Chapter 4

CH-4.13  Monterey, First Shore Leave

Monterey, WK-5, Sunday, Airport, 0940

The seaplane touched down in the bay and taxied up a shore launching ramp to the terminal. They bought a snack and were walking towards the exit when Rico called out from behind, "Hey! wait up." "Sergei and Natasha are back at the office," said Lola, "We didn't want a welcoming crowd at a small airport." "Good idea," said Stakka, "We're happy to see you again." "How are the baby zingers?" asked Tengo. "Heh, they're growing like weeds," laughed Lola. "Is the link to Arkon One set up?" asked Dingo. "Yes," replied Rico, "And they've tested it twice."

Monterey, Sunday, SafeHouse, 1030

Natasha and Sergei greeted them on the porch, saying, "Come inside and warm up. We have hot chocolate and snacks."

As they were sitting around the table Rico explained, "We will send the message to Arkon One just after sundown, about 1900. So this afternoon if you guys could put together a written message, we'll have our reader convert it to text and sent. We can expect a reply just after, or tomorrow same time. We use the ionosphere reflection at sundown to send and receive with Arkon One."

Stakka looked around the table at his team, who all nodded affirmative and said, "Yeah, we can do that."

At 1600, their reader, who spoke clearly and distinctly, started reading into the speech to text app. "There are 1000 clones but only 10 who are curious about their origin. The earliest memory is an orphanage in Kazakhstan. They come in three basic heights: 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8 meters.

"They have proposed a smaller floating island named Arkon Delta as a genetic research station and medical tourist site. They could offer genetic tune-ups to boost strength, or boost reflexes, or something, and not be in competition with Arkon One. Their focus would be on younger people, say 20 years old or more, after they have quit growing.

"We have come up with two plans: Plan A is, we go back to Babylon dressed as tourists and make an appointment for a business proposal to Boss Chako, majority owner of Babylon, and have 10 clones be part of his down payment for a 16% interest In Arkon Delta. We form a holding company, Delta Ventures, to put together a Consortium loan to build Arkon Delta. 26% held by Arkon One, 25% held by Arkon Star, 16% by Babylon, 16% by Shangri-La, 17% by Beijing University. If Babylon declines to participate, Plan B is to find other parties interested, and smuggle the 10 clones out as tourists via chartered seaplane to Joy Luck 8.

"Thank you for the resupply of red and blue zingers. We will send you samples of Green Rockets which we would like you to develop seeds for.

"Sincerely, Stakka, Renka, Dingo and Tengo."

After proofreading the text they copied it to a thumb drive and went to the small room where the HF transceiver was located. Natasha copied the file and added some header text. She explained, "How this works is Arkon One sends us a little burst signal at 31 mhz every 15 minutes starting at 1900. After we hear a loud one twice, when the ionization is high, we hit send to transmit at 30 mhz and wait for them to send back an acknowledgement of receipt. Then they might send us an additional message of their own and wait for us to send acknowledge receipt." "What we're doing," said Sergei, "Is using the ionosphere to bounce a signal from here to the ionosphere and back down to Arkon One. There is usually a window of one or two hours immediately after sunset where this works well."

Ten minutes later they got the message acknowledged signal plus an incoming which read as follows, "Good work. Plan A and B sound okay. Looking forward to green rocket sample. Here is info our agent on Shangri-La picked up. Suggest you give to Boss Chako for free as goodwill token. Shangri-La is run by Yakuza and there is talk of a contract hit on Boss Chako and El Lobo in 3 months to take over Babylon and reduce competition. Best regards, Arkon One, over."

Natasha sent the message acknowledged signal and they all went out back for a barbecue.

After the main course Stakka asked Natasha, "Can we send a message to Joy Luck 8 tomorrow?" "No problem," she replied, "They're just leaving San Fran and coming this way." "Ask if they can send a small boat to a pier or sheltered cove at night," said Stakka, "And pick up this sample of Green Rocket and buccal clone swabs and deliver to Arkon One." "We have a pre-arranged cove just south of the peninsula," said Natasha.

