Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

It was neither the cold nor even the dull cloudy days that depressed her. Though she had not yet lived through a proper winter, Yael had known freezing cold mornings in the White Mountains on Samothea, where the night-rain fell as snow. But it was different on Celetaris, where it was cold all day long, whether it was wet or dry.

A frosty morning had ice-sharp beauties for her to admire, and sometimes the sky was cloudless and piercing blue, which was enchanting. On the first day of snow, Yael took Freya and Tahney out in their winter coats and fur-lined boots to stamp on the frozen puddles and snap icicles from the boughs of trees in the park.

Even better was when the cold snap froze the lake in Fanshaw Park and the park warden tested the ice, approving it for skating. Luckily, it was still frozen at the weekend, when the carefree girls fetched Ed, Rod, Freya and Tahney and ran in an excited babble to the stalls set up by local entrepreneurs to hire out ice-skates.

Lights hung from the trees at one end of the lake and other stalls sold hot drinks and pastries. Logs were rolled onto the ice, to separate the beginners from the experienced and to give less confident skaters somewhere to rest between ambitious launches.

Expert skaters kindly lent hands or gave advice to beginners. Freya and Tahney were given plastic penguins almost their own heights to hold onto for balance, while Hazel, Wildchild and Yael held onto Ed and Rod, who were accomplished skaters already.

They came home thrilled and exhausted, determined to master another exciting new skill. Unfortunately, the cold snap quickly lifted and it rained all next day. The rain set in for the rest of the month. It was cold enough to be a nuisance but not cold enough for snow. Yael returned to her window-seat and sighed to see the rain wash the street outside and dribble down the windowpane.

Fun as learning to skate had been, Yael was a girl for summer and sunshine. Without snow, the only compensation she could see in cold weather was that it enhanced the beauty of her friends, heightening the contrasting colours of Annela, who had auburn hair and pale skin, and Hazel, the blonde with a peaches and cream complexion.

But the woman whose colour the cold did the most to augment was Wildchild. A faint blue tinge on her pale neck, cheek and forehead made a lovely contrast with the rosy colour that exercising in the cold brought to her high cheekbones. The damp on her wavy black hair and black eyelashes after the girls sprinted around the park on a bright cold morning, added even more sparkle to her electric green eyes.

Wildchild's beauty made Yael want to hug and kiss her more than normal, which Wildchild indulged this time, understanding Yael's needs perfectly.

One thing Yael disliked about winter was wearing so many clothes: a long skirt, a jumper and a hat, even gloves. Like all the women of Samothea, she loved dressing up, having had so few clothes in her life until now, but she preferred short skirts and thin skimpy tops. Her solution was to wear her short skirts over thick woollen stockings but she had no alternative to heavy jumpers and puffy coats if she did not want to freeze to death.

What Yael found most oppressive about the winter, despite its beauties, was to be inside when it was daylight. This was why she took to the window-seat and moped. Except for the members of the Cloner Council, the women of Samothea were used to an outdoor life, coming in only to escape the freezing night-rain. It seemed absurd for it to be cold and wet in the daytime.

Other things also changed due to the weather. Hazel and Wildchild spent more time with their boyfriends, who stayed over every night, keeping their girlfriends warm. Wildchild had never been so horny. She was gradually wearing out both Rod and Hazel. But Yael missed sharing a bed with her sisters in Danielle's flat, when they would snuggle and whisper secrets, comforting Yael while she missed Carlin and Ryan.

It was some compensation to sleep with Annela when Ezra was occupied with Solanj and Ash or Kalyndra, and it solved the problem because it was when they shared a bed that Annela discovered the cause of Yael's discomfort. The girl felt she was not needed as much as before.

The job of looking after Freya and Tahney was shared between anyone who fancied entertaining the girls, so Yael had fewer child duties.

Most of her friends were occupied now with work. Danielle spent every day and evening in her office, discussing with Eva and Ezra their bid for the planet Samothea, or she was on videochats with the accountants.

Roger had nearly finished his latest videobook on the Outworld Settlements, so he was confined to the library or his study, editing. Annela enjoyed her teaching job so much she asked for extra hours. Ryan was at the medical school in Arts City until the end of term, three weeks away.

