The New Maldives

 Hi All ,

The New Maldives, terraformed into a habitable place of  sub-tropical islands and seas, a contrast to the snowy weather of Birmingham in late winter. It used to be one of our colonies, before it became the 157th State 34 years ago, not that we control the politics of this state, but most of its Parliamentary delegation has worked for us at some point or other. Today, we still own 10% of the moons surface.  New Maldives, initially populated by refugees from the old Maldives back on Earth, before it disappeared like Atlantis,  has a Swiss style GDP per capita and a thriving population of 33 million. New Maldives itself was part of 34  moons of a hot Jupiter some 1,000 light years from Earth. There enough heat and light radiated from the gas giant and star that it was relatively easy to terraform.  It cost a lot, but EHC plc continues to make a decent return on the investment. Exactly how you are supposed to start and finish a colonial project. 

After we'd wrapped up at the Treasury, we agreed that a 4 person team would be best to manage this project, so me and 3 others. I owned a holiday home pad on New Maldives. It was several square miles of a coral  island, surrounded by a lagoon, so we agreed to transfer there for the duration. Dad pinged me to say his operation for new tongue, eyes and heart had gone well and he said I'd done something he hadn't : got the Central Bank to loan him some cash!

It was about 4 in the afternoon on our bit of  the moon, so I arranged for my  G7 Holographic Maids and footmen (cool thing, they can actually pick things up and not float through objects like ghosts) to show everyone to their rooms and which portals led to which bits of the house. We'd meet up in an hour after we'd refreshed ourselves. I took a quick shower and changed into more appropriate clothing for a Caribbean style climate. My favourite spot was an old, but still functional beach hut  on the west part of the island, where I decided to read a holographic copy of the file Treasury Secretary had given me, sitting on an old garden  plastic chair and table, a series of palm trees giving me cover from the sunlight. 

Church of England First, I decided. I went  through the document, which included its latest report and accounts and underlined bits, with comments in the margins and lots of posit notes on pages I wanted to come back to, barely on the first page I heard a voice from behind me,

'There you are pet' said a Geordie accent .  It was Katherine 'Kat' Fairbanks, one of my guests. Kat was 6 foot tall with a main of the blonde curly hair, that was flowing out of broad brimmed summer hat, a young but mature face without any wrinkles, but with no plastic look either,  a perfect hourglass figure and a body that looked no older than 40, even though she was 171 :whatever surgeon sculptor she'd employed she'd done well out of along with whatever  medical rejuvenation technology she had access to, as it usually freezes aging  from the time of the treatment onwards, but cannot reverse it. Given that such treatments only became available in the 2020s, when she'd have been in her 70s, to look like 40 wash a miracle.   I've seen people who'd come into money in their 90s,  use their new inheritances to get  life extension and rejuvenation therapy, their lives extended but in bodies that are still in their 90s, but with skin  like smooth plastic, like living window dummies. But then Kat is the Matriarch and Chairwoman of Fairbanks Northumbria Interstellar Group Plc, one of our peers a multi sextillion pound company. Like us FNIG was nowadays a conglomerate, but its core business lay in the Shipbuilding  and Industrial Engineering trades such as warp drives, fusion reactors, starships, warships, oceanic ships , astro- navigation and the like, based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, but also colonising several hundred worlds, one of which, Northumbria, is now a member of the United Earther States. 

The company's big break occurred in 1967, in collaboration with my dad and uncle Jacob, who had built the prototype Solar Well Portal and Plasma Cloud Scoop. This would literally scoop up the Earth's plasma and provide an almost limitless supply of clean, cheap energy direct from the sun to earth . But what my dad couldn't do was design a successful generator. Kat, however, had perfected a Magnetohydrodynamic -MHD - generator that withstood the pounding of the Sun's plasma and could cope will volumes of energy flowing throw at any given time - and the rest is history. 

'Well, I'm working on our assignment'- I said

'Ah yes, I can see why my security says you're THE candidate to take over EHC when David and Jacob finally decide to retire' she laughed.

'Whatever, we've got work to do' I said. In truth I did wonder why I'd been involved in this one, Was it true? No. rule no4, Don't listen to rumour and shit stirring. 

'So let's work with a bit of comfort and company' as she strode off toward the beach.

Kat was followed by phalanx of my h- footmen, who who bought over a bucket of ice, with several bottles of white and rose wine and another tray which included four red, along with wine glasses. Because my old garden table was too rickety, they'd set up a brand new- extremely large - table and chairs nearer the beach, along with 4 metal chairs with comfy pads on the back and seats.  

They were putting up a  lofty parasol when I'd finally walked over and along with the wine left a few snacks  'Oh don't worry, I wouldn't pilfer your cellars without asking , I've been to town, had to get some new togs for this and thought I'd stock up with some booze and - she got a packet of cigarettes from her handbag- 'fags'. Sitting down one of my H footmen, lit her cigarette. She offered me one, but I declined as she happily puffed away. 

'Percy and Janice should be here any minute, I thought we could all sit together and get this sorted over a couple of glasses of this fine local wine'. Kat gestured toward it all. 'I just wasn't sure what you all liked, so I bought several cases from the local wine merchant down the road'. 

'That's very good of you, although you make me look like a bad host for not providing anything' I said disapprovingly. 

Kat raised her eyebrows, as she asked a footman for a glass of the white. It was a crisp bold Chardonnay. Not one for the etiquette of wine tasting, Kat frowned  at the footman to fill the glass right up to the top. A couple of gulps later  she said  'Well I think this dig is pretty fantastic and there's dinner isn't there?' She smiled. 'I've been looking forward to meeting you actually, not every day you get to meet an Elharar who wasn't born with a spoon in their mouths'.

'It's my pleasure' I said as I asked my footman to pour 4 glasses one of each, 'You know my background and you have a file for me, so yeah you should know '.

'Yes your maternal line is quite interesting, Chinese grandfather fleeing Mao and Russian Jewish grandmother fleeing Stalin. Of their eight children, your mother was no6, who was a gifted Astrophysicist. She met your father during the time he was looking into wormhole technology. Together they found a naturally stable wormhole that lead to Andromeda Galaxy. Our file suggests that David fully intended to marry your mum, but she declined and went onto other things, not realising she was pregnant. She was killed during an eco -warrior terror attack on Mercia, where you were saved by transport into an exo-womb',

'Followed by 16 years of hell at an orphanage' I said, ' I was finally allowed to leave at 16, where I got a job at '

'Home and Colonial Company' Kat continued ' working your way up to -'

'A frontier District Officer, until the firm went bankrupt. Dad took it over and we had to reapply for our jobs, a condition of which is to provide a DNA sample ' I said reliving that memory. 

'Which is when they discovered your identify and your life changed with being a daughter of the Galaxy's richest man, with a lump sum and trust fund of your own. So you've been working for the past ten years for David and and know you are Executive Director of the Property-Colonial division' stated Kat.

'Yes that's right' I said.

'Why didn't you just take the money and run, it's been done before?' Asked Kat.

'I liked my job' I said, but as if I'm going to tell her anything else. 

 'I think I'll try all of them as well' Kat chuckled. I smiled, but was burning underneath the façade. I looked behind me and I could see Percy and Janice walking up to our table. 

'Right then said Kat, as they took their seats and the footman poured their wines, 'lets go save the C of E and a bank' as we toasted to that. 

'Fag anyone?'