"You didn't come up with that instantly. You were checking them out too," Wiggen surmised.
Ben nodded. "Ever since they sat down. I'd love a suit like that, but being a simple B list author I'll have to admire it from afar."
"You're just avoiding saying anything about the woman that might make me jealous," Wiggen accused him. "And you are damn well an award winning A list author and you know it."
"You are kind, but you're only as well regarded as your last book, Ben said. "I'm one stinker away from obscurity if I don't keep pumping them out."
Martha wouldn't be deflected. "Which avoids discussing the woman again."
"She's spectacular, so there, go ahead and be jealous, but what I know about women's fashion can be summed up on the back of a business card. Is the dress French like her companion's shoes?" Ben asked.
"No, it's Italian, but that doesn't mean she is too. It just means she has lots of money... and good taste too," Martha added begrudgingly. "The scarf is French... the shoes may be Spanish actually."
"You can really tell the jewelry is real from this far away?" her mate asked.
"It's either real or duplicates of the real stuff sitting at home in a safe. You don't get style like that at the Ten Dollar Discount Den," Martha assured Ben.
"The name will probably come to you about three days from now," Ben decided.
The music started up again and the couple in question got up to dance. He pulled her chair back and offered his hand. Wiggen clamped on Ben's arm with a grip that surprised him. He looked over and she was staring at the couple now blending into the other dancers with big eyes.
"Or it may come to you sooner," Ben guessed again.
"The way he moved. But it can't be them. Maybe his son, taking a quiet vacation far away from the paparazzi and their social circle. They're too young," Wiggen objected.
"Life Extension Therapy Dear. It does that you know," Ben reminded her.
"Ha! The Church would bring back the Inquisition just for them if they dared," Wiggen predicted.
"Only if they catch them dear, only if they catch them." Ben said sweetly.
Wiggen got the oddest look. "What are you thinking sweetie? The strain is visible," Ben joked.
She gave him a little play hit on the elbow, but leaned closer to whisper.
"They may be like me. I mean, I had to run for my life, but now that I'm up here they are sending me the full Presidential pension. I was flabbergasted at first when the accounting office called and asked where to deposit it, but then I figured out it was smart of them to make me comfortable – as long as I stayed far away.
"If I'd been flat broke and struggling to live I might have reason to plot a return and make trouble for them. It's a pretty cheap form of insurance really. And nothing crooked or something anybody could make a stink about. If anybody brings it up it just makes them look magnanimous. I'm certainly not going to make a fuss about it."
"That would make a lot more sense to me if you said plainly who you think they are," Ben said.
"Oh! They may be the King and Queen of Spain," Wiggen told him. "Newly rejuvenated. Which would horrify the Earthies, especially the religious."
"So, you think they might be pensioned off quietly if they'll just go far, far away and not make a fuss for anybody back in Spain?" Ben asked.
"Well, they don't have any bodyguards, and this is not a cheap place to spend an evening. If you'd kindly take me for a spin on the dance floor I can casually say hello as we pass their table and see if they will acknowledge me," Martha requested.
"I suspect this was all just an elaborate plot to get me to dance. You are a devious woman."
"You'll never know if you don't take me out on the floor, will you?"
* * *
"I see now why you had Mackay negotiate your contract," Robert Lewis said.
"He has much better business skills than I do," Gunny admitted.
"He's way too persuasive," Bob grumbled. "The sort of guy you think you just traded shoes with and then you notice you don't have socks. I may still regret it, but I let him talk me into letting you guys have a chunk of cash to trade with on Tonga. He insisted that when things get crazy and normal business breaks down you can do cash deals. But that assuming thirty days net as usual when things are in chaos will make suppliers laugh in your face."
"You really don't have to worry that he's going to disappear with your money," Gunny was quick to tell him. "The man is if anything too straight of an arrow. He's a refugee from ISSII because he wouldn't allow Homeland Security to take shortcuts with their own procedures. And the idea somebody might rob him of it... If anybody tries I only hope I can get it on video."
"You know you can't carry guns on Tonga?" Robert asked.
"I know, but you haven't seen Mackay collect a debt off a Chicago Mafioso, or a stupid fellow try to pull a gun on Chen over it. The man doesn't need a gun to be dangerous," Gunny said.
"And I hope to never be there to see anything like that. That's why you guys are going and I'm staying here where I can quietly administer things," Robert Lewis said. "Rough trouble and adventure are not my thing,"
"That's fine," Gunny agreed. "We're happy for the work." Privately he was amused. April had shown him the recording off her suit camera from when their war with Earth was starting. Her dad had been alone at home when a North American agent had blown his front door off with explosives and gone in to assassinate him. April's suit video of the firefight in the dark apartment, with her dad strobe lighting the scene in freeze frames with an old .45 belching flame, was like something out of an old horror movie. April had rushed home to rescue him, but he hadn't needed much rescuing. He could claim to be a mild mannered administrator if he insisted being modest, but Gunny was certain he never wanted to get in a gun fight with the man in the dark.
* * *
"Are you going to be home for a bit? I have something to show you," Jeff said.
