Chapter 6 Chapter 6 1 Trillion Huge Money

"You're late," Byrne said, standing on the stairs of the Zara Group administration building.Holloway came alone, and he sent Carl back to the spaceship, gave it a Zara Velociraptor bone, and turned on the air conditioning. "I just ran into someone I know," said Holloway. "Meet Isabel, huh?" Byrne said. "Do you two still hate each other?" "Haha, she heard I was coming to see you and asked the same question," Holloway said. "I guess so," Bourne said, "Jack, I'm not the kind of person who pays too much attention to the details and always thinks there's something deep in it, but after you named a mountain after your girlfriend, you dug it up Falling into a pile of rocks, even I can see that this is not a good sign for the development of the relationship."

"That's why I don't ask you about relationship problems." Holloway said. "Okay," Byrne said, "I hear she's got a new boyfriend." "I don't know," said Holloway. "An administrator who was transferred to this planet just a few months ago," Byrne said. "A lawyer. Deputy General Counsel. If I were to go to court with you, it would probably be him representing me, and he would Disintegrate all your claims like cutting melons and vegetables." "Sounds like a nice guy," Holloway said. "That's right," said Byrne, "everyone thinks Isabel has found a better one at last."

"Aren't we already late?" Holloway was about to change the subject. "You're late," Bourne said, "but I expected you to be late because you're such a nasty bastard. So I asked you to come twenty minutes earlier than the appointed time. Now it's time, come with me ’ He walked up the stairs. "The place is as 'pleasant' as ever," Holloway said as they entered the building.The Zara Group on Earth, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, has been hailed as one of the greatest architectural achievements of the last century.Arriving at Zara 23, a few light years away from the public eye, without the need for public relations gimmicks, the headquarters building of the Zara Group has become a large building made of cheap and durable building materials. Without any extra features.

"I love the cookie-cutter cubicles you guys built," Holloway said. "There's fluorescent lights, I didn't expect that." Bourne ignored his sarcasm and walked forward without looking back, forcing Holloway to follow quickly. "Listen, Jack," Bourne glanced back at Holloway, "I know you and I have never gotten along, but if I could, I hope you behave yourself in this meeting." "What's so special about this meeting?" Jack asked. "The seams you found," said Byrne, "are really big." "I know, Chad," said Holloway dismissively, "I found out, remember?"

"You don't know," Byrne said.They walked to the door of a meeting room. "You think you know, but in fact this mine layer is bigger than you imagined. This has even alarmed the headquarters on Earth, and now it has become a top priority." "What do you mean?" said Holloway. "Promise me, Jack," Byrne said, "As the contract surveyor who discovered the seam, you have a vested interest in the survey and mining agreement requiring us to keep you informed about every detail of the process. I will do that .But you also have to promise me to behave in meetings.”

"Otherwise?" Holloway was really curious now. "No, Jack," Bourne said, "it's not like before. It's not me and you choking each other to see who gets out of breath first. I'm not threatening you or giving you orders. I'm begging you , please, behave yourself." Holloway was silent for a moment. "You said the seam was huge—" he asked Bourne. "Yeah," Bourne said. "How old?" Holloway asked again. "It's too big for me to represent the Zara Group to meet with you. The only reason I can get involved with this meeting is because they asked me to bring some sandwiches." Byrne said.

"How is that different from your day job?" Holloway sneered. "Jesus, Jack," Byrne said, "are you listening to me?" "Just kidding," Holloway said. "You've said funnier ones before," Byrne said, seeing Holloway suddenly smile. "What's wrong?" "It's the second time I've heard this sentence today," Holloway said. "Jack." Bourne wanted to remind him again. "Relax, Chad," Holloway said. "I hear you. I'll behave myself, I promise." "Thank you," Byrne said.

"But having said that, this meeting better be worth the price of admission." Holloway said. "That's up to you to tell me," Bourne said.He opened the door of the conference room, and all the senior executives of the local Zara Group sat in a circle. "Well, it's been a bit of a bluff," Holloway whispered to Bourne.Bourne didn't respond. "At last the guest of honor for this year's Zara Group Annual Report has arrived," said Alan Owen, Zara Group Vice President and Director of Zara 23 Star.He got up from his chair with a big smile on his face, shook Holloway's hand, and gave him a warm pat on the back, so sweet. "A warm welcome to you, Mr. Holloway."

"Thank you," Holloway said. "Please sit down." Owen pointed to the empty chair beside the table.There was only one chair, and Bernd apparently had to stand for the entire meeting.He and a group of other low-level clerks stood quietly in a row against the wall. "I think you know all the others here." "Yes." Holloway nodded in the direction of the others at the table, "I've been to Zara Group holiday parties a few times." "By the way," Owen said, "I seem to remember that you came with our biologist. Vanner?" "Vangar," said Holloway.

