Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Part four

Planet Rooster, Gram city, Lilia

"We appreciate your patience lady Stoneheart, your call will be redirected shortly"

A few minutes of waiting and we finally got through the secretary. I made the mindless mistake of forgetting to calculate the time difference but luckily it was early in the morning, my brother has yet to return to his office but knowing him we didn't have to wait for too long.

"Lilia, happy to hear from you again so soon"

"I feel the same, elder brother, glad to see you in good health"

"Good health, you say? After all the extra work you dumped over me lately?"

The Zesionien male speaking in a stiff monotonous voice is the fifth son of the Stoneheart household , Hank Stoneheart.

Much like Seven he rarely shows his emotions on the surface, except for the visible tiredness in those bags under his eyes. The tired, sleep deprived look is almost like a trademark of his. Although he looks a little on the skinny side Hank is actually quite the huge Zesionien as his size easily reaches twice that of the average male.

Being the smartest of our siblings his abilities earned him a high position in the Stoneheart conglomerate. He has the final say in a lot of important decisions and his authority is second only to our father. A few days ago we went to him in order to make a deal in regards to the investments of Seven's newly acquired property, and the reasons for that are simply because among all my acquaintances Hank is the most capable and also the only one I could trust .

Hank always looked after me more than father ever did, he was the only one that tried to stop Iris and I from leaving and was the first one to contact me when news of my rescue spread. He is an important figure in my life so even though Seven asked me to keep our relationship a secret I intended to console him about it but…

"I see that Mr.Seven is still by your side"

"And where did you think I would go?"

"Apologies, it's just that a side of me wished you would seize functioning that's all"

"Too bad, I don't plan on doing that any time soon"

"What a shame"

"You don't have to worry, Lilia, no matter how much they look like it those are still just a sold machine, they don't understand the very concept of being offended "

"Yeah yeah, we know you are busy so why don't we get to the point already"

"Indeed I'm busy in fact I planned on contacting you later this day" Hank pulled out a book page checking his schedule "well, nothing I can't push a little back so why we get things done since you already called"

"Good, we-"

"But first of all I want to how my little sister is doing" Hank intentionally interrupted Seven, completely ignoring him and turning to face me

"I… I'm doing just fine, brother, thank you for asking" On the other side of the table Seven kept his rage under control, snorting once and leaving it at that.

Hank took hiss time looking at me as if trying to get a reading on me , a few seconds later he let a rare smile appear on his face

"I see, you look healthier than the last time we talked, always remember to take care if yourself"

"I will do"

"R-right, I will keep that in mind" uh… did he just…

"Each traveling guide is prepared with a list of products appropriate for Zesionien consumption and another for what is absolutely to be avoided so you have to make sure you-"

"Um, brother, I already know those things…"

" then tell me, what are you doing in a restaurant specialized in serving meat?" he knows! Coming here wouldn't end well, I already knew that the moment we stepped through the front door. I should have waited until we left before calling, what should I do?

I can't come up with a good excuse and I don't want to lie to Hank so I turn to my last resort hoping he would read the situation and lend me a hand.

'Seven, please say something, anything!' as I thought that to myself Seven lazily rested his head on his wrist and with a bored look intervened

"Would you mind post pointing that for a later time, I want to hear what you wanted to talk about"

"Would you mind not shoving your horns where they don't belong? Ah, I remembered, you don't have any"

"What does it have to do with anything? Just get to the topic already"

"I'm sure the way I collect data is none of your business too, so could you get to the topic already?"

Seeing them having this exchange is a bit strange. It's fine for Seven to get angry but why would Hank get frustrated talking to a machine? In fact without the slight change in their voice tone I would probably never notice their animosity. While keeping a calm expression Seven is repeatedly moving one of his legs up and down underneath the table indicating that he is about to get fed up with the pointless jabbing, and when he was a few steps from snapping Hank decided to take that as a victory and changed the topic

"Sigh, I have a meeting in a few minutes so shal we get done with this quickly?"

"Says the one wasting our time"

Sliding through his desk interface Hank brought out several book pages and placed them in front of him

"Concerning the glass mining, except for one location being attacked by a swarm of nahl everything else is going smoothly"

"Do I have to remind you to not overdo it? I would like to preserve the natural sights as much as possible. Also make sure not to harm any of the wild life or their habitats"

" That would be asking a lot, Mr.Seven, if you expect us to take that into consideration then you must be willing to take the extra charges for the damaged equipment" Hank let out a long sigh. he reached for a cup placed at the side "we mostly use drones but.. if we leave dangerous beasts alone hen we would lose millions of units "

"I don't really care, the equipment could be replaced but any damage to the ecosystem is irreversible"

Seven now is one of the ric.h.e.s.t individuals in the whole universe but even if he owns a whole planet it's practically useless if he can't put it to use.

That's why the best choice he had is to leave everything in Hank's hands who had all the connections and experience needed to make the investment a success.

In conclusion hank would do most of the work from providing all of materials and equipment to supervising the mining and transportation of the most valuable mineral , the Glassume. In exchange the Stoneheart conglomerate gets a total of ten percent of the profits from selling said material.

