardly answered the question, but the look Angela gave him indicated he hadn’t completely screwed up.
“Scott’s right about that Spa. Tracy, you can get by on your looks now, but there will be a lot more competition soon for acting jobs. You might want to consider another career in the next ten years.” Angela said. Scott wondered if Tracy would be offended, but she seemed to brush it off.
“I see what you mean. There are so many pretty people here, and so exotic with their hair, eyes and skin colors. It reminds me of some of the Hollywood parties I’ve been to, except without all the creepy old dudes.” Tracy was staring around, taking it all in.
Angela laughed, “The creepy old dudes are still here. They just look better.” She gave a pointed look at Carl who was entertaining several young ladies with another of his exaggerated stories.
Tracy followed Angela’s gaze and her face lit up. “Oh my god, it’s that guy! He’s in a bunch of memes. I’ve even seen people wearing them on tee shirts.” She pulled out her phone and after a few clicks showed the screen to Scott and Angela.
There was a picture of an incident Scott remembered well. Carl, muscles bulging, was running while carrying five hundred pounds of Theo’s computer servers. The caption said ‘I work in I.T.’
Angela giggled a bit and Scott rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me! I really hope they don’t have any of those with me.” Seeing Tracy’s look, he sighed. “They do, right?”
She laughed, “Of course. You’re famous now, but Carl’s are better. Sorry!”
Tracy blushed a bit and looked away. “Can I meet him?”
Scott groaned but laughed. “Sure, why not?” They walked over.
Scott could hear Carl’s story winding down. “Then I punched the Mexican general in the face and all the troops surrendered.”
That wasn’t even close to what happened! Scott thought Carl must have grown tired telling his usual stories, and now he was just making stuff up.
“Oh hey Scotty!” Carl greeted him, without a hint of shame. “Who is your lovely friend?”
“Hi Carl, I’m sure we’ve met before,” Angela interrupted with a laugh. “I’m kidding, this is Tracy Grey, the actress.”
“Nice!” Carl said. “I’m still working my way through all the 90s movies, so I probably haven’t seen your work. I didn’t want to skip ahead.”
Tracy looked puzzled at the odd comment, but she was amused at the chance to talk to such an odd character. “It’s nice to meet you, Carl. There are some wild stories going around about you, but it sounds like the truth is even more interesting.”
“Oh, I’m not even allowed to talk about half of it!” Carl looked like he was about to start. “Did you know I’m actually a cyborg?”
Scott groaned, “Tracy, I’m going to go walk around a bit. I’ll see you later.” Scott had spent enough time with Carl that he realized their friendship worked better in small doses.
Tracy seemed conflicted, but Angela followed him. As the left, Angela added, “Tracy, come find us later. I had business I wanted to discuss with Scott.”
They walked away from the Carl fan club. Scott waved to a few other security guys and some of his game company employees, but he didn’t intrude on their conversations. Instead, he asked Angela, “I thought you would be at the beach house party with your small business partners. Or else at the VIP tower hanging out with Melinda. Can I ask why you are hanging out here?”
“Sure, I started out at the house. A lot of the people there see me as their boss, so I made an appearance, but didn’t want to ruin their fun. People are just more relaxed at a party if management leaves early. As for the VIP group, I have no interest in getting hit on by a bunch of dirty old politicians. Melinda and Nadia can handle it.” Angela explained. “So, I noticed you weren’t hanging out with Adriana. Tracy seems interested. I’m curious if she is more than just a pretty face.”
Angela pulled up the limited version of Glitch_HR she used, which was a product of a company that she started as a partnership with Scott. Angela had insisted that Glitch_HR was not a professional sounding name, so their HR software company had been branded as Hirys. The software avoided the obvious use of illegally gathered data, but it was still powerful. Solomon had shut down the mobile version of Glitch_HR, explaining it was a major security risk, but they kept the platform for Hirys which had extra code limiting the information shared. Angela was looking at Tracy Grey’s skill ratings.
“She’s got potential in marketing and publicity. She could also make a decent politician. Her acting skills are good, as expected. She can also sing, but not well enough to make a career of it.”
“Are you really running a background check on my date?” Scott asked.
“She’s your date now?” Angela replied with a smirk. “She didn’t mind ditching you for Carl.”
“Anyway, you said you had business to talk about?” Scott prompted. He snuck a glance at the group of women listening to Carl and made eye contact with Tracy. She looked at Carl and rolled her eyes, which gave him a warm feeling.
“Right, so I came to this section of the party to poach some of your employees.” Angela admitted. “There are so many here that want to take a piece of your technology and use it to start businesses in other locations. Some Spa workers who want to try and get government approval for one or more procedures here, so they could set up clinics in Mexico City. One of your construction workers wants to buy robots and start a quick service restaurant chain. One woman explained that she wants to program a line of robots that collect, sort and fold laundry.
Another man wants to license some of our aquatic plants and start an underwater farm near his family’s town on the Pacific coast.”
“How did you hear about all this in one evening?” Scott was impressed. He didn’t know so many of their workers were so entrepreneurial. A number had started local businesses in Proteus, but it sounded like a lot more had interest.
“Oh, I’ve been talking to people for months. You know I’m helping several dozen local businesses, but they are just normal businesses using Hirys. Most are doing pretty well and selling a lot of goods and services to Proteus and Merida, but we haven’t scratched the surface of licensing other Genysis tech.” Angela grew animated, waving her hands and speaking more quickly.
“Well, I’m not really the person to talk to about licensing. Did Melinda turn you down?” Scott asked cautiously.
