On to the snippet!
To Touch the
Stars
Chapter 1
continued
Mario
wool gathered as he sat in his chair. He was amused and slightly disgusted by
the image he presented to the family of an ancient man too stubborn to die
stuck in an arm chair. Well, at least it wasn't a rocking chair he thought,
stroking the fur of the coonie in his lap.
He
considered Adam. Adam was... he sighed thoughtfully. He caught the look Sydney
shot his way but just wiggled his fingers and ignored it. Geronimo purred in
his lap, lulling him a bit. Adam... his latest get rich quick scheme was
laughable on its face. He'd heard it for decades. The kid did have a point
about being so resentful that they had gone into other investments though, but
there was an old rule about lending money to family or friends Mario thought.
You didn't if you wanted to keep them on good terms in the long run. Or you
gave the money to them as a gift, not a loan.
They'd
done that with Wanda's grand nephew... old what's his name. He was one of the
reasons that Mario was so leery about backing Adam. The bastard had come to
friends and family, leaned hard on them to invest on his scheme to go to the
asteroid belt to mine during the initial gold rush era 74 years ago he thought.
When he'd played out the family he'd turned to a ponzi scheme, using the money
he'd gotten from the family to pay off the initial investors. Not one
questioned it, no one realized he hadn't launched a thing! Not until Mario had
heard about it and blown the whistle on the bastard. He and Wanda had thrown
down with a massive fight that had lasted days until the investigation had
proven Mario right. Mario had relearned an important lesson... well two of
them. One, and I told you so was not good for a marriage. And two, being right
didn't help him either with Wanda, she'd resented the situation for weeks. He
sighed.
The
mess there and all the investment schemes that hadn't panned out fell like a
house of cards eventually, souring many people on investing in space for a few
years. Those had been lean years for Mars, the moon, and the belt. In fact, the
moon had been temporarily abandoned for a brief period before investors and
astronauts had gotten it back on track by volunteer work and the proposed L-5
colonies.
At
least some of their investments in the miners had paid off Mario mused. Luigi
had put some of his own money in, but only as a full on shareholder or
investor. He'd insisted on a stake, either a piece of ownership of the craft or
whatever they found and pulled out. He'd been careful too, doing his homework and
researching not only the players involved but also their resources, additional
financing and equipment. He'd spent long hours acting as a consultant to
squeeze every bit out of their plan too which explained why all but one project
had succeeded wildly.
Both
Mario brothers hadn't bought in to the crowd funding schemes. They were
supposed to be the evolved version of investing. What they really were was
bubkis, Mario thought darkly. You get the promise of an end product, or some
sort of gratitude. Your name here crap. He'd learned once when one project he'd
thought for sure would get off the ground had failed miserably not to get near
the projects.
Two of
the Irons family had gone to the belt. One was still alive, Irena, married and
working in the Ceres cantina which also served as one of the centers of
business and other things for the small mining town. Or so he'd last heard.
She'd asked for a single hand out to grubstake a couple buddies, and another to
get her side business playing outfitter going. The loan to her buddies had
failed, but the outfitting business was still going strong. She was making
money buy the bushel, sending back a tithe to the family electronically. She
didn't quibble about it either. Betsy had, after all, it was her daughter, but Mario
had convinced her to use the money as additional seed money to look after the
kids. That had mollified her.
The
hand had been out to other descendants of the original Mars explorers as well.
In fact for decades they had been favored by Mario and Wanda over most anyone
else. Only Luigi bet on people who had a good business plan. The Longfeathers
and their Mars Aerospace Company, they had needed seed money as well as funding
and help getting Latisha Sominall and her family back to Mars.
Briefly
he remembered the Han family. The daughter of their friends and colleagues
Chung Yin and Li Han had emigrated to Mars when she'd gotten her medical
degree, then she had set up her medical practice with help from the Irons
family. She'd moved other Chinese and Asians to Mars, then they'd set up their
own community away from the central communities. That hadn't sat well with some
of the colonists.
