[Story] Adventures in Space

[Murmur the Fallen]

A multi-part serial of unknown length, breadth, or depth.
To be crude, it was the money that got her out of her home.
Hassan Wu looked down at the hand-delivered letter once again, then at the Hermes Universal Deliveryman, a short fellow that looked to be in his late twenties, dressed in green and brown with an animation patch running on his breast pocket. He waited expectantly as she reader through the letter again.
"Dear Dr. Wu," it began, "I represent an agglomoration of interests that would greatly appreciate both your presence and your unique services on a project that must, unfortunately, be kept unknown to you. A token of our esteem has been deposited in your public account already. If you would agree to meet with us, a meeting that is some distance away from your home, our appreciation would be further manifested concretely. Yet if after this meeting you wish to part ways with us, please be assured that it would be an amicable parting if regrettable on our parts. Please take as much time as you like in deciding, but indicate your acceptance of our admittedly unorthodox proposition with the HUD representative Jimmy Hawkins. To demonstrate that our hopefully future negotiations will not have a single taint of coercion, we have instructed Mr. Hawkins to engage the Baley Security Services on your behalf. Thank you." And it was signed, John Raven, Modern State Planning Commission.
"Mr. Hawkins?" she said.
"Yes, Doctor?" answered Jimmy Hawkins, perking up as she looked him in the eye.
"Please come in and wait a few moments as I . . . please wait." Hassan moved aside from the threshold as Hawkins came in and smiled at her. She guided him to the couch, the white silk upholstery giving slightly under his weight. "Would you like something to drink as you wait?"
"No, Doctor, thank you." Hawkins smiled once again, nodding in polite appreciation as he began to twiddle his thumbs. "Take all the time you want."
"Very well." Hassan left her guest, almost unconsciously actuating her personal security system to its setting for a guest of unknown hostility. Survelliance was kept on a passive level, merely watching to see if his kinesthetics indicated any heightened adrenaline, adrenaline that would come before a robbery or assassination attempt. Hassan looked back at her guest, the first one that she'd had in weeks, and regretted what having to kill him would do to the upholstery. She first contacted her public banker and checked to see if any deposits had been made. There had been, and after hearing just how much it was, she couldn't help but be flattered at how much esteem they held for her, or at least for her skills. She thanked her banker then moved onto finding out what she could about the Modern State Planning Commission and John Raven. Modern State, as it was known, began as an architectural and engineering firm, designing everything from houses to space habitats. In the process of designing these places to live, whatever the scale, they slowly incorporated ideological research and advocacy, or a think tank in the old argot, to their business. She wasn't an expert in sociology, so she wasn't sure what exactly their aims and beliefs were. Looking over some of their literature, she was surprised to find that they had designed the new odeon on the Island.
As for John Raven, less was known. He was the head of the Modern State, though the literature didn't list whether he was an architect or not. There were no pictures of him, which was not exactly surprising. What was shocking, even disturbing, was that there were no rumors or gossip at all about him. Fen culture was not known for its taciturnity. That there was nothing about him beyond what the official records and literature said about him spoke of his subtle power.
She sat, turning off her computer screen, and thought. There were a great many reasons why she shouldn't go, the potential danger, the lengths that John Raven and his associates were willing to go to get her to wherever it was they wanted her to go, the influence of John Raven himself. There was also the fact that she truly didn't want to leave her home. The new tourist season was beginning soon, with all its pageantry and excitement, and she didn't want to miss it. She also didn't want to miss any of the comforts of home.
Yet, in the end, it was the money that got her out of her home.

[Murmur the Fallen]

looking over this now, i'm seeing where some edits would do some good. the use of home so close together in the last two lines, especially . . .

[Murmur the Fallen]

