The others were sitting around the table eating breakfast.

Darren had a grin on his face as he asked Marc: “You found her. Good. What took you so long? I can’t see her going for a little fun with you.”

This would be strenuous. Marc could not let it go apparently.

“Well, first I had to find her. This place is big, you know. After I got the idea to look into the security system I found out that the loading dock is open, and looked there. You have to look at it on the CCTV, or you won’t believe me. It seems we have a few bots now, and Red here was hanging on a crate with all her weight trying to open it. Then we got it open, activated the bot to let it unpack and activate the others, and now are here.”

I facepalmed. “I can’t convince you to simply let it go, right? All right, short form, I am very sensitive about my lack of size and strength. Just for your info, so you won’t be surprised when I rip your head off about it.”

I took a deep breath.

“Otherwise we have to talk about several things. First, what is your opinion about the slaves?”

That stunned them. They looked at each other before Christine asked back: “What slaves?”

“I mean the four sex toys and the two menial workers that Frankel and his sociopaths held. The ones that are still controlled by the computer system.”

“I… we thought you already released them.” Came from Kate this time.

“No time yet. I would have if the situation had not come apart with Ernie. But then… well, I think we should talk about the big decisions. It is not “we” if I make all of them.”

They all agreed to that. Then Darren spoke up.

“Anybody against freeing them?” Nobody reacted. “Ok, so there you have it. Free them.”

“That was the easy part. Now to the hard part. What do we do with them after freeing them? I thought about letting them stay here. Not that they will be useful for quite a time. Oh, and if nobody has any objection, I will ask them what they will do if decollared before doing it. Not to be catty, but we don’t need them to go on a rampage.”

Again I got no dissenting vote. Wow, democracy is easy.

“Ok, that’s point one. Point two: How do you see us organized? I mean, I want to use this building to open an implant surgery. I would hire you all on as guards and helpers. But that is only the day job. Your merc jobs would have to be separate. Any thoughts about that?”

Jacky’s eyes tried to spring out of her skull with that.

“Merc jobs? I don’t… we… I have no idea about how merc jobs work.”

That brought tinkling laughter from Christine.

“You’re the bookkeeper. That means your only part of the merc jobs is to help us keep them profitable. Damned time we get somebody who keeps the money straight. To answer your question, Ronnie, if the pay is right, then I have no complaints. And it would be rad if you could help us with the merc jobs. Often enough we need computer support.”

“Please, not Ronnie. Then rather Red. And if you believe that I go on the mission with you, think again. I am Alpha Neg. Neither of us would enjoy it if I would go with you. No endurance, no strength.”

Darren intervened.

“Nah, computer support is usually before the mission and mostly done from home. Normally we hire comps for the mission. Cuts into the profit.”

That was different.

“Ok, that I can do. As long as you keep me away from the action. Then the next question, how do you, or we, divide the spoils?”

Darren again: “Usually everyone gets a share. Then the boss of the mission gets another share. Spoils and pay together.”

Hmm, good plan. But there were ways to improve it. So I made the suggestion.

“Good baseline, but I think we can make it better. How about this.

One share for each member of the group. One share additional for each member partaking actively in the mission. One share for the mission commander, and if there are more than one each gets a share. And finally One share for the group as a whole. For group equipment, common expenses, and such.”

They all mulled it over before Christine asked a question.

“What do you mean with one share for each member and one share for each member partaking?”

I had to smile.

“Well, Jacky won’t actively go on the missions, and often you won’t need me. So in the case that you don’t need computer support, Jacky and I get one share each. Each of you except whoever commands gets two shares each. Whoever leads gets three shares. And one share goes into the group account.”

And a third time I heard them all agreeing.

“OK, I hope it works. Now, do we include the slaves into our group, and give them shares, or not? Personally, I am for including them.”

They talked hushed for a bit, and then Darren answered for all.

“Yeah, I think we include them. At least for the start. Let’s see how it works out.”

Good, now to the important points.

“That is nice. That means seven of us, six slaves, and the group share… 14 basic shares. Now while I took over here, I also took over the slaver's accounts. All in all roughly 40 million, if you include the building at the current estimate. 14 basic shares, I was the sole member partaking and the mission commander, making 16 shares at all. Makes 2.5 million dollars per share. The building estimate is 4.5 million. I would like to take it as part of my share if that is all right.”

The others sat there, silent and open-mouthed, looking at me in apparent shock.

After a minute the silence became awkward and I asked:

“What? Is something wrong?”

Jacky was the first to recover.

“You… you are giving each of us 2.5 million dollars? Just so?”

It dawned on me that we had a communication failure somewhere.

“Uhm, yes, why?”

She looked at the others.

“2.5 million dollars is a, well how do I say it, that is a shit load of money. And you are just giving it to us?”

What the hell was the problem here? I was at a loss what got them into a twist.

“We have made the rules on how we divide the loot just a few minutes ago. Of course, I give you your shares. What do you think I would do? Cheat you on the very first day?”

I was getting irritated. I mean, yeah, we were all pretty new to each other, but please give me some credit.

At this point Darren interrupted.

“Ah, no, it is not that. I can only speak for me, but I have thought that the agreement counts from now on and that everything you got from Frankel was yours. We are simply shocked that you give up so much money. You are giving over 30 million dollars away.”

