Sargasso of Souls – Session 21

I wasn’t too happy about leaving the surface with things as they were but I had my orders. If I’d been so inclined I could probably have justified disregarding them once again but it would be bordering on insubordination and I’d been down that road a few too many times in the past. None of those occasions had ended well for me and right now didn’t seem a good time to be making the same mistakes again, so I let it go… There was always later.

Before departing I briefed Locke, since he would be the one in charge while I was away, and then sought out Santino and Vaughan to ask their opinion on the risk that Ramsay posed if the Ancients had done more to him than we realised. I certainly didn’t want another rogue alien entity out there on the loose and I was prepared to confine our resident fly-boy if it was deemed necessary. However, as Santino was quick to point out, there was no reason to imagine that anybody was safe from ‘possession’. In that regard Ramsay was no greater risk than the rest of us. The professor’s reasoning was hardly reassuring but I was forced to concede that there was insufficient cause to detain Ramsay. Consequently, a few hours later, both he and I were among the small number of personnel that left aboard the Salvation. The remainder were the flight crew and a handful rotating off-planet for a short R&R. I had deliberately kept the numbers to a minimum.

Needless to say Phipps was not among the shuttle’s compliment. He had yet to regain consciousness and would remain in quarantine until we could be sure as to the extent of his transformation.

As for Ramsay, we kept a close eye on him throughout our journey but nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

It was around midnight on the 10th when we eventually made our approach to Bharat station. As an added precaution I contacted Razor before we docked and apprised him of what had happened. He sent some security and a medical team to meet us and give us a check-up prior to our coming aboard. It was at least some reassurance that their scans revealed nothing untoward.

After the somewhat lengthy examination I was taken to Razor’s office. It was about three in the morning by then but, as usual, he was there. Not for the first time, I wondered if he ever slept. He looked a little tired but I had the impression it was the weight of his responsibilities rather than insomnia that troubled him.

He welcomed me and thanked me for coming. I could have pointed out that I hadn’t realised I’d had a choice, but it seemed prudent to keep that observation to myself.

I briefed him at length on the situation on the planet’s surface. I told him what Veldin had done to himself and about the mysterious communications that Santino had elicited from the Ancients, including their depiction of what had happened, or was going to happen, on Mars.

Razor listened intently; asking questions where he felt clarification was required.

When I’d finished he raised another matter that was obviously on his mind.

“For the time being I would ask you to keep this to yourself” he confided “but at tomorrow’s board meeting I shall be proposing we dissolve SEC.”

This came as somewhat of a surprise to me.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes”, he confirmed. “Given the current state of affairs here in the Esperi system, and in particular the growing threat from the Weyland Station, I am forced to concede that the company’s future is untenable. If we are to survive any hostilities we must obtain support and resources that are currently beyond our means. We have no income stream and our debts are increasing. At present we are too small a fish to sufficiently influence what happens here and so our only option is to throw in our lot with a larger corporation. Given our existing relationship with CIC and their reappearance at this time I propose that it be with them. I believe they will look favourably upon us surrendering control of SEC assets to them voluntarily.”

He paused, observing my reaction.

“Given the reasons that we formed SEC in the first place, how do you feel about this?” he added after a moment. “Speak freely Ramona. I want your honest opinion”

I considered what Razor had told me. For what it was worth, his proposal made sense to me but, as I cast my mind back to the board meeting out of which SEC had been born, I wondered if Morris and Ramsay would feel the same way. It had been their objections that had prompted it.

“What happens to the employees?” I asked, concerned about the impact the decision would have on my team. “We’ve recruited a lot of good people here”

Razor nodded. “That is very much my main concern also”, he acknowledged. “I can only give you my word that I will do everything possible to ensure that they are properly looked after. I would hope that their contracts can be transferred to CIC without interruption but ultimately the final decision will be out of my hands.”

I believed him. Throughout the time I had known Razor he had demonstrated his continuing commitment to the men and women who served under him. It was the main reason I had chosen to stand by him.

“I trust your judgement in such matters”, I concluded. “So if you’re telling me this is the best option, then that’s good enough for me. The others are a different matter. I can’t say how they will react to it.”

It seemed scant reassurance but Razor appeared relieved. I had the impression things may well have become more difficult for him while I’d been away.

“Thank you. I’m grateful for your support Ramona and hopeful that the others will also see the sense in this. Now, unless you have any questions, I suggest you get some rest while you can. We will be gathering in the conference room at 0900 hours prior to the meeting with CIC.”

Taking advantage of the few remaining hours before the meeting, I left Razor still working at his desk, went to my room, took a shower and then grabbed some kip.

It seemed I’d barely closed my eyes before I was up again for the board meeting, but in the military you get used to that kind of thing.

Razor began by explaining Phipps’s absence to Morris and Sam Wiles. Obviously Ramsay and I already knew the reason. Once that was out of the way, he got down to business and outlined his proposal to dissolve SEC and seek support from CIC. Surprisingly there was very little reaction to this.

