by Bob Blink
His young friend was full of surprises he thought as he looked around the small house. As uncomfortable as he seemed to be with those capable of using the power, he seemed totally comfortable with the amazing relics he’d shown him the day before. He had to admit, the youth had become more accepting of his own limited abilities, and even seemed to cheer him on with each new ability he displayed. Jolan still wondered how the “monitors” worked, and what mechanism was being used to capture the images. Back home he’d have said some high-resolution satellite, but he knew that wasn’t the case here. For that matter, he doubted the satellites back home could have captured images with such incredible resolution or stayed locked onto a specific image as it moved. He’d like to go have another look, but even if he could figure out how to get into the room, he wasn’t sure how Asari would react to his poking around.
“I wasn’t sure you’d be up yet,” said a voice behind him. “You didn’t even move all night from what I could tell.”
Asari came into the house carrying a few items wrapped in a cloth bag. Jolan hoped it was breakfast. He reached inside and handed Jolan something wrapped in a thin bread-like covering. Jolan didn’t even ask. He bit into the offering and smiled at the pleasant result.
“I assume you were out announcing your return in the village,” he said.
Mouth full, Asari nodded, and after swallowing said, “I talked with Dinal. I know I can trust him, and he knows a lot. He said that our best bet if we found a bit of cuprum would be Lorem over at the stables and one of the merchants in the fairgrounds. He didn’t know the name, but described the man’s tent, so he should be easy enough to find.”
“Why would the stable-master be interested in copper?”
“He’s also the local metals smith. He makes his own horse-shoes, fixes the plows and such. He would know the worth, and how to check the purity. He’s a good man. He and my Da were friendly. Oh, he’ll want to make a profit, but at the same time he’ll be fair.”
“Maybe we should start with him and then go see this other person. We don’t know anything about him, but it might be interesting to see how the offers compare.”
Asari smiled his agreement and said, “You still don’t believe the copper is worth much, do you?”
“I’m hoping, because we need a lot of things. I don’t think I can stand being in these clothes much longer. But gold for a tiny bit of common copper does seem a bit too good to be true.”
“Let’s go see then. Lorem shouldn’t be too busy at the moment since those leaving town early have already collected their animals by now.”
It was only a matter of minutes to walk from Asari’s place to the large barn-like building. The inside was clean and neat, but smelled of animals and dung despite the mild breeze making its way through the large openings at the front and back. Jolan carried the copper pieces, and they’d decided he was the son of one of his father’s old friends. Supposedly he lived in east Kimlelm, escourted by Asari because he was unfamiliar with the area. Asari felt it would help explain Jolan’s dress and any shortcomings in his knowledge.
“Ser,” said Asari politely as we approached a short, heavily muscled man. He had long dark brown hair that was held in a ponytail by a leather wrapping of some sort, a bit of a beard that was quite bushy, and a heavy apron over pants of thick cloth. His shirt was open halfway to his waist, showing a barrel chest and a heavy thatch of short curly hair. He turned and looked at them questioningly seeing Jolan first and knowing he didn’t recognize him. Then his face broke into a wide grin as his look took in Asari as well.
“Laddie,” he said with pleasure. “Ya haven’t been around for a bit. Ya been out looking fer ancient ruins agin?”
“I ran into Jolan,” he said pointing at me as introduction. “His father knew Da and he was passing through on his way to Jupura.”
Lorem nodded at Jolan, and then looked back at Asari. “Ya brought him here so he’d git a better deal on a horse?” he asked.
“Actually, we’re going to want a couple of horses, and all the gear,” Jolan said.
“We?” Loren asked, looking at Asari. “Ya going to leave us, lad?”
Asari shook his head. “Nah,” he replied. “But I’m going along to Seret for a while. Been a long time since I was last there.”
“Well, let me show ya what I have,” Lorem said and started to lead us off toward the back.
“Ser,” Asari said, causing the man to turn back with a question clear in on his face.
“We have something to show you first. Jolan found some cuprum.”
Lorem’s eyes widened in surprise. “Cuprum ya say. And I’m guessing he’s wanting to exchange it for coin. What’ve ya got. A silvers worth. That won’t cover the cost of one of my fine horses.”
“A lot more than that,” Jolan spoke up again.
Lorem studied him carefully for a moment, then motioned them to follow him into a small room off the side of the main area. It was well lit with a large window of real glass that caught the morning sun. He walked around a stout table, and lowered himself into the chair behind it. “Sit,” he said, “and show me what you have.”
Jolan handed him one of the spent bullets first. “We have a couple of these,” he said.
Lorem examined the slug carefully, noted the back and scratched at the silvery metal at the back. “This is lead,” he said.
“”I know,” Jolan responded. “The core is lead, but the jacket is nearly pure cop…er, cuprum.”
“I’d need to pull the lead to see how much cuprum is here. That would mean damaging the piece. Ya’re right though. I think this is a valuable find.”
