Special Edition, May 20, 2440
Doug Meyers looked into the camera with the comfortable expression of a man who had spent decades interviewing everyone from heads of state to people who had become famous for spectacularly stupid reasons.
“Good evening, everybody. I’ve got somebody interesting for you today, and for once Matthew Marmaduke had absolutely nothing to do with arranging it.”
He paused.
“His chief of staff did.”
Doug laughed.
“Angelina Reyes is a very good friend of mine, and she’s been telling me there’s a young V’ren gentleman working in Pennsylvania I ought to meet. Now, Angelina has excellent judgment, although considering who she works for, I’m occasionally surprised she has any patience left.”
R’alen laughed.
“So, R’alen K’var, welcome to the show.”
“Thank you, Doug. It’s a pleasure to be here.”
“Tell me about Pennsylvania. I’ve seen the aerial photographs. I’ve watched the construction footage. But I’m not entirely sure what it is you’re trying to build.”
“A community,” R’alen answered. “And that requires considerably more than just places for people to live.”
Doug nodded.
“All right. You’ve got houses, apartments, streets, and a lot of impressive machinery. What else do you need?”
“People who make a community worth living in. Families, businesses, people who enjoy doing things together. Neighbors who know one another. We can provide buildings, but we can’t manufacture a neighborhood.”
“Not even with those machines?”
“No.”
“Somebody needs to tell Matt. He seems convinced he can manufacture just about anything.”
“I suspect he knows.”
Doug grinned.
“Probably. He just enjoys proving people wrong.”
He glanced at the construction photographs displayed behind him.
“Now, how soon are you actually expecting people to move in?”
“We’re looking at June fourth for the first community to be move-in ready. The others should be ready by the middle of July.”
“That’s two weeks from now.”
“Yes.”
“Two weeks.”
R’alen smiled.
“Yes, Doug.”
“I’m going to have to get used to this.”
“You’re not the only one.”
“Where are you finding the people to fill all these homes?”
“Most of the residents of the first community will be V’ren who are currently living in orbit. We’d love to have human families applying as well, but there hasn’t been much interest yet.”
“Really?”
“Not as much as we’d hoped.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t think many people know what we’re offering yet. There’s also the question of leaving somewhere familiar to move into a community that doesn’t exist today.”
Doug nodded.
“That’s a fairly significant consideration.”
“Yes. It’s one reason His Lordship’s world tour is important. We hope it will help people understand what’s available.”
“So this is where I come in.”
R’alen looked slightly embarrassed.
“I wasn’t going to put it quite that way.”
“R’alen, I’ve known Matt for years. People don’t get introduced to me by Angelina Reyes entirely by accident.”
“Actually, I believe she was simply being kind.”
“Then we’ll see if we can make her good deed useful.”
Doug settled back.
“Let’s talk about who you want.”
“We’re particularly interested in families with young people. Singles as well, including recent graduates. People looking for somewhere to establish themselves.”
“What about industrial workers?”
“Industrial recruitment is being handled through the main V’ren Trust hiring operation. That’s separate from what we’re trying to accomplish with the residential communities.”
“So you’re not here to hire ten thousand electricians.”
“Not personally, no.”
“Good, because I don’t know ten thousand electricians.”
R’alen laughed.
“I doubt anyone does.”
Doug turned toward the camera.
“Now, imagine I’m running a successful restaurant in Chicago. I’ve got customers, a good staff, and a business that makes money. Why should I pack everything up and move to Pennsylvania?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Doug stopped.
Then he laughed.
“Well, that’s the worst sales pitch I’ve heard in twenty years.”
R’alen smiled.
“Why would you abandon a successful business and everything you’ve built? You have a great deal to lose.”
“Fair point.”
“Opening a second location is a different story. That might be a very good opportunity.”
“So you’re not trying to raid every established business in America.”
“No. We want people who are seeking new opportunities and who want to partner with the people already there.”
“And make money.”
“Certainly. There’s nothing wrong with making money.”
“Glad we’ve established that.”
“But we’re not particularly interested in people whose primary concern is making as much money as possible.”
“Why not?”
“Because too many of those people will make their money and leave.”
Doug considered him.
“And you’re trying to build somewhere people want to stay.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a harder thing to recruit for.”
“It is.”
“Which brings me to a question. Would you rather recruit one really good restaurant owner, or twenty families who between them know how to run restaurants, supply them, staff them, and keep them operating?”
R’alen leaned forward.
