Proposals and Profitability

In a bustling, overpopulated, dirty street of a megacity, Captain Anzyl Praxas, Admiral Kumaarke, and Science Officer Nolan materialized in a flash of white light. They were not in their usual uniforms but wore exosuits, typically reserved for spacewalks, to protect themselves from the toxic air of New Kentar.

"So this is Paradise City of New Kentar?" Nolan asked, pausing as he took in the sights that assaulted his senses.

The sky was a hazy yellowish-brown, the sun barely breaking through the dense smog. The streets were littered with trash, graffiti covered every vertical surface, and rusted pipes leaked green ooze. Bright neon holographic advertisements littered the skyline, each skyscraper filled to the brim with some other flashing sign. The most disheartening sight was the Kentari citizens, huddled and hobbling around, clinging to their gas masks. Some were fully covered in exosuits, but the poor and downtrodden only had gas masks, their exposed skin covered in lesions from the toxic air.

"Captain... this is..." Nolan stuttered, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"I know, Nolan," Anzyl replied, looking straight ahead. "This is not Kumaarke's and my first time here." He began walking steadily forward. "Come, we have a job to do and news to deliver."

The trio walked as quickly as they could through the trashed streets. It seemed as if there was no trash disposal system, and any refuse anyone had was simply tossed out the window. Out of sight, out of mind.

They soon arrived at the entrance of a very tall skyscraper that soared high above the fog line and into the upper atmosphere.

After being let in by security, who told the trio they were late and were expected, they made their way through the main lobby, passing through air purifier force fields.

The lobby was immaculate, clean, and lavish—a stark contrast to the abysmal state just a few paces away.

"Can we take our helmets off?" Nolan asked.

"You can," Kumaarke said, clearly not removing her helmet, "but I wouldn't advise it. The air is cleaned with that compound you found. Not purified via the natural flora/fauna oxygen cycle, no. But with a chemical compound that can wipe everything off the face of this planet with a single spark."

"I'll leave it on, then." Nolan shuddered in his scaly skin.

"This way," Kumaarke instructed, motioning to the elevators. "We have an appointment to keep."

After what felt like the longest elevator ride any of them had ever taken, the trio entered the boardroom of the Kentari Union. They were greeted by a long table of lavishly dressed Kentari men and women. Each of them oozed with the image of wealth and power, yet they were sickly and obese, barely able to walk in their grotesque forms. Their faces resembled those of the Lukari, hairless with soft cranial ridges, but their skin was a pale, sickened blue-green, marred with darker spots that easily could have been acne or lesion scars.

"You're late!" the head of the table announced. "The CEOs of the Kentari Union do NOT like being kept waiting. Do you know how much one minute costs each one of us?!" he barked.

"We are NOT late," Anzyl retorted bluntly. "We arrived exactly at the specified time. Your planet uses elevators instead of transporters like everyone else in the galaxy. It took us 15 minutes just to get up to this floor..." He stood at the end of the boardroom and began his presentation. "Regardless of transportation, we are here because you, the Kentari Union, requested the Lukari Concordium and Khitomer Alliance's assistance in solving your planetary pollution problem."

"Yes," one CEO woman at the table fanned herself, unamused. "The riots and revolts have halted workforces and productivity. The worker's unions have repeatedly requested that the union 'look into' this 'alleged' mess." She flamboyantly waved her fan at the accusation of an 'alleged mess' on the planet.

"Alleged mess?" Kumaarke blurted, pointing to the windows, where a horizon of yellow and brown haze covered the skyline. "Your planet is dead!" she almost shouted, slamming her hands on the table. "There are no active ecosystems on your planet, your ocean currents have ceased, your atmospheric air currents have stopped, and—"

"And Pure-All's stocks are down 4.2%," another CEO interrupted. "That's all I and my investors care about." They waved Kumaarke off. "All this riffraff about currents and eco-whatevers are simply nil when it comes to quarterly numbers."

"YOU asked US here to help you!" Kumaarke blurted out, her voice almost shouting.

"Admiral, please," Anzyl stood at her shoulder, his diplomatic personality coming out. "Let's all take a moment to breathe and relax."

"I don't HAVE a moment," another CEO blurted out. "This meeting has cost me a fortune already, and so far, I have heard nothing of note."

"Fine!" Anzyl replied curtly. "Here is our proposed plan." He pressed a button on his datapad, and a proposed plan of action for the Kentari Union displayed like a PowerPoint presentation. "Your planet needs work, a LOT of work. And it needs to start with a complete paradigm shift of everything about how you do business in New Kentar."

"Stop all production of the chemical PA-09?!" one CEO burst out in laughter, reading the first line. "You expect us to stop production on Pure-All?! Both liquid and gaseous forms?!"

"Yes!" Nolan spoke up. "That chemical compound alone is the sole reason your planet has died, and you are dangerously close to a cataclysmic event. One single cosmic entity—" he was cut off by another CEO.

"That's ABSURD!" she shouted. "Our chemists and experts insist that PA-09 is perfectly safe and has no adverse effects on the environment! You have no proof!"

"I have three ships' worth of proof!" Nolan shouted back.

"Look!" Kumaarke shouted, slamming her hands on the table. "You asked us to help you! This is what we found. This is our proposal!"

"Help, yes," the head at the table balked. "Completely stop all production and halt all profitability? No. Do you have any idea how much what you are proposing costs?!"

"Your planet is DEAD, again! Do you want to doom another planet or a 'New New Kentar'?"

"Bah, planets are planets," one CEO chuffed. "There are plenty out there. We'll find another one and transfer services there." They balked, sitting back in their chair and smoking their pipe.

"So you want to pollute another Class-M planet?!" Anzyl almost shouted. "The galaxy is not so empty and uninhabited as you may think, Chairman. Especially for habitable Class-M planets." He tried to think of ways to make these money-hungry bureaucrats see his point. "Think of a Class-M planet as 'high-quality, prime real estate.' Not many of them out there, and what IS available, not too many races out there in the galaxy would be okay with you ruining yet another perfectly healthy world that they may desperately need."

"Well then, cheapen your proposal!" the head of the table blurted. "But I will have you know, it is far more resourceful to just leave everything here, take the primary production systems with us as is, and find a new world and start with a fresh, clean ledger." He looked at the presentation slide on the screen. "Stop all production of 'hostile' and 'toxic' chemicals? Pah! There is nothing wrong with our productions!"

Anzyl leaned on the table, his hand on his forehead, and turned to Kumaarke. "I am starting to see why your people resorted to civil war and left Kentar in the first place." Then turning to the chairman, he said, "Your horizon outside your window is green, and your people must purchase breathable air from vending machines all over your world just to breathe!"

"Yes, of course they do!" He retorted matter-of-factly. "Purchasing clean air and water is a top market item and ALWAYS in demand! Pah! You expect us to provide clean air, for what? Free!? Ahahahah!" The chairman bellowed with laughter, and the entire boardroom burst into balking laughter alongside him.

Anzyl, Kumaarke, and Nolan sat in their seats, dumfounded by the money-hungry leaders of this planet.

Suddenly, Captain Anzyl's combadge chirped. "What is it, Nexus? I told you I was not to be disturbed." He was not happy with the interruption.

"Captain!" Heluna's voice interrupted, "I know and I'm so sorry to interrupt."

"What is it, Heluna?" Anzyl was not pleased with her words and annoyed by the interruption.

"Fek'ihri... on long-range sensors." Her voice was wrought with fear.

Suddenly, Anzyl's eyes shot wide open. His hands slammed on the counter, and he leaned forward, sweat already beading on his forehead. "Fek'ihri?... here?!"