Bootstrap Colony 5 Snippet 1

 Here we go!

Chapter 1

 

Mitch Chambers, president of the Bootstrap Colony was getting heartily tired of politics. It was a series of endless meetings that talked subjects to death without really getting anything done. And trying to keep it all straight was a chore.

Fortunately, he had only 2 weeks left before he and his pilot Jacklynn Smith departed for space and their own world once more.

They hadn’t made much headway on the various fronts and agendas he’d set for them. Goals, he reminded himself. The asteroid, trade, immigration, and so on.

Things were moving faster now that he’d made it clear that it was a hard deadline. People were starting to actually pay attention to it. He was serious. The hill and certain parties seemed to focus better when there was a hard deadline. What was the line about the prospect of a hanging focusing one’s attention? He snorted softly to himself.

He sometimes wondered why they’d come to Earth at all. Oh yeah, the asteroid, and yeah, kicking humanity into the next phase of their civilization. Hell, if they just kept the asteroid from hitting it would be a miracle at this stage, he mused darkly.

When they had arrived in orbit they’d made contact with the International Space Station. It had taken a lot of negotiating to get them to the ground safely. But after that the plan had been derailed for a bit as they’d been isolated and poked and prodded. Certain authorities had made it clear that they were no longer in control of the situation and that they wouldn’t honor the agreements they’d made.

Mitch however had an ace up his sleeve, the alien constructs called Memes that had brought him back to Earth.

The Memes looked like flying squid jellyfish. Glowing ones, some tiny, some ginormous. The one that was assigned to their mission had a tongue twisting name. He just called it MRE.

The Memes were ancient alien AI energy beings that were programmed to bring flora and fauna under threat of extinction to a series of alien terraformed worlds. The colony worlds had near circular continents with different populations of species on them.

Through a bit of luck and some shrewd guess work, hell, a lot of it related to his background as a Sci-Fi nerd he had accurately identified what they were. In doing so he had triggered a new program in the Memes and he and his people had been reclassed as Inheritors. They were now helping him and the humans on the colony he had tentatively labeled Bootstrap.

What they were helping with was still in flux. Obviously moving back and forth between Earth and the colony was one big thing. But they had their limits.

Before he had left he had given Bob as much power and money as he had left over in order to warn the population and get them to act. Bob had managed to get his transit recorded by the media. The major media networks had scoffed at it.

Bob and his family had unfortunately died in a car accident so he couldn’t push the issue and get mankind mobilized. But he had managed to get certain parties to actually find the damn rock and do something about it.

So far they had tried three times and failed. It was becoming something of a running joke. Which was one reason Mitch was there.

Mitch had realized he had to do something to resurrect his old company in order to look out for his colony’s interests. He had ended up hiring Perry Jackson to represent their interests and get things back on track. He sat down with Perry and his assistants for an afternoon and outlined their objectives.

Perry was keen on stopping the asteroid of course, and was professionally interested in moving people. But he warned that they had a lot of legal and technical hurdles to cross. “Legal as in getting you legal immunity. Full diplomatic immunity, not the paper they gave you.”

Mitch frowned.

“And then the other things to shield you and the company from liability. After that we can get into the nuts and bolts about how to fund that station you want, and set up a balance of trade.”

Mitch nodded. “One thing at a time I guess.”

“So, three thousand… nine hundred and seven people allowed? Why that number?” Perry asked.

“Not my call. The Memes told us that. It is based on the original number of people they brought over. They brought ten thousand, only three thousand three hundred and twenty-one of us survived. Since then we’ve had some kids born, and well… they will allow that cap to ten grand. I’m hoping to change it, but we’ll see.”

Perry nodded and made a note.

“Still on that subject, everyone who wants to apply has to pass a series of medical checks by them. Again,” he spread his hands apart in supplication. “Not my call. Assumption, it is to make sure those that come over are viable for a stable population and so on.”

“Not passing on bad genes?”

“Something to that effect I believe.” Mitch nodded.

“Right,” Perry made another note. “On the subject of Ryans Corporation…”

Mitch cocked his head.

“I’d tread carefully.”

Mitch nodded. “Anything in particular I should watch for? Land mines?”

“Oh tons,” Perry said as he sat back. “There is a shadow corporation, a series of shell companies that no one can trace. They bought up Ryans Corporation. All of the publicly available stock I mean.”

Mitch frowned thoughtfully. After a moment he nodded.

“Beyond that, most people try not to get too nosy.”

“Ah?”

“They are the sort of people that do not play nice with being in the spotlight.”

“Cockroaches do tend to scurry when you shine a light on them,” Mitch growled. In his mind he was picturing giant centipedes like those he’d encountered in the back caverns of his base a few times.

He had to be wary of them too. They too bit and could kill a person very easily. “Can you dig into them a bit? And their story?”

Perry grimaced but then nodded. “You aren’t going public right?”

“Hell no. Not if I can help it. We’re big about being independent. Scrappy and independent,” Mitch replied with a sniff.

Perry nodded. “Good to know. I’ll look around. But quietly.”

“Thanks. I generally tend to look before I leap whenever possible.”

Perry gave him a look and then snorted slightly.

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