Live Free or Die-ARC Read online

  "Geographically and seasonally highly limited," Hetuncha said. "Excellent."

  "Yes," Tyler said. "Because limited means valuable."

  "And as of this morning, local time," the Hurin Corporation representative said, "60% of the operating distilleries and about 30% of the available growing land just transferred to the LFD Corporation, Tyler Vernon, Chairman of the Board. Masterful stroke, Mr. Vernon. I see that Mr. Haselbauer, yes, represents many if not all of the independents."

  "And you and the independents represented by Mr. Haselbauer hold all of the stored stocks," the Limaror Corporation representative said, sourly.

  "For which we will be negotiating today," Tyler said. "Mr. Haselbauer and Mr. Lyle will be handling those negotiations. Ms. Castilla, who is an expert in banking, will be working on setting up appropriate banking systems, secure from the Horvath, so that we can engage in regular trade. But first a word about maple sugar . . ."

  "Mostly collected by small farmers," Hetuncha said. The Gorku rep wrinkled his nose. "Geographically scattered, hard to gather. And it has to be gathered during a very limited period of time. Even if the weather cooperates, any resistance to gathering means a severely reduced crop."

  "Which can be good and can be bad," Tyler said. "Less means higher price in general. But if it's simply unavailable, one can see the market dying. New product and all. You'll want to maintain your source of supply. I direct your attention to the initials of my corporation, gentle beings."

  "Various meanings," the Onderil rep said. "But in context our AI says it refers to your tribal motto."

  "Closer than you realize," Tyler said. "With everyone who was in it purely for money, or because they thought the Berkshires are pretty, out of the game the Horvath will find it rather hard to take. Even the Canadians that gather it are pretty stubborn folk."

  "Aren't taking mine, that's for sure and certain," Mr. Haselbauer said. "Burn the trees first. And maple's practically religion to my family."

  "I suggest you have your AIs study local tribal reactions to force," Tyler said. "And their relationship with the rest of the world. Especially, as they would put it, 'city folk.' Because what you are buying is all the maple syrup that's going to be available until next spring. You have a few months to process the cultural implications. Negotiation will be for Glatun credits, gentlemen, not atacirc. After that we can trade with regular traders for atacirc and so on and so forth. And, of course, the usual taxes go to the . . ."

  "Revenuers," Mr. Haselbauer said, disgustedly.

  "The problem is we really don't know if we're getting a significant amount of credit for this or not." Cody Castilla was in her fifties and severe. Severe face, severe clothes and severe body language. "Their economy is still opaque to us. Our analysts are still trying to process the economic implication of most manufacturing being robotic."

  "Not entirely," Tyler said. "Economics comes down to food in the end. What one standard meal costs is another way to say it. I asked Wathaet, innocently, if I visited his station and if I could eat Glatun food, which I can't, how much a cheap meal would cost. He said an ormo, whatever that is, was about a quarter credit. He also told me that his full cargo load of trash atacirc was around a hundred and twenty credits. And, forgetting the earlier question, made like that was a huge amount of money."

  "We're up to fifty credits a gallon," Lyle said. "We can buy five shiploads of atacirc for a gallon?"

  "We got screwed by them boys," Mr. Haselbauer said.

  "Which is why I insisted on more than one corporation being represented," Tyler said. "Dollars are not going to translate to credits but work will. How much will it cost to send some of our grad students to Glatun to learn their technologies? How much will it cost to get Glatun to come here to teach? How much will it cost for us to get starter plants and fabbers to make more? We should be able to buy more advanced technologies with this. Not much but it's a start."

  "We need to be able to buy advanced weapons, sorry as I am to say that," Ms. Castilla said. "So we can get the Horvath out of our sky."

  "A Revenuer wanting to defend the country?" Mr. Haselbauer said, grinning. "Will wonders never cease?"

  "Listen, you . . ."

  "Enough," Tyler said. "We don't need tribal differences right now. We can't buy enough weapons, even with the full load, to matter. Probably. It's possible they have weapons we can set up there that mean no Horvath can survive getting through the gate. But I doubt it. For right now, we need to be important to the Glatun powers-that-be so that they will bring weapons. And Glatun that know how to use them. Which is why we're going to geek to fifty credits a gallon. Because they're going to make a very nice profit and they will like us. We've pushed the negotiations far enough that they won't take us as pushovers. Hopefully they'll be smart enough to see what we're doing. But if I'm getting their society, there is one more thing we need and I can not think of a way to get that!"

  "What?" Castilla asked.

  "You don't want to know."

  "Mr. Vernon," the Gorku representative said. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

  "And you, Mr . . ." Tyler said, grimacing. "Sorry, terrible with names."

  "Hetuncha," the Glatun said. "It is easier if one has implants. You really don't have to remember as you think of it."

  "Nice ability," Tyler said. "How much does that cost, exactly?"

  "Depends on the implants," Hetuncha said with a slight sneeze. "A basic implant set-up, were there any designed for humans, would be about fifty credits. Full standard civilian, with all the trimmings as you would put it, runs about four hundred depending on your accessories. Can run more but such people are considered . . . strange."

