Chapter 12

Kendrick and I were talking and he said, “The Judge outsmarted the media. The case number and parties associated with the case, have to be posted for at least one hour prior to a hearing. Normally, the case number and all of the main parties are listed in the posting. He listed the case number and your name followed by the phrase ‘and others’, which satisfied the requirement of the law. The media expected the Archer family’s name to be listed. Since it wasn’t, the majority of the media missed the final part of the court case.”

Sandy was sitting in a chair talking with Sereine. The sight of Sereine reminded me that we needed to leave for Vora tomorrow morning. I said, “Kendrick, the Judge said that you would make arrangements to introduce me to my Board of Directors. Sereine and I need to return to Vora for a business meeting. Can we delay introducing me to the Directors for several days?”

Kendrick thought about it for a moment, and said, “A delay will probably be for the best, Doug. The Judge agreed to let the Chairman of the Board know that the Archer Conglomerate has a new owner. They will probably need several days to finalize their presentation on the conglomerate’s structure and finances. It will also take some of the Directors a day or so to get to Slave World. I will discuss it with the Chairman and set the meeting’s date for some time next week.”

“That sounds good to me. It will also allow me time to do a bit of research, so I will have at least some idea of what they will be telling me.”

Kendrick said, “I also need to brief you on a few of the specifics of your inheritance.”

I asked, “You mentioned a security force, which I assume worked for Henry Archer. Will I need one on a day-to-day basis?”

“Yes, unfortunately you will. From now on, Doug, you need protection everywhere you go. Henry rarely went anywhere, so he mainly employed people to prevent trespassers from entering the grounds of his private estate.

“I don’t know what your lifestyle is like or if it will change, but if you plan to be in public, you will need a very good security force. They will need to be armed with neural stunners. I would personally recommend that you arm a few of them with lethal weapons, but that will require a special license for them to carry that type of weaponry.”

Sereine and Sandy had been listening in on that part of our conversation. Sereine said, “Doug is in the process of hiring a group of ex-police officers as a security force for his Embassy on Earth. If I recall correctly, ex-police officers are licensed to carry non-lethal weapons even though they are no longer part of the police force. Police personnel have lethal weapons in their vehicles, but they are not allowed to carry them on their person. Since the police can’t do so, I don’t think that private security personnel can be authorized to carry lethal weapons.”

Kendrick started to say something, but I interrupted with, “Ex-police may not require licenses to carry stunners, but I think we should have Inspector Nast arrange for licenses for all of the security force. It may be helpful for us if we can state to the Earth authorities that they are licensed to carry neural stunners. If my security force members have licenses, it will also show that we are not getting special favoritism from the Multiverse authorities. As far as lethal weapons go, I don’t see a need for them at this time.”

Kendrick said, “I think that’s a good idea, Doug. I was going to say that your security group should also be licensed to carry lethal weapons. You can arrange for a special license and permission to own and possess lethal weapons by citing the High Profile Defense Act.”

“Are you sure of that, Kendrick?” Sereine asked. I don’t recall ever hearing of such an act.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Henry had me research the Act due to something he had been told. It was passed about twenty-five years ago by the Multiverse Government. However, its passage was not widely publicized. The government believes that the only people who need that degree of protection are highly placed government officials and extremely wealthy people. If I recall, there has only been one case where security personnel were required to use deadly force to protect their employer. That instance occurred during the political revolt that took place on Shilling about twelve years ago. There was so much going on at that time that the media essentially overlooked the incident.”

“I don’t recall any revolt on Shilling,” I said.

“Yes, I know. The government did a very good job of putting out disinformation. They fooled the media and the public. Actually, the revolt was limited to less than ten political activists. The government informed everyone that a jealous lover thought that a certain politician was involved with his girlfriend and tried to kill the politician. The names of the people involved were never released, except for that of the jealous lover, and the remaining members of the plot were secretly arrested for treason. They were tried in a secret hearing for attempted murder, and sentenced to the violent criminals’ prison world. The only reason I know about the revolt was I read my father’s journals after his death. One of the activists lived here on Slave World, and my Dad was one of the police officers involved in the investigation that was conducted on Slave World.”

“Kendrick, we need to talk and based on what you said, I think we may be running out of time. I suggest that I go inform the rest of my party we are leaving and return here. Once we are packed and checked out, I will hop us all back to Vora. My uncle has a large villa on the ocean. I think he will let us use it for a week or so. We should be safe there assuming that I don’t show my face in the nearby town.”

“That sounds good. In fact, it’s better than Henry’s estate. You go inform your people; I’ll comm the Chairman, and then I’ll tell my wife and secretary that I will be out of town for a week.”

