by Max Barry

Latest Forum Topics

Advertisement

Post

Region: The North Pacific

The angle of chairty

The city ship project, a plan for a seafaring nation, an escape from the problems of surface life by moving onto the endless blue oceans. Now 15 years in the running, the original city ships are still running well, lovingly maintained by their passengers. However, a problem has presented itself to the board of the project. To put it simply, the city ship did not have the scale to survive and sustain themselves independently. A more ambitious plan would have to be drafted, and quickly.
-----------

Inside a dark conference room, the captains of each of the 14 city ships stares at the model before them. A massive network of miniature buildings and parks sprawl across the false ocean, surrounded by flotillas of ships that appear as miniscule insects beside the structure. For a few minutes, there is silence, before the captain of the Hasuyu Maru, Kyosha, a young woman with a golden hairpin holding together a tight bun of hair, speaks up; "Does anyone know how they plan to pay for this mess?"

The captain of the Jaeger, an old man with a bushy grey beard, speaks up; "I don't think this could be paid for. This is an infrastructure project that would rival most of the land cities, and even with the proposed construction methods, almost impossible. We'll have to see what that woman has planned."

The analyst who had laid out the plans before the council speaks up, putting down a stack of papers. "Quite simple. We will aquire income. Until now this project has been scraping by on our last funds and side jobs. Now we need to turn towards making the city ships a hub of economic prosperity."

Derisive chuckles fill the room. The captain of Taiza 13 pauses, his eyes serious now. "We all know the issues with our city ships. Quite simply they have no inherent ways of generating capital. All we have is service sector and some IT work. How do you propose we actually moved on this, assuming this isn't a joke, factory ships?"

"Obtaining onshore corporations of course. We shall headquarter them in the project and use the profits to fund the city ship project. Is there any objection to that?" The analyst seems confident now, his smile suggesting this is a well rehearsal scenario.

There is silence, before Kyosha breaks the quiet. "How do we pay for that?"

"Loans."

The room sits in shocked silent, before the room erupts in outrage. The analyst shrine back from the uproar, as the captains barrage him with a series of very blunt complaints.

As they argue, the door opens, and Araika enters. A trail of smoke follows behind her eponymous cigarette, as she approaches the online captains. After she has entered the still arguing group, she takes a drag of her cigarette, waiting for the group to notice her presence in their midst.

It takes a couple of seconds, before one of the captains turns away from the analyst and spies her. He nearly falls out of his chair, going pale. "L-lady Araika!" He splutters.

The room goes quiet, as Araika nods. "Yes. We'll be taking in some money from some well intentioned donors, and likely some loans from reputable sources as well. The money to repay those loans shall be a part of the return on investment we on from the companies we shall buy. If we default, the corporations will be used as collateral. Are their any objections?"

A second passes without dissent, and she nods. 'Alright, we'll be requesting a few billion in aid from Pandoska, who has kindly offered us relief funds. We shall also be seeking bankrupted firms in Sarkis after we make our entry. We're looking into other corporations in The mike roctafinserland and Warsaw pact nations as well. All in all, we have a good shot of being able to take this risk and get out of it better off. Understood?"

The room seems subdued, before finally the captain of the Jaeger nods. "it's a good plan. I approve."

The rents of the room slowly follows suit, and Araika smiles. This would be a new age for the project, and she would see to it that things would go well.

Pandoska, Lorigia, Sarkis, Warsaw-Halicz, and 1 otherLibertandonien

ContextReport