Treznor browses through the daily reports, somewhat disturbed and relieved at how little there is for him to do these days. Six more months, he muses, and he'll be able to hand over the Empire. It's been a long year already, and he never imagined how stressful it would be to hand over the reins of power.
He sips at his coffee as his eyes absorb the details. Then he pauses. A wave of his hand moves the data back a few pages, and he reads a little slower. A frown creeps over his face as he brings up simultaneous views of different data.
That little shit...he's building the foundations for a welfare program!
Treznor studies the data a while longer, running projection models from his workstation and checking sources. The result astonishes him. His son is a genius, a fact that had always been obvious thanks to SHODAN's gene tweaks, but now he has verifiable proof. He saves his findings in a personal directory and shuts down.
He finds Marcus where he expects him, in his own office high in the tower near the official throne room. Marcus doesn't look up when he arrives.
"Got a minute?" Treznor asks by way of greeting.
"For you? Always. You're the boss."
Not quite the way he'd hoped to start the conversation, but Treznor shrugs it off and seats himself across the desk from his son. "I found the welfare program you were trying to sneak into the budget."
Now Marcus stops what he's doing and looks up. Treznor doesn't see panic in his eyes, only weary resignation. "You're going to kill it, I assume."
"I ran the numbers. You're going to increase government spending by .8%, which is what got my attention. Compared to the overall budget it doesn't seem like a lot of money, but we're talking about millions of dubloons here. Hundreds of millions."
"Papa, I don't think you realize -- " Marcus begins, but is cut off when Treznor raises his hand.
"When I looked at long-term projections, the computer told me your program would result in a 3% increase in GDP. I didn't believe it at first, so I re-ran it a few more times. 3% is a conservative estimate. Somehow you managed to come up with a plan that will not only help your people, it'll also boost profits at the same time. Congratulations."
"I...thank you?"
Treznor grins and stands, smoothing out his pants before reaching forward to pat Marcus on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you. I think I'll be leaving my Empire in very good hands."
Marcus is speechless as his father walks out of the room. The look on his face is one that Treznor will cherish the rest of his life.
