* * *
The gentle voice wakes her.
“Dr. Klice, we will be landing in 15 minutes.”
“Thank you Elise.” freshly roused, the words come out by reflex.
She scoffs at herself.
Thanking a damn zombie
As she looks out the window, she is surprised by how large the island actually is. She guesses it would take the better part of a day’s steady trekking to traverse one side from the other, more if traveling through the mountainous center.
Still, it is beautiful.
Marred only by what appears to be a city block’s worth of buildings on the razed swath at the center, dense forest radiates out, gradually giving way to vast meadows on rolling hills, ending abruptly at rocky cliffs looming over the crashing surf below.
So much for drinking margaritas on the beach
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She feels the slightest tug of inertia rightwards as they begin their long arc downward. An icon on the window indicates she is descending towards a cottage—no, that must be a trick of perspective—a mansion on one of the hilly plains.
And, even from this distance, she can see similar dwellings squat in distant meadows.
Other icons highlight what, if she strains her eyes enough, she can see to be other quad-rotors on approach, glinting in the sunlight, each ferrying their occupant to a separate hilltop retreat.
A private island with a house for each of 2 dozen honored guests. This is like Fyre 3.0, except I’m being paid to attend!
“I wonder how much this whole stunt is costing Thuma.”
She’s finally cracked under the tedium and is talking to Elise as though she is in the cabin with her, a real person.
“Surely just a drop in the ocean for him, but still, all said and done, this week will probably cost him as much as each of us makes in 10 years.”
“I am not permitted to reveal specific financial details, but Thuma wills that his honored guests suffer neither need nor want during their stay, and, accordingly, he has—“
“—lemme guess, ‘spared no expense’, right?”
“That is correct Dr. Klice.”
Well, if Thuma wants to butter us up, all the better, I could use the vacation
“There’s what, 2 dozen of us or so? The only people on a landmass little bigger than Mallorca, and each of us is alone—well, not all of us I guess. Stovich doesn’t travel with bodyguards, but Rainy will have her usual team. The PRC reps will definitely have a military attaché, Saudi-Heg guys too probably. The Schweitzer maybe not. And unless the media types and the other nerds have some serious delusions of grandeur, they won’t either. Clearly not me, Amal, or Reyes.
So, even with Thuma, that’s only about 30 people on an entire island.”
“I am not permitted to give precise details regarding other guest’s travel arrangements.”
“Thank you, Elise, you’re so helpful.”
I wonder if everyone else is enjoying such titillating conversation with their Elise?
* * *