2017.04.14 Chamber of Commerce Meeting: Part 2
| Chamber of Commerce Meeting: Part 2 | |
|---|---|
| Meeting to talk about the future of Prospect. | |
| IC Date | April 14th 2017 |
| IC Time | 9PM |
| Players | Harikumo Dantes Salimah Dedra Nathaniel Gregory |
| Location | Chamber of Commerce |
| Prp/Tp | None |
| Spheres | All |
| Theme Song | It's the end of the world as we know it. - REM |
The Chamber of Commerce conference hall is a large, simple room with soft carpeting, no windows and a large U shaped table with the bend facing the door. Chairs are spaced our around it allowing people to easily face the podium at the open end of the U with a projection screen behind it. It's comfortable, a little warm but nice as conference rooms go.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The meeting begins with everyone assembled around the large U shaped table in the Chamber meeting room. As before there is a small table with cookies, coffee and soft drinks for those who need it set up for people to have before or after the presentation. As before Dantes is introduced by one of the Chamber members and as before he is wearing a suit that is almost identical to the blue suit he wore last time. It's not the same suit, it's a new suit that is of the exact same style and color. He has added a paid of nice cufflinks that are one tiny, tiny difference.
A detailed slide comes up on the projector behind Dantes showing the numbers for the costs of running the city: Public protection: $1,492.6 Million Public works, transportation and commerce: $3,810.6 Million Human welfare and neighborhood development: $1,379.9 Million Community health: $2,081.4 Million Culture and recreation: $409.6 Million General administration and finance: $1,012.5 Million General city responsibilities: $2,051.4 Million Less transfer adjustments*: ($2,532.3) Million
- Adjustments required to avoid double counting of expenditures and revenue moving between city agencies
"We are here to speak of what we can do to help the citizens of Prospect. In the short term, because the problem is resulting from an unstable global economic system, there isn't much, but after a lot of thought and research I came up with a solution which might be able to prepare us for the collapse of the global economy on at least a local level." Dantes says.. optimistically? It's hard to tell. "It is a radical plan that must be implemented in stages and relies heavily on the cooperation of the public." he says which everyone in the room knows means it's going to be difficult. Herding cats is nothing compared to getting a city of people to listen to a good idea.
Dedra is punctual as usual. How ever this time she brought a laptop in order to record notes on. Dantes gets a small smile in response, "This should be interesting."
Sitting at her previous spot at the end of the U-shaped table towards the exit, Kumo lounges as she watches the presentation. She's listened to the delivery before, and her doubts are kept to herself as the others absorb the information. More likely than not, Dantes will not earn the same calm response that she herself gave.
Nathaniel and his sister are punctual as well, and take the same seats they held last time, for anyone that happens to notice or keep track of such things. The two of them settle in for the presentation, watching quietly for the time being.
Looking over at the refreshments table where someone has spilled a packet of sugar on the table and not cleaned it up Dantes seems distracted for a moment but continues, "Right now, we have an economy built on debt. That economy is going to collapse. The U.S. dollar, along with all other forms of currency are going to devalue, chaos will set in. the only way to mitigate this damage is to have a legal tender in place which is not dependent on the value of the U.S. dollar that citizens will already have access too and be familiar with when the collapse happens. Because the very foundations of civilization at this point are food, safety, comfort, and money, all we need to do is provide these things to prevent a total societal implosion. I'll be explaining in detail how we can accomplish this over the next hour. As before if I go to fast or you have any questions raise your hand and I'll be glad to address any concerns."
The pale, bald accountant motions to the slide on the screen behind his podium, "2017 through 2018 The City budget was 8.96 Billion dollars with a deficit of $161 million dollars. Slightly less than the entire state of Nevada which has three times as many people in it. " he pauses to let the magnitude of the cost of running a city this large sink in before pulling up a pie chart showing the cities various expenditures, "How can our costs be so much, one might ask, well, Prospect has the unique distinction of being both a city and it's own county which means we have to cover all the regular duties of both. Street cleaning, fire departments, garbage disposal, health services, maintaining the major public hospitals, law enforcement, the judicial system, the local government, airports, infrastructure, and the social safety net programs for homelessness and drug addiction resources, I could go on for over an hour just listing expenses, but you get the idea." the man says at least having the decency not to drone on in his flat voice, wain of inflection or what could pass for charisma.
