APPROBATION TWO

Raoul sat in the red leather chair at the head of the table. He was focusing on the arguing leaders but he couldn't hear what they were saying. Instead, bits and pieces of his past flashed before his eyes and he allowed himself to sink into his thoughts for a little while. He thought of the time when he rode on his high horses without the slightest care about the outside world. When his nonchalant traits along with his sadistic pleasures terrorized the Pets and servants in his home; trading them back and forth as he pleased wherever he was bored or disappointed in their performance. When no one knew if the night would end quietly or with punishments that would leave them aching and ridiculed. What a monster he had been. The names of his Pets and servants rolled over his memory and reminded of all those he had taken advantage of; Trey, Zuki, Alia, Vega, Martin, Naoki and once even Katze. These were but a fraction of all those who had been made to suffer when his mood dictated so. It made no difference whether he exerted his power over a male or female, if the difference in strength between him and the slave was not even comparable - he was at least fair when it came to that. He had all he needed; slaves, Pets, wealth, fame and a reputation that brought about great respect wherever he appeared. It was all a Lord could ever ask for, was it not?

Oh, how foolish. There were so many occasions at which he had uttered; "And why should I? I'm a Blondie. It's not my responsibility to attend to menial tasks."

The discussions were escalating in intensity and quite soon the internal strife between peers had developed into bickering and constant interruptions. There was no order among the leaders and finally a Blondie by the name Le'Treiff stepped in with a harsh comment to enlighten his friends of their despicable behavior. But by no means did he drift away from the subject on the agenda; the Million project. Raoul sat in his chair consuming the last few puffs of a cigarette offered to him by Iason and just listened to the conversations. He had already spoken his mind, and now it was up to the rest to make up theirs.

"When you decide to act according to your rank and origin...my esteem colleagues...I shall like to get back to the subject, for I have something to say about this matter," Le'Treiff started with his raspy voice and took a sip out of his wine. Raoul exchanged a swift look with Iason and twisted the corner of his mouth into a hardly noticeable smile; he couldn't have admonished the crowd any better himself. However, he was very careful not to interfere too often when the discussion drifted to the outskirts of the topic, for he had no intentions into taking the role of a "tutor". He had encouraged people to speak freely from the beginning, for he wanted to air all opinions.

"Let me get this straight, leader Mink," Le'Treiff turned his attention from the crowd to the Blondie across from him. "You wish to tare down the floating city outside Kasai, am I right?"

Iason nodded in response.

"Very well," Le'Treiff agreed and took another sip, then questioned with a callous undertone; "And will you be first in line along with the construction workers to initiate the demolition process?"

Iason narrowed his gaze, but he remained firm; careful not to lose his face in the eyes of his opponents.

"I would not be foolish enough to send anything living into that area until it was properly cleared," he argued. "There are other ways to demolish the city."

"Yes, by sending a huge army of cyborgs into that city," Kinsh Delroy added with a scornfully tinge. "Does Amoi have such a vast army of cyborgs and droids?"

"No," Raoul cut in calmly "That's why we are hoping that you will be able to provide us with some of yours…to lend it to us."

"Lend them," Le'Treiff repeated and scratched his lean chin. His angular face carried a very coarse and masculine appearance, which made him stand out among the rest of the crowd. He seemed older then he was, but it gave him the benefit of always being taken seriously. In addition, his brows were deeply lined and the eyes burned like blue flames from the bottom of their sunken sockets. It gave him an angry look and it was difficult to interpret his mood. He went on with his chin resting against his folded hands.

"I don't think I have to enlighten you of the fact that such a project would take many months, and having such a large number of droids in service costs enormous amounts of money. We are talking about billions and billions of credits just for the purpose of tearing and rebuilding. More over, leader Am, the droids will be affected by the radioactive dust and will have to be kept isolated and out of service until the dust have decayed enough for a human to be able to approach. That will take additional months if not years. Can you imagine the costs to any society?"

"I am aware of the costs," Raoul continued as the numbers were presented to him; "but whilst the droids will cling off, humans will repopulate the suburbs of Kasai and production will add to the economical benefits of restoring that city."

"Economical benefits for you and your society, perhaps," Le'Treiff argued; "but how about my society, which will be one of those sending the droids?"