He put
the thought aside as he refocused on some of the other investments made over
the decades. Some investments had been in time, support, a friendly word,
money, or other resources hadn't panned out... or they'd gone their own way and
conveniently forgotten the helping hand they'd been given. That was fine, Mario
and Luigi hadn't done it to collect favors like some sort of mob boss. Well,
they did collect favors but... he sighed again annoyed with his train of
thought. He really was getting old, he thought in disgust.
He
refocused his mind on Lagroose industries and how the small seed investment,
really a loan Luigi had insisted on giving Jack had grown into an incredibly
powerful oak. Jack had been a good kid, but something in him had gotten to
Luigi. That spark, the drive. He hadn't been a big talker, he'd been a do-er.
He still was for that matter. He had a gift for synthesis, the ability to see
things others were blind to and pull them together into a working system no one
had thought of before. To conceptualize something, he wasn't an innovator but
he could see past the blind spots others had. His family had been into law
enforcement and animals for years but he had that trustworthy face and gift for
getting it done, the zest for life the young had... Mario shook his head. He
was getting maudlin again he reminded himself.
It had
come at just the right time he mused. The genetic engineering scandals had lit
a fire under Jack's mom to push her son into space. Brian Dagle had been
friends of their family, he'd called Luigi. Mario didn't know all the details
but he did know whatever Jack had said when he'd fast talked his brother it had
worked and been worth it, he'd gotten his ticket off the planet as well as his
initial seed money to start his business. They'd been scrupulously honest about
the whole thing, making certain it had been written up legally as an
investment. The family had shares in Lagroose industries, shares they held to
the current day.
Geronimo's
tail flicked in annoyance at his distraction so he directed his hand to keep
petting. After a moment the purring started once again. He smiled softly. Some
things never changed he thought in amusement. Nor should they.
Jack,
he frowned. Jack had bought some of their shares out, he remembered. Not
totally, but a lot. Luigi had agreed to give him his vote on the board too
since Jack had to contend with politics in his business. Mario was all for
that, he didn't want to have to deal with the extra headache. Lagroose
industries was a megacorp, a diverse conglomerate of high tech operations
scattered throughout the solar system. They were hands down the largest
corporation in human history, beyond Google, Microsoft, the works, he thought,
stroking the coonie.
They
weren't just into industry... or at least not just metal industry, he thought,
then felt a flush of annoyance at how he'd thought that. He really should write
a memoir or something, do something to pass the time. He frowned. People had
been after him to do that very thing for years, he remembered. He'd resisted
because he thought it was stupid. He for one wasn't interested in reading some
old fart's memories.
He
shook his head. Geronimo stretched out a paw, spreading his toes and then
yawned. He snorted at the animals cute antics. The coonie got up, turned
around, then resettled himself. The tail tucked in and then his breathing
softened once more.
“Glad
that's settled,” Mario murmured. He sat back, rubbing his chin. He needed a
shave, he thought. “Oh yes,” he murmured thoughtfully.
Jack
was a legend. It had started long before his epic beanstalk project, building a
skyhook on Earth. Or the follow up, when he'd had to deal with his fame and the
antics of Emerite Space Initiative. ESI was gone now, long digested by Lagroose
without a hint of a burp.
As he
was thinking, he smiled wryly at his mental poke at himself. Jack hadn't let
much grass grow under him. He'd diversified, buying into genetic engineering
projects, making cloned tissue... he ran a hand over his chest briefly. He owed
Jack for his own cloned organs. He wasn't sure if he should be grateful or not.
Jack
hadn't done all that investing in medical technology purely for greed and
profit. No, he'd seen the hoops the medical industry was going through on the
ground, the fliverous lawsuits, the hemming in on both sides over everything
and anything. He hadn't been interested in it until his uncle had been
critically injured. Only Jack and his prosthetic initiative had saved his life.
Mario
looked back over the past... how Jack had set up his company, doing buy outs
and such but always dealing fairly with friend and foe alike whenever possible.
He'd been the one who had stepped in when the space colonies had been on the
verge of bankruptcy and turned them around. He'd built L-5 colonies, Moon base
expansion projects, tapped the sun for plasma for his company's research and
energy needs, and was currently working on terraforming Venus and more. Much,
much more. Adam could learn a lot from Jack, Mario thought.
He was
aware, well, sort of aware... not really officially aware... he smiled
to himself. He was aware of some of the other projects Jack was involved in.