“I’d rather recruit the people who want to build something together.”
“That sounds suspiciously like you’re about to tell me a story.”
“Actually, we’ve had a rather entertaining hypothetical discussion about opening a taqueria.”
Doug’s expression brightened.
“Now we’re talking. Tell me about the tacos.”
“Well, it began with someone asking what it would take to open a good Mexican restaurant.”
“An excellent question.”
“We started identifying the people we’d need. A family to operate it, cooks, suppliers, people who knew the food and could teach our V’ren residents.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
“Yes. Then we started discussing where the ingredients would come from.”
“Also reasonable.”
“And by the time we’d finished, we’d recruited twenty-seven families.”
Doug stared at him.
“Twenty-seven?”
“Yes.”
“For a taqueria?”
“Well, we ended up with two Mexican restaurants.”
Doug started laughing.
“And a tortilla factory,” R’alen continued.
“Of course you did.”
“At least one mariachi band.”
Doug slapped his desk.
“Twenty-seven families, two restaurants, a tortilla factory, and a mariachi band. All because somebody wanted tacos.”
R’alen was laughing now himself.
“We also ended up with three grandmothers who didn’t get along.”
Doug leaned forward.
“Please tell me more.”
“Each wanted to partner with a V’ren baker. Two of them didn’t trust the other’s concha, and the third insisted oreja was her specialty.”
Doug put his head in his hands.
“Oh, this is wonderful.”
“We decided we’d oblige all three.”
“You’re going to import a Mexican family feud into Pennsylvania?”
“Three grandmothers who each know how to bake something people want to eat. I think we can accommodate them.”
Doug was laughing hard enough that R’alen had to stop.
“I’m trying to imagine your planning meeting.”
“It became rather complicated.”
“I’ll bet it did.”
“We did agree that we should probably ask the families whether they wanted to move before making arrangements for their restaurants.”
“An important detail.”
“Yes.”
Doug regained his composure.
“Now, for everybody watching, I want to make something clear. This is a hypothetical example, correct? You haven’t actually recruited twenty-seven families and three feuding grandmothers?”
“No,” R’alen answered. “Unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately?”
“I’d be delighted if they applied.”
“Somewhere out there are three grandmothers watching this and wondering whether you’ve got room for a fourth.”
“We do.”
Doug laughed again.
“Of course you do.”
He took a drink.
“But that illustrates what you’re talking about. You don’t just want a restaurant. You want the people and families who turn it into part of the community.”
“Exactly. And we’d love to see those families working with V’ren who want to learn from them or become business partners.”
“So we’re not just talking about restaurants.”
“Certainly not.”
“Musicians?”
“Absolutely.”
“Artists?”
“Yes.”
“Coaches, entertainers, people who organize clubs and activities?”
“All of them.”
“Someone who wants to open a neighborhood bookstore?”
“Yes.”
“A fellow who repairs bicycles?”
“Certainly.”
“A retired woman who wants to teach gardening?”
“We’d be delighted to have her.”
Doug smiled.
“You’re essentially recruiting a town.”
“Yes.”
“Rather than hiring its population.”
“That’s a good way of describing it.”
Doug examined his notes.
“Now, suppose I want to open a café or a grocery store. Does the V’ren Trust own my business?”
“No. You would submit a business plan through the local Trust offices, but it would be your business, subject to whatever financing arrangements you made.”
“So the Trust isn’t automatically taking ownership of everything.”
“No.”
“What if I need help getting started?”
“That’s something the Trust can discuss with applicants.”
Doug nodded.
“Because here’s the difficulty I see. A new town needs stores and restaurants, but a restaurant needs customers. Nobody wants to open a business in a place where nobody lives, and nobody wants to move somewhere they can’t buy groceries.”
“That’s where Trust financing comes in.”
“Getting businesses established before they’ve got enough customers to stand entirely on their own?”
“That’s part of what the financing arrangements would need to address.”
“So you want business plans, but you’re also acknowledging that a new community has unusual needs.”
“Yes. We’re not pretending an established business district and a community that opens in two weeks operate under identical conditions.”
Doug glanced at the photographs again.
“I can see how that becomes interesting.”
“It certainly is for us.”
“Now, another question. You’ve got humans and V’ren moving into these communities. Do you expect everybody to adapt to V’ren culture, or do you want people bringing their own traditions?”
“We absolutely want people to bring their traditions.”
“So there isn’t going to be one approved way of doing things?”
