Walsh was obviously pleased when he heard Michael’s statement. Not that it was wrong. Sure, he was somewhat slimy, backstabbing, and untrustworthy.

He was a politician after all. But as Michael had said, he was realistic enough to understand the shift in power dynamics. And act accordingly.

And as long as we remained at the top of our game, he would support us. The flip side was, naturally, that as soon as we struggled, his support would be gone. We knew that he knew that, heck, most of the citizens knew that.

But after he basked in the praise, he sat up straighter and cleared his throat.

“To get back to the zombies… can I ask you that you inform us about whatever else you will find out?”

Michael snorted as an answer:

“Sorry, Mayor, but we won’t look into the ship any further. As far as we know, the trail is dead.”

Hellstrom frowned.

“Why? Why are you taking it so… placidly?”

“It is simple, Commissioner. We don’t have any resources to go forward. While we are a double-A corporation, we are a very young one. Not even a year old. Looking into it deeper can’t be done by throwing money at it, you need agents. And setting up agents, even getting them takes time.

No, we have no option other than not looking further into the ships.”

“Fuck. I can get you. And if you don’t have the resources, you just don’t have them. But somebody has to look into it.”

Kenneth shrugged.

“I would suggest you bring what you’ve learned here to the US government. They have the needed resources. And unlike the other big corporations, they might even be willing to use them.”

Mayor Walsh looked decidedly unhappy, but he nodded.

“Fine, you are right. I don’t like it, but that is not your fault.

So… the other topic, and why Booth and Mason are here with us, you let it know that you want to buy the subway system?”

His voice betrayed his doubt, but Maggie nodded.

“We need something like that to get our employees to their workplaces. Right now, the traffic on the roads will congest the roads every morning and afternoon.”

Mason’s voice grated on my nerves when he whined:

“But why? Why do you even care? They only need to wake up earlier.”

I was not the only one rolling their eyes. Most of our side of the table did the same.

To my, pleasant, surprise, Hellstrom looked at Mason as if he wanted to slap him, but he remained silent.

Instead, Maggie continued, talking as if to a small child:

“We want our employees awake, well rested, and on time. So that their work is better. If they are trapped in traffic for 3 hours, they have already expended quite a bit of energy on the way to work. Energy that we think they can better use doing their work.”

Unfortunately, Mason was not done with his petulance:

“But… why do it at all? Why go to so much trouble just to help your employees? If they can’t hack the work, that is their problem.”

Maggie rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“What is it to you? But whatever you think, our own data shows it is necessary. The average productivity of our employees has consistently fallen, proportionally to how congested the streets are. 16.56% over all areas.

Better-rested employees work faster and make fewer errors, as simple as that. Not that we expect to lose money on the project, at least not in the long run.”

Mason looked downright shocked at the idea, but Booth nodded, only to ruin the minuscule good impression he had made when he opened his mouth:

“Ok, I get that, but why? Why the subway?”

James sighed.

“Because the roads are, at best, a mixed bag. We can’t run too many busses on them.”

“No, no you got me wrong. What I meant is that the subway is in ruins. When you asked for it, we looked into it, and all of our experts say that it would be way cheaper to make new lines than to repair the old ones.

You have to essentially rebore the tunnels and remove all the rubble before you can even start rebuilding. And that does not even take the stations into account.”

Ok, so not quite so bad as I had thought. His question was at least a serious one, and not a petulant like Mason’s.

It was Maynard who answered him:

“We have some new tech that will make that easier. No difference between new tunnels and rebuilding the old ones.”

Walsh seemed confused.

“But if it makes no difference, why buy the existing network?”

James sighed again and shook his head:

“Because all the survey work is already done. If we follow the old tunnels, we will reach the old stations, which we can equally easily repair as the tunnels. There are no buildings, bunkers, sewers, or whatever in the way.”

That was not… quite the full answer, but it was also true. The real point was the right of way. We would have to negotiate, and buy, the right of way if we set up our own network. That would be way more expensive and would delay our project, probably by years.

“Ok, fine. But there is one problem. Do you have any idea who owns the subway?”

James shook his head.

“No, not really. I would think it is the city, right?”

“No, it is not. It is part of the MTA, or Metropolitan Transport Authority.”

Ok, that was a new one.

“The what?” I was a bit surprised by myself asking that question.

“The MTA is a public company that was responsible for the mass transit here in NYC.”

“Was? So it is defunct?”

Booth shook his head.

“No, it is not, at least not formally. It is just no longer doing any business. But it is very much still an active entity. Fuck, there are still employees there.”

Michael raised his eyebrows.

“If that is the case, why don’t you sell us this company?”

Walsh looked as if he had bitten into a lemon.

“We can’t. It doesn’t belong to New York City. It belongs to the State of New York.”

“So we have to approach Albany?”

“If you think they will just sell it to you, you can try.”

