Only a few minutes into their phone conversation, Lex suspected that Chloe
was hiding something from him and from the world. A meteor mutation, to be
specific. Nobody should be able to keep talking like that without a pause
to draw a breath. The only thing to do was to wait until she asked a
question and waited for the answer.
"So I told him that his career was as trashed as the money that he'd wasted and that if he thought that we weren't going to investigate and sue, then he had an alarming lack of respect for the power of caffeine. Then he said that it was all underlings getting out of control but gave up on that line when I explained to him very carefully that keeping his underlings in control is part of his job and if he wants to go on admitting incompetency that's fine with me but that he might want to remember that the whole thing is on the record. I mean, not only to charge like that for the no-bid contract but to do triple-billings? Who does he think he's dealing with, the old administration, anyway? Then I wrote a memo for him about who's in charge now, and what do you think he had to say about that?"
"I can just imagine." Before Chloe could tell him that his imagination was probably insufficient, he added a hasty, "Is the National Zoo actually functional enough to send Castor and Pollux there?"
"Well, some of the analysis of how to do the releases is still going on, but yeah, they should be ready in a week or so."
Lex looked over to where the Furies were waiting for their lunch. Sure enough, they'd heard him mention the other animals and were preening. Meggie was strutting in front of the door and Alecto and Tissy were sitting up in the poses that made Egyptian sculpted cats look as though they were slouching. When they broke into yowls, he assumed that their meal was approaching, which would mean that when his came later, he'd be left in peace to consume it. Relative peace, anyway.
Circumstances had forced him to advance his plans for changing the National Zoo's mission. Aside from making it provide a far higher quality of life for the animals, he'd insisted that the zoo not acquire any more non- endangered animals. Those were replaced by astounding holographic models of the animals in their native environments, interacting with one another and the surroundings. Any endangered and threatened animals had to have, aside from lifelike natural environments, a genetically sound breeding program and a plan for reintroduction into the wild once their wild habitats were no longer threatened. External circumstances--greater and faster success in international and domestic wild habitat protection than he had anticipated-- and, he had to admit, certain personal circumstances, made it possible and certainly desirable to move more quickly.
"I think I should include a donation history to the sealed archives," he mused, and Chloe gurgled in glee.
"Oh, Lionel would so deserve that!" Lex's father hadn't been pleased that Lex's first Forbes cover story had included not just a mention of the Furies, but a photograph of them in Lex's office, with their usual air of owning it but graciously allowing him to visit. He'd been even less delighted when he read the human interest paragraph in which Lex declared that his father adored the cats, even called them his grandchildren. The only evidence he had for this declaration was that Lionel had gone quite speechless when Lex, in an elaborately planned casual mention, called the cats his "kids," but he considered that quite good enough evidence for a Forbes story.
In what Lionel fondly imagined was a checkmate move, he'd one-upped Lex by having part of one of his estates adapted for the needs of a true ruler's cats: a magnificent pair of young lions. Naturally, he'd made sure that those were featured in Fortune's cover story on him, two months later.
The elder Luthor had not made sure of a vital factor. The Furies didn't approve of a mere human, particularly Lionel, assuming that he'd won the battle.
To be continued...
"So I told him that his career was as trashed as the money that he'd wasted and that if he thought that we weren't going to investigate and sue, then he had an alarming lack of respect for the power of caffeine. Then he said that it was all underlings getting out of control but gave up on that line when I explained to him very carefully that keeping his underlings in control is part of his job and if he wants to go on admitting incompetency that's fine with me but that he might want to remember that the whole thing is on the record. I mean, not only to charge like that for the no-bid contract but to do triple-billings? Who does he think he's dealing with, the old administration, anyway? Then I wrote a memo for him about who's in charge now, and what do you think he had to say about that?"
"I can just imagine." Before Chloe could tell him that his imagination was probably insufficient, he added a hasty, "Is the National Zoo actually functional enough to send Castor and Pollux there?"
"Well, some of the analysis of how to do the releases is still going on, but yeah, they should be ready in a week or so."
Lex looked over to where the Furies were waiting for their lunch. Sure enough, they'd heard him mention the other animals and were preening. Meggie was strutting in front of the door and Alecto and Tissy were sitting up in the poses that made Egyptian sculpted cats look as though they were slouching. When they broke into yowls, he assumed that their meal was approaching, which would mean that when his came later, he'd be left in peace to consume it. Relative peace, anyway.
Circumstances had forced him to advance his plans for changing the National Zoo's mission. Aside from making it provide a far higher quality of life for the animals, he'd insisted that the zoo not acquire any more non- endangered animals. Those were replaced by astounding holographic models of the animals in their native environments, interacting with one another and the surroundings. Any endangered and threatened animals had to have, aside from lifelike natural environments, a genetically sound breeding program and a plan for reintroduction into the wild once their wild habitats were no longer threatened. External circumstances--greater and faster success in international and domestic wild habitat protection than he had anticipated-- and, he had to admit, certain personal circumstances, made it possible and certainly desirable to move more quickly.
"I think I should include a donation history to the sealed archives," he mused, and Chloe gurgled in glee.
"Oh, Lionel would so deserve that!" Lex's father hadn't been pleased that Lex's first Forbes cover story had included not just a mention of the Furies, but a photograph of them in Lex's office, with their usual air of owning it but graciously allowing him to visit. He'd been even less delighted when he read the human interest paragraph in which Lex declared that his father adored the cats, even called them his grandchildren. The only evidence he had for this declaration was that Lionel had gone quite speechless when Lex, in an elaborately planned casual mention, called the cats his "kids," but he considered that quite good enough evidence for a Forbes story.
In what Lionel fondly imagined was a checkmate move, he'd one-upped Lex by having part of one of his estates adapted for the needs of a true ruler's cats: a magnificent pair of young lions. Naturally, he'd made sure that those were featured in Fortune's cover story on him, two months later.
The elder Luthor had not made sure of a vital factor. The Furies didn't approve of a mere human, particularly Lionel, assuming that he'd won the battle.
To be continued...