The Future That Never Was: KITTY KITTY - #2 THE TWISTED HEIST
RR link Previous chapter (RETRO COSMOS) #2 - THE TWISTED HEIST A star had just gone out in the distance, sending its entire system, planets and moons, into oblivion. So, what was a simple life compared to a sun? Did the human existence that earthlings highly cherished in the past deserve so much fuss? I would say no, of course, because I’m a cat. Our condition to us felines will never have to pale in front of a shiny astronomical object. Mine specifically, don’t you think? Oswald Avery was merely a Homo sapiens. A retired buccaneer, fermenting his adulterated wine on the carcass of a drifting supercargo; all under the remodeled features of a former Galactic Trade Company’s pilot. Alas, regardless of the genetic disguise, the FID rarely lied. It hadn’t fooled us and the masks had fallen off. Just like him. I’m such a poet. Anyway… Avery had had a long life of crimes and adventures. He was full of energy in his youth. And as in the universe, nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed, this energy was reincarnated in a nice amount in our bank account once the old picaroon flatlined. “We finally got it! And it was a traditional Martian contract. Payable remotely, on condition that the FID is validated. How about that?” “God… Lee … you’re talking to yourself and it’s only 8 a.m.,” Ali grunted behind me. My couch potato of an associate had her head still stuck in the cereal box she was nibbling before falling asleep binge-watching Captain Caveman on ABC. “To begin with, it’s 8 p.m., Martian Time. And we do have a positive balance in our bank account for the first time in months! Do you know what that means, partner?” “Shopping, bitches!” she shouted as she hurled herself into the void, gliding to the bathroom in the weightlessness. With the cardboard box on the top of her head, this sugar bishop was swimming after the remnant cereals that floated on her path like Ms. Pac-Man. “Hell! Have I just opened Pandora’s box?” The liner Danaë and its forty-eight post-nuclear Baltimore-XVIII heavy reactors made its annual cruise from Lunapolis to the suburbs of Ceres, in the belt. Its figurehead with the effigy of the Greek princess was a two hundred meters long, green ceramic statue. The size of the ship exceeded some inhabited asteroids’ diameter so it possessed its own substantial gravitational field. “It’s quite a symbol of the decline of humanity,” I said to Ali, pointing with my chin at this unique work of art. “Why?” my partner asked without caring whatsoever. “Spill the beans, Plato.” The Kitty had obtained permission to dock and began its approach. I concluded then: “Humanity no longer erects great and beautiful things without turning them into a shopping mall.” The gold and ivory Danaë was one of the most luxurious epicenters of human decadence in the system; comprising hotels, casinos, megastores and amusement parks spread over a dozen centrifugal rings. There was something for everyone’s wallet, ready to be emptied, whether one was welcomed at the port or had joined during the crossing. And to my great regret, the cape of the Danaë was just passing by us that week. “I believe we should keep our savings for the maintenance of the Swallow. The dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree. Some parts need to be changed…” “You’re such a bore with your adult talks,” my partner said as she left the fitting room of a luxury chain overlooking the main deck. “What do you think of that? Sexy as fuck, right?” Her camisole didn’t hide a single inch square of flesh and I subtly pointed it out to her: “It’s a bit of a back-alley Sally.” I took a blow on the nose which, this time, was amply justified. “There’s nothing chicer than Borderline. You don’t know anything about fashion. It’s crazy!” She was furious. It was entertaining. But she was right. The human female fads were way over my head and I wasn’t a good adviser. Mostly because I didn’t care. At all. Fortunately, the upscale shopping mall where we were staying had provided us with a free assistant who was even more servile than a decerebrate canine. As usual, the robot carrier that accompanied us did the job by flattering her with its unbearable honeyed tone: “I find you charming, Madame. Here we have the latest fashionable lingerie on Mars. It’s an ephemeral collection that appears to have been specially made to mold your discreet curves, which seem to have been sculpted by the seraphim.” Ali gave me a satisfied look that I pretended to ignore. Then she backtracked into the fitting room to put her black suit and pink jacket back on. I took the opportunity to climb on the shoulders of this silly robot, servant of our servants and last link in this hierarchy whose origins go back to Ancient Egypt. “One more move like this and I’ll turn you into a gum dispenser.” The automaton apologized before my partner’s head emerged from behind the silk curtains which were far too fragrant for my taste. “I just checked; it’s too expensive anyway. I ain’t buying it,” she announced. “Can you order a taxicab to take us to the hotels’ ring? You’d be a sweetheart.” Happy to leave this irascible human with her robotic slave, I proceeded to the nearest service terminal. By the time I requested a vehicle, a flying cigarette dispenser could light me a Lucky. “It’s forbidden to smoke in our store, Monsieur.” The customer attaché, in his blue silk suit with elephant legs, had appeared out of nowhere. Yet, with such a shiny tie, this punk should have dazzled me from the Kuiper belt. “Please be kind and get me a Pepper Coke instead of ruining my eyesight…” I grumbled in response. I was in an awful mood. I definitely hated shopping. And people. Yet the pedestrian avenues of the Danaë had a very exceptional population density. Perms were making a strong comeback, as were neon tattoos and overly open flowered shirts. Under the false UVA/B sun, it was a true dance of flesh, steel and plastic bodies with assumed nudity. Implants and surgery erased the hazards of the genetic lottery for better or worse. It was so superficial. So futile. So human. “Hello, handsome!” Ali cried out, a large smile across her face. “Lee? You didn’t tell me you knew Christophe Lambert! You know I'm a huge Highlander fan!” My partner had just joined me, arms loaded with bags massive enough to live in it, start a family and park my chromic Pontiac Firebird. All were filled with C$400 t-shirts and sneakers that she didn’t need and would only put on once. “No smell. Hologram,” I conclude by throwing my cigarette butt through the smiling ghost. “Shame!” Ali sighed. She then looked at her terminal, and continued: “Do you think I have time to grab a watch module? There are sales in the Japanese aisle! I saw some GD-8 that would go well with my new Game Pocket! This boat is fucking rad!” Ali could not stop humming Who wants to live forever. I had to rub my temples to avoid a migraine before the arrival of our taxicab five minutes later. These were miniature limousines with double fake leather benches, facing each other at the back. There was a minibar with expensive multicolored drinks and sugar-soaked snacks, the sapiens’ primary source of calories and high Gs space travel drug. For the sensitive, the smart-fridge provided diet sodas with aspartame, but no one took it. Finally, there were free Gauloise cigarettes next to the ashtray on the armrest. And even Tylenol! “What a time to be alive!” Right after leaving the fashion district, a soft voice of a young woman, who appeared to us through the armored porthole separating her from her customers, finally emerged from the cockpit: “Good evening! I’m Miss Meera. At your service. Hotel de Saint-Malo, correct?” I nodded. She smiled at us. She was beautiful with her incredibly dark night metal skin that contrasted strongly with her silvery-white hair. She also had charming ivory eyes with absolutely no reflection. They were a mesmerizing void of light. In fact, it was so rare to deal with a real person, and not an AI, that we engaged rapidly in a lovely and honest discussion with Meera. We were mostly talking about life on the Danaë. As she stated, the rules on board were very strict, even military. All was done to make sure that the customer had the most pleasant time at the expense of everything else. Finally, according to her, her condition wasn’t the most to be pitied in the cosmos. And she was fully satisfied with this precarious semi-nomadic existence. “And what about you? Are you here on vacation or in transit for work?” she eventually asked. “What do you do for a living?” Should we have told her that we were executing infamous people so Ali would collect expensive t-shirts and I could fulfill my nicotine addiction? “Don’t get me wrong but I saw that you had a gun. Are you in the police… or are you pirates?” It wasn’t the first time someone asked us this question. Although weapons were allowed on most ships and stations, it wasn’t wise to display them unless you were looking for trouble. Unfortunately, hiding such a large caliber under such a tight vest was a Herculean task. “You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone”, simply quoted Ali, her forehead against the window covered with scented stickers. Meera laughed before continuing: “Very well, Al Capone. I understand that you’re not the type to let yourself be taken advantage of.” The taxicab entered the central expressway after the water park then suddenly