“Sereine, go pack your things and keep Sandy with you.”

“My ladies had returned from their shopping trip, and had joined us while we were talking.

When I turned to her, Rita asked, “What’s going on?”

“I’ll introduce you to everyone later,” I replied. Pointing to Kendrick, I said, “Kendrick believes we need to hide from the media.

“Sereine and I need to get back to Vora for our meeting. Kendrick and Sandy are going with us and we will stay at my uncle’s beach villa. Go pack all of our things. We will leave in a few minutes.”

I contacted the front desk and checked us out of the hotel. A few minutes later, Sereine and Sandy rejoined us. We were still packing our things, but ten minutes after that we were assembled in my suite with the door locked. As we grasped hands for our hop, I heard a knock on the door and a loud voice saying, “Mister Smith, we are with SW Associated News, and we need to talk with you.”

As the man finished his statement, I released the hop energy and we were standing on the first of our two layover planets. Two hops later, we were standing outside my uncle’s villa. Kendrick handed me his comm unit after logging the comm unit into the Vora Comm Network, I was talking to my uncle telling him I needed a safe place to hide for a couple of days. After swearing him to secrecy and reassuring him that I had not committed any crimes, he gave me the key code to the front door. I told him I would comm him and explain everything in an hour.

Kendrick went outside, walked around the villa, and then came back inside and said, “This should do for a day or two. Comm your folks and explain everything to them. Have them comm and explain things to your uncle and other relatives. I need to twixt the Board of Directors, and then you and I need to talk.”

Sereine commed Inspector Nast to let him know that we were back on Vora and would be at the meeting in two days. She told him to not mention my name, and he would understand why if he listened to the news media.

Sereine, Betty, and Rita prepared a list of groceries, stored it on a data chip, and went to the grocery store. Kendrick told Sereine to use a General Funds Data Chip to pay for the groceries, so the purchase couldn’t be trace back to us. Kendrick and I stayed inside talking for the rest of the day, and the following day. Everyone else went swimming in the ocean. I noticed Sereine, Cindy, and Sandy filled out their swimsuits very nicely. Sto and Coral went with them. Evidently, Bushbies love the water. Unfortunately, their fur stinks while wet.

The first thing I did before we started our talks was to hire Kendrick as my lawyer. That meant that from that time forward, all of our communications were covered by the Client-Lawyer Confidentiality Act. Under that Act, all communication between a Client and a Lawyer is considered privileged communications, unless it’s exchanged in a public setting. The act specifically states that information disclosed to the lawyer in a public setting is not privileged information. According to the Act, Kendrick was bound by oath to not divulge any privileged information I shared in private, and he could not be called as a witness against me in a court of law. A lawyer’s recollection of whether privileged information was ever stated in public is not always accurate, so a lawyer will generally not talk about any conversation that he has with a client.

Kendrick told me that the media would push me hard on topics that I didn’t want to discuss. They would be trying to find something improper in my past that they could turn into a major story, and that story would most likely make me look bad.

Kendrick advised me to announce a media conference as soon as possible. However, at the start of the conference, Kendrick would announce that my private life is private and I would not respond to questions in that area. Furthermore, the person asking the question would be required to leave before I answered any further questions.

“Kendrick, according to the Will, I now own Henry’s estate. However, I’m not sure what that estate consist of. What is it that I now own?”

“Henry’s estate consisted of several bank accounts, his home just outside Churls, a vacation home, a number of investments, and of course the stock he owned in the Archer Conglomerate. He also left you the Archer Family Journal.”

I don’t know why that surprised me. I had invested money in the Archer Conglomerate, so I knew it wasn’t a privately owned company. However, everyone had been saying that I inherited the Archer Conglomerate, so I accepted what they said without questioning it.

“Kendrick, why does everyone say I own the Archer Conglomerate when it’s a publicly owned company?”

“The basic reason is that the majority of the public do not think of Henry as a stockholder. The mystic of the Archer Family and its financial wizardry has led the public to equate control of the conglomerate with ownership of the conglomerate.

“The way Henry explained it to me was that over the years, people tended to forget that the head of the family was just a stockholder who owned the majority of the conglomerate’s stock. The public viewed Henry as the owner of the conglomerate, and they will now think of you as the owner. You only own ninety percent of the conglomerate, but that ninety percent gives you total control of its operation. For all practical purposes, you own the conglomerate.”

“I can see how the public could get the impression that Henry owned the conglomerate. You mentioned a journal as if it’s important. What is this journal and why do you think it’s important to me?”