It was two days later before the final arrangements were made and Hassan was ready to leave. She left a series of instructions in her various off-site memory stacks, things to do in case she should be out of contact for such-and-such amount of time, and in case of unconfirmed and confirmed death. Jimmy Hawkins, short man of indeterminate description though he was, had been busily seeing to his own affairs, arranging for the pickup of various items including her close-protection Baley. The Baley was standing next to her as she closed the door and locked it behind her, a tall, craggy yet slim man dressed in the Baley uniform of black morning dress. They had only met a few hours ago at the CHONP restaurant outside of the local Baley's office, and she had been impressed by his professionalism and insight.
"The Boss wanted me to say thank you," he said, after introducing himself simply as Kelly. He spoke with a certain studied thuggish quality, which slipped on and off unpredictably. "What for, he didn't say. I didn't ask."
"Ah. Well, when you get the chance, thank him in return." She noted, as she had before whenever she interacted with a Baley, that they all spoke of the Head of the Baleys with mixed tones of fear and love, a sort of paternal awe that denied them the ability to speak his taken name. "Ezra is always a pleasure to do business with."
Kelly grunted, though whether with affront, pleasure or simply surprise was unknowable from his carefully cultivated stoicism. Hassan waved over a waiter, who took her order of a plain salad. Kelly only shook his head. "This job is just a token."
"That word again," Hassan muttered to herself. Then, to Kelly, she said, "How do you mean? My job? Your job?"
"Mine," said Kelly. "If these . . . whoever they are, really wanted to protect you, they'd have hired more of us. One man for close protection? That's a joke for even a saint. It's a five person job, minimum, bare-bones cheap minimum." He reached into his coat and pulled out a tin. He pulled out a piece of red candy and returned the tin to his coat pocket before biting down hard and swallowing. "So I'm here to lend the good name of Baley, a tin shield, and to die a few seconds before you pop off."
"Think it'll come to that?"
Kelly looked away from her, his eyes slowly scanning the restaurant district, taking in the stands, kiosks, bistros and cafes. "Pass. They want you, they want you bad. Maybe they want you so bad that they'll do everything to keep you wheverer it is we're going, including killing you."
"So clues as to where we're going?"
"And don't think I didn't give hell to the station chief for that. Nah, these people, this John Raven--and christ, what a name--and whoever's with him have gotten a pass from the higher ups for this." He sat then, staring at her, then at the surroundings, then back at her, as if confirming anew every few seconds that she was, in fact, alive. "I looked him up and found nothing. You?"
"The same. Some things on Modern State but all public literature."
"Yeah. Modern State did some business with us on the First Bank of Sol and I talked with some fellas that worked on that. They said that these Modern State people were normal, everyday Fens. Nothing stood out. One thing they did say was that they all worked for Modern State, down, up and side to side. Very Ford, very vertically integrated; no subcontracting."
"Hmm."
They sat in silence together, each mulling over their thoughts. Finally, Kelly spoke again. "The worrying thing, the really worrying thing, isn't that Raven guy having so little said about him."
"Ah?"
"Nah, it's that whoever's with him, behind him, whatever, are using him as the mouthpiece, the go-between, the face. Whoever's with him or behind him or above him . . . whoever they are, it's not going to be small."
"Ah."
After this, they said nothing as she finished her salad, went back home to pack, and then entered Hawkins ship to leave.

[Murmur the Fallen]

Proposed Idea:
First Bank of Sol is the major financial instutition and serves as a non-state Bank of Issue. They follow a floating currency policy for their Solar Credit.
-murmur

[itsune9tl]

---

They follow a floating currency policy for their Solar Credit.

---

This is a really bad pun for a bank in space.
What Value-base are they using for deposits?

[robkelk]

---

Proposed Idea:
First Bank of Sol is the major financial instutition and serves as a non-state Bank of Issue. They follow a floating currency policy for their Solar Credit.

---

Interesting idea... but I'm not sure we need it yet.
Since Fenspace has only been a going concern for less than a decade, I've been imagining it using Earth currencies for the most part - in decreasing order of popularity, Australian dollars, US dollars, Euros, Pounds sterling, and others.
A few Fen may have already started issuing their own currencies (and the Solar Credit could be one of them, but not as an independant entity). Of course, just like in the American old west, some privately-issued currencies would be more valued than others... "A-list" currencies would be backed by both goodwill and assets, and issued by reputable known groups - that pretty much means the Mars and Venus terraforming projects, The Island, and Hephaestus. "B-list" currencies would be backed by goodwill or assets - the Hidden Asteroid might be an example here. (I'd put Stellvia in this category, except that Noah uses 'daneside currency.) "C-list" currencies are strictly novelty items outside of the issuing group - if Candy Apple Red's issued its own money, this is where it would be ranked.

---

What Value-base are they using for deposits?

---

In space, energy is a good backing for currency (at least, until some time after the end of Operation: Great Justice, when Hephaestus makes that invention public and the bottom drops out of the currency). One credit equals one kilowatt-hour of electricity, perhaps?

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

---

What Value-base are they using for deposits?

---

Biomass. It's the one thing not easily available in the greater solar system. Energy is, if not strictly free, cheap, metals can be found in the asteroid belt, hydrogen from the gas giants, straight carbon from Venus and Mars, hydrocarbons from the outer system, etc. The single most valuable thing in Fenspace (aside from intangibles like IP) is biomass. Seeds, plants, animals, soil... hell, even sewage has a high intrinsic worth, especially in the terraforming projects. So instead of having a "gold standard" for the currency, you have a "biomass standard."---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Kokuten]

this currency is bullshit!

(pun, not complaint, thanks)Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[robkelk]

---

Biomass. It's the one thing not easily available in the greater solar system.

---

Which would make The Justin our equivalent of the Gnomes of Zurich...

