Chapter 6

The two brothers weren’t using a real estate agent to sell their property. We paid the brothers a visit at their home in Snohomish. They, of course, did not want to accept such a low offer, which is what we expected. The negotiations began.

Madge presented all of the reasons why the property wasn’t worth what they wanted for it. That didn’t seem to matter to the two men. They had a price in mind and didn’t want to come down to what we considered to be an acceptable price. Yes, we had lowballed them with our initial offer, but we had increased our offer to slightly less than good farm land, even though their land was poor for agriculture.

Then we told the brothers we weren’t going to go as high as they wanted us to and we would look elsewhere if they didn’t want to accept a lower offer. When we started to leave, the brothers restarted the negotiations. More negotiations and us preparing to leave a second time caused the brothers to meet us at a price slightly higher than what we wanted to pay, but in the long run, the property would be worth more to us than the negotiated price. We closed on that property within the month.

We later learned that the brothers had gotten into financial difficulty in the commodities market and had to come up with a substantial amount of money in a very short period of time. Otherwise, the Stock Exchange Commission would be taking legal action against them. They were trying to cover their losses and still make a large profit out of the sale of the property.

We negotiated with the owners of the other properties that hadn’t accepted our original offers and reached a price acceptable to them. So our first closing was quickly followed by a series of closings on the other properties that we had agreed to buy. While that was happening, a few of the owners of the properties in our area of interest who hadn’t listed their properties accepted our offers after negotiating a higher price for their properties than fair market value. Most of the owners didn’t need the money and didn’t want to sell. They did agree to let us know if they ever changed their minds and promised we would be given the option to buy before they accepted another offer. We still needed additional properties, so we extended our thirty-mile radius to forty miles, and sent out more offer letters.

Buying the farms that we had already purchased and those in the process of closing presented us with several problems. Some of the owners had livestock that was part of the purchase and we had to arrange for the animals to be cared for until we could come to a decision as to what to do with them. Other properties had crops in the ground. One of the properties was divided into two segments, and one of the segments was too small for an Embassy. The countries we planned to lease the properties to wouldn’t be interested in leasing property for an Embassy until after we announce that an embassy would be built and where it would be located. Since we weren’t ready to make that announcement, we had no one interested in a long-term lease.

Madge said, “I’ve been thinking about the problem with the livestock since we made an offer on the first property with livestock. My thought is, this is a business opportunity rather than a problem.

“If we close on all of the farms where the owners accepted our offers, we will end up with two dairy farms, two chicken farms, and a hog farm on our new properties.

“What we need to do is purchase three large rural properties that are too far from us to be usable as sites for Embassies. Then we can relocate the animals to those properties. None of us know the first thing about caring for and raising cows, chickens, and hogs, but we can hire people to manage the three farms for us. We will have to invest some money into building new facilities for the animals and their caretakers, so we need to start looking for the three properties now for we will be closing on the first of those five properties shortly. Until their new homes are ready, the animals can stay on the farms we buy and the people we hire can care for them there.

“We will also be buying a number of farms that are growing produce, hay, and grains. It could be a year or more before we announce an Altairian Embassy will be built across the street from us, and maybe another year or two before the other countries will be interested leasing property from us to build an Embassy on. It could be three or more years before we sign the first lease.

“Until then, we can find sharecroppers to continue farming the properties.”

Alicia said, “Those are good ideas, Madge, but I do have a couple of questions. Do we want to process and sell the milk to the public? Are the chickens being raised for meat or eggs? Will we be slaughtering the hogs and butchering them ourselves or selling them to a meat processing plant? Part of the reason I’m asking is, I think the farms could provide us with fresh milk, poultry, eggs, and pork in addition to us selling those items to a company or to the public.”

I said, “Does it really matter? We can always have a couple of hogs and chickens butchered for our use. Fresh milk would be nice, but we can make arrangements for the milk processor to supply us with what we need. If I recall correctly, the chickens are being raised for eggs. We wouldn’t want to butcher good layers, until their production drops. So we could get both eggs and some fresh poultry from the chicken farm.”

President Kelt and her staff had been busy. They had drafted an invitation and explanation for why the countries we would be inviting to attend the second meeting should meet with us here at the farm. They had emailed a copy to us so we could go over it with the Altairian delegation.

When Alicia, Madge, and I came downstairs to fix breakfast, Phyllis was already there.

Phyllis said, “After I got the coffee started this morning, I checked our email and found a message from Betty. She attached a document that contained a draft of the invitation she will be extending to our invitees. She wants to know if the wording is acceptable to us and the Altairians, and she also needs us to finalize our date for convening the second meeting.”