Jolan nodded his agreement, and Lorem stood up. He took the piece across the room to a small anvil, and holding the bullet in a small pincher, smacked it sharply a couple of times with one of the steel hammers. He then picked up a pair of pliers, and within seconds had the jacket stripped from the lead core. He showed the results to Asari, and brought the copper back to the table, placing it on one side of a small balance. Smoothly switching between a series of small weights, he brought the scale into balance.
Slowly he exhaled. “Cuprum goes for two silvers a metaquat. This here piece is just a hair over two metaquats. If you’re right that it’s nearly pure, something I’d need ta check, then this piece would fetch four silvers; a half gold Royal. That’s quite a find.”
Jolan could see Asari’s face fall. He knew the youth had expected more, but Jolan wasn’t displeased. He knew the slug had looked like it contained more copper than it had, and the tiny jacket was indeed worth money. Enough that they would be able to buy all they needed when he exchanged more of his hoard. Just the three slugs would yield a gold and a half.
“Show him the other piece,” Asari encouraged.
“Ya got more?” Lorem asked with obvious surprise.
Jolan reached into his pocket and extracted the spent brass case and placed it on the table between them. “That’s brass,” he said. “It’s seventy percent copper.”
Silently Lorem picked up the case and placed it on the scale. After balancing he turned and said. “Say it is as ya claim. Then this is worth a bit more. At seventy percent it weights out a bit more than four metaquats. It’ll take a bit to separate, so say an even gold Royal.”
With the three cases and three slugs they would be looking at four and a half golds. As good as that sounded, Jolan still wanted to compare offers, and looked over to Asari who nodded. Asari had assured him the man could be trusted, and they’d agreed to leave the copper slug for the man to examine while they checked out the merchant.
Jolan pushed the copper jacket over to Lorem. “While Asari and I go talk, why don’t you do whatever is necessary to convince yourself of the purity of the copper?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the other two slugs. “I’ve got two more like that one.”
Lorem’s eyes widened as he realized the value of the metal in front of him.
As Jolan stood and picked up the case he asked, “Ho
w much metal would you be interested in?”
Lorem thought briefly, then replied. “Perhaps five golds worth. That’s a lot of money until I can see if the market will pass so much. That’s more cuprum than I’ve seen in my life.”
Jolan nodded. “We’ll be back a little later.”
Jolan stood to leave, but as they were walking out, Lorem called Asari back. The two talked for a minute, something Jolan couldn’t hear, and then Asari nodded and walked over to where Jolan waited.
“What was that about?” he asked after they were well away from the stables.
“He wants the deal, so I suspect the copper is worth a bit more and he expects to do well. He even offered me a couple of silvers on the side if I encourage you to deal with him. He knows you’re planning on checking around.” Asari hesitated.
“I was wrong. I guessed high on the value.”
“I think we were both fooled by how much copper there seemed to be in the bullets. I’d have guessed there to be more than the thin film of copper that Lorem showed us when he took the bullet apart. I thought it would have a thicker jacket.”
They cut across the street and walked into the fairgrounds area where a surprising number of men were engaged in conversation with the proprietors manning the colorful tents scattered seemingly at random on the grassy field. From the style of dress, it appeared that most of the shoppers were merchants as well, and Jolan suspected they were making deals for major exchanges of goods that would be then carried off to the cities far away. Very few of the people seemed to be local folk, although Jolan wasn’t sure exactly what made him think so. Paths had been worn through to the dirt along the most visited tents, and by following along the widest of these they soon found the merchant they sought.
“Cuprum, you say,” the blond haired merchant said. “For the right price I would definitely be interested, but I’d need to verify the product before I could make an offer.”
He escorted the two of them to a small desk off to one side and asked to see what they had.
For the second time that day, Jolan handed over one of the spent cartridge cases.
“You have more?” the merchant asked, un-bothered by the look of the case. He had seen brass before and realized it was an alloy with copper as one of the components.
“Yes,” Jolan answered without revealing the amount they had.
“I’ll need to determine the amount of cuprum this contains,” he said. “My analysis won’t take long, but it will require me to disassemble the sample into the individual metals. Is that acceptable?”
Jolan nodded, wondering exactly how he was to accomplish the separation quickly, and very curious to see.
“Okay then, let us proceed. Do you want to save the metals other than the copper? They have no real value.”
“I don’t need the other components, if it makes it any easier,” Jolan replied.
The merchant nodded his understanding and pulled a piece of heavy bond paper out of a drawer, and folded it several times, then placed it on the table in front of them. He placed the brass case in the center where the creases met, and sat back.
After a few moments of silence, Jolan was about to inquire about what the merchant intended when he suddenly realized a small trickle of metallic powder was sliding across the paper and forming on the desktop just off the paper. As he watched the case seemed to loose its shape, and was gradually reduced to a small pile of copper colored metallic powder in the center of the bond paper, and a second pile of shiny powder on the desktop.
