6:30 A.M. in Section H, home of the Manpower Corporation.

Turnabout was fair play, so Eric felt no guilt at all about rudely waking John up early when something important was happening. The problem was, for John, everything was an emergency that needed Eric, while Eric solved his own problems. But today was different. This problem needed John up and functional, immediately. He'd already sent John an email, two phone calls, and a call on his 'emergency phone that I always answer', but with no response. So now he was walking into John's apartment with a pot of coffee, intending to either pour it down John's throat, or over his head. Either solution worked. To Eric's way of thinking, if John hadn't meant for Eric to have a master keycard that opened all the doors in Manpower's HQ, he should have had someone else handling security and making the keycards.

"Get up, John, or I'm dragging you and whoever you're sleeping with out of bed and tossing you into a cold shower." There was a half-snore, which turned into a grumble. A feminine voice said, "Screw that. I'm taking the shower, and I don't need help from either of you." After a minute, John appeared, looking poorly, and accepted the cup of coffee from Eric. Eric ordered breakfast and more coffee from the cafeteria. Then he sat in a chair and sipped from his mug of coffee while his boss pulled himself together. Breakfast and the second pot arrived before John could do more than mumble and glare. Myra came out of the bedroom, dressed and groomed with damp hair. She took in Eric's relaxed attitude and John, still in his morning routine, trying to wake up. No one was yelling so it couldn't be an emergency. On that, she was incorrect.

"Nice to see you again, Eric. I'll leave you boys to catch up. I have an 8 a.m. meeting to try and get a handle on our marketing." John had tasked marketing to devise a two-week blitz of advertising to highlight Manpower's expansion in the habitat and hopefully raise some outside investment to bridge the gap until Belinda got access to her money and could bail her step-father's company out of high-interest loans. (The irony being that 67% of Manpower's stock was owned by Belinda's trust. She'd be loaning money to herself.) All of that work was worthless now in the changing landscape where they had Rhebus as new neighbors.

Eric was valuing Myra more these days. He'd assumed early on, that this relationship would end badly like any other relationship John got into. It hadn't, and as Myra felt more confident, she started flexing her brain instead of other parts of her anatomy. She spent more and more nights with John, and no one bought his excuse of 'brainstorming the next marketing campaign.' But she was getting him to meetings on time and keeping the majority of his attention focused on the company. Eric had misgivings about John's relationship with someone working for the company, but better a long-term relationship with Myra than a half-dozen different women. She was only average as a marketing director but was proving great at babysitting John. Eric hired two good assistant marketing directors, paid them the same as Myra, and things worked out. Eric had a flawed set of tools to get the job done but was doing the best with what he had.

"Actually, Myra, I need you to stick around for this meeting. Grab coffee and food, and pull out your data pad. We've got work to do, and you and John have a plane to catch." Myra started to say something, then shrugged and did as Eric had asked.

That got John's attention. "A plane? Where? Why?"

"Because things have changed again. I've been up most of the night and in conferences with people on the other side of the world. Not only is Rhebus moving in, but Claw Master is taking more of the habitat, and the two of them have a joint agreement with the people running GENESIS. They called me early this morning and had some interesting things to say. And that means you and Myra will be on a chartered flight to Geneva one hour and thirty minutes from now, along with the rest of the corporation executives and top managers. Everyone we can spare is going."

Myra froze for a moment, then talked quickly. "You got us a deal! I need the details. We have to get out in front of this. Pre-announcements. Hints to 'certain sources'. I need to get people's attention so John can be interviewed about the changes and Manpower's plans for the future."

"Wait...what plans? How do you know what Eric is talking about." John grabbed two Danish, hoping the sugar rush would wake him up. He was terrible in the morning, a bad habit he'd picked up in college from playing MMO's all night long.