  "And an AI?" Tyler asked.

  "AIs are somewhat limited," Hetuncha said. "Only a few thousand are produced a year and they have strict limitations on action. A very basic AI is several thousand credits and in your current, unfortunate, security situation the Glatun government would never permit an AI to reside in the system. There is one on the freighter which accompanied us, a Gorku freighter I might add."

  "Ah," Tyler said. "And a super-cannon to shoot the Horvath out of the sky?"

  "There are ground based defense systems of course," Hetuncha said. "But they are of limited use due to orbital mechanics. Point-defense only. You wrote TradeHard. You know that."

  "Just hoping," Tyler said.

  "We also have laws against trade in weapons in most cases," Hetuncha said, working his snout.

  "Heh," Tyler said. "See how long that lasts when White and Green mountain folk start having off-planet credit to burn. Like they won't find some free-trader to supply ray guns? There are things, however, that I'd like to buy that I doubt would bother your government. Nothing weapon-like at all. But I'm not sure if it's off-the-shelf or something that needs to be customized. Also, I am in the near future going to be interested in doing some movement of . . . stuff to orbit. Again, nothing weapon-like in nature."

  "What, exactly, do you need?" Hetuncha asked.

  "A device that can attach to a satellite that will give a very low delta-v but can maintain a charge or power system for a very long time. Basically, something that can move a satellite around the system but it doesn't have to be fast. Slow, cheap and durable is the key. Also, obviously, with a long-range transmitter."

  "I should, as you say, screw you," Hetuncha said. "But you're talking about a standard satpak. They're half a credit. That's if you're buying more than a thousand at a time. And don't try to negotiate, they are very fixed cost. They weight about a half a pound and have a duration of seventy-three years. We have very good capacitor technology. But even if you put a lot of them together you can't get out of your gravity well."

  "Not interested in that," Tyler said. "Lifting out of the grav well? By one of your ships?"

  "Depends on when a ship is here," Hetuncha said. "And how big your satellite is and mass. If the ship can just kick it out the door on the way to the gate? Five credits is standard up to three tons and
the size of one of your cars. If they have space available. A few thousand of them and the ship isn't doing anything else and the same. There's a fuel cost to getting out of the gravity well, but if they're going that way anyway the extra mass isn't that much of an issue. The ship we brought has shuttles to pick up cargo. Normally there would be shuttles on the world but we, unfortunately, had to bring our own. Do you have satellites to boost now? I don't see you anywhere as involved in the satellite business."

  "Not yet," Tyler said. "I'm thinking long-term. Very long term. I need a thousand satpaks the next time a ship comes through. That's a registered contract."

  "Well, you certainly have the credit."

  "Last question," Tyler said.

  "At this point I ought to be charging you," Hetuncha replied, sneezing.

  "Feel free," Tyler said. "Because the answer is going to be long. And time is money."

  "What's the question?" Hetuncha asked, curiously.

  "Tell me everything you can about the Horvath," Tyler said. "Carnivore, omnivore or herbivore? Reproductive methods? Culture. Monolithic or tribal. How long have they been in contact? What was their tech level before contact? United before contact? Everything . . ."

  "That's two hundred and fifty six thousand gallons off-planet," Lyle said, smugly. "Which translates to twelve point eight million credits."

  "Given exchange rate as posted to their hypernet that translates as the planetary economy of earth," Castilla said, shaking her head.

  "Because all we have is maple syrup," Tyler said, distantly. "Mr. Haselbauer, I've sent a quiet message through the hypernet to Wathaet that maple sugar independent distributors now have Glatun credit to burn."

  "Why thank you, Mr. Vernon," Mr. Haselbauer said.

  "Also that some might want to buy atacirc for resale but that you have other interests," Tyler said. "I need to go. I have some people down south to see."

  "Going back to your rebel roots?" Mr. Haselbauer asked.

  "MIT for design," Tyler said. "Huntsville for production."

  * * *

  "In a remarkable development, Glatun traders are now swarming to earth in search of . . . maple syrup? The tasty treat that kiddies love on pancakes seems to be ambrosia to our closest extra-terrestrial trading partner and the price of maple syrup has gone, well, sky high! This is Courtney Courtney with Headline News . . ."

  Five

  "You want how many mirrors?"

  AMTAC was a small company in Huntsville that had managed to survive in a nearly extinguished market. Space mirrors had been well on their way to being a big business before the Horvath arrived. Mirrors were used for a variety of applications from directed-energy-weapon research to astronomy. Get a bunch of mirrors together that were well spread out and you could get one heck of a space shot. The replacement envisioned for the Hubble was based on distributed mirror technology.

  However, the Horvath habit of from time to time potting a satellite just for kicks had practically killed the entire space industry. And space mirrors had been the first to go.

  James Raskob, President, CEO and Chief Engineer of AMTAC had managed to keep the company together, with a lot of layoffs admittedly, despite the bad times. They also made ground based mirrors and as the only remaining supplier of space designs they could pretty much set their rates. When they got any business. But this was a little kooky.

