SWNOVELS Chapter CHAPTER NINE
The POP!!! central headquarters were on a planet in the Horse-head nebula. To be exact, the headquarters were a planet in the Horse-head nebula. A company that supplies beveages to all known corners of the Universe, requires a vast production line to fuel it. As well as playing host to the corporation’s professional activities, planet ‘POP!!!’ also provided housing for all of its workers and their respective families. Most inhabitants never left the planet, children grew up only to take on the menial tasks their parents had become too old to perform. Those who occupied the higher positions would often vacation off-world, or even enjoy days out to the various leisure satellites that orbited the fiduciary sphere.
These satellites provided a slew of different activities for the affluent members of the company and their families; from shopping malls to orbiting brothels, any and every form of relaxation could be found. The only limit was your status within the corporate giant. The satellites also had non-company visitors, though only by the affluent, owing to the high price tag and exclusivity. Behind closed doors the corporate giants of industry would discuss backroom mergers and commercial take downs. If you had something to trade, you could get any personal information you could want.
For these reasons, Bill Pickles was no stranger to the POP!!! planet satellites. He would often frequent the orbiting spas in order to socialise with people that didn’t judge his career choice. On this occasion however, he was there for business.
As his target had given no planet of origin and had given his ship’s registration number as: LCK-MY-TITZ, he needed access to more information if he ever had a chance of finding him. He had chased every lead he would usually follow in situations of this nature and come up empty-handed. All he had for certain was a picture, a name and some biometric data. This was all he needed though, if he had access to security data and classified files from the entire known Universe. Given his aversion to crime, his only recourse was to learn what market and security information he could.
This was no insignificant sphere of knowledge. The Universal private sector was vaster than the Universe itself. Governments rise and fall, crime changes with the times, but brands will always endure. The major corporations of the ‘Organisation of Elite Organisations’ (or; O-E-O for short) were the most influential entity in existence. They twisted planetary laws to their own ends and removed anyone who would stand in their way, through bribes and the occasional ‘accident’.
The OEO was formed by the surviving companies of the Franchise Wars. A war that had waged on for 300 years, wiped out dozens of planets and civilisations and yet wasn’t recorded or remembered by anyone outside of the OEO’s top ranking members; so great was their influence. The companies had a treaty of mutually assured destruction, if any of them declared war on another, then the whole database chronicling the exploits of the war, the list of information they had from exploiting governments and any nefarious schemes hatched after then would be released to the whole Universe. This would in turn force the various Universal governments to take action and would utterly destroy their public image and with it all of their power and influence would crumble to dust.
So as to maintain the security of their databases, one member of each company was assigned as the official secrets keeper. No one outside of their company would know who this person was, at least that was the arrangement. It didn’t take long for the identities of these secret keepers to circulate the upper echelons of the business universe. These were only men though, they were not beyond reproach and for the right price, they could be bought. They were rich, so money was seldom the price, especially for the POP!!! secret keeper. His name was Arnold Tunt and Bill Pickles knew that his price was a little more bizarre.
Arnold liked to frequent the executive spa that drifted above the North Pole of planet POP!!! He spent more time there than at his desk. Bill knew that meeting him there would be effective if a little uncomfortable. Bill landed in the valet landing bay of the geo-synchronous satellite and tipped his valet. He usually went out of his way to avoid people like Arnold, so knew exactly where he would be. He passed by the locker room and exchanged his sharp suit for a small white towel, then made his way in to the steam rooms.
The exotically fragranced steam opened his pores as he pushed deeper into the luxurious confines of the oasis of relaxation. Female attendants in white uniforms hurried past him carrying towels and silver trays covered in fanciful libations. Bill would have killed for a fruit cocktail with a bendy-straw and one of those little umbrellas, but business had to come first. It was midday, local time, so Arnold would probably be in a dark corner of the main baths, looking at exposed feet. Bill didn’t like that he knew this fact, but today it would come in handy.
He entered the dense steam of the main baths and made his way toward the back. The steam was so thick that the white, marble walls were barely visible. The various soaking pools which littered the floor acted as hidden pitfalls beneath the thick, aromatic fog. Bill side stepped them expertly, using the disembodied voices of their naked inhabitants to guide him. He navigated through the invisible jungle until the voices died down to a whisper and only the footsteps of silent bathers could be heard. This was where Arnold Tunt liked to dwell. Where he could indulge his love of feet without anyone being able to see. He had often bragged about using real time security feeds to zoom in on the feet of bathers, sometimes in their own homes. Nothing compared to the visceral delight of being only a few yards away from the object of his desire. The pleasure he derived from this voyeuristic past time was greater for him than anything that he shared with his wife, she had no idea about any of it. As much as you would think that such a secret would make him open to blackmail, no one would dare blackmail a secret keeper. Their power made them untouchable, at least while in office, and Arnold wasn’t going anywhere.
Bill caught the sound of shallow, lusty breathing and knew he had found the man he was looking for. He sat down next to a silent naked man, it was Arnold Tunt.
“I see you’re a man of taste, Mr Pickles, that’s a very nice pedicure,” he said without adjusting his gaze from the passing tootsies.
“Thank you,” replied Bill cheerfully, “if you know who I am, then I’m guessing you know why I’m here.”
“Like all the others before you,” he said, “you’re here for information. They always want information, but few are willing to pay the price.”
“I need information on one ‘nobody’ who is overdrawn on his account, surely that doesn’t carry too high of a price?”
“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t,” answered Arnold, sitting back and exposing his ‘steamed veggies’.
“I’m not in the mood for games, Mr Tunt, this is business. All I require is access to look for one individual and any background information you have on him. How much will that cost?”
“Let’s see,” Arnold sat back, fully exposing himself and revelling in the imminent abuse of power. “An identity tracker and collective background data… Hmmmm, how about- 20 minutes with one foot, NOTHING is off-limits, deal?”
Bill shivered at the thought of what this podophilic request might entail, but knew he had to do it if he was to fulfil his contract. He agreed and Arnold told him to meet him in the locker room in 20 minutes. Bill felt it was time for that drink now.
He made his way to the nearest bar and ordered a drink called a ’Hum-dinger’. He didn’t know what was in it, only that it was strong, brightly-coloured and had a name that was fun to say. Right now, that was enough. He got through the first one in under 5 minutes, so ordered another. After another three drinks he thought it best to get his disgusting task out of the way and began walking towards the locker room in which he had been instructed to go. He really wished that the spa didn’t have a ‘no clothes allowed’ rule when patrons were inside the facility, he would have preferred to be dressed for the uncomfortable events that would soon be thrust upon him. Somehow it felt like it might shield him from his reality.
He paced himself as he made his way through the labyrinth of hallways that led to the locker rooms filled with half-naked investors and corporate sharks that comprised its clientele. The exotic fragrances gave way to the musk of sweat seeping from its inhabitants’ pores. He felt violated, and the worst was yet to come. He passed a blue-skinned spa girl, she was carrying a silver tray with a small metal box on it. He thought how nice it was to see the hiring policy had become more diverse since his last visit. It was a pleasant, if far too brief, distraction from what he was there to do.
He carried on walking until he came to a halt outside of the locker room door. He paused to close his eyes and find his happy place. He thought of a gentle breeze and the first sip of whisky after a long day. He opened his eyes and reached for the door handle. Before he could grab it, the door swung open and a slightly over-weight, dark haired man scurried out, nearly bumping against him. They exchanged pleasantries and the man departed. Bill took a deep breath again and found his centre. He exhaled, composed himself, opened the door and walked into the room. It was empty.