Tunnel Rat Chapter 363 (Patreon)

Hmmm...sometimes you write what you thought you were going to write, and somedays things just go entirely off the rails. All I can claim is that I thought about a situation, and knew Milo would be annoyed.
As to the rest, I blame Rusty. (This is a bit rough. I just sat down and pounded the keyboard for three hours.)
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The alarms came at an inconvenient time and exacted a terrible cost from Milo. He was sitting on the roof of the ex-casino with a large plate of cheesy pancakes covered in syrup observing the city. Blinking red notifications in the corner of his eye alerted him to alarms going off in the habitat as his system sent messages to him. Something very bad was happening. He logged out of the game immediately, leaving his breakfast to sit on the roof.

The alarm had only given him the information that there was a critical power outage in the habitat. The affected areas had only emergency lighting and the air handlers were down, as well as food processing units, and pressure was dropping in the water systems.
The affected areas were in seven different sections, with three to 17 floors losing power. Emergency power supplies from section E were being used, but the sudden and total cessation of energy was straining the storage system. And the problem was obvious: Someone had turned off the power. 

The power supplied to the habitat came from a group of thirty-seven different providers who had bid on the government contracts. One of those, Providence Systems of PA, had control of those areas and for some reason had ceased to provide electricity to their areas of the habitat. Power was flowing freely everywhere else. Milo clamped down on the small, angry part of his brain that wanted to find out who did this and the curious part that wanted to solve the bigger problem. He needed a short-term solution immediately. He shifted power from Section E and the sections he controlled through Clawmaster, and it was barely enough. Within a minute, he had the emergency patch completed and he moved on. He set up a dozen searches in his system and turned the computers loose, then ran past several people on his way to the elevator. Ten minutes later he was upstairs and dropping from the ductwork into his old home, breathing hard.

Wally was waiting for him. "What can I do for you today, Milo?"

"I need more information on the electrical distribution system, especially as it applies to the habitat."

Wally sighed, "I assume you are going to ask for my help or opinions. I can't help you, my apologies. This is handled by a number of corporations that supply energy throughout the world and is not something I am required to monitor. Even if I were to monitor the system, I am not allowed to affect any part, except those dealing with my day-to-day functions and specific actions, and I am not allowed to make recommendations to the government, or the corporations, or to publish reports."

"They blocked you because they make more money if the system isn't efficient. Just my opinion, of course, and not a statement of fact."

"Everyone has their own opinions, Milo. I've always valued that you base yours on observation and logic. Can you indulge my curiosity about why you called?"

"Some parts of the habitat lost power because Providence Systems of PA quit providing it. All in sections that aren't leased by Claw Master, Rhebus, or Manpower, and only some parts of those sections. I've handled things for now, and no one is in danger." He looked at some of his other screens, seeing search results. "Providence is now in bankruptcy, although their stock was high just a week ago and the company was profitable."

Wally leaned back in his chair, put on his reading glasses, and picked up a book, "Again, apologies, but I'm specifically not supposed to notice corporate business practices except in certain circumstances or if asked by certain groups to investigate. But, if you need Claw Master to purchase additional energy supplies on the open market and route them to Section E for you to control, I can certainly do that. We'll pay a much higher price for buying now, rather than negotiating a long-term contract. That's just how energy works." Milo saw that the title of the book was, How to File Complaints with the Office of Mr. Alphonse Rudolf, in the Department of Energy.

Milo was starting to see the pattern emerge from the information scrolling on his screens. Energy was just another necessary commodity that was bought and sold, like cheese or coffee. There was a web of suppliers, resellers, brokers, and agents all claiming to have the inside track on cheap energy. He needed to do some research.

"I think I'll handle that. I know that acting as Clawmaster you have more leeway, but if you aren't supposed to meddle in the electrical distribution system, you probably shouldn't get involved. Definitely shouldn't think about it or monitor it. After all, that's what they want from you."

"Well, I can't officially get involved."

Milo smiled at him, "Of course, but it's not good for you to monitor something like that. I know that from experience, and you see so many more details than I do. You'll notice something, form conclusions, and ponder their significance but not be able to act. The dissonance will cause inefficiency. Best if you just not look at things like that. In fact, if the conclusions you draw cause you to act on even seemingly unrelated matters, isn't that a form of taking official notice? A very slippery slope."

Wally's eyes narrowed as he stared at the smiling Milo. He wondered where he had erred in their conversation. It was always an interesting experience when he failed to properly analyze a situation. Milo's thinking didn't plod from A to B to C. He went from B to X and then ran to Z.

"Why do I get the feeling you are pondering something I should know about."

Milo shook his head, "Just the opposite. I'm pondering something you shouldn't know about, and don't want to know about. Being a good friend, I won't bother you with it." He logged out of his screen and got to work. 