"Rico, as part of Plan B," said Renka, "We will need 10 light blue cheap windbreaker style jackets and 10 light green for the Alpha and Beta Tour Companies. Is there a cheap tailor shop here that could deliver by Thursday night?" "There are two," said Rico, "So we will split the order. Who should we use as a model?" "If Natasha doesn't mind, she looks tall enough," said Renka. "I'm happy to help," said Natasha.

"Dingo and I have a business project we would like to discuss," said Tengo, "We got the idea when we bought the mint Green Rockets. The red Zingers and Rockets are 7.9 mm diameter by 85 mm long and 5 to a pack. We propose a brand called Red Dragon for Chinese markets, that are 6.5 mm diameter and 90 mm long packed seven to box, and sold for the same price retail. Besides two extra cigarettes they get a total of 10% more volume to smoke. Our filter inserts are only 10 mm long and the standard is 15 mm. Also we would use papers that are colored, like red for the Red Rockets and green for the Green Rockets. Rizla has been making rolling papers since 1660 and have a nice selection of colors. This could develop a source of income quickly before Arkon Delta is launched. Then we could transfer the process to Arkon Delta and grow the red, blue, and green cannabis on the AgroSembly module and process into cigarettes and packages down below." "Wow!" said Sergei, I like it." "I bet you've already checked used equipment in China," said Stakka, "And Vostok shipping charges." "Yes," said Dingo, "And delivered to Monterey, cost 750,000 creds. Our hazard pay won't be enough, so we need partners." Stakka and Renka whispered together, then Renka said, "We pledge 250,000 creds from our Arkon One hazard pay account." "We pledge 300,000 creds," said Natasha. " And we pledge 100,000 creds," said Rico. "Hot Damn!" said Dingo, "We're in business. I'll go into town tomorrow, register Dragon Products, and open a business account."

Monterey, Monday, SafeHouse

Rico and Lola go in to town early to order the tour jackets and also register their business and open an account at a local bank with International connections.

The rest of the team spent the morning trimming their grow, stirring up the soil, and adding a top-dressing of Rose food.

Then about one, Rico and Lola showed up with some takeout for lunch.

"Natasha, I was wondering," said Renka, "Does Joy Luck 8 ever pick up any large shipments of marijuana from Ukiah?" "Yes," she replied, "There are three Brokers that run a kind of co-op for the Growers. One handles the North Coast, one covers the interior, and the other covers with South Coast. They buy the plants from the Growers after they've hung upside down in a black plastic bag for 2 weeks in the sun as a curing process. They hire locals and migrants as needed to trim the leaves, collect the trichomes, and run the leaves through a shredder for blending with ribbon cut very mild tobacco. We as a company pick up 500 to 1500 kilos with every ship going by. The peak, of course, is in September through November, but there is always something due to indoor grows. The trichomes are processed into cannabutter and the stalks are run through a decorticator and processed into dry hemp fiber." "That's really good information," said Stakka, "Do they separate the plants into sativa and indica?" "Yes," she replied, "And some even have a recognized flavor brand like blueberry and peach." "Have you heard of one called mint?" asked Tengo. "There are small irregular bundles of mint," said Natasha, "Maybe only one or two growers for that strain." "We could order a few hundred kilos of mint," said Dingo, "To start our Green Dragons while Arkon One works on the genetics." "We could also lease a big empty field nearby," said Rico, "And contract with locals to grow mild golden leaf tobacco." "Always a good idea to have a secure local supply chain," said Lola.

After lunch Stakka said, "Let's discuss our preliminary plan for returning to Babylon." "I think you and Renka should go back on Friday," said Tengo, "And Dingo and I will return on Sunday. That way we will still appear as workers." "That's good," said Renka, "I believe they have facial recognition and we should change our appearance a little bit when we go back as tourists."

