Vampires in Space

Rabbits Not Included

"We would be more than happy to have a conversation about your future, Bob." Heather offered.

"Rabbit's not required or included." I added.

I was tempted to throw in a bit from the now-ancient 'Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon about pulling a rabbit out of the hat, but there is no way Malcolm is literate in cartoons from 1959. Hell, the only reason I know about them is Jessica showed them to me. There is a slight chance Bob would know about them, but we are already giving Malcolm pain so no point in having a cartoon classics nerd-off. Need to walk the fine line of pushing back on Malcolm's obvious real mission, which is us saving his corporate butt and pissing him off such that he takes a longer look at us than he already has.

"Can you not steal Bob from me just yet?" Malcolm asked, pained at this turn of events. Seems Malcolm is actually worried about that. I have a feeling that is because Bob is the real magic in the turn-around artistry.

"Up to Bob." Heather said, then pivoted to trying to keep Malcolm from going Type A on us. "Why don't you tell me what you have in mind, Malcolm? You pulled a pretty big string with the president to get in here with Adrian and me. What have you got in mind?"

Smooth. Why Heather is the CEO and I'm her flunky. Heather has more patience than I do with this kind of thing, if only barely. This is really Helen territory, but she can't run everything when our pie is Interplanetary big. My Morgan is more patient with this stuff too, but she has no love for it. She's having more fun than me right now since she gets to dig deep into human intelligence data and make sure they are not snapping to us. When you get right down to it, we are a bunch of misfits to be running a company this big and hiding an even bigger operation from all humanity.

That last part is why we all take our turn in the political barrel.

"Never gonna work." Bob whispered confidently to Malcolm.

Malcolm was undeterred and plowed on. "We have a sixty percent market share of pretty much every software niche there is. We have related gizmos for some of the niches. Nothing like your AI comps, but lots of little enablers here and there. Augmented Reality to writing a letter to grandma, we own most of that market."

I did not tell Malcolm his AR sucks, but it does. It's calibrated for human-level senses, not Vampire. Small, light, and fairly resilient, their tech is also built to a price point. They don't even know about Vampire sensorium and our needs. They are not going to overbuild it. It is the definition of 'good enough'. At the same time, humans who are in space and using our tech can tell the difference. How our stuff sneaks back down to Earth.

Not privy to my thoughts, Malcolm rotated a hand palm up to show helplessness. "We are stuck. Whichever way we turn — business-wise — never delivers a long-term gain. The market is saturated. I have been at this project for nearly five years. We are wading in market quicksand. The Earth is a straight jacket. We can't move. Every time we try to buy a small startup, it takes years of approval, and by the time it's done. The market has settled and the startup's first-mover advantage has evaporated. In some areas, we already own, for all intents and purposes, all of a particular market there is. Games for example: you guys don't have a single one. You don't use your 3D or holographic tech for anything like that. Yet you have the tech to do it. Your space shuttle flight trainers are second to none. All you need is scripted stories instead of real-life Earth to orbit or Orbit to Earth scenarios."

Malcolm sounded like he was pouring it on pretty thick, but nothing he said was untrue. I am sure he is aware of the black market for adapting our gear for his company's games. Modern-day hackers paradise.

I spread my hands in classic 'what can you do?' supplication. "We fly a different technology to and in space than anyone else. We have to train people up on our way. Let's take Earth to orbit for example. Not counting machine assists, it takes two pilots and co-pilots per flight. The first stage is much bigger and flies differently than the second stage. The second stage has to go through a full re-entry. The first doesn't. Not much anyway. Just barely. Different levels of heating. The first stage takes a lot of it on the nose because it goes hypersonic down low. Both stages are lifting bodies, but because of the size and mission profile, each stage handles differently. Getting the big wing back down is a bit like flying a tank. The little one is more of a race car."