“We will.”

“Now, if you get it up and running again, will you provide the service to the other Burroughs?”

“Yes, of course. Why limit it to our employees?”

From the face Hellstrom made, he was not entirely happy with that answer. That was instantly confirmed when he began speaking:

“I don’t like it. Sure, it would be nice for the people of The Bronx and Brooklyn to get to each other places, and the other counties outside of Queens. But the people of Queens… do we seriously want them to have easier access to The Bronx? Or Brooklyn?”

I saw that Michael’s hands formed into fists, though that was the only outward sign of how he felt about that question.

“The people of Queens are people. There are no more bad apples there than in any other place.”

Hellstrom narrowed his eyes.

“The number of criminals in Queens is five times the average of NYC.”

Before Michael could explode, James cut in:

“That has more to do with how many options are left for the people of Queens. And of course what is illegal and what is not.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Simple. The same things that a citizen of The Bronx might get a stern talking for, and one of Brooklyn not even that, will get a citizen of Queens jail time. Disorderly conduct, drugs for personal use, loitering… to name just a few.”

That, clearly, did not sit nicely with Hellstrom.

“Yeah, sure. Tell yourself that, if you need to, but the reality is that no other Burrough is even remotely as criminal. The number of convictions for soliciting alone…”

Michael snorted, cutting him off.

“Mostly because Sandoval doesn’t get raided. Sandoval has 35% of all of the hookers in NYC in its ‘luxury spas’. But because they greased the right palms, no cop will ever enter one of them. At least not on duty.

Or how about con men? Nobody comes even close to Salair Investments in relieving old people of their savings, but strangely, no cop has ever even looked at their operations.

Or how about Odin Real Estate… have you any idea how many underhanded shit they play? Oh, sure it is all in the fine print. Fineprint so small that you need a fucking microscope to read it. And of course, it is not in a searchable digital format, but as a picture file in an attachment.

No, the fact is that the criminals in Queens are the ones who can’t compete with the prices the police and the politics of this fine city demand for looking the other way.

Not to forget the poor. After the third civil war, the other Burroughs managed to shove all their poor, their unwanted, and their rejects into queens. You all went to charter schools. Queens has no charter schools. I had to go to Brooklyn to get a usable education.

That means in my opinion the real criminals are sitting in Brooklyn and The Bronx.”

“And what about organized crime? Yes, we all know who your father is. Nobody else in New York do we have this concentration of crime families.”

Kenneth chuckled and then answered:

“Only if you discount the ‘legal’ corporations that manage to grease the right palms. But even then, somebody had to create some sort of order. Do you believe that the relative calmness of Queens is a miracle?

Either the bosses take over and police the streets, or street gangs do. With the bosses, we get at least a few who are honorable and try to better the people.”

Walsh looked as if he had bitten into a lemon.

“And they still don’t pay nearly half the taxes they owe.”

Alena softly shook her head.

“No, of course not. Tell me, what has the city of New York done for Queens in the last 100 years? Any infrastructure projects? In the Bronx, you are always rebuilding the streets. In Queens, if a street is rebuilt, it was the boss who did it.

Oh, how about clean water? Oh right, that was an alliance of eight bosses who built a new water treatment plant. Energy? The bosses. Keeping the peace? The bosses. The bosses do the work the city, and the state should do. They take the money that the citizens would pay to the city and the state for it. Simple as that.”

Hellstrom then snarled:

“But it is still illegal. Which makes it a crime.”

The harsh sound out of Michael’s throat was a bit startling, and he rasped:

“Ever heard about ‘no taxation without representation’?”

In response, Hellstrom looked confused, while Walsh turned red.

“What do you mean by that now?”

Michael on the other hand was still calm.

“Tell me, Mayor, how many seats on the city council does Queens have?”

It took Walsh a moment to answer:

“13, why do you ask?”

“I did not ask how many seats are assigned to Queens. I asked how many seats Queens has. As in, how many representatives in the city council are living in Queens, and have been elected by the people of Queens, in contrast to being appointed by corporations in Brooklyn or the elite in the Bronx?”

“But… it is still 13.”

“No, Mayor Walsh, it is zero. Not a single person in the city council is elected by and speaks for the people of Queens. Want to make a guess how many of the state representatives are representing Queens? Same rules, they have to live in Queens and have been elected by the people of Queens.

Or how about how many of the three congressional districts that officially are elected by Queens represent Queens in reality?

I make it easy for you, the answer to both questions is still zero. Any political seat that should be elected by Queens is instead decided by the corporations in Brooklyn and the rich in the Bronx. Every cent of city, state, or federal money that should be used in Queens instead flows to the Bronx or Brooklyn.

We are required to pay for our schools, fire departments, policing, and everything, out of our own coffers.