“Oh no. I’m not trying to go around Melinda. She’s in favor of all this. I can’t believe you think I’d go behind my best friend’s back!” Angela glared, “No, now I’m not sure if I want to talk to you about this.”
“Hey, sorry!” Scott apologized. “I don’t really know you as well as Melinda, and just wanted to make sure I wasn’t undermining her.”
“Ok I guess. Right, so most of my capital is already deployed, and I need some more investors. I thought I’d offer you a chance to participate now that you are rich. I’m offering a 20% interest in my new fund for $2 billion. I wanted to give you the first option because I thought it would motivate you to support the new companies if you had a stake.” Angela explained.
“That’s a lot of money. I guess I could sell some of my car company shares,” Scott was having trouble getting his head around being rich enough that someone would just ask him for two billion at a party.
“Don’t be silly. You’d be crazy to sell those shares now. They are going to buy Hirys software and have a deal for fusion powered cars. That stock will double in six months. Just borrow the money from a bank. You can put up the shares as collateral if you want, but based on your income and assets, you shouldn’t need to.” Angela was looking at Scott like he was an idiot.
“Didn’t the banks just freeze our accounts because the US said we were terrorists? Why would they loan me money?” Scott couldn’t wrap his head around the idea.
“So, that was all cleared up, and it’s easy to show that $2 billion is small change for you, so they’ll loan the money. Banks are quick to freeze assets when you deposit a few million, but if you owe them billions, they will fight hard to keep your accounts open. I guess that sounds strange to you, but it’s how they think. Also, I happen to know what the dividend checks Melinda is handing out this quarter will look like, so I think the bank will not be worried about your ability to pay back the loan.” Angela had calmed down, but now she had a predatory look watching Scott.
“I thought between the blockade and the US banning trade with us, we wouldn’t have made much this quarter.” Scott protested, “Shouldn’t Melinda be saving any profits in case our companies need reserves?”
“First, you guys made a ton in the first half. If she doesn’t pay out profits, the company just pays more in taxes. Most of your US contracts were still finished and paid. Technically, they didn’t have an official complaint about Adrianna’s company, just some of the owners and employees. The bureaucracy just rolled onwards, despite all the political posturing and drama.”
Angela continued, “The Spa took a hit, but you probably don’t understand just how much business they did before the blockade. Also, since a lot of their customers were trapped here, they just went ahead and cut the line for additional work. The biggest hit was Trinidad's company, but they should be up and running full speed next quarter with their new factory inside Proteus. Even with their factory destroyed and the expense of rebuilding, they still turned a small profit. Your companies have crazy profit margins to shrug off all the crap that happens around here.”
“OK, so you’re saying we’re getting some more big checks. Melinda handed out envelopes and gift baskets at the last Christmas party. I guess this time she had something else in mind?” Scott asked. He wasn’t worried about money anymore, but it was always nice to get a big check or five.
“Yeah, she’s been too busy to deal with party favors and planning all this was rushed. Sometimes I wish Melinda had more flair for the dramatic, but I think she just sent the amounts through payroll and had an assistant send everyone in the company an email with their bonus. Pretty lame, but I don’t think people will complain much when they see the amount.”
Scott decided to check his email. There was an email from Melinda simply titled ‘Bonus’. She really phoned it in.
A link to his pay stub gave itemized numbers and taxes withheld. All boring except…
“1.5 billion pesos?!” Scott eyed the total. At the current exchange rate and after a large amount of taxes, this was still over $70 million dollars.
A group nearby seemed to have overheard part of the conversations, and before long, many people were pulling out phones and checking emails. The mood at the party seemed to be getting very excited.
“You probably shouldn’t be saying things like that too loud,” Angela laughed. “I mean, everyone here knows you make the big bucks, but most people here aren’t even millionaires.”
“Hey Scott!” Tracy had walked back over. “Everyone started checking their phones, and then they looked pretty happy. What’s going on?”
“Oh, Melinda sent out quarter bonuses and I guess people just heard about it.” Scott answered, wondering how much the girl had heard.
“That’s great! Are you guys done talking about business?” Tracy asked.
“I guess,” Scott said. “Angela, I’ll talk to the bank, but I’m interested in investing in your fund. Please send me the details.”
Tracy looked between the two business partners. “So, are you just business partners or maybe something else too?”
“I wish,” Angela said, causing Scott to blush, “No, Scott has a hangup about dating aggressive, older women.”
Tracy looked between the two for a second, then shrugged. “OK, I must be missing something here.” They walked off, finding a quieter spot on the other side of the pond.
“So is Angela like sixty years old or something? I can’t tell at all with people around here!”
Scott laughed, “No, I think she’s early forties. I probably would have gone on a date with her, but I was hung up on some other girl at the time. At this point, I’m pretty happy just being business partners.”
“OK, I’m going to try and find out how to get back to my hotel. It was really nice meeting you, Scott.” Tracy said. Scott’s experience with women was extremely limited, so he wasn’t sure if she was brushing him off or making an invitation. Did he just screw things up, mentioning he had been interested in another woman?
“Right, I guess you live in California, and I probably won’t see you except on television. I’d like to, but I would probably get arrested if I tried to visit.” Scott realized how pathetic he sounded.
Tracy leaned forward and kissed him. It was over quickly, and Scott was too surprised to really enjoy it.
“That’s OK. I had fun! Maybe I’ll visit sometime.” She smiled and walked off, Scott’s stomach fluttering. Whatever upgrades Melinda had made to his brain did not make him immune to this.