In the center of New Metro's financial district, the headquarters of Eligius Group was a gigantic skyscraper: a high-rising tower made of space alloy, which dwarfs all other tall buildings. Cold metal exterior wall reflected piercing lights to half of the city, while covered other half in shadows. The top half was a slim structure thrusting into the sky like the rockets they built. Rumor had that the tower was actually a spaceship which Donald Eligius could use at any time, in case of any government wanting to nuke the building.

Yeah, Donald Eligius got plenty of enemies all over the globe, but he never minded.

Ever since his hostile takeover of the revered SpaceX Corp., Donald Eligius was universally hated while Elon Musk was loved by all. At a time the governments should have banded together to at least mitigate the Climate Change Crisis, Donald corrupted them with his limitless funding and strong-arm methods, making them bent to his will one by one. Fossil fuel extraction should have stopped a long time ago, yet armed with an astronomical wealth, he singlehandedly halted the whole world's green energy development. Just last year, some stupid college genius invented a portable nuclear engine right in this city, Donald's stronghold. The result? his funding got denied and his job got suspended. ( Bryan's story is in book two, if you're interested.)

The reason for all his evil deeds? According to him, he just needed plenty of cheap rocket fuel. He cared about nothing else.

Under his relentless control overshadowing most governments, billion tons of fossil fuel were still extracted and turned into rocket fuel every year, even though it was no longer needed for vehicles or power plants.

Every day thousands of rockets were launched into the space, carrying food, water, essentials and rocket fuel itself, to the gigantic space stations above. Millions of smaller spaceships, drones and pods flew around to maintain those stations. The rocket fuel consumption even surpassed the old days, when hurricanes just started to show their fangs.

Meanwhile, the earth was sicked with an unstoppable fever. Half of the land was either too hot or too cold to live. Hail storms, tornadoes, and dust storms constantly formed without warning. Hurricane the size of the continent with 300+ miles wind devastated countries every month. 6 billion people lived under the poverty line. The rest of the "lucky ones" had to work like slaves, under the fear of becoming a poor.

The earth's fossil fuel reserve was almost stripped clean. The CO2 content in the air reached then passed 1000 ppm, a level maybe only dinosaurs had ever felt. 99.99% of the animals went extinct. The only ones that were left were either in the Zoos or in the farms.

It was definitely not the best of the times, as those mainstream media wanted us to believe. It was not the worse either. Even though America and China had developed deep grudges for a long time, they never actually went to a full-scale nuclear war. Many believed that it was Donald who was standing in the middle, as he once declared, "A nuclear war is bad for my business, so I stop it."

Many were wondering what Donald Eligius would do next. After all he did have the power of deciding which country lived, and which one died.

===#=#=#=#=#===

The story continues in "THE" office on top of the Eligius Tower. The place many could only dream of being there. There were only 2 person in the room. One of them, of course, was the wealthy host Donald Eligius.

"I prefer you calling me 'dad', for a start." Donald said.

"You know I won't, Mr. Eligius. Don't waste your time." The other person, of course again, was Becca Franco. She was the only person in the world who didn't need an appointment to see her old man. Not even the President of the U.S. had this privilege. However, Becca came to this tower in only a few occasions in her life time, and each time was about a business deal.

Donald gave out a sneer, "Very well. So what is your proposal? Why you don't want to say it to any of my executives? They can take care of anything you want."

You want to get rid of me? Not this easy! Becca stared at him and said, "Because I'd rather you be the one to approve it, and keep it as a secret."

"Keep it a secret? Oh, yeah, I get it. You don't want your reputation stained by the family name, but isn't it too late? Your were already born." He tried to make the conversation light, making jokes at other's expense, Donald style.

Becca appeared to be peaceful, but inside she was boiling. Don't be angry for this man. Think of the other one on the island. He's the reason you come here, as humiliating as it is.

She found the courage to stay calm, and said, "No, I have, and will continue to suffer the connection with you for the rest of my life, but my purpose is not to keep my reputation clean."

"Wow, that's a new one. The 'Savior' Becca doesn't want a good name. Then what do you want?" He laughed a little. "I have some nations to sell you at a discount."

