While it was an established fact that the entire population of Eaton I lived on the Oasis, it was not the entire truth. Since the majority of all industrial plants were located within the endless desert, it was only natural for the workforce to live within commutable distance. It did not make much sense for the executives and those on the upper rungs of the corporate ladder to slum it with the regular folk.

Towards the coast, at the north of Eaton I, where the climate was more tropical and the barren landscape was dotted with intermittent greenery, existed a massive seaside resort for society’s elites. The resort, named ‘Sea View Resort’, was part of Regent Hotels and Resorts Inc., a multi-system corporation with branches all across the human-occupied galaxy. At least one subsidiary of Regent Hotels and Resorts Inc. existed on every planet.

The hotels and resorts managed by the corporation were known to be extremely pricey because of all the facilities and services they offered. If one stayed in a hotel or resort managed by the corporation, they would experience the life of royalty. With the meals prepared by certified 5-star chefs, 24/7 butler service, in-room Jacuzzi, infinity pool, sauna, and much more. It was on every person’s bucket list to stay in one of the subsidiaries of Regent Hotels and Resorts Inc. But to the vast majority, it would remain as an un-ticked entry on their list, never to be realised in their lifetime.

One of the many characteristics of the rooms managed by the corporation was their impeccable privacy and security. Each room is effectively isolated from any and all external interference; to access the QNet, the occupant must route through an extremely secure channel that is policed 24/7 for any unwanted intrusions and attacks. The rooms are also completely noise-isolated. Which was a boon for the occupants neighbouring one of the largest penthouse suites in Sea View Resorts.

Any bystander would be oblivious to the fact that behind the doors to that penthouse echoed a chorus of moans, and a symphony of wet claps as skin and flesh collided against each other.

Inside the suite’s master bedroom, on top of the rectangular ultrabed, four bodies were wrapped around each other and gyrating rhythmically to the beat of a sensuous sax tune playing in the background.

Of the four bodies, three were feminine of obscure ethnicity and one was masculine with a young, chiselled, Nubian physique. The man had a tube extending from a port at the back of his nape and was connected to a machine that pumped a purple concoction of psychoactive drugs, aphrodisiacs, ‘performance’ enhancing drugs, as well as re-hydrating fluids.

Two out of the three women were splayed across the bed, completely exhausted with semen leaking out of their orifices. While the man was going onto his 11th round with the third. Each of the three women had undergone highly selective surgical procedures to accentuate their figures and have a naturally seductive appearance. They had a curvaceous body, a natural-looking pair of 34C-cup sized breasts, an ample ass, a symmetric facial structure, and plump and juicy lips.

In modern society, prostitution had become a highly lucrative and legitimate business. On the higher end of the spectrum, corporations would groom volunteering candidates from a young age to meet the sexual tendencies and fetishes of their clients and become their personal pleasure dolls. The earnings raked in by these dolls were explosive, although short-lived, and were directly related to the level of their clients in the corporate ladder.

It was also not uncommon for a client to hire multiple dolls at once, as it was in this case. As the man was nearing completion, he pulled up the woman into a tight embrace and captured the areola of her right breast with his mouth. With one final, vigorous, thrust the man finished inside the panting woman and dropped her unceremoniously onto the mattress.

The man scooted over to one of the other women and turned her over onto her stomach. He ignored the woman’s whispering pleas, “can’t… do… anymore… please… wait,” and got ready to enter her. But just as he was about to start thrusting, a loud series of knocks interrupted his momentum.

“Mr. Obiekwe! Mr. Obiekwe, please! Your father is on the line, and he’s calling for you!” A timid and stuttering voice sounded from the other side of the door.

The man, Raymond Obiekwe, carefully detached the tube from his nape and quickly rushed over to put on a bathrobe. He then fished out a kit from a drawer next to the bed, which contained a series of identical syringes with green fluid in it. He carefully, and familiarly, injected the fluid into an exposed vein on the inside of his elbow and followed it by taking quick successive breaths. He closely examined his eyes on the mirror on his way out to make sure that the earlier concoction was metabolised.

Once he made sure that everything was in order he jolted out of the room. When he opened the door, he came face-to-face with a middle-aged man with typical Hispanic features, wearing a simple black business outfit. The man was nervously fidgeting in place and was nearly shocked out of his skin when confronted by a massive 2m tall muscled man.

“*cough* Mr. Obiekwe, your father’s calling for you!” The man spoke with urgency.

