"Where are they, brother Harper?" asked the Poet.
Harper Lee swallowed nervously and said:
"I don't know. I mean, I don't know exactly. Maybe Bobby has a better idea."
He glanced at Bobby, who was standing by his side in a nonchalant pose, with thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans.
"Why the fuck should I have a better idea?" Bobby said.
"Because they all left on Olga's initiative, and Olga's your girlfriend," said Harper. "I was sitting there with them when she came over and asked if they wanted to go with her. Wait, I've just remembered something. She said she was going into town to have a look around."
"Olga is not my girlfriend," Bobby said crossly. "We have a special kind of relationship."
"Town meaning Fairhaven?" asked the Poet. Jimmy Dow, who was standing behind the Poet's chair, giggled and said:
"Calling Fairhaven a town is stretching it. Stretching it a lot."
"I assume she meant Fairhaven," said Harper.
The Poet nodded.
"All right," he said. "I'll send a couple of people to ask around in the morning. Hopefully they can get a lead." He looked sternly at Harper, and added:
"You said you were sitting with them and that you saw them leave, you saw they were taking their things? Why didn't you ask them where they were going, and when they'd be back?"
"I assumed they'd be back within a few hours."
"You saw them taking their things and you assumed they'll be back within a few hours? That wasn't a very logical assumption to make, brother Harper."
Harper did some fast thinking. He didn't want to tell the Poet that everyone in his group including himself was afraid of getting robbed by the Poet's people. He said:
"We'd been on the road for a while, and developed a habit of keeping our things close."
"How much metal did they take?"
"Jake and Li Yang took what they brought with them, and it wasn't much. It was mostly copper. Some silver, a little bit of gold. I don't know about Olga."
He glanced at Bobby, who said:
"That bitch took half of my gold, nearly two hundred grams. And a full kilo of silver."
"That's a lot," said the Poet.
"I know," Bobby said. "And I'll get it back. And while I'm getting it back, I'll skin that bitch alive."
"You'll have to find her first," observed the Poet. "All right. It's very unfortunate that this has happened. Your explanation is not very convincing, brother Harper. But I'll give you the benefit of doubt. Brother Bobby, from what you said I understand you have been robbed."
"Fucking right I've been robbed," said Bobby. "I'm going to kill that bitch."
"When we find her, we'll hand her over to you so that you can deal with her at your leisure," said the Poet. "Make no mistake, we WILL find her, sooner or later. Hopefully still in possession of your gold and silver."
"I'm going to look for her, and look very hard, you can be sure of that," said Bobby.
"No, brother Bobby. You mentioned you were an experienced plumber, and I've got an important job for you. As important as locating your girlfriend."
"She wasn't my girlfriend."
"Whatever. You can be sure we'll find her. We'll talk again tomorrow morning, brothers. Make sure you get a good night's sleep, there'll be plenty to do."
As soon as they'd left the Poet's trailer and Harper made sure no one was listening, he said:
"Bobby, you told me you had nearly a full kilo of gold. And I just heard you tell the man Olga stole half, and that the half was less than two hundred grams."
"I lied," said Bobby. "I'm not giving them all my gold. If you're smart you won't, either."
"There will be trouble if they find out you're cheating them."
"We're in trouble already," Bobby said. "That dude of yours, that Jimmy. How could you ever trust him? He's a double-faced motherfucker."
"Aren't we all," said Harper.
"What the fuck does that mean? You calling me a liar?"
Harper sighed.
"No, Bobby, I'm not. Listen, you really have no idea where they could have went?"
Bobby shrugged.
"They went to town, and went on from there," he said.
"I know that much, too," said Harper. "But where is there?"
At that very moment, Olga, Li Yang, and Jake were in Morello's penthouse office. Morello was saying:
"So, summing up, this is the deal: you can stay here until you can move into the cabin. But in return, I become a partner in your mint. It's not like I'm asking for a free ride, I can get my hands on a lot of copper. Some tin and silver, too. Bear in mind that I'm also starting a colony. It will be a big, strong colony. You'll be happy to have that colony as your ally in the New World."
"Mr. Hardin said he runs a tight ship," said Jake. "Mr. Hardin said he won't tolerate any armed conflict. Unless of course it is initiated by himself, for the greater good."
"Hardin is Cambridge district governor, and regional governor of Maryland territory on the peninsula," said Morello. "He cannot stop some asshole based in Virginia or Delaware from raiding your colony. When that happens, you'll be glad to have an ally nearby."
Jake shook his head.
"I find those future raids a little hard to believe," he said. "It doesn't make sense. Everyone will be busy setting up their own colony. They'll have to get food production going and develop basic industries and - "
"You're missing an important point," interrupted Morello. "The quickest way to get stuff is to steal it. That's the way it has always been. All that waffle about violence and killing being bad is a very recent development. For thousands and thousands of years before that, violence and killing meant getting rich fast.