"Indian?" Owen asked. "Kenyan," said Holloway, "from Oxford." "Yes," Owen said, "are you still dating her?" "Just dealt with it today," Holloway said. "Great." Owen turned around and pointed to a person, "You don't know this one, Mr. Holloway, Weedon Aubrey VII. He happened to be inspecting the various branches and banners of the Zara Group Industry, he happened to be on this planet when you discovered this mine layer. You know the name." "Of course. I get a similar name on all the checks I get," Holloway said.He felt Bourne tense up behind him.This is not far from being unruly.Fortunately, there was a chuckle from the circle around the table.

"Indeed," Irving said, "and soon after, his signature was on the check." "Better later than sooner." Although Aubrey said so, his tone gave Holloway the feeling that he didn't mean it.Aubrey shifted in his chair, facing Holloway: "I've seen your file, you're from Duke University." "Yes, law school," Holloway said. "I did my undergrad there," Aubrey said, "18th class." "There was a three-year gap between us," said Holloway. “There aren’t many people with a law degree from Duke University doing fieldwork on third-class planets,” Aubrey said. "It's a long story," said Holloway. "I guess so, obviously there's also a disbarment involved, which is never something that can be explained in a few words," Aubrey said. Holloway stared at Aubrey for a long moment.He had a pleasing face, sun-tanned and bronzed, and the famous Aubrey family nose, which Holloway guessed hadn't been punched in the face just because he was such a haughty bastard. "It's hard to explain," he said, "but anyway, it turns out that I'm richer, and you and your family are richer, and I don't think we can complain." He revealed to Aubrey Smile. After a pause, Aubrey smiled back at him. "There's really nothing to complain about," he said, and turned to Owen, who had been watching them come and go, with some horror. "Then let's skip right to the end of the story and I think we'll talk about how much money we're going to have." "That's right." Owen said, clicking on the information board on the table in front of him.The wall behind him suddenly lit up, and the display page began to play. "Johan, I remember you want to talk to us about this." "That's right." Johan Gruber, mining director of the Zara Group, turned to the wall in response, "After Mr. We originally thought it was bigger. So we sent a follow-up survey team to the area—" "What?" said Holloway.All survey work on a contract surveyor's camp should be carried out by the surveyor himself or under his supervision, otherwise the surveyor may miss the discovery of new mineral seams and may lose the subsequent mining benefits of the original mineral seam. "I don't know about it." "Emergencies," said Janice Meyer, Zara Group's general counsel on Zara 23. "If you look up your contract, you'll see that Zara Group has the right to Surveying and gathering information or samples at contracted surveyors' camps." "What emergency?" Holloway asked. "I," Aubrey said, "this discovery is a huge mine, and I hope to report it personally to the chairman and other members of the board of directors. I am scheduled to leave Zara 23 tomorrow, so the emergency clause is ordered to be activated. " "Don't worry, Mr. Holloway," Meyer said, "after the emergency clause is activated, all subsequently discovered ore seams will be automatically added to the original ore seams, and surveyors will also receive corresponding additional benefits." "How?" asked Holloway. Meyer moved his eyes to Owen, who nodded. "We think a 0.1 per cent bonus is appropriate," he said. "Sounds good," Holloway said. "Congratulations on your 0.35% gain," Aubrey said, with a casually smug tone.The piece of cake he was going to get was too big, and Holloway couldn't compare with him.He motioned for Gruber to continue. Holloway hesitated to say something, but soon realized that if he didn't he would be dumb. "It should be 0.5 percent," he said. "What did you say?" Aubrey said.It annoyed him to be interrupted. Holloway looked at Bourne, who was terrified to find the attention on him. "Tell him," Holloway urged him. "Uh," Byrne stammered, but still mustered up his courage, "Halloway recently changed his contract, and the benefit was changed to 0.4% of gross income," he said, "so this extra bonus makes him a total of 0.5%." % of revenue." "I see," Aubrey said. "Is there any particular reason for such a sudden change to the Zara Group standard contract?" "Emergency," Holloway said. Aubrey didn't seem to find the quip at all funny. "Okay," he said, "but your prize money will be deferred until after we deduct the cost of cleaning up the cliff you blew up. CEPA is already processing the related fines. You have a share of the benefits, and you have to share the costs." Calculating cheapskate, Holloway cursed secretly, taking another look at Bourne.Bourne looked at him helplessly, the expression on his face said "stop torturing me".Holloway ignored his expression. "Chad?" he called to him. "What's the matter?" Aubrey became angry, and turned his attention to Chad. "Does his contract also exempt him from cleaning up?" Bourne tried his best not to show the pitiful look in his eyes, he sighed and admitted: "Yes, it's exempt." "Who are you?" Aubrey asked. "Chad Byrne," replied Byrne, "Contract Surveyor's Representative." "You must be well-liked, Mr. Byrne," said Aubrey. "You've been too generous with your contract surveyor. Is there any special clause in Mr. Holloway's contract that we need to know? Secretly." What's