swerved violently to the left. “What is going on?” I gasped. After crushing the safety railing, we fell from one rotating bridge to the other in a frantic cavalcade. Judging by Meera’s swear words, this ride wasn’t part of the show. Avoiding the stalls of an art market and a group of children coming out of an arcade, the driver finally managed to recover in extremis. It was about time, because within seconds we were passing through the transparent protective wall of the hotels’ deck. “A thousand apologies! Another one of those mor… clients from the Middle System who doesn’t know how to use a rental car,” she shouted through the window. “Are you guys hurt?” “No, thanks to you,” I replied, my tail spiked over my head, taped to Ali’s neck now decorated with bloody scratches. Although my human forehead now had a bump on it the size of a golf ball, it was true that Meera had just saved our lives. This young girl had unsuspected driving talents despite taxicabs’ lack of handling. She didn’t belong here, playing the steward in a yellow circus uniform. This woman should have been a fighter pilot; or a NASCAR driver on Canyon Creek. “In any case, here you’re almost in front of your hotel,” she replied. “You don’t have to pay anything, and I apologize again for the scare.” From the outside, the taxicab now looked like a can of nutrigel after going through a crusher. Yet, it still worked. May God Darwin bless Venusian steel. After thanking her, we wished Meera a good day. But the cockpit window suddenly went down on the passenger side. The smile of the driver had faded. She had tears at the corner of her white eyes. “Wait!” she asked. “This weapon… do you really know how to use it?” So, life on the Danaë wasn’t so sweet. As Meera explained to us in a secluded alleyway, a trio of criminals had come to threaten her a few days earlier, after finding she was a bodacious driver. They were preparing a heist in one of the flying city’s fifty casinos. The young woman was now ready to pay the price to settle the case. “What is your opinion about this whole situation?” I asked Ali, once in our room, a small yet cozy suite whose glass walls overlooked the vacuum of space. My human had applied a brownish ointment on her hump, which disappeared soon after, leaving only a slight pinkish hematoma. “Meera said she would provide us with more details tomorrow. However, if she ponies up the cash, I don’t see why we would refuse. We ain’t mercs but these three guys must have a bounty on their heads. Let’s do our job, right? “Indeed…” All we had to do was wait for more instructions. Fortunately, it had been months since we had been able to take days off except on miserable gas stations full of drug addicts, implants scavengers and prostitutes. After another morning of shopping, Ali went to the thalassotherapy center of the neighboring hotel. Her main occupation? Overeating sushi made by 3D nutrigel printing while getting massages. Alas, I didn’t have the time to bask under the false sun of the lakeside resort and get my belly stroked. As a good captain, I had to go to the maintenance to fix the numerous damages of the Kitty. As always, the bill would be higher than expected. Everything was orchestrated so that we would never hold a positive balance in this corrupted system. We had to chain contract after contract. But Meera’s gig didn’t sound right. There was something I didn’t like and I couldn’t catch it yet. All my cat sensors were in the red. Unfortunately, the bounty hunter’s ones only saw the green of the bills. Don’t judge me. The young taxicab driver had finally contacted Ali again by holoconference in the early afternoon, shortly before I joined her at the exit of the tanning booths. Or as I called them: human toasters. “Have you finished roasting like a Thanksgiving turkey?” I asked her as she plunged into the icy water of the adjacent basin, under the lustful gaze of a group of cadets from the Marine Academy. “Meera will pick us up with a new taxicab in the hotel parking lot,” she whispered once back to me. “Alongside her, we will meet two of the criminals at the burglary location, shortly before midnight.” “Go on.” “We take care of these guys and we catch up with the last one: the band leader, in the storage cavities of the hangar reserved for the ship’s logistics. Below the last rotating ring.” In Eve’s costume, Ali came out of the basin, not without deliberately drenching me. The water had a nasty chemical taste from being filtered day after day. “Do you have any intelligence on these jokers?” I insisted while lighting a cigarette. “The Broadway Gang. Three brothers. C$45,000 for the trio. We will also be able to recover at least C$10,000 of Techno-federal tax on their ship depending on its condition. Easy cash with the dollar credits that Meera promises us…” Now sitting on the ledge, my partner splashed her feet to demonstrate her eagerness to head back swimming. “Excellent! This will pay for the maintenance and allow us to save some money on our way to the belt.” “Can I go now?” she asked, sliding back into the water. “You may,” I had concluded before seeing her leave for her absurd wanderings that would fill her afternoon. I myself was very busy making eyes at the wealthy guests of the hotel restaurant to glean a few pieces of Peking duck or juicy crabs. They were real farm animals from Mars. Not nutrigel. It was worth abandoning a little dignity aside. With a full belly, I finally joined Ali in the middle of the evening. Arriving in the corridor of our suite, I crossed the group of cadets noticed near the swimming pool. They seemed tired but blissfully smiling as they just discovered the nirvana. And I knew why… “Ali? Are you ready?” I said as I walked through the half-open bedroom door. Her dressing gown had been thrown on the floor. Her gun and badge were resting on the bedside table against a giant bottle of Koala Springs soda and a pyramid of little Yoyo Mints. To be honest, I expected a bigger mess. “Gimme five minutes,” she replied while in the shower. An hour later, we met Meera in the staff parking lot behind the recycling stations. Without further discussion, we joined the expressway in the taxicab. Between two noisy info-ads, the radio played Sweet Transvestite then the rest of the mythical Rocky Horror soundtrack. “I wonder what Tim Curry’s up to these days,” asked Ali while browsing the intraweb on her implant. “Being legendary as usual,” I answered. Afterwards, the casino was in sight. But once on the forecourt illuminated by the gold and silver bulbs, we heard gunshots and screams. My partner and I quickly realized that this was a violent robbery rather than a modest heist. “What the fuck, Meera?” Ali asked, turning to the porthole that separated us from the cockpit. There was a hint of irritation in her voice. Meera remained mute, her hands on the wheel and her gaze forward. In the rear-view mirror the young woman looked panicked. The right door of the vehicle suddenly opened and two men sat down in front of us. They were wearing theater masks: the first was Melpomene, the sad grimace of tragedy; the second, Thalia, the twisted smile of comedy. Each brigand carried a huge metal block under his arm; drawers that were sure to be full of cash. On the other hand, they held their still smoking ZeG-4 machine guns even more firmly. When they saw us, they both gasped, in unison: “What the fuck, Meera?” One… two. One… two. Four holes in their faded tuxedo. Four bullets as big as a cat’s eye that silenced them forever, before slowly repainting the bench in red. “What the fuck was that? You killed them!” Meera shouted this time, as she started the electric engine. “You had tasers at your disposal, you psychos!” She had finally turned around. Her voice was quivering. She was no longer panicked, but angry. The tasers must have slipped between the seats because I hadn’t seen them. My partner raised her eyebrows and it made me realize that their use had never been in mind. “We’re bounty hunters, not 9 to 5 social workers!” continued Ali. “Now, you gotta motor, otherwise the cops will shoot our ass on the spot before we could even meet the third dude!” Meera put her foot on the pedal and one could almost hear the noise of the thrusters melting the white asphalt. “I can perceive the sirens, Ali,” I concluded before Meera entered the ring's external road reserved for logistic transport. We then had the shortest car chase we had taken part in. The Danaë security forces may not have had the best elements in the system, but Meera’s talents didn’t give them a chance. We had crossed half a dozen rotative bridges to the rhythm of Take on Me, zigzagging between expressways and maintenance tunnels to arrive before the song ended at the deserted logistics hangar. It was similar to a huge supermarket with honeycombed shelves. Each of these garages, dimly illuminated by red LEDs, housed a delivery or transport vessel. There was the most impressive fleet I had ever seen. In one of the first level’s cells stood, between a set of clamps, a Swift-0 scout, from Peugeot Corp, with wings spread. The Swifts were small and very high-end single-seaters. They could be modified to integrate weapons systems, but their primary characteristics were velocity and evasion. Leaning on the flank of the mono-turbine, the last of the three criminals, a tall blond man with a “Chevy Chase” prominent chin was looking down on the approaching taxicab. “Were they planning to escape on that ship? The