I stood off to the side in the kitchen and talked with my ladies as they prepared breakfast. We had Mary’s start date for the meeting, which we accepted, but we weren’t totally comfortable with it. To reassure ourselves, we decided to turn the outline we had put together of what had to be done to prepare for the second meeting into a schedule for us to prepare the farm for the meeting, and for the President to prepare Lewis-McChord to support the delegates. That would show if those tasks could be completed before Mary’s date.

While my three ladies finished fixing breakfast, I called Johnathan Kale to discuss how much time President Kelt would need for her side of the preparations.

“Morning, John. We got President Kelt’s email and we will be going over the text of her invitation after breakfast.

“The other day we prepared a list of what we think needs to be done to prepare for the meetings; I will email that list to you. We will be using that list to create a schedule to determine how long it will take to prepare for the meetings. If we missed any items that will affect the schedule, let us know as soon as possible because later today we will be turning that list into the schedule.

“What we need from President Kelt is either time estimates or her schedule for the government to prepare Lewis-McChord for housing the delegates. We will also need to know what she wants us to say if we are asked about her housing and eating arrangements for the delegates.”

“I’ll check my email for your list and get back to you, Jeb. As far as your commenting on the arrangements the President makes, I suggest you essentially stick with the truth. Say that you aren’t involved in making the arrangements between the US government and the governments invited to the meeting. If you don’t express an opinion or mention parts of those arrangements were your idea, you won’t create a problem. I am certain that the President will be telling General Evert and Colonel Daniels something similar.

After completing our conversation, I sent John my list of things that needed to be done. I also printed out copies of the list and the President’s email because I wanted input from Paul, Aaron, and Simon. Breakfast must be almost ready, and I was rather hungry this morning, so I wandered out to the kitchen to find out how long it would be.

Paul, Aaron, Mike, Simon, Vert, and Relpt joined us for breakfast. During breakfast, Simon explained that since Mark Heist and Nick Thelt had returned to Altair on The Seeker, he needed someone to assist him with his duties. Since Vert and Relpt had been of assistance yesterday, he decided to give them an opportunity to fill the positions.

During breakfast, I caught everyone up on my morning conversation with John Hale and mentioned the email from the President. We decided reviewing the email would be the first item of business after breakfast.

Vert and Relpt helped clean up the breakfast mess while the rest of us read President Kelt’s invitation. Actually, I read the email to Simon because he couldn’t read our written language. Simon took notes of the email’s contents, so he could forward the information to Ship Commander Shimlt. Simon said he would have to recommend that Ship Commander Shimlt have a learning program created to teach the Altairians to read and write our written language; of course, that would have to wait until The Seeker returned. None of us had a problem with the content of the invitation. Once those items were addressed, I gave Paul, Aaron, and Mike printed copies of the things that needed to be done. We would have to describe what was on the list to Simon, Vert, and Relpt.

When the ladies joined us in the living room, I gave them their copies of the list, and then said, “My ladies and I made a list of things that we knew needed to be done before the second meeting. We would like you to point out anything we missed and help us turn the list into a schedule for the items that have to be completed before we can start the second meeting.”

Madge said, “Let me get my laptop. I have a scheduling program that we can use.”

Phyllis went with Madge to get her laptop so she could take notes. Once Madge and Phyllis were ready to resume, we started a discussion of the first activity on the list. We broke each activity into the main tasks that were necessary to complete the activity. Madge entered them into her scheduling program and we assigned an estimate of the time needed to complete each task and who was responsible for doing each activity.

I was sitting next to Madge and watched as she entered the tasks and their durations into her computer. It was neat seeing different length bars appear beside each task. I asked why the program had all of the tasks start at the same time. She said she had to link the tasks together so the program would know our planned start date for each task. She created a link between two tasks so I could see what happened. The way the display changed was also neat.

We had a working lunch and finished entering the tasks for the last activity by late-afternoon. Now we had to review the schedule and Phyllis said we had to create links between the tasks that were dependent on each other. I thought all she meant was linking the tasks for each activity; I had forgotten about the interdependencies between tasks in different activities. We would add President Kelt’s tasks and durations to our schedule later.

We decided to take a dinner break, and since we were all tired and just wanted quick service and decent food, we headed for Denny’s in Everett. If we got Katie as our waitress, we would have to introduce her to Simon, Vert, and Relpt. I wonder how she will handle meeting three Altairians. I also wondered how our Altairians would like Denny’s food, since it wasn’t what one would call epicurean cuisine. Before we left, Paul, Aaron, Simon, Vert, and Relpt changed into civilian clothes. Their Altairian civilian clothing was very different from what most of us wore.