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

Not as such. The Jason's got the engineering skills, but he's limited by the amount of material he has to work with. On the other hand, by a biomass standard the several hundred acres the Grover's Corners lifted gives those hardy pioneers a rough net worth of.... well, probably a bit more valuable than Stellvia.
---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

I suspect that's like saying "the Mississipi is a bit bigger than the Potomac"... If we're on the biomass standard, then Grover's Corners can buy whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want in Fenspace. That's a lot more power than anyone else has, including Wiregeek and Noah put together.
The economic implications of that would cause more than a few ripples throughout the Fenspace economic community... or, rather, it would if Operation: Great Justice didn't begin a couple of weeks after the Grover's Corners launch.

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Murmur the Fallen]

well, very, very little, anyway.
like i said, i imagined the solar credit to be a floating currency; that is, its worth is determined by the "invisible hand of market forces." there's nothing backing the currency, just like there's really nothing to back any currency really. so no gold standard.
if i actually knew anything about economics i'm sure i'd be able to actually say something more about that.
first bank of sol is, as i imagined it, basically a bank that issues its own money.
now as to the fens using earth-based currency, i'm not sure if that makes much sense as soon as they set up their own cities.
i mean, it's not as if paper currency has any real use in space (other than the value given to it by those that would exchange it for something else . . . which is the definition of currency . . . um). and would the people that built crystal tokyo and all the other off-world polities use the currencies of earth? are they tied into the financial markets? what is the incentive for using that currency? wouldn't it make more sense for them to make their currency? granted, lots of countries use the US currency in addition to their own, but that's because their economies are tied into the US's (peripheral nations as they're called).
You know, this really brings up more fundemental questions I had about Fen-Dane relations. Such as, are Fens able to invest in Earth stock markets, businesses, etc? Can they own property down there? What are the trade relations like?
-murmur

[M Fnord]

---

now as to the fens using earth-based currency, i'm not sure if that makes much sense as soon as they set up their own cities.

---

Well, the thing to remember is that for the first generation or so the economic gravity well (so to speak) is centered on Earth. The vast majority of the population is on Earth, as is the vast majority of the manufacturing capability, agricultural capability, information infrastructure, etc. Fenspace is technically a peripheral nation to the terrestrial globalized economy. This will change, of course, as fen start to build their own infrastructure, but not overnight.
As for currency currency, there's not much call for paper money in Fenspace, no. Paper money would probably be worth more as stock for Martian fertilizer than as money. But like so many other things these days, money can be reduced to electronic transactions. For practicality if nothing else, Fenspace would be a "cashless" society.

---

You know, this really brings up more fundemental questions I had about Fen-Dane relations. Such as, are Fens able to invest in Earth stock markets, businesses, etc? Can they own property down there? What are the trade relations like?

---

The situation is... in flux. I've been trying (with little success) to put together a Gazetteer article on the general Earth/Fenspace political scene, which includes the economic side.
To summarize very quickly: It's only in the last two years (2010-2012) that the major powers - the G8 plus the outlying Space Powers (China, India and the non-G8 ESA/EU members) - have officially deigned to recognize Fenspace as anything other than a collection of fringe weirdos. Smaller countries like Australia, New Zealand and the occasional corrupt thirdworldistan have had friendly relations since day one, but it's only very recently that major markets in North America, Asia and Europe have opened to fen. What all that means... is where I've been stalling. But I'll figure it out eventually.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Kokuten]

my input on money is, that there's gonna be some weird shit going on before things stabilize out.
I see part of the Treaty of Kandor being the adoption of the 'credit', again, a floating currency pegged to nothing at all. Before that time, however.. well, just picture a Hephaestus "Steel Credit", a battle-steel disc slightly larger and thicker than a quarter, with an RFID embedded in it, an emblazon of a moose head on the face, and a crossed-hammer-and-pliers-over-anvil crest on the obverse.
After Kandorcon, we see 'credit cards', and a holographicly embossed, RFID embedded, 100% hardtech 'credit'... I don't have any real inspiration for how much a 'credit' will buy, but I see them being roughly equivalent to a U.S. Dollar in 'buying power', slightly more valuable, maybe.

conjecture on my point, I assure you.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[Bob Schroeck]

A currency doesn't necessarily have to be backed by some kind of valuta as long as the tokens themselves are a) in a limited supply and b) difficult if not impossible to counterfeit. The "Steel Credit" would be a good idea if there were some means of assuring each was genuine as needed, preferablly without some kind of callback to the issuer.
Perhaps a special strain of handwavium specifically cultured to create uncounterfeitable money?

