Seated in a recliner, inside his office on board the space yacht “FWC Rainmaker”, Bruce Mulligan swept aside the holodisplay in front of him and picked up his glass of wine. Savoring the bouquet for a few seconds, he took a sip, got up and walked to the large window. Outside, the quantum fluctuations of superlight were producing their usual psychedelic light show. A source of fascination to first-time superlight travelers, the fluctuations had long since lost their magic for him. He could activate the window's holoview if he wanted to and conjure up any scenery he wished. But he preferred reality over illusion. He always had. A clear view of reality kept you grounded. It was a main key to success. His success.

He pondered the reality of the status updates he had just been reviewing. As usual, there was good and bad. Overall, things were going well. His mercenaries had successfully wiped out the last terraforming habitat on Alderamin IV, giving him an excuse to get over there. He had already provided a vid statement to the press, expressing his deep sorrow at the losses and promising to launch a full investigation in person as to what exactly had happened. In less than a week, he'd arrive at the planet. Then he'd be able to launch the real investigation he had been planning ever since his company had submitted its ridiculously low bid for terraforming that hideous ball of dust 4 years ago.

There was one thing that had fascinated him from the moment he had read the first prospector reports released by the Space Expansion Agency 1 year before that. Here was a planet without any appreciable plant life, virtually no animal life, and yet, it had an atmosphere with enough free oxygen to make it habitable. Sure, there had been early plant life, but most of it had been wiped out by gamma ray bursts billions of years ago. On other planets that at one point had oxygen in their atmosphere such as Mars, the atmospheric oxygen would eventually always oxidize whatever it could find until there was none left. Only plant life, through photosynthesis, was known to be able to release this oxygen back into the atmosphere. So what was doing this on Alderamin IV, when there was hardly any plant life?

If he could figure that out, he might learn the key to real, serious terraforming. Nothing like the pathetic slow processes that were the current state of the art. It was a gamble, but his gut feeling told him it was well worth the effort to try. It had never failed him yet.

There were a couple of minor issues and concerns. The mercenaries had reported that all but two of the last habitat's crew had been accounted for. It was a minor concern. They had set off several explosions during the attack and it was not like they had been in a position to carefully search the rubble. It was imperative that they clear out before the local navy presence would get wind of the attack. It had to look like an FWC competitor had been responsible. He had made sure to set up the deal through several intermediaries, but better safe than sorry with anything that could be traced back to FWC. Then there was the air of suspicion toward FWC that his inside man in the navy had reported. He'd have to work on that one. Play the role of victim well.

Setting down his empty wine glass, he walked to the door of his office. Time to get some rest. It had been a good day.