Family Law

by Mackey Chandler

  "There are other banking customs on Earth," Goldilocks pointed out. "The Arab world and some of the Orient have systems that demand personal accountability. But I can't argue with your general portrayal of the systems common to Western civilization."

  "That's why I want minimal amounts of our funds in Earth banks. I'd like to see the most part of it here, but even then we'll want the safety of having it sent first to Ceres in the Earth system, who will feed most of it to you. You should spread some to Fargone and maybe a couple other colonies that have a financial climate which would favor us keeping control of our wealth. Can you arrange the Bank of Ceres to take our Commission earnings and forward ninety-five percent on through to you?"

  Darius was making notes as Gordon spoke. "Very well, there will be an account in your name at the Bank of Ceres by the time you reach Earth. They have a single gentleman here who can assign account numbers and such, not really a full time office. And you Miss Anderson, I'd like to hear from your own mouth if you want us to manage your money."

  "I am happy right now to have how my money handled and invested, mirroring what you do with Gordon's. As I get older I may have different ideas or priorities and I won't be shy to tell you. Do I have to go see a lawyer to declare what my will is on Derfhome?"

  "We don't really have Derf lawyers. I suppose you could say our Champions are ultimately our lawyers," Darius said amusing himself. "The few lawyers here are Earth lawyers, to help us deal with Earth laws for trade or travel. Anyone can speak before the clan Mothers when it comes to Derf law. If you make a will it is by publishing it, just like a contract."

  "All right, see to publishing this for me please, for right now I leave everything to Gordon, if I die before him. I'll publish changes as needed. I have something in mind but for it to be public right now would upset my Mothers and I don't want to do that."

  "What Lee?" Gordon asked. "Maybe I can tell you how to do it."

  "Off the record?" Lee asked looking around at the bankers.

  "We don't discuss client business," Sally assured her. "We make Swiss bankers look like a bunch of gossips." Gordon nodded a yes, that it was true.

  Lee nodded her satisfaction. "Eventually, I want a fund that allows youngsters who wish to leave their clan and seek their fortunes, a guarantee of an education, or help to form a business. I don't want it to be enough to encourage them to leave. It shouldn't be enough to make it easy living if they do leave. But enough to make sure those who really want to, can make something of themselves. So those who have an avocation, or goal, have a better chance of success."

  "Oh, this is going to be so much fun," Darius smiled around at his partners. "She's just shy of thirteen years old. In a few months she will be a billionaire and she's already has plans to fund social engineering. Gods help Earth when she gets there; it may not be to her liking."

  He looked back at Lee. "We can't let the Mothers get wind of your idea of course. It would simply terrify them and lead to a confrontation between the rural culture and the city folk. This isn't any idea some of us haven't come up with in private. But better by far right now not to breathe a word of it, where it might reach the keeps. Much better to wait until a youngster has shown enough strength to walk out on their own and then quietly help."

  "When you have some funds we can find people who want to do the social work and give them the funds to do so. The money needed will be pocket change to you, but we'll have to trust them not to pocket the funds and be satisfied without a formal audit system if we want to keep it secret. I don't know if that sounds acceptable to you, but we can make it work if you'll trust us and the people we use too. It has to be done on the sly, or it will create a huge conflict right now."

  "If I have so much money, don't worry if a little of it gets wasted. How long do you think before something like this can be done openly?"

  "Honestly?" Darius looked at his companions and took a deep breath. "I think things will slowly build, until the Mothers themselves say the city folk must have a say in law, for things to be fair. They are so isolated I don't see any way for the idea to come to them yet. There may be conflict, to the point they get cut off from supply and business from the cities, before they have their noses rubbed in it sufficiently to see they must yield some power. I'm hoping in two generations, Derf generations that is, it can happen without a civil war."

  His partners nodded agreement. "Assuming no huge social change or conflict sweeps in from outside and forces change worse than any local problem," Goldilocks added.

  "You folks have reason to worry about that last?" Gordon asked at least a little dismayed.

  "When you go to Earth you judge," Goldilocks invited. "We care about the long term enough to study history, with a mind to running the bank. We're not like an Earth business looking at the next quarter. Earth's relationship with the other races seems stable if not ideal. Derfhome maybe even more so than the others, but among themselves? Earth or the colony worlds don't seem stable in the long run to any of us," he indicted his partners with his hand, "when we speak freely amongst ourselves."

  "I wouldn't mention it to most customers, because there would be no point. But you two are going to have enough money to meddle in the affairs of nations, for good, or for bad if you're not careful. Please, feel you are our eyes when you go off-world. We have too few customers who do so. Most off-world reports we get are from our social contacts, who rotate in or out at the Earth school, or the University here. Whatever information you bring us helps us serve you better," he pointed out.

  "Look here if you would," Darius offered indicating his computer. "We have a preliminary flow and structure to serve you laid out. See what you think of it."

