Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 27

******

Despite his objection to 'barbarian Outworld colonies', Stephen Oakshott put as much of his own fortune as he could spare into the Samothea Company. His main aim was to support Danielle.

Michio Nakatani also invested in the company. Unable to buy the hyperdrive technology for an outrageous amount, as he intended, Michio caused consternation to the board of directors by purchasing half-a-million pounds of shares in the Samothea Company. He also put up a quarter-million of his own money.

There was no business case for the investment, but Michio had his father's support. With the effect of the recent debacle still being felt by the corporation, the board could not currently risk showing disunity by challenging the father and son.

When Touma Nakatani backed Michio's investment, knowing his son wanted to help the colony for Yumi's sake, it was the final act of reconciliation between father and son: the moment when Michio could completely forgive his father.

Even with the committed monies, the Samothea Company had only 4.5 million galactic pounds, a long way short of their target.

Wildchild and Hazel knew how to fill the gap. They talked to Victor Bogdanov, suggesting he should buy into the new venture. After all, he took an interest in Samothea and his Chinese bedmates, Jia-Li and Hui-Yin, said he had too much money.

"My earnest young friends," Viktor replied, "what excellent advice. How much should I invest?"

"Every penny you have," said Wildchild.

"Dear Sam, I'm looking to make a profit."

"You will, in the long term."

"From what products, what raw materials, what natural resources of Samothea?"

"150 natural resources."

"You mean the women of Samothea? I agree that people are the ultimate resource but only when they have salable skills. What skills do the women of Samothea have?"

"We're expert survivors. We're kind, hard-working and patient. And although we're women, we get on pretty well without quarrelling. Those are skills."

"They are skills indeed, good ones, and valuable on Samothea itself, but they're not what you might call 'exportable'."

"We know you drove up the price of Danielle's hyperdrive technology," Hazel said. "You were the anonymous Outworld bidder. But you didn't want to own the technology. You just wanted to help us. So now you can help us some more."

"You make a convincing case, Hazel, but what if my purpose wasn't to help the Samothea Project make money but to cause someone else to lose money?"

"How did you make anyone lose money?"

"Well, a few people overpaid for the hyperspace technology. They might have bought it for less if others had not bid so much for it."

"Is that true, Viktor?" Wildchild asked. "Won't the owner of the technology make profits even if they overpaid? They'll just get smaller profits."

"Yes, indeed, but remember that real cost is opportunity cost, as I'm sure your lucky boyfriends have explained."

Ed and Rod had indeed explained basic economics to them, one principle of which is that the real cost of a good is not the price of the good but the goods that the consumer might otherwise have bought with the same money and must now do without.

"You mean that, thanks to your interventions, the bidders who paid more than they needed cannot now afford other things, and the others things they could have bought would have interfered with your plans," Hazel said.

"Exactly so."

"What other things?" Wildchild asked.

"Rival technologies, hyperspace infrastructure, tethered hyperspace links ... maybe a planet."

The girls silently looked at each other.

"What is it my friends?"

"We can't tell if you're teasing us or confessing."

"Confessing to what, Sam?"

"That you want to support the Samothea Company, to help Danielle buy our home planet."

"But there's no profit in it for me."

"Not everything's about profit, Viktor."

"Oh, Hazel, you sweet naive child. Only you could make me believe in human goodness."

"Now you're definitely teasing us," Wildchild said. "There is nothing evil in profit. We know you're pretending to be cynical, Viktor, but you're really begging for a reason to invest in the Samothea Company."

"But what reason could there be for me to invest?"

"The risk of missing out because someone else can see a gap in the market before you do."

"Go on, Sam, explain yourself."

"What I mean is, if real cost is opportunity cost, or the set of all things I might have bought instead of the goods I did buy; then isn't real profit 'opportunity profit', or the set of all profits you might have made if you had invested differently? And isn't opportunity profit greater than actual profit?"

"Bravo Sam!" Viktor said, laughing. "You're a born salesman. What you said makes no sense at all but it's completely convincing."

The girls laughed along with him.

"Does that mean you'll invest in Samothea?" Hazel asked.

"You girls are irresistible. You've persuaded me. I'll risk my future prosperity, and that of Hui-Yin and Jia-Li as well, on a bold throw of the dice. I will invest half-a-million galactic pounds in your white elephant. Do you know how many roubles that would be (if anyone besides the Russian government still used the things)?"