Katie saw us enter Denny’s and had the hostess seat us in her section. Within minutes of us being seated and given menus, she was standing beside our table.

“Afternoon. It’s good to see you folks again. I want you to know that I watched the Altairians land those shuttles on your farm. It was so exciting watching them march off the shuttle and meet with you. What are they like?”

I said, “They are real nice people, Katie. When I get the chance, I’ll introduce you to a few of them.”

Katie was getting her pad ready to take our order when I said that, and she said, “Oh, God! That would make my day. Do you know what you want for dinner?”

With a laughing smile on my face, I said, “Give us a few minutes for our Altairian guests don’t read English, so we will have to help them with selecting their meals.”

Katie’s eyes locked onto Simon, Vert, and Relpt; the new people with us. She got very pale and I was worried that she might faint at my surprise. I got out of my chair and moved to her side to give her some support, so she wouldn’t collapse. As I sat her down in my chair, Phyllis said, “That was a thoughtless thing to do, Jeb. You should have known how that would affect someone not prepared for it.”

I said, “Sorry about that, Katie. I meant it as a surprise, but I didn’t think it would affect you this much.”

Katie asked, “Are the three of you really from Altair?”

Simon said, “Yes. The three of us were on the shuttle you watched land and we were three of the people who marched off of the shuttle. If it is okay with Jeb, we would be happy to give you a tour of our shuttle. Maybe we can take you up to orbit and back.”

“Really! I’m a single mom. Can my two kids come also?

“Sure, if Jeb doesn’t mind.”

Katie looked toward me, so I said, “If Simon wants to give you and your kids a tour of his shuttle, I don’t mind. Just let us know when you want to do it.”

Katie stood and gave me and then Simon hugs before leaving to check on her other customers. It was apparent to all of us that hugging Simon left her flustered. My ladies and I explained the menu items to Simon, Vert, and Relpt.

Katie had recovered by the time she returned and took our orders. After she left to give our order to the kitchen, I said, “That was nice of you to offer her and her kids a tour of your shuttle, Simon.”

“Thanks, Jeb, but I had a reason for extending the offer. We have found that it is good public relations to do things like that for the planets we are on. While we are here, I will select average people at random and make the same offer from time-to-time. It is little things like that, that help to build trust between us and the people of a planet, like Earth, and show them we can be friends. Trust and goodwill will be important during our negotiations.”

“I think you are right, Simon. Are there other things that can be done to help the people of Earth accept Altairians?”

“Yes, but let’s discuss them later. This is not the place for that conversation.”

Our food arrived and our Altairians told us it was very similar to what mid-range restaurants served on other planets. They were served an entrée and vegetables as the main meal. Our meat animals and styles of cooking were fairly common throughout the Empire. The main differences were in the seasonings and types of vegetables and desserts served with the meal. We learned that serving soup, salad, and dessert with the evening meal was customary on most of the worlds, but not with the first meal or those served between the first and last meals of the day.

Phyllis asked, “How many meals are served during the day on Altair?”

Relpt replied, “We normally have four meals a day. We call them the first, second, third, and fourth meals. First and fourth meals are usually light meals with second and third meals being our main meals of the day. Eating three meals a day is odd to us, so we often have a light snack in the morning and afternoon.”

I asked, “Do other worlds eat their meals that frequently?”

Simon said, “No. How often the people in the Empire eat is determined by their metabolism and the length of their day, which varies from world to world. Some eat only one meal, but the people of those worlds may have a couple of light snacks during their day, which is often short. On other worlds, especially those with very long days, the people eat more than four meals.”

It had been a long tiring day by the time we got back to the house, so we decided to defer finishing the schedule until tomorrow. After everyone had left, my ladies and I relaxed with drinks in front of the TV and watched a movie. When the movie ended, we decided to go to bed.

Before we went upstairs, Phyllis asked, “Did anyone notice anything different about Simon and Relpt?”

Alicia said, “I thought it was just me. Simon seemed very attentive to Relpt and she returned his interest. I think Simon and Relpt are interested in each other.”

Madge said, “I saw it also. I wonder what their regulations say about personal relationships between officers and enlisted personnel.”

I didn’t say anything for I hadn’t noticed the attention they were talking about. It must be some sense that women have, but not men, or it was just me.

I was tired but in the mood for some loving and so were Alicia and Madge. Our enhancements had increased the duration I could maintain an erection, so we were engaged in pleasuring each other for almost two hours. During that time, we heard Phyllis’s orgasmic cries.

