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Chapter 16

Chapter 16

July 17th 2157

Much to Logan's delight, the day went very smoothly, counting only a few minor hiccups.  After the initial sales pitch for the commercial use of the two patents, the group then began the entertainment portion of the trip.  The company had arranged for the crawler to take the group up and out into space.

Logan wouldn't be joining them, because every kilogram of weight sent into space cost money.  The group would be met with another company translator who would finish up the tour.  This meant that his job was almost done, and he would be catching a public train back home.

The company wouldn't pay to transport him back on the luxury shuttle that he came out on.  He would be shoved onto a mass transit Maglev train that ferried workers to and from the platform.  The platform itself was a city and people lived there all year round.  It had four schools two hospitals an entertainment and commercial hub, as well as living quarters for half a million people.

It was the industrial market that kept most people working on both platforms; work was mainly focused on shipping.  Ocean ships would bring people and cargo destined for space, once it docked at the platform the people and cargo would be temporarily housed until time came to load them onto the crawler and then would make the trip up and out of earth’s atmosphere to the space platform.

Once at the space platform crew would separate the cargo and ship it to its final destination.  The same happened the opposite direction as well.  Cargo, which was primarily, mined goods, but also included tech would be sent on the crawler back to the ocean platform, and then shipped out to their final destinations.

This was the second of two space elevators on earth.  The company built the first one in the pacific almost a century ago.  Back then, the company had officially left the confines of the United States and had relocated to a floating man made island in the Pacific.

The company declared it's independence and began to run itself according to it's own guidelines set up by the Board, the CEO, and share holders.  The company already had a strong security force, specially trained for any number of scenarios.

The government of the United States was furious.  One of the largest and most profitable companies in the world had declared it's independence and they would loose on all taxable revenue from the company, plus the thousands of scientists, engineers and highly trained security that worked for the company.

The US government petitioned the United Nations to be able to "reclaim" the company.  Because the company was no longer on US soil, and separated peacefully, the United Nations announced that they recognized the independence of the company, as it's own nation.

Shortly after the announcement from the United Nations, the company made an announcement of their own.  Any and all who are willing to work can apply to work for the company, and therefore become a citizen of this new forming country.

Thousands flocked in from around the world, and the floating island became a floating nation of close to two million in its first year.  Many who came were the smartest and brightest minds of the world.  The company began to produce, engineer, create, and build.  Before it's fifth birthday, the gross national product of the new nation was in the top five in the world, specializing in technology.  It was then that the company started building the first space elevator.

First the two platforms were build, one of which was sent into space piece by piece on many rockets.  The other found it's home floating in the Pacific.  Then a nanotube cable was attached to a small super orbital airplane, which flew from the space platform into the atmosphere.  Once in the atmosphere and still towing the cable, it met with two helicopters with a hook like.  The plane flew in between and hooked the nanotube weave.  The cable was released from the plane and the helicopters guided the cable to the ocean platform and first connection was made.

The company now had a much more affordable method of taking large amounts of mass into space.  Even though they were not the first private company to reach space, they now had the most affordable method of transportation, and began to dominate the empty void that was very sparsely populated.

The second space elevator was built eighty years later and could carry almost sixty times the load of the first into space.  With two elevators fully operational, most companies and governments found the fees to use one almost nominal compared to launching a rocket or trying to build their own elevator.

Over ninety percent of the cargo sent into space rode one of the two elevators, and a third of the cargo brought back from space made the trip by crawler.  The orchestration to move the large amounts of material was much more complicated than most people were aware, and the cost to send several VIP's up was astronomical.  But the potential of making billions of dollars from each VIP was worth the hundreds of thousands that it would cost the company.

The tour was wrapping up and most of the VIP's were congregating close to where they would enter the crawler.  Logan began to say thank you to each and every one of them and finished with the Japanese group.  After finishing up, he stepped aside and simply existed.  He was still there if they needed anything before they rode the crawler, but he didn't think they would.

The crawler was now on a return trip from space and would only need a few minutes for the work crew to unload its contents and ready the space for the VIP's.  It was then, that one of the older of the Japanese businessmen removed himself from the crowd and made his way deliberately to Logan.  Logan wasn't sure what he could want at the last moment, but he bowed his head slightly and asked, "Is there anything that I can further assist with?"

The old man who was close to two feet short of Logan smiled up at him and handed him a card, nodded his head and then turned to rejoin the group.  Sparing a glance at the card it appeared to be a business card, with a common micro data chip embedded on one corner.  Logan slipped it into his pocket without thinking much about it.

The doors of the crawler opened and the group of VIP's filed their way onto the spacious interior of the crawler.  A few minutes passed and the last were aboard, the doors shut, and the crawler began its long climb straight up into the atmosphere.

Logan turned and headed for the entertainment district where he could find something to eat.  It had been a long day and he was looking forward to getting back home and sleeping in his bed.  Activating his DNAC, he brought up the public transportation information and bought a ticket for the next train heading back.  Checking the time, he was thankful to realize that he had about forty-five minutes to eat and get to the dock before heading back.  He didn't like eating while in a moving vehicle.

After walking for less than a hundred meters, Logan remembered the card in his pocket and pulled it back out.  He glanced at it again, but was unimpressed.  He had received many business cards over the time that he had been translating.  On a whim, he ran the chip over the RFI port and imported the data from the card into a temporary file.

Still walking toward the large groups of restaurants, Logan opened the file and noticed that there was not one but six folders stored on this card.  Opening the first he was shocked to find contact info for the personal assistant to the CEO of Hokuto Corp. the third largest company in Japan.  Opening the next file was the same for Nippon Financial and Comm.  Again he was shocked, each folder held contact to an assistant to the highest person for each company.

Logan opened the final folder and was surprised yet again.  Inside was a simple word document and a receipt.  Opening the document first he read to himself, "Thank you for honoring us.  We would be honored to employ you should the occasion arise."  Simple and straight forward, Anthony found himself grinning.  He then looked over the receipt and was shocked yet again to find twenty five hundred credits were saved on the file only waiting to be told were to go.

It seams that each of the VIP's from Japan had given him a tip of five hundred credits.  It was a simple matter to connect the receipt to his account and the transition happened in a fraction of a second.  He then took the time to transfer all of the contact info from each file into his contact information files on his DNAC.

Once this was finished Logan looked up and found himself standing in the center of many restaurants and chuckled to himself realizing that he had no idea what he wanted to eat.