Anne was pleased by her secretary's message: construction had already begun at the site of the Bonny Corporation's new pleasure palace (code-named "Hell" until the marketing people could come up with something better.) The work was being done by "undocumented laborers" - well, she knew what that meant. It was distasteful, using the reanimated dead in such a way, but she hated to think of the toll the forced labor would take on living beings. Nicholai was right; it was not only cheap and efficient, but a preferable alternative to abusing human rights (or those of any other sentient person.) At worst, their sin was something along the lines of "desecrating the dead" - possibly illegal, but hey, this was Rhy'din.
The next phase of the great Heaven and Hell endeavor was approaching. She had found the site for the "Heaven" project (a couples resort and family fun-fair.) The land was unbelievably lovely, a bay surrounded by pale sand and trees. A river ran a curving course from the bay, carrying the warm sea-water inland. The fun-fair would be on one side of the river, with the beaches on the other side and the islands in the bay designated for adult use by couples on romantic retreats. Or other groups of loving individuals... polygamy seemed to be pretty common here.
It was really a lucky find, this piece of property. Construction couldn't start just yet... the seller was insisting on more money, now that his property was closer to the ocean. Anne's lawyers were trying to explain to him that he'd signed on the deal before the tidal waves, which had collapsed almost thirty miles of ground standing between him and the sea. Anne was confident of the sale, though she privately expected to have to settle out of court for a bit extra. It was fortunate that the property still stood anyway. When the lake had become a bay, it could easily have been covered in water.
Under the smooth blue waters of the bay, the debris washed in from the shores tumbled in underwater currents. Anne had already strolled about underwater (with the help of some lead boots) assessing damage. The splintered wood would be turned soon enough into lovely driftwood, the broken stonework turned to pretty pebbles. But someone had to clean up the dead cattle and whatnot, before some swimmer got a nasty surprise.
Good thing that zombies had as little need to breathe as she did. She wondered briefly whether zombies naturally sank, or whether she'd have to find a lot of weighted belts in a hurry.
The next phase of the great Heaven and Hell endeavor was approaching. She had found the site for the "Heaven" project (a couples resort and family fun-fair.) The land was unbelievably lovely, a bay surrounded by pale sand and trees. A river ran a curving course from the bay, carrying the warm sea-water inland. The fun-fair would be on one side of the river, with the beaches on the other side and the islands in the bay designated for adult use by couples on romantic retreats. Or other groups of loving individuals... polygamy seemed to be pretty common here.
It was really a lucky find, this piece of property. Construction couldn't start just yet... the seller was insisting on more money, now that his property was closer to the ocean. Anne's lawyers were trying to explain to him that he'd signed on the deal before the tidal waves, which had collapsed almost thirty miles of ground standing between him and the sea. Anne was confident of the sale, though she privately expected to have to settle out of court for a bit extra. It was fortunate that the property still stood anyway. When the lake had become a bay, it could easily have been covered in water.
Under the smooth blue waters of the bay, the debris washed in from the shores tumbled in underwater currents. Anne had already strolled about underwater (with the help of some lead boots) assessing damage. The splintered wood would be turned soon enough into lovely driftwood, the broken stonework turned to pretty pebbles. But someone had to clean up the dead cattle and whatnot, before some swimmer got a nasty surprise.
Good thing that zombies had as little need to breathe as she did. She wondered briefly whether zombies naturally sank, or whether she'd have to find a lot of weighted belts in a hurry.