Chereads / Apocalypse Fortress / Chapter 4 - Starting the Company

Chapter 4 - Starting the Company

The past few days flew by in a blur.

I hired a company to make my website look professional, and it had a really great outcome, I rented out a warehouse for a month so that I didn't have to send and receive the delivery drones automatically, and I filled out all the necessary forms to start a business.

Having done this in just three days, I was exhausted. I had to make dozens of calls, trying to find a warehouse that would allow open air traffic and also had a reasonable price.

Finishing all that, I just needed to hand in all of the filled out forms to a government office, which I planned on doing today.

Finished eating breakfast, I tidy up my attire, which consists of a green blouse and a jacket which go well with my green eyes.

Going out the door and into my second-hand Honda, and start driving towards the government offices.

Arriving outside of the building, I grab my bag, which contains all my documents, and head towards the offices.

As I'm walking, I notice that many people are staring at me, some obviously so. It feels as if I am being searched up and down, and the looks in the eyes of men that I pass are disgusting. This had never happened to me before. Was it because my Charm stat was higher than average?

Quickening my pace, I make it to the office buildings. Passing the front entrance, I come into a semi-crowded lobby with a long line waiting for two receptionists.

Waiting in line for 20 minutes, I get to the front and approach the female receptionist.

In a dull, bored voice, she said,"What is the purpose of your visit?"

"I'm here to register my company. I heard that this is where you are supposed to do that."

"Yes, you do that here. Do you have all the required forms filled and signed?"

Taking out all the required forms, I put them on the counter. "Yes, here are all of the forms that it said on the government website that I had to fill out. Are these correct?"

Briefly glancing at the forms, and not even looking through them, she responds,"Yes, looks like you got everything. If it's all properly filled out you can expect to have your business license emailed to you tomorrow. Will this be all?"

"Yes, that's all. Thank you." I thank her, walking out of the government office and back towards my car.

The poorly disguised stares of men accompany all the way to my car.

Getting in, I shut the door, breathing a sigh of relief that it went by uneventfully. I had never been stared at like that before by so many people.

'It must be because I got prettier when I was reborn,' I think to myself.

Putting these thoughts to the back of my mind, I drive back home to prepare for the first customers. Although my webpage had been created, and beautifully at that, I had not yet released it to the public, but I would do it when I received my permit tomorrow.

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The words 'Highlander Electronic Appliances' fill my vision as I look at the front page of my brand new website.

Hitting 'Enter', my website has officially become open to the public. It had a simple interface. If you wanted to order something, you clicked on it and filled out your mailing address and your Paypal information.

The website wouldn't be allowed to take money from someones Paypal account until the package arrives. When it arrives, the person will have to sign into Paypal and finish the payment for the drone to drop off the package.

I had thought up this system so that people wouldn't be afraid that this was a scam was trying to steal their credit card information.

I will eventually make people fill out their billing/credit card information before the package is sent, but only after my company has been running for awhile and has gained enough trust.

With my website up and running, I turn my thoughts towards my warehouse.

Currently, I have 20 advanced vacuum cleaners stored up that I bought from the User Store for 18,000 credit.

I also bought the materials for two more drones for 10,000 credits, leaving me with a little more than $17,000 in my savings account.

If this business didn't take off, I would have to resort to other means of getting money for my plan of building an impregnable base, safe from the outside world, to be fulfilled.

Just thinking about the kind of base that I would build when I have the money makes my veins pump with anticipation.

~Ding~

A notification on my computer pulls my attention away from my daydreaming.

Turning my gaze towards the computer, it seems that someone has already purchased an advanced vacuum cleaner.

'That was really fast, I wonder who bought it?' I asked myself, reading over the order form.

It seems that they live relatively close by, only a two hour flight at maximum speed for my drones.

'William Turnstin, that's the person who ordered. I wonder who he is?' Reading his name, I shrug my shoulders.

I didn't have to do anything after the order is placed. The drones will start flying towards their destination once the order in confirmed, all I have to do is place an empty drone and the luggage in my inventory, put the luggage inside the carrying space of the drone, and then place the drone back in the warehouse, which I can all do remotely.

Pretty handy feature.

------------- William's POV -------------

"Damn it, where's the vacuum cleaner?!" Will shouted, looking through the closet.

William is a upper middle class person. Only 22 years old, he lived in an expensive house, and drives an expensive BMW M5.

This was all obtained because of his proficiency in the stock market, leading to him earning a liquid asset adding up to 2.4 million dollars.

Moments ago, he had accidentally spilled flour all over the floor, and was angrily searching for the vacuum.

"Ah, here it is, finally." Finding it underneath some boxes, he picked it up, but was sadly disappointed to find that it was broken from the weight of the boxes stacked upon it.

"Stupid piece of junk! I should have bought a more expensive model." Sighing in frustration, he threw the broken vacuum into the trash and went over to his computer to search for the most expensive vacuum that he could find.

'The more is costs, the better it should be, right?' He thought, searching the internet.

Looking through multiple websites, he saw one that caught his eye. The website had a very professional look to it, and the words 'Highlander Electronic Appliances' were prominent on the front page.

'This looks interesting, I wonder what kind quality of product they sell?'

Clicking on the products tab, he was pleasantly surprised when he laid his eyes on the sleek, futuristic design of what looked like a vacuum cleaner.

'Now this is what I've been looking for!' He thought, reading over its description.

