Chapter 15 - Seeing Max again.

Having left to the Vulcan mining Co. that just came into his name, just after his breakfast, Balthazar was quite early to the board of directors meet. It was still an hour before the stipulated time.

He decided to have a look through their operations and understand what they were involved in and how they could improve. A quick look through the doc.u.ments provided by Alfred gave him a clear picture of it.

They were only involved in handling the mines and ores and production of raw ingots, smelting and refining activities. They have access to large number of mines over few moons and planets in their solar system and a few neighboring ones.

"Supervision of mining operation can be used as an excuse to visit a large number of celestial bodies nearby," thought Balthazar. He also noticed that a few attempts were made previously to collaborate and compete with other firms in metal fabrication, steel making, etc., but were unsuccessful.

All in all, it was quite successful with a high production and getting an yearly revenue of more than 200000 million credits. Of it more than 70 % was retained as profit, making it a prosperous company.

The board soon convened for the meeting. The most part of the meeting was to introduce him to the board. He learned that majority of the shareholders of the firm joined it when their own firms were bought and merged into the firm.

The recent tussle at the frontier caused a natural surge in improvement of war efforts, increasing weapons production requirements and in turn any mining industry would see more opportunities. The meet continued to discuss a few plans toward these efforts before being dismissed at lunch time.

He immediately boarded a shuttle home and had his lunch in route. He was very excited about meeting Rudra. The previous day, he hired a service to clean up the upper floor of his complex which were abandoned.

It took nearly two hours for the travel back home. He immediately met with Rudra and team and they went to the complex in his hover car. He hadn't seen it before either. They soon reached the street in which the complex was.

Being the market street, it was quite crowded. The complex was a bit toward the far end of the street which was bad. But right beside it was a famous restaurant. The main issue they noticed was that the cyber drome was probably within a kilometer radius from the complex and would be their competition.

"It has more than enough space," said Slaine as he got into the complex.

"Yes, enough for about 50 spaces for common V.R. consoles on each of the three floors and also for a few VR interactive rooms," said Rudra walking around.

"The internet coverage is quite good in these streets and the same for power supply."

"I can see only two thing which might cause an issue. One is that our space is from second floor to 4th and the only entrance is from the first floor or the lift. It is just a convenience issue. Second, it is quite close to cyber drome. They have been popular for ages now."

"You are always worried about the silliest things, Lizzie," said Rudra.

"Yeah. Those aren't even problems. We are getting out of cyber drome. So, it will oppose us wherever we set up shop. And we can always have a couple of detachable escalators setup by the sides of the entrance on the ground. Those are easily operable, and we can maintain them ourselves," said Slain calming his sister's worries.

"Yes, we also publicize our shop a bit before the opening, set up a discount on the first few days to rake up customers," added Harry.

"I will get the equipment required. My cousin can get them at a discount," said Nancy. She had a brother working as a shift manager at a supermarket nearby.

"We first need to make a proper list of all the items that we need and decide a proper and viable floor plan. We need to have it done for at least for the main floor and can decide on the remaining two later," said Lizzy.

"Yes, we need to do that first sit down and decide on that."

"I can also get the required stuff from the electronics and electrical store below. He rents my complex. I can see if I can get some discount off him."

"Cool! We also need a proper name for the cyber cafe. Something catchy and interesting," continued Balthazar.

"How about the Bel's Cafe."

"That's a horrible name," said Balthazar before anyone else could comment on it.

"Cafe V.R.?"

"That already exists and is quite well-known franchise. We would be sued," said Rudra. "We need to make sure it is not already in use."

"Maaan! That reduces the options by a lot."

"How about cyber club?"

"Exists"

"V.R. club? V.R. lounge? Cyber lounge?"

"Let me check? Exist, exist and yeah, exists," replied Rudra.

"How about Dreams Cyber Space?" asked Balthazar referring to Rudra's shop's name that he remembered.

"That is possible. Dreams with Z, Dreamz," said Lizzie.

"Ok. Then, the name is Dreamz Cyber Space. No issues?"

"Yes. Let us stick to it."

"If we can open it up by 21st, we can sync it along with the release of vita nova," added Lizzie.

"I thought the game was going to be release on February 1st," said Balthazar.

"Oh, that is the main game. They are bringing their bio-feedback equipment to operation from 21st. Most of the V.R. features, like the V.R. hubs, online shopping, etc., other than the games can be done from 21st itself. They want to let the people have an interactive experience without using console before the game is launched."

"Wow, that is quite considerate of the company."

"You don't know?"

"What?"

"There is a rumor that this is actually tech made by Scions of Minerva for bio-feedback warframes. But they are having trouble to make a bio-warframe that can perfectly mimic humans. There seems to be some kind of espionage of the tech by the V.R. company."

"Yeah, I also heard something similar. It was that it is being used by military for warframe training."

