May 22, 2440 – 10:38:00 AM
Behind the scenes, logistics moved faster than most governments could manage. Matt had only hours to scale up for one hundred ten thousand new arrivals, and Missouri wasn’t going to wait.
“Leonard,” Matt said, stepping into the holotank feed like he was just walking into a neighbor’s garage.
The older man’s hologram flickered to life, eyes shadowed with fatigue, a digital notepad hovering beside him. He gave a curt nod.
“Marmaduke.”
Matt didn’t return the courtesy. “You get my first contact packet?”
“I did,” Leonard said. “The board can’t decide if you’re an eccentric genius or a loose cannon. Personally, I found your… collegial tone effective. Glad you didn’t give them the same sovereignty sermon you opened with for us.”
“There’s a time and place,” Matt replied. “Right now I want autonomous construction gear. Dozens of industrial printers. I have two T-36 building units, but I need feedstock and field kits for both. I’ve got a hundred people who can run them, each with thousands of hours logged. I also want T-56 and T-8086 units, and people who can operate them while training my crew on their quirks. Get me standard modular housing, three- and four-bedroom units. As many as you can move. I’ve got six old mobile home parks prepped and ready.”
Leonard blinked. “That’s a full-scale deployment.”
“I know. They’ve got medical and food stockpiles for now, and their hydroponics are clean and efficient, better than ours in some ways. But they don’t have anywhere near enough space for them all to live long term without that.”
“And you want a team?”
“I need one,” Matt said. “Pull from at least six corporations. I don’t want any one group planting a flag in my backyard. Redundancy. Balance. That is going to be the name of the game in the short term. And send a few hundred nurses, twice as many medics, and all the doctors you can spare. I’ll even take military ones.”
Leonard scratched his chin. “I can get personnel boots on the ground tonight. I can air-drop your T-36 supplies if you tell me where. Big gear, mobile labs, printers, that’s three to five days by Chicago caravan.”
Matt tried not to sneer at the vaunted Amazon delivery model. If he had a Chicago team, the lead elements of that convoy could be here before tomorrow morning.
“That’ll work. Tell hospitality conglomerates to prep staff and a wide range of foods. Their biology clears Earth edibles, mass spec confirms it. This isn’t just a starving mob who’ll eat anything. Some of them are aristocracy, and to me, that means players we need to take seriously.”
Leonard smirked. “You’re going to make half the megacorps nervous.”
“Good. I wish it was all of them,” Matt said. “How are they taking it?”
“Panicking. You’ve been under the radar for years. That ends now.”
Matt exhaled slowly. “I know. Easier to operate when they think you’re a local yokel. They don’t even bother to Google me. How’s my Freeholder status playing out?”
“You’re legally neutral. Half the C-suites are already calling you a convenient buffer. But personal landlords make corporations twitchy, especially ones with military assets and refugee allegiance. Still, for now, your neutrality helps everyone.”
“Then let the world know Missouri’s open for business, as long as they behave.”
Leonard snorted. “Charming diplomacy. You sitting in on the medical conference you organized?”
“No. Just send the transcript and summary. Most of what they’re discussing is in fields I’m not passionate about, or qualified for. My corporate framework has specialists who will keep me updated.”
Leonard raised an eyebrow. “You know,” he said slowly, “I pulled your service record. Most of it’s classified. Barred, actually. Even to me.”
Matt didn’t flinch. “That’s probably for the best.”
Leonard let the silence stretch, then shrugged. “Fair enough. I’m just trying to retire without the planet catching fire. Figured I’d be the grumpy bastard on the porch by now.”
Matt gave the ghost of a smile. “Then you should’ve planted more trees and fewer flags.”
Leonard almost smiled back, then killed the feed.