Monterey, Tuesday, SafeHouse

After breakfast Stakka said, "For Plan B we need 7 green baseball caps and 7 blue ones. Also we need 14 short sleeve baggy Hawaiian flowered shirts for tourists." "Sounds like we need to visit a Market Mall," said Renka, "Is there one in Monterey?" "Yes," said Lola, it's not far from here." "Do they have a Zinger shop?" asked Dingo. "Yeah, they do," said Rico, they're called Red Rockers and Blu Rockers. They're a little bit harsh but cheaper than Rockets."

At the Market Mall they got their caps and shirts and a collection of red and blue Rockers. For lunch they stopped at the food court for a nice selection of seafood.

Back at the safe house, Stakka said, "Here's the next part of Plan A. Renka and I will go back dressed as tourists Friday morning and check in to a cheap room. Then we will arrange a short business presentation for Boss Chako when he arrives Saturday." "You could wear western-style hats and Hollywood style sunglasses to conceal your faces a little bit," said Dingo. "Also you might try to enter with a mob of other tourist so you don't stand out," said Tengo.

"We don't expect an answer before Monday at the earliest," said Stakka, "He will want to consult with his staff and possibly El Lobo." "You might consider sending a little note to your boss saying you had a personal problem and would contact them Wednesday," said Natasha. "Since we expect to be followed after the presentation," said Renka, "We will act extra touristy." "Oh," said Stakka, "I just remembered, we have an appointment at 20 hundred with Karl and Robin at the Rusty Rooster. So Dingo and Tengo will have to attend and bring them up to date, and arrange to distribute the disguises to the other members." "How will we recognize them?" asked Dingo. "Even if they can tweak the facial genes," said Stakka, "There will be a family resemblance to Zak and Sophie."

Monterey, Wednesday, SafeHouse

"We need to develop our Plan B a little more," said Stakka, "If Boss Chako refuses the offer, or locks us up, Dingo and Tengo will have to get our friends off of Babylon and on to Joy Luck 8." "How how about we do this, "said Renka, "If we don't slide a note under your door before Monday night, start contacting our friends and passing out the tourist disguises." "So we pass out all the disguises Tuesday and that night contract a sea plane for all of us to leave Wednesday morning early," said Dingo. "Then we should arrange for Captain Kuznet to cruise slowly after he passes the Monterey Peninsula," said Tengo, "So we can catch him Wednesday." "I'll send him that message when we meet tonight and give him the green mint," said Sergei. "One other thing to consider," said Lola, "Is if you leave too early Wednesday morning you might be the only tourists wandering around. You might want to leave at 0830 instead of 0630. Maybe meet in a food court and have breakfast first."

Monterey, Thursday, SafeHouse

After lunch Rico and Lola went into town to see the tailors and pick up tour jackets.

Monterey, Friday, Airport, 0530

As Stakka and Renka headed for the gate to the Sea Plane, Rico wished them good luck and safe journey.

CH-4.14      Babylon, Joint Venture 

Babylon, WK-5, Friday, 0945

Debarking from the seaplane, Stakka and Renka crossed the Quay to the information kiosk by the entrance to Babylon. "Can you recommend an inexpensive hotel for a weeks stay?" asked Stakka. "The Three Palms has vacancies and a good reputation," said the agent, "But no dining room. Can I make reservations for you?" "Yes," said Renka, "For one week." "Very good," said the agent, "Here's an x on this ground floor map showing the check-in desk."

After a breakfast snack they headed for the Three Palms check-in desk. "We'd like to pay for our whole week now," said Stakka, "And can we get a receipt? We're on an expense account." "No problem," replied the clerk, "Here's your key card." "We represent Delta Ventures," said Renka, "And we'd like to make a 10-minute presentation to Boss Chako tomorrow. Can you help us with that?" "Certainly," replied the clerk, "I'll just connect you with his appointment secretary."

Renka booked a 15-minute slot at 1045 and they went up to their cabin.


Babylon, WK-5, Saturday, 1040

As they approached the receptionist desk she pointed to the door behind her and said, "Go ahead, he's expecting you."

They entered and Boss Chako, standing behind his desk said, "Please take a seat. I'm Chako." "I'm Stakka, and this is my partner Renka."