Having become quite familiar with Dantes' quirks, Kumo looks over to the snack table and spots the bit of mess. She quietly stands, moving over to get something for herself. Pondering the cookies, Kumo grabs one for herself to put between her teeth, hands now free to sweep up the granules of sweetness that have escaped. It's deposited in the trash-bin, crisis averted, before Kumo decides to lean against the wall next to the snack table instead.
Dedra nods thoughtfully, "That county/city duality is one of the reasons I chose this place to move. It's not the only one I considered that is that way. There are a few within this country that have developed that particular quirk." She cocks her head slightly at Dantes and asks, "Have you contacted any of the others to find out how it is handled there?"
Dantes looks back over at the snack table and sees Kumo has taken care of it. He gives her a small nod that to most people would seem hardly anything but she knows him well enough to know that expression actually means, he is deeply, deeply grateful but he can't show it right at this moment. Looking over to Adora he replies, "Yes, I have done extensive research and reached out to several other City workers to seek advice from across the country. The fin.. the resolution I present here today is a result of that collaboration. We have a great advantage here because we are able to self-govern more so than most cities. If we can raise enough support for these ideas we will have an easy time, legally, accomplishing them. " he says pausing to see if she needs any more information before he goes on.
Nathaniel is paying close attention, though he does occasionally lean over to murmur something to his sister, or she to him.
Dedra nods and gives Dantes a full smile, waiting for him to continue. Expecting that he will be as thorough this time, as he was at the last gathering.
"People are costly. It's difficult to pin down an exact number but the city spends approximately $80 dollars a day on your average citizen. This cost rises every year and since we can't just cull the population of less productive members of society we have devised a plan to encourage the people to make themselves less costly. " Dantes says sounding a little bit too super-villainy. This is why he's suppose to run his speeches by someone before he says them in public. "We need to make people cost less, this means both harvesting more efficient forms of energy like solar and wind as well as developing more effective methods of growing food for them. As we discussed last meeting this is all very possible right now however the real cost of having people is not simply the resources required to keep them alive, it is the problems they create when they rebel against social norms." he says pulling up another slide.
Motioning to the chart Dantes explains, "It is difficult to get exact numbers as the law enforcement departments do not budget each department separately but after some research we estimate that the city will spend approximately $32 Million operating Municipal Courts. An average is $312,000 per person arrested and held in jail until their court date. $60 dollars per person, per day of jail time. We spend around $241 Million on dealing with homelessness. $140 Million is spent on permanently housing over 9,000 people who are not counted as homeless because we already give them homes within the city. This leaves around 6,700 homeless living in shelters or in the streets even though we could easily house a third of those people if they would just show up and apply." he says and there is a not to subtle hint of annoyance. Why can't they just accept their place in the system? Stupid people and their free-will!
Luckily, Kumo nibbling on the cookie keeps her expression fairly closed as Dantes almost has a slip-up in words. She's subtly relieved as he catches himself, looking over the other occupants in the room. Dramatic flair doesn't work for everyone, but Dantes always makes sure to back up his claims with factual information. Her hand wanders over to grab another cookie, Kumo knowing that she will need to keep herself closed before the night is out.