“As Henry’s lawyer, he told me many things in confidence that I will not talk about. The journal and his plan for the Archer Family are two of the things he directed me to explain to whoever inherited his estate. For you to understand his plan and some of the other things he wanted me to tell you, you need to understand the history of the Archer Family. The journal documents that history and you will need to read it. Henry thought that you might want to add to it.

“I think that I should tell you about the Archer Family saga and Henry’s plan before we get into preparing you to handle the media.

“The family saga is a very long story that covers more than nine hundred and fifty years. One of the Archer Family traits seems to be the ability to manage money. When you read the journal you will learn the whole story and can see for yourself the part that this trait played in the saga of the Archer Family, but I can summarize it for you.

“Around nine hundred and fifty years ago, Carl Archer inherited a portion of his father John’s estate. His father had been a financial genius, who had amassed a sizable fortune. However, John also had twelve children. When he died, the estate was split amongst his twelve children, and with the estate being split twelve ways, Carl didn’t receive very much from the estate.

“Like his father, Carl was a financial genius, and he developed a small financial empire. Because of his experience, Carl decided that his wealth should go to a single person who would manage the estate for the welfare of Carl’s remaining descendants. That person would be the caretaker of the family fortune, and make sure that all of the family members were well cared for financially throughout their lives. In return, the family members assisted the head of the family with the day-to-day business activities.

“The patriarch (or matriarch) of the family would manage the family’s fortune and train the members of the family in managing the family’s wealth. He (or she) would then select the most proficient member of the family, and leave the entire estate to that person. That person would become the next patriarch (or matriarch) of the family and they would manage the family’s wealth and care for the entire family, while the family would assist them in continuing to build the family’s fortune.

“About six hundred years ago, Sally Archer inherited the family fortune. She had a number of questions about why her predecessors made certain decisions. She had difficulty in obtaining answers, so she decided to develop a family journal that documented the decisions made by the heads of the family. She and the other members of the family recorded what they could recall of the Archer Family history in the journal. This journal has been handed down over the years to successive heads of the family. Some of these people made copious entries, while others made almost no entries.

“After many generations of financial geniuses managing the family’s fortune, it had increased to the point that the world started referring to the family’s fortune as the Archer Conglomerate.

“The consolidation of the family’s wealth under a single person was very successful. Unfortunately, some of the inheritors were not the geniuses that their ancestors were. These individuals recognized that they lacked that flair for finance, so they maintained the fortune while trying to position the conglomerate for growth by the next generation.

“This process continued until Henry’s great grandfather Paul Archer inherited the Archer Conglomerate. Paul was probably the worst financial manager that the Archer family ever raised. However, his father didn’t recognize this weakness in his only son, so Paul inherited the conglomerate. By the time of Paul’s death, the Archer Conglomerate was in a very unstable condition.

“Paul left the family fortune to his son, George. Thankfully, George was another of the family’s geniuses, so he was able to stabilize the conglomerate. Unfortunately, the only way that he could do this was by selling stock in the conglomerate. He kept eighty percent of the stock for the family, and sold twenty percent to the public.

“By the time Henry’s father Charles inherited the conglomerate, George had successfully stabilized the conglomerate and had started rebuilding it. Before his death, George laid out a plan for his son Charles to repurchase the stock owned by the public.

“After Charles inherited the conglomerate, he instigated his father’s plan. At the first board meeting, he introduced a measure calling for the renovation of all equipment owned by Archer’s manufacturing companies. He truthfully stated that most of the equipment was old, beyond its useful life, and in need of modernization to meet the needs of future markets. As the majority stockholder, Charles’ measure passed and the conglomerate began modernizing its equipment.

This modernization program affected the stockholders in two ways. Their dividends dropped to zero, but the value of their stock began to very gradually increase.

“In addition to modernizing the manufacturing facilities, Charles also began modernizing other types of businesses that the conglomerate owned. Companies using computers and software had their equipment upgraded and other companies obtained whatever they needed to make them more efficient. While all of this was happening, the conglomerate was buying new companies and building an even larger empire; these companies also needed modernization. Over a period of more than twenty years, the conglomerate never declared a dividend, but its stock rose in value.

“George had known and taught his son that most of the investors that held Archer Conglomerate stock were interested in dividends. After no dividends for several years, the investors started selling their stock. One of the provisos that George had added regarding the investors selling their stock, was that the investor had to offer the stock to the current investors at the current market price. If a bidding war ensued the investor could accept a higher price, but he was not required to accept less than the market price.

