THE NEGOTIATOR
by Madcap
Madcap hated winter. Why of all of the seasons
to come here did she have to pick winter?
That is a bit of a complex answer. Chicago had
changed a lot over the many thousands of years
it had existed. While many things did change,
many things remained the same. The snow
under Madcap’s boot was only slightly less cold
than the wind slamming into her face as she
walked across the street to a manufacturing
plant situated on the south side of the city.
These plants had been here for a very long time,
some of them long abandoned and hundreds
of years old, some of them newly rebuilt to
manufacture
parts of star
ships, weapons,
engines or
munitions in
general.
Of all the things
in the city that
had changed
over the course
of time, some
things did
indeed remain
the same. The
police were still
corrupt, for one. It was still dangerous to be
alone in this area of the city – crime was still,
and had always been rife here. It was well known
that pretty much everyone in this area of the city
had a firearm of some kind, so while Madcap
was not from here, she knew better than to
come here unarmed.
4
Truth be told, she had come here to buy one
of the plants. Although it was a seedy area,
production here was incredibly cheap. Much
cheaper here than in some of the nicer and
safer parts of UEE space. This was still secure
space, yes, but this particular neighborhood
needed the income from the production plants
it hosted. So it was no surprise then when
the door to the facility opened for her. A man
offered her his hand, she took it and shook it
lightly. He was short, stocky and spoke softly.
Brown hair, matted as if it had not been combed
in many months. She could tell what side of his
face he slept on – there was a small matted part
of his hair that conformed more to his head
than on the other side.
“Yer trip was safe, yeh?” his whisper was muffled
lightly by a soft cough, gained from probably
having smoked far too much. Madcap nodded
and looked around. The office they were in was
perched in a corner of the plant, closer to the
ceiling than the floor. “Mostly. Cabbie tried to
rip me off, but that seems typical for this area”.
The manager nodded and opened the door,
“Let me show you around...?” he seemed lost for
a name. Madcap followed him, “Call me Mad,
most of my friends do.”. The staircase was steep,
so she had let him take the lead, following a
decent few steps behind.
“Call me Parker.
Wha’ company
do you
represent?”, he
coughed again
as he spoke.
“Black Eclipse
Corporation”,
Madcap
replied, she
had caught
up with him
by now at the
bottom of
the staircase.
“What is this factory tooled to build?” her first
actual question came quickly. In her mind, it
didn’t matter a whole lot – her boss, Malzra, had
wanted to get into everything more or less.
The more they made, the more money would go
into their collective pockets. Money had a way
of being used to make even more money with
due time. What was being made here, was really
of no concern, but Madcap wanted to know
anyway.
The reply from Parker should have been
predictable. “Guns and explosives”. Madcap
shrugged with a bit of a sigh, “Yeah, we’ll take it.
How’s sixty thousand UEC for the entire park?”
Parker didn’t need to reply, Madcap knew what
the reply would be as she climbed the stairs
back to the office. A credit chip and contact
information had been left on the desk. Parker
only had enough time to see the door to the
outside close before turning his head to the
money. Madcap might’ve hated winter, but it
made it easier to do business.