three of them?” I remarked when the vehicle stopped a few meters from the small vessel. But Meera ignored me. “Hand me the money, I’m going out. That was the agreement.” The porthole opened at its base, allowing us to pass the steel cash drawers. Once the taxicab’s ignition was turned off, only their holographic numbers glowed in the dark. “It’s all over if his cronies don’t stick their noses out of the car,” Ali replied, finally giving the second drawer away. “He’s going to figure out that it went south. He will kill you!” Outside, the man was getting impatient. Blinded by the taxicab’s headlights, he came closer before exclaiming: “Zéphyr, are you there? Where are my brothers? Security is closing all the departure modules. We will be stuck here, for fuck’s sake!” He now had a gun in his hand. A machine gun identical to those of his companions currently bathed in their blood, nailed to the seats. “Zéphyr? Wait… I know that name!” I meowed to myself. The doors and portholes of the taxicab were locked. Ali and I were now stuck in the back with the two flatlined and most wanted criminals on the ship. “Sorry guys, but I’ll handle the rest.” Miss Meera, alias Zéphyr, smiled at us through the armored glass just before leaving the cockpit by the driver’s door. “What a fucking piece of shit… Lee? Do you have a plan? I think the windows are bulletproof. I don’t feel like testing. Especially if it’s bouncing around with us inside, we will be turned into ground beef!” “Did you forget who I am, my dear?” I was already crawling under the seat, between a pair of Méduse shoes and half nibbled fried rat wings. It was time to demonstrate all my infiltration skills learned from Ninja Gaiden. Unfortunately, both the crab and the duck slowed me down and my belly remained for a few seconds stuck under the driver’s seat with my head on the brake pedal. How outrageous! From the porthole, I saw Ali watching what was happening in front of us, near the ship. Our eyes met for a brief moment and I could read on her lips: “diet kibble”. “Better off dead!” I shouted. My paw reached the bottom of the dashboard, activating the mechanical opening of doors and windows. And, accidentally, the loudest horn in this dimension. “My bad!” My sapiens immediately jumped outside, pointing her gun to Zéphyr. Surprised by the thunderous din, her target pivoted towards us, uncovered, turning her back to the human with the magnificent chin and his ZeG-4 who yelled: “What in the whole universe is that? Wait! I know her! Did you bring us bounty hunters? You were clearly planning to double-cross us!” The man shouted and his gun produced a rain of bullets. It first hit the windshield of the taxicab, passing through the conductor compartment where I was. The rounds bent the windscreen, but it held. This wasn’t, however, the case for the hood, protecting the engine and the reservoir full of coolant, which ended up covering the seat and my face. Fortunately, the sticky alcohol allowed me to escape from this trap and jump out of the vehicle through the window I had previously opened. But, once again, a fire ring enveloped the ZeG-4’s cannon. “This is how I die…” I meowed, eyes closed. I was violently tackled and hit the ground. Zéphyr had saved me at the last moment, just before bullets obliterated the front of the taxicab. Other projectiles ricocheted off the metal money drawers on the floor and got lost in the ceiling, activating the fire sprinklers. This incident triggered a silent light alarm throughout the hangar while the mobster prepared a new salvo. “Don’t hurt my pilot, you narbo!” roared my partner. Ali, this time taken as a target, retaliated. She fired a single shot towards the rascal with a formidable precision. No one knew how to handle such a heavy gun as she did. She was my human. She was the best in her field: murder. And I taught her everything. Almost. The leader of the robbers tried to reload the magazine of his weapon, unaware that his heart had been punctured a few seconds before. Adrenaline was doing its job. But the blood loss caused by the explosion of the aorta at its base, near the ventricles, gradually stopped him in his gesture. His pressure dropped and the bloodstream no longer reached the brain sufficiently. He was already in a coma when his shoulders touched the ground. He was luckier than the average Joe and died a few seconds later. “Is everything all right?” My voice was trembling, still in shock from this disaster. I was wet and frozen. Zéphyr got up with difficulty. Next to us, one of the metal drawers was opened, revealing a bunch of green bills and a much stranger booty: an eight-inch gold diskette with suspicious Chinese symbols. Well… I couldn’t read them but Chinese symbols on stuff are always suspect, aren’t they? But there were more important matters. Because my partner, on the other hand, stayed on the ground. Blood was dripping from her black suit and mixed with the clear firefighting fluid that was falling like an endless rain. I tried to talk to her again but my voice was lost in a groan. “Why are you whining, you big baby? It’s just blood.” With her nose in a puddle, my sapiens smiled at me. Her left hand was compressing her abdomen. The bullet had passed through the external oblique muscle, far from the stomach. It wasn’t that bad after all but she had scared me. And that deserved a scratch on the wrist that made her scream: “What the fuck?” “And the medical expenses? Have you thought about medical expenses? We don’t have insurance!” “God, Uncle Scrooge! I hate you!” “We won’t be able to fix the Kitty with your heroic outbursts!” I fulminated to mask my joy of seeing her in one piece. “I will kill you, Muppet! I almost died! I don’t give a fuck about your rusty trash can which flies like a brick!” It was true that we hadn’t had a fight for a long time. “Guys…” intervened Zéphyr. “What?” Ali and I had spoken together. “These three ruffians had planned to steal the diskette drive from me once I got back. I needed a hand, so… thank you… I guess.” “You’re welcome,” my human answered dryly while sitting. Although Zéphyr saved me, I didn’t share the same kindness: “Wait, we’re not letting him go! Do you know who he is?” Zéphyr. Prince of thieves. And yes, he wasn’t much of a princess either. Just an androgynous cyborg. A breakout king wanted throughout the entire system for his affiliation with the Data Brokers’ Guild. With an incredible bounty of C$800,000, she or he… whatever… was the knight of the brokers’ chessboard. “I think we’ve had enough for today,” Ali said. “Unless you hope to go after him with these big fat guts of yours.” “By the 79 moons of Jupiter, you shall pay for this, woman!” I meowed, angry. My ears were backwards and my hairs were spiky. But soaking wet, it just made Ali and Zéphyr laugh. Disgrace! “He’s so cute when he’s furious,” he joked. Now on his knees, the night-skinned androgynous was blotting Ali’s wound with a torn piece of fabric from his driver’s uniform. “But more seriously, I need to go. With the bounty, you’ll be able to repair your vessel. As for the hospital fees, I will contact a good friend who will take care of you for free. She’s the ship’s chief medical officer.” “Thank you,” I simply replied as he helped my partner get back on her feet. “It’s the least I can do. I wasn’t interested in money. More important information is contained in this,” he said as he was picking up the floppy disk. This golden diskette must have been worth a lot of cash for Zéphyr to play a taxicab driver to ensure coverage. I had perceived that something was fishy! Then, halfway to his Swift-0, Zéphyr stopped. I witnessed his hesitation. “There was nothing personal, you know. We’re all just trying to make our way. The best we can…” And he ultimately left before adding: “Maybe we’ll see each other again! You seem like fun.” Before fleeing away, Zéphyr abandoned one of the boxes near the criminal’s corpse. Thus, he validated the theory of a robbery that had gone wrong. When the security arrived a few minutes later, we were the heroes of the day. And with a little bribe, nobody cared about Zéphyr’s missing ship. This whole story surely left us a bitter taste. A feeling of defeat and humiliation that the swimming pool under the synthetic sun couldn’t make disappear even a week after. “He undoubtedly played us as we were rookies, with his little face of a young innocent girl in distress,” I said to Ali right after the end of the daily Brett Maverick. This old show was dispensed on a couple of giant screens suspended by drones. Until now, Ali had remained silent on her deckchair; with a brick of sour juice stuck between her breasts and a pair of straws between her teeth. Only inaudible grunts emanated from her mouth since the departure of the sexually unclassifiable mugger. “I wonder what information this fucking cyber-Tootsie could have been looking for in that casino,” my human mumbled as she squeaked her rainbow flip-flops. “Admit that it’s not really that question that puts you in such a state…” I answered, now well installed on my motorized buoy that I had gotten as a gift in a diet kibbles package. “You bet! I will have a nasty tan mark on my stomach with these bandages!” she exploded, spitting out her plastic straws with infinite curls. My float slipped towards the ledge as a robot came to bring us our next glucose overdose. Ali finally added: “I swear that if we run into him again, I’ll smack his fucking angel face.” Back to business!