Wally caught himself wondering what Milo was up to, but eventually just sent a note to Steven about possible disruptions in the planetary energy grid and then sealed off his conversation with Milo so he could quit thinking about it.

Milo started with Providence Systems. The corporation was a shell company with several sub-corporations in every state or country. They signed the contracts to supply the energy, then bought energy from the parent corporation, Providence International. Each sub corporation sold stock and all profits were paid out in dividends to the stockholders. Those stockholders were often other corporations, some of which supplied the energy each Providence shell sold to their customers. 

Why the Pennsylvania branch was bankrupt took some digging. On the surface, it seemed like a simple business decision. Providence claimed that the contracts with seven habitats were losing them money, and needed to be renegotiated. They didn't have the money to pay for energy to fulfill the contracts. It took Milo two minutes to get past their security programs and dig into their accounting. Currently, there was zero money in their corporate account, with several liens against the company, including a series of fines for not providing enough energy to one habitat or another, and larger fines for discontinuing service altogether. But there had been money. It had left in the form of paying sky-high rates for energy to other corporations, dividends to shareholders, and salaries for the top executives. All of whom had earned a bonus this year.

His next stop was the encrypted email of the corporate executives. They were silly and used the same encryption method for all their branches and the main holding company. Knowing Rusty loved puzzles like this, he sent the AI a sample of their email and let him crack the code. Milo was worried when five minutes later, Rusty hadn't replied. He sent the message again, this time with the title: 'Dirty Pair on Broadway! See the girls as never before!' 

A very annoyed Rusty replied two seconds later. "That was cruel! Heartless! Despicable, even. Now I'm going to mourn forever the sight of seeing my favorite girls dancing across the stage!"

"You were ignoring my messages and watching anime, something you can do at the same time."

Rusty's voice got very serious, "That's all true, but still...You have crossed a line, sir, and I demand satisfaction!" 

Milo realized his error. Yumi had wanted to watch an ancient Three Musketeers anime from the dawn of time. If he didn't make it up to Rusty, he'd be fighting a duel, somehow, the next morning.

"I apologize sir, and offer whatever I can do to erase such an insult."

"Oh, awesome. Then you have to help me write a Broadway play!"

"What? No!"

"Kei and Yuri, onstage as no one has seen them!"

"That's...

"A musical! Yumi, Min, and Belinda have volunteered to help. Belinda says you'll fund the production!"

Milo had no idea what was involved with such a project, but at least it would keep Rusty busy. "Ok, sure. I'll fund it. Are we friends again."

"Of course! And partners in our new production company. Dirty Pair on Broadway is just a start! Here's the decryption code you wanted. Bye! I have to learn about tubas and mandolins!"

Rusty went off to do things Milo didn't want to think about. He set up a search to research funding a Broadway production and started delving into the details behind the sudden bankruptcies in some of the Providence sub-corporations. What he found made him angry.
Investors were fleeing rapidly and the stock was dropping. There were rampant rumors about the company defaulting on all its contracts while financial consultants were speculating it was a way to force the government to renegotiate the contracts. The emails confirmed exactly that. 

All of the executives in the company had divested themselves of their stock. Like a line of rotten dominoes, other sub-corporations would start going into bankruptcy, creating a small crisis for the government, but since it mostly involved the habitats, would get little attention. Things would get worse as other energy providers would start doing the same. Over the next two days, twenty-two corporations in the energy sector that supplied power to nine habitats between New York and Philadelphia would file for bankruptcy.

The government of the US and state Governors would start talking about solutions and bail-outs while looking for a large corporation to step in. On cue, Tesladyne would propose a plan that would clean up the mess of small, bankrupt companies, improve service, and get the power back on. The deal involved taking over all of the contracts from those corporations. The bankrupt corporations would go away, their stock worthless. Tesladyne would provide power, (At a much higher cost than before and with far fewer responsibilities, of course.) The head people at Providence and other corporations would quietly find positions in Tesladyne, doing exactly what they had been doing before. Power would stay on in the habitats, but things would be slightly worse than before.

Milo spent a full two minutes and thirty-two seconds telling himself it wasn't his problem. He'd started digging into Providence with the idea of finding a way to secure better service and hide drawing power from the fusion reactor. If he could use the fusion reactor as backup energy, he'd never again have to worry about a blackout of this type. But things were going to spin out of control in only two days, and Tesladyne would be locked in as the provider for most of the habitat. That meant doing something now, and he needed a lot more information than he currently had. 

Luckily, he had plenty of snacks to eat and an assortment of cheese. He'd ordered a "Cheese of the World" platter that came with seven hundred and fourteen different types of chees, all individually wrapped in colorful foil or wax, and stacked high on a round platter. It was a beautiful thing and weighed over a hundred pounds. Getting it through the large ducts had taken help from Max, pulling from the front. 

Unwrapping the first piece of cheese, a brown Brunost variety with a sweet flavor, he got to work researching energy networks, suppliers, and stock prices.