A Million Dollars and Three Rezaian Islands (Part II)

After the call from Johann Derris of the ADR to Richard O'Conner of OMNE Corp., the two high-ranking economists booked nearby suites in one of the finest new Cascadian resorts. Word was sent to Cascadia ahead of time not only to reserve the rooms, but notify them in case of any security concerns - just a precaution for two powerful and rich government officials. They weren't here on any sort of official business, just as two private citizens looking for a nice vacation.

Derris would arrive aboard a fine ADR transport vessel and wait to meet up with Richard somewhere near the space-docking station. He had never been to Cascadia THE PLANET NOT THE STAR XD before and was looking forward to taking note of all the different luxuries this planet had to offer.

A sleek luxurious looking transport would land near to Johann's and Richard would step out. He was carrying his own things, refusing any help from his employees on the ship. He walked out and glanced around figuring out where he should be going until he saw Johann and smiled, walking over to him "Oh my good man, its been far too long." He chuckled and looked him over quickly, making a quick joke about the very slightly aged friend before him "You look like you needed this vacation."

"Damn straight I do," Johann laughed heartily and clapped his old friend on the shoulder. "Richard, how in the hell are you. Gain a little weight?" He joked back.

His assistants already had his stuff unloaded, a few suitcases and a briefcase, and loaded into the rental car that was awaiting the two executives.

As Richard personally loaded his own things he laughed with his friend "Stress weight no doubt. But im good, nothing to complain about, not really. What about you Mr.Director?" He said jokingly "I cant get over the fact that someone I went to college with is in that position its crazy. On the way here I was talking to William and i realized, to any reporter who may or may not find out we are here, this will look really big." He laughed a bit more.

"Ah, there are better positions in the world, let me tell you! Too much politics for me, and not enough money." He laughed heartily as he politely gestured for Richard to go ahead of him into the car. "Yeah, I've hoped that the media keeps their yaps shut. Nothing spoils a day faster than paparazzi when you don't want them." He adjusted his sunglasses as he speculated whether they would be swarmed by reporters. "I wonder how bad Cascadia is about that...probably no worse than any other colony. A bit better, you think? Maybe?"

Richard shrugged "They'll probably be better I assume, Cascadia never really buys into the whole big badass famous people band wagon. They seem to be a lot less pop culture oriented than most of the communities people like us deal with." He chuckled and smiled a bit, sitting comfortably in the car. "Whats it like living in the ADR? I would feel mentally deficient in that place" he laughed with a smile.

"Well, you're pretty much not allowed to walk down the street with your head held up unless you have a master's degree in something-or-other-ology. I lost count of how many certifications I had to have to get this damn job," he chuckled. "But everything runs good on paper. We've got a damn beautiful way of running things...at least, things that can be calculated and predicted and handled objectively. Anything that requires an opinion though, God forbid, is going to get tossed around in intellectual debates forever. How about you and OMNE? I've thought a hell of a lot about going and working there...seems a whole lot more straightforward than ADR politics."

"Yea it does sound a lot more straight forward, profit and public opinion direct policy. Go against either you better be ready to lose your job or make a real damn good case for yourself. Of course put enough time, effort, and money into things and public opinion and profit usually go in the same direction" He chuckled "Everyone thinks corporate rule sounds terrible but really...its not. If I tried to force things on anyone I would be on Eli in a mine at this point." he laughed a bit.

"I like that philosophy," Johann nodded thoughtfully as the driver continued rolling down the Cascadian streets toward the resort. "Operates a lot cleaner, at least for the higher-ups, since you've got less grey area to worry about. You've got profit and public opinion. We've got that, on top of research, and ecology, and education, and more research, and what results it might yield in twenty or sixty years due to statistics. Sometimes people can be too damn smart, you know? It bugs me sometimes." He shifted a bit in the back seat of the car, looking out the tinted windows. At least he could be grateful that they were on their way to the resort now, luckily without being spotted so far.

Richard nodded "I need to worry about things like education and research but definitely nothing like you guys do, O.M.N.E schools are good but not as good as yours" He chuckled "You must be elated for a chance to unwind like this, I cant imagine you in such a hectic job, and yea smart people man, makin it harder for the rest of us." He chuckled, trying to make the mood a bit lighter now.

"Always raisin' the damn standards," Johann chuckled. "Anyway. Do we have some drinks in this car?! I want to taste Cascadian finery. I mean, if it's half as good as their women..."

Richard nodded "Man i hope so, I could use a drink!" He glanced around until he found some in a small cooler that looked like the arm of the seat "Ahhh here we are." He picked two out and handed one to Johann "To vacation."