the bonus? Free prostitutes? You hand-wash his spaceship every time he comes to town?" "No," said Byrne, "nothing else." "Better," Aubrey said. "Who's your supervisor here?" "Me." Director of Personnel Vincent Dabo raised his hand to signal. "After this meeting, let's talk," Aubrey said. "Yes, sir," said Dubbo, and gave Holloway and Bourne a savage look. "Okay, we've wasted a few minutes discussing the contract, now let's get back to the topic of this meeting, if it doesn't bother you," Aubrey said.Gruber snapped back to his senses, cleared his throat, and resumed the show. Holloway looked at Bourne again, and Bourne stood there with a pale face.Sorry.Holloway lip-synced to him.Bourne made up his mind to ignore him. Holloway's attention returned to the slides on the wall, and Gruber's dull voice, explaining the methods and difficulties of additional surveys. If the surveyors were not vigilant, they might be eaten by Zara Velociraptor. "All in all, our survey team is still sonically imaging the seam," Gruber said, "but the data we've received so far is pretty amazing. See next slide." The wall image jumps to the next page, showing a bird's-eye view and a topographic map from the side.Seams are highlighted in green on both maps. "My God," Holloway said.The huge seam he found on the cliff was actually just a branch.The entire vein of the Sunstone Mine extends beyond the cliff, and its branches spread out to join a wide river-like main mine on the north side of the cliff, stretching for several kilometers, and extending to a place less than one kilometer away from Mount Isabel.Harroway looked at the length and breadth of the seam and tried to work out how much it was worth, but his mind was overwhelmed. Apparently he wasn't the only one who couldn't count. "How much is this seam worth to us?" asked Aubrey. "It depends on how dense the sunstone is in it," Gruber said. "Mr. Holloway's deposit is unusually dense, but to be on the safe side, I think it's wise to use Standard sunstone ore density calculations extrapolated from past mining." "Okay," said Aubrey impatiently, "just tell me what it's worth." "Probably between 0.8 and 1.2 trillion credits," Gruber said. This number was too large, and it took a while for everyone to react.Someone at the conference table couldn't help but whistle softly.Holloway was sure it wasn't himself. "1 trillion credits." Finally, Aubrey spoke. "Yes," Gruber said, "provided we can mine the entire sunstone mine." Aubrey snorted. "Come on," he said, "this quarry is worth the company's total profits for the past sixty years. Do you really think we won't mine the whole sun quarry?" "No, sir," Gruber explained, "but there are operational constraints and environmental concerns—" "We'll figure it out," Aubrey interrupted Gruber. "Okay, sir," Gruber continued obediently, "even so, there are many challenges to mining, especially if we excavate the main mine in the lowland jungle area, which is likely to violate CEPA mining and Regulations on deforestation." "The CEPA regulations are not engraved on stone slabs." Aubrey disagreed. "It's not," Gruber agreed, "but we're still bound by your father's instructions." "Of course." Aubrey said, his tone was exactly the same as he had just hoped that his father would be healthy and he would take over later, and his words were insincere.Holloway made a point of looking around the table to see if anyone had any concerns about this.The senior executives of the Zara Group trembled, their faces blank.Holloway couldn't help a sneer. Aubrey also looked around. "Everyone, I want to make one point," he said, "this ore seam may bring huge benefits to the Zara Group. And I don't need to remind you that the economic benefits of our company's exploration and mining have not been as good as before. On the one hand, the relevant official regulations of the colonial star are becoming more and more strict, and on the other hand, there are more and more other competitors who have obtained exploration and mining rights, especially the Blue Sky Group. Last year, their profit surpassed ours for the first time in history. This sun The income from the full mining of the quarry will allow the Zara Group to remain invincible for decades to come. Decades of rolling profits! So we will fully mine this quarry." "So, everyone. The mining of this mineral seam will become the primary task of the planet's business activities," said Aubrey. "You must integrate and mobilize all the resources at hand, as well as all the resources that can be mobilized in the future, and put them into this immediately." I have decided to stay on the planet and personally oversee the start of the project. If within a month we have not dug - and I mean focused all our resources on digging - you all have to start looking There's a new job, and I'll guarantee you won't find any. Got it?" No one spoke.Weedon Aubrey VII does not hold any official Zara Group titles, but Weedon Aubrey VI did not have any prior to becoming Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, nor did his father before him.No one would be naive to think that Aubrey VII will not take over the scepter of the Zara Group.No one dared to imagine that Aubrey VII couldn't ruin their careers and make them never turn over. "Okay," Aubrey said, "let's get to work." The corner of his mouth curled up, and he slapped the table. "Damn it! This is really good news." His eyes locked on Holloway who was sitting at the table again. "I'm really glad you're disbarred at the moment, Holloway." "Thanks," Holloway said dryly.