Even Kelly was studying hard now and had no time for shopping or hanging out. Yael would be needed again when it came time to help her revise for exams but now the girl had to get her head down and cram her brain full of knowledge.

There should have been enough work to occupy Yael, with her normal physics lectures and her double homework to catch up on her missing education, but neither Danielle nor Rosa had spare time for the remedial lessons she and Wildchild shared, and Professor Jakovs postponed their advanced classes until the end of term because he had examinations to set.

Even Ezra, Yael's lifeline for cuddles and an interested listener when everyone else failed her, was either discussing business with Danielle and Eva, running the mining company he and Tatiana owned, or he was commandeered for sexual duties by his horny bedmates. Tatiana herself was out prospecting and not expected back for a while.

So Yael had hours by herself when it was too wet and cold to go out.

Annela spoke to Danielle, telling her how Yael felt. Despite having more work to do than ever, Danielle spent an hour she could hardly spare looking up data. Next morning at breakfast, she said to Yael:

"Come to my office for a chat this afternoon."

Yael arrived early, keen for anything new. Danielle called her in.

"Tell me about the jetfoils you and the others drove on the lake at Waterfall City," she said.

"Their engines work by pulses of laser-light that boil water in narrow tubes behind a valve, expelling the steam from a directional hose. Wildchild had the idea of using the technology on Samothea, to drive a large boat or as a pump in the Cloner's council hall. The pump could also be used by the Farmers for irrigation."

"I like the idea, but I think the engine will work just as well to drive a submarine."

"A submarine on Samothea?" Yael asked. "What for?"

"Do you remember a problem Andrew Claydon found with the ecology of Samothea? He said the oceans would become sterile within a century without large deep-diving animals, like whales, to stir up the ocean's layers above and below the thermocline."

"I remember. The whales bring up cold nutrient-rich water from the ocean-depths and bring down warm oxygen-rich water."

"Well, the cost of importing whales to stabilize the ecosystem is so large it wouldn't be possible even after the establishment of a million settlers and a functioning modern technological society."

"Because they need specialised transports and they're very heavy," Yael added.

"Exactly. But we can send lightweight parts to Samothea to assemble a submersible to do part of the ecological job that whales do. It will be powered by sunlight that will charge its batteries. The submarine will be lighter than water. The laser-powered engine will drive it deep under the ocean. When the batteries run down, it will float back up to the surface, where the photovoltaic cells will begin to recharge. When it's fully re-charged, the engine can drive the submersible into the depths again. What do you think? Do you want to make a computer model of a submarine?"

"I'd like to. But what about the x-rays?"

"That's why a submersible is so appropriate. The best shielding materials are the osmium alloy or thick concrete. Water's not quite as good but it's effective."

Yael told the computer to show figures and do a quick calculation.

"A metre of water is enough to stop the x-rays," she concluded. "But what happens when the submarine comes to the surface to recharge in the sunlight?"

"The parts of the submarine we need to shield, such as the batteries and the mechanism to turn the engine on or off, can be on the bottom of the craft. We know some kinds of solar collectors work on Samothea because Ezra's laser pen works and it's solar powered."

"The top surface can have solar panels," Yael said, already designing the submersibles in her head, adding: "It'll need a mechanism to keep the robot whale on the surface until its batteries have fully recharged. And it can go up and down across the thermocline many times before the batteries run out."

"It can be triggered by water pressure. Also, it'll need to be cheap to make and easy to transport in parts and assemble on Samothea. Eventually we want thousands of them."

"What about salt water?"

"You mean that boiling sea-water leaves a salt residue? The tubes can have non-stick surfaces and be washed through each cycle."

Yael began her new project (Hazel called them "Yael's whales") with her usual eagerness, researching submarines, bathyspheres and other submersibles, learning about the tensile strength of plastisteel and the mechanics of instruments to measure depth and water pressure.

It was an intellectual adventure that soon produced results: a computer model that could be tested in a virtual world.

******

Solanj knew the moment she was ready to pop. She had contractions all day.

They were at the dinner table in Danielle and Roger's apartment with all Ezra's bedmates. While Yael compelled everyone's attention with the story of her robot whales, Solanj stood up and announced:

"It's time."