Looking over at Kumo first into her eyes then down lower on her body then back up to her eyes and raising one eyebrow ever so slightly as one corner of his mouth curls up slightly, he continues onward with the speech, "Sadly, many choose to live outside the system at all costs and some are forced to live outside the system due to life's complications. However, a large part of the homeless problem is a bureaucracy issue. The City manages all of this through at least eight different city departments, issuing some 400 contracts with at least 75 private organizations running at all times. A great deal of the work I do at the O.I.A is helping the various departments communicate and work together. If we could consolidate these departments into a more centralized agency it would cut the costs quite a lot. At this time a homeless person can bounce from agency to agency and we have no way of tracking them, knowing what services they are getting, what medical treatments they are receiving, or what their particular needs are because unlike average citizens they often do not keep records or even use their real names. "
Moving to another slide that lists his talking points, Dantes continues on his presentation though he says things far too bluntly not at all couching what could be considered a very frightening idea, "Possible Solutions to reduce cost and stream line the care of the homeless include, Implant Chips We make it mandatory for people accessing the support network to be chipped with a company called S5 is already offering a royalty free tracking and data storage chip that anyone can produce or purchase for 2 dollars per chip. They charge a 1 dollar a month access fee for their network which allows you to track whatever you have secured with the chip anywhere within the city limits much like a normal GPS tracking chip however it has a 4 year battery life so we would need to recharge them very rarely. We could most likely put charging stations in the handles of the chairs in waiting rooms at our various clinics, shelters and so forth, allowing the chips to recharge wirelessly while the clients wait. This would simplify things a great deal and lower the cost of tracking and record keeping. The homeless would literally carry their medical and transaction history with them." he explains as if the idea of tracking homeless people like cattle is, you know, ok in any way.
Nathaniel raises his hand, waiting until acknowledged before speaking. "While admirable in its efficiency, the idea of micro-chipping humans would likely generate a good deal of backlash against any programs that required it." Moral issue with it? Not so much.
Dedra says, "I do agree with the gentleman here. There would be significant social repercussions. You would have to get them to do it willingly, if at all, and the homeless are not well known for cooperating with social pressures. They tend to be insular and untrusting of outsiders. Frequently with good reason.""
Dantes looks over at Nathaniel and says, "Yes, we calculated that this would be a problem. Honestly, I expect that once this proposal goes before the state congress they will reject it out-right, we'll offer to remove the tracking function all together and they will accept this compromise. The information function is the main thing that would allow us to save money and increase the quality of care for the homeless. " so basically he's putting the tracking function into the plan as something they can sacrifice to get the rest of the plan approved. Looking over at Debra, "We can implement the chips in a phased, voluntary plan offering priority care and services to those willing to accept the implant. They can choose to take it and have a better life or choose not to and have things stay as they are now. " then he smiles warmly and says, "Compliance will be rewarded." like verse.
There's totally a quiet blonde in the back of the room. Been here all along, since before it started, keeping to herself. She's dressed in a darling black polka-dot retro dress. Totally could miss Adora, quietly scribbling notes on a notepad. Doesn't seem she's got much to say, but listening attentively.
Well, at least there isn't a riot at least. Kumo told Dantes the very same bits of information, and he adapted. New faces are noted, and these darn little cookies are delicious. It's a nice little diversion, for the rest of the plan that Dantes had in mind to present to the class. We're not out of the woods yet.
Moving on to the next bullet point Dantes says, "We could learn a lot from Japan, they have a style of architecture called Box Apartments. Like open air lofts but smaller. While we would all like for the homeless to have a nice full sized apartment to live in, we must consider the simple fact that there is a limited supply of space. If we converted some of our older government housing into 12 by 12 units with showers, free internet, heat, closet and a bed we could more than double our current housing capacity. We could create a common-room with microwave, ovens, kitchen, and laundry that the guests could share. It wouldn't be both cost effective and conducive to creating the bonds of friendship which will help them take care of each other. The needy helping each other is something we would not have to pay for. Also if we created dorms for them we could supply them with employment using online jobs. In this modern age, internet isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Once we get the homeless into apartments we can find them jobs performing online tasks for us or as part of the over all solution I'll be discussing at the end of this presentation. "
Nathaniel again waits to be acknowledged before speaking, then adds, "It's also worth noting that there is a social movement toward smaller living, at least in certain segments of the population. If the city incentives this movement, and develops similar housing for these people, perhaps even mixing the two, then it further destigmatizes those who are in them by necessity while simultaneously helping increase public support for the program."
