Chapter 9

Thorne was right, this place really is spectacular, Anya Petrova thought to herself from her office view of the vivid colors below. All the more reason to take it from him. Petrova had just finished up a call with the four members of the Coalition: Dr. Evelyn Walsh from Titan Industries, Dr. Alistair Sinclair of Genesis Corp., Maya Patel of DataDominion, and Colonel Ethan Carter of SkyCorp. Principal topic of the conversation was the recent move for power by Global Energy’s newest Chairman, Zachary Thorne.

Sharing Petrova’s convictions that Thorne needed to be dealt with before he became a larger issue, her colleagues in this particular meeting were now the second unanimous set of Coalition executives to vote in favor of final measures against Thorne. Ethan Carter of SkyCorp had seemed particularly distressed at Thorne’s ambitious approaches to engagement with the Coalition. “He’s trying to off all of us, I’d even suspect!” Carter had yelled into the connection, dots of spittle visibly assaulting his camera as he distorted her terminal’s speaker with his volume.

The hardest part, though, wasn’t convincing them that Thorne was off his rocker and needed to be put out of his misery. No, that came rather easily. The friction in the meeting, though even that was minor considering what Petrova had planned for, came when Petrova suggested that the coalition did not need to replace Global Energy, but could instead split Global Energy’s interests and function with only nine Coalition members. Admittedly, this was an immoderate solution that would require amendments to the Global Constitution on Corporate Governance. Petrova had planned well, though. She already had the new articles drafted and ready to present to her more skeptical colleagues. Carter had blustered the most, but upon seeing the suggested impact on his net worth, adjusted his perspective after a brief twenty minute discussion in which his arguments lost spirit half-way through.

She had to admire Thorne, Petrova admitted. He was young, ambitious, had managed to kill his mentor and take his spot on the coalition without too much suspicion - oh yes, I know about that, Zachary - but these were sharp characteristics that, if used too quickly with one another, will cut down its user every time. Since learning that the current chairman of Global Energy had come down with a terminal illness that was slated to finish its course in the imminent future, Petrova had seen an opportunity. The owners of Earth were lazy - they took something for nothing every time it was offered, but what if those assets were tainted? What if, upon the passing of one of the biggest conglomerates of energy in the world, the assets were split to other coalition members in such a way that Thorne’s involvement with dirty money gave TerraHarvest the controlling share of the Coalition? Well, then, Anya Petrova might well become the Chairman during the interim, allowing plenty of time to consolidate procedures so that TerraHarvest’s influence was concrete, whole, and unquestionable.

But then, little Zachary Thorne had stuck himself in her side. Thorne had come on the scene and, within a few months, had murdered an entire team of detention scrap miners and had allowed the balloon into a conflagration that now required Oversight Jurisdiction involvement. Granted, Petrova had plenty of influence when it came to legal matters, but it made for messy headlines and unnecessary expense of her political capital, and Anya Petrova hated to give away something for nothing.

Petrova’s hand terminal buzzed. Ollenia, her partner back at their vacation home on Driftveil, was calling to check in. Petrova had forgotten to tell Ollenia that she made it to Valhalla. “My love,” Petrova said, her apology already writing itself in her head.

“Anya, you forgot to tell me you made it, I had to find out from your assistant. You will make me jealous, my darling,” Ollenia chastised, teasingly.

“I’m so sorry, Olie, I had to deal with a juvenile delinquent as soon as I arrived, and I’ve only just gotten settled at my space here. Can you forgive me?” This wasn’t a complete lie. Her meeting with Thorne was delayed by what his assistant had termed a Prior Engagement, but Petrova knew that he was just trying to make her sweat. She could have called Oliewhile she waited, but she needed to keep her mind sharp against Thorne. She’d never crossed him in person, much less on his own pitch. He was disappointing, though. She heard the rattle of glass bottles being cleaned away as she approached his office, and could smell the alcohol in the room and on his breath as he smugly justified his failures to her.

“Maybe if you bring me a present,” Petrova could hear her partner’s mischievious smile through the phone, her voice warm and playful. Could even see her feigning a pout, like the countless times she’d been talked into getting what Oliewanted for dinner instead.

“Then the biggest present, you shall have,” Petrova replied, her gaze lingering on the darkening city lights as she watched the colors of the holo-ads loop endlessly. She’d bring Ollenia something nice—a gift that would say all the words she couldn’t. But that was the trade-off, wasn’t it? Power, after all, required sacrifices. But if power couldn’t be loved, then Petrova would love power for them both.

God, she missed her wife, but she loved her job more. This, of course, she’d never say to Olie, that would be a line that could never be un-crossed. Petrova couldn’t help it, she was ruthlessly ambitious and after ten years had finally achieved a status as the most powerful person on Earth; the most powerful woman in human history, she figured. The search, accumulation, and maintenance of power was intoxicating, and Petrova had no intentions of sobriety any time soon. Olieliked the luxury, too, and how else did she expect her to pay for it?

She pinged her assistant to query up a dinner order and regarded the lights of the city as the sun disappeared over the horizon. What a world we’ve manifested for ourselves, she mused. Rich beyond our dreams, but strangling ourselves with every bit of wealth that we grow. The Coalition had been born of necessity—global corporations stepping in when governments faltered in the face of an aggressively deteriorating climate. Now, though, just like the governments of the old world, leadership had grown puffy, bureaucratic, inefficient; painfully oblivious to the ticking time bomb above which they dwelt. The reports had cautioned over a century ago - the rampant pollution that destroyed the old world would continue to mount as long as industrialization continued on the surface. The elevation of Earth’s remaining populations after the worst of the climate crisis years had bought humanity some time, but the clock was running out, as if the planet’s vitality dripped away with every sand of the antique hourglass on her desk. Even the ultra-rich needed oxygen to breathe, but that would even be in short supply soon enough.

The coalition had so far resisted all of her efforts to expedite a space program; addicted to their temporary holdings and profits on Earth. Most of them were too old to care - they would be dead long before the second crisis finally came. Petrova’s plan was painfully utilitarian, but it was the only way that humanity would survive another hundred years.

The scrap mining team’s discovery of ancient reports in a forgotten library under Cirrus Prime had helped to accelerate Petrova’s plan, but only because Thorne had acted impudently. If Petrova could tip the coalition against Thorne, consolidate power, and then collapse the Coalition in on itself, Terra Harvest, and more importantly, Petrova, could emerge as a true leader of the species. It hadn’t been done in over a century, when the cities of Earth first went to the skies - a single ruler of Earth. Now, it was her turn. She would elevate humanity to the void.

Pulling her hand terminal from its place on her desk, she found her contact in the Skyreach Oversight Jurisdiction and placed a call.