Ezra was on alert. He gave his communicator an order and ran to fetch the hospital bag he and Ash had packed. Two minutes later, as the lift opened on the ground floor and as many women who could fit inside it helped Solanj to the entrance, they heard the whoosh and roar of a jetcar's engines as it landed outside.

"We could have taken the hoverbus, you know," Solanj said.

"I know," he said, helping her in. "And back home, you'd have walked or ridden a horse to your hut."

The seat extended sideways from the vehicle. Ezra sat her in it and it smoothly slid back in. He took the other front seat while Ash and Wildchild climbed in the back. The jetcar took off and the others made their way to the medical centre on foot.

At the hospital, Solanj refused a bed and an anaesthetic. Instead she squatted, supported by Ezra and Wildchild, while Ash mopped her brow and spoke encouragement. The nurses brought towels, hot water and bedpans. They dressed the bed anyway and paged a doctor.

There were no complications. Within two hours, Solanj bore a scrunched-up, wrinkled, beautiful six-pound girl, whom Ash caught in thick towels and presented to Solanj, calming the crying baby by putting her to her mother's tit. A few minutes later, after some more pushing, the job was done and Solanj now agreed to use the bed to rest. She sat up, suckling her daughter. As the girl sucked, Ash lay next to Solanj, with Ezra standing on the other side. Wildchild helped the nurses clean up.

Solanj was exhausted but fulfilled, high on endorphins but ready to sleep. Wildchild congratulated her with a kiss on the lips. She left the three bedmates together and reported to her friends who were waiting outside.

Next morning, Tahney was introduced to her sister and was so happy she danced. She shared her joy with Freya, who came with Annela and Kalyndra. Eventually everyone came to visit, crowding the room and bothering the nurses.

In the late afternoon, Solanj went home with Ezra and Ash to his reorganized flat. She promised not to leave her chair or her bed. In the evening, they set up a comms link in her room to the Council Chamber on Samothea, so that Madam Gloria and her Advisory Council could greet the newest daughter of Samothea.

"Congratulations, Madam Deputy Prefect," Gloria said. "That's good work. She's beautiful."

"Thank you, Madam, she sucks well."

"I expected as much. What are you calling her?"

"Ciashara."

"It's a lovely name. Fitting for another one of our blessed daughters. Ezra, are you there?"

"Yes, Gloria." He appeared from the corner of the room.

"You're to be congratulated as well, you lucky man."

"Thank you, Madam."

"There are others here to congratulate you both."

Gloria stood back while the Advisory Council lined up to give their best wishes in turn, ending with their newest member, Yumi, now Madam Scientist, who expressed shy but sincere admiration. She may even have cooed.

4The Samothea Company

The Samothea Project began as the informal name Danielle gave to the team who helped her develop the hyperdrive technology. Then it became the formal name of the enterprise based at the Celetaris Institute for Science, which managed contact with the planet and agitated for the interests of its inhabitants.

Now it was time to launch 'The Samothea Company': a business designed to raise enough money to buy the planet from Outworld Ventures, to set up trade deals for the colony, develop its natural resources and support its native population.

Incorporating the company was simple. Danielle, Eva and Ezra were co-directors (unpaid). Paul Kessler was lawyer (also unpaid). Bereded Solomon Partners were the accountants and there were many advisors. The company needed a business manager, for which Danielle had an idea.

Outworld Ventures informally asked for six million galactic pounds, so the current shortfall was 2.5 million. The Company's only capital was Danielle's 3.5 million in cash, the shuttlecraft, and an income from the tethered hyperspace links from Celetaris to New Exeter and Samothea.

The first task was to attract angel investors: moneyed people of good will who believed in the women of Samothea and did not mind investing in an enterprise that had little chance of delivering a return. There would be no profit for investors because selling stakes on the planet to settlers would be the only source of income for a generation or more, but the reason to buy the planet was to prevent disruptive colonisation.

Eva asked Elspeth Bereded if the Women's Business Initiative would buy shares in the Samothea Company. Elspeth responded quickly. She had no support to use the Initiative's own money but she agreed to exert her organisation's influence over Outworld Ventures to keep the price down. She committed her own firm to investing 50,000 in the company.