April looked at the corner of her screen. It was 2312 Jeff rarely called so late. "Sure come on over. Do you think this will take awhile? I'll put a pot of coffee on."
"No, it's not going to turn into an all-nighter," Jeff promised. "Something milder perhaps? Would you have any hot chocolate? It sounds good tonight."
"Sure, I have the powder and I have a liter of half and half that makes it really rich. I'll start it now because it's best to heat it slowly," April said.
"I'll be there in only fifteen minutes or a little more," Jeff said. "I'm just leaving the north hub."
The half and half was in the cupboard. A sterile pack that didn't need refrigerating. She had two six packs of them with seven year expiration dates. The things she had ordered to use up her North American dollars were starting to arrive already.
It was hard to make herself pay for express delivery. Her mother had always taught her to plan ahead and use standby whenever she could. But Jeff counseled that later delivery might never happen if she did that now. Her cupboard was packed with things she knew would get used eventually and she had three huge bags of green coffee beans on the deck over in the low overhead by the windows. Along with a couple cases of sani-wipes and premium protein bars. The good sort that hikers like to carry.
The chocolate mix was Macedonian, dark and not sickeningly sweet, although it took a little more stirring to get it to dissolve than the super sweet stuff. What could Jeff have to show her? Perhaps he was just looking for company and was shy to say it? But she dismissed that thought pretty quickly. Jeff was too direct to do that. Especially with her. But she had seen him getting more subtle with others when he made business presentations. He'd been blunt to the point of offending people not so long ago.
By the time the chocolate was starting to steam a little the door chime sounded. April considered again that she could set the door to Jeff's hand to let himself in. She wasn't sure why she hesitated. Gunny certainly wouldn't care and it wasn't like she was seeing anyone else. But then he'd never asked to have the door set for him either. She h
ad access to his office, but that wasn't the same, even though he had been staying there some nights while the Paddingtons used his residential cubic. The office wasn't comfortable, and they'd never used it for anything but business."
"House, unlock entry door," April told the house computer. She really needed to put a camera in the corridor. Someday it might not be Jeff and she'd get a big surprise.
It was perfect timing. The hot chocolate was just starting to froth on the edge. April poured it in two big insulated mugs and went to meet him before Jeff could come to the kitchen. He was stopped staring at the big drawing like he always did but left it and joined her on the sofa when she sat their mugs on the low table.
"I got the prototypes you wanted and was too excited to wait to show you." He held out a hand with three coins. They instantly made April think of the casino chips she'd seen on New Las Vegas. The first was a gold full Solar coin. She hadn't known he was going to change that. It still had the traditional design that they'd made when they were in Earth orbit. But now it was enclosed in a clear coating just slightly bigger than the coin. The arch of the Earth had a hole in the metal, heavily chamfered, with a tiny black speck floating in the opening.
April took it and held it close. You could just make out the speck was a tiny cube, less than a millimeter on a side. When she flipped it over the circle of engraving proclaiming it was One Solar from The System Trade Bank and the assay numbers was the same as the old coins, but the through hole was inside those on a formerly blank area.
"You know, since you issued Solar coins people have taken to calling it The Solar Bank. Maybe you should change the name to what people want to use," April suggested.
"It would be difficult with the Earthie governments. They'd want all sorts of documents that don't exist and wonder why we don't do it like them. It was hard enough to set up once. It would take my time when I have other things to do too. Let them call it what they want as long as the legal documents have the right name on them," Jeff said.
April didn't argue. "Are you still going to make the uncoated full Solars?"
"As long as people want them. Especially the platinum ones. It will take a long time to wear the die out so it is no new expense. Here, let my send the app to your phone to verify these." Jeff punched a few keys and pointed it at her phone pad when offered. "The stylized sun, ☼, is the app. I'm hoping that catches on as the symbol for a Solar. I wanted the Zia symbol like New Mexico uses but there isn't any way to print it easily. I started yesterday using it as a symbol for Solars in documents that use numbers."
VERIFY
April opened the app and pointed the sensor end of her pad at the coin. A golden text box appeared at the top of the screen saying:
So she tapped it and got a message immediately.
E-Solar number 1 - created Nov. 2nd 2087 Status: ownership unregistered - 25gm Au.
The System Trade Bank at Home
Registration will document ownership with The System Trade Bank. The verification function will display the recorded ownership when testing until such a time as you wish to unlock it. Please enter an owner name and password if you wish to register this coin. Be advised ownership of bullion coins is prohibited in some legal jurisdictions and speed of light lag may delay verification outside the Earth/Moon system. In the event of registrant death or loss of password, coin registrations can only be changed with appropriate documentation or identification by presenting them in person at TST Bank – Home at L2. Coins registered under fictitious user names may not be reregistered after loss of the password. Physical recovery by unencapsulation is the only alternative to a broken chain of registration.
NO
YES
DO YOU WISH TO REGISTER THIS COIN? She didn't need to see the whole process so April tapped no. She turned the coin over and let the light play on it. The rim seemed faintly frosted and the recessed face glossy.
"Why is the edge hazy?" April asked Jeff.