And we still only get the dregs. Do you know how often the bosses of Queens tried to set up a charter school here? Dozens of times. Each and every time, the Department of Education, or the city council, declines the license. Only the worst refuse of teachers, those who can’t go to any other school in the whole country, will teach in Queens.

The only time we see NYPD officers in Queens is when they decide to come in in battalion strength and bust us down, beating the civilians to a near pulp.

And they still ignore the actual criminals. The street gangs or the shadow mercs. Instead, they go after the little people trying to survive by selling themselves because Sandoval needs Johns for its new ‘spa’.

Or they go after the small-time electronics shop because they repair and refurbish old tech that the people here can afford.

Or the street vendors that make a meager living by preparing replicator slop in a nearly edible fashion. They go for the smart kids who try to help their fellow students. They go after the factory worker.

And in doing that, they kill dozens of innocent people.”

He took a deep breath and took a sip of coffee.

“Are you seriously surprised that the people of Queens do not pay taxes? If all the effect their taxes have on them is that they might get a goon squad walking in goose step through their streets and beating anybody not fast enough away to a pulp?”

Walsh’s toadies looked sick, while Hellstrom seemed to be more grim. Walsh himself turned pale.

“Does… does that mean that you… I mean Enki, does not intend to pay taxes either?”

Michael, Alena, and James all snorted or chortled, and Alena answered:

“We pay our taxes monthly. You would already know if we did not pay them, believe me. You have to have noticed the near doubling of taxes last year. That was us.”

Michael continued:

“No, we do not intend to withhold the taxes, but we also have a completely new power dynamic. We are now calling the shots in this city, and this state. Oh, don’t be frightened. We won’t take over.

No, what we will do though is cut back on all that shit. Next election, the assholes in the Bronx and the fat cats in Brooklyn can pound sand. The representatives for Queens will be decided by Queens.

If the NYPD comes into Queens, then to do their job, their real job, investigating crimes and keeping the peace.

The parts of the budget earmarked for Queens will be spent in Queens. For the good of Queens.”

He stopped there, and Michael continued:

“Those funds will flow into the hospitals in the Burrough. We will get new water lines and purifiers. The city street maintenance department will finally fix the streets here.

And in time, we will set up our own schools, and nobody, not in the city hall, not in Alberny, not in DC, will stop us.”

To finish it off with Kenneth snarling:

“And we will make sure that the real criminals, who are by the way already endangered since the purge from Ralcon and Enertech, won’t go to the other Burroughs. Remember, we will have control of the subway, and the subway stations.

So you can untwist your panties. The scum won’t dirty your precious streets.”

It would be an understatement that the meeting was a bit strained after that, and we all breathed in relief when the mayor and his group excused themselves.

In the silence that followed, Maynard asked the question that burned in my mind as well.

“You all are extremely passionate about this thing with Queens. Why that?”

As an answer, Maggie smiled sadly:

“Most of us come out of Queens. We showed enough promise that the boss of our respective territory made it possible for us to go to a real school, and then to this abomination of a college system we have.

They gave us the option to claw our way out of this shithole. And now we are in a position where we can pay that forward.”

I frowned. Did Michael really have such a hidden agenda?

“Wait, most of you? Who all?”

James laughed bitterly:

“Well, you of course not, Vivian, but you knew that. But except Maynard, Naveen, and Tiffany, all the rest of us come from Queens.”

“Ok, but why did nobody mention it before?”

That made all of them look a bit chagrined, and Michael, rubbing the back of his head, answered:

“Honestly, we thought it was obvious. Well, I thought it was obvious. And of course, we knew each other before Enki. But in hindsight… yeah you four had no context to get that information. Sorry. It was not malicious, or putting something over you, just some thoughtless oversight.”

I just shrugged.

“That is fine. I was just a bit surprised. Is there anything we can do to help your mission?”

For a moment, the nine of them looked confused at each other, before first James, then Kenneth, and finally, the rest, began to laugh.

When James was able to speak coherently again, he answered me:

“God, you are too much. No, Viv, you can’t do anything, that you are not already doing. All this… all the help we could provide to the people here, that is your doing. In a couple of years, Queens will be unassailable. And all that thanks to you.

So, just do what you have been doing. That is all the help we need.”

I could not find the appropriate words for an answer to that and nodded silently, while the rest slowly calmed down.

We then started the actual board meeting. Fortunately, it was a brief meeting. The profits had gone up again, and Naveen asked for more Einherjar, but otherwise, business as usual.

On the way out of the meeting room, Michael held me back for a moment.

“Another thing, Viv, we have arranged for a first meeting with the naval architect group on Thursday at 10 am.”

“Thursday at 10, ok. Where?”

“The yard at Loui 5.”

I frowned. It would take half a day to fly to the yard.

“I assume we are using Incarnates?”

“Yup. Naveen, Maynard, and I will be there as well. And don’t worry, we don’t expect miracles. This is just the first meeting to define the parameters.”