Hi All - Victorian here - apologies if this is against the rules of this sub. My wife grew up in Darwin to age 13 and has very fond memories of the place. We're in our late 30's now. We're approaching our 10 year wedding anniversary and I'm going to take her to Darwin. I want to have a romantic dinner on the actual day (it's a Saturday) and am looking for recommendations for somewhere to take her? I found a place called "Char" which seems like something we'd like, but it sounds like it might be "too" busy/popular. Generally looking for Aussie fare (ie not Indian or Chinese) - might consider Indonesian or Thai if it comes with a high recommendation. We love steaks and decadent food like seafood etc. No maximum budget (within reason of course). Any recommendations greatly appreciated! edit: thanks for all the tips everyone - looks like Pee Wee's is the one!
Kia Ora Redditors, I have gone through and analysed wide economic Moat companies listed on NZX. Hope the below helps to narrow down your choices in your investment journey.
Wide Moat, what is that ? Before starting this blog post please read this wide moat businesses explanation here Okay, now that we are up to speed, before you invest in any wide moat company you need to ensure financials of the business are solid as well, I’ll cover the topic of How to understand the financials of the business in the upcoming blogs so subscribe (here) to know when the blog is out. Let’s see if we can spot any wide moat business listed on NZX.
Auckland International Airport Limited (NZE: AIA)
Auckland International airport holds a virtual monopoly as the largest airport in NZ and processes the most number of passengers. This is located in the largest city in NZ as well, making it an ideal destination for travelers, With travelers expected to increase in the coming decades, you can clearly see the wide moat around this business.
WILL THE MOAT SHRINK IN THE NEAR FUTURE ?
The likely hood of the moat shrinking is very low since construction of another international airport in Auckland is highly unlikely. Thing to look out for is debt, since airport need vast amounts of money for up keep and improvements( ex: loss of unnecessary capital due to project over runs and delays). Read a more in depth analysis on Auckland International Airport here
Chorus Limited (NS) - (NZE: CNU)
Chorus manages and builds telecommunications infrastructure in NZ, for ex: when ever you sign up for fiber broadband plan with your ISP, Chorus is contracted to install the connections to your house. As copper cables are replaced by fiber optic cables around NZ, the cost of maintaining these new infrastructure grids are less than before.( Fiber vs Copper wiring: cost of copper and fiber optic cables are stronger requiring less maintenance).
WILL THE MOAT SHRINK IN THE NEAR FUTURE ?
I don’t think the moat will shrink in the near future as setting up a telecom infrastructure company with years of know how is quite difficult, the only way I can see this moat shrinking is if international companies what a piece of NZ infrastructure, but I don’t think the government would allow key infrastructure projects to be outsourced.
NZME Limited (NZE: NZM)
NZME is a New Zealand media company which owns brands such as:
NZ herald
Newstalk ZB
ZM
The Hits
Grab one etc…..
The moat exists but it is a very small one, this moat would have been huge during the hay day of print newspaper readership. So what has happened here ? Internet…. Print newspaper is virtually dead, newspapers all around the world are struggling to make money as subscribers dwindle. Due to the drop in readership, less and less ads are placed in the newspaper hence lower revenue. All the eye balls have moved to “ Social Media”, that’s where the ads are now a days. The only saving light I can see is Grab One, the popular coupon site in NZ. I do believe this will provide a strong source of revenue to the company but I am not sure if this can offset the losses in the other divisions.
The New Zealand Refining Company Limited (NZE: NZR)
Refining NZ is New Zealand’s only oil refinery and the leading supplier of refined petroleum products to the New Zealand market, including petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and other products As a critical piece of national energy infrastructure, Refining NZ is responsible for supplying:
around 85% country’s jet fuel
around 67% of diesel
around 58% of all petrol
between 75 and 85% of bitumen for roading
all fuel oil for ships
sulphur for farm fertilizer
CO2 for the carbonated drinks industry
Moat exists because this is the only oil refinery in New Zealand, It also suppliers around 85% of NZ’s aviation fuel. I believe the number of travelers to New Zealand will only increase, Provide refining NZ a solid moat, however as electric cars are bound to make in roads in New Zealand, the demand for petrol and diesel will gradually decrease. So we need to keep an eye out on the financial performance on an annual basis to make sure the business can still maintain the moat.
Port of Tauranga Limited (NS) (NZE: POT)
The Port of Tauranga Located Tauranga (about 200 km away from Auckland) is the largest port in New Zealand in terms of total cargo volume, and the second largest in terms of container throughput. Total exports: 📷 Total Exports from POT As you can see the number of tonnes being exported from port of Tauranga is increasing. Total imports: 📷 Total Imports from POT As you can see the number of tonnes being imported from port of Tauranga is increasing as well. I see this trend continuing as the demand for NZ products especially in emerging markets increases and demand for imports increases as NZ population continues to grow. So the Moat around POT should be in tact for many years to come.
Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited (NZE: RBD)
Restaurant Brands operates the New Zealand franchises for KFC, Pizza Hut and Carl's Jr. It also operate a KFC franchise in New South Wales, Australia and Taco Bell and Pizza Hut franchise in Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. As of October 2018, Restaurant Brands has 261 stores: 94 KFC New Zealand, 61 KFC Australia 29 Pizza Hut New Zealand, 18 Carl's Jr., 36 Taco Bell Hawaii and 45 Pizza Hut Hawaii stores. It employs nearly 8,000 staff across New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii and serves 120,000 customers worldwide every day. Since RBD operates the NZ franchises for KFC, Pizza Hut and Carl’s Jr and if you wanted to be a franchisee in NZ then you would have to go through them , this gives RBD an economic moat. Will the moat shrink in the near future ? I think the moat will certainly shrink, this is due to the fact that many people are moving away from processed foods to more organic and more healthier options, this will cause sales in fast foods such as KFC, Pizza hut etc to shrink, which in turn means less new franchises opening up. There might even be closures around the corner. So I see the moat being broken pretty soon in the years to come.
SKYCITY Entertainment Group Limited (NS) (NZE: SKC)
SKYCITY Entertainment Group Limited is New Zealand’s largest tourism, leisure and entertainment company. It is one of three major publicly listed casino operators in Australasia. It has entertainment complexes in:
Auckland
Hamilton
Queenstown
Adelaide
Darwin
SkyCity also owns one of Auckland’s best know attractions “Sky Tower”. Although the revenue generated from sky tower to the overall business is small, it is still a jewel in the sky city crown. Will the moat shrink in the near future ? Considering SKC is New Zealand’s largest tourism, leisure and entertainment company, it has all the basis covered for tourists that enter into NZ. It also has large convention centers where numerous conferences are held, I don’t see the moat shrinking any time soon. As they in casino lingo “ House always wins”.
South Port New Zealand Limited (NS) ( NZE: SPN)
SPN is the southern most commercial port in NZ located at Bluff. It is situated in the highly productive province of Southland which is responsible for producing a sizeable proportion of New Zealand’s total exports by value. The region’s major exporters are all situated within 80km of the port. All the moat characteristics explained for Port of Tauranga (POT) exist here as well.
Trade Me Group Limited (NZE: TME)
Trade me is the largest internet auction website in NZ. It has Trade me property, motors, jobs etc. Trade me had held a monopoly on internet auctions for quite some time in NZ, but it’s moat has been slowly eroding away, how ? Trade me jobs is competing against Seek, LinkedIn Trade me property is competing against realestate.co.nz, oneroof etc. Trade me market place is competing against Facebook marketplace. Looking at all the competitions trade me is facing it seems quite difficult to hold down the moat in the future.
