Satsuki looked back down at the blueprints.
The red circle had completely filled the town, and further up was Phase One, which Eden had outlined with thick lines in his original drawing.
"We've finished discussing the town, and now it's Phase One."
Satsuki picked up her red pencil again and traced the entire area along the boundaries of Phase One on Eden's original drawing.
"Saionji plans to buy this entire piece of land."
Keane's pen paused in his hand.
"A-All of it?"
"Yes, all of it."
"The preemptive rights Mr. Eden has already negotiated, along with the ones that haven't been negotiated yet, Saionji will acquire at market price. From now on, this area will be Saionji's own corporate land use."
Keane pulled his notepad closer to his chest and cleared his throat.
"Uh, Miss Saionji, I have to be honest with you."
"For a Japanese enterprise to buy such a large piece of land in California all at once... Honestly, it's going to be a quite sensitive topic in Sacramento."
"Mm, I know."
Satsuki nodded.
"So even though this land belongs to Saionji, the development will still be coordinated with the county."
"The roads will be built as public roads that anyone can use. The public facilities in Phase One can also be used by the townspeople. When hiring, locals will have priority."
"Whatever the county wants to see on this land, you can propose it. Whatever Saionji can do, we will do it."
Keane looked down and wrote a few lines. After finishing, he drew a heavy line under the words "local priority."
"Alright. I can certainly use this sentence when I go back to Sacramento."
Satsuki's pen continued to move north, stopping at that section of the bay on the North Shore.
"And here, Saionji is going to build a port."
"A deep-water dock, the kind that can accommodate oceangoing cargo ships. In the future, Saionji's transport ships can sail directly here, serving as Saionji Transport's hub in North America."
When Eden heard the word "dock," his hand reached into his briefcase.
He pulled out a stack of copies, the topmost page printed with the Army's insignia and a string of survey numbers.
"Miss Saionji, take a look at this."
He spread the copies out next to the tracing paper, pointing his finger at one of the rows of numbers.
"The water depth of the North Shore was surveyed by the Army in the 1970s. Not far from the shore, it's already fourteen or fifteen meters deep, which is more than enough for oceangoing cargo ships. The night before yesterday, as soon as you asked, I wanted to show it to you."
Satsuki looked at that row of numbers and chuckled.
"That day, I was the one who didn't let you say it."
"That's right, so I've been holding it in until today."
Ms. Benson had already opened the folder in her arms, found one of the pages, turned it around, and pushed it in front of Satsuki.
"Miss Saionji, the interface data for the base's existing dock and railway branch line are all here. The branch connects to the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the gauge is consistent, so you don't need to worry about that."
"However, the dock itself doesn't have enough draft, so large ships can't dock there. The good news is that the backyards and warehouses are still there."
After finishing, she turned her head to look at the colonel beside her.
Reeves finished writing the last word in his small green notebook before raising his head.
"The data can be given to you, Miss Saionji. As for how it will be used, procedures must still be followed in the future."
"Understood, Colonel."
Keane's brow, however, furrowed.
"A port... I'm afraid the Coastal Commission hurdle won't be easy to clear."
"The Coastal Commission?"
"The California Coastal Commission. Any development within a certain range inland along the coastline requires a permit from them."
Keane spread his hands and gave a wry smile.
"Seriously, they can spend half a year reviewing a motel by the beach just wanting to add an extra floor. An oceangoing cargo port... I certainly wouldn't dare guarantee it to you."
"Then let's start the review early."
Satsuki drew a square at the location of the port.
"Whatever materials are needed, Saionji will prepare them."
Ryan added another line to his notebook without raising his head.
"Also, behind the dock, we can apply to establish a foreign trade zone. Goods entering the zone don't need to pay tariffs first; they can be processed and assembled in the zone before customs declaration. Long Beach and Oakland both have ready-made precedents."
After speaking, Satsuki's pen returned to the middle of Phase One, circling a piece of land next to the repair shop Ms. Benson had just mentioned.
"In addition, for this piece in the middle of Phase One, I want to make something that everyone can use."
"For instance, testing, machining, plus a small trial production line. If the repair shop at the base and the seaside testing ground can be used in the future, we'll move them here."
"That way, when small companies move in, they can start making things on the first day without having to spend millions of dollars buying equipment themselves."
Glenn had been standing by the door and squeezed forward a step at this moment.
"Wait, wait, Miss Saionji."
He raised his hand and gestured.
"You mean Saionji will pay to build laboratories for others?"
