The notification chimed, Olly reviewed the report from Ivy. So Clara’s luck looked just like his, he looked down at the severance package.
He walked into his large living room, looked at the clutter from the last couple days. He hid what he could and cleaned the sections that would be visible.
He created a group video chat with Clara and Jake. Jake answered first. “Hey, Jake give it a few minutes.“
“Sure.” Jake leaned against the wall.
Clara joined the call waving from her small apartment living room.
“Hello, thanks for taking the call.“, Olly said.
“I have to get to work, if you can call it that…”, Clara said.
He said, “That’s why I’m calling. I have some news to break to you. First, this is Jake a childhood friend of mine. Jake meet Clara, he helped work on your design.”
“Nice to meet you.”, Jake said.
“Bottom line up front, Ivy ran down some leads on your predicament and I have some news I wanted to break on my side as well.”, Olly said.
Clara sat down on her couch.
“Your current employer is the one that sabotaged your work. I don’t have a motive beyond they may not have appreciated your idea disrupting their market.”, Olly said.
Her shoulders sagged. Clara glanced down at her Wick Industries badge. She tossed it away from her.
He continued. “I have also been ran out of my own company. Jake left with me and I was thinking we could form a partnership. I have a small amount from the severance. Not the kind of funding we would need to build a whole biotech lab.”
“You were kicked out of your own company? Can that even happen?”, Clara said.
He said, “In this case it was probably an illegal takeover but proving it could take years. Not only would it take time making it an issue would ruin what’s left of my name in the industry and bankrupt the company anyways.” The severance is shit. I built that company from the ground and they think I can just be bought.
“I don’t know, this is all very sudden.”, Clara said.
“Don’t be so quick to say no. As a voice of reason, your job prospects won’t be looking up any time soon. Your work on your thesis was brilliant.”, Jake said.
“Sleep on it at least. “, Olly said.
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***
The large elaborate gates swung open. The luxury sedan pulled up to the entrance to the grand mansion.
Olly opened the door of the car for Clara and took her hand. The walk up to the grand mansion was breath taking. The set of statues one pair Jade Dragons and the other pair Red Coral Tigers, laced with gold and silver lined the walkway. Honestly it was a bit much.
Clara sat down at the oak table, the setting reminded her of the restaurant she met Olly at only here was fancier. The large chandelier was multiple interlocked rings of glass. The largest easily six feet diameter. The room was so spacious that the chandelier should have been larger. “If you have friends like this I’m sure you’ll be fine?”
Adjusting his tie Olly said, “I don’t want to be just fine and Peter is more of an associate.”
Clara ran her hand over the sterling silver flatware. Actual silver. After she inched the fork a little closer to the edge of the table, She caught herself in the old habit and moved the fork back. Placing her hands on her lap, she tried not to look as guilty as she felt.
Peter Tan and Jake joined them, they walked in from the back yard. With the back doors open it looked as remarkable as the front entrance. At least two water fountains sprinkled, glistening with the lights shown on them and a good quarter of the grounds looked like flower gardens and a grape vineyard. The biologist in Clara was intrigued. She was sure to find some rare and precious plant’s in a garden like that.
They sat down to enjoy the meal and maybe the wine, wine from vineyard, a little too much. The dinner rushed by in a blur, She tried to focus on keeping the mood light and on the topic of their business pitch.
“Look the GMO’s are very successful, but my idea it has to have—”
Peter Tan was actually very direct in the middle of the discussion interrupting Clara, “Look, Clara, may I call you Clara?”, not stopping for a response he continued “I’m not funding the thesis work, I was interested in meeting you. Taking on Wick Industries is impossible, or at least its not worth the blood spilt. I trust that your work is remarkable but Wick will just claim you stole it, it could be decades of legal battles. No I was interested in meeting the woman Wick Industries was so afraid of.”
Clara lost her cool. “This world can be so cruel, it’s all about who you know and the bureaucracy is suffocating!”
Peter laughed. “Exactly, I’m well aware of the tax of bureaucracy. Let me show you something.”
Peter brought up a holo display above the table, the resolution was remarkable. The scene faded to the view of the night sky, the milky way shined bright in a way most had never seen. The moon spun into view, two trails of smoke rose up and away, at first hidden from view by the moon. It was a sight to see. The flight of the two ships brought them closer to the camera, details emerged. The ships were identical in all but color, One was a jade green while the other red coral. The over all shape looked like the old shuttles from the history book. Narrower with wings swept back more. The ships crossed paths and flew off, leaving the moon behind. The scene started to cut to an advertisement, “Buy your tickets today, enjoy the moonscape like ...”
Peter cut off the show. “What you just saw was a significant investment of mine, a dream I had to fly the two most beautiful spaceships ever made. I still own them, but the government has grounded my plans. I guess they don’t want me flying over the failed moon base.” With a resigned voice dripping with a touch of sadness, “I suppose the Jade Dragon and Coral Tiger will never fly.”
Olly chimed in with a bit of crazy excitement, obviously coming up with a plan on the spot. “What if they did!”
Jake, getting carried with Olly’s excitement started to develop the start of a plan. “Peter, Could they fly to the asteroid belt?”