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

[CattyNebulart]

Using handwavium is iffy for currency, because a curreny must be trusted. I trust that other people will accept my dollar and give me something of a certain value, which is why the dolar works as a curreny. Any new currency is going to have to be trusted by many people from the start, and considering how few people trust the wave...
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, no, I don't mean the handwavium is the currency -- it's used to create the currency. And because strains are notoriously irreproduceable, if you get the right combination of features you need to make a currency properly, it's unlikely anyone else is going to get exactly the same mix and proportions of features.
I was thinking still of the Steel Credit, only treated with handwavium to make it somehow uncounterfeitable and otherwise inherently special.

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

[CattyNebulart]

And how would you make money unounterfeitable? not by looks since those can be duplicated, at least close enough that humans don't notice the difference. The only unounterfeitable money would be math based, and since humans are not very good at number crunching that implies computer based. There is no such thing as an unhackable computer. Ergo counterfeit proof money is just a dream.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Bob Schroeck]

If we can use handwavium to make Volkswagens that go to Alpha Centauri, surely we can use it to make uncounterfeitable money.

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

[Kokuten]

trying to move money discussion to a new thread - this is a story thread, after all.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[Murmur the Fallen]

Three days out from the Island, and there had been little talk on the ship. They had left the Island soon after they'd gotten onto the ship, Kelly and Hawkins nodding at one another and speaking briefly on professional matters that Hassan paid no attention to. She had settled into the ship, leaving her luggage in their bags but taking out her computer and some papers and journals. The only real advantage to a long commute was the opportunity to just sit down in an isolate area and truly bear down on much needed grunt work. Which, all things considered, was not much of an advantage. Yet it was a situation that she was loathe to change.
She sat in the lounge of Hawkin's ship, the Black Spot, which was retro-futuristism personified, a black and silver dart with the requisite four darts at the rear; a design relic from the age before orbital flight, when all anyone had to go on were pulp covers. Its interior, however, was surprisingly spacious and modern. Her cabin was tastefully designed and comfortable, but the lounge quickly became her favorite work area in the ship. It was a large room, with chairs, couches, and tables all around it. On one of the walls, surprisingly enough, was a replica of the Bayeux Tapestry, the first and only piece of artwork that she'd seen in the ship. Kelly, as nearly always, was a silent presence beside her. She appreciated, when she ever came to think about it, his taciturn nature. She had had close-protection security before who tried to converse with her to create some sort of emotional bond. What this had to do with keeping her alive, she had never known. With Hawkins spending so much of his time in the cockpit, she had barely said a word in those three days.
Yet this silence was finally broken when Kelly spoke. "I've placed you," he said, his tone even and without any emotion. He sat on another of the chairs, still scanning the room the room but never looking directly at her as he had done in the cafe back on the Island.
Hassan looked up at Kelly quizically, surprised. "Oh?"
"Yeah." He reached into his jacket and took out one of his hard candies and crunched down. "I knew that I've seen you before. Been thinking about this all this time and I got it. Just now I got it.
"This was about two years back. A few of us were working security on Luna, preparing it for an Israeli trade delegation when we got word of an arms sale and possible assassination attempt. Turned out that a group of Turnerized Farnhams had gotten word about the Israelis and were getting ready to kill them. We knew that they were waiting around for something, something they called the 'bullets.' We thought they were waiting for guns from Earth-side to do the hit. We went in to bring them down but found out quick that they were tooled up already; handguns, automatic rifles, body armor. Lost a few people before we finally got them in.
"Afterwards, I noticed you in the crowd as we were carting them away. There was something different about you, weren't one of the lookie-loos. Didn't take you for an accomplice 'cause there's no way someone with your skin could've been with a Turnerized Farnham. Anyway, when we got to questioning them, we found out what the 'bullets' were: tungsten rods that would've been dropped from orbit onto Earth, making a huge but non-nuclear explosion. They were going to start raining those rods down onto major population centers."
Hassan leaned back, remembering the tension and the shouting, the staccato cracking of gunfire being met with gunfire followed by long silence. She remembered the crowds alternatingly pushing forward and pulling away from the center of the action as arrest turned into a battle and then into a standoff that slowly bled away. "It was known technology, the tungsten rods, the programmable ion engines. Nothing that I would do now and something I did reluctantly then. But I took it up as a logistical challenge. They had to be weapons that the Farnhams could manufacture easily with their fabrication facilities. It just became a case of designing a delivery system simple enough to launch into Earth orbit and then maneuver around for targeting. So: rocket mated to computer with GPS access. Finds the target city, drops a rod or two, then moves on to the next target. The initial shipment had only two systems with a payload of fifteen rods each."
Kelly looked at her, his eyes still and calm. Then he nodded and settled back in his seat, releasing a tension that was only noticeable when it disappeared. "So I've placed you."
"Yes."
They were silent again, silent for a long time, Hassan back to her work and Kelly back to his, when Hawkins's voice came out of the PA system. "Doctor, we'll be arriving at our destination soon. Please prepare to disembark."
"Thank you, Mr. Hawkins," she said.