"No. There is no such training on warframes in the military," said Balthazar putting an end to the gossip.

"Let us stick to the task at hand. Before all that, we need more manpower. Any flier or advertis.e.m.e.nts must include that."

"Furniture should also be taken care of. Some food and drinks too."

"Wait you guys. Before all that we need to do a bit of financial planning. Bel is our sponsor here. How much can you put in right now?"

"I can spare up to 50 million credits right now," said Balthazar. He had received more than 500 million as his inheritance plus he also saved up to 20 million in his service. But he couldn't place all his money into the cyber cafe.

"Oh! We might be a bit underfunded," said Lizzie. They have already had plans of going independent before and made enough calculation. They need at least 70 million to have a decent start by her estimates.

"No. No. No. You are adding up the rent of the complex too in your calculations. We get that for free. We can have the first floor up and running by 21st," corrected Rudra.

"Well, submit your resignations to David. We start work right now," said Lizzie pulling in Slaine and Rudra with her.

They immediately submitted their resignations to cyber drome and started to work on the floor plan. In an hour, they managed to confirm on a proper plan and list of equipment required for the cyber cafe.

Balthazar transferred the 50 million amount to Rudra and left them as he had to report to Salazar by 5 p.m. today. Every one of them had distributed the work among themselves and proceeded with it. They wanted to setup the shop before tonight so they could start on publicizing from the next day.

Balthazar left them and quickly made his way to the mansion. After reaching it, he quickly made his way to the hall. He met Robert there who seemed to be waiting for someone.

"Hi Robert. How are you holding up?"

"I could do better. Heard that Max is going to be coming to asklepian today."

"You waiting to get a look at him?"

"No, it probably would be night by the time he comes. I am waiting for Walter."

"Oh! I need to talk him too. I will sit along with you here."

A few minutes later both Walter and Salazar came together from the dining hall. They immediately noticed both Robert and Balthazar were chatting together on a couch. As soon as Balthazar saw Walter, he directly went to talk to him. He wanted a talk with him for a long time.

"Hi Walter, can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

"Come with me," he gestured to Balthazar.

"You too," called Walter to Robert.

Walter along with the three of them went to the sixth floor of the east wing. They went into the Patriarch's room as Salazar waited outside. Winston was waiting for them inside.

"Finally, here," said Winston as they came inside.

"What is this about?" asked Balthazar looking at them.

"Max had been summoned to come to the mansion by tonight."

"Robert told me."

"If he comes back, I need you both to be calm and not let out any signs that we suspect him."

"That's a given," replied Robert.

"You both need to behave with him the same way as you usually do and act friendly and trusting towards him."

"Hey, I spent 5 years without talking to him. I can easily act a bit distant towards him and still pull off that everything is fine between us," said Balthazar. "It is Rob that needs to be careful and nice to him."

"I will take care," said Robert.

"Is that why you brought us here? To tell us this?" asked Balthazar.

"That is part of it," replied Walter. "We also decided that Robert would join you with Salazar."

"That is, unexpected?" said Balthazar confused.

"OK, fine. I actually have something to talk to you about," said Balthazar to Walter. "You have an information about my grandmother? Name, picture, anything?"

"Yes. Winston told me about it. But I think it is for the best if you don't make any inquiries."

"I just want to know it. I won't make any inquiries till you deem me capable of handling the dangers associated with it. But I want to know."

Both Walter and Winston looked at each other helplessly. They knew that Balthazar had a right to know about his grandmother. But they believed that John's probe into it is what led to the attacks. There were two things that linked to the knights. One was a dark-blue stone locket shaped like an eye that was on baby John's neck and the other was a picture of their grandmother taken by Walter.

"I have a picture of you grandmother. I will forward it to you, but you cannot make any inquiry into her," said Walter as he sent a picture to both Balthazar and Robert. It was a picture of a dead women. She had blood-red colored long hair and looked like John for the most part.

"Also keep this a secret from Bolena."

"Of course," said Balthazar as he got up. "Anything else?"

"No. Both of you can leave with Salazar."

As they both left the room. Salazar lead them out and started towards the forbidden area.

"Are you going through the tour of the area for him?" asked Balthazar as he didn't want to go through the tunnels at night.

"Oh! You can skip that. Off to the racetrack you go."

"What? Racetrack again?"

"Yes. You are really low on stamina and strength. You need the workout. At least for 30 minutes each time, twice per day."

"You'll be joining him from tomorrow morning," he added to Robert.

"I thought we would have a study session in the evening," inquired Balthazar.

"Oh! About that. I decided to give you some weekly or daily assignments. You have permission to my lab. Just try finish them in the lab. I will check through my cameras. Now, off you to the racetrack."

"Ok."

"See you tomorrow morning at the gym."

Balthazar was really irritated by Salazar's attitude towards him. "I guess it is just like Elaine told. He is a bit crazy about working out." He went to the pet shelter got Anubis and proceeded to the racetrack.