Vector Limited (NZE: VCT)
Vector is New Zealand's largest distributor of electricity and gas, owning and operating networks which span the Auckland region.This distribution system gives Vector an economic moat. Vector has been involved in electrification projects - charging stations for electric cars, which I think is great for future growth. As number of electric cars increase, there will definitely be a need for more and more charging stations which vector can deliver. The moat seems to be very much intact.
Before writing here, I’ve read many debates over the factions in New Vegas. Although I’ve seen many good points, I also feel that Mr. Robert Edwin House is often grossly misunderstood – both by his supporters AND by his detractors. To assist, I’ve endeavoured to read up on all dialogue, letters and terminal entries concerning House, and from that write out a summarized biography with occasional insights into the man’s character. What you’ll read is by no means exhaustive (and I always enjoy new perspectives from others), but it IS going to be a fair bit of reading. I mean, seriously, this is the abridged biography of a 200+ year old man, not some low-effort meme post. Grab yourself some biscuits and make some nice hot tea. Sit back, relax and enjoy at your own pace. DISCLAIMER: A flaw of my writing style, especially when using this many words, is that I can appear all over the place at times. I'm trying to improve that. Feedback is appreciated, and I love answering questions should you have any. Don't panic if I don't respond quickly though, IRL is kinda hectic right now. Anyways, where shall we begin? Oh, right. To understand House, we must examine the context he inhabited Pre-War. 1) Family Matters “Born June 25th, 2020, House was orphaned at an early age when his parents died in a freak accident (auto gyro, lightning). Though cheated of his inheritance, House attended the prestigious Institute in Massachusetts and founded RobCo Industries on his 22nd birthday. Within five years, it was one of the most profitable corporations on Earth.”
Mr. House’s obituary (“A Tragedy Has Befallen All Mankind”)
I have tried to find other texts to support the story Robert House gives of his early life (since we all know his obituary has more than a little embellishment in it), but haven’t found much, other than the eerie terminal logs in the H&H Tools Factory. The logs in general paint an objective picture of his half-brother Anthony House as a deranged man, ending with this noteworthy passage: “It's worse than I feared. Henderson sent a 10-point memo outlining the benefits of mechanization and automation. As if I wouldn't know he's been plotting with my half-brother the entire time! I knew he was a weasel-dick traitor from the moment I laid eyes on him. Only one thing to do. One thing, and the company - my father's LEGACY - is safe forever. Cindy-Lou will bring him to me, and then I'll make an example. The Bastard will learn why you don't cross the House.”
Anthony House, regarding Robert House.
and “Jenny, What the hell is up with these guys? They've been coming after our market share like they've got something to prove. No, strike that, this feels personal. Did Mr. H. run over RobCo's dog or something? Alan” With the above in mind, it is believable that Anthony House had cheated Robert House out of his inheritance, with the former viewing the latter as “The Bastard” (due to Robert being the younger half-brother) and thus undeserving of any part of the House family legacy. We can thus take the QUOTED part of House’s obituary above more or less at face value. 2) The end is nigh! Now, years after raising a famous company from almost nothing, Mr. House deduced the occurrence of the Great War. By his own account, he first deduced this in 2065 – at this point in time, according to the Fallout Bible and Van Buren, Vault-Tech’s “Project Safehouse” had been in motion for over 11 years with the apparent goal being to shelter humanity in the event of a large-scale nuclear or bio-weapon holocaust. Europe and the Middle East were mutually ruined due to extended conflict and lack of resources. Heritage sites like the Grand Canyon were open to be mined. And the UN may-or-may-not-have been disbanded. Going by the GNN report in Fallout 2 the UN still had at least another (fairly ineffectual) 9 years left counting down from 2065. According to the Fallout Bible, it was already long dead. Either way, the world was in bad shape. It’d be easy for us, at this point, to turn to Mr. House’s prediction and say something along the lines of “No kidding”. It seems obvious, from where we stand now in the Pre-War Fallout world, that there would be a nuclear Holocaust. And indeed, it was obvious. Even the Mormons were buying spots in Project Safehouse, if we are to believe Van Buren in that particular instance. What made House unique in his deduction, however, was knowing not only that the Atomic Holocaust WOULD happen no matter what (Vault-Tech’s plans were based more around general contingencies for any large-scale apocalypse), but he also knew precisely WHEN it would happen – the War only starting a day or so sooner than he expected. As an aside, in light of the shambles the Pre-War world was in, one must wonder just how much it actually meant to be “one of the most profitable corporations on Earth”. Earth, at that point, was almost a wasteland already and House still built and sustained a thriving business. But I digress; we’re not yet worrying about how House could rebuild a wasteland. What we need to look at now is this – what did House do with his uniquely precise knowledge of the impending Apocalypse? “I knew I couldn't ‘save the world,’ nor did I care to. But I could save Vegas, and in the process, perhaps, save mankind.”
Robert Edwin House
And really, it is no wonder House did not care to save the world – there was barely anything left to save. The UN – an international force for peace – had either died or was rapidly weakening. The U.S. began setting its sights on annexing Canada. Entire forests were felled, Once-ler style, just as countries were felled to acquire them. Sure, people could build power armour, but only because the US military could no longer afford to fuel their tanks for sufficient mobility, and their “Mechanized Cavalry” needed something to take into battle. Even electricity is rationed after the fusion reactor of New York City almost went supercritical under the strain of providing for a 17 million+ strong population (Fallout Bible). And, despite all their troubles, America was still one of the best off countries in the world at this point (which makes you wonder how much worse it was in the others). But whilst America carried on, Lonesome Road and Old World Blues show us that its values had changed, almost as if in a twisted homage to Heath Ledger’s Joker - “You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve." We see this theme echoed in the NCR and even the Followers of the Apocalypse, but we’ll get to that later. The Pre-War world wasn’t some ideal Utopia that was only ruined by the tragedy of the bomb. It was already a desperate place, already a wasteland in many ways. There simply wasn’t enough left on Earth to provide for everyone (RIP Charlie Chaplin). And that’s why House could never hope to save everyone, let alone the planet they lived on. Anything he tried on that scale would be “too little, too late”. 3) Who Wants to Live Forever Anyways? So…why did House choose to save Vegas? Some say he did so in order to save himself. But if he truly wished to save himself, he could have been like Senator Todd Peterson, and built himself a private bunker within which to live out his days with whatever loved ones he may have had. Even if he wouldn’t be immortal, it’d still be a MUCH more comfortable way to spend his days. When it comes to the life he eventually chose, the Official Game Guide has this to say about House: “He is emaciated to the point of being skeletal, bones visible under pale, translucent skin crisscrossed by faint blue blood vessels. House's command helmet is not detachable - we don't want to imply that the player could put it on and take his place. The helmet might be bolted right into his skull, like a "halo" used to stabilize severe neck injuries. Or it might not be a helmet at all, the top of Mr. House's skull having been removed and fitted with transistors and vacuum tubes.” No, House did not endeavour to save himself. If anything, he condemned himself to a special kind of Hell. He was a man with the means to luxury, and yet sealed himself off from it, and almost all human experience the average man might take for granted (the smell of a flower, the touch of a woman, the feeling of a cool breeze on a Summer day)…forever. He mentions his longevity came with a cost. He was not kidding. If anything, he was understating. Others instead compare House to Andrew Ryan, and say that he saved Vegas only so he could be the head amongst the wealthy and the elite. I must disagree here too – the tribals he later babysits were never elite in their own right by Pre-War standards before House’s intervention. Aside from being a superficial reference to Howard Hughes, House has very little in common with Ryan. Billions of US Dollars were at House’s disposal. If he really wished to be a leading figure amongst the elite, he would’ve built the Fallout equivalent of Rapture in the middle of the ocean ages ago. Or he would’ve built his own “Sierra Madre” to rival Sinclair. Or he would’ve ingratiated himself with the Enclave (who he did contract work for) or the Institute (where he studied), who could’ve used a man like him to lead their projects. He did none of those things. He chose to save Vegas. Young, old, rich, poor, honest and crooked alike. And he chose to become immortal, despite the steep personal costs. But why? 4) Long Term Investments “Vegas is more than a city. It is the remedy to Mankind’s…derailment.”
