Chase and Avery packed all of their things and left The Amocular, tossing their suitcases into the trunk of Avery's car and heading back to what she referred to as the central office, where the Caelans would be holding their meeting on the anger crisis. It was also the place where most of Avery's people worked; or as Chase liked to say, 'pretended to work.'
Spring storms were in the forecast, which was normal for this time of the year in the Chicago area. Avery mentioned several times how lucky they were to have good weather yesterday for the party, and cautioned Chase to take care driving. He was surprised that Avery let him drive without a fight, content to sit as a passenger and answer more of his questions.
She did have questions of her own, such as how Chase managed to release Pete McClouth. He told her the story, relaying the account of Hollian and Valentina, their efforts to psy him, and the condition in which he found Pete. Avery was happy to hear that Pete was now okay, though she seemed troubled by the story as a whole.
As they made their way onto the interstate, Chase reacted in surprise when she gave him directions, including the location and identity of their central office.
"A talent agency?" Chase asked. "That's so disappointing! Why don't your people work at a technology company, or NASA or something?"
"It's how we make our money here," Avery explained. "Money is very important to us—as you can imagine."
"Oh I don't have to imagine," he said. "It's important to us too."
She softly laughed.
"Why choose something so strange like a talent agency?" Chase asked
"It's been that way for a long time," Avery said. "Most of us work at research laboratories because we are here to study and gather data, and money supports that work. We try to avoid things which are unethical, such as manipulating your stock market. The talent agency provides more money than all of our other ventures combined, and it's very non-intrusive."
"How so?"
"Your people interested in performing come to us," she explained. "Singers, dancers, actors, and musicians, we find the truly talented and—"
"Let me guess," Chase interrupted, holding up a hand. "You psy to get your clients the good deals, don't you?"
"Sometimes," she admitted.
"That's cheating," he said.
"A little," she agreed. "But it's a legitimate business. If we don't find truly talented people then we won't make money because they will eventually fail. Besides, we are helping some of your people discover their dreams."
Chase nodded thoughtfully, thinking back to Nathan saying that they help starving artists. It was certainly a clever solution to the money problem, but it meant that the Caelans must have an enormous impact on the entertainment industry.
So much for not meddling in our civilization.
"I suppose it could be worse," he admitted. "Imagine if you manufactured weapons or something. Like phasers or death rays."
"Chase!" Avery laughed, "We can't make weapons like that. Your weapons are far superior to ours."
"What?!" Chase exclaimed.
"I told you, we are peaceful. We do not invest research and development into weapon systems—especially the way that you have."
"So if our planets went to war..."
