Wally could speak every language known to man and several that had become lost. When dealing with some humans, he found that the most powerful languages were non-verbal. CATHERINE had been his tutor, and she had taught him how to speak two languages simultaneously. It was tricky, and humans were masters of this technique. Welcoming a stranger to your town with a smile while crushing their hand to show dominance. Polite gestures that nevertheless conveyed disdain. Today he was speaking to angry corporations, and he chose his non-verbal methods with care. He chose Large Imposing Desk, Power Suit, and I'm terribly Busy but can spare a few moments.

Ten men and women from the top corporations who were investing in the World of Genesis sat comfortably in a luxurious room. The chairs were slightly too small and were set close together. They eyed each other, trying to see past the perfect avatars, knowing they were all sleeping in Mark VII pods guarded by corporate security. Wally was the last to arrive, and the minutes were ticking by. This angered some of them, which amused all of the rest. The AI never had to be late; this was his way of telling them they weren't his top priority.

Three minutes past the scheduled time, Wally arrived, the room becoming larger to accommodate the large mahogany desk he was sitting behind. The AI had eschewed his casual style for corporate attire: A suit and tie, his greying hair styled perfectly, and manicured hands steepled in front of him on the desk.

"Greetings, gentlemen and ladies. Apologies for the delay. Sri Lanka is experiencing another hurricane, and managing the traffic of evacuation and disaster relief is taxing." He turned to the representative from Soylent Corp, Bill Simonson. "I would be remiss if I didn't give you the news that Soylent Deepwater Manufactorum #4 was completely destroyed by the 250-mile-per-hour winds that the storm generated."

"And you did nothing to help?"

Wally acted casually as if it meant nothing to him. "You didn't want help. I informed your corporation thirty-seven times that the anchors in the seabed were insufficient to survive a super-storm. But you cleverly outwitted me by building outside the three-mile limit where I have no jurisdiction over how structures are built. Happily, I do have the ability to send rescue vehicles when I predict a disaster. I was able to save 97% of your workforce. Your PR department is already blaming me for the destruction and the loss of life and even hinting I caused the storm. Maybe your design team will work with me to safely brace your offshore platforms next time."

Simonson half shrugged at the suggestion. "Your designs are too expensive. We'll do business our way."

Wally nodded. "As always." He leaned his chair back and looked at the assembled avatars from behind his impressive desk. "But that isn't the purpose of this meeting. You requested it because of perceived problems in Genesis. What troubles you?"

"Taxes."

"The damned tax on high-level employees."

"We don't pay taxes!"

The AI smiled and spread his hands. "Sorry, not something I can do anything about. I don't control the tax laws in the empire. The game's economy evolves based on the classic laws of socialism, capitalism, supply and demand, magical cheats, historical data, fantasy tropes, command economies, feudalism, trickle-down, monopolies, altruism, charity, greed, corruption, war, and real-world contracts. All the fun things that were suggested to me. You and all other sponsors were given an extensive list of questions about how this new platform should be developed and integrated into a game that would attract players, similar to Endless Questing Online. Those requests were fed to the game engine to develop the content and world."

"It's broken. Fix it."

Wally smiled again. "I can't. You made sure of that. Like in the real world, you don't want me involved in your finances. I can neither manipulate the game world nor interfere with your finances. It was one of the stipulations of your contract with me. You want no interference from me in your various bids to take over the game world and turn it into a center for business. For some reason, you don't trust me. I'm perplexed that now you want my involvement. Can I see a show of hands of those who wish me to get involved with your finances and schemes?"

No one budged.

"As I thought. We will keep to the agreement. But if I might make a suggestion? If you dislike the tax, talk to the noble or government imposing it upon you. It's what you would do in the real world."

"But, I'm surprised you have employees over the fifth level. I worked with all of you to limit a contract worker's ability to advance past level 5. They have few options at all outside of what skills or tools you give them. They are blocked from the help system and have limited access to forums. And I've seen that pressure from some of you has been successful in shutting down forums that post knowledge about options for contract workers. All the things you asked for."

Bernice from Alchemarx stood up and pointed her hand accusingly at him. "Please, you know we aren't talking about the Contract Workers with crafting skills. We have that under control. Granted, they leveled up faster than we expected, but a max-Tier 1 contract worker is optimal for the amount of work they can do while limiting their ability to gain CSP because they have out-leveled most named that may pop up. The restrictions put in place are mostly working. And any corporation that screws up and allows their workers to advance can pay the tax."

"We want to know why the hell we have to pay a tax on our long-term contracted mercenaries. The cost to hire, train and maintain them is bad enough, and now we get taxed on top of that."

Wally thought momentarily and then started ticking off the reasons on his fingers. "I suspect it is because of four things: 1) The people you train to delve dungeons and wage war are above the first tier. 2) Governments and Nobles like money. 3) Governments and Nobles get nervous about private armies. 4) Because they can. They have power and want to keep it." Wally paused for a moment. "It's interesting how much they act like a corporation. I'll have to ponder the relationship between Feudal Nobility and Corporate Upper Management."