Mr. House “I grew up not far from here, and though I traveled the old world extensively, I never found another place like it.”
Mr. House Aside from being House’s birthplace, Vegas -in the Fallout Universe - was home to not only the (in)famous casinos, but also to many factories dedicated to manufacturing drinks, robots, tools and rockets. Nearby there is an air-force base and –perhaps most importantly- Hoover Dam and Helios One. In a world fated to end over a lack of resources, ensuring access to two of the most basic and important renewable resources in the aftermath would go a long way to help ensure humanity at least doesn’t end entirely.
And all of these resources would fall within range of his Securitron Network – at least once the Mk II upgrade arrives. If we are to believe that Mr. House wished to establish colonies on new worlds as a solution to Earth’s resource problem regardless of whether the War happens first or not (and the Official Game Guide confirms House is interested in technological progress, at the very least), then it makes sense that House would choose Vegas – not because it is particularly important in itself (compared to other possible cities), but because it is the central location from which he could gain control of resources vital to the space program –renewable energy, REPCONN HQ, rocket test sites and seemingly limitless clean water for his employees. Still, as we find out later, House doesn’t let Vegas itself go to waste by any means… The site chosen, House toiled over his defenses. He built a nuclear reactor under his casino with enough energy to power the Mojave. He built a life-support system to ensure his survival into the post-apocalypse, no matter the cost. He built Securitrons to protect his interests in the aftermath, and then built a factory/ storage facility for them under Fortification Hill – a mere stone’s throw from Hoover Dam - so that his army might never run out. Meanwhile, the brilliant Big MT scientist who would become Dr. 0 silently fumed in envy over House’s superior abilities in robotics. Some may doubt that the Fort’s bunker was a factory. After all, House just calls it a “barracks”, which implies storage, right? Well, consider some barracks have recruitment offices – and in RTS style games, they’re often functionally the same building. Now what would the Securitron equivalent of a “recruitment office” be? Powering up the Fort Bunker causes distinct, repetitive hydraulic sounds, as if there were an assembly line moving. Does that sound like mere storage to you? No. You think he’d build an army with no way to replenish it? “I'm surprised you can still underestimate me after everything you've seen.”
Mr. House
5) For Want of a Nail But now, ironically after the above quote, we encounter House’s greatest failure. You see, House had everything set up, but it was still in BETA (insert Fallout76 Joke here). He commissioned the “Platinum Chip” to contain all the patches, software upgrades and override commands he could need for the foreseeable future. It was specially shaped so it could only be used on hardware he specified – no other company could hope to steal it or otherwise use it for their own purposes. The Chip was finished and scheduled to arrive a day before the predicted date of the war. And then the War arrived a day early. 77 Warheads targeted Vegas. Mr. House, irrevocably entombed within his Life Chambers, readied Vegas’ defenses… “I was in Mexico City when the bombs dropped. Even from there, we could see House's defensive rockets shooting down the incoming missiles.” -Raul Tejeda And what House couldn’t shoot down, he hacked, deactivating warheads mid-air so they could never reach Vegas. But, because the Platinum Chip hadn’t arrived in time, the software remained a BETA - and would for another 204 years. Nine warheads managed to impact the Mojave. *“When blaring civil defense sirens heralded mankind's doom on October 23rd, 2077, the citizens of Las Vegas bore witness to an astonishing spectacle. Huge laser cannons unfurled from secret housings in the roof of the Lucky 38 casino and Hoover Dam's intake towers and began spitting blasts of green fire into the sky, destroying warhead after warhead and sparing Las Vegas's urban center and the dam from direct hits. Citizens filled the streets and cheered. And then they died horribly from the lethal fallout that blew in from the dozens of warheads that detonated around Las Vegas. Though Mr. House's missile defense grid performed admirably, the Great War was in actuality the day of his greatest setback.”*
Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide
House saved no-one that day. You were either in a Vault, or you were House, or you were dead. Software bugs, compounded by the EMP from nuclear fallout, caused the defense action House put forward to result in multiple system crashes, forcing him to shut down his fully automated reactor before it melted down from faulty programming. Now without Hoover Dam (EMP) or his reactor, House’s life support relied on a very limited supply of emergency power. It was all he could do to restore his OS to an even less advanced -but more stable- build before passing out from shock. 6) Too Stubborn to Die Now, the Courier is famous for rising from the grave to finish their quest - but House did it first. 61 years after the bombs dropped, House woke up. At this time, the Master (of Super Mutant army fame) was active and alive. Vault 15 – from which Shady Sands was built – hadn’t even opened yet. The majority of House’s Securitrons are offline, with only a handful of downgraded ones stationed in his casino. Raiders plagued the Wastes. And House’s own limited power supplies dwindled ever lower. Now, he lived a full life. Raul notes how House was something of a superstar who dated all the beautiful women and made billions before the War, reaching the ripe age of 57 before the bombs fell. After losing almost everything in his gamble to try save Vegas, it’d be tempting for anyone in House’s position to give up, to shut down again and just…die. Instead… “Immediately he began using his Securitron robots to search out human settlements…”
Official Game Guide
From this point onwards (until his determinant acquisition of the Dam) House is forced to make choices most of us don’t even have to consider. Everyone has to worry about their budget for the month. Some of us have to worry about their budget for the year…or a company’s or even country’s budget for a similar period - maybe 5 or 10 years, in some cases. House has chosen to worry about the World’s “budget” (fiscal or otherwise) over the course of…forever, because no one else alive is as acutely aware of the global resource shortage as House, who lived through multiple wars caused by it, culminating in that big famous one that almost ended the world. “For years, I played a miser with my emergency power supply. I began to run out of reserves around the time I woke the first batch of Securitrons”.