He ran around the track for 30 minutes again along with Anubis. Later, he had a quick bite and a drink and left to meet with Rudra and the team.

By the time, he reached the complex, they already setup up few banner and the detachable escalators by the entrance. He quickly got into the second floor and saw the furniture and woodwork already in place. There were a bunch of unpacked cases on the floor.

"Wow! You guys set it up quite fast," said Balthazar appreciatively.

"Oh! We planned to put up the V.R. systems up too. But the electrician told that he would be a bit late today. So, we decided to put them up tomorrow," said Lizzie meeting him.

"Security systems? Food and drinks?" asked Balthazar.

"The complex already had the security installed. They will be activated by tonight. Anyways I would be sleeping here in the manager cabin," said Rudra from the manager cabin. "Help us move these crates into the cabin."

"You are sleeping here?" asked Balthazar surprised. He didn't expect that Rudra would be sleeping at the shop. He never expected that Rudra didn't have a place to live.

"Of course. Lodging and food were provided at cyber cafe. The same is the plan here. A certain portion of third floor is reserved for the same purpose here. The entire team would be staying here. It is convenient and efficient for the team."

"We do need more personnel for the club. It becomes more important as you guys are going to compete as a team. Probably another couple of managers."

"Yeah, few more guys are leaving the cyber drome along with us. We also put in some fliers and a few advertis.e.m.e.nts that we are hiring."

"Ok, we can have the fliers sent at the supermarket and also few advertis.e.m.e.nts at the local media," suggested Balthazar.

"That is going to cost quite more. We are almost out of money."

"Just send me the bill. You guys just need to make it a successful and famous. We are to be next cyberdrome, the better cyberdrome."

They continued to setup the food dispensers, refrigerators as the electrician came to the complex. Soon, they had the established all the general electrical appliances required. The complex was now good enough to be a cafe all it needed was a proper internet connection and the V.R devices set up.

They cleaned up the trash and decided to go for dinner and then, Balthazar bid them farewell returning to the mansion. As he returned, he sat in a couch in the main hall along with Anubis and started browsing through the assignments that Salazar sent him.

It was mostly about poisons, their extraction or creation. Majority of them had him extracting poisons from various kinds of plants and creatures. He was given access to the herbariums and Salazar's lab. "I will have to spend tens of hours in the herbariums to do these," thought Balthazar.

He messaged Robert to ask him about his time with Salazar. Robert seemed livid about Salazar. "That guy is making us do so much the work which his assistants at the lab usually do. He is just freeing them up, so that they could help speed up his research."

"Haha, he does have us do a lot of such work."

Thaddeus suddenly came into the hall and was walking towards the entrance.

"Hi Thaddeus, what's up?"

"Elder Max is here."

"Max is here?" came Robert's voice from the call on his wrist band.

"He is coming into the hall. I will go greet him. Talk to you later," said Balthazar to Robert as he cut the call.

As Max came through the door, with Thaddeus and a few others, Balthazar felt a hot anger rising in his body. Max spotted him and greeted walking towards him. Balthazar had a strong urge to strangle Max as he hugged him.

"Long time, uncle Max. How are you doing?" asked Balthazar with a smile.

"I am the one who should be asking that. You went through a lot the last week."

"Ah! It was nothing. Part of the job," said Balthazar.

"Where have you been the past two days. Nobody would tell me."

"Just some work aboard. I will be here from now on."

"Oh. That's good. Glad to see you," said Balthazar as he hugged Max again and left to his room with Anubis.

Unbeknownst to them, Salazar was watching Max ever since he entered the mansion. He was shocked to see someone he knew in Max's company as Max's bodyguard. He couldn't believe his eyes that Max managed to employ Abel Santiago.

He was one of the famous security professionals he knew. He once killed a member whom Abel's group was protecting. So, he knew that they were very proficient.

As the group began to move towards the living quarters, someone came forward and blocked their way. It was a grey-haired man who was dressed in all black and was wearing a hood. Elaine followed behind and stood by him.

"Hi Arthur, what do you need?" asked Max.

"What are you doing?" asked Arthur.

"The council called for me."

"Yes. You are welcome to stay here. But your company isn't approved."

"I applied for permission for them to reside here."

"And it was rejected."

"You are pushing it old man," said Abel joining in their conversation.

"You don't have any lines. You talk again you're all dead," said Arthur not moving his eyes from Max.

Max was frightened by Arthur's display. He always saw Arthur to be someone who was polite and good to everyone. There were rumors about Arthur among the Elders, but he always doubted them. Today, he thought they might actually be true.

Caught in a bad situation, he told Abel's team to return. He left to his room immediately after worried by Arthur. "They have nothing that ties me to the recent attack. But I think they just want to be sure."

Once at his room, he decided that it is best if he keeps calm and stays at the mansion for some time and wait till everybody cools down.