April 4: A Different Perspective (20 page)

"Hey, take a full speed pass at
five
kilometers and I can save the expense of bombing them," he said, not entirely facetiously.

"We'll run the numbers, so you don't do it accidentally, but yeah, the overpressure is going to be fearsome. OK, I'll build it for you on one condition," Dave agreed, making up his mind.

"What's that?"

"You run the first one as a drone, like a robot freighter. I don't want to be the guy who enabled you to blow your silly little butt to plasma. We wire it up with extensive stress and strain sensors and measure the crap out of the thing, tear the drive all the way down to basic components after, if it survives and do checks for gross deformation, as well as microscopic surface inspections and crack detection. Then
maybe,
if it looks golden we trust a human in the crazy thing. It's damn scary and right on the edge of the development envelope I gotta tell you."

"Agreed, but this first one should still be a real human rated shuttle, with eight seats, two with acceleration neutralizers, not just a scale size. In fact being able to run it as a drone means you can lift bigger loads or two extra people without the mass of the pilots. That might be critical to do some time."

"Also, we drop the first one on a remote island or off in the middle of Antarctica. If it blows up trying to lift no harm to anyone and if it fails, but is sitting there stranded you can bombard it out of existence safely," Dave demanded.

Jeff just nodded an easy agreement. It seemed reasonable.

"You got it," Dave said satisfied and offered his hand. "I'm thinking six weeks on the rack for the basic  build out. Then another two weeks for fitting internals and special systems."

"And no mounts for special weapons, you'll notice. Too much risk of having them captured. Just missiles. But make sure it has a decent coffee maker," Jeff reminded him, taking his hand.

* * *

"Ms. Lewis, I'm Linda Pennington and this is my daughter Lindsy and my son Eric. I inquired and found there is no active school on Home, but was informed you intend to start one soon. Could you tell me a little about how and what you intend to instruct and if you will have groups appropriate to their ages?"

"We have eleven students signed so far from six to seventeen. Everybody will be instructed in a common area. We'll form groups according to ability and age for the subject at hand. Some things like art or languages might have a wider age range than reading or mathematics. I will have an assistant to help me all day long and occasionally others. There are already a number of independent tutors on Home, used by the folks who homeschool. I don't pretend to be proficient in mathematics, so I will use a gentleman who teaches trigonometry and the calculus. I can teach simple algebra and plane geometry myself. Are you planning on blending my instruction with some of your own at home?"

"That's a good question," Linda admitted, a little taken aback. "I never considered formally instructing them myself. It is rather viewed as, antisocial, in North America. I'd have to see what resources I can find. I wanted them with other children as much for the socialization, as for formal instruction." and
to give myself a sanity day,
she thought, but didn't say aloud. "Do you think there will be any hostility toward them for being North American?"

"I haven't seen children thinking that way," Faye told her. "They usually have to be taught by adults to dislike foreigners and you might be surprised how little animosity is directed at North Americans by Home citizens. They do tend to speak very harshly of the North American
government
, but neither you or your husband are politicians are you?"

"Hardly," Linda laughed. "I'm a housewife and he's a mining engineer."

"In any case I wouldn't tolerate that sort of mindless prejudice," Faye told her. "I expect to have courtesy and respect, or I'll send the student home. If they demonstrate it is too deeply ingrained to stifle I'll remove them as a student. I intend to make a profit but I won't deal with foolishness and stress to make a few extra dollars."

"What is your tuition schedule?" Linda inquired, trying to appear unconcerned.

"I'm starting at three-hundred dollars a day per student. Half days for two-hundred. If a student doesn't have a cafeteria card I put their lunch on mine. I may charge for exceptional expenses like hard copy books or really exotic tutoring and expensive art supplies. But I'm projecting what I can afford to provide in the future, with a bigger class and lower costs. I hope to grow into that."

"Oh my," Linda said stunned.