"57.8 trillion," Wildchild, the maths genius, said instantly.

When the girls reported their success to Danielle, she sounded sceptical, even more so when she heard the details of the peculiar conversation.

"He must have been teasing us," Wildchild said. "He just wanted us to persuade him."

"He would never have committed a penny if it had not been his purpose all along," Hazel agreed. "Besides, Hui-Yin and Jia-Li wouldn't let him squander their wealth."

"So either Viktor's playing a deep game or there's something he knows about Samothea that no one else does," Danielle concluded. "I wonder what it is?"

******

The last person to commit money to the Samothea Company was Hestia Smith on Capella Space Station. She earned 350,000 galactic pounds from her stake in the hyperdrive technology. Now she wanted to invest it all in a share of the planet Samothea.

Seeing her friend's name on an application for shares in the Samothea Company, Danielle contacted her urgently.

"Hestia, what are you doing?" Danielle protested. "Please don't risk your money on something that most likely will never return you a penny."

"I trust your genius," Hestia said. "Investing in your projects hasn't let me down yet."

"Samothea isn't an investment, Hestia. It's a hobby, an indulgence, or maybe a crusade. It's not designed to make any money. I'm buying the planet to give it to the women of Samothea. I'm sure I won't get a penny back."

"I understand that, Danielle, but there's nothing else I want the money for."

"There must be. You own half The Goat and Compass pub? Now you could buy a string of pubs, and a bunch of hotels besides."

"I agree the pub was a good investment but I was really investing in my own place of work. Now I'm thinking about a change of career."

Danielle looked quizzically at the gorgeous Entertainer. She knew that Hestia was brighter than she pretended to be, but Danielle had once had to explain some simple financial matters to her, who seemed not to grasp mathematics very clearly. There must be something else driving Hestia's action, beside an absurd faith in Danielle's brilliance.

Hestia read Danielle's mind perfectly. She said:

"You remember I once said I had the dream of living on a woman-only planet? I know I spoke facetiously and it's really just a fantasy - every woman's fantasy at some stage of her life, I think - but I want to keep the possibility alive. Maybe I can't use my stake in Samothea to steer the policy that way, but at least I'll have a voice in the discussions."

"Hestia, you're nuts. But you have a wealth of experience. I can't see that your voice in the company will be a bad thing. I'll do everything I can to make sure you don't lose out by helping me pursue my dream."

"I know that, Sweetie. We'll help each other."

"Though I'll have to tell you, I don't like the idea of a woman-only planet."

"Now you tell me!"

******

With money promised, the idea of buying a planet suddenly became very real. As co-directors, Danielle, Eva and Ezra set about properly structuring the company. At their first meeting, Danielle had a proposal:

"We need a business manager," she said, "and I know the best man to ask."

Eva opened her mouth to speak but Danielle cut her off.

"No, Eva, it doesn't have to be a man. It just is."

Eva smiled. "Who is it?"

"Andrew Claydon."

"Andrew? Who works for Outworld Ventures? Whose job it is to organise the settlement on Samothea of a million colonists?"

"Yes, that Andrew," Danielle said.

"All right, Sis," Ezra said. "Tell us why you think Andrew will be good for us and how you propose to poach him from Outworld Ventures."

"He's been to Samothea, where Gloria and the others liked him. He took their side as much as he could, proposing a National Park where the women could live somewhat protected from the effects of mass immigration ..."

"But Outworld Ventures rejected his idea," Eva interrupted.

"Yes, which may incline him even more to our side."

"Enough to leave Outworld Ventures and join us?" Ezra asked. "Have you spoken to him?"

"I haven't spoken to him yet but my theory is that, when we buy Samothea, Andrew's current role with Outworld Ventures will be redundant, so they may release him. My other reason to ask Andrew to join us is that I want to propose the National Park to our shareholders. He'll be the right man to implement the plan."

Danielle won their approval even without invoking her 50% share in the Samothea Company. They arranged the first full company meeting, sending out invitations to every shareholder and all interested parties.

