April 6: And What Goes Around

by Mackey Chandler

  "But, she still confined me to my cabin," Barak helmet spoke such a short easy phrase.

  Deloris cleared the screen and typed. "Yes but she has the authority to remove you from duty if she has lost confidence in you. It's her obligation to do so actually if you perform life critical functions. But when we sort this out back home they will consider if doing so was reasonable or prudent under the circumstances. She didn't impose anything as a punishment or declare you unfit. She didn't even formally end the hearing, but she didn't declare it would be reconvened either. So I'd consider it ended when she sent you to your quarters.

  "The only thing I'm not sure of is if she will be viewed as clearing you on Harold's death since she brought it up and said they couldn't prove it yet. She seemed to leave the door open for that in her conditional language. I bet it would be an epic battle of lawyers to hear that argued. Don't count on it ever happening. The licensing body will not want this mess aired in public."

  Deloris looked at Barak oddly and typed. "Why are you holding your hand under your arm?"

  Sheepishly he held it out for her inspection. She pantomimed holding the other out side by side and he complied. His right was visibly swollen. She made a gesture to clutch it into a tight fist and he shook his head no. He couldn't bend his fingers that far or get them against his palm.

  "Broken?" Deloris asked with the helmet talk, managing to convey her concern in the facial code.

  "No," he denied emphatically, giving a prolonged shake of his head.

  Alice took the pad away from Deloris and typed. "Soft tissue damage. If it was broken it would be swollen less symmetrically and be much puffier and discolored. There might be a hairline crack in something but no clean fracture for it to look that good. I'll get ice and you get an anti-inflammatory in him. We don't want it on record your hand is injured." She rolled her eyes at how bad that would be.

  Deloris nodded agreement, still looking concerned.

  Barak was looking at it, trying to picture if he could get it in a space suit gauntlet. He had his doubts. No matter what Alice said it didn't look all that "good" to him.

  After making him take a couple pills, Deloris typed on her pad. "I can't imagine Charlotte is going to push to resume operations. Chances are you'll have time for the hand to get better. I doubt she will do much of anything until Jaabir is at least well enough to direct her. Despite her stupid angry outburst with you, she seems the sort to avoid doing anything for which she may be blamed later. She just isn't as skillful at cover-your-butt as Jaabir.

  "Our schedule is loose enough Jaabir getting hurt is plenty of excuse to delay outside operations for a few days. She isn't going to want to send one of us outside with you if we do a test fire and something isn't working. I certainly hope she isn't stupid enough to send Alice and I with no outside experience to work on systems we didn't install and don't know. Don't you blurt out anything stupid like she did and this may still work out OK."

  Alice came in with ice in a bag. She wrapped a towel around his hand gently to moderate the cooling. And another around the outside to keep it in place. The gravity was so weak there was no advantage to keeping it elevated.

  Barak held one finger up for attention and wiggled it to indicate he was staying silent. "You are probably right. It took almost ten minutes for Jaabir to start stirring a bit. When I left he was just feeling his face very carefully. I don't think Charlotte had given him anything for the pain yet. Now I'll have to worry what will be said between them and what new trouble they'll cook up for me."

  "You think he was concussed?" Alice asked, finger spelling the last word.

  Barak said yes in helmet talk but added a maybe.

  "There's a real good chance then that he had the short term memory" – she hesitated, afraid of saying anything incriminating even in helmet talk – "knocked out of him. The whole morning might be gone for good. That's not uncommon with concussion."

  Deloris started typing and they waited for her to show them. "Even if he remembers everything, she already said she was granting an emergency hearing as acting Captain and she admitted lack of proof to her charges. It doesn't matter what he remembers, it's too late to apply the evidence to your case. I see no advantage to her from his regaining consciousness. In fact anything he says is likely to show she was culpable in the Bridge watch being neglected. The fact she said she doesn't have confidence in you is not a conviction of wrong doing. It affects you now, in this command, but she can't pull your ticket. Frankly, if she is stupid enough to let all the facts of the matter go public I don't think it will hurt your prospects of being hired in the future."

  Barak nodded his understanding. Aloud he said, "You know, I'm tired. I'm going to lie down. Early as it is I wouldn't be surprised if I sleep. We were woke up early."

  "One of us should stay with you," Deloris insisted. She muted the unwatched movie.

  "You stay," Alice said. "I have to go clean up some more in the pantry and toss the ruined stuff. It has to be removed from the inventory too. When I get done I'll bring something back for a late lunch."

  "And more ice," Deloris said in helmet talk.

  * * *

  April was having lunch in the cafeteria, thinking about Heather and missing her terribly. The last time she'd visited Central Heather had been so busy that she sat and watched her work more than really visited. Somebody was constantly on com or waiting to talk to Heather. She wanted to go to the moon again but felt like she'd be intruding. She'd made sure Jeff called Heather and filled her in on the situation on Earth. Jeff understood about her missing Heather, but pointed out he had little private time with her the last time he'd been there too. They reminisced about what a good time they'd had together on the boat their last trip to Earth. The boat had been a welcome retreat from constant intrusions.

