Mid-January, Duke Hauser near the edge of a massive excavated crater of dark earth, his boots sinking slightly into the red clay.
Before him stretched were the iskeletal beginnings of Paramount Park Orlando, an entertainment complex designed to challenge the dominance of the nearby Disney empire.
The sheer scale of the operation was stagering, bulldozers, steel cranes, and hundreds of hard-hatted workers moving across the vast acreage.
In the center of it was the towering, intricate steel framework of what would soon become "Paramount Mountain," A snow-capped peak that would serve as the centerpiece of the entire theme park.
Walking briskly beside Duke, desperately trying to match his long strides while simultaneously juggling a stack of tightly clamped clipboards, was Michael Eisner.
Eisner aggressively wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, his eyes scanning a newly revised, annotated budget report that seemed to grow thicker with every passing week.
"The numbers are brutal this month, Duke," Eisner practically shouted over the deafening sound of a diesel pile driver operating nearby.
"The overall construction costs have suddenly skyrocketed by at least twenty-five percent across the entire board, and it is almost entirely due to the ripple effects of this international oil crisis. It is touching absolutely everything we need to build this place."
Duke slowly turned his head, offering Eisner a patient smile that completely belied the severity of the financial situation being presented.
"Explain it to me simply, Michael," Duke requested, "Walk me through exactly where the bleeding is happening."
Eisner took a frustrated breath, tapping the heavy clipboard with his pen. "It's the petroleum, Duke. It is quite literally in everything we require to physically build this park. The cost of the asphalt for the parking lots has completely doubled."
"The diesel fuel required to constantly run these earthmovers is absolutely bleeding our daily operating budget dry. Even the fundamental cost of transporting the structural steel from the northern foundries down here to Florida has reached completely unprecedented high levels because the commercial trucking companies are passing their exorbitant fuel costs directly onto us."
Duke merely nodded, "Inflation and fuel shortages are simply the current, unavoidable weather of the business world, Michael,"
Duke said calmly, "We cannot stop the trend, we have the necessary capital reserves secured to weather this temporary financial spike. Paramount is not going to slow down this construction. When the national economy finally bounces back, and it will, we are going to be standing here with the grandest entertainment destination on the entire East Coast, ready to open our doors."
As they continued their walking tour toward the perimeter fencing, Duke paused, leaning against the chain-link fence.
He pointed a massive finger toward the public service station located just across the busy street.
A massive, chaotic line of desperate, frustrated drivers in their gas-guzzling sedans stretched for nearly a mile down the highway, completely blocking local traffic.
Duke watched as the overworked gas station attendants physically directed the frustrated cars.
"Look at that absolute mess," Duke murmured quietly, "The great American machine, temporarily brought to a grinding, frustrating halt by a simple lack of combustible liquid."
Eisner stepped up next to him, shaking his head. "It is an absolute nightmare out there for the average commuter," Eisner explained, his tone softening with sympathy.
"They have officially implemented mandatory odd and even rationing across the entire state based on the last digit of your license plate. You can only legally buy gasoline on your specifically designated days."
"And even when you finally reach the actual pump after waiting for hours, most of these independent stations are strictly limiting sales to a mere ten gallons per customer."
Eisner pointed toward a hand-painted, hastily erected sign near the pumps. "A lot of these smaller places are simply throwing up 'Out of Gas' signs by noon, and the ones that do have fuel are engaging in shady predatory practices, forcing people to explicitly buy completely unnecessary, expensive oil changes just for the privilege of filling up their tanks."
"Desperation inevitably breeds creative, if somewhat unethical, capitalism," Duke observed, "Speaking of sudden shifts in perspective, how are things proceeding with the esteemed Governor Askewe?"
"I recall him being a rather bureaucratic thorn in our sides when we initially planned things here." Eisner let out a short laughter, the sheer irony of the political situation completely washing away his previous anxiety.
"That is the funniest part of this entire fuel crisis, Duke," Eisner said, grinning. "Just six months ago, Reubin Askew was trying to drown this entire project in red tape, demanding endless, redundant ecological impact studies and threatening to drastically stall our zoning permits. He wanted to make a highly public political show of standing up to a big company."
Duke chuckled softly, his eyes still fixed on the crawling line of cars. "And I imagine the prospect of a massive, state-wide economic recession has miraculously changed his tune?"
"Exactly," Eisner confirmed enthusiastically. "With the tourism industry actively taking a hit because families literally cannot find the necessary gasoline to drive down here for their vacations, the governor is absolutely desperate for any major source of positive economic stimulation."