"Mm, that's what I mean."
"But those companies aren't yours."
"But if we don't do this, why would they come?"
Glenn opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Satsuki looked at him, her tone very casual.
"Mr. Hodges, over the past half year, the county has invited quite a few people to take a look, right?"
"...Invited."
"Then why didn't they come?"
Glenn was silent for a moment.
"Because there's nothing here."
"Then let's make sure there is."
Satsuki's pen tip tapped a few times inside that circle.
"Besides, those testing technicians who originally worked in the repair shop will be able to go back to work in the first batch."
Glenn looked down at the red circle for a long time before turning his paper to a new side and writing the words "repair shop" on it.
Satsuki was already drawing the next location.
She turned the red pencil horizontally, tracing a thick line directly beneath every single main road of Phase One. The thick line connected all the way from Phase One to the town, and then to the port on the North Shore.
After finishing the drawing, she wrote three Chinese characters next to the thick line.
Utility tunnel.
Keane tilted his head and looked at it for a long time, still not understanding.
"Uh... what does this say?"
"Common utility corridor."
Otsuki explained in English.
"It's digging a walk-in tunnel beneath the road to put in cables, water pipes, and communication lines. In the future, if we need to add lines or do maintenance, people can just go down through the maintenance port without having to dig up the road surface again."
Satsuki nodded.
"Things beneath the road must also be thought out from the very beginning. Electricity, tap water, reclaimed water, communications—put them all in."
"Communication pipelines should be reserved at ten times current needs. For those that can't be used temporarily, bury empty pipes first."
"In addition, reserve a separate piece of land to build our own power plant and substation. Outside electricity must also be connected from two different lines."
The room fell quiet for a moment.
Keane put down his pen.
"Wait a minute, ten times? Miss Saionji, with all due respect, what on earth does an electronics factory need so many lines for?"
He lifted his chin toward the direction of the seaside outside the window.
"And speaking of electricity, California has never lacked it. There is a nuclear power plant right by the seaside in the county."
"Um... I can't say for sure exactly how much is needed."
Satsuki tilted her head and thought about it.
"I just feel that in the future, every single desk will need a line."
"As for electricity, I don't really like handing over the lifeline of electricity to others."
Keane exchanged a glance with the young man from the state commerce department.
Eden gently tapped his notebook with the pen shaft for several times before speaking.
"Miss Saionji, the money spent on burying empty pipes won't see any return for the first ten years."
"I know. But once the road is built, I don't want to dig it up again."
Eden didn't say anything more and lowered his head to circle the words "empty pipes."
Otsuki had been writing nearby and didn't raise his head at this time.
"Over in Odaiba, that's how it's done."
Keane was slightly stunned.
"Odaiba?"
"Saionji's headquarters in Tokyo."
Mentioning Odaiba, Satsuki turned her head.
"Right, Mr. Otsuki, did you bring the latest photos?"
"I brought them, Eldest Miss."
Otsuki pulled a hard-shell folder out of his thick blueprint tube, the cover printed with "Saionji Construction Monthly Construction Report."
He flipped to the last few pages, pulled out a stack of photos, and handed them to Ryan, who was closest to him.
The photos were passed around the room one by one.
On the reclaimed land of Tokyo Bay, a tower rose abruptly from the ground. The glass curtain walls of the exterior facade had all been installed, the tower crane at the top had been dismantled, and only a few workers stood on the platform at the roof of the building.
Keane took the photos and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Good heavens... This is your building?"
The colonel looked at them longer than anyone else. After finishing one, he flipped back to look at the first one.
"Yes, I call it 'Saionji Tower.'"
Speaking of this, Satsuki was noticeably in even higher spirits.
"Now the main structure is completed, and next, as long as the interior decoration is finished, it can be officially put into use."
"And then—"
She picked up her red pencil again and drew a square at the intersection of the port, the R&D area, and the red-circled town.
"Right here."
"I want to build a Saionji Tower here as well, to serve as the future headquarters of Saionji Group in North America."
The people in the room raised their heads, looking at the photos in their hands and then at the small square on the tracing paper.
"And the ground here is much more stable than Odaiba."
Satsuki tapped the square with the tip of her pen.
"Odaiba is land created by land reclamation; to lay the foundation, the caissons had to sink all the way below the seabed. Mr. Otsuki, you looked at the geological data here this morning, right?"
"I've looked at it; it's at least much better than Odaiba."
"Then we can build it a bit higher."