5Student House

With the days on Celetaris at their shortest, Annela no longer walked Freya and Tahney to Fanshaw Park after school to play with Charlie-dog because Edgar Fanshaw got a reprieve from his bossy nurses. Most of the year, they made him take the energetic mutt to the park both morning and afternoon. Now he escaped his afternoon walk. He sometimes escaped the morning walk as well, when it was very wet and cold.

Instead, Edgar invited Annela and the girls for tea after school every day. The adults would sit by the fire and chat, while Freya and Tahney had hysterics chasing Charlie around the garden or up and down the conservatory, to the amusement of Edgar and the annoyance of his housekeeper and gardener.

Most days, Annela walked the girls to Edgar's elegant home along a leafy lane lined with comfortable weatherboarded houses. The houses were variations on a theme: different sizes and colours but mostly square with verandas, grassy yards and white picket fences. Some were two storeys high, others three storeys with attic rooms.

The last house on the corner before the road turned along the edge of Fanshaw Park had a large sign outside with the words 'For Sale/To Let' prominent in glowing white letters. It was on three floors. The top floor was a room in the attic, whose dormer windows opened to a balcony that ran around all four sides of the square roof, giving views of all the compass points.

To the north were the arable acres of the Fanshaw Estate's home farm, with its farmhouse, barns and grain silos. To the west were the playing fields of Fanshaw Park, with the lake hidden in the woods beyond.

To the south was the Science Park with its faculty towers. The central ocean was visible as a mist hanging over its surface. To the east in the foreground was a rooftop view of the avenues and green parks of the suburbs. In the background were the skyscrapers of the central business district: a ghostly city floating on the horizon.

Southwest, within the Science Park, were the apartment buildings where Danielle and Roger lived and where Annela and Ezra shared a rented flat with Solanj, Ash and Kalyndra. Northwest, behind a high yew hedge, was the handsome red brick Georgian mansion of Edgar Fanshaw, with its sash windows, English lawn and glass conservatory, full of over-wintering begonias, gardenia, fuchsia and other tender plants at risk from the boisterous girls and the careless mutt.

When Annela took the girls home, she had a question for Ezra.

"I saw a house near the school," she said. "It was for sale or to let. That means we could pay to live in it, doesn't it, like your apartment?"

"It does."

"How much is the rent on the house?"

"I can look it up. Why do you ask?"

"As a house for Hazel, Wildchild and Yael."

"Don't they like staying with Danielle?"

"They do, and Danielle wants them there; but things are pretty cramped. If the girls had a house to themselves, they could each have their own rooms. Then they could have all their belongings in one place. And they could have their bedmates to stay whenever they liked. In fact, the boys could live in the house as well."

Ezra found the house on the Commerce Web.

"It sounds ideal," he said. "There are seven bedrooms including a big room in the roof, and lots of space. Its rent is good value. Only ten galactic pounds a month."

"We can call it 'Student House'," Annela said.

"We need to work on the name."

The girls loved the idea of Student House. Whether or not they would spend any time there, rather than flit between the various locuses of their vagabond existence, was another question, but they were keen. Next term, they could also get more students to share. They had friends at the institute whom they would ask.

Ezra set the rent so low that Hazel and Wildchild could afford it out of their monthly stipend from Viktor Bogdanov.

Yael earned some pocket money from occasional modelling jobs for the photographer in the shopping mall. For whatever reason, good or bad, the women of Samothea were in the news again. Yael was convinced she could pay her rent if she got some more modelling jobs.

Ezra had a better idea.

"Yael, will you be the housekeeper if I let you live there rent-free?"

"What will the housekeeper do?"

"Make sure the house is kept clean and tidy and that all faults are reported to me, so I can get them repaired."

"Is that all? I'll be like a Junior, doing chores?"

"A lot like that, if you want."

"I want."

In fact, there would be little for her to do. The girls from Samothea loved doing chores and if they made a mess, they always cleared it up. They were practical and careful, so there would be few breakages or repairs. But it gave Yael some responsibility and allowed Ezra (who loved the girl like a daughter) to indulge her with free lodging without spoiling her.

"I think I'll take the attic room for myself," Yael announced. "Also, I think I should be called Madam Housekeeper; and you two," she said to Hazel and Wildchild, "ought to curtsey to me."

"Bugger that!" said Wildchild while Hazel smiled and patted Yael sympathetically on her perky little bottom.