"The moment this crisis truly hit the local papers, all of that endless bureaucratic red tape miraculously vanished overnight. Suddenly, his office is personally calling us twice a week, asking if there is absolutely anything the state government can rapidly do to safely expedite our construction timeline. He needs those highly visible construction jobs, and he needs the future tax revenue this park will eventually generate."
"Hunger always makes for the absolute best, most cooperative people in the world," Duke noted, turning away from the fence and beginning to walk back toward the cluster of air-conditioned trailer offices that served as their on-site headquarters.
"We are currently pouring millions of dollars directly into his struggling state economy during a period of national crisis. Make sure our legal team capitalizes on this new cooperative political friendship to permanently lock in all of our long-term utility rates and secure our future expansion permits while the door is standing open."
As they walked, Eisner brought up another somber topic that had been dominating the local news cycles.
"The other major issue causing massive public unrest down here is the federal government's decision to switch the entire nation to year-round Daylight Saving Time this past January," Eisner said, his voice dropping significantly, carrying a heavy weight of genuine sadness.
"They claimed it was a necessary, patriotic measure to conserve energy by reducing the need for evening lighting, but the actual implementation has been an absolute disaster down here in Florida."
"The children walking to school," Duke said quietly.
Eisner nodded grimly, staring down at his dusty boots. "Yes. Because the clocks were pushed forward, the sun isn't actually rising here until nearly eight o'clock in the morning. That means thousands of young children are being forced to walk to their local bus stops or directly to their elementary schools in darkness."
"It has resulted in 2 children already being struck and killed by passing cars in just the first few weeks. The entire community feels like they are actively sacrificing their kids just to save a few pennies on the national electric bill."
"It is a tragedy, Michael," Duke finally said, his voice low and thoughtful. "A society that forces its most vulnerable children to face the dark simply because the adults mismanaged the light."
(Foreshadowing is a narrative device in which a storyteller gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.)
They finally reached the temporary headquarters.
Duke immediately walked over to the small conference table, where a bound financial dossier was waiting in the center for his personal review.
He sat down and flipped open the cover of the dossier, MATTEL INCORPORATED - VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT.
Eisner grabbed a bottle of cold water from the small refrigerator, watching Duke's face.
"The latest intelligence reports from our financial analysts in Los Angeles just came across the secure teletype this morning," Eisner reported, his tone strictly professional.
"They finally officially reported a thirty million dollar net financial loss for the previous fiscal year. They are in freefall, and the internal panic among their executive board is reportedly strong."
Duke smiled, a very small upward curve on his lips.
"The financial loss is simply the visible symptom of the underlying disease," Duke corrected smoothly, pointing a finger at a paragraph highlighting legal liabilities.
"The truly useful part is the federal investigation bearing down on them."
Eisner nodded, "And the angry shareholders are finally bringing out the legal pitchforks," Eisner added.
"Three class-action lawsuit were just officially filed, representing roughly 109.000 independent shareholders. They are accusing the Mattel executive board of premeditated fraud."
Duke leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed, lacing his large fingers together behind his head. "And that, Michael, is precisely where our Trojan horse finally comes into play. Paramount shell companies are currently holding roughly four percent of their total outstanding shares and joined that class-action lawsuit."
"But why Mattel specifically, Duke?" Eisner asked genuinely. "We are fundamentally a film and television studio. We are invested in the lucrative video game market with Atari. Why are we actively picking a fight over a struggling company that primarily makes plastic Barbie dolls and die-cast Hot Wheels cars?"
Duke leaned forward, "Because, Mattel possesses something that Paramount completely lacks, and something that would take us a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars to properly build from scratch."
"They efficient, globally distributed plastic injection molding facilities. They have robust international supply chai-"
Before Duke could fully respond, the door of the trailer opened.
Barry Diller, stumbled into the room. He looked disheveled, completely sweating through his expensive tailored suit, and clutching a crumpled copy of a major national newspaper.
He didn't even bother saying hello.
He marched directly over to Duke's desk and put the newspaper down onto the wooden surface.
THE TRIAL OF THE FIVE WATERGATE BURGLARS AND ACCOMPLICES G. GORDON LIDDY AND E. HOWARD HUNT WILL BEGIN IN FEDERAL COURT JANUARY 8TH.
"We have a potentially catastrophic problem on our hands, Duke," Diller said, his voice tight with genuine panic.
"The massive federal trial is officially starting, and the reporters from the Washington Post are tearing into every single hidden aspect of the administration. If they keep aggressively digging, they are eventually going to trace the money back to us."
Duke simply glanced down at the newspaper, totally unbothered, and then slowly looked back up at the panicked executive. "Take a breath, Barry, you are acting like a child. Sit down, drink some cold water, and regain your composure."