"Oh, I know I'm low balling it," Faye said, completely misinterpreting her shock. "It's not like I need to do this to eat. Don't be afraid they'll just get baby-sat for that. I think you will be pleased with what they tell you when they come home."

"Would you consider taking my two Tuesdays and Thursdays for now and we'll see how that goes and what I can add at home for now?" she suggested. That was absolutely all she could afford.

"Certainly. The first couple days will probably be interviews," she explained. "I will be asking what they have already studied and finding out what they are interested in doing and perhaps a very little testing if it seems useful. That will give me a chance to find out their personalities a little bit and they mine of course. I expect the children with special skills to teach others. I keep telling them that you don't really know a subject, until you can explain it to others."

"Well, that's an interesting take on it," Linda said surprised. "It makes me think back to my mother. She could cook up a storm, but she didn't teach my sister or me how to cook. I wonder why?"

"I wonder if it wasn't too hard to teach
both
of you?" Faye speculated. "Did you get along with your sister or were there sibling rivalries? If she had picked just one it would have looked like favoritism, but if you argued, she likely didn't want that in her kitchen while she was trying to work."

"That's very perceptive," Linda admitted. "My older sister was a very strong personality and bossy. I think you might just have the right of it."

And you are you sweet and mild of personality and lack aggressiveness?
Faye wondered silently. Somehow she doubted it, but she smiled and accepted the compliment.

Chapter 21

After his father settled all his banking business, Eric slid off the chair and stood against the desk. "I wonder if I can do some business with you?" he asked very tentatively. The fellow had a sign made up with his name on his desk. It said Irwin Hall, with no title.

"Sure, that's why I'm here all day until 1700," the fellow assured him, very friendly.

"I would like to make a deposit and ask your advice on how business is done here."

"Certainly. Let me open an account for you and get your signature. You're new just like your dad so you likely don't have a hanko either do you?"

"No sir, but I will get one if you think I should." It felt strange, but good, that this adult was speaking to him as an equal and he wasn't smiling a condescending little amused smile, or constantly eye shifting to his dad, to make sure each statement was OK.

"Yes, your dad is going to simply deposit wages and pay bills. He really doesn't need one. But if you are going to actively do business on Mitsubishi 3 it would be best to have one. You go down the corridor anti-spin," he said pointing the way, "and you will come to a door with a Japanese flag and writing on a plaque by the door. That's the Japanese consulate. Among other things he will very kindly make you a registered hanko. You want to guard it closely. It obligates you on a document just like your signature. Although the new ones won't print unless your thumb is on the end and they're pretty hard to hack."

"Are they expensive?" Eric worried.

"I'm not sure if you would think so or not. Last time I knew, they were running about eight-hundred dollars USNA. Do you regard that as expensive?"

"I've never had that much money before. I guess I better find out how much this is worth," he said and laid the One Solar coin on the desk. Eric hated to give it up. It was really 'da point', as the kids said now and he'd have liked to just keep it forever. On one side it showed Home with just two rings not the third they were starting on and the Rock way closer behind it than it really was. The  Earth was behind, not the full face of it, but an intruding arch, filling about two thirds of the coin face and the full moon floating in the area of the heavens left over.

But on the side he put up to Mr. Hall it had no graphics and inside a thick raised rim said: System Trade Bank of Home, 25 grams Pt – 99.9999 Pure - One Solar – 0000000217.

Irwin slid his working mat to the side and keyed something on his hand computer. He dropped the coin on the hard desk surface and read the screen. Satisfied it rang true he keyed a request into the computer and made an inquiry of the System Trade Bank. It informed him Solar 0000000217 was the simple property of Eric Pennington, previous owner of record, Jefferson Moses Singh.

"Well, you are certainly playing with the big boys," Irwin told him. That sounded like a compliment, he was pretty sure.

"Mr. Singh gave it to me as a personal loan," Eric told him. "He said he liked how I thought and he'd take the risk I might fail," he explained.