Satsuki thought for a moment, the corners of her mouth curving up.
"The one in Odaiba is five hundred meters. With a more stable foundation here, it shouldn't be shorter than the one in Tokyo, right?"
The room suddenly fell silent.
The photos being passed halfway stopped in Keane's hands. He looked down at the tower in the photos, then raised his head.
"Wait... five hundred meters?"
"Mm, five hundred meters."
"The Sears Tower is only four hundred and forty-two meters."
The young man from the state commerce department blurted out, only realizing after finishing that everyone in the room was looking at him, his ears turning red all at once.
Satsuki nodded earnestly.
"So if this place is built, it will incidentally become the tallest building in the entire United States."
"Incidentally?"
Keane repeated the word, stunned for two seconds, before finally failing to hold back a laugh. Ryan chuckled too, and even Ms. Benson lowered her head, using her folder to block her mouth.
Brennan pushed up his glasses and shook his head with a smile.
"Miss Saionji, you mustn't forget, California has faults."
Satsuki blinked.
"Speaking of earthquakes, we Japanese are quite experienced, you know."
This time, even Colonel Reeves's mouth twitched.
The laughter in the room hadn't stopped yet, but everyone's pens didn't stop moving either.
Satsuki put down her red pencil and rotated her wrist.
"Mm, that's pretty much all I can think of."
She looked at Eden.
"Mr. Eden, the original drawing is still yours, and the paper on top is mine. As for the rest, you understand it better than I do."
"One week from now, show me the revised drawing, is that okay?"
Eden looked down at the tracing paper.
Red arrows, red circles, squares, thick lines—layer upon layer covered his drawing that had been modified with a pencil for half a year.
"One week, right."
He closed the roster, put it into his briefcase, raised his head, and smiled.
"No problem, that's enough."
The people in the room suddenly dispersed into several groups.
Keane took out a business card and handed it to Ryan, and the two of them huddled by the window, discussing in low voices who they should go to first in Sacramento.
Eden and Otsuki leaned over the tracing paper, one holding a pencil and the other a scale ruler, gesturing the position of the utility tunnel beneath the main road.
Ms. Benson hugged her folder back to her chest, leaned closer to the colonel, and lowered her voice significantly.
"Colonel, that red line area for Phase Four... Following her way of drawing, I'm afraid it's no longer just 'a possibility,' is it?"
Reeves closed his small green notebook, stuffed it back into his jacket pocket, and his face expressionless.
"Carol, don't write this sentence into the report."
Ray walked over to the window. The air conditioner was still vibrating; he reached out and patted the casing, and the vibration lessened a bit.
After a while, Eden also squeezed over from the edge of the table and leaned against the windowsill.
Neither of them spoke, looking at the tracing paper spread out on the table.
"Hey, Thomas."
"Hmm?"
"You remember what those people invited by the county over the past half year said when they left, right?"
Eden smiled and answered without even thinking.
"It's too far from Silicon Valley."
"There isn't a single supplier around."
"University graduates all run north."
Ray paused for a moment.
"And, nobody is willing to be the first one to move in."
Eden didn't reply, his gaze falling on the tracing paper: the red circle in the middle of Phase One for everyone to use, the large circle outside the town, the square on the North Shore, and the small square at the intersection.
Ray looked out the window, and after a while, spoke again.
"She only came here for the first time this morning."
Eden looked down at his own hands; his fingertips were still stained with pencil ash.
"That night in New York, I modified drawings until dawn. In the end, all I modified were the plot boundaries."
"What about now?"
"Now..."
Eden put his hands into his pants pockets and smiled at him.
"Now I have to endure another week."
The sound of paper unfolding came from behind.
Winslow flipped over the document that had been pressed against the wall all along. The back was already filled with writing, the front was the resolution of the special meeting from yesterday evening, and underneath were the signatures of several supervisors.
The old man looked at it for a while and sighed.
"Ray, that authorization from yesterday, I see it needs to be rewritten."
"How big should it be written?"
Winslow raised his head and glanced at the red circle on the table that encircled the entire town.
"At least, it has to include the entire town."
In the middle of the table, Satsuki stood up and stretched lazily.
"Alright."
She patted the eraser crumbs off her shirt and turned to Winslow.
"Mr. Winslow, can we go to the vineyard now?"
The old man was slightly stunned, then burst into hearty laughter, folded the document filled with writing, and stuffed it back into his jacket pocket.
"Of course, anytime!"