“Charles managed to repurchase the majority of the stock that was offered for sale. Occasionally, a fellow investor would make an offer and close the sale before Charles had the opportunity to tender an offer. After twenty years of no dividends, Charles had managed to repurchase all but ten percent of the conglomerate’s stock.

“The Archer Conglomerate completed its modernization program, and the conglomerate started paying dividends again. However, at Charles’ direction, a large portion of the conglomerate profit was used to purchase other companies, which resulted in minimal dividends.

“When Henry inherited the conglomerate, it was ranked as the eighth largest company in the Multiverse. During the next twenty-five years, the dividends remained low, the conglomerate expanded, the price of the stock rose, and the conglomerate became the seventh largest company in the Multiverse.

“Around the time of Charles’ great grandfather’s death, the family started to change. They gradually dropped out of working for the company. The family members became more and more interested in their personal lives, and less interested in supporting the conglomerate.

“By the time of Charles’ death, the Archer family was totally dependent on the head of the family for their support. They did nothing for the conglomerate and took everything that they could get.

“While training Henry for taking over management of the conglomerate, Charles told Henry that the family needed to be revitalized and the only way to do that was to force them into the workforce, preferably at companies owned by the conglomerate. However, Charles died before he and Henry could formulate a plan for accomplishing that goal.

“During his lifetime, Henry devised and discarded several plans for revitalizing the family. He finally decided that revitalizing the family was not worth the effort. He decided that the only way to save some of the family was to disinherit them and force them to work for a living. He knew that the family tradition required him to select another Archer to inherit the family fortune, since he was an only child.

“Henry knew that this would only perpetuate the cycle in which he had been caught. He had bonded with Sto some years before. He and Sto were very close, so he trained Sto in what to look for in a new partner after his death. He also felt that Sandy was the only member of the family that was worth saving from the fate that he planned for the rest of the family.

“Henry created his Will to disinherit the entire family with the exception of Sandy. At the time Henry wrote his Will, he held ninety-five percent of the conglomerate’s stock with the remaining five percent being held by various members of the public. He left five percent of the conglomerate’s stock to Sandy. The remaining ninety percent of the conglomerate’s stock and all of his private assets were left to whomever Sto bonded with after his death. He trusted Sto to select someone who would be able to manage the conglomerate’s holdings, and Sto selected you, Doug.

“And that, Doug, is the saga of the Archer family’s rise and fall in the commercial world. They began as a slightly wealthy family, and by working together, they rose to become a formidable financial juggernaut. In the final one hundred years of the family’s prominence, the family members’ contribution to the family declined to nothing. Charles and Henry recognized this decline and tried to motivate the family into supporting the family, but failed. When Henry made out his Will, he also made provisions for the family members to be hired by any company that the Archer Conglomerate owned. The Chairman knows of this arrangement and will undoubtedly inform you of the details that Henry imposed when he believes you are ready to learn of the request that Henry Archer left for whoever inherited his holdings.

“There is nothing legally binding regarding this request. It’s nothing more than a request to aid his family members in returning to a state where they are once again productive members of our society.”

“I have heard a great deal about the Archer Family over the years, Kendrick, but I was never told of their family history. Their rise to prominence was impressive, but the dissolution of the family is sad. I hope that their failure as a family will be a lesson to me. I will try to pass this lesson on to my descendants as my family builds on the financial empire that Henry left to me.

“I don’t know what request Henry left me, but I can promise that I will aid his family in becoming productive members of our society.”

“Doug, I have the Archer Family Journal in my safe at work. Henry also left a letter for his successor. When we return to Slave World, I will give them to you.

‘Henry wanted you to know about his plan. He told me that if Sto selected the right type of person as a bond partner, that person would honor his plan and try to see that it was carried out.

“Before I go into Henry’s plan, I should caution you about Henry. He was a brilliant man and a financial genius. He was also manipulative, cunning, devious, and determined to get what he wanted.

“On the surface, his plan was fairly simple. However, a few of its facets are extremely devious. Henry knew and understood human nature, and that is evident in parts of his plan. The plan had two parts or perhaps there are three parts; two aspects of the plan are so closely related that they could be viewed as a single complex part or two simpler parts.

“The first part of the plan dealt with the portion of the family that he disinherited. Henry was very proud of the family and its accomplishments. He was also ashamed of what the current generation represented. Henry believed that if no one supported the family members, they would be forced to return to the work force. He left instructions that any family member that applied for a job was to be given employment doing whatever work they were qualified to perform.

“I’m not aware of all the instructions that he left for helping the family, for he gave those instructions to the Chairman of the Board. They came to an agreement regarding the advancement of the family members into important positions in the conglomerate.