House
Of course, House had his own budgets to worry about. It was not long after sending out his forces to find other humans that his power supply began to dip dangerously low. Realizing the costs of waking up his robots after the first batch forced House to play very carefully – after all, he couldn’t enact his plans to revitalize the global economy if he died now, could he? He sent his mechanical agents out, quietly hiring prospectors to find his beloved Chip – with no personnel or infrastructure to reproduce it, he had to find it…before he shut off forever. Beyond that, he ran silently, keeping his “electrical bill” as low as possible, hoping the Chip would find him in time. As it turns out, the NCR got to him first. If you ever wondered why House did not try to personally civilize Vegas, introduce sustainable agriculture and grant free schooling before NCR showed up, it’s because doing those things would require him to take a very active role in life outside the Lucky 38, and doing that, with his power reserves as they were, would have been fatal for him (to say nothing of the mutants, raiders, etc). This is the weakest he has ever been since his half-brother swindled him. But I digress. The NCR is on the horizon…as was the Legion. 7) I Called Dibs 2 Centuries Ago Suddenly, things moved very quickly. For years after the Wastes were repopulated, (what passed for) peace and order in Nevada was maintained by the vigilante Desert Rangers, who allowed themselves to be absorbed into the NCR in 2271, in exchange for help against Caesar. A year later, the Mojave Outpost as we see it –under NCR- came to be, the Mojave south of the Vegas area having been pacified earlier under the leadership of then-General Kimball. Then, Kimball achieving Presidency, Hoover Dam fell under their grip. In the span of 2274 House engaged his final power reserves in a last-ditch effort to secure his future (and, by proxy and from his perspective, the future of Mankind). Beatrix Russel and the King describe Pre-House Vegas as a place where everyone got by, but the truth is less-than-spotless; according to the FNVOGG, tribes fought amongst the ruins – Slither Kin, Boot Riders, Great Khans, and many other smaller or more mysterious groups. Using Securitrons as his intermediaries, Mr. House enlisted the help of all who were both willing and capable of aiding him, playing on their self-interest and need to survive by promising (and delivering) them resources and power. But whilst you can teach tribals to fight your enemies and socialize with your allies, you can’t turn them into a competent team of technical specialists – not in the time available. And he’d need educated men and women to truly restore the glamour of his New Vegas. And that’s where Vault 21 came in. After uncooperative tribes like the Great Khans were pushed off the areas around the Strip, House made an offer to this community, who had previously lived in peace as chaos raged above them. The offer was simple: help rebuild Vegas…or not. Most chose the second option, but a small group of Vault residents decided to gain support on House’s behalf, eventually achieving a consensus: they would work for House, and opened their doors to him. They soon found themselves aiding House’s tribals in building a massive wall sheltering both the Strip and Freeside from the rest of Vegas. Vault 21’s lower levels were salvaged of useful technology to aid in construction…and then (infamously) filled with concrete to ensure future, less innocent visitors to the Vault couldn’t use it to breach the Lucky 38’s sub-levels or Vegas’ defenses. At the request of its more agoraphobic residents, House spared Vault 21’s top levels, transforming it into a hotel for them to run. With the Vegas Strip being far larger – more casinos, more housing, more everything – in lore, art and cutscenes compared to in-game, it is plausible to believe the displaced Vault Dwellers were rehoused on the Strip itself; as relatively well educated individuals, they’d be invaluable in House’s endeavours – of the three we met, we know one became House’s top sign artist, one became a hotel manager and one voluntarily left Vegas to be a travelling doctor before retiring in Goodsprings (we know because he eventually returned to marry his sweetheart, who still lived not far from the Vault she came from). Whilst not yet open for business by any means, House had managed to turn a ruin plagued with tribal conflicts into a citadel presided over by Three Families. The NCR arrived in force, expecting just another wasted city picked over by warring raiders…and instead found a fortress in the wastes…and surprisingly, one that not only wasn’t hostile to them, but outright welcomed them…providing certain concessions were made… With the threat of the Legion just on the horizon, NCR were faced with an offer they could not refuse – they would be allowed to set up an embassy and police force on the Strip, as well as a military base in Outer Vegas so long as they provided 5% of the Dam’s power output to Vegas (which they would need to do to make use of their embassy and base anyways) and allow their citizens and soldiers on leave to enjoy House’s amenities at their own discretion. Sounds pretty reasonable, doesn’t it? NCR agreed to the terms, implicitly legitimizing the sovereignty of New Vegas under House. Power flowed to the Strip and House, who had to suffer multiple power outages, whose salves and meds almost curdled because of this, whose life was literally tied to that of his battery…could finally breathe easy, now having more (electrical) power than he knew what to do with. 8) But why didn’t House…? You may be asking “Why didn’t House instead provide his resources to the NCR, allowing them to push the tribals out of Vegas and restore it that way, possibly becoming a prominent citizen in the process?” House’s detractors often refer to his compulsive need for control, and control is precisely why House would rather recruit tribals to work for him than try to merge with something larger. But why does House want that control? I’d argue it isn’t due to a compulsive need for it – his leadership is extremely hands-off. To understand why House wants to remain in control, rather than admit subservience to a larger civilization, we need to look back to Pre-War America and that Joker quote we put down earlier. NCR is, in many ways, similar to Pre-War US. It was founded on lofty ideals. And when resources became scarce? They abandoned their ideals and annexed whatever and whoever they wanted to get more resources until the globe was almost depleted and -BOOM! So far, NCR is just at the “annexing” stage (not that they have nukes anyways), but the globe is about as depleted as it was 200 years ago. Chief Hanlon speaks of the overconsumption and mismanagement of water in their territories, Doctor Hildern predicts a famine after a decade of population growth. Supporting this, the intro-cutscene for the game outright states NCR’s expansion is influenced by a lack of resources for their growing populace. NCR’s current population as a nation…around 700 000. Compare that to Johannesburg’s (which is just one city) population of 900 000+. Compare that to the 39 million+ strong population of real life California today. And NCR is the largest unified population on the continent. And they’re running out of resources already. By modern IRL standards, the population that Earth (or at least, America) can sustain in the Post-War Fallout universe is absolutely tiny. Even the possible savior we find within Big MT’s matter replicators is in question, with the substantially wealthy Sinclair being driven almost into debt just to fund the creation a few according to the terminal in the Y-0 Lab, and very few having been found outside the Sierra Madre despite Dean’s claims. Of course, perhaps that could change with time and resources directed towards further development, but until then… (As it stands, Pre-War US couldn’t/ didn’t make them economically viable to produce before the Great War started). If even the Followers of the Apocalypse are willing to commit murder over water at this juncture (White Wash), imagine how things would be later down the line. There aren’t infinite resources in the Fallout world – just too few people to deplete what is left…yet. No one is as painfully aware of the resource shortage as House. Maybe others of his intellect will rise up in the NCR, but like him in Pre-War US, they won’t detect the issue until it’s too late to properly solve it. Not wanting to gamble on the multi-headed NCR following his advice forever, he instead puts on an appearance of having power, ensuring full control over his enterprises. This is why House doesn’t bid for NCR citizenship. He’s seen what happens to Democracies when the going gets truly desperate – how they corrupt into oligarchies blinded by greed or desperation. Rather than watch that happen again, he chooses to become an autocrat in a long-term venture for the good of Mankind – after all (as we’ve stated before), he has little reason to continue living for himself. 9) The Nature of the Strip “A fool and his money are soon parted.” – Proverbs, 21:20, King James Bible Strip away the gambling amenities, and what is left? A luxury resort, a fine-dining restaurant, an art gallery, a theatre, bars, hotels, a brothel and a gentleman’s club. For want of a nail, House cannot access the powerful amenities around Vegas, but he’s made the best of the city itself. Early on, access between the Strip and Freeside was unrestricted (according to the FNVOGG) – Securitrons thoroughly patrolled both areas and just about everybody there was living relatively well. For those of you familiar with casinos, you know they pull every trick in the book – the smiling staff, the bright lights, the music, and the colours – in order to subtly entice you to make a wager. For those who’ve only visited casinos to partake in their collection of arcades, restaurants, cinemas or theatres, you know all those psychological prompts to “pay to watch people flip paper squares”, as Follows-Chalk likes to say, are entirely ignorable. For a man like House, the Strip exists to collect money (a.k.a. the power to requisition resources) from those who do not know how to spend it and redistribute it into the hands of those working towards his ends (maintenance aside, recovering his Chip – which is still invaluable despite the power from Hoover Dam - is becoming a tad expensive, after all). It also exists as a place of culture and relaxation for more responsible visitors. For many others, however, the Strip has become a beacon of hope. Enthusiastic entertainers finally had a place to permanently employ their gifts. Those who were unfortunate in life but otherwise hard-working made livings as Street Vendors on the Strip, earning far more than they could anywhere else even after taking House’s Franchisee taxes into account. And formerly inter-warring tribals were finally living in peace, operating lavish casinos semi-independently in return for making and enforcing certain agreements with House (notably, cannibalism carries the death penalty). 10) The Separation from Freeside Around two years BEFORE the game started, or 2 years AFTER the First Battle of Hoover Dam, House began to wall Freeside off from the Strip. Whether it was due to being overwhelmed by too many people trying to spend money they didn’t actually have, or due to a security issue, House decided to pull his Securitron forces and loyal employees off of Freeside to concentrate on the Strip, with admittance becoming more exclusive. You either: a) possessed a passport indicating you were trusted to visit the Strip b) had enough money on you to prove you were a tourist who could afford to enjoy the Strip’s services (there is no entry tax or fee – just a credit check to ensure you aren’t going to just indebt yourself within 5 seconds of visiting) c) have to stay in Freeside or go home d) were an NCR soldier or VIP on leave OR e) tried to break past a cordon of armed robots whilst ignoring their instructions to stop and turn around, earning yourself a Darwin Award (of course, NCR troops will also kill you if you try to use “their” Monorail under similar circumstances, only they won’t wait for you to break past them). But despite the new checkpoint, a woman from North Vegas – who previously could barely afford to eat – found good, steady work on the Strip as a salesperson. Street performers like the Lonesome Drifter or Billy Knight were admitted in without a peep. Although it’s true that the Strip’s services cater to the rich, the people it truly looks after are the hard working and enthusiastic (Billy Knight isn’t an exceptional comedian, but he clearly loves his work and that was clearly enough). Remember that no one local to Vegas was rich before House came back –since his resurrection he has been an employer of the willing and the able, and that hasn’t changed. Vegas puts on a big show for wealthy consumers, but it’s people like Billy Knight or the woman from North Vegas who come out ahead. But, of course, not everyone liked the idea of working for House. Perhaps, more tragically, they decided too late to find employment as all staff slots were filled. Regardless, Freeside, with most of its more capable now residing on the Strip, and the Securitons no longer protecting it, degenerated back into lawlessness and became a hive of scum and villainy. It is from these conditions that a man calling himself the King rallied various dispossessed former tribals of all colours into a new tribe of his own. But we’ll return to him later… We never find out for certain why House shut out Freeside. The Locals will blame the droves of NCR squatters around Vegas (for just about everything), but we’ll likely never know for certain beyond plausible speculations.