"Well, my dear leader Le'Treiff, who said that you cannot transport human labor from the suburbs to offer them job opportunities not fulfilled by your droids and cyborgs," Raoul hissed in a brief mood of resentment. "I am quite sure the mongrels and workers of Amoi would have very little against an inter-nation job opportunity. Most of them have not even left their suburb, let alone their planet. We just have to provide the means for them to be able to leave more easily...to stop restricting them in everything."

The leader of Tanagura leaned forward as he put out his cigarette and released the smoke between the symmetrical lips as he spoke.

"I know that this project will cost during a period, but I fear the costs of a dead abandoned city of over two hundred acres of land without use, are far above what we can afford in the long run."

"If we invest now, we will be able to harvest the fruits of our efforts within a few years. All will benefit from it...I assure you."

"Do you really now," Le'Treiff questioned with a smirk and leaned back in his chair, seemingly uninterested to hear anymore.

"First, securing the future of worn out Pets across the squadron, and now wasting financial resources on rebuilding a dead city for the mongrels," Gaiesh Formas joined in with a nonchalant growl. "What is next to come, leader Am?"

"You see it as waste of resources, whilst I see it as a future investment," Raoul set his standpoint.

"My esteemed friends," Ezkiel Siin sighed and rolled up the sleeves on his pastel turquoise shirt. The color suited him well and was in harmony with the subtle creamy shade of his suite. The elder leader was very tired, just as most of the other delegates. The meetings have been going on for a whole day and thus he urged the board for a final vote in order to end the sessions of the day.

"I do understand that this is something that is very new to many of you...even for me," Ezkiel Siin set forth. "Changes can be quite intimidating, especially when this amount of money is involved, but as a financial officer I must say that I do agree with leader Am about the benefits in restoring the suburbs of Kasai."

He stood up from his place and slowly paced about behind the other delegates as he revealed his previous involvement in the matter.

"We made a large mistake when constructing those suburbs. It was a good plan, but in order to save money, as always, we did not conduct a proper investigation of the origin of the metal used to reinforce the concrete. Many lives were lost due to that and generations terminally ill. In order to get people out of the area we constructed then the buildings on the other side of Ceres...the Million project."

The elder leader brushed his blue fringe aside as he stopped behind Gaiesh Formas and supported himself against the back of the leather chair as he continued with a provocative approach.

"Can you remember the people involved in the decision of the Million project, my dear Formas?"

No one spoke and thus the elder continued.

"It was you, me...Lords Trevigen and Endre," the two Lords squirmed with awkwardness as their names were called, but leader Siin wasted no effort to gloss over the situation. "In addition, five more members who have long since retired from a political carrier so there is no need to address them here. It is, however, safe to say that the Million project was a total flop, only contributing to the severity of the ghettos and the slums..."

"And now you wish to compensate for past mistakes by throwing yourself into another costly project with very little future. Is it to dampen your conscience," Lord Trevigen muttered into his cup of tea.

"No," leader Siin opposed. "Not to dampen my conscience, but to dampen the poverty in the area. Can any of you present a proper reason as to why we shouldn't invest?"

The ruling body of disconcerted Blondies exchanged nervous looks with each other, quietly reasoning amongst themselves of the pros and cons of the investment in Kasai. After a while of murmuring and hisses, Raoul decided it was time to make a decision.

"I urge you to present your standpoint. Let us vote."

On the holographic screen before each member, the delegates could see the outcome of the vote. Although the number of the opposition increased rather quickly, those who chose to invest in Amoi were slowly but surely increasing in number. As the figures were added up, Raoul had realized that the panel was divided into a sudden death situation.

"Has everyone voted," he asked, but received nothing but silence in return as some leaders were trying to avoid his scrutinizing gaze. "Alright," he continued, "it is settled then...we will have to postpone this decision until another time."

"I haven't decided yet," Le'Treiff shook his blond curly hair. With the back of his right hand he traced the contour of his chin while fiddling with the keyboard with his left.

"You do realize that this will affect the entire squadron not just Amoi, leader Am," he pointed out.

"Yes I am," Raoul answered shortly and nodded.

"Good," Le'Treiff snuffled. "Then I am sure you will not have anything against sending a shipload of workers to replace my droids."