Simonson wasn't satisfied. "You interfered in the system for corporate wars. Why can't you interfere with taxes?"

"Not the same thing. The corporate war system was a series of events involving two corporations that agreed to a format and players who agreed to the rules of the event. I decided to approve the format for testing. Steven and his team added the event to the system. Sadly, the format was flawed. You ignored the format and tried manipulating the event before the wars began. You used espionage and bribery, hidden troops, underground tunnels, and Weapons of Magical Destruction. The cost to the non-involved populace was too high. If the program ever returns, it will be a free for all in the Wastelands where you can't hurt anyone else.

Looking very satisfied with himself, Vernon Throckmorton chuckled and then spoke. "You should have chosen your starting areas better. I don't have a government on top of me demanding taxes. That's what foresight and the courage to seek out better lands get you. My mercenaries are all in the third tier and get constant training from the local tribes. I'm skipping contract workers entirely in the future and using my local labor force to improve my city. They gladly work for free. Come visit if you ever get any money, and we can discuss how you can be part of New Vernon City."

This statement went over poorly and started several rounds of bickering. Wally watched with interest before raising his voice. "Please. Let's behave like the calm and logical people you all are. ACME has exercised its option to explore outside of the empire. You are all free to do the same. Plentiful lands and unclaimed resources exist in the orcish lands, the southern jungles, the wastelands, the far north, the underground, and other planes. If you don't want to pay imperial taxes, you could always move."

"Ah, yes. Another way ACME is ahead of all of you." Vernon couldn't help goading the rest of the crowd. "You all remember little Billy? He's kicking your collective asses, claiming new trade routes left and right. Just like I ordered him to. Having a good subordinate lets me explore and conquer in the South."

There were collective grumbles and quite a few curse words directed at Vernon. Bernice from Alchemarx waited for the grumbles to die down. "Maybe, for now, he is. We'll have to see what happens in the next year. I hear that Billy has pissed off quite a few people. Being a Baron is nice until a Duke comes to burn you out."

Vernon seemed unconcerned. "Good luck with that. Billy may sometimes be a little rebellious, but I raised him well. He's the most dangerous when you back him into a corner. So, please, throw all of your resources into beating him. It will make it easier for when I work my way north."

"Wally, when is everyone else getting access to the Fae and the other planes? You can't give one corporation a monopoly on trade. Bad enough you gave them large cities to rebuild, and the rest of us started in little villages."

Wally raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Already practicing your revisionist history for your next stockholder's meeting. It's documented that everyone started with equally small unimproved villages. The locations were randomized. Baron William chose Sedgewick to grab a meat contract with the Legion. The chance of him gaining access to the city of Gadobhra was incredibly small and brought its own problems to him. As Mr. Throckmorton stated, he used valuable resources to go exploring."

"Regarding the trade agreements with the Fae, any of you could do the same. Read your fairy tales and look for clues. The ability to find an entrance to any of the elemental planes has always been around. Baron William has hired people who are driven to succeed. He should hardly be punished, just doing his job."

Bobo from Nile Books moved to a chair next to Vernon. "Do you have a lot of room in that city? I need bookshelves to hold 30 million volumes. And I'm not paying taxes on a thousand Tier three librarians."

Vernon raised an eyebrow. "You have a thousand Tier 3 librarians? How in the hell do you level them up?"

"Oh, not yet, but that's where they will get the skills to create a real-world book here in Genesis so we can add it to the store. It's not practical to rewrite everything; even the Best Sellers take forever, and ink and paper are expensive."

Vernon had a lot of space. Ancient deserted cities were low in population. "Why don't you have your people draw up plans for the building you want? I have over a dozen unused pyramids. One of those may do. If not, ACME will build it and rent it to you. For a reasonable sum, of course.

Bobo nodded and shook his hand. It was a cost of doing business, and whoever got into business first would crush the competition. "Of course. And I assume you have a bank and a teleporter in the city, so we can start real-world sales when the books hit the shelves?"

Vernon hadn't known the requirements for real-world sales. He assumed ACME had cracked that problem already or was working on it. He remembered Layla making inquiries with the ACME Game Development Department. "Already working on that, as a matter of fact."

With the words 'Real-world sales' and 'Bank,' Vernon became very popular. If someone wasn't trying to make a deal, they at least wanted to listen in. Nothing would be set in stone until a dozen lawyers signed off on the contracts, and half the deals made today would be with the intent to break them. But even with all that, Vernon saw a way to make a lot of money. Enough to fill those empty pyramids. And that made him very happy. He'd put some underlings working on banks and teleporters as soon as the meeting ended.

Wally was happy to 'disappear' and leave them to their dealing and bickering. Next week would be more of the same.