  "I'd like to get up to production of one ten meter mirror per day," Tyler said. "After we're up to one a day we'll have to start working on better mirrors. These don't need to be great. Just be able to reflect sunlight pretty well. And I'd prefer cheap since we're going to be making a lot."

  "Define 'pretty well,'" Raskob said, wincing. "I mean, what sort of coefficient of thermal expansion? Albedo constant? Pretty well is a pretty loose . . ."

  "I just need some pretty good mirrors," Tyler said, shrugging. "Right now I just need stuff that will reflect sunlight. Glass, nickel, whatever."

  "Tracking systems? Maneuver? Boost requirements? How high a thrust during boost?"

  "I think the Glantu are about our same grav," Tyler said. "They're supplying the tracking and maneuver systems and boost. Oh, and I'm going to need a ground station. You know any people in the ground system business? And you're probably going to need to build up some inventory, hire some people. I'll front you a loan or buy into the business. We're going to be making a lot of mirrors."

  "Look," Raskob said, shaking his head. "I appreciate that and everything. But what do you want the mirrors for?"

  Tyler wriggled uncomfortably then shrugged.

  "I want to melt asteroids."

  "Ah . . ." Raskob said, sitting back and steepling his fingers. "Now you're making sense. You have the Glatun willing to boost for you?"

  "You know the whole maple syrup thing?" Tyler said. "Well I'm the maple syrup king. Yeah. I can get them to boost for me. And I'm buying standard satellite packs off of them. I'm also getting a supposedly user friendly control package. Basic idea is boost a bunch of mirrors, focus them on an asteroid, melt it and pull off the metals."

  "Which will belong to our Horvath benefactors," Raskob pointed out.

  "Which I might just sell, in space, to the Glatun," Tyler replied. "Let the Horvath take it up with them."

  "You are playing a dangerous game, friend," Raskob said.

  "Well aware of it," Tyler said. "But it's the only game in town. Now, can you make the mirrors?"

  "Easily," Raskob said. "But not the main array mirrors. You're right, those are anything cheap, light and shiny. You're going to have to have collectors, though. Those are going to be tougher.

  "I'll subcontract for the main array mirrors and make the collectors here. We can easily do one of the main array mirrors a day. CTE isn't really a big thing since they're just moving light around. Collectors one a month to start. And then bump up the production as I can get qualified workers and more equipment."

  "Are we going to need really huge ones?" Tyler asked.

  "No," Raskob said. "Just more collectors. You don't even have to have collectors all in one spot. And eventually, collectors that can collect from collectors. Two hundred main array mirror outputs pointing at one collector is about the limit of what one will be able to handle with standard materials. And you're eventually going to want collectors that can handle the power of thousands. Cryogenic beryllium's the thing for that. Problem is keeping it cryogenic in space. Which asteroids are you thinking of mining?"

  "I was thinking the ones that are inward towards the sun from earth," Tyler said.

  "Atens?" Raskob said, shrugging. "That works. They don't stay in there, you know. Very eccentric orbits."

  "Main array down towards Venus orbit?" Tyler asked. "That way it's collecting more sunlight . . ."

  "Without getting into the super-hot regimes," Raskob said. "Sure, that would work. I'd suggest up out of the plane of elliptic to keep it out of the way."

  "Point," Tyler said. "I've got a thousand satpaks coming in a month. I'm not sure when I'll have ships to carry it up but there are more free-traders coming these days. They're always willing to pick up a few extra credits. I can probably get a whole ship since all the maple syrup is gone."

  "In a month I can have ten mirrors at least," Raskob said. "Primary array, that is. Maybe one collector. And, yes, I know people who do ground control. If they've got systems to support it," he added, glumly. "Everybody's IT stuff is breaking down."

  "I'm getting at least one hypernode connector as well," Tyler said. "And, ahem, I'm the world's primary supplier of atacirc. I assume they can integrate atacirc into their systems?"

  "Oh, yeah. This is gonna be fun! As long as our Horvath benefactors don't get snarky."

  "Well, that's always the problem," Tyler said.

  "Admiral, thank you for taking my call," Gorku said.

  "Since I was ordered to do so I really didn't have a choice," Admiral Orth Glatuli said. The commander of the Glalkod defense zone did not seem especially pleased to be taking
a personal call from one of the system's wealthiest individuals.

  "Now, Admiral, I truly would not be bothering you if I didn't feel it was important to the Federation. I know how busy you are."

  "I will take that under advisement," the Admiral said. "What is the substance of the call?"

  "I would like you to reevaluate the question of the Terran system," Gorku said.

  "I continue to contend that maple syrup, popular as it is among my sailors, is not a reason to go to war with the Horvath. And war is certainly not a reason for you to make another megacred."

  "Agreed," Gorku said. "But I would suggest, strongly, that you engage Ldria in a serious analysis of the humans in terms of not just immediate but long term consequences to the Glatun Federation. Ldria is, after all, the only class five AI in the system."