Part 10 (1/2)
”Jeff Sterling's with you. He'll tell you.”
Jeff looked like he could, and might enjoy it, too.
Right now, Ray needed time and information. ”Ms. San Paulo, I'll see what help I can get moving and call you back.” Ray closed down the commlink, gave it to Rose, and turned to his team. ”Folks, we have a problem. Mary, have Ca.s.sie get the metal back to base. Mary, Jeff, we've got to talk.”
”Yessirs,” answered Ray as he acquired a mule for immediate return. Ray tapped his commlink, got Barber. ”h.e.l.l's apopping. They've got riots in Refuge. We've got some interesting stuff here at the mine, and I want to see you as soon as I get back.”
”Gosh, and I've had such a quiet day,” the chief laughed. ”Doc said he had something for you as soon as you get in.”
”Great,” Ray sighed. ”I'll stop by the hospital first. Ca.s.sie'll have you a half trailer of metal in an hour.”
”Good. I'll get the factories going.”
”We'll need to talk about what you produce.”
”I knew you'd say that,” Barber groaned. ”Base out before you ruin my day worse.”
Ray chuckled grimily at the commlink, then turned to Jeff. ”What's your sister up to?”
”Running for empress of the world. What do you know about economics, Mr. Amba.s.sador?”
”About as much as an infantryman needs to,” Ray said pointedly as Mary put the mule in gear.
”Then I'll be fast and simple. What you don't have is worth more than what you do. Gold was rare on Earth, thus valuable. Here, copper is both rare and in high demand for every tech application. You can use aluminum or iron, but copper's better. h.e.l.l, we use salt water for some stuff. My grand-something Jason staked out the only copper mine we've found. Best iron ore as well. As soon as the original salvage from Santa Maria ran out, we Sterlings became the only game in town. And since Dad died and Mom decided she'd prefer praying to running the business, Vicky calls the shots. Following me so far?”
”I think so.”
”Now then, brother Mark locates a hill just full of bauxite up north. The psalm singers are none too happy to have us hard-drinking, going-to-h.e.l.l miners show up. Big sis is even less happy. Mark's compet.i.tion. Not only on the raw metal scene, but also bro Mark sets up factories, makes electric motors, communication gear, all kinds of things that compete with Vicky's one-hundred-percent market share.”
”No monopolist welcomes compet.i.tion,” Ray nodded.
”That's the background; now we get to today's riots. We Sterlings run both the business and the financial life of this world. Copper is not only the critical feed for industry, it's also the basis for our money.” Jeff fished in his pocket, produced two coins. ”Most of this is ceramic. However, its center slug of copper makes it money. We've always had some aluminum-based money in circulation. That wasn't a problem until Mark struck it big time. Mark starts minting money, and the price of everything went up. p.i.s.sed off Vicky big time.”
”Inflation,” Ray nodded.
”Right; too much money chasing too few goods. Before we had deflation, a very limited copper-based money supply and a growing population producing more and more goods. Result, the value of everything went down. Except for what Vicky made. She kept her prices up or higher. The value of the goods and services used to pay for her products decreased. She got more for the same product. She loved it.”
Ray folded his arms. ”And the farmers hated it.”
”Cost of a village phone system went from half a year's production to two years' worm of work in one generation, a generation that added a million more people. Old folks remember how far a copper dollar used to stretch. Grumble to the kids. Everyone gets mad,” Jeff sighed. ”Then along comes Mark's aluminum dollar. Folks have plenty of money. Deflation stops. Sis gets the same, maybe less value for the same product. Boy, did she squawk. As much as she could, she demanded copper coin for her stuff. Yesterday I guess she made it official. You want copper products, you pay in copper coin.”
”Seems like your brother Mark would love it. Step right in and grab Vicky's market.”
”He would, in another couple of years. He's not ready yet.”
”A preemptive strike.” Ray scowled. Economics might be economics, but he knew a war when he saw it. Still. ”People are reacting awfully fast, taking to the streets and burning things when all they've been told is there might be problems.”