Myra was making entries on her pad and sending messages. "I have no idea. Other than it's big, it involves GENESIS, Claw Master, or Rhebus. There's a large tech gathering in Geneva for the next two weeks, and none of those companies were going. Now they are, and so are we. So I know I need to set up interviews and plan a marketing campaign."

Eric nodded slowly. "Very good, Myra. You'll have the details momentarily. The basics are this: Rhebus and Claw Master will offer medical services to some of the Contract Workers in the GENESIS game. The work will be done here in the South Philadelphia Habitat. This is the main reason for the expansion of both corporations into this space. Those workers have five year contracts and need supervised storage and care for their pods. We have an expanding company specializing in exactly that. Manpower doesn't need to worry about the costs of expansion. We'll be doing work in sections of the habitat that the other three corporations fully rehabilitate. Our contract is caring for those workers and their pods. Twenty thousand will be undergoing medical procedures over the next five years, with another eighty thousand getting standard care. And we collect a fee on each and every one of them."

"That's a lot of money." John was awake now. "Holy shit! That's a tremendous amount of money. We'll need to hire or train staff to handle that expansion, expand our training school, hire more instructors for the school, and set up more living areas for employees. Put in a call to that engineering group we used before, Eric. They did good work and have done preliminary assessments on the habitat already. Get them in here to do the work we need. Damn, that's a lot of money!"

"Yes, it is, John, which is why you, Myra, and everyone else are heading to Geneva for two weeks of fine dining, late-night planning sessions, and haggling over the fine details of the contracts. You get a power vacation. I'll hold down the fort here. And take care of Belinda."

John's face fell. "Shit. Belinda? Can't we take her with us? I'm nervous about leaving her here without me."

Eric looked at his watch. "There isn't time to set up the medical care that she needs, and the permits needed for her pod and medical equipment. We can't set that up in a hotel room, she needs a full time nurse, a doctor on call, and a plan in case of an emergency. She has that here, not in Geneva. Trust me, John, I won't let anything happen to her. I've got some plans in the works that will surprise Victor and keep him off balance. And Belinda told me she absolutely isn't going to Geneva. She hates being on public display. B for the first few days, Victor will think she is with you. She's going to message him when she 'wakes up on the plane' and complain to Uncle Vic about you not giving her a choice about going. I'm going to rant and rave about you having this all planned out, the paperwork taken care of, and how you whisked away Belinda before anyone knew. If he checks her rooms, he won't find her. She gets her pod back today and plans to be in it for two weeks, playing with her friends. We're moving her real pod elsewhere. And I know this will make you happy; She promised she'd sign all the paperwork you needed from her before heading to fantasy land. Now let's get moving. I need you to sign a few things before heading to the airport. You have one hour and fifteen minutes left."

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

He pulled out a stack of paperwork; each contract pulled back to the spot John needed to sign. "Myra, get going and rally the troops. We're going to compensate every for the way things are going down. There's a bonus of a week's pay for anyone on time at the airport and tickets to the opera in Geneva. They can shower and buy new clothes on their company accounts when they get there. Same with you." Myra left at the run, thoughts of a free European wardrobe dancing in her head. Eric handed John a pen.

Six quick signatures later, John was in the shower, and Eric was packing his bags. Four helicopters picked up the Manpower employees from the top of the habitat, whisking them away to the airport and a chartered flight to Europe. Eric didn't relax. He had another boss to go visit.

----------------------------------------

Victor was woken by his bodyguards. They were very cautious when doing this. The old man still slept with a pistol under his pillow, and his dreams were increasingly bad as he got older. "Mr. Eric Kresthammer is here to see you, sir. He says it's urgent. John Sabbatino and most of his staff took off by helicopter only minutes ago, flying to Geneva. Without the girl or anything large enough to be a pod."

Victor got up groggily, threw on a smoking jacket and slippers, and met Eric in the next room. "Good morning, Mr. Eric. Are you up early or late? Oh, I see that it doesn't matter, you have vodka in your hand. Well, pour me one as well. Someone get us breakfast. Eggs and scrapple today." Victor had discovered Scrapple and liked it. Everyone else who hadn't been born in Pennsylvania was trying to forget about it.