"Before we begin our presentation," said Stakka, "We have some personal private information for you. Is this conference room secure?" Chako pressed a button under his desk and there was a click as a red light came on over the door. "It is now," he said, "What do you have?" "We were informed by Arkon One two days ago," said Stakka, "That there is a contract on your life and El Lobo in the next 3 months. It was put out by the Yakuza who own Shangri-La." "I guess they're getting greedy again," said Chako, "They made an attempt 18 months ago and failed. That's when I put an agent in their workforce but have not heard from him recently. Thank you for your alert."

"You're welcome," said Renka, "Now for our presentation ... We represent Delta Ventures and are putting together a Consortium loan to build Arkon Delta, a small floating island, to be located halfway between Babylon and Arkon One. Their business plan will be medical tourism offering genetic enhancements, like tune-ups to boost strength, or boost reflexes, or cognitive skills, to young adults over 20 years old who have stopped growing. This will not be competing with Arkon One for geriatric enhancement.

"The shipyards that built Babylon continued building another Island on speculation. So far we are the only potential customer and they have offered a big discount, as the launch date is 5 months away. For the island and three AgroSembly modules they are asking 4 billion creds. At this time we are prepared to offer Babylon a 16% equity share. Arkon One has already taken a 26% share."

"We plan to offer Shangri-La a 16% share also," said Stakka, "Maybe this will stifle their greed for a few years, and having the same percentage should not cause envy." "We're booked at the Three Palms until this Friday," said Renka, "If you come to a decision before then." "Thank you for this opportunity," said Chako, "I'll discuss it with my associates and we will meet you here at 1700 on Monday." "Great," said Stakka, as they left, "See you on Monday."

Back in their Three Palms cabin Renka said, "This is going well and I sense Boss Chako will influence his associates to a positive outcome." "I agree," said Stakka, "Do you feel like this room is smaller than the one we had before?" "It is," said Renka, "And that gives me an idea. Let's make a little summary and stick it under Dingo and Tengo's door tonight. What we can do is put on our dress worker uniforms and just before midnight when there is a shift change, we go out and walk around in a circle and go past their door and then go for a midnight snack and come back here." "Amazing," said Stakka, "I like it. Were you a secret agent in a past life?" "Yes," she said, "And I was a Kundalini yoga instructor as well. Come closer and I'll show you."

Babylon, WK-6, Sunday, 1015

As they were walking around the C-deck balcony, the third one above the main deck and open in the middle with a good view above and below, Stakka said, "This reminds me of Stack City where I grew up outside Seattle. Kids at school used to call us stackers. That's where my nickname came from. They were remodeled shipping containers stacked 3 high and housing 10,000 almost homeless people."

As they walked around they noticed a pulsing red sign ahead in the distance. it was a little hole in the wall smoke shop so they went in and bought three 5-packs of Red Bangers.

Dingo and Tengo arrived 0945 for their second 4 week tour. They went to their cabin and read the optimistic note from Stakka and Renka.

At 1945 they headed out to Rusty Rooster with the tour jackets in a little flight bag, to meet with Karl and Robin.

Babylon, WK-6, Sunday, 2010

Inside the Rusty Rooster they headed for the back corner. As they got closer they saw two familiar faces which turned out to be Karl and Robin instead of Zak and Sophie. Taking a seat Dingo said, "I'm Dingo and this is my partner Tengo. You must be Karl and Robin, right?" "That's correct," said Karl, "How is the plan going?"

After the waiter took their drink order Dingo said, "Its going very well. In fact I have brought the tour guide jackets with us tonight. In the next 2 days you could pass them out to the other members. Then Tuesday night we'll meet here again for more details.

Babylon, WK-6, Monday, 1700

As the meeting got underway, Boss Chako made the introductions. "This is Stakka and Renka from Delta Ventures, on my left is El Lobo, my partner, and on my right is Django, my accountant. Renka, could you expand a little bit on your proposal?"