The man was drawing on the power in some subtle way, Jolan realized. Then, suddenly, he knew what the merchant was doing. Jolan could use the power to move the case himself. He’d tried it. Despite being made of power resistant copper, the other components allowed Jolan to pick up the case by acting on those metals. The copper simply came along for the ride. The merchant was interacting with the metallic case at a more microscopic level. He was using the power to relocate the metal at the molecular level. Each microscopic mass was directed across to the desk. Except the copper, of course. Being resistant to the power, the copper stayed put, and as the other materials were removed, a small pile of pure copper powder remained behind.
A minute later the merchant smiled and said. “There. Now if you really don’t want the remnants?”
When Jolan shook his head, the merchant simply swept the small pile on his desk off onto the ground. Then he moved a small scale, very much like the one Lorem had but considerably nicer in appearance, onto the desk near the paper. On the top was a small metallic cup, and he carefully checked the balance before proceeding. Once satisfied, he carefully picked up the paper, and directing the powder along one of the creases in the sheet, carefully transferred every spec into the small measuring cup. Once again the process of applying weights until a balance was achieved occupied everyone’s attention.
The merchant smiled and leaned back with a smile. “Very nice,” he observed. “I’m willing to give you nine silvers for the cuprum we have here. Is that acceptable?”
That was a silver more than Lorem had offered; more than a ten percent increase. The copper was probably worth more, but they didn’t have many options and they needed funds to proceed. Jolan thought for a moment. There was more than just the exchange that needed to be considered. Then Jolan pulled the other two cases from his pocket and said. “That’s acceptable. Here is the rest of what I have. I’d like to sell it as well if you’re interested.”
The process was repeated, and before long Jolan and Asari were walking back toward Asari’s small house with three golds and three silvers in their possession.
I don’t understand,” Asari asked as they entered the house. “Why didn’t you show him the other pieces. He is offering more than Lorem.”
“I started thinking about how surprised everyone is about “how much” copper we have. The merchant is likely to talk, not only to his friends here, but the exchange will probably make for a good story down the road. If we exchanged more metal, that would only make the telling better. In addition to the attention the copper would earn, there are those that might be interested in the amount of gold we might be carrying. From some of the types we’ve seen and what you have told me, I think we need to be very careful from this point on.”
“Lorem is your friend, and might be less likely to talk. In any event, what stories he tells will be here, and not traveling down the road where they might come to the wrong pair of ears. Also, splitting the sale, reduces how much copper and gold is talked about.”
“I think Lorem is going to be disappointed with only the three small jackets,” Asari said. “I could tell he was thinking of the profit he would make.”
“And he will. I have no intention of shorting Lorem. Here, sit and let me show you something. We have more than you realize.”
Curious, Asari sat across from Jolan and watched as the other dug into his pockets and dug out a handful of coins and spread them onto the table between them. He could see that some of them seemed to be made of copper.
“Dragons!” he whispered in awe. “Coins made from copper. Where. . . .?”
“These are from my home. Just to put things into perspective, I couldn’t even buy lunch with what we have here on the table.”
Carefully he arranged the coins, grouping them by type. There were six pennies, although he slid two of these off to the side. Then he arranged the four nickles, two dimes, and five quarters.
“These we will take to Lorem in a few minutes,” he said, sliding the four pennies grouped together over to Asari. “They are almost pure copper, and will balance out the three cases we have already exchanged. With the gold we received from the merchant, we should have close to eight golds for travel expenses.”
“What about those?” Asari asked pointing to the other two pennies.
“Those are different. The government changed the materials used a few years ago. The total copper in those is probably worth a silver sliver or less. I think I’ll hang onto them f
or now.”
“Is there any value in these other coins?”
Jolan smiled. “Even though they don’t look it, these are mostly copper.” He pulled out his iPhone, waited while it warmed up, and then selected the HP-41 calculator application. Asari watched him jump between calculations, having no idea what he was doing. Finally, Jolan looked up and smiled.
“I made some assumptions and used the percentages of copper that I remember, and I’d estimate we have another eight to ten golds worth of copper in these coins.; more if you are right and we can do better when we start to reach the bigger cities. That should keep us going for a while.”
“The cities will give us more, but the cost there will be higher as well,” the boy warned him.
“We also have at least twenty-five golds worth of copper in the remaining ammunition if it becomes necessary,” Jolan reminded him.
“A fortune,” the boy almost whispered.
“Hopefully enough. “I don’t know what we do once this runs out,” Jolan responded.
“When do we go back to Lorem?”
“Now. We can leave him the copper so he can determine the value. I suspect he has a bit of ability with the power and can duplicate that little trick the merchant just demonstrated, but is a bit more discrete about it. Maybe he goes to someone else he knows and has them do it for him. While he is doing that, we can get some shopping done.”