Alicia said, “I wonder how much longer Mom will last before she joins us in bed.”

We heard Mary think to us, “From what I have seen, it will be several months. However, she will be inviting Jeb into her bed before that.”

Everyone arrived for breakfast in the morning. Phyllis jokingly labeled the ten of us the breakfast club and the name stuck; we later expanded the group to include Mark, Nick, and the two ladies who would become our assistants. After breakfast, we sorted each task’s activities into the order in which the activities had to be started.

We hadn’t defined the links between the tasks in the schedule yesterday, so all of the activities started on the same date, which gave us a date by which each task could be completed if we started it immediately and the task wouldn’t be impacted by the other tasks. The probability of the tasks not affecting each other was zero, so we had to define the interdependencies between the tasks. The hardest part of that was determining if a task was dependent on another task, or perhaps several tasks. When we were done I emailed the initial schedule’s file to John and then called him.

“Afternoon, John. I just emailed you a Microsoft Project file containing our schedule. I assume someone in the White House uses or has access to that program, but if you need the file saved in a different format let us know.

“If you give us the necessary information, we can enter the President’s schedule into our schedule. The President’s people can also add their portion of the effort to our schedule to determine when we can start the second meeting. Once that is done, please email us a copy of the revised schedule.

“I am torn between the two choices for we could end up with two very different schedules. The way I see it, once a date is determined and announced, the President won’t need any input that affects the date. We can always let her know if the date needs to be changed. We will be using the master schedule for determining the schedule for the third meeting, so I think we should be the ones to maintain the master schedule.”

I provided John with the start date Mary had given us and suggested that the President send out the invitations now using that date.

“We can adjust the start date, if things change, John. That will allow the nations to start their deliberations regarding whether they will attend the second meeting. If the President asks, tell her I doubt the second meeting will last more than two or three weeks at the most.”

The four of us each knew which meeting tasks had been assigned to us. We each used different rationales to determine the task we would work on first. We would work on our personal business projects as time permitted and we would do a lot of that work between the second and third meetings.

Alicia had the longest and most critical of the tasks: ordering and installing the two tents. She contacted Alibaba and placed the order for the two tents. After making arrangements for payment, they gave her the dates that we could expect the tent’s components to be delivered to the farm and the date range for setting up the tent. We updated the schedule to reflect those dates.

I contacted Plim Sanitary Equipment and placed an order for the delivery of porta potties giving them the estimated date by which they had to be installed. I then contacted Johnson and Tailor Construction to arrange a meeting to discuss a contract for them to do the construction work we needed them to perform. They had already given us an estimated price on what had been discussed, so we just had to finalize the contract and set the dates for starting and completing the work. I wanted a fixed-price contract with the provision to add work which would be done on a time and materials basis.

Phyllis arranged for the rental of the tables, chairs, and other equipment we would need for the meetings. It was a short task for us, but our suppliers might need more time than we thought to obtain what we needed.

Two days later, we met with Edgar Tailor and reached an agreement on the scope of work to be done by Johnson and Tailor Construction and a price for each part of the effort. Edgar pointed out a few items that we had overlooked, so we added them to our agreement and schedule. When negotiating the price, Edgar had provided his backup for estimating the costs he would incur. We couldn’t argue the price of materials and his labor rates seemed a little high to us. Edgar told us using less expensive labor meant the work would take longer, and probably cost him more when he had to fix mistakes the workers would make. His overhead rates and profit on the work seemed reasonable, so we reached an agreement. Edgar told us he would have his lawyer write up a contract based on our agreement for us to review.

We had completely overlooked that we would need a lawyer for many of the things we planned to do. Madge suggested we use her lawyer. She had been using him for all of her legal work and was very happy with him. We agreed to give him a chance, but with everything we had been talking about doing, we may overload him with work. We agreed to consider him working for us, and Madge said she would set up an appointment for us to meet with him.

The next day we met with Madge’s lawyer, Shane Bolden. When we asked, he described his legal experience and background, which was primarily contract law. His fee schedule seemed high to us, but Madge assured us his rates were reasonable for our area. Shane agreed to review the contract for the construction work that Edgar agreed to perform.

We also let him know that we currently wanted him to be our primary lawyer for all future work. Before the meetings with Edgar and Shane, we had agreed to not discuss the specifics of any future work that we knew we needed them to do for us. We decided that until it was necessary, the fewer people who knew the specifics of what we were doing the better it was for us. If we overloaded Shane, he could hire people to help him or we might have more than one lawyer working for us. I personally preferred having a single person do, or manage, all of our legal work.