As they left the packaging plant and began to breathe the more palatable air, Fuentes praised Kadamba for how well he had handled this meeting. Although Kadamba didn’t completely understand, the man that they had just meet with, Vratar, saw potential in the young teen and set up this meeting with a man named Doctor Z.
Kadamba cleared his throat. “Business is good, sir. It’s really good.”
The smile on Doctor Z’s face spread even wider. He loved hearing that from any of the many teenagers that this branch of his organization recruited and trained. These kids were so easy to manipulate and use.
“I need twenty more,” Kadamba declared, pulling a stack of Konnary from his backpack.
“My dear young friend!” exclaimed Doctor Z. “You must be one brilliant, smart, resourceful businessman. I am impressed.”
“Thanks.”
Doctor Z, having taken the stack of bills from Ka, thumbed through them quickly. When he was done, he smiled and held the money up. One of the brutes from the back of the room came forward, took the stack, and returned to the rear of the room. He waved his hand across the wall, and an opening appeared, revealing a bookshelf covered in large stacks of Konnary. He placed Kadamba’s payment on a stack, waved his hand, and the opening disappeared.
“Yes, yes, my young friend. Business is good.” Doctor Z stared at Kadamba for a few moments and began rubbing his chin. A faint smile started and then spread across his face as if he suddenly had a wonderfully insightful idea. “I see so much see potential in you and in our new relationship, Ka.”
“Thank you, sir. I hope we can both keep making good money,” Kadamba answered, not knowing exactly what to say.
“Oh, I know we will.” Doctor Z gestured again, and one of the other men in the back of the room walked forward with a box. He placed the box in Kadamba’s hands with a smile.
“Thank you,” Kadamba told him, “I’ll let Fuentes know when I need more.”
“Please. You need to open the box before you leave,” instructed Doctor Z. “You and I are at the beginning of a new partnership.”
Kadamba, looking at the box in his hands, sat back down. Opening the box, he looked inside. It was filled with rath, but it was evident that it was more than twenty packets.
“You’re looking at two hundred packages of rath,” explained the Doctor, smiling.
“I only gave you one hundred and forty Konnary. I can’t buy this much.”
“It’s alright, Ka. I’m extending a line of credit to you.”
Kadamba was stunned. He’d never seen this many rath in one place, and it was in his hands. Doctor Z smiled and continued, “You need to be back here in two weeks. Your line of credit is due then, Ka, and we’ll see where we are on continuing to expand our relationship.”
Kadamba placed the box in his backpack and walked towards the wall with the mountain lake. The wall began to shimmer, turned semi-translucent, and the opening reappeared. Kadamba stepped through, and it reformed into a wall behind him. Once again, he was standing at the table with the two menacing-looking brutes. Kadamba, looking down at them, realized they both were grinning.
“Seems the Doc likes you, boy. He’s a nice guy. Wouldn’t you say so?” asked one of the thugs.
“Yes. He sure is,” replied Kadamba. He could feel his heart beginning to beat faster.
“You understand the Doctor is almost always nice to everyone,” said the thug who wore the dark glasses. Kadamba realized the brute was looking across the table at his grimacing partner. Then Kadamba realized why the two were so smug. The man without the glasses had drawn his laser gun, which was mostly hidden under the table, but Kadamba could see that it was pointed directly at him.
The man began to remove his glasses once again. “See. Here’s how it works. In case you don’t quite get it. Doc Z gets to be nice, and if things don’t go his way, we make them go his way. Doctor Z always gets his. Do you get it now?”
Kadamba nodded his head affirmatively, walking around the table quickly, trying as hard as he could not trip and end up sprawled out on the floor. He was trembling on the inside but didn’t dare show it. He simply walked out of Warwon’s Deli, more than eager to get out of the sub-city. He quickly made his way to ground level and took a shuttle train to the stop for the massive building known as Schmarlo Tower.
The lobby of the building was enormous, stretching from the eighteenth to the twenty-fourth floor. Kadamba made his way to the bank of lifts and entered a large, crowded elevator that zoomed directly to Schmarlo’s Landing.
All the lift’s four walls and its door were transparent. “Oh my, oh my” exclaimed the woman next to Kadamba, as the elevator reached its destination, emerging in the middle of Schmarlo’s Landing. They were surrounded by a green park, with children playing and people adorning the many benches in the park. The Landing covered half the surface area of the building, had three parks, a huge playground, and on both ends were numerous food vendors, along with a considerable scattering of tables and chairs. The entire landing was contained by a nearly invisible force-field cover that protected visitors from the elements. The other half of the building continued to rise another fifty-eight stories into the wispy clouds that had formed on what was otherwise a beautiful day.
“Hey, Ka, my man!” a nearby voice called.
“What’s up on this fine day, my man Stelky?” Kadamba replied, still trying to shake off the fear of being entangled with Doctor Z and his brutes.
“I got someone that wants to meet you. You know, a new potential friend.”
“Stelky, my man, let us meet this person.”
A serious look swept across Stelky’s face. “Ka, listen, I’m just making the introduction. Dude wouldn’t leave me alone until I brought him to you.”
“Alright, we’ll just see how this goes down,” Kadamba assured him.