“Given the current situation, that’s my recommendation” Razor finished. “My cards are on the table. Does anyone else have anything to say? … Morris, you’ve been unusually quiet?”

“I haven’t any objections to your proposal” Morris responded. “To be honest I’ve always thought of SEC as your company, so it’s up to you really. Do what you like with it. As far as the threat from Weyland is concerned, for some time now I’ve harboured my own doubts that, as an organisation, we were sufficiently committed to the preservation of this station, so I have already initiated plans to address that.”

Razor looked somewhat bemused by this. It obviously came as a complete surprise to him. “But the whole point of creating SEC was that it was our company” he pointed out.

“Be that as it may” Morris responded. “It soon became apparent to me that my own interests and those of SEC were not the same. Consequently Adelina Rossi and I have set up our own company, Morris and Adelina Designs or MAD for short, and have entered into an arrangement with Bharat station in which we provide additional support and security services to them. We are currently recruiting around sixty personnel to undertake operations that those companies under your direction have failed to pursue. Obviously the exact nature of these operations can’t be revealed for security reasons.”

For a moment Razor was lost for words. He sat down.

“I have to say I’m disappointed that you’ve gone ahead with this without consulting the board” he eventually said. There was a hint of annoyance in his tone.

“You mean without consulting you”, observed Morris. “Ramsay has a five percent share in MAD by the way”

Ramsay looked somewhat embarrassed by Morris’s most recent revelation.

“Either way you are clearly creating a conflict of interests, for both you and Ramsay. Do you consider MAD to be your priority now? Or are you still working for Nessence Transit?”

“That would depend on individual circumstances” Ramsay interjected. “Some operations being more critical than others”

“I hope you can appreciate that would be an unacceptable arrangement”, Razor stated flatly.

“And how is this any different from your own position” Morris retorted. “Aren’t you running Morris Industries, or Edge Consulting or whatever you call it now? You’ve poached Hollis, who was a Nessence employee, to work for you and you’ve been secretly compiling dossiers on all Nessence and SEC personnel have you not?”

“That’s hardly a secret!” Razor said exasperatedly. “It’s on record and is merely an appropriate security measure.”

“But a cross-company security measure” Morris maintained. “Being compiled by an Edge Consulting employee on Nessence Transit and SEC employees”

“That wasn’t my intention” Razor responded. “I admit that upon reflection I can see some of my actions may have been less than well-considered regarding respecting the boundaries between companies. I can assure you however that I have nothing but everyone’s best interests at heart”

“So do I brother” Morris replied a little caustically.

Razor looked sceptical but grudgingly conceded the point. I wondered if the two brothers would ever come to terms. Their relationship was clearly less than amicable now.

“We shall discuss this later”, Razor concluded. “For the moment is everyone happy for us to return to the issue at hand and vote on whether to dissolve SEC and seek the best possible deal from CIC? Those in favour?”

The vote was unanimous.

The remaining agenda items were wrapped up fairly rapidly. The tensions between the Morris brothers hung over proceedings like a cloud and it was difficult to escape the feeling that Razor, Sam and I were facing off against Morris and Ramsay. There was little further discussion for fear of relations deteriorating further. At that point no one had anything productive to say.

Afterwards Razor retired to his office to prepare for the meeting with the CIC representative, Gene.

To occupy myself I wandered around the station, though in doing so I only succeeded in reinforcing my feelings that there was little left to tie me there now. Almost everyone I really cared about was down on the planet.

I ran a few errands and then went back for the second meeting of the day.

In the end the result of the meeting with CIC was largely positive. Razor’s negotiating skills were impressive and he surprised me by expressing his confidence in me as mission commander on the planet. In response CIC accepted his proposal and indicated that they wished to keep our operations largely unchanged. They saw our personnel as assets and wanted to retain them. The only significant difference being that we would have to operate as a CIC subsidiary and would be at their disposal should they need us.

This authority was one that Gene wished to exercise immediately in order to mount a priority search-and-rescue mission to Mars with the objective of recovering George Cochrane from cryogenic-suspension. It was believed that as things stood the CIC director was in some danger. To cement the new agreement Razor volunteered to lead this operation personally and Gene indicated that he would be accompanying the team as it was of the highest importance to CIC.

I think we were all grateful that Morris did nothing to disrupt the proceedings. He remained silent despite strong indications from Gene that Rani station was likely to be the preferred location for CIC operations in this region and hence an aggressive takeover of Bharat by Weyland could well be met with a withdrawal of CIC personnel. Obviously as a CIC subsidiary our own people and their families would be included in this evacuation but that still left the question “What about everyone else?”

In this regard I could understand Morris’s position but I often had the impression that he only adopted it to spite Razor. The brother’s relationship was certainly a curious one.