"Certainly," she replied, "We came up with this business idea while discussing genetic tweaking with some clones we met recently. They figured out they were clones because they have extra D-R / d4 allele repeats, causing more curiosity. Their intelligence is also quite a bit above normal. We are offering shares in this venture to the existing floating islands because they already understand the benefits of isolation allowing sharp focus on a business endeavor. A 16% equity share is 640 Mn creds. That could be payable over the next five months before launch, and we require 7 million of the price be 10 of your clones who are above-normal. They are only 1% of the total and will help us locate the lab where they were created; then we will make them an offer also. We do not object to Babylon owning clones, as they are taken care of better than corporate wage slaves were 50 years ago. What brought your clones to our attention was a snuff film on the internet from 5 years ago. There can be no more snuff films from Babylon."

"So you are secret agents as well as business agents," said El Lobo, smiling." "Not at all," said Stakka, "We just take our due diligence seriously."

"I was not aware of any snuff films from Babylon said Chako, frowning, "I will look into that." "It is possible they came from Shangri-La," said Renka, "They have a contingent of clones also. We came here first because it was closer."

"I think this would be a good investment said Chako, "What do you think Lobo?" "I'm in favor of it also," said Lobo, "Where do we sign?" "Here is a contract," said Stakka, "Your lawyers may want to review it first." "Of course," said Lobo, "We will meet here Wednesday at 1500 for the signing."

"Now that we are partners," said Stakka, "I wonder if you could satisfy my curiosity about the business considerations for using clones?"

"No problem," said Chako, "I'll let our accountant answer that."

"Say for clones," said Django, "15 to 55 is 40 years service, one million creds divided by 40 is 25,000 creds per year, a cheap salary. They have an excellent immune system and stay healthy and they don't overeat. They learn fast and the turnover is very low so we don't have to train new hires. As a product they are consistently good. Plus the company delivers to our doorstep.

"For off the street civilian hires, we have to maintain a recruiting organization and human resources and training. Then they will often leave after one to three years service. And they may be unknowing carriers of some serious disease or disruptive ideas.

"If we used slaves, which are available today for 5 to 20,000 creds, there are of course training cost, language and cultural obstacles and health maintenance cost and they often resent their condition. There are also travel costs and risks associated with going to a North African slave market. We would need overseers to maintain order and discipline. Plus I am not in favor of forcing someone to do something. It often results in sabotage."

"Thank you Django, that was very interesting," said Renka, "We'll see you Wednesday then."

Back in their cabin they put on their dress employee uniforms and prepared a note for Dingo and Tengo. It read as follows, "Everything going okay. Go ahead and pass out tour jackets before Wednesday night. We'll sign contract Wednesday 1500. Suggest we book seaplane to Monterey and leave Thursday morning 0730."

After they delivered the note and back in their cabin, Renka said, "We need to have some cover story for the crew on Joy Luck 8. Like 'These are refugees from a village in Canada destroyed by a resource War', or 'Refugees from the Chicago collapse'."

"That reminds me of another problem," said Stakka, "When we get on Joy Luck 8 we should try and contact Arkon One and see if they can make a secure area with 7 medium sized cabins and a conference room holding 15 to 20 people, maybe two cabins with a wall cut out. The trip may take 10 to 15 days so they might put something together. I wonder if we should consider light plastic surgery or theater makeup. The rain hoodies on the tour jackets will help conceal their face. When we see them all together we can decide if they look too much alike or just close relatives. We don't want people speculating about the existence of clones."

Babylon, WK-6, Tuesday, 2010

Dingo and Tango met Karl and Robin in the Rusty Rooster and gave them additional details for the exit plan. They would meet in the Rusty Rooster Thursday morning at 0600 for breakfast and proceed to seaplane at 0700.

Babylon, WK-6, Wednesday, 1500

"We have no changes to the contract," said Boss Chako, "So when we have all signed it my receptionist will witness and notarize it." After they had finished signing and notarizing, Chako asked, "What about progress reports?" "We'll fly out every three to five weeks,"  said Stakka, "We have business interests in Monterey also."