“Not if we can help it.”
“Any particular requests so far?”
R’alen laughed.
“We have at least one person who wants Peking duck.”
“That’s not an unreasonable request.”
“No, but this person isn’t especially concerned with what it costs.”
Doug raised an eyebrow.
“Whatever it costs?”
“Apparently.”
“There’s somebody watching this right now who knows how to make Peking duck and just heard the most beautiful words in the restaurant business.”
R’alen grinned.
“I hope so.”
“Do you know how to make it?”
“No.”
“Neither do I. But I know how to eat it.”
“Then perhaps you should come visit.”
“Now you’re recruiting me.”
“I’d be delighted to have you.”
Doug chuckled.
“I’ll talk to Angelina.”
He turned more serious.
“Let’s get away from the restaurants for a moment. What’s the hardest part about being among the first human families to move into Pennsylvania?”
“For humans, I think it’s leaving everything they know and everything they’re comfortable with.”
Doug nodded.
“That’s not a small thing.”
“No. We’re asking people to consider a new home, new neighbors, possibly new work, and a community that will be unfamiliar to them.”
“And some of their neighbors are going to be green.”
R’alen smiled.
“Yes.”
“Which is going to take a little getting used to.”
“On both sides, I expect.”
“That’s an honest answer. You’re not promising everybody an effortless transition.”
“No. I wouldn’t want someone to move simply because we made it sound wonderful during an interview.”
“Not very good advertising.”
“Perhaps not.”
Doug shook his head.
“Actually, I rather like it.”
He studied R’alen for a moment.
“Let me ask you something. You’re twenty-one years old, you’re working with your family, and you’re helping establish communities on a world your people didn’t expect to inhabit. What interests you most about getting humans to move there?”
R’alen thought about it.
“The possibility of building something that doesn’t already exist.”
“What do you mean?”
“We have V’ren families who know one another and understand how our society works. Humans have their own families, traditions, and communities. I’d like to see what happens when people from those different backgrounds choose to build something together.”
“Rather than simply living beside each other.”
“Yes.”
“That’s an ambitious idea.”
“I think it’s worth trying.”
Doug nodded.
“And there’s the other side of it. You need young people.”
“We do.”
“Families with children. Recent graduates. Single people beginning their adult lives.”
“Yes.”
“Not just people who’ve already made their fortunes.”
“Especially not just those people.”
Doug smiled.
“Sounds like you’re looking for a place where people can grow up, find work, get married, start families, and argue with their neighbors about whose grandmother makes the best pastries.”
R’alen laughed.
“That would be a very good beginning.”
“Even the arguments?”
“Perhaps especially those. Provided everyone remains reasonably civil.”
“I wouldn’t count on that if you’re recruiting three Mexican grandmothers.”
“Neither would I.”
Doug looked toward the camera.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve established that the V’ren Trust is looking for more than people willing to occupy new houses.”
He turned back to R’alen.
“Before we finish, I want you to make your pitch directly. You’ve got an audience all over the world. There are families watching, people finishing school, business owners thinking about expansion, and people wondering whether there might be somewhere better to build their futures.”
He gestured toward the camera.
“What do you want them to do?”
R’alen looked directly into it.
“Use the link below and contact the V’ren Trust. Tell us about yourself, your family, and what you would like to do.”
He smiled.
“We’re also establishing an online community that should be going live very soon. We’d love to have you join us there, meet other people who are interested, and help us discover what sort of community we can build together.”
Doug nodded.
“Even if they don’t know exactly what they want to do yet?”
“Especially then.”
“And if they make the world’s best concha?”
“Then I would very much like them to speak to our prospective grandmothers.”
Doug burst out laughing.
“You are never going to escape those grandmothers, R’alen.”
“I suspect not.”
“Well, thank you for joining us. I have to say, Angelina was right. You’re an interesting young man.”
“Thank you for having me, Doug.”
“And if you actually recruit those twenty-seven families, I want an invitation to the opening.”
“Of course.”
“Both restaurants.”
“Certainly.”
“And the tortilla factory.”
“If you wish.”
“And I want to meet all three grandmothers.”
R’alen grinned.
“I’ll make certain you’re introduced.”
Doug looked back at the camera.
“You heard him, folks. Pennsylvania needs people, and apparently there’s room for just about everybody except a bad tortilla.”
He smiled.
“I’m Doug Meyers. Thanks for joining us.”
The broadcast ended.
