Calculated Risk by Zen DiPietro

Author:Zen DiPietro [DiPietro, Zen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Parallel Worlds Press
Published: 2018-01-26T22:00:00+00:00

6

“I can get you onto Mayani Minor.” Rigby made this announcement almost as soon as she entered the room and sat, stunning them all.

Cabot recovered his voice first. “How would you do that? And more importantly, why would you do that?”

“It’s complicated,” Rigby said, shifting in her seat to lean forward. “And yet incredibly simple. I want the Barony Coalition out of this system, and I believe you are the people who can make that happen.”

That announcement dropped a bomb of silence over the group.

“Why?” Kelvin’s question surprised Cabot, both because the man had said almost nothing in his presence, and because he was the first to put his thoughts together enough to ask what they all were thinking.

“I love my planet,” Rigby said, her voice rising with passion. “I love this entire system. I love the peace we’ve enjoyed for centuries. Maybe staying out of the PAC has helped that and maybe it hasn’t, but my government is now so out of step with the populace and the reality of modern interstellar politics that it’s going to destroy us.”

Ditnya leaned back in her chair slightly, her eyes narrowed in thought. “And you said you’re a buyer?”

Excellent question, and one Cabot was eager to hear the answer to. Since first meeting her, he’d thought Rigby unusually well-spoken and intelligent for her job.

Rigby frowned at the question, though. “Where you’re from, are people who specialize in commerce particularly stupid or something?”

Kelvin’s expression darkened, but Ditnya, Nagali, and Cabot smiled. Omar looked intrigued.

“In fact,” Ditnya said, “I think business-minded people are the smartest and most savvy of the lot. My apologies.”

Now Cabot was intrigued, too. Ditnya liked this woman. Really liked her. He couldn’t recall her ever apologizing to anyone before.

“Why are you surprised that I have insights into the politics of my own government, then?” Rigby pressed.

“Maybe it’s that where we’re from, many traders don’t have the formal education you’ve apparently had,” Ditnya explained. “Instead, they’ve been educated by experience.”

“Zankarti people highly value academic education,” Rigby said. “I suppose it is different where you’re from.”

Nagali spoke up. “Where I’m from, business is its own education. But that’s just Rescissitan. Neighboring planets within our system are entirely different. And other solar systems are something else entirely. Your system appears to have a heterogeneous nature unlike anything the rest of us are familiar with.”

Omar shot Nagali a look at the word “heterogeneous.” She arched an eyebrow at him as if to say, So? I can be smart too, if I feel like it.

Cabot smiled. Long ago, as a child, he’d discovered that he had a certain tingling feeling in his nose when a particularly tremendous opportunity presented itself to him.

He was having that feeling now.

“So Zankarti people, in general, are scholarly?” he asked.

“I’d say we’re normal,” Rigby said. “But maybe to your people our normal looks unusually scholarly?”

“Maybe.” Cabot liked her frankness. He guessed that Ditnya did, too.

“Tell us, if you don’t mind, about your scholastic background.” Ditnya smiled. “It might help us put things in perspective.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.