Several CEO's, disgusted on how disastrous many of the Deregger worlds have become secretly get together to start changing their own empires, making a tidy profit while doing so. First stop? Dedicating a couple of worlds to preserve and protect endangered species, not for hunting, or as pets, but to help restore nature's beauty. -- Anon Guest
"But... why? It's a planet full of resources. We should be exploiting it. Especially the live ones." Saxon clearly wasn't getting the program.
Maverick tried not to show any weaknesses. Rubbing at his migraine would only turn CEO's like Saxon away from the idea. "Ever wondered how the Alliance keeps winning all the damn time?"
"They're cheating, of course," said Cassius. "They have to be cheating. I'm cheating and those bastards are still winning!"
Jupiter had been sitting silently, nursing his Irish Coffee. "Seems to me that if there's winning, we should be doing it. They have to have a strategy we can adopt."
"But it's stupid," wailed Saxon. "It's so weak. Free medicine. Free education."
"Up to a minimum standard proficiency," allowed Cassius.
"Free access to unregulated raw data!" Saxon was almost shaking at the thought. "They have transparency there. People can see everything you're doing if you use transparency..."
"And despite the fact that everything is out in the open, we still don't know how they're winning," said Maverick. "So we should imitate their measures. Find out which ones are giving them advantages."
Now Saxon was trembling. "Like... paying wages? Just giving the help money?"
"They're not 'the help'. They're not 'living resources'. They're called... employees. You employ them to do work and then pay for their services." Maverick let the unfamiliar words sink in. "And you pay them just a little bit more than what they need to scrape by."
"You can't let the living resources have profits," Saxon roared. "They'll get ideas! They'll want a seat at the table next."
"They'll want tables," said Jupiter. "And seats. Honestly, I already give them food and shelter, what more could they want? It's not as if they're smart enough to comprehend my benevolence."
"Then what's the problem with starting?" argued Maverick. "We all have an unexploited world or two just lying around. Turn it into a zoo planet. An Ark of sorts. The Galactics like it when animals prosper."
Grumbles around the table. A disjointed chorus of, "Well, we weren't planning to move in this financial year anyway..."
"Exactly," Maverick nodded. "You can even use it for PR. Next month? I'll be telling you how my basic income experiment's been going."
Jupiter spilled his drink in shock.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / focalpoint]
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