TERRA EMPIRE: ON THE EVE OF WORLD WAR

Episode 15: FATHER-SON TRAMP DUO

He had already sent a message to Sally's phone, informing her that he would be having dinner with Lana in the office of Professor McQueen, Lana's father, who was holding an event that the President would attend. As she had expected, Sally simply read her message without any intention of replying. She must be at the Royal Casino, where her brother worked after his shift at McDonald's was over.

That's Sally's way of supplementing her income, which actually worries Jordan, because it's the kind of work that gets them into trouble while in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, Sally's stubborn distant age link makes the girl feel no need to ignore her advice about working at a gambling house.

“Goodnight, Professor McQueen,” greet a man with a strange accent as soon as they set foot out of the elevator.

“Goodnight, Carl!” reply Lana's Father.

“Oh, you brought Miss Lana too?” the man called Carl smiled at Lana who was standing behind the father.

“Hello, Carl! Don't mind if I take my schoolmate, Jordan?”

“Of course not! The more the better,” the man smiled kindly then greeted Jordan. “My name, Carl Trish!”

“Jordan Cross.”

“So how is the preparation?” asked Lana's father and the two men were busy talking to each other while at the same time walking down the second-floor corridor, what seemed to Jordan would take them to the main building that became the workspace. Maybe in one of these rooms is Mr.'s office. McQueen.

“Carl was one of Daddy's trust assistants,” whispered Lana while they both followed Professor McQueen and his men who continued to discuss. “There are several others who are very close to Daddy but to my knowledge only two people are trusted, this Carl and Doctor Smith.”

“What the hell is your dad doing here?” ask Jordan.

“Government projects.”

“What kind of government project?” Jordan wanted to know more. But Lana had not yet answered him, the man turned to them

"Kids, I'll check the preparations for the gala summit later. It's a little troublesome so I can't accompany you guys. It's good that you guys have dinner in the ballroom, after that. "the man turned to Lana. "... You don't mind taking Jordan for a look, do you?"

"No problem, daddy! As long as the access code for me is activated," the girl grinned as she raised her hand.

"Sure! Carl's gonna do it. Aren't you, Carl?" Professor McQueen turned to his assistant.

"Sure, Professor..." Carl approaches the console board hanging on the wall near them and then presses a number of buttons on the board to enter certain commands. After that he turned away with a big smile.  "It's over."

"Come, Jordan! We brush the food first. I'm hungry" Lana returned Carl's whimper.

"So did I.." said the teenager.

Jordan follows his friend to a room called the ballroom, which is actually a hall that is often used to make a large event to accommodate two to three hundred people, who are on the first floor.

The hall was so vast, though, the wide side alone can accommodate a stage measuring five times three meters containing a podium and multi-media equipment with lighting that can be used to support the demo and presentation that will later be done. The row of chairs in the middle of the room confirms that this gala event may not be just a dinner but begins with a seminar session, which is most likely filled by Archibald McQueen, who is not the only one in the room, he is currently busy in another room on the second floor.

Surely Jordan's main concern was on the buffet table for food. As Lana's father said, the food was ready before the event began, and the middle-aged man was not joking when he mentioned his food as a good gala dinner because what was being served at the table was beyond Jordan's shadow.

"Wow, this is called a party." he murmured inwardly.

The dishes were soon filled with spaghetti, two pieces of jumbo-sized German sausage, and a salmon mayonnaise topping. He was embarrassed to find Lana's plate looking so polite, with only a piece of pancake smeared with maple syrup and chocolate ice cream. Lana smiles seeing Jordan misbehaving because of it.

"Boy boys eat a lot of it," the girl teased.

"Can't resist the temptation of good food" Jordan shrugged as he chuckled.

After finishing the meal, Lana stood up and took Jordan around. The girl hopes they can finish the tour before President Tramp gives his speech at the gala dinner.

Unable to hold onto his curiosity, Jordan asked, "What exactly is your father's workplace? And why would the President give a welcome here tonight?"

"This place is the result of the cooperation of Father with President Tramp's son, Duncan Tramp, since five years ago."

Jordan was astonished, "Your father is working with Duncan Tramp? Whoa, great."