Genetic engineering was far beyond the basics of organ replacement for one. He
knew because Hope Reshenkov, sister to Sydney had worked on the first dolphin
and aquafarm projects for a number of years. She'd signed an NDA but that
hadn't stopped her from whispering things to Sydney when she'd come home.
Things both ladies had thought he'd missed since at the time he'd pretended to
be snoozing. It was fine, technically he was on the board even if Jack held his
proxi vote. What annoyed him was that Jack didn't bother to brief him on
such things. Or the board, though he couldn't blame Jack in that instance. Oh
he knew the more people that knew a secret the less secret it was, but it
bothered him.
The
dolphins explained why Jack had imported so much fish for a number of decades
but hadn't explained the fruits and investment in zoos, primate research
centers, the frozen genome projects, or the import of dogs and cats. He stroked
Geronimo again. Well, okay, maybe the cats were explained by the coonies and
their ilk. The designer pets Lagroose exported were popular on Mars.
They
were also heavily involved in the growing use of AI. Mario was fairly certain
Lagroose had some of the best AI, but not necessarily the best. There were at
least 2, maybe 3 other specialized software companies that might have them
beat.
He
frowned, then shrugged. The AI weren't his problem. Robots now... his eyes lit
with a bit of fire as he pulled out his tablet and looked at a website Lagroose
had set up. Some of the bots were androids in all but name. Some were droids.
What they didn't advertise was their nanotech.
No one
knew Jack had offered an extremely dangerous reverse aging method that relied
on nanotech to Mario. He'd also offered some conventional other methods his
company offered to rich clients. Mario had politely refused them all. He'd
earned his years. He also firmly believed in not standing in the way of his
kids and grandchildren. They needed to be their own people, not his shadow.
They deserved to stand on their own two feet in the sun and damn well earn
their own respect.
Lagroose
industries and others moving rocks around or building bases inside them.
Lagroose wasn't shy about breaking massive rocks down for its orbital smelters.
There were still some Earthers who protested that, but they were largely
ignored.
Mars
orbit was aswarm with rocks, stations, and other facilities. Over the past 2
decades Lagroose and Pavilion had begun to shift their operations to Mars due
to the favorable laws and atmosphere. The space around Earth was hostile in
many respects. Also, companies like Lagroose were building their newest space
stations with their new force emitters as a means of creating artificial
gravity. Or at least that was the plan.
So far they had stuck to building centrifuge stations when the station wasn't
burrowed into a convenient rock.
Lagroose
had facilities all over the system, just about every planet had some outpost
even if it was unmanned. Some of their largest were the research centers in
belt as well as their smelting stations and shipyards. There were rumors in the
media of stations outside the solar system. Mario knew them to be true but he
refused to break any confidences over them.
Ceres
had been enshrined as a landmark as had many of the dwarf planets. In order to
appease the grounders the megacorps had avoided them. But a few had been
settled anyway but independent outfits. Many grounders didn't know that Ceres
had a small mining town burrowed inside the rock. If they only knew just how
far Irena and her friends had gone...
All in
all, Jack had been a worthy investment. Mankind, the solar system.. human
civilization had benefited greatly, perhaps even more than what Luigi and Mario
themselves had done he thought. Definitely more, he thought. Sure they'd blazed
the trail for people like Jack, but Jack had been the one to see the
opportunity and seize it.
He
wondered if Adam would if someone believed enough in him. But he had to prove
himself. The kid was still too flighty. He danced from one project to the next.
He refused to accept blame when he was let go from a project. Mario had his own
contacts, he'd learned that Adam had gone in all excited and full of energy,
but when he hit a problem he imploded, it was like he hit a wall. He just gave
up, refusing to focus on the project. He then went on to look for new things
and became a liability to the project. But woe if anyone told him that! He
sighed as he realized, even in his advanced age he wasn't willing to come out
and do it. He was blunt to the point of rude, but... but not with his grandson.
No.
Jack,
he thought. Jack might have something, even a shit tech job for the kid. He
wasn't sure if he wanted to call the favor in, but if it straightened him
out... he made up his mind to do it before the purring lulled him into a doze.