  * * *

  "Here's a cash card for each of you. Please pull the seal tab off the taster and press a finger firmly on the pad. They will work almost anywhere in the Earth system and Derfhome. If you go to a colony or alien world you may have to present the letter of credit. They appear to draw on separate accounts, but they both get automatic transfers as needed off a common account for now. We posted fifty million EuroMarks to it. Will that cover you to Earth? We can borrow from other banks if we need to, but that's all it's prudent to extend from our own resources now. We're bankers to ranchers and such remember. Having customers like you is welcome, but it's certainly a new thing for us."

  "I'm sure that will cover any landing fees and fueling. We'd normally top everything off once we're back in civilization, but we'll wait this time. The ship is over 30% on fuel and we have a couple years food for two. Fuel is always more expensive in the Earth system anyway, we can dip our own if we can get to an unsettled system and we have no need to be extravagant with personal items. This is our only local expense," Gordon handed Darius a handwritten note detailing their clan contribution and made a decision. "We'll figure on coming back here after Earth to finalize all our business arrangements."

  * * *

  Once they were in a cab away from the bank Lee mentioned something she's been holding back. "It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Stanley made it clear if you just walked in off the street, he'd have wanted a million EuroMark to be your lawyer. The bank didn't say anything about a retainer for the patent people. If they have to get paid I assume they'll just take care of it. And with using their law firm here in Derfhome, they acted almost like we were doing them a favor to use their firm. I can't believe they treat everyone like that, why us?"

  "It's not nice and it's not fair, but that's how things work. We are certain to have considerable money now, so if we have to get involved in some legal work they don't have to stop and wonder, 'Will they be able to pay for the kind of hours we'll bill on this case?' You're going to see it in other things too," he assured her.

  "After your name gets known around, if you need reservations in a hotel they'll see the name and they won't ask for an account number to hold the room. In fact you may get a room when somebody else would be told the hotel is full up. But they hold back a few rooms, for folks the
y'd be horrified to have to turn away. Rich people get treated a lot different. If you go to a club or a restaurant they always hold back a few tables, for when somebody walks up they don't want to turn down. The really super rich, like the royal family in England have every business from household linens, to biscuits for tea, straining to get their business."

  "But, why?"

  "It's self interest really. They know that's their core market. A guy with a ground car dealership, or an import house, may go under and not be back next year. The really wealthy will be there next year, even if there are economic hard times. Having the right people in is a form of advertising too. Some businesses don't even charge celebrities for their services. If a hotel is known for having a lot of vid stars staying, the crazy fans will stay there just hoping to rub elbows with somebody famous in the lobby, so they'll comp them a room," he explained.

  "When a fellow stops in a shop to take some things home, if he sees the box of crackers that has printed, 'Purveyors by appointment to His Majesty', the guy figures, 'The King can buy any kind of crackers he wants. So these must be the best.' Derf aren't so much that way, except where they have adopted Human ways. After all, before humans we never had vid nets, or nightclubs. We pretty much had to adapt the whole package of how these new businesses work."

  "You were right," Lee said after awhile. "Dealing with a society is a lot more complicated than individuals. A lot more complicated than I expected."

  Chapter 18

  "What's that smell?" they both said, near enough in unison to make them laugh.

  As soon as the inner door opened on the lock it hit them. It wasn't an offensive odor. In fact it was rather nice. Gordon compared it to how the hay from an alpine meadow smelled when it was cut. It made Lee remember some sweet incense her mother had once burnt in the cabin, after she'd been sick on the deck.

  They soon found a manifest left on the door of Gordon's locked cabin, that informed them they had cargo in pressure. Port workers had access to most of the ship while they were gone. Only the flight deck and personal spaces were locked tight.

  When they opened the door to hold number three, the same odor hit them like physical thing. The room was only half full of small cartons. Each foam board box held a six kilo metalized pouch of Blinkweed. Scrawled by hand on one box was a note, informing them it was a courtesy sample for the crew.

  "What is this stuff?" Lee asked.

  "I have no idea," Gordon admitted. "First Mum told the third no new stuff, so it must be a well established trade good. Damned if I've ever heard of it though. Bring the freebie along and let's look it up on the Web mirror."

  "Hmm, used in the formulation of expensive perfumes," Lee read. "Blooms every other year, in swampy areas of saline estuaries," she read. "The dried flower buds are rolled between hands, to use as a personal scent by coastal Derf; essential oils are extracted commercially for human trade. It says - toxic at extremely low concentrations to Hinth."

  Lee pulled the seal tab across the top of the pouch and looked inside. The dried buds didn't look much like the plant on the computer at all. She took one of the smaller buds and rolled it between her palms. The smell got stronger and her hands a little slick. The bud went back in the pouch pretty much unchanged. The film on her hands was so pleasant she rubbed it in her hair.

  "Keep that in your cabin," Gordon suggested. "I think it's a nice scent for you and it should be a life-time supply. From what the manifest says six kilos of the stuff is a damn fortune. Third Mum was very generous to give you a standard pack of it."

  "As generous as free freight to Earth?" Lee asked.

  "Well, no. But we're not playing tit for tat," he said embarrassed.

  "Maybe she knew you call me your little stinkweed when she gifted us," Lee said.

  "Maybe she was in the bathhouse one morning when you came in all ripe."

  "You know if for some reason we fail our biological clearances at Earth all this will be forfeit since they loaded it in pressure."

