It’s me, hi.
I’m the problem.
It’s me.
Karl Jak scowled as he sipped the tea.
“When did I agree to tea?” He asked as he looked around for one of his personal assistants. “I don’t recall agreeing to teatime. Has this not been done before?”
It wasn’t Kevin who responded. Instead, the Not-Kevin lady popped out and gave a faint smile. “You said something about ‘fine, I’ll do it myself’ when you couldn’t get ahold of ‘that damn praying mantis of a woman’ because she was ‘too busy babysitting those people on Cevanti for like months’.” As if the on-point paraphrasing and pantomiming wasn’t enough to sell the validity of the remarks, she spun around her tablet and showed Karl Jak the memo he had dictated to her at some point in the recent past.
“Alternative facts… clearly,” Karl grumbled as he shooed the woman and turned back to the small assortment of military oligarchs, plutocrats, and other assorted ‘crats’ from Cevanti. “Anyway… I think we’ve talked in circles long enough. Our deal is good to go through, is it not?”
“I don’t have an issue with it,” the eldest statesman-slash-soldier man grunted as he fixed his beard and looked to ensure he had no dissent form his retinue. “The … golems you leased us were more than useful in combating the Unmaking, and reports from beyond the Dome grow more positive by the day. It should only be a matter of time before we take a major step toward liberating our World from the pestilence.”
“The Unmaking,” Karl specified. “We call it what it is. Don’t common noun it. It makes it commonplace. As if it’s supposed to be some daily part of our vocabulary.”
King Dulmare bristled slightly at the rebuke. “Nevertheless, none of us are opposed to the terms you outlined.” He looked around. “Is that correct? I do not wish to speak for my peers.”
“The Trade Union agrees with the terms.”
Karl Jak smiled as he took another sip. What was it with these grizzled cyber-tech people and tea?
“When can I expect the first shipments at my installations?”
It was here that the Trade-Baron made his voice known. “The Guild should have the first cargo stocked and shipped by the end of the month. We’re just waiting to ensure that our schedules don’t conflict with Cytokine Industries maintenance of the various ports.”
Aria scowled as she leaned over the table and offered a scowl to her ‘esteemed peer’. “As I mentioned in our last video call, I’ve arranged for all the logistics. All you need to do is have your people there to accept the cargo and transport it through the checkpoints. I trust that won’t be too hard for them.”
Karl, who had already had to navigate the somewhat erratic relationship between Markov’s various factions, took this moment to interject before the pair got locked in a spiraling duet of snarky barbs and fangless threats. “That sounds lovely. My boys in R&D can’t wait.”
“I still wish I knew what you wanted with this stuff, Mr. Jak,” Claudius Dumare muttered. “You’ve never quite enlightened us as to how you benefit from this arrangement.”
The man in the purple suit winked at the man. “A gentleman never tells.”
I’m the problem.
It’s me.
Karl Jak scowled as he sipped the tea.
“When did I agree to tea?” He asked as he looked around for one of his personal assistants. “I don’t recall agreeing to teatime. Has this not been done before?”
It wasn’t Kevin who responded. Instead, the Not-Kevin lady popped out and gave a faint smile. “You said something about ‘fine, I’ll do it myself’ when you couldn’t get ahold of ‘that damn praying mantis of a woman’ because she was ‘too busy babysitting those people on Cevanti for like months’.” As if the on-point paraphrasing and pantomiming wasn’t enough to sell the validity of the remarks, she spun around her tablet and showed Karl Jak the memo he had dictated to her at some point in the recent past.
“Alternative facts… clearly,” Karl grumbled as he shooed the woman and turned back to the small assortment of military oligarchs, plutocrats, and other assorted ‘crats’ from Cevanti. “Anyway… I think we’ve talked in circles long enough. Our deal is good to go through, is it not?”
“I don’t have an issue with it,” the eldest statesman-slash-soldier man grunted as he fixed his beard and looked to ensure he had no dissent form his retinue. “The … golems you leased us were more than useful in combating the Unmaking, and reports from beyond the Dome grow more positive by the day. It should only be a matter of time before we take a major step toward liberating our World from the pestilence.”
“The Unmaking,” Karl specified. “We call it what it is. Don’t common noun it. It makes it commonplace. As if it’s supposed to be some daily part of our vocabulary.”
King Dulmare bristled slightly at the rebuke. “Nevertheless, none of us are opposed to the terms you outlined.” He looked around. “Is that correct? I do not wish to speak for my peers.”
“The Trade Union agrees with the terms.”
Karl Jak smiled as he took another sip. What was it with these grizzled cyber-tech people and tea?
“When can I expect the first shipments at my installations?”
It was here that the Trade-Baron made his voice known. “The Guild should have the first cargo stocked and shipped by the end of the month. We’re just waiting to ensure that our schedules don’t conflict with Cytokine Industries maintenance of the various ports.”
Aria scowled as she leaned over the table and offered a scowl to her ‘esteemed peer’. “As I mentioned in our last video call, I’ve arranged for all the logistics. All you need to do is have your people there to accept the cargo and transport it through the checkpoints. I trust that won’t be too hard for them.”
Karl, who had already had to navigate the somewhat erratic relationship between Markov’s various factions, took this moment to interject before the pair got locked in a spiraling duet of snarky barbs and fangless threats. “That sounds lovely. My boys in R&D can’t wait.”
“I still wish I knew what you wanted with this stuff, Mr. Jak,” Claudius Dumare muttered. “You’ve never quite enlightened us as to how you benefit from this arrangement.”
The man in the purple suit winked at the man. “A gentleman never tells.”