Kia Ora Redditors, I have gone through and analysed wide economic Moat companies listed on NZX. Hope the below helps to narrow down your choices in your investment journey.
Wide Moat, what is that ? Before starting this blog post please read this wide moat businesses explanation here Okay, now that we are up to speed, before you invest in any wide moat company you need to ensure financials of the business are solid as well, I’ll cover the topic of How to understand the financials of the business in the upcoming blogs so subscribe (here) to know when the blog is out. Let’s see if we can spot any wide moat business listed on NZX.
Auckland International Airport Limited (NZE: AIA)
Auckland International airport holds a virtual monopoly as the largest airport in NZ and processes the most number of passengers. This is located in the largest city in NZ as well, making it an ideal destination for travelers, With travelers expected to increase in the coming decades, you can clearly see the wide moat around this business.
WILL THE MOAT SHRINK IN THE NEAR FUTURE ?
The likely hood of the moat shrinking is very low since construction of another international airport in Auckland is highly unlikely. Thing to look out for is debt, since airport need vast amounts of money for up keep and improvements( ex: loss of unnecessary capital due to project over runs and delays). Read a more in depth analysis on Auckland International Airport here
Chorus Limited (NS) - (NZE: CNU)
Chorus manages and builds telecommunications infrastructure in NZ, for ex: when ever you sign up for fiber broadband plan with your ISP, Chorus is contracted to install the connections to your house. As copper cables are replaced by fiber optic cables around NZ, the cost of maintaining these new infrastructure grids are less than before.( Fiber vs Copper wiring: cost of copper and fiber optic cables are stronger requiring less maintenance).
WILL THE MOAT SHRINK IN THE NEAR FUTURE ?
I don’t think the moat will shrink in the near future as setting up a telecom infrastructure company with years of know how is quite difficult, the only way I can see this moat shrinking is if international companies what a piece of NZ infrastructure, but I don’t think the government would allow key infrastructure projects to be outsourced.
NZME Limited (NZE: NZM)
NZME is a New Zealand media company which owns brands such as:
NZ herald
Newstalk ZB
ZM
The Hits
Grab one etc…..
The moat exists but it is a very small one, this moat would have been huge during the hay day of print newspaper readership. So what has happened here ? Internet…. Print newspaper is virtually dead, newspapers all around the world are struggling to make money as subscribers dwindle. Due to the drop in readership, less and less ads are placed in the newspaper hence lower revenue. All the eye balls have moved to “ Social Media”, that’s where the ads are now a days. The only saving light I can see is Grab One, the popular coupon site in NZ. I do believe this will provide a strong source of revenue to the company but I am not sure if this can offset the losses in the other divisions.
The New Zealand Refining Company Limited (NZE: NZR)
Refining NZ is New Zealand’s only oil refinery and the leading supplier of refined petroleum products to the New Zealand market, including petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and other products As a critical piece of national energy infrastructure, Refining NZ is responsible for supplying:
around 85% country’s jet fuel
around 67% of diesel
around 58% of all petrol
between 75 and 85% of bitumen for roading
all fuel oil for ships
sulphur for farm fertilizer
CO2 for the carbonated drinks industry
Moat exists because this is the only oil refinery in New Zealand, It also suppliers around 85% of NZ’s aviation fuel. I believe the number of travelers to New Zealand will only increase, Provide refining NZ a solid moat, however as electric cars are bound to make in roads in New Zealand, the demand for petrol and diesel will gradually decrease. So we need to keep an eye out on the financial performance on an annual basis to make sure the business can still maintain the moat.
Port of Tauranga Limited (NS) (NZE: POT)
The Port of Tauranga Located Tauranga (about 200 km away from Auckland) is the largest port in New Zealand in terms of total cargo volume, and the second largest in terms of container throughput. Total exports: 📷 Total Exports from POT As you can see the number of tonnes being exported from port of Tauranga is increasing. Total imports: 📷 Total Imports from POT As you can see the number of tonnes being imported from port of Tauranga is increasing as well. I see this trend continuing as the demand for NZ products especially in emerging markets increases and demand for imports increases as NZ population continues to grow. So the Moat around POT should be in tact for many years to come.
Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited (NZE: RBD)
Restaurant Brands operates the New Zealand franchises for KFC, Pizza Hut and Carl's Jr. It also operate a KFC franchise in New South Wales, Australia and Taco Bell and Pizza Hut franchise in Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. As of October 2018, Restaurant Brands has 261 stores: 94 KFC New Zealand, 61 KFC Australia 29 Pizza Hut New Zealand, 18 Carl's Jr., 36 Taco Bell Hawaii and 45 Pizza Hut Hawaii stores. It employs nearly 8,000 staff across New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii and serves 120,000 customers worldwide every day. Since RBD operates the NZ franchises for KFC, Pizza Hut and Carl’s Jr and if you wanted to be a franchisee in NZ then you would have to go through them , this gives RBD an economic moat. Will the moat shrink in the near future ? I think the moat will certainly shrink, this is due to the fact that many people are moving away from processed foods to more organic and more healthier options, this will cause sales in fast foods such as KFC, Pizza hut etc to shrink, which in turn means less new franchises opening up. There might even be closures around the corner. So I see the moat being broken pretty soon in the years to come.
SKYCITY Entertainment Group Limited (NS) (NZE: SKC)
SKYCITY Entertainment Group Limited is New Zealand’s largest tourism, leisure and entertainment company. It is one of three major publicly listed casino operators in Australasia. It has entertainment complexes in:
Auckland
Hamilton
Queenstown
Adelaide
Darwin
SkyCity also owns one of Auckland’s best know attractions “Sky Tower”. Although the revenue generated from sky tower to the overall business is small, it is still a jewel in the sky city crown. Will the moat shrink in the near future ? Considering SKC is New Zealand’s largest tourism, leisure and entertainment company, it has all the basis covered for tourists that enter into NZ. It also has large convention centers where numerous conferences are held, I don’t see the moat shrinking any time soon. As they in casino lingo “ House always wins”.
South Port New Zealand Limited (NS) ( NZE: SPN)
SPN is the southern most commercial port in NZ located at Bluff. It is situated in the highly productive province of Southland which is responsible for producing a sizeable proportion of New Zealand’s total exports by value. The region’s major exporters are all situated within 80km of the port. All the moat characteristics explained for Port of Tauranga (POT) exist here as well.
Trade Me Group Limited (NZE: TME)
Trade me is the largest internet auction website in NZ. It has Trade me property, motors, jobs etc. Trade me had held a monopoly on internet auctions for quite some time in NZ, but it’s moat has been slowly eroding away, how ? Trade me jobs is competing against Seek, LinkedIn Trade me property is competing against realestate.co.nz, oneroof etc. Trade me market place is competing against Facebook marketplace. Looking at all the competitions trade me is facing it seems quite difficult to hold down the moat in the future.
Vector Limited (NZE: VCT)
Vector is New Zealand's largest distributor of electricity and gas, owning and operating networks which span the Auckland region.This distribution system gives Vector an economic moat. Vector has been involved in electrification projects - charging stations for electric cars, which I think is great for future growth. As number of electric cars increase, there will definitely be a need for more and more charging stations which vector can deliver. The moat seems to be very much intact.
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