Dedra chuckles softly, "The Micro housing movement is still extremely expensive for the common man. Though some variants are relatively cheap. Most of what's on the market has far more amenities than are actually essential. This drives up the price significantly..." She is entering notes in to her computer. Mostly seems to be small alterations to whatever her file is.
Nodding to Nathaniel, "A very good point. The baby boom generation needed larger, more expansive homes but with the decrease in population growth and the already stressed resources people do not require as much space to feel content. When polled, many younger couples say they are unsure they will ever wish to have children. The housing market will have to adapt to these changing generational life styles. " he says liking Nathaniel more and more. "And once we make it past this slide you'll see that if my plan is implemented, size will no longer matter."
Salimah, who was totally here the whole time, glances up from her tablet. "Expensive, but not overly so," she says. "It's much less expensive in a temperate climate, where you don't have to provide heating due to the winter. Inexpensive cooling methods have existed for centuries."
Doodle, doodle, doodle. Adora is totally taking notes, not drawing space ships. As she looks up, saying nothing, a vibrant, intangible energy surrounds the air around the woman. As if any moment, a marauding dragon might BURST into the room, or she might declare she's building a space ship to save the parts of humanity that aren't all fucked up and take them to a new world. <Primal Marks: Adventurer> Lunacy, but.. around the petite blonde, totally possible. Too bad there's no virgins present to give to the dragon, right?
Getting back on track, Dantes motions to the final bullet point on the presentation, "Prostitution." Dantes says, "It's one of the most wasteful problems we have in the city. We spent $2.5 Million on prostitution court cases in 2016. In over half the cases the D.A. simply chooses not to press charges based on lack of evidence and budgetary concerns. Of those, only one 4th of those cases ever have enough evidence to convict. 60 Percent of these cases are handled by already overworked public defenders costing the city an additional $500,000 annually. We spend around 3.2 Million dollars a year total to actually incarcerate 0.125 percent of people charged with this crime. Why are these numbers so insanely low? Because the enforcement officers are encouraged to harass prostitutes in an attempt to drive them to a different district where they don't have to deal with them. The "Not my problem" policy is costing the city a fortune in what amounts to busywork." the speaker complains.
"I use these examples," Dantes explains, "Because they are the easiest to convince people that we need to do something about them." he says as he turns off the slide projector. This next part he didn't want there to be any record of. "These problems along with much of the cost of maintaining infrastructure and societal order could be reduced if we could do one simple thing: Convince people to leave their homes as little as possible. " he says, "I am in contact with several developers right now to negotiate a new city-wide internet system that will use high throughput that would allow us to not only provide cheap, fast internet for the current systems that the citizens use but serve as a foundation for the final stage of the plan. Paying people to play video games." he says pausing for the Whaaaaaat? You crazy moments.
Abe has also been here the whole time. Hes actually wearing a nice suit jacket and slacks today. Taking notes, being very quiet and unobtrusive.
Nathaniel asks, "Are you proposing that prostitution be legalized, or that law enforcement be encouraged to increase prosecution rates, out of curiosity? And where is the productivity gained by the city from the video games in question? Finally, how do you propose to address the loss of revenue that the local businesses you intend to support will suffer when you encourage people to stay home and, therefore, also do most of their shopping online, through national sellers rather than local?"
So far, Kumo has been casually following along from her hovering position by the snack table. Dantes is about to reveal the pinnacle of his grand design, which definitely going to get interesting. She finally notices a curious gentleman in the back...almost didn't recognize Mr. Santos in a suit. Kumo twitches, resisting the urge to grab and throw a cookie at the fellow grease-monkey.
