"Just over 13 hours until my items arrive… Is delivery over the Galactic Net really that quick, or do they just happen to be close by…"
Ludo was inwardly shocked at how quickly his items would arrive. He knew that space travel in the interstellar society was likely much more convenient and fast, but this fast?
'Even humans were barely able to get to the moon in 3 days, yet these guys can cross light years and reach me in just 13 hours…'
On the one hand, it made Ludo realise just how little preparation time Earth would have should he catch wind of a future invasion, but on the other hand, it excited him!
The one main problem that most sci-fi fiction failed to account for, was just how an interstellar society would function when travel between stars would take years at best, and that was if somehow they could reach light speed or near light speed.
This had stumped scientists ever since the concept of travelling among the stars even came to be, but it seemed that faster-than-light travel methods had already been figured out by their alien neighbours!
If this was the case, Ludo's childhood dream of one day travelling among the stars was much closer than he'd originally considered.
Though, that idea had already crossed his mind after he came into contact with the Galactic Terminal.
'I wonder how long it'll be before I can develop such technology myself…'
Ding!
Ludo was drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of his laptop pinging once again.
"It seems the first offer has finally come in. That was quicker than I'd expected…"
He gave the executives 24 hours both for them to gather funds and to allow him some time to deliberate and prepare.
But it seemed that someone was much more desperate than he'd expected to obtain Blue 1.0.
Ludo tapped open the email and gave it a read.
[Mr Vane, I must say that you've certainly stirred the hornet's nest with your little stunt this week. The entire city is buzzing, and I admit, you've intrigued me.
I'll keep this brief, Vanguard systems is willing to offer you $10 million, which is an extremely generous offer for what I imagine is a modified AI framework you've managed to piece together from existing technologies.
Let's be realistic, Mr Vane. Revolutionary technologies like this don't just appear out of thin air, and independent developers such as yourself rarely possess the expertise, funding, or scale to produce the kind of product you have in your hands.
Which brings me to my next point.
It would be unfortunate if, say, someone were to conduct a deep audit of your company, personal background and history and discovered irregularities in how you acquired such technology. I'm sure the authorities will be equally interested in this.
Oh, and while we're on the topic. It seems your personal records list a family address in Hawaii registered in your name. I do hope your parents are enjoying their retirement over there. I hear its quite the beautiful area.
Accept our offer, Mr Vane. Ten million is a generous amount for a man of your stature.
Consider this an opportunity to change your life for the better, people dream of having this much money.
Sincerely,
Jerald Krane
CEO of Vanguard systems.]
"…"
Ludo wasn't quite expecting such an email when he heard that he'd received the first reply.
Nor did he expect someone to be so bold.
But instead of becoming overcome with worry, a mocking smile appeared on Ludo's face.
"Such an obvious threat… trying to pressure me into accepting what is obviously such a lowball offer. I can't believe someone actually tried to go this route."
Ludo wasn't worried about this threat one bit.
In fact, he had been expecting it, just not in such an obvious fashion…
This was part of the reason he gave everyone 24 hours' time before the deal was finalised.
It was natural that they would run background checks on him, try and find everything they could about him, before making any decisions.
This was why he had Blue set up some fake records online as bait beforehand.
That house in Hawaii registered in his name? Fake. His parents supposedly living there? Just as fake.
In fact, Ludo's parents were both dead — having died in a car accident when he was 20.
It wasn't hard for Blue to hide such facts.
All of those fake records were set up as bait in the case that someone like Jerald Krane fell for it. It was a precaution he didn't think he'd need, to be honest, as he wasn't expecting anyone to actually threaten him using family.
"This Jerald guy seems like trouble… Blue, see if you can dig up any dirty secrets on this guy for me."
Even though they were fake, Ludo wasn't particularly pleased that someone tried to use family to threaten him.
He had no doubt that the kind of person to do this must have some skeletons in their closet they'd like to keep hidden — so he had high hopes that Blue might find some interesting things…
And an hour later, it came as no surprise to him that this was the case when Blue notified him that some interesting things had been found.
Some things that Ludo quite frankly found disgusting even just to hear about.
"As young as 9 years old… This guy needs to rot in jail for life!"
Uncontrollable anger came bursting out of Ludo the more he read the details about Jerald.
He'd occasionally hear about how such people had been arrested, and killed in 'prisoner on prisoner violence' related incidents shortly after.
But this was his first time actually coming across one personally, and he'd even dared to threaten him at that!
"Forward everything you've discovered so far to the authorities… No, wait, he probably has connections with them — that would explain why he's gone unpunished for so long. Make everything public instead! Use whatever methods necessary, just don't expose it was us."
Ludo planned to use a little bit of Jerald's own tactics of using implicit threats at first.
But he didn't plan on letting him off lightly now.