  Heather was already planning the boring of access tunnels to use the seeds and such Jeff and April had sent her. They'd just added to the order the French acquired through them. Now she wished it had been much more. But all those plans might all have to wait if they couldn't lift much from Earth. They could make oxygen and scoop nitrogen from the Earth's atmosphere. But there was almost no organic feedstock to be had.

  Her own land at Central was sitting unused. It wasn't like she had a home there. She'd contracted to have a tunnel dug from one corner sloped down along her boundary facing a public right of way. It went down a kilometer With a three meter wide floor. That was wide enough for a three wheel cart but not a full sized rover. It had a slightly larger stub of five hundred cubic meters off of it near the end for storage. She'd never have this tunnel enlarged. If she eventually had a rover size tunnel dug for her it would go down from another point far away. You always wanted more than one way to get back to the surface. Only the stub was pressurized, not the tunnel. Even though she had a surface lock installed already. Not only was that much air an expense but if it leaked while it was sitting unused it was a silly stupid waste of money too.

  You could setup a pressure alarm but if it started dropping searching a ten kilometer long tunnel for a leak was time consuming. You'd actually be better off with a big leak easier to find. Searching for the leak had to be done at walking speed because nobody had built an automated machine to do tunnel maintenance yet. You had to set a heavy aerosol generator at one end on a timer, go to the other end and ride toward it slowly so your movement didn't disrupt the plume. Once the concentration went up abruptly you were past the leak and could back up and localize it. She could contract for that but labor on the moon was expensive. A trip to her tunnel by a pair of maintenance workers and the search and repair would probably cost fifteen thousand USNA Dollars. Nobody in their right mind would drive out and go down a tunnel out of radio contact alone.

  She'd sent this and that from her possessions there for safe-keeping. It was a lot more secure than Home, but there was nothing there she really wanted to go work on improving yet. It wasn't livable at all except as a bare-bones survival shelter. She hadn't finished
making her cubic here on Home as comfortable as she wanted and didn't want to divert funds to the moon. Maybe when she upgraded her furniture and things at Home she'd send the old ones to the moon as stand-by freight.

  "Look at this!" Jeff said, slapping a bundle of EuroMarks on the table. April had been deep in thought and hadn't seen him walk up. They hadn't made any arrangement to meet and she was surprised to see him. He must have came here when she wasn't at home. Her pad was off but he had an emergency over-ride, if he cared to use it. Maybe he was simply hungry. It wasn't like him at all to display temper like this. Not unless there was a huge issue.

  "Be right back," Jeff muttered and turned to go get something to eat.

  April picked up the bundle. It was fifty one hundred EuroMark bills in a plastic band. Too tight to get one back in if she pulled it out. She fanned the end to look at them and didn't see anything remarkable. They were the usual plastic bank note with a number of security features. The mark indicated they were of German origin. She flipped them and looked at the back side, reverse that is, Jeff would correct her that obverse and reverse were the proper terms real bankers use if she said front and back. One end had a new holographic background rectangle with printing in three languages. "Issued 2087 / 11 / 1. Value discounted 1% each 90 day period."

  When he came back Jeff had a corned beef sandwich, pickle and a bowl of soup. That was a pretty decent lunch for him. April decided not to say anything. Praising him for it eating well today was almost the same as nagging about neglecting himself other days. He must be hungry. He had a mug of coffee and even though he was upset he'd noticed her mug was almost empty. He had a take-away cup and poured half of it in her mug, saving himself a round trip to the coffee urns. That was sweet, but also typical Jeff to be efficient with his time and motions.

  "Did you see the discount schedule?" Jeff asked. He took a bite of sandwich and set it aside, moving the soup in front of him.

  "Yes, I've read rumors they would consider that," April said, "but I'm still surprised to see them actually do it. I thought they learned it didn't help a couple generations back. Although back then they at least hid the fact they were devaluing the currency better than this," she said, holding the notes up.

  He chewed a bit and swallowed while April was silence. Finally he asked. "Well, what do you think of it?"

  "This," April said, wagging the bundle, "is not cash money. At best it is a loan of credit. And a loan on pretty bad terms unless there are other provisions of which I am not aware. I have questions. For example, if you deposit it to your account for tax payments does it retain the face value at which you put it in? Or do they note the date and continue devaluing it until it is entirely debited from your account? Now I know all money today is debt, but usually interest is paid by the recipient of a loan. If you aren't buying something like a house that can be collateral, say if you borrow money to go on vacation. Well, they can't repossess a vacation."

  "They seem to have realized if the loan defaults 'their' money is still out there and they no longer have a bag holder," she said disgusted. "Heaven forbid they should assume any risk for the loan just because they decided the borrower was credit worthy. This looks to me like a way to insure nobody can default, because the interest is tied to the money itself."

