Chapter 24: Owner of Factories, Newspapers, Steamships....
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***
The funeral was lavish. The whole fraternity came in their Porsche-Cayennes and S-class Mercedes, all the "serious" people of Ekaterinburg and the Urals. The mayor of the city, who had passed away from a sudden heart attack, had left a lot of unfinished business behind him, which now had to be divided up. The body of the deceased was buried in the ground, and the iskin that was watching the funeral was already analysing the personal files of all those who had arrived, looking for new bribe-takers. In fact, even in the famous "The Inspector" it was hard to find such a thing - everyone was stealing, and with terrible force and unprecedented enthusiasm. Those who had been stealing in the city back in the nineties were almost universally involved in shady dealings, and you can't do business with such people, so the seekin decided to clean up the cadre of the Ekaterinburg administration. The executors were chosen from the droid saboteurs, the authorisation of the management was received and the operation "death with a scythe" began.
The first victim was the mayor of the city, the most thieving, corrupt and dirty bastard in all of Ekaterinburg. On the same day, a gas pipeline exploded in the mayor's mansion, where his former associates had gone to pay their respects. Minus seventeen people, fourteen of whom were accomplices and the rest were the mayor's family. A drug addict son, a wife involved in money laundering and a family friend, so to speak, the city prosecutor. Ekaterinburg is a provincial city, far from Moscow, so it has not yet fully recovered from the nineties. A real renaissance of the nineties has begun among the criminals - two gangs have organised a noisy shootout not far from the city. Bersi, aware of this, sent a couple of droids with Kalashnikovs. The result was that all those involved were killed, and those who didn't make it to the shootings were killed. Another gang burned to death in a flat. The bars on the windows and heavy steel doors were welded shut. There was nothing the fire department could do to help those burning.
The air in the city became a little cleaner - most of the beggars disappeared suspiciously quickly, gypsies generally avoided the city - they were executed in the same way as bandits. They were bandits, too - it was not customary to work honestly among Gypsies, and they taught their children criminal specialities from a young age, using them to the full - at first they walked with them, begging for alms, then the children ran around, dealing drugs, a little older - they engaged in pinching and petty theft. The successful ones move on to criminal careers.
Seventy-two people, the entire tabor, were stunned, tied up and left in a burning house with the exits blocked. Whatever they thought of themselves, the fire put everything in its place.
But that's where the purge only began to gain momentum. In one day, sixty-seven city officials died of heart attacks, strokes, and on the job, from the head of the surveyor's office, who traded in building permits, to the chief of public spaces, who leased out a solid portion of public space.
The purge only ended when the kill count passed five thousand. That's a lot of casualties for one week. The city was completely decapitated. Every official who came to work in the morning found a note on his desk saying that if they started stealing and taking bribes, the second wave of executions would be as brutal as possible, they would be burned alive, along with all their property and families.
The finale was the execution of the main mafia. To do this, we had to recreate an anti-tank missile system. The missiles hit the cars of the former mafiosi. Also, what is called "for company" Bersih cleaned up the city crime, especially inadequate - murderers and rapists, who came out of the zone and posed a serious threat to the city. Several dozen people were shot with Western-style sniper rifles.
* * * *
- Good morning," a young man in his thirties smiled suspiciously polite, "what can I do for you?
- Good morning to you, too," I said. I've done some work here, Bersih. - I had some projects with the previous mayor...
- I'm new in office... I haven't been informed of all my predecessor's projects yet," he was obviously afraid of something. Well, of course he was. What if I induce him to take bribes and he'll be bribed too. Even though we had FSB guards on him, I was still afraid....
- Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with it. On the contrary, we were engaged in social projects, infrastructure and industry. In particular, as I think you know, we are actively building a monorail ...
The mayor nodded:
- Yes, of course. The monorail, how did I forget about it?
- Nonsense. I have no less interesting projects for you," I laid out two folders in front of the mayor, "the first is a re-electrification project. In short, I'm ready to sell electricity to the people of the city. At one kopeck per kilowatt-hour....
- How much? - the young mayor's eyes widened.
- Kilowatt-hour. A penny. One. According to my calculations, if citizens completely switch to electricity, in heating, kitchen and hot water supply, annual electricity costs will be in the region of a thousand rubles. Do you see where I'm going with this?
The mayor thought about it. I could hear his brain creaking. Come on, my dear, give me an idea!
- What about the city's power plants?
- Look, - I sat down at the table in front of him, - now the city administration is preparing for the heating season, spending money on the maintenance of hot water supply and heating pipes, buying a lot of coal and gas. The money is taken from the consumers, but nevertheless, the maintenance of all these facilities costs a lot of money. It's a lot of work, we don't live on the azure coast, the winters here are fierce.
- But we still have income from the rent," the mayor disagreed.
- There will be rent, but it will be much less. Look, we remove the items gas, heating, hot water from the monthly bill and leave one item - electricity. And the price of electricity can be reduced due to new technologies, unlike the price of gas and coal.
The mayor's eyes ran over the sheet with the business project. He hummed approvingly:
- Suppose so. You won't always be so kind, will you? And the difference in the price of electricity will hit your competitors hard, and that's...
- Yes, my competitors won't be enviable. But that, as they say, is not my problem. I propose to re-electrify new buildings first - to install cables that can withstand five times the level of consumption. And then - to carry out awareness-raising work with the population, to hint to the heads of large chain shops that the demand for water heaters and electric heaters will soon begin....