“Damn it! What did you tell him, Raúl?” Raymond asked back while growing increasingly agitated.

“Nothing Sir! I didn’t pick up the call. It’s still ringing!”

Raymond exhaled in relief, then walked briskly towards the penthouse’s office room. All Regent Hotel and Resorts Inc. subsidiaries include a room dedicated for the diligent corporate worker, equipped with the state-of-the-art holographic communication system with live-conferencing features and tactile capabilities. As Raymond entered the office, he was greeted by a holographic still of a face similar to his but with visible age lines flashing before him, with the text ‘Dad - Jeremiah Obiekwe’ written underneath it. He quickly sat behind the desk at the far edge of the room and tapped a flashing ‘Answer’ prompt on the desk’s glass surface.

Immediately, the still image was replaced by a 3D form of the older man. Raymond wore a strained smile as he looked at his father’s projection. Jeremiah looked at his son and did not speak a word. His face did not betray any emotions, but with each passing second, pressure started to build up inside the room.

After working in various executive positions across multiple corporations for over 50 years, Jeremiah had adopted certain quirks and traits. While these behaviours of his might be beneficial when applied in a corporate environment, they were inappropriate when communicating with family members. For instance, at that moment, Raymond knew that if he did not speak first the call would continue indefinitely with neither party uttering a single word. It was because according to one of the oldest axioms of business negotiations, “he who speaks first, loses,” and his father had metaphorically etched it into his bones.

“Hey, dad,” Raymond uttered meekly.

“10 minutes. I’ve been on call for 10 minutes! If I remember correctly, I had assigned Hernández as your personal assistant, right?” Jeremiah asked pointedly. Standing at the corner of the office, Raymond’s PA Hernández started sweating profusely.

Raymond immediately waved his hand and responded, “No, No! I told him that if you called to not pick it up and call me immediately.”

“Forget about all that. Where the hell are you? You haven’t reported to work for a week now! You’re Kurosawa Mining Co.’s Decadence Cluster Branch Manager for Pete’s sake! Do you even know what all your sister had to do to get you that position?” Jeremiah reprimanded with an audibly frustrated tone.

“How hard could it have been? Being posted in the Decadence Cluster’s Branch is basically equivalent to getting exiled! All we have are 10 collection sites within our control. And that too for common earth metals!” Raymond muttered.

“I know that that’s all you’re capable of. If she had assigned you to a more lucrative branch you’d have run it into the ground, whoring and gambling. You should count your lucky stars that you even have a Branch Manager’s post. I have half a mind to strip you of everything and let you struggle in a Rank 4 planet. That ought to teach you something.” Jeremiah commented coldly. Throughout the entire interaction, his facial muscles responsible for projecting emotions hadn’t shifted more than a millimetre. It was evident that he was used to maintaining a poker face.

Jeremiah paused and continued, “Tell me where you are right now. I lost track of your cruiser.”

Raymond gritted his teeth and asked with a tinge of aggression, “Were you tracking me?”

“Yes, of course,” Jeremiah responded offhandedly.

“Can’t you place even a little bit of trust in me dad?” Raymond asked self-deprecatingly.

In response, Jeremiah laughed out loud. “Trust you? You? What can you do besides waving that dick of yours? I’m a businessman first, and you’re a bad investment! Forget it, stop messing around and return to the branch. Your actions are affecting your sister. This is the last chance I’m giving you. If you’re not back at your post within 2 weeks, I’m cutting you off. I’ve entertained your wild antics long enough.”

Without waiting for Raymond’s response Jeremiah cut the call.

Silence reigned in the room as Raymond stared blankly into the air. After a minute, Raymond’s face cracked with a sneer. He reached into a drawer underneath his desk and pulled out a decadent pistol. The pistol looked similar to an antique Desert Eagle, but its ornate and colourful design adulterated the pistol’s functional beauty turning it into an immature toy-like contraption.

“S, Sir. I think we really should go back.” Hernández spoke meekly. In response, Raymond snapped the pistol in his direction causing him to flinch.

Raymond chuckled in response, “Relax! The safety’s on!”

Raymond rotated in his seat to face the floor-to-ceiling window behind the desk, looking out into the beach. He stood up as he spoke, “We’re not going back just yet Raúl. Not until we’ve finished what we came here for. Does he think I’m incapable of doing anything? I’ll show him…” His voice tapered off near the end.