Babylon, WK-6, Thursday, 0730

Karl and Robin, dressed in their tour guide jackets, stood outside the Rusty Rooster at 0600 and directed their friends to a table in the back corner. The table was already set with egg sandwiches and coffee. By 0700 everyone had finished and they headed out to board their seaplane.

Stakka and Renka boarded last and they took off at 0730. As the Monterey Peninsula came into view about 0930, Stakka said to the pilot, "We have a little detour in mind. For an extra 1000 creds we'd like you to drop down to just above sealevel, make a right turn, and go at higher speed parallel to the coast, less than 20 km. We're looking to offload most of the passengers to a large Clipper cargo ship. Then you will go back to the original course at high speed and make the usual landing with Dingo and Tengo still aboard." "This is a welcome change from routine," said the pilot, "And I will enjoy the extra creds."

The Joy Luck 8 came into view at 0945 and they made a smooth landing just off the starboard bow. A large speed boat was quickly launched and came to pick them up. Dingo and Tengo said goodbye and wished them luck while giving them their tour jackets.

Joy Luck 8, WK-6, Thursday, 1015

Alexis met them at the forward loading bay, saying, "Its good to see you again. You remember Tanya?" "Yes, of course," said Renka, "These are our friends who recently lived in a small village in Canada. There was a resource conflict that drove them down to Monterey where we intervened to help them. This is Karl and his friend Robin, and over here is Zak and his friend Sophie. They are leaders of this group." "We are happy to meet you," said Tanya, "You will be safe with us." "Are there cabins separate from the crew?" asked Stakka, "We don't want to disturb them." "No problem," said Alexis, "Come I will show you." "Captain Kuznet will meet Stakka, Renka, and Karl and Robin after lunch for a debriefing," said Tanya.

Joy Luck 8, WK-6, Thursday, 1430

In the conference room Alexis said, "Karl, Robin, this is Captain Kuznet. Captain, you remember Stakka and Renka?" "Yes, of course," said the Captain, "Please be at ease, this will be informal. Stakka, could you summarize your adventures for me?"

"Sure thing, Captain," said Stakka, "But first an opinion from Alexis and Tanya. Do these villagers look like identical twins, or close relatives?" " I would say close relatives," said Tanya. "I agree fully," said Alexis. "Thank you," said Stakka, "Now for the summary."

"The first week on Babylon we and the other team both detected clones. The things that stood out were: 1) in the bar they were very calm and drank very slowly. The other thing we detected was: 2) there were micro hesitations when we questioned them about childhood or early youth. I would say someone who has not spent time in several different noisy bar situations might not detect a difference so quick.

"To confirm our suspicions we had another meeting with them, which was very surprising. Because no one had continued a conversation past 20 minutes in the bar for a whole year, they concluded that we had detected them because we were looking for them. So they confessed they were clones and asked for our help to make a safe place and conduct a business. And here we are.

"The meeting with Boss Chako and El Lobo to make a business presentation went very well. He appreciated the notice of an impending hit from Yakuza.

"To avoid speculation about clones while we're on Arkon One, we would like to contact them and see if they can make a secure area accessed by key cards with 7 medium sized cabins and a conference room holding 15 to 20 people, maybe two cabins with a wall cut out. Even though we look at them and think 'Must be close relatives', another person looking at a group of four or six very similar individuals might think 'Holy Cow! are these clones'?"

"This is very interesting," said the Captain, "Thanks for the update. We'll send a message to Arkon One at sundown. My Navigator tells me the trip could take two weeks. That should be enough time to make the alterations. Also, Vostok Shipping Company would like to take a 16% equity stake in Delta Ventures."

Joy Luck 8, WK-8, Friday, 1515

After 14 days of smooth sailing, they spotted Arkon One on the horizon just after 1500. At 1700 they received a message from the Harbor Master on the Harbor Common hailing frequency, "We've cleared the protected anchorage between modules 3-4 so you have a private berth. Look for a flashing blue light on each side of the entrance." "Thanks for that," replied the XO from the bridge.

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NB- expect posts 8 am EST, 1st & 15 th.

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