  "If you are European it makes it pretty hard not to participate in this scheme too," Jeff noted. "It seems like 'Heads I win – tails you lose.' You can figure they will still charge the interest on creating it and loaning it, and get the interest from its scheduled devaluation. Not to mention the value they steal all along by creating inflation. I don't expect them to stop doing that. How can they lose?" Jeff asked, throwing his hands up in mock amazement.

  April nodded agreement. "I suppose I should be happy they don't amortize it so that the interest is paid heavier up front and the loss slows down as it ages. That would encourage people to spend it even faster and just squeeze a little more out of them on the back end if they balk at spending it. Do they have no shame? How do you come to have these before the issue date?"

  "I don't know," Jeff admitted. "Somebody's error but I don't know who. I called the Deutsche Bundesbank desk where I order currency and asked them why we were getting these bills? There was no letter or notice in the courier bag. She said I should have an internal communication on it. I had to explain The System Trade Bank isn't part of the European banking system to get an internal notice. She assumed at first I was in her system, if I had these.

  "Our name doesn't have anything to suggest either German or North American ties. It's rather neutral and we're just another number with a two letter prefix. I think it may have just been a clerk who thought they recognized the name and didn't look at it as closely as they should have at the prefix. I mean... It's not an especially big order of currency for them to fill. People used to seeing a couple hundred orders a day like this go across their desk can't maintain a high level of vigilance without burning out. You catch them before lunch on a Monday and who knows what they will send you?

  "I explained it must be an error and asked if we should use them, hold them for release until the issue date or return them? The lady did agree that it was an error that they were sent to a non-member bank early but returning them would serve no purpose because these couldn't reach her before the activation date now anyway. She suggested I hold them until the issue date because that is what all the European Banks are required to do. She also pointed out that they won't actually be legal currency until the issue date so my customer could technically charge me with fraud if I issue them and he can't spend them yet. I mean, that's just three days from now, but Dave's ordered the cash and he expected it today."

  "Have you talked to him about it? Is he going to accept them?" April wondered.

  "Oh yes," Jeff smiled. "It's bizarre. When I explained it to him he started snickering and then escalated to gasping laughter. He's going to meet a fellow at ISSII on the first of November and pay him for an orbit to orbit vehicle and a bunch of support equipment. That's what I was doing that I couldn't go to dinner with you the other night. Buying in on this deal. He said the fellow is Austrian and refused a check in payment drawn on any Home bank. He looks down on our lack of regulation and deposit insurance, our arrogance in issuing our own money, and demanded a cashier check from a European bank or EuroMarks cash. No USNA dollars or other currency either. He's a rabid chauvinist. Dave's delighted to pay the man in these EuroMarks."

  "Are you going to release them to Dave early then? They warned you not to, though I can't see how they'd ever find out. But Dave needs them at ISSII on the first, right?" April asked.

  "I'm going to send a bonded courier with him on the shuttle and Dave will sign for the bag when they get to ISSII," Jeff said. "By the time they arrive it will be the first of the month and he can take possession of it there."

  "Have you told Irwin at the Private Bank of Home? I mean, they didn't swear you to secrecy or anything did they?" April asked.

  "They have no real handle on me to ask," Jeff said. "It was their error. I do think they would have cared a lot more if this had happened earlier in the month. Then if I talked it could cost them some real money. But yeah, I told Irwin and he's scrambling to drop EuroMark holdings. He has more Earth customers and exposure than us with transfer accounts at several Earth banks. It's just too late to do much about it. The market action the last two days now makes this a side issue anyway.

  "They have quietly swept up about as much of the circulating currency as was practical. I doubt he can get physical EuroMarks delivered back to Earth now before the switch. Or old style ones here for that matter. Any longer and there would have been shortages of physical cash they couldn't cover up. Some illegal businesses only run on cash and even being illicit it would be talked about if they suddenly had no customers. Not that much circulates compared to the past. A lot of people use their bank card for everything, right down to a cup of coffee or a bus ride. They've encouraged that everywhere. Not just with the EuroM
arks."

  "If not much circulates then the logical next step is to apply a negative interest rate to actual bank accounts, not just cash," April decided.

  "They did that briefly, about seventy years ago," Jeff said. "It pretty well cleaned the banks out of deposits. There was a huge bank run. Once a few countries did it within days of each other you didn't have to be a genius to see they would be stealing your deposits pretty soon if they hadn't already. It made them change the laws so banks could operate with no deposits. They already had bypassed any real reserve requirements by holding your funds in sweep accounts and only crediting your demand account with whatever you walked in to withdraw. No bank this century has actually had the reserves the regulations used to demand. They resented even the two or three percent they needed to hold in actual vault cash to function with the public, but getting completely rid of cash has never been accepted."

  "They'll get rid of cash when politicians stop taking bribes," April predicted.

  "It took almost twenty years before banks would accept deposits again and pay interest on them instead of charging to hold it. Big businesses went back to their own vaults and armored trucks and pay envelopes with cash like in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. If a business couldn't do that their prices went up – a lot. Some of them took to issuing company script. And it took a while longer before the common people would use banks again. There wasn't any trust. A lot of people of that generation never trusted banks again," Jeff said.