Raymond snapped around to face his PA. “If Jio’s right! Halcyon should be developing their new spaceborne Meka here on this backwater planet. Who would have known? All I need to do is get my hands on one of the units and hand it over to Nova Corp.’s research division. Once I do that I can leave that shithole of a star cluster!”

Hernández looked at Raymond with hesitation.

“Relax! Once I get a decent post in Nova, I’ll take you with me.”

“That’s not it sir. It’s just… I don’t think it’s safe. We didn’t bring any operatives with us. And your father may get angry if we cause any unwanted disturbances. Furthermore, if we get caught, it will negatively affect Nova Corp. since they can directly connect you to your father. At that point, we will be in an even worse position!”

Raymond waved the gun in his hand frivolously as he walked over to Hernández. “The reason I didn’t bring anyone was that the credit for the operation must all belong to me! Everyone at that branch works for my sister! If she learns that I have my hands on a hot potato, she’ll ‘appropriate’ it and absorb all the credit.”

“But sir, we could’ve hired fixers too!”

“I know! But all my transactions are being monitored. My sister will know that my expenditures aren’t adding up. This was exactly why I removed everyone working under me except for you, and suspended my subscription with Saber Personal Security. Even my cruiser’s being operated by AI!”

Hernández looked confused. Raymond noticed that and smiled slyly, “Halcyon wanted to hide the details regarding their new project. They did it so well that even those at the executive level had no idea unless they were directly involved in it. But how could they hide it so well that it didn’t even leave a trace in the financial statements?”

Hernández look of confusion got even more exaggerated hearing the question. Raymond continued, “According to Jio, it seems that they’ve completely repurposed their facility in this planet to accommodate the R&D. They have a separate facility deep in the endless desert which is siphoning of a large chunk of the cash influx into this planet’s branch. They’ve covered it so well that the head office barely notices the difference.

It was a smart move, but there is a key flaw to their strategy! They cannot leave any hint that there exists a top-secret R&D facility on this planet. That means that the expenditures made to reinforce their facility’s safety and security cannot appear out of place. It means that they’re basically running on half-a-century old security systems at best, at worst it will be at least a century old!”

Hernández’s forehead scrunched up at that thought. The reasoning made no sense at all! It was basically the result of an immature teen’s overactive imagination after consuming a large quantity of political fiction and business drama series! But Hernández had learned to keep his mouth shut in these scenarios.

“You already know that I’ve been purchasing and stockpiling high-end equipment back in my cruiser. All we need is to find capable fixers in this star system and use them to steal the Meka from Halcyon’s facility. After we get our hands on the machine, we can ditch those hicks!” Raymond spoke with great gusto. Hernández gave up trying to change Raymond’s mind and decided to indulge in his machinations.

“What about the fixers’ fees?” Hernández asked. At this point, Raymond had already left the office and was making his way back to the master bedroom.

As he walked, Raymond scoffed and retorted in disdain. “Whatever. I have enough on hand to place a down payment. We just need them to get the specimen for us. We’ll ‘take care’ of them after.”

“Sir, don’t you think we’re underestimating them a little bit?”

“We can just off them if they make too much noise.” He gestured by pointing the weapon in his hand at an imaginary target. “We’ll just lure them inside the cruiser. What are those backwater yokels going to do? The cruiser’s security system will blast them to kingdom come before they can even twitch a muscle.” Raymond finished as he reached the door to the bedroom.

Before he entered, he instructed Hernández. “Contact all the agents you know and put the word out that we’re looking for capable fixers with expertise in infiltration and extraction. Don’t reveal too much, just tell them that the pay is substantial and legit and that we will pay half the fee in advance.”

As Raymond entered the bedroom, a naked woman with a voluptuous body sprung directly at him and latched on by wrapping her feet around his waist. That caused the loosely draped robe to slip off Raymond’s body, exposing his bare ebony buttocks. Before he could react, the woman covered his mouth with her lush lips and invaded it with her slithering tongue.

A melodious and seductive voice resounded from within, “Jun! Let Ray catch his breath.”

The bedroom door closed slowly, as jovial laughter rang from inside.

Hernández stood outside the bedroom in a daze. After a minute, a familiar cacophony of wet claps and moans echoed from inside the room. Hernández’s face betrayed a complete lack of confidence, as his mind ran through various possible outcomes.

He started to curse the bad luck that made him end up getting assigned as this lecherous bastard’s PA!