"Wouldn't it just be easier to legalize the sex trade so that violent offenders can be dealt with and those in the business are afforded protections and healthcare services that don't, oh, you know, rely on Johnny Pimp? Also, are you -mad-? I don't care /how/ grand a design, or even if you have words with NASA as to how they deal with keeping people confined yet fit in small spaces. -No-. You will not confine people to their homes. And you -will- acquire legal legislation to enact all this /control freak/ madness, and I -will- pit my best lawyers against you." The clear voice rings through the room like a clarion call. A hint of British, absolutely astounded, GADZOOKS, and -offended-. "This is absolutely against your last lecture, wherein you pretty much said, BUY LOCAL." Adora nods in agreement with Nathaniel, and hazel eyes look on sternly at Dantes. Disapproving Brit is Disapproving.
Abe notices Kumo looking at him and gives his familiar tattooed smile. He continues taking notes, nodding in agreement with Adora and Nathaniel.
Dantes looks at Adora and smiles like you smile when you are humoring your crazy grandmother who thinks there are lizard people running the white house, "I'm not proposing any of that. I'm proposing a system which will make prostitution pointless. " he says as he reaches up to grasp the podium and take a breath to center himself. "Imagine a world where people don't need to work horrible jobs, or subject themselves to horrible tasks like prostitution. A world where people are simply paid to stay home and play online." he says as he gestures to the slides looping it back around to the first slide where it shows the billions of dollars it costs to run the city, "If we have the energy, the network and the programers to do it, we can create a gaming system where people are literally paid to live their lives online and as the technology becomes available, we'll even let them live out whatever life they want in whatever world they wish to live in. Because here the thing most people missed, the key to the idea, in a world where we have robotics and A.I. that can do the work of most people it's just more cost effective to pay them to stay home because they aren't out wearing on the city or murdering each other. We can reduce the cost of running the city and funnel the money back into the pockets of the consumers by just letting them do... whatever the hell they want as long as it's in the privacy of their own homes. "
Adora taps the pen to her pursed lips. ".... right, so, you want to re-create the world Barbarella was based on. And her society failed, hard. -Still- lunacy." JAB. Right in the Sci-Fi.
Taking in a breath, Kumo lets it out as the gauntlet is thrown down. Her indulgent smile to Abe is wiped away by tired annoyance. Humanity does not take well to such claustrophobic limitations, even if it would prevent it's own destruction. For some strange reason, the cookies are no longer appetizing.
Nathaniel frowns faintly at the film reference, since it's not exactly the sort that he'd have seen, but beyond that his attention is on Dantes and Adora, not adding anything further comment for the moment.
Dantes looks at Adora arching a perfectly bald eyebrow then looks down at the tablet he's using to run the presentation. The slide presentation goes away and the desktop of his computer comes into view. He Googles "Barbarella" and looks up the wiki making her wait while he reads about her dated reference. He just casually reads, no other emotions on his face... one paragraph at a time... following a link about the plot and reading more... carefully studying... then back to the main page he continues on not responding at all as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other moving to the next paragraph until he's read all the way down the page then he finds a second source, reads the reviews, the ratings, reads the directors cometary as he makes everyone wait then... finally he looks at Adora and says with no hint of sarcasm or malice "No. It's nothing like that."
"If not that, then it may work... until you decide you need the people to help supplement power for this system, and then you try to find someone to be Keanu to save the day," Salimah pipes up with a chuckle.
"The artificial society that was created had no sexual contact with others, instead, isolated incidences of people essentially living in their own homes. Truly, it was a thinly veiled excuse for the actress's then-husband to have her sexcapade across the silver screen, but my point remains. Humans are a social, tribal people. Isolating them away from their tribe, be that simply family, or their colleagues, without the interaction that can only be gained, -face to face- as our precious Barbarella found out," she pauses dramatically, with a brow-waggle. "And if you've got a solution to that, I hardly think this is the kind of affair the city needs to be delving their nose into. There are laws for privacy, all the way up to rights guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I'm still waiting to hear why you feel sending our local dollars national and global is a better idea than keeping it -local- and looking after our own people here, first and foremost, in the face of a global crisis. You're DANGEROUSLY close to sounding like a modern Marine Antoinette, and we all know how -THAT- story ended." She makes an off with her head gesture.