Jeff nodded. ”There's been a lot of talk lately. Your people and what you're going to do. Jonah's crazies. I don't know. Maybe this was just the straw that broke the bridge.”
”Maybe,” Ray agreed. Or maybe there was something more? The rational part of his mind had only scorn for the very question. The part he dreamed with was none too sure.
”Step on it, Mary.” Ray hung on and wondered what Doc was so excited about. He also wondered what they could do to help Refuge. Twenty years of soldiering had taught him to look for his opponent's center of gravity. Ray still wasn't sure who his opposition was, much less what was important.
Mary followed Ray and Jeff into the hospital. The doc took one look at Ray walking in with a single cane for support, and waved him toward the scanner in Med Bay One. ”What happened?” Jerry asked as Ray settled comfortably on the table.
”You tell me, Doc, and we'll both know.”
”Looks like you've had as intriguing a day as I've had.”
”Doc, you tell me your tale, then maybe I'll tell you mine.”
”That bad?”
”Maybe that hard to believe,” Ray growled. ”Talk to me, Doc. Make me happy.”
”Let me get this going,” Doc said, worked his control board for a long minute, then came to stand beside Ray. ”I've been taking blood from people all day, like a hungry vampire. Locals, first group down, latest arrivals. All have varying levels of virus in their blood. The longer down here, the more.”
The control station for the scanner beeped happily that it was done. Doc returned to tap it, ”hummed” noncommittally several times, then asked Ray, ”You still need help off the table?”
Ray swung his legs over the side, positioned his cane as a safety measure, then eased himself off. ”Not bad,” Doc noted and glanced at Jeff. ”Does he go everywhere you go?”
”Jeff has just become my chief of local intelligence, mores, rumors, and other duties as a.s.signed.” Ray frowned at the young man, raising the question with an eyebrow.
”I'm in,” Jeff agreed.
”The smell that just got real thick in here, Doc, is Jeff's burning bridges,” Mary laughed.
”Gosh, and I didn't bring any marshmallows. Welcome to our happy bunch of campers, Jeff.” Doc offered his hand, then brightened. ”Does this mean I can get a complete set of tissues and liquid samples from this man?”
Jeff yanked his hand back.
”Down, Doc,” Ray chuckled. ”I'm your guinea pig today. What kind of rumors is your meticulous scanner handing out?”
Doc got serious as he turned back, to his a.n.a.lytical readouts. ”Your back has knitted almost completely in the past twenty-four hours. I suspect I surprise you in no way when I tell you it shouldn't have happened. Wonder why?”
Ray shrugged, not yet willing to talk about his day.
Doc moved the scan results up to Ray's skull. ”Brain ma.s.s has expanded downward. That might take some of the pressure off your skull. Let me check something.” Three other images appeared. ”Compare tumor ma.s.ses against the brain's total ma.s.s,” Doc ordered, then pointed as numbers appeared beside all four.
”Right. You and the kids have the same ma.s.s per brain weight, to within the third decimal.”
”Any idea what that means?” Ray asked.
”d.a.m.ned if I know.” The good doctor shrugged. He called up a dozen different skull scans. ”Anybody came in here today got a brain scan. You got a cold. You got hemorrhoids. You got a skull scan,” Jerry chuckled. ”Last was a bit hard to explain. Anyway, based on my incomplete random sample, you will note something interesting. These are organized by age, youngest at the top.” He let each scan run for fifteen seconds. The ones at the top showed brightly colored patterns. The ones at the bottom showed significantly less.
”And that means?” Ray said.
”I haven't found a pattern to the size of the ma.s.s. Some have only a small one, others more. None has one anywhere near as large as you and the kids. However, there is a clear pattern by age. In older samples, activity is reduced. In the younger ones, that thing, whatever it is, is active as the d.i.c.kens.”
”Something is in our brains?” Jeff asked slowly.