"It's sapphire with a thick diamond coating. The first one was so slick it popped out of your fingers and kept getting dropped. That's why we made the rim higher and gave it enough texture to hang onto."
"But you can still get the metal out?" April wondered, holding it up to the light.
"It's not easy, and it will destroy the chip, but yeah the sapphire can be shattered or cut once the diamond is breached. It looks clear but it's polycrystalline diamond. You can't shatter either easily by just smacking it with a light hammer," Jeff said.
April handed the coin back and took the next one.
"I modeled that after an old Chinese coin," Jeff told her. The metal coin inside was thinner but the encapsulation the same size. The gold was a circle but the hole in the middle was square. It was a ten gram coin and had a lot of pretty engine engraving in a band around the outside edge. The assay and bank name were on both sides. The chip was suspended in the middle of the square through hole in the gold.
The five gram coin when April examined it was a nine sided polygon of gold with a round hole in the middle. The assay and weight repeated around the edge, as did the bank ID on the other side. The center hole apparently represented the sun, and the planets were artistically represented around it, not to scale or realistically at all. The orbits an oval at the angle of view. Each planet was on a line running to an apex of the polygon. A configuration that seemed unlikely in nature. The metal had to be quite thin to give enough area for the engraving.
"Why are they all the same size?" April wondered. "Wouldn't it make sense to make them in different sizes so you could sort them in your pocket by feel?"
"It might be convenient," Jeff agreed, "but Trick Proto gave me a much better price to just set up for one size of capsule instead of several. The set up and machine time are much more than the material costs. We can get lunar sapphire very cheaply. I had to guarantee I'd eventually buy ten thousand units to get the price down where I want it, and that's running them as filler jobs whenever they don't have other work for the machines or they would have capped the final delivery date.
"But that's fine because we only get so much precious metal from the Rock. It trickles in as they process the iron and nickel out and separate the trace elements. We really need to position ourselves to bid up a decent share and demand payment in metal when somebody does another asteroid capture too. Because I think somebody will do that long before they run out of material from the Rock.
"So you better hope people want these smaller coins as badly as you think, or we'll have to eat the fees for unmade coins. I went ahead and ordered another five hundred of the verifying chips too."
April looked concerned. "Things are so crazy down below. I hope you can get them delivered."
"Not to worry. These chips are made by an Indian company on ISSII, Jeff said."
"They're nice," April said of the coins. "Are you going to do even smaller ones too?"
"I'll probably have to if we're meet our obligations with Trick Proto," Jeff said.
"OK," April agreed, and went to hand the five gram coin back.
Jeff made no move to take it. "They were your idea. If you want to keep the serial number one coins I'll debit your account for the face value. I suspect they may have some numismatic value in time."
"That's sweet of you. I'll do that. I'll probably give them back to you for safekeeping, but I want to show them to some people first."
"You might register them," Jeff suggested.
"I suppose, but you already know I have the number one coins."
"I do, but if you ever do want to sell them they'll be worth more registered to your name. The new owner would likely leave them with that registration. You are a public figure, like it or not so do register them please," he begged her.
"OK, but people are silly."
"Yes, My Lady," Jeff agreed.
April just rolled her eyes.
* * *
"You need to listen to this, soon," Chen said. He looked unusually concerned on Jeff's com pad.
"O
K I'll break and look at it right now." Jeff said. He wasn't used to seeing Chen like this.
Radio intercept – North American agent – name redacted per employment agreement.
Source of message: Small mining camp in northern Saskatchewan.
Time: 0550 this morning.
It captioned the intercept as the voices spoke.
"Hello? I'm not sure how to use this thing. The panel has "Emergency" written at this frequency with a felt tip. Is anybody listening?"
"This is the Beauval Federal Police Post. You are correct this is for emergency calls. If this is not an emergency call you are in violation of several regulations to use it. Do you have an emergency?"
"We sure do. This is Dennis Harrow at the Belt Mining camp. We're north of you and accessible only by air this late in the season. Even that's kind of iffy right now with this weather, but we sure got big trouble."
"Would you explain the nature of the problem?" the officer asked quickly.
"Sure, just catching my breath. I tried to call the company first. That's marked on the radio too, and I got no answer. We don't have a sat phone. There's seventy some guys here and most of the work is down the hole so we keep going with a bit smaller crew all winter. We just cut back on processing what we dig until spring. There's about half of them sick, some too sick to get out of their bunk, and that includes our guy who had medical training and the radio operator and the main cook. We're kind of in bad shape and I don't know much what to do for them."
"We're having a significant outbreak of influenza in the province, but if you are isolated I don't see how you would have it there. Are their symptoms consistent with influenza?"
"Oh yeah, few of them said 'I got the flu' right away. They got headache, cough and feel miserable. All wrapped up in a couple blankets and shivering to beat anything. Musta been the big wheel, company vice president, who came in a week ago in an aircar to talk to the site manager and swap out the assay guy for a new one. A couple commented the VP looked like crap. Not that I seen him myself. Then there was three – four guys sick a few days later. Including the one who flew with him."
April 6: And What Goes Around Page 18