Kumo closes her eyes, as the migraine begins: Dantes was having a lovely conversation with Nathaniel at the last meeting about keeping money local, and Nathaniel arguing against it. Now, he's being accused by Adora for spending it elsewhere? It's why she hates people so much.
Dantes listens to the woman make her points and says, "You misunderstand. The U.S. Dollar isn't going to be worth the ink is it printed worth in the near future. When that happens, if there is no alternative currency then there will be chaos. However if there is an established, local currency created by the city, paying people to play games and stay out of trouble, that currency can still be used to trade for food and goods. While the rest of the world falls apart, our city, with our independent power grid and self-sufficient food sources, will continue on and recover faster because while the collapse of the U.S. dollar will be bad, it won't be the end of the world. " he says then he smiles and says, "If you are a fan of science fiction, I recommend Rick and Morty, the first episode of the third season. It addresses what happens when the trade dollar collapses."
Adora blinks once, and once again. "Rick and Morty is a -children's cartoon-. If all the people are indoors, playing on video games -- provided you can even convince some of the bloody uncultured heathens to play them -- who will be creating the value of this currency? Who will work jobs, who will make this food you say they can trade for? Will there be a system to pick, who works, and who doesn't, because it seems to me to be a pipe-dream to just have ALL the troublemakers just PLAYING video games in their own little homes like good minions. No. You're still a madman. Your theory sounds good in your head, but aloud and on paper, fails to take into account the unaccountable: the indomitable human spirit and nature. You can't put people in little boxes and think they'll be happy with it, by numbers alone less than half the human population at large are Introverts, purely from a scientific standpoint. You cannot -alter- human nature, in one generation, and it sounds like you're out of time to do so." Adora waggles that pen at Dantes. "I liked the idea of strengthening the local economy. Reducing excess. Taking care of the homeless population. Perhaps finding a way to reduce the financial and emotional impact of prostitution in the city. I'm not so terribly fond of this idea you think you can turn a profit, and also create your own currency without being assassinated by the Federal Reserve's goon-squad, by having people play video-games. Troublemakers NEVER do what you want them to do."
Dantes leans forward on the podium and crosses his arms listening attentively to the woman ranting on until she runs out of breath, "No one is talking about forcing people to play or stay inside, that's just something you think is happening in your mind. I'm talking about a way for people who can't get normal jobs to make money instead of having to do crime or prostitution. No one is saying everyone should do it, or that everyone will have to. I'm saying that we can offer the people this choice, then when the U.S. Dollar collapses, we will have an independent currency system in place people are use to that we can use to move forward." he says calmly, not bothered at all by the ranting woman. If anything could be discerned from his stoic perfectly symmetrical face it might be a micro-expression of amusement.
Abe offers from his place. "You know there’s always going to be a certain percentage of people that either don’t like or cant play video games either."
Salimah glances at Adora. "You must have had a wonderful childhood, watching 'children cartoons' with a drunkard, destroying the fabric of time, and everything about Mr. Jelly Bean." She shakes her head. "Moving along... the trick to this, I feel, is to somehow shift to a post-scarcity system, which is going to be a nightmare of a task on it's own."
Nathaniel remains silent, though Abe's comment draws his notice, and a raised brow. Less at the statement itself, and more at the speaker being here for something like this.
Adora still narrows an eye suspiciously as Dantes attempts to sell his snake-oil. But, Salimah's words make sense. "Yes! No, actually, it won't be. If we could just -get- to the asteroid belt, or even better, catch comets that would otherwise be on a collision course with Earth or our neighbors, the potential of infinite growth on a finite planet suddenly becomes as infinite as the stars in the sky are." She pauses, adding, "It's no unknown fact that the Phosphorus mines of the world are running low to feed the world with, and we're wasting nonrenewable resources at an alarming rate, if you hadn't taken a look at just how much space debris is in orbit around our lovely world presently. We -could- eliminate scarcity completely by outside input and revamping our rates of consumption."
