The first tests of his panels came back even better than he'd hoped, so he decided to spend the next few hours working on a business plan. He needed funding to get production off the ground, and the best funds were someone else's! Producing a proper plan also gave some nice xp to one of his more obscure skill groups.

Successful Skill Use +14 xp to Business - Novice Level 1 [75%].

+7 xp to skill group Enterprise - Novice Level 1 [42%]

He’d managed to boost it a little while running in the super-server, mostly by reading up on past business strategies and the impact of investment groups, unions, lobbyists, and automation. If he could get the Enterprise group high enough, he might even be willing to try his luck on the stock market. Apparently there were strategies that involved a lot less risk than Justin had expected.

He started with the production plan, taking advantage of his recent foray into robotics to establish a proposed automation system that made a lot more sense than his current capricious setup.

Successful Skill Use +8 xp to Design - Novice Level 2 [80%].

+4 xp to skill group Engineering - Novice Level 2 [64%] Successful Skill Use +12 xp to Project Management - Beginner Level 6 [42%].

+6 xp to skill group Enterprise - Novice Level 1 [43%]

Before moving on to a full business prospectus, including opposition research, manufacturing projections, loss ratios, safety considerations and sales projections.

Successful Skill Use +18 xp to Project Management - Beginner Level 6 [61%].

+9 xp to skill group Enterprise - Novice Level 1 [44%] Successful Skill Use +16 xp to Economics - Novice Level 1 [14%].

+8 xp to skill group Enterprise - Novice Level 1 [46%]

After a couple of hours of that, he either needed to find something fun to do, or he was going to need to build a new robot just so he could bang its head against the wall.

He could understand why other players might be interested in getting to grips with business and start-ups, it was something that had become more and more exclusive over the last couple of decades as the conglomerates had eaten up the markets. It just wasn't something he was interested in himself. What he really needed was a business partner, someone who was excited by boardroom meetings and shareholder conferences, someone with charisma to be the face of his company.

He gave ERA some criteria and set her loose on the internet. While she did the grunt work, he went looking for where he wanted to establish Weyland Solar.

He'd already decided to look outside Detroit, as much as it had become his new home in the game, it just didn't scream solar, the future, or investment, it just screamed. He needed somewhere that made people think of the sun, technology, and culture. And when he realised there was no way he was going to be able to afford any of those places, he went looking in Florida, One out of three ain't bad, he decided, though I suppose if I was being generous, Florida could claim 'a' culture.

He was a little tickled when he focused in on Miami. Since the county had been underwater since before Justin was a kid, it was a little like establishing a business in Atlantis.

He was interrupted from amusing himself with images of underwater workshops, by an emergency team notification. Apparently there had been an explosion downtown.

Justin hadn't been able to hack the Municipal Center system, and was beginning to wonder if the state had a tech super (super tech?), on the payroll. Reduced to public sources, he reviewed whatever pertinent information he could find amidst the dross of the media coverage.

Most of the major networks were already playing a rousing game of villain or terrorist, but DDN, one of the local stations, were sticking to an actual review of the details. They were just going over the escape attempt and apparently accidental death of a prisoner, when Justin realized why the name Ainsley Barrows sounded so familiar.

Oh shit, he thought, suddenly rocked by a deep associated guilt. It’s only a game, he repeated a few times, before dropping all inputs and focusing on losing himself to meditation.

Successful Skill Use +14 xp to Meditation - Beginner Level 3 [73%].

After a few minutes, he was able to view the situation with a clearer head. He decided it was his motivation in going after Barrows that was distressing him now. He’d turned the man over, knowing doing so would put him in danger just to disguise his theft. He wouldn’t have gone after him otherwise. There were plenty of Manticore’s seedy associates that he’d ignored since his escape, he’d even made use of some of their services.

He wasn’t responsible for the man’s death, either his ill-advised escape attempt, or more likely, his chosen line of business was to blame. No, he wasn’t at fault, but there was a connection, a decision he’d made that had led to a man, a bad man certainly but a man anyway, dying.

Feeling a little better now he’d pinpointed the reason behind his visceral response, he wondered whether, knowing what he now knew, would he do anything differently? He was a little worried for the state of his scruples when he realised that he wouldn’t. In fact, he should probably feel more guilty for turning a blind eye to the other dark web dealers he was allowing to carry on supporting villain, merc and criminal activity.

To be honest he was surprised that he’d turned out to be so utilitarian. He wondered if any studies had been run on the effect of immersive gaming on moral reasoning. In for a penny, in for a pound, he decided.

Justin accessed Ainsley Barrows’ numbered accounts, making sure to route his access through proxies, just in case any Interpol agents were watching. Most of them had been cleared out and shut down, probably by Barrows himself or one or more of his associates, but there were a couple still active, containing what was probably Barrows’ own ill-gotten gains, hidden away for the inevitable flight from angry mobsters or tenacious cops.

He dithered for only a few seconds before initiating the transfers, starting the funds on an epic and convoluted journey through a dozen different accounts and off-shore havens. He wasn’t going to keep all the money, he reassured the small temperate portion of his psyche where his tattered conscience lived. In fact, he could donate most of it towards the rebuilding of the Municipal Center!

Happy with such a fitting conclusion, Justin returned to his perusal of the media coverage. Perhaps he could even find whoever was responsible for Barrows’ death, that would surely right the scales a little.