  "True, I'm sure they loaded it suited and went back through hard vacuum or maybe even by remote. If they lose it we'll cover the loss. Even a Greenie with issues is worth more than you can imagine. The people who discovered Thorn are rich from the pharmaceuticals alone, even if they can't colonize it."

  "Why is it called Blinkweed?" she wondered.

  "I have no idea," Gordon admitted.

  * * *

  Earth was a pretty marble from lunar orbit, but too small to see any detail. You could tell which continents were facing you if it wasn't too cloudy. Earth got as many ships in a day as Derfhome got in a month. They waited around Saturn and Gordon kept busy, by auctioning off their data dump from Derfhome. It was only two-hundred dollars Ceres, but every little bit helps. Then they waited again outside Earth's orbit beyond the moon, while civilian traffic alternatively landed and launched in cycles.

  Lee and Gordon spent the time configuring a new double cabin for her and converting her parent's space to separate quarters with a movable partition so it was flexible in use. It could hold two singles in comfort or a couple, or two couples if they were willing to be a bit cramped.

  When they were finally brought down to Luna it was obvious the explorer vessels were brought in as a separate group. There were only six ships funneled down to a land in quick sequence. Their section was a plain field with no pressure connections to the port buildings and a security perimeter that looked lethally serious.

  The outer most boundaries of the Commission field were marked off clearly, by not only fences and defensive fortifications, but also by a wide floodlighted lane painted a startling blue, that nobody could say they didn't see. The only good thing about the fortifications in Lee's eyes was it all faced outward from their ship, instead of pointing in like they were the threat.

  The examination they received from the Claims Commission made the exam at Derfhome look cursory. They spent three days in isolation and had so many tests both invasive and passive that they lost count. As the doctors worked on them several planners interviewed them, with questions their tapes and notes didn't answer. They had probably heard just about every wild story possible, but the lady who heard Lee relate how her parents died left looking rattled, after Lee calmly told how the dinos chewed at her sleeping bag trying to get to her through the tough ballistic cloth shell and how Lee kept firing point blank at the unseen foe.

  The bureaucrats were busy even as they were being examined, they were assured, planning an expedition with seven ships to survey the planet in greater detail and making a catalog of land and assets to auction. All their questions about the business side of the claim were put off for when they were cleared for release. They were assured the patent lawyers they chose were top notch and their claims would be well written.

  On the fourth day they were released and their ship declared non-hazardous. The ship was released to be towed to the civilian field and they moved from the hospital inside the security zone, to the Holiday Inn Armstrong. A Commission electric cart carried them through a tunnel from the Commission offices and shops to civilian cubic. It was open and pressurized all the way, with only emergency drop gates for any loss of pressure.

  At the far end they crossed a blue line painted on the pavement, with a single guard for each authority beside the line and they were in the Lunar Republic. The Commission field had extraterritoriality, just like an embassy. But in this case it was a shared autonomy, between the seventeen nations and worlds who flagged explorer ships.

  It was late local time and an official of the Claims Commission asked for an interview over breakfast and permission to bring a trader to sign a release for their cargo. They agreed, if it was in their suite and suggested a late breakfast, being wrung out from the testing.

  * * *

  The Commission rep was dressed in an Earth style business suit, very much like Stanley McPherson wore on Derfhome station. The other man was surprisingly young and Oriental. He had on thin linen pants and loafers with no socks, a T-shir
t and a remarkable collection of gold jewelry. There was a slender and ornate dagger tucked in his waist too.

  "Good morning. I'm Commission senior account representative Adrian Bertrand. This is the gentleman your clan contracted to sell the consignment of Blinkweed. I must say we were surprised. It's not often an explorer ship stops to bring mundane cargo back when they are coming to register a discovery. I confess I've little talent for languages, so I'll let him present himself. I believe he needs just a moment of your time."

  The young fellow was presenting a business card in both hands. Gordon accepted it and surprised her by producing one of his own and offered it with the same double grip. She didn't know Gordon had cards.

  After a glance at the card Gordon made a stiff little bow and said - "Ohayou-gozaimasu, Oai-deki-te urseshii-desu?" For a moment the young fellow just stood with his mouth hanging open, but finally collected himself and uttered - "Genki-desu, but it is customary to do business here in English. I don't believe Mr. Bertrand is familiar with Japanese, so let us use English as a courtesy to him. Please just call me Hiroshi."

  "Fine Hiroshi, why don't we all sit?" Gordon suggested waving at the table room service set up minutes before their arrival. A server manned a cart to the side, ready to make omelets and waffles.

  "If you simply sign my release I won't ask more of your valuable time," Hiroshi offered.

  "Up to you," Gordon allowed. "There's a place set for you. If you haven't broken your fast this morning feel free to dig in. I believe my daughter was curious about our cargo if you have time to talk to us. I imagine you know a great deal about it if you trade in it."

  Hiroshi hesitated and looked warily at Mr. Bertrand. Lee suddenly got the feeling it was a status thing. Hiroshi was just a merchant and Mr. Bertrand was an official. That was interesting because it gave her some idea where they fit in socially here.