"To vacation," he cheerily tapped his bottle against Richard's, popped the top, and took a hearty sip. "Ahh...better than half as good as their women, I'd guess," he guffawed.

After another sip, he glanced out the window, looking to see what he could see out the window. "How far away are we, do you think?"

Richard sighed "Should be close, the data site said that it wasn't too far from the port we just landed at. I'm rather eager to see these resorts of theirs, O.M.N.E has been talking about getting involved with Cascadian tourism for quite along time now."

"Heh, I keep trying to get our fat-cats to up the ante on tourism, but. Ecological protection and all that. Can hardly get anyone on the planet itself, letalone anywhere that they're gonna see something halfways exciting, like an ornithomimus or something. All our economic problems would be out the window. But they won't go for it."

Johann craned to look out the window, hoping to catch sight of the resort in the distance. In the meantime, he'd take in the scenery and anything else notable on the trip. ((James, plz2be descriptionizing Cascadia here kthxbai))

:: They'd soon crest the ridge of the rocky almost desolate desert landscape of the Cascadian desert, and suddenly see the stark change from Cascadia's desolation to the sub tropical/ tropical coastal rainforest, and just beyond perhaps a 30 minute drive maybe less nestled on the coast the glistening Cascadian resorts projected proudly out of the lush jungle several large visible waterfalls cascaded from the steep canyon like walls backed up into the jungle behind the resort cast a rainbow inthe distance from the mist. Tropical birds flew ahead of them and seemed to almost Hug the stark dividing line of lush and desolate land, even the air was different here if they deigned to open their window.

"Holy tits," Johann peered into the distance and even rolled the window down a little bit to angle his head out and take in a breath of fresh air. The pressure here was different and he was still a bit aggravated that he couldn't get his ears to pop, but the scenery made him forget all the troubles of his traveling for a few moments. He had been used to tropical areas and coastlines, but Cascadia was starkly different from Reza. "Looks pretty nice. Almost like there's nothing here that wants to kill us."

Richard's eyes got a bit wide and he did the same his window "Hot damn look at that! I have never seen anything like this. It's amazing!" He smiled and chuckled a bit "Good choice coming to Cascadia huh?" He laughed at Johann's statement "Yea ya know this isn't Reza, not everything wants to eat you."

"Oughta be a welcome change for once," Johann no sooner got the words out of his mouth before his pager started going off. He grumped and fumbled at it, clipping the tiny, sleek-screened thing off of his belt.

"Sonuvabitch. One day off? Just one? Please, for fuck's sake?" He swore as he activated the touchscreen to read through the message. "Great. More terrorist threats. Goddamn," he silenced the pager and stuffed it shamelessly into the pocket of his blazer. "I wish we'd have never hosted all of those foreign delegates and gotten that old guy shot. Novalyse's problems have been creeping up our asses ever since. I swear, stupidity is contagious. Let's all just sit the hell down, shut the hell up, have some beer and be done with it, am I right?"

Richard was about to say something and then raised an eyebrow "More what?" He then got a call and picked it up "Talk to me Aila whats going on?....Terrorists threats again, alright I assume Simmons responded saying we support all the people of crest fighting these bad bad people?....Alright good, update me as things progress." He turned to his friend "Wish things were as simple as kicking back and taking a drink. Good time for a vacation huh?" he said sarcastically and chuckled.

"That Simmons guy of yours. Sort of predictable to you, huh?" Johann chuckled. "Lemme tell you, if I was running a business, I'd damn well keep out of all the politics and just worry about my job: making money. You and me, Richard, maybe we need to strike it out from all of this bullshit, start a real company that's got no stakes in all the madness. No government, just decisions. Know what I mean?"

He chuckles "Yea Simmons and me go way back, He did more to raise me than either of my parents." He smiled at the idea "Yea, that would be pretty fantastic, not having to deal with all of this political bullshit. But hey, you're in the ADR government, i'm in charge of OMNE, we could still do some fantastic stuff even with the politics" he smiled slightly, not really trying to press things with the A.D.R, but the intention was there.

Johann nodded, noticing the intentions. He tucked the idea away to refer to it at a later time.

The rental car pulled up to the resort, ready to drop off the two ever-so-important rich guys in the backseat at the front door.

"Ready, Miiister Richard, sir?" Johann sarcastically half-snorted. "Looks pretty sweet. I hope they have good margueritas."

Richard chuckled "Very ready mr.Johann" he said laughing slightly, loving the chance to finally enjoy himself a bit. He looked around and nodded "Damn, wish i could buy one of these resorts."

"You probably could," Johann peered out to check that there was no paparazzi before he clicked open the door to get out. "That's the best part, right? Let's see what they'll take for the place if we like it well enough. Haha."

((Cascadia plz2be describe resort?))