"The thing is, Platinum has shown a steady climb in value, in both USNA dollars and EuroMarks. I'd be perfectly happy to cash this out at today's spot price, but I don't think I'd be serving your interests to do so," he admitted. "Right now twenty-five grams of Platinum has a spot price value, per my screen, of sixteen-thousand-seven-hundred-seventy-eight dollars USNA," he read off. "I suggest you deposit this in a Solar denominated account and we will hold it for you by serial number. We will loan you funds to a dollar account with this as collateral."

"So I'll still own this coin?" Eric asked, all smiles. That sounded good to him.

"Yes, but it will have a lien on it. If you lose money instead of showing a profit and you can't make up the amount you borrowed against it, we would sell it and only give you the difference. We bankers are very heartless and unyielding about that, I hope you understand." He was joking a
little
, but just to soften the point, he was serious.

"Well, sure. I understand. So do you put, uh, the spot price you called it, in my dollar account?"

"No, we never loan the full value of the collateral. What if Platinum goes down to fifteen-thousand dollars USNA tomorrow? That leaves us in a scary position doesn't it? and you want some safety built in for the nature of the loan." He was obviously enjoying teaching Eric these things, Mo realized. Well, Eric was making it enjoyable, listening intently.

"Have you ever run a business before and had to plan and deal with all these things?"

"No sir," Eric said, humbled again.

"Well then, we have to take that into account," Irwin said spreading his hands like it was obvious. "However if Jeff Singh says he likes your business plan I'm not about to second guess him when he is assuming the risk. The Singh clan is very well regarded on Home and you are well connected to have his approval. I'll advance you up to twelve-thousand dollars USNA, in a draw account against the Solar. I'd give you two other pieces of advice. One, you pay interest only on the portion you draw. So don't ask for more dollars in the account than you really need at the moment, to keep your expenses down. and secondly, most new businesses fail. Sometimes the best sounding ideas just don't work for no rational reason at all. Sometimes things that look incredibly stupid to me take off and make money hand over fist. But if you see that the trend is down and you are steadily losing money, don't wait until you have run through all your funds to bail out. A great deal of business smarts is knowing when to cut your losses and preserve what funds you have left for your next try. People who keep trying generally do find a winner sooner or later."

"Thank you, I'm going to be buying things from a lot of people. Will they want cash or should I get a card like my dad?"

"Most people here do a transfer with their pad. Everybody wears spex," he said, touching his, "but they are awkward doing a cash transfer. If you are doing business a pad is so much more handy, to just turn to show them stuff on the screen, instead of fiddling around getting a transfer to their spex. I'd suggest getting a pad too, as a necessary business expense."

"Do people buy new pads all the time like they do spex?" Eric asked, suddenly even more  interested and attentive.

"Oh, yeah. As soon as a new port comes into common use, their old one can't handle a new operating system, or needs more memory. Some people change pads like they do footies."

"Would you keep a secret for me? Can I ask my banker to do that?"

"You certainly can," Irwin said. It was his turn to be surprised. "I have what they call a fiduciary responsibility to you. I'm obligated as your banker not to do anything that would harm your business or your money. You need to look that word up on the net and read until you understand it. Now there might be other people you deal with who
don't
have that duty to you. If you want you can get them to sign what is called a
nondisclosure agreement
, but I'll tell you right now, what you get people to sign doesn't mean much, unless you already know you can trust their word without a signed agreement."

Eric nodded seriously. "Thank you, I appreciate knowing this stuff. I intend to buy old spex. Jeff says just about everybody has a couple pairs jammed in a drawer or a bin somewhere. and now, from what you said about pads, I bet there are a ton of them sitting unused. I'll check, but I bet they cost a lot more down on Earth."

"The chips are made up here, that's why they are cheaper."

"Do you have an old pad at home you want to sell, that's good enough for me to use for business?" Eric asked.

"No, but I have one in the bottom drawer right here, that's about a year, or a year and a half out of date. Would you like it for a hundred dollars?"