Diller ignored the instruction to sit, his hands shaking slightly as he pointed at the bold headline. "Do not patronize me, Duke! We established the American News Exchange! We deliberately set up ANE as a highly influential news authorship company."
"If the aggressive federal investigators or the congressional oversight committees pull the threads on ANE, they will inevitably find Paramount's hidden shell companies, and they will absolutely drag us right onto the incredibly public Senate floor for a televised hearing!"
Duke remained completely seated, "They are not going to find absolutely anything, Barry," Duke stated with total, unwavering certainty.
"We designed the corporate structure of ANE to be completely, legally separated from Paramount Pictures by absolutely miles of dense international shell corporations and trusts. On paper, legally speaking, we do not even exist in that specific political sphere. Also You were the one that pushed for this deal."
Diller ran a nervous hand through his hair, unconvinced. "But the congressional committees have subpoena power, Duke! I didn't know the republicans were going to be caught with their pants down, of the three men we meet on Washington, 2 are already being prosecuted."
"Even if they somehow manage to legally investigate the structure," Duke continued, entirely unfazed by the threat of government intervention, "they would simply find completely legitimate, legally protected corporate investments."
"But more importantly, Barry, you are misunderstanding the nature of modern political alliances." Duke leaned forward, "The moment we realize that the current Republican administration has completely lost the political fight."
"The second it becomes obvious that they cannot politically survive this massive scandal, we will sever every single remaining financial and operational link between ANE and Paramount."
"We will burn the entire bridge to the ground, walk away without looking back, and cheerfully pivot to support the next winning candidate."
Diller was still highly nervous, pacing back and forth in front of the desk. "Why did we even get involved in this massive, messy partisan mud-wrestling in the first place? We make movies, we aren't Kingmakers."
Duke let out a sigh, "Stop acting like a naive person. We didn't help the Nixon administration purly out of the kindness of our hearts or some highly held conservative ideology."
"We helped them to get highly specific geopolitical benefits required to enforce Atari's valuable hardware patents directly in the legally complex regions of Japan and Western Europe."
Duke pointed a finger directly at Diller. "And it worked. Because we scratched the administration's back, the United States State Department heavily fought for us against foreign regulators."
"Now, instead of constantly fighting highly expensive legal battles against thousands of cheap, illegal regional copycats in Tokyo and London, Atari is finally gaining market share in those regions."
"Our overall international revenue is up almost ten percent this specific quarter alone, purely because the federal government enforced our patents."
Duke stood up, walking around the desk and placing a reassuring hand on Diller's shoulder. "I agree that the Watergate situation is spiraling completely out of their control."
"But we absolutely need to time our specific exit perfectly. We need to get out cleanly, right when the political waters are perfectly clear, because Paramount cannot afford to openly offend the established Republican party machinery."
"They currently hold the vast majority of the regulatory power." Duke internally knew a historical fact that Diller didn't.
The Republican party would largely control the US presidency for almost the entire decade of the 1970s, with only a very brief three-year interruption from a peanut farmer from Georgia between 1977 and 1980.
"So," Duke concluded cheerfully, "for the highly profitable present, we will quietly continue to vaguely support the Nixon administration. And later, when the historical winds finally shift, we will happily shake the hand of the next man."
Having successfully managed the massive crisis of the day, Duke finally decided he was entirely done dealing with stressed executives and ifinancial spreadsheets for the day.
He grabbed his light jacket, instructed Eisner to handle any remaining construction logistics, and exited the trailer.
He quickly hailed his waiting private car and requested to be immediately driven back to his luxurious accommodations at the Contemporary Resort, located on the massive Disney World complex.
When Duke finally unlocked the door and stepped directly into his floor suite, he was greeted by silence.
Lynda had taken her visiting parents on VIP guided tour of Disneyland.
Duke slowly took off his jacket, draping it neatly over the back of a armchair, and walked over to the desk sitting in the corner of the suite.
Resting in the desk was his portable typewriter, accompanied by an untouched stack of white paper.
He sat down, rolling a blank sheet into the carriage.
His mind went back to the deeply troubling conversation he had earlier with Eisner regarding the tragedy of the Daylight Saving Time shift.
Duke rested his hands gently on the typewriter, he was going to write 'IT', a beautiful story about kids facing darkness or well, facing a murder cosmic supernatural clown.
An incredibly terrifying story, but he was going to write it on his own terms.
He made a conscious, deeply artistic decision right then and there to completely avoid writing the controversial, unsettling sewer scene that had existed in the original timeline's version of the novel.
(Bombastic Side eye to Stephen King)
___
This serves as a recap on some stuff, i will be posting 7 chapters a week again from tomorrow on