"Mrs. The tramp... Duncan..provided unlimited funds to finance all the projects that his idea came from my father."

"What kind of project? Government project you mean?”

"Later you can see for yourself." the girl ended the conversation and left the ballroom so inevitably Jordan stood up and followed her again.

***

"Welcome, father!" Duncan Tramp said hello as soon as he saw the number one in his country, who was also his father, appear at the door of his study.

"Hello, Duncan! Pleased to see you. I'm sorry I'm late." the president hugged his son and kissed Tramp Junior on both cheeks.

Archibald McQueen, who was also in the room, stood up to greet Howard Tramp with a hand job.

"The weather hasn't been good in the last few weeks" Duncan commented.

"Can't you guys build technology to reduce turbulence in the air?"

"I think it's a good idea to take note" Duncan then turned to Professor McQueen. "Isn't that right, Professor?"

"I have some initial ideas that we might discuss the day after tomorrow if you're interested."

Duncan smiled widely, “Always have an idea. You heard it yourself, didn't you, Dad? That's why I'm happy to work with him.”

Duncan Tramp and Howard Tramp are like fruit that falls not far from the tree, if people want to see how President Howard was when he was young then Duncan is the right picture for that. Klimis, a dapper, spontaneous appearance, a way of speaking reminiscent of cowboy movie characters, with almost equal lobbying and manipulative abilities. Only flying hours alone make Howard seem more authoritative than Duncan, besides that the two can be a heavy rival when in different camps.

"So what project do you want to talk to me about so I have to fly all the way from DC here?" the President changed the topic immediately, probably because he did not want to talk too long.

Duncan looked at his watch and clucked, "It's not enough time to explain everything to you, yeah! The gala dinner is about to start. How about we talk about that after the show?

"But I haven't booked a hotel or a place to stay."

"I've ordered it for you" Tramp Junior smiled as he waved a card that was the room key. "I've already ordered the president suite for you. Your men I told you to go there first to check the security. After the event at this place you can go directly to the hotel."

Howard Tramp smiled broadly, "You think things through well." he received the room key from Duncan's hand, and watched closely. "...it looks like this hotel is no stranger."

"The Reicht-Hoffman Hotel, I just bought it three months ago from the old owner because he needed the money again."

Tramp's face turned sour, "I hope you bought it at a reasonable price."

"Very fast, dad! At least enough to pay off the owner's gambling debt."

"I just found out that the old owner of the hotel likes to gamble."

"He hid that a long time ago from a lot of people. But that's the reality he said when he forced me to buy the place."

"Hopefully it doesn't make me sleep well there."

"Why shouldn't it be sound if it's under my watch?"

"I know you're reliable, son!" Senior Tramp nodded. "So about this new project of yours..wouldn't you give me a little information about what it is, so that I don't die of curiosity during the gala dinner?"

"It's about finding the strongest weapon in the world" Duncan said.

President Tramp frowned, "What kind of world's strongest weapon do you mean?"

"Weapons from ancient times belonged to the Incas, a tribe of Indians in South America who could never be defeated by the Spanish army."

"I never knew such a weapon existed."

"Professor McQueen has made a study of the weapon's capabilities and what can be done to develop it once we find it. It's just that we need a lot of funding considering Senator Lyman just authorized the suspension of sponsorship funding from the California state budget."

"Times I've told you, don't count on state spending. Its nature can be continuous, especially after they know this place is not only serving research that they ask for California purposes."

"So where should we ask for the funds?" ask Duncan Tramp.

"You can borrow it from the bank. It's time you considered that. I have some acquaintances I can recommend to you."

"Why aren't you the only one who's involved in this project?" challenge Duncan.

Howard Tramp bit his lip, "The Constitution doesn't allow me to do it, Duncan."

"It's not through bureaucracy, which I mean through the hands of the Tramp Goldlitter funding company."

"I hope this is something very interesting."

"More interesting than the ability of unmanned drones so that this country can further develop our defense systems...."

The conversation in the room stopped when there was a knock from outside and a few seconds later Carl's face looked up from behind the door that opened, "I'm sorry to interrupt, the show will start soon."

Duncan Tramp responded, "Well, thank you, Carl!"

***