The mayor thought for a moment:
- I mean, it's just going to lower your electric bill...and where's your benefit here?
- My benefit is simple, the city will grow. And cheap electricity can be used in electric furnaces. It makes the profitability of an electric furnace in a steel mill orders of magnitude higher than any other kind of furnace....
- As long as I don't ask you where you get this electricity from..." he hinted, "let's just say that if you guarantee an uninterrupted supply of electricity, we can come to an agreement....
- I guarantee it. The essence of my project is simple - you gradually reduce the load on the operation of CHP, heating mains, gas pipelines, due to the reduction of costs, citizens increase their welfare, accordingly, your rating increases with each re-electrified house. The costs of the new equipment can be borne by the citizens themselves, but it is only necessary to carry out explanatory work, to explain to them on the fingers how much they will have to pay for electricity....
- And maybe we should not decommission the classical communications yet? - The mayor raised one eyebrow, "in time, everyone will switch to cheaper communications... Let's say, industrial enterprises?
Here I raised my hands:
- I have an agreement with the Minister of Defence. Uralmash and UZGA are getting robotised production in the first phase. But their economic efficiency is still insufficient, if you add almost free electricity to these robots - there will be an effect.
The mayor nodded: - However, I don't want to deal with mass unemployment. Just so you know, your robotisation has already increased the manpower problem in the city....
- So far, I've only replaced humans with robots at Abstergo Transport, and Abstergo Robo. And that's by kicking out the lazy ones, the drunks, and the slackers. Not a single competent specialist left me.
- And yet, - the Mayor was indignant, - for you it may be just a business, but I have almost five thousand people in the city, who yesterday had a job, and today - hungry children and the labour exchange ....
I threw up my hands:
- I can't help you. Seriously - I can only take such people for black jobs - monorail and power line supports to put up, or to carry out repairs at facilities. If you want, we can talk to them. But I won't even discuss some of them, who, I'm sorry, are lumpen.
The mayor glared at me some more:
- 'And what's the deal with the Ministry of Defence?
- I don't discuss my clients, - I immediately cut him off, - a contract is a contract, these companies don't assemble toy tanks.
The mayor sighed heavily:
- I understand you, the proposal is unexpected and there is no easy solution here...
- Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place. If I offer it to Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg will sharply wither away, because, you see, I need a project....
He had to backtrack:
- I didn't say I was refusing. Where are we going to get the money for this project?
- It doesn't take much money to electrify one house. You can start by choosing a house near the power station. It's located on the PPE site.
The mayor nodded:
- Okay, I agree. But will the citizens agree? After all, we'll have to change the wiring in the house.....
- No. There's a long-built house next to the SIZ. I bought it for my employees, so we can start the re-electrification there. And then the others will follow. But handing over the house is a long procedure. They will check everything - gas, heating, pipes ... and they will not be in the house now, there is a socket, there is cold water - then it is up to the citizen.
- Well, if you have a house, why go to so much trouble?
- One house is not an indicator. We need more, at least five in the first turn. And then we'll extend electricity to the enterprises...
* * *
As soon as I left the city hall, my car arrived - an armoured UAZ with electricity. I eupatised the public by driving a UAZ, while all the ponotores bought only foreign cars. Yes, there was no need to stand out from the crowd, especially since inside my car looked more like a Mercedes than a UAZ. The driver was a hired man, waiting for me at the exit.
- Where are we going? - He asked as soon as I got into the car. It was freezing outside.
- Somewhere to eat. And not a restaurant, but a decent café.
The driver nodded and we set off.
- Bersey? Are you here? - I asked mentally.
- Of course I am. Can I hear you?
- The process of revolution has been set in motion. What can we have in Ekaterinburg?
- A list?
- Yes, - I yawned, making myself comfortable and reminding myself of the one who was at the construction site with my brother-in-law. Buzz me about the spaceships, furrowing this, as it is... space....
Bersey's responding:
- "At the moment we have Abstergo-Electronics - a unique production facility, Abstergo-Transport, which includes the former Ural Locomotives, Ural Elevator Works, Abstergo-Robo - Uralelectrotyazhmash, Ural Electronic Plant, Sverdlovsk Instrumental Plant, Composite Plant, and negotiations are underway for Ural Precision Mechanics Plant and Uralkabel."
- Robotisation?
- At the moment only Abstergo-Electronics and Abstergo-Transport are fully robotised. The Abstergo-Robo companies have been received for balance recently and a robotisation plan is being developed based on future needs," Bersi said in a dull voice, "why do we need so many disparate companies?
- I have a plan to make them into a larger enterprise and move it outside the city limits.
- There's no money for that. At the moment, seventy per cent of the available funds - almost a billion dollars - has been spent in the process of buying up shares and as a payoff for shareholders who decided to become shareholders of our enterprises....
- Well," I shrugged, "that's enough. Keep on robotising our production. The main thing for us for now is to finish the creation of the robot-building enterprise, and when that's done, we can start heavy engineering and Ministry orders.
* * *
Steve Rogers walked into town. The city, frankly medieval, people dirty, not much space... Peggy walked beside him and tried not to breathe through her nose.
- Let's go there, - Steve pointed to a tavern, on the sign of which there was a picture of a galloping pony.....