Ezra spoke to Edgar Fanshaw, who wanted to help, if only to oblige his young friends from Samothea who had brightened his twilight years, making him a friend when his family were away for long periods, too busy with work and life to visit him. However, although Edgar was rich, most of his wealth was tied up in his family's mining and transportation business. Having retired, he had little influence over the board of directors and could not persuade his children or grandchildren, who now ran the firm, to invest in a project that promised no profit. Reluctantly, he told Ezra he would use his own spare money to support the Samothea Company but there were no large sums available.

The mining venture that Ezra and Tatiana set up to exploit the molten moons around the white dwarf star was doing well, but they were highly leveraged ("up to the eyeballs," Ezra said). When the business expanded, there would be money available, but there was nothing to spare at the moment and no collateral for new loans of any real size.

Ezra pledged all his personal wealth, which Danielle refused, knowing he wanted to pay for rejuvenation therapies for the women of Samothea, though his fortune would barely cover the costs for his thirty bedmates.

Rosa and Herman had something to say to Danielle. They arrived in her office, prepared for an argument.

"We have 700,000 galactic pounds between us from the sale of the technology," Rosa said. "That's enough for ten lifetimes. We don't need that much money, so we're investing half in the company."

"I won't let you."

"It's our money," Herman said.

"And we'll have a say over the future of Samothea, which is our concern as much as yours," Rosa said. "We also want to see the women of Samothea flourish."

"Also," Herman added, "we're going to sponsor Ph.D. students at the institute, the way Stephen Oakshott sponsored our Ph.D.s."

"You've both thought this through?"

"Yes," Rosa said firmly.

"Then, thanks. We need the money. I just pray there'll be a return on your investment."

******

Roger called Mayor Esther Grandley to discuss his suspicion that she got the consortium of New Exeter businessmen to push up the price at the auction for the other bidders.

"Not me, Roger, my lad," she said. "I wish it were, but I don't have that kind of influence over the consortium."

"I thought they admired you and took your advice."

"Ha! You know businessmen. If they're not getting handouts from the government, they're only interested in short-term profits and playing safe."

"I know you're exaggerating, Esther. Thanks to you, New Exeter has a strictly free market constitution with full separation of state and economy. You can't give handouts to any business. That's also why New Exeter has the fastest growing economy in the galaxy."

"Well, that and our low starting-point. Yes, I admit the consortium has irritated me on this matter. Danielle's technology has been good for us and I'm convinced that taking a position on it would pay dividends; but they wouldn't even bid. They just sat there and nodded when I outlined the advantages."

Roger smiled at the image.

"You make it sound as if they're naughty children and you're their teacher."

"Aren't they? Aren't I?"

"They would certainly benefit from listening to you."

"Flatterer! All right, let's see what influence I have over them when it comes to investing in the Samothea Company. In fact, I might approach the organisation of small businesses. They're the real innovators and risk-takers, the true entrepreneurs. Big businesses just want to own infrastructure and charge rents. Small businesses are profit-seekers."

"Forgive a stupid question, Esther, but if that's true, why didn't you meet with small business representatives before?"

"Many reasons, some of them good. Small businesses tend to be wary of politicians, assuming they're only interested in getting elected or in favouring big businesses with corporate welfare. That's how Alexander Marazon operated, farming out government contracts to his friends."

"In my country on Earth, we called it 'socialism for Wall Street'."

"Quite so. Another reason is that small businessmen are so busy they don't have time for politics. Also, there are so many of them, they rarely reach a consensus, while the five or six biggest businesses usually see eye-to-eye on political matters. Mostly, I think it's because growing companies are often in debt, so they have no spare cash to invest in something outside their immediate concerns. However, I'll give it a try. They can only say 'No'."

"Good luck, Madam."

Esther had a friendly meeting but no luck. The businessmen, large and small, were grateful for her policies that kept the government off their backs, but they could not foresee the financial benefits of owning part of a planet so remote and with raw materials so difficult to exploit. Nor was there a big population to which they could sell large quantities of produce. The Samothea Company was not a good investment for them.