I thought it was a bit late to tell Seven that a ten percent is giving away too much, after all the equipment and employment fees wont reach the point zero one percent from what my meager knowledge told me . In other words this deal is only maximizing the profit he other party would get. But it seemed like he already knew it, it's just that he didn't have a choice since his only contact at that moment was Hank, arguing more than needed when he didn't have an alternative was just a waist of time, and they could have easily pressured him into pushing the bar to a thirty percent if he didn't close the deal at that point.

"As you wish. Then the second matter that needs addressing is the shield protocol. I knoww you have more than enough to afford it but are you sure you want us to go ahead with the installation?"

"Ah, I will leave the authority of the gate in your hands for the time being, no one goes in or out without your permission "

"I appreciate your trust. Our security service is the closest to perfection so you don't have to worry"

"I will leave it in your hands, then"

Although Seven is only allowing the mining of Glassume at this point there are a lot of other valuable things on Gorgola from other rare elements to undiscovered species which would without a doubt attract thieving hands from all the surrounding galaxies and even pirate groups looking to make it big.

One could get a really harsh headache just thinking about the numbers Seven spent in less than a ten day, yet even though he casually flung several decades budgets at Hank it didn't amount to twent percent of his income.

What is left are the employment and maintenance fees for the shield which won't be something to worry about at least for the next few centuries.

"Now to the point of our call" done with the business talk Seven sent me a look. Maybe he was worried I felt left out since I stayed silent the whole time, but before I could gather my thoughts Hank stepped in with another question

"Before that, I want to know how long are you planning to keep entry to the surface restricted"

"At least until I'm done traveling, but even then I may keep it that way for much longer"

"The reason I'm asking is because we got many requests from big tourism companies and many research institutions wanting to establish expeditions in Gorgola, the planet has the making of a really big tourist destination"

"Hmm… I don't think that would be a good idea"

"Indeed, some may attempt smuggling and at worst case they may lose their lives to the wildlife or some unknown illnesses" he stroke his long bird , looking upward "But for the time being I suggest we go through with building the necessary facilities for when you have a change of mind, we found quite a few safe islands we could put to use"

"Hmmm…. Well, why not? You can go ahead, and remember our priorities"

"About that, brother, we wanted to know if you could provide us with a new ship"

"A new ship, you say, hmm…." Hank went silent, he seemed to be flipping what I asked a few times inside his mind like he wasn't able to understand it, stroking his well kept beard all the while "a ship, huh"

"Yes… that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Yes, one ship is nothing to think much about, what to be wary about is you traveling alone. You have a walking giant wallet as a companion so I don't really recommend moving around with just the two of you"

"You mean we should hire a crew or some protection?" Seven said. He probably already thought about it when I told him about our need for another pilot

"It's not much a question of numbers when you are out in the void, I suggest you take the public transportations of the intergalactic union since their routes are the most secure"

"You expect me to take the bus when I can buy my own car? "

"I don't understand what you are referring to but remember you have my little sister with you, if you put her in harm's way just to satisfy your ego I will do whatever I can to hunt you"

"Um, Seven, I think he I s making sense"

"… fine fine, I will use the space bus, are you happy?"

"One last thing, we need confirmation from your side to initiate the transaction and pay the current fees"

"Okay, you have my confirmation"

"…uh… Seven, you have to use your identity card in order to do it"

"Oh! You mean that, like when you paid for your spear?"

"Yes, we already set your book with your account information so"

"All I have to do is slide my card on its surface, right?"

Seven took out both his book and card, and in the corner of m my eye I noticed a shadow suddenly move. We were being watched the whole time, but that was nothing new as it was the case ever since we got to Rooster, that is why I let my guard down a little after we had our meal.

The shadow swiftly moved between the customers and under the table without anyone noticing it's existence, it was too fast I couldn't react in time

" ah…"

The shadow leaped over our table snatching Seven's book and identity card, leaving him frozen with his hands only holding empty air.

The thief ran at full speed toward the glass wall, a dead end with no windows and even if there were we are tens of floors high. The only exit is the front door or the side entrance for the staff, if I move now I can still.

As I reached for my spear preparing to chase whoever that is I watched them use the transparent wall as support to jump up a few feet, near the ceiling there are a few openings they could slip through but that are unable to reach. When I thought I had them in my hand a green light formed in a circle in the air under their feet, and from there they jumped to the opening and outside the building.

The height didn't matter as they continued jumping through the air as if physics didn't have any effect. We stood there stunned as the thief ran away with Seven's book and card. With those two anyone would be able to move all of the money in his account as well as Gorgola's ownership

"Seven! We have to move before it's too late!" I called for him but all he did was staring with eyes wide open at the fleeing thief

"Seven!"

"Was that a cat-girl just now?"

"A ca-" I didn't know what happened next. My words were masked by a laud explosion as the shockwave destroyed the interior of the restaurant.

When I finally returned to my feet Seven was nowhere to be seen.