“The second part of his plan dealt with Sandy. I know Henry shared at least a portion of this part of the plan with her. He talked with her about her share of the estate and he apparently let her know that he believed that she should get away from the rest of the family.

Henry realized that Sandy was very intelligent and more capable in business than her Mother believed her to be. Henry frequently told me that financially, Sandy was a gem and her Mother was an idiot.

“Henry included the stipulation in the Will for Sandy to live on the planet that his successor lived on for two reasons. The first reason, as you know, was to get her away from the family. He knew that they would attempt to coerce her into supporting them. He intended for her to use the portion of the estate that he left her as the working capital for rebuilding the family fortune. By isolating her from the family, he believed she would evolve into a formidable woman that would lead her life as she felt it should be led. He felt that as a formidable woman, Sandy would be free to use her financial abilities if the family wasn’t interfering. This is where his plan gets complicated, and I’m not sure if it’s a separate part of the overall plan or an extension of the second part.

“He told me that it was his dream to rebuild the Archer Family to what it once was, and he planned to rebuild the family through Sandy. He told me that part of the guidance he gave Sto dealt with selecting a bond partner who would be a good mate for Sandy.

“Henry believed that by making his successor the administrator of Sandy’s inheritance, he was placing his successor in the position of a protector. He believed that as a protector, the successor would develop a close relationship with Sandy.

“The stipulation of Sandy living on the same planet as the successor was presented as the successor protecting Sandy from the family. That was true, but it also had to do with forcing Sandy and his successor into close proximity with each other. Henry believed that if Sto selected the right person, Sandy and his successor would form a bond and get married. He also realized that they might not like each other, so he put a ten-year limit on the duration of their mandatory association.

“What do you think of Henry’s plan, Doug? Can you see yourself helping the family to become productive members of society? What about the rest of the plan, can you see Sandy as the type of woman that can rebuild the Archer fortune? Do you feel protective of Sandy, and if so, can you see yourself married to her?

“Kendrick, you are right about the plan being manipulative, and I think you are right about Henry’s other personality traits.

“I think the first part of the plan will work the way Henry planned. However, he may have further plans for them beyond becoming productive members of society. We will have to wait and see what instructions he left with the Chairman.

“I haven’t been around Sandy long enough to have an accurate impression of her. So far, she has received one shock after another. That allowed me to see some of her resilience and her drive. She hasn’t been in a situation that would allow her to demonstrate her financial abilities, and Yes, I do feel a sense of protectiveness toward Sandy. I also find her attractive. Under different circumstances, I might be interested in her as my woman. I doubt that someone like Sandy would want to be one of many wives. She seems like the type of person who would want a man of her own that she didn’t have to share with others. However, my women also tell me that I’m oblivious to the intentions of the women around me, so I may not be the best one to make an accurate assessment. Will I end up married to Sandy? Well, I can see that as a possibility. But the real question is, can she see herself married to me?”

Our discussion of the Archer Family saga and Henry’s plan had taken the remainder of the day. That evening, I tried to relax with my ladies and come to terms with my new situation. I still wasn’t comfortable in the role of a powerful, ultra-wealthy man. I still visualized myself as a simple D-Hopper. Being an Ambassador was overwhelming to my self-image in many ways. I just couldn’t come to terms with being a multi-trillionaire. It wasn’t something that felt real to me. I decided that for now, I should just be myself, but I was no longer the D-Hopper who graduated from the D-Hopping University. To put it bluntly, I had changed, and I wasn’t sure who I had become. The situation was further complicated in that I was still changing.

I was being overwhelmed by the changes, and I suppose that most people who had just inherited wealth would react to these changes by ignoring everything and going on a spending spree. I was already worth close to seven hundred million dollars from the money I earned while opening Earth, so the inherited wealth didn’t affect me in that way. I think the additional responsibilities are what affected me the most. I knew the responsibilities would set off another round of changes in me that I wasn’t ready to accept.

The main change that I expected was that the inheritance put me in the public eye. I was no longer Doug Smith, D-Hopper and Ambassador. I was now a celebrity and one of the wealthiest people in the Multiverse. I would have to do things differently, but I wasn’t ready to change my lifestyle. I wanted to remain the same person I had been before I became the Ambassador. Fortunately, Kendrick and my friends convinced me that I had to change. The only problem was, I didn’t know what things I needed to do differently and I was afraid I would head off in the wrong direction. Sto and my other friends gave me comfort and helped me to realize that I could make the necessary changes in small increments.