The conversation having grown tiresome, Kumo realizes that the actual culmination of Dantes' plan will never be brought to light in this sitting. Too many people breeding out of control is the problem, and no one is willing to cull... not even him. Wandering over to Abe, she places a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'll see you later." Turning to the door, Kumo makes as if to leave.
Dantes seems lost in the conversation as it goes into techno-babble and talk of space. He looks directly at Adora and says, "I'm sorry, Ms. Klein, but I don't see how any of that helps us with our current situation." purposefully calling her by the wrong name to test something.
Adora just shakes her head. The man's choo-choo has slipped its tracks. "That's -not- my name, you've clearly mistaken me for someone else. And? I think I'm done here. Good day." The blonde bombshell is indeed. The notepad is back in her Prada bag, on her elbow, and she leaves without so much as another quip or biting comeback.
Dantes sees she is storming out as soon as someone tries to identify her and smirks, "Are you sure?!" he calls out as he watches her leave wondering if she is so unstable he can get her to give her real name. "I'm pretty sure that's your name. Didn't we go to high school together? West Prospect, right?" Dantes asks.
Abe decides he's seen enough as well. Maybe he was just here to see what all of this was about. He smiles at Kumo and heads for the door behind her.
Kumo's attention is pulled, the conversation beginning to dissolve as the argument comes to a head and Dantes resorts to verbal manipulation. He's never as innocent as most people mistake him to be. Opening the door, she keeps it open to allow Abe through, before Adora storms out as well.
No, really, and truly, the adventuring blonde bombshell of dashing and daring has left the building without a lick of further statement or note. Adora is not storming. She is making a graceful exit. The poor man's obviously in dire need of mental help, and she's not one to banter with the weak. "Thank you, dear," Adora nods to Kumo, as she exits.
Abe smiles "Thanks, Kumo." He says a bit sheepishly. Its like he's embarrassed to be here.
Since the opinionated lady seems to have side tracked his meeting, Dantes says, "I'll continue working on the project and schedule another meeting next week. As always you can call me at my office. Director Dantes Potts, Office of Inter-Departmental Affairs at city hall if you have any further questions or ideas." he offers as the meeting closes out. "Thank you all for coming."
Nathaniel peers at Dantes as he gets more involved in his argument with Adora than his actual presentation, and there's a quiet exchange between the man and his sister, the former shaking his head slightly. They both rise and make their exit as the meeting formally closes.
Despite Kumo playing the wonderful hostess, her eyes linger on the Latino man in his business suit. "Don't be afraid to drop by again, sometime." She knows him, and that sensual smile she gives suggests more than simple friendship. OF course, she continues to hold open the door for Nathaniel and his sister to depart.
Gathering his things, Dantes makes the mistake of turning off the browser on his tablet showing a custom OS with a group of nodes connected by a spider web like design that serves as the tablet's file structure. Defiantly not your average windows machine. The raw OS is only exposed for a moment as he reaches down and unplugs the cable from projector. Then he slips the tablet into his briefcase and starts to thank the Chamber people for allowing them to have the meeting here and apologizing for the chaos at the end.
Abe smiles, rubbing the back of his head. He looks at Kumo "Anytime you want me about you have my number." with that he heads out the door.
-=-=-=-
After the group of visitors has left and Dantes is alone cleaning up the refreshments he shakes his head and speaks as if there is someone else in the room his only companion is his phone laying on the snack table, "They don't understand, they don't see what's coming. We just don't have time to save them all. Unless something drastic changes... " he trails off as he packs up the food for disposal.
"We'll save as many as we can." a voice from the phone says as Dantes looks over at the door which all the people walked out of. "Do you think they are beginning to see the truth?" he asks.
The voice replies, "We believe that some of them are. When the collapse comes we will be ready, then when their world tumbles down, they will turn to us for salvation and we will save them." the voice on the phone reassures him.
A smile blossoms on Dantes' face, "They will hear the song. They will know peace. I have faith."
The voice on the phone says simply, "We know."