"No, I just need your new space station, the Polaris."

"Then you gotta wait until your birthday." Donald felt amused. "That blood factory will be a very profitable venue. Think you can just get it like that?"

"I developed the tech for that factory. You took that from me. Remember?" Becca barely held her anger down.

"As the payment you owned me for the island. Remember?" Donald always liked a good rebuttal. "For your dear… what is his name again?"

"You know his name is Chris. Don't pretend. I see right through your acts."

"Yeah, of course you see it, you are my daughter after all." Donald smiled like a crocodile. "But do you really know him? Did anyone tell you that he is a Second Dawn?"

Becca knew he would mention it. "Yes, Chris told me. He was sent by the cult to steal my secret, but now he is on my side." Becca looked at her father straight, "Actually I found more decency from him than anyone. He is the reason I still have hopes for humanity, no thanks to you."

"Then too bad he betrayed his people, now he had to spend the rest of his life in that island." Donald shrugged. "It's funny that sometimes how the people closest to you turned out to be, right? Your mother, Betty, was a very nice lady when I first met her."

Becca's angry had reached the brim. How dared you talk about mom! She wanted to tear his throat out for just mentioning her, then another voice kept telling her. He's still in the island. I need to do this for him, don't blow it.

She knew Donald always poked at other's weakness. Now he is poking me with mom. Well, guess what? She's your weakness too.

"Yup, I remember how she gave you her best years, right before you kicked her out and married that 60 year old rich woman, what was her name again?"

"Ahh, touche… Her name is Taylor. Taylor Eligius."

Becca said it in a heavily sarcastic tone, "Wow, she must be so special that you changed your last name for her. How is she compared to my mom?"

Donald's face twisted a little, "No one can be compared to your mom. I want you to know that."

"Ha! Like I will believe you. You threw her away like trash when she was pregnant. I don't think you care about her at all…"

"That's enough!" Donald suddenly stood up. He was anxious like his tail was on fire .

It was Becca's turn to sneer, "See? I can play your game too. So don't play with me. I know your weakness too."

"Alright, alright." Donald sat down slowly. "OK, let's just back to the business, why do you want my blood factory? You want to do business with space people?"

"None of your concern." Becca relaxed a little, time to strike a deal. "I will keep providing your spaceships with those dark blood. Your business will not be affected."

"I take your word for it." Donald nodded. His daughter was never a liar. "Then as a business person, what can you offer me in return?"

"Franco Genetics."

The words shocked Donald, and he was not easily surprised. "That's your most important asset, and it worth 10 times of my factory. Why do you want to make such a bad deal?"

"Again, none of your concern. Once you have my corporation, you will have access to all my latest gene modification tech. I estimate that the business will have a net growth of over 20% every year for at least 5 years."

"Yeah… With your tech, I believe so." Donald looked at his daughter with a very suspicious mind. "Then again, why you want to benefit me so much, when you hate me to the guts?"

"I am tired of repeating it. None of your concern. You just give me this factory in the sky. Keep it quiet. And I will hand you my corporation."

"Oh I see. No one will follow me there. They will resign as soon as we take over." Donald suspected, "You want to give me an empty shell?"

"Nothing to worry about. I will talk to them and persuade them to stay. The factories will keep cranking out gene modders, each worth billions."

Donald nodded. This deal was just so sweet that he couldn't refuse. All the patents in Franco Genetics alone worth much more than that space station.

Then something hidden inside him welled up, almost overwhelmed him.

She looked so much like her mother, and she talked like me. Suddenly an image of Betty Franco, his first love, appeared in his mind. He remembered the great times they spent together like yesterday. She was so pretty and we were so happy!

" You know…" Donald searched for words, but couldn't, so he managed to say, " You could...uh... just call me 'dad', and I will give you the space station."

" No, that's something I will never do." Becca said it with a determination. " You don't deserve any forgiveness. I still hate you to guts, that's not gonna changed."

"Then what makes you come here?" Donald wondered.

Becca let out a deep sigh, "Love.", and then she was gone, leaving bewildered Donald alone.