Apparently, this newly designed vacuum had twice the capabilities of any vacuum on the market, with advanced electronics, could last for two weeks on a full battery charge, and could recharge in 10 minutes.

Looking at the price and seeing that it was a whopping $1100, he knew that it would be a good vacuum.

Will filled out his mailing address, which is his house, and entered his Paypal information.

Before clicking 'Send', he noticed that the way the website was set up made it so it wouldn't know his credit card information until it actually arrived, at which point he would fill it out then.

To him, this showed that it wasn't a scam looking to steal peoples' credit card information, and that it was actually real.

Feeling reassured, he hit 'Send', and a message popped up, saying that it would provide 'Same Day Delivery'.

'If this company is really all that they say they are, I am totally going to recommend them to my friends,' Will thought, thinking that 'Same Day Delivery' is hard to accomplish.

Leaning back in his recliner, he started surfing the web, watching random video while waiting to see if Highlander Electronic Appliances would live up to what they claimed to be able to do.

---------------------------------------------

William was woken up from his light nap by the distant buzzing of a helicopter.

"Stupid news choppers, always flying about in the air, disturbing the peace." He jokingly complained as he stood up and stretched. Looking at the time, he had been sleeping for a little under 2 hours, right after watching some videos on Youtube.

Walking to the kitchen to get some food, he saw the flour all over the floor, remembering that he had ordered a new vacuum to clean it up.

Grabbing a bag of chips, he went towards the living room, sitting down to eat.

'The helicopter is getting closer,' He thought as he herd the noise increasing.

'Is there a car chase coming this way or something? They never fly the news chopper over in this direction, so that's the only thing that I could think of that could be happening for it to fly over here.'

Turning on the news channel, he didn't see any evidence that that was the case.

'Weird, must one of those military helicopters on a test flight, they do that occasionally.'

Standing up, he walked over towards the window to look outside, wanting to catch a glimpse of the military helicopter.

"Oh my god! That's huge!" Looking out the window, Will saw what looked to be a massive drone flying in the sky.

'No, it shouldn't be called a drone, more like a flying truck!'

"Wait, why is it coming in my direction?!" Seeing that the drone was coming towards his house at high speeds, he couldn't help but exclaim.

Running out his front door, he came through it just in time to watch the weird looking beast of a drone stop and gently land in front of his house, just like how a car would park along the road.

Taking out his phone, Will started recording as the drone's propellers lost their momentum.

"Hey Will, what is that thing?!" Will's neighbor yelled across the street to him. He had assumed that the drone was there because of Will since it landed in front of his house.

"I have no idea. It just lan... Huh?! Wait, that can't be!" Will was in the middle of answering when the side of the drone opened up, revealing a neatly wrapped vacuum.

An 'Advanced Vacuum Cleaner' to be exact. It look exactly how it did when he bought it on the website.

Will stared in amazement at what he was seeing. How could the vacuum that I ordered just a little over two hours ago arrive so soon, and in such a manner?!

Looking closer at the drone, he saw three words painted on the sides that he had missed at first glance,'Highlander Electronic Appliances'.

"No way! Could it be?"

Will's neighbor, seeing his reaction, asked,"Do you know where this came from?"

"Yeah, I think I do!" He shouted, his voice filled with excitement.

"Only a little over two hours ago, I ordered a vacuum cleaner online from a website called 'Highlander Electronic Appliances', and their company's name is printed on the side of this drone, which has the vacuum cleaner that I ordered."

"What?! Really!"

"Yeah, I think so! Let me check." Will, noticing a touch screen on the side of the drone, approached it, watching as it lit up with a soft, white light.

The words 'Your Package Has Arrived - William Turnstin' appeared on the screen in big letters. Beneath the message, a digital form was presented where he could confirm the payment for the vacuum cleaner through Paypal.

'This is very efficient and so high tech' Will thought, confirming the payment and taking the wrapped vacuum. He noted, still stunned from what was happening, that the packaging that the vacuum came with had wheels for easy transportation.

He rolled the vacuum up his driveway and into his house.

While rolling it inside, he continued recording the drone, which lifted up from the ground with a massive downdraft of air, flying away.

He quickly went inside, completely ignoring the massive mess made by the spilled flour, going over to his computer.

Connecting his phone to his computer, he uploaded the video of the drone he just took to as many media sites that he knew, giving a brief description on what the drone was and where it came from.

That day, the internet blew up with the appearance of this futuristic looking drone.

Everywhere, people were discussing the video, asking questions like,'Who made it?', 'What was Highlander Electronic Appliances?', and 'Where did this outrageously flamboyant company come from?'.

People first claimed that it was fake, that the video wasn't real, but when experts examined the video and posted comments that there were no signs of tampering, everyone was astonished.

Very soon, the video of this futuristic looking drone was spread across the world, people marveling at its awesomeness.

~Video Comment Section~

"Man, I really wish that I could have that drone. It would be so amazing!"

"Yeah, I'm just imagining all the cool things that I could do with it."

"Hey, doesn't it look like that Octocopter Drone Prototype that Boeing made?"

"How dare you compare this masterpiece with Boeing's trash. That's like saying that the Mona Lisa looks similar to a pile of dog shit!"

Practically overnight, everyone knew about this drone, and people dubbed it the 'Flying Truck', because of its large size that was close to a truck.

Meanwhile, the perpetrator of this internet frenzy, completely oblivious of the havoc that she caused, was happily watching television with her sister cuddled up in her arms.