That was it? Really? I had to correct their expectations.

“Duh, it is only money. And not as much as you seem to think. For Jacky, maybe, she could live 10 or 20 years on that, depending on where she settles. But for the rest of you, if you equip yourself you burn through 2.5 million in no time flat.”

Christine swallowed hard before she answered me.

“Only money? You call 2.5 million dollars only money? Shit, we would have to work 3 or 4 years to get 2.5 million. And forget about ever getting more than 30. What the hell are you doing here if 30 million are only money for you?”

I silently counted to 10.

“A decent set of implants costs 1.5 million and up for each of you. For a high-end set you can calculate 10 million per. And if you want to go to the bleeding edge you better plan for 100 million each. And keep planning 50 million on upgrades per year. Darren will probably have to spend twice that and Kate even more. No armor, no weapons, only the cyberware. And that is with me doing the personal adaption and the implantation. Otherwise, you can double that.

I am not here for the money. What I have in my accounts would last me a long time.

No, I am here for safety. I work because it is interesting. I learned implant surgery to enhance my own implants and found out it is an interesting job. I am a tinkerer.”

Phew, that took quite a bit out of me.

Darren shrugged his shoulders.

“You assume we want cyberware. I mean, sorry, but I don’t want to croak on CRS. And AFAIK the others think the same. From what I heard it is a really bad way to go.”

Oh, yeah, I forgot, their information was suboptimal.

“You wouldn’t get CRS. If the implant surgeon knows what she does, the probability of CRS goes down considerably. That is what I meant by personal adaptation. A good surgeon can reduce the chance of CRS to 4%. That is, of course, a mountain of work, and costs accordingly. But even superficially adaption reduces the chance to 15%. Only the idiots that go to the self-declared street doc on the corner with a hacked surgeboy as the end-all-be-all, and pay only a few 10k for secondhand implants get the risk at 60% and higher. And even then, if it is caught early enough, it can be treated. Either replacement with cloned tissue or with the new nano therapy up to 50 years living with it.”

Should I…? Ah, ok, I would with luck work with these people for years to come, and the cat would be out of the bag soon anyway.

“Of course, you won’t have to fear anything if I adapt your cyberware. I have developed a new technique that eliminates CRS completely. Only for the implants I treat with it of course, and sadly not yet for everything that can be implanted. So if somebody has tech from somebody else they are still at risk, but what you get from me will not kill you.”

Again they looked at me shocked.

“I have thought long and hard about CRS. For neural implants it’s especially bad, so I took measures that I would never have to confront it.”

Marc nodded. “Wow! That has to sink in. I mean, yeah, cyberware is a big power-up, but as a rule, you die young, and don’t leave a pretty corpse.”

I shook my head.

“Well, let’s change the topic. I am willing to pay each of you 5k a month, plus of course room and board. For that, you help out as guards at the clinic. Just keep unruly customers in check. Jacky would do the books. You would be free to work as mercs, as long as you can provide me with a modicum of protection. The heavy lifting will be done by android so no hard work. Is that acceptable?”

That brought the hushed talk out again, and again, it was Darren who answered.

“You just told us that we would need 100 million and more each. In that light, do you think 5k is reasonable?”

“That depends on your point of view. If I let you just live here for free, and a customer becomes violent, I assume that you would lend a hand. That is essentially all I want from you. For that I think 5k a month is more than reasonable. The big bucks you get from merc work. I don’t know what you made previously, but I think we can get you the 100 megabucks each in 2 or 3 years.”

Darren looked at me for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, you’re right there. It is not that much work. And anything above room and board would be fair. I vote to agree.”

The others followed fast. Good, only two more points to go.

“Another question, how do you evaluate shares with solo jobs?”

Darren again: “That depends on what you mean as a solo job. As a rule, when a job uses group resources we view it as a group job with shares. If it is just one of us in his or her specialty without anybody else from us involved then the pay is yours. Why?”

I had to smile again.

“Well, a major reason why 30 megabucks are only money for me is that I was a broker for computer services, and one of my clients was a top hacker. I want to rebuild this side of the business, and would, not exactly loathe, but not like to pay out several million bucks for my exclusive work. Also, honestly, a Jack has much more solo work than a merc. Much less competition.”

He nodded and I could feel the topic was closed. Good, now to the hardest part.

“Last topic from me. We have to register with the local mob boss and pay our tribute. I don’t think we should wait much longer. If we wait until the mob becomes suspicious they will be much more displeased. And the more displeased they are, the harder it will be for us.”

I looked around.

“Anybody volunteering?” After a few seconds, I sighed. “As I thought. OK, then the other question, who do you think should go?” They all looked at me. Figures.

It was Darren who answered for all of them.

“I think it has to be you. You are the one trying to open a business here, you took the building. From the perspective of the mob, the rest of us are only hirelings. And one doesn’t send hirelings to the Don, or however this particular mob calls its boss.”

Yeah, they had me there. Damn.

“They call him boss as far as I know. And sadly you are right.” Another deep sigh.

“Can one of you come with me as a bodyguard/driver? I think it is necessary to impress at least a bit. Depending on what you have in the way of attire we will have to fab you something. And Jacky, if I give you the number, can you call and make an appointment?” I saw her nod, and let out a fast “Thank you,” before looking around again.

“That were my points. Have you any questions?”