******

The house came furnished with carpets, a fully supplied kitchen, chairs, tables, cutlery, crockery and even some paintings on the walls. There were a few things the girls needed to move in: some bedclothes, bathroom supplies, towels and a robot vacuum cleaner. With help from Joan, Peter and Kelly Mayfield, Ed, Rod, Annela, Ezra and all their friends from home, they moved into student house in a weekend.

Yael said a tearful goodbye to Danielle and Roger, as if she were leaving forever and would not be only 15 minutes away. But it was the start of a new adventure.

Although they refused to curtsey to her, Hazel and Wildchild happily let Yael have the bedroom in the attic with the 360° view from the square balcony. The girls themselves had adjoining bedrooms on the first floor, but they shared a bedroom when their boyfriends were not visiting.

Ed and Rod would not move in with their girlfriends to start with. They were paid up for the year on their rooms and, with important final year exams looming, would benefit from not having such strong sexual distractions.

Kelly was such a frequent visitor that she was given a wardrobe to herself but she shared Yael's room when she stayed overnight.

Danielle was sorry to see the girls go. Much as she loved having them around, she thought Roger preferred the peace and quiet. For once, she misread her husband.

Roger was such a naturally patient man, dominant only in the bedroom, that Danielle had to watch herself from taking him for granted. She rarely failed to appreciate him, and she loved when he asserted himself and took back control.

In this case, Danielle misinterpreted a remark Roger once made, that the girls were fun, helpful and friendly, but they took up a lot of room and caused a queue for the spare bathroom. She thought Roger meant he wanted his space back.

Then there was the nudity.

It started nearly six months ago, on the morning after the girls arrived. Roger came out of the bedroom to see them exercising in the living room, naked like the ancient gymnasts. Wildchild was doing vertical sit-ups with her legs hooked over the back of a chair, pulling herself up from an upside-down position. Hazel and Yael were on the floor, facing each other with legs spread wide apart, feet opposed, taking turns to pull each other and stretch their backs.

Roger went straight back to his bedroom. A minute later Danielle came out in her bathrobe, her hair in a towel, a toothbrush in her mouth. She took in the scene at once. Later that day, gifts arrived for the girls of shorts and sports bras, just to spare Roger's blushes.

The problem was that the girls did not much like tight-fitting underwear and regularly forgot to wear them. Unlike Ezra, Roger never got used to their nudity, yet he loved having the girls around, despite the inconvenience.

It was only after the girls left that Danielle realised her mistake. To rectify the problem of a sadly silent and uncluttered apartment, Danielle made them promise to come to all the communal meals, insisting they leave a change of clothes and a toothbrush in her apartment, in case they wanted to stay over when a dinner went on too long. So insistent was Danielle that the kitchen in Student House barely saw any activity. So Danielle and Roger enjoyed the company of the girls almost as much as when they lived together.

There was compensation as well. Now they could make love anywhere in their flat, whenever they wanted to, even on the thick shaggy rug in the living room (which needed washing every time Danielle squirted on it), or on the couch in front of the picture window with the glorious view of the Science Park and the faculty towers.

******

With his divorce from Sakura officially announced, Michio Nakatani thought it was the right time to visit Samothea, to see Yumi and meet his son, Hayate, at last.

Feeling the strain of separation from her family and friends, Yumi encouraged him to come. She thought more and more about her old love, encouraged by Ezra's sensible advice that, if Michio had changed, then it should be easy for her to forgive him and be a family. Her brother, Itsuki, told her how Michio had matured, standing up to his father and the board of directors. His honourable treatment of Sakura was exactly the kind of strength she could admire. The boy whom Yumi had loved but who let her down had become a man whom she could love again.

The Samothea Company had only one shuttlecraft flying missions between Celetaris and Samothea. Despite millions in the bank, it could not afford another one.

Michio booked three seats and took a Nakatani company transport to Celetaris with a hold full of hand-tools and construction materials for Yumi. He had two passengers: his friend, Itsuki, and Yumi's baby sister, Shinju, the little pearl. Not a baby anymore but a university student, Shinju was on her first adventure away from Earth. She was 13 when Yumi left Earth six years ago. Now Shinju was just 19 and going to see her big sister again. It was a thrill as great as leaving Earth to visit Celetaris and Samothea.