"Now, what is up that has the rats fleeing their ship?"

Eric took his eggs and the horrible fried breakfast meat and sat across from Victor, smiling. "Oh, not much. I arranged a medium-sized business deal to take place at the Geneva Tech Conference. John was ecstatic to make the trip and excited about the money I may have hinted at. He's hurting for cash and dangling a deal in front of him got him out the door quickly. Of course, such a big deal needed almost everyone to go. I insisted that all the managers go as well, and set up the tickets and hotel rooms ahead of time along with the helicopters to whisk them away. The place is a ghost town. The conference is two weeks, and trust me, things will progress slowly for him."

Victor raised an eyebrow in appreciation. Eric thought of the most curious ways to out-think John. Of course, John made it so easy. "So we can leave anytime then."

"I would suggest leaving early and moving forward with the schedule. An interesting situation occurred. Belinda's doctors had plans of their own. They seemed to be chaffing under your leadership and wanted to take all of their research and leave. They also made plans to take Belinda with them and hold her for a trillion dollars in ransom."

Victor surged to his feet, scattering food to the floor. "I will kill them!" His bodyguards tensed, waiting for orders. Eric said calmly. "No, you won't." and threw back the vodka in front of him.

Victor stared at Eric, and Eric stared back. Finally, Victor chuckled and then laughed loudly. "Oh, I won't? Is that because you can't kill someone twice?"

Eric spread his hands. "My job, now, is making the sausage; yours is doing nothing that draws attention. You have to be there for Belinda. You're all the family she has left. Let's not sully this discussion with details, other than to mention that there are some very deep holes underneath this building where things go to be lost. Very deep."

Victor nodded. "And Belinda?"

Eric poured two vodkas and slid one to Victor. "Belinda got her pod back this morning, and I helped her set things up for a month-long vacation in the game. She's essentially in a coma and won't know anything until you get to where you need to go. I have her pod already being shipped to the airport, with what's left of Manpower's security. I don't know all of what her doctor's planned and who else might be in on their double-cross, so I wanted her on her way and under guard. All your paperwork is ready. John also thinks she's in the game, and for some reason, he thinks he's still her guardian. I'm filing the paperwork with a judge as we speak, to transfer custody to you, and allow you to transport her overseas, for medical treatments. I'll send the paperwork as soon as they rubberstamp the forms. Talk to your lawyer in Prague."

"You make good sausage, Mr. Eric. And you are right; I don't need to know how you do it." They clinked glasses and downed the vodka.

"When do we leave? And when will I see you?"

Eric poured more of the clear alcohol. The taste of the vodka helped him deal with the scrapple. "Your plane is ready to take off. We used one of the firms you've used before, of course, so no trouble with the pilot if you need to alter your flight plans.. Belinda is being transported, as we speak, in a special ambulance. You can leave anytime in the next six hours. A helicopter waits on the roof, and a chartered plane is at the airport. Officials have been taken care of. As for me, I will play out the charade here, reporting to John for the next two weeks, then heading to my new house in Prague for a few days off, where a lovely young woman will be helping me learn Russian, among other things. I'll meet you and Belinda when you are ready to wake her up. I'm looking forward to a few days off and a better standard of living."

Victor chuckled again. "And a certain lovely young teacher of Russian. I approve. You've done good work, and need to relax. Vodka can only wash away some of the stress and bad memories. I will see you in Prague. And I think your advice of leaving early is good. Better to be spontaneous and keep my watchers wondering what happened. I am off to the airport. The sooner I am out of this country, the better." He clapped Eric on the shoulder as he left. Eric waited a moment, then put the cap back on the bottle of vodka, and pushed it away from him. He ate the rest of his breakfast while thinking about his plans for the future.