"Why bother to develop food and goods production when you can steal both? Let some other stupid fucker do all the work, then kill him and take everything he has. Correction: kill or enslave him. Enslaving is better because you get free labor, and they can keep producing stuff for you. That has been the standard modus operandi throughout the history of mankind. It's going to enjoy a big renaissance in the New World."
"What's modus operandi?" asked Li Yang. "What does it mean?"
Morello groaned.
"It means the way someone operates," Jake told Li Yang. "And renaissance means - "
"I know what it means, thank you," said Li Yang. "And I think Mr. Morello is right."
"Of course he's right," said Olga. She smiled at Morello.
Morello looked at Jake.
"Well?" he said.
"If you're right, you're right," said Jake. "I agree. I guess everyone agrees."
"Good," said Morello. "From now onward, we're equal partners in the mint and we'll register it as such. I may not have gold or silver, but I have contacts. Contacts that will provide us with dies for the coins and other equipment to set up a good operation. We'll be up and running in next to no time."
"Maybe you could explain something to us, though," said Jake. "Why do we have to wait until late May to start a colony?"
"Mr. Hardin likes to get things done in an orderly fashion," said Morello. "No more than two or three new colonies every day."
"And he's regional governor?" said Jake. "His whole region - and that includes our colony - will fall way behind the others."
"No it won't. On the contrary, it's a sure bet we'll come out ahead."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"You wouldn't," Morello told Jake. "You young cocks don't appreciate the importance of doing things in an orderly fashion."
He frowned, and added:
"I'm not hundred per cent sure I should be telling you this, but what the hell, it isn't exactly a secret. The way it works is that you set the exact place and time for the founding of your colony with governor Hardin. You'll arrive in the New World buck naked, without a thing to call your own, and surprise! For there will be a bunch of goodies waiting for you in your chosen spot. A set of clothes for everyone, some basic tools, and an initial supply of food. Maybe also some building materials, I don't know."
"I hope there will also be soap," said Olga.
"Wow," said Jake. "That's great news."
"It's not free of charge," Morello warned them. "You'll pay for it later with goods produced, in instalments. But you'll start the race running. You can bet your ass there'll be plenty of guys elsewhere starting one minute past midnight tonight, and by late May they still won't have proper tools. If they hadn't died in the meantime, naturally. A lot of them will."
"You really think so?" said Jake.
"I don't just think so, I'm sure of it. John and I are friends, and I sat in on a few interviews he held with people who want a license. You know something? Let's celebrate a little. I mean we've just become partners, it would be mean if I didn't offer you a drink."
A while later, they were all seated with drinks in their hands. It took a while because Mr. Morello had to pay a quick visit to the bathroom, from which he emerged much energized.
Li Yang's drink consisted of tomato juice with two ice cubes. He really liked Mr. Morello. He thought Mr. Morello was a swell guy.
Mr. Morello was saying:
"I'll tell you about an interview I participated in. John showed me the guy's papers before he came in, and his papers say he's a fucking demi-god. Top student, scholarship to one of those places that train you to look down on other people, a major activist for at least half a dozen noble causes. Twenty four years old, you might say that's an ideal age because he is as young as you can be without being naive. You expect good judgment from a brainy guy that age.
"Anyway, he comes in and the first thing I see is that he's seriously fat. He's the kind of guy you don't want as your neighbor on a bus or train or a plane because you'll barely have the space to breathe. Okay, I say to myself, once he arrives in the New World he's gonna shed a lot of weight in a hurry. Might be an advantage, it's like he has a built-in hamper full of nutritious fat.
"John and the guy start talking and initially all is good: he's quick and to the point and confident. But then John asks about his skills and the floor falls in. He's one of those activists that never move their asses, all his activist activities are conducted through a keyboard. Can he cook? Yes, if the instructions are there on the box and there's an electric oven or microwave nearby. He's never even tried boiling an egg.
"Can he sew - what do you mean, sir, like sawing wood? No, I've never done that, never really worked with wood. Can he help with farming, can he handle plants? Well, he had a potted cactus for a couple of years, but it died. And it really takes a lot of talent to kill a fucking cactus.
"How about something basic, like digging ditches? He's never handled a spade in his life. If you sent him out with an ax to chop some wood, he'd need medical care. So John asks him outright: why do you think you can run a successful colony? Turns out the guy used to be, still is I guess the world champion in some fucking colonization game. He kicks ass left, right, and center in that game, so he's going to kick ass in the New World.
"You know, that rationale came up pretty often. I guess the majority of people think life lived out through a computer is real life because it is a big part of their own, real lives. It's happening for real! Except it isn't.
"It made John revise his outlook about video games. He said that if ever things returned to normal he'd ban video games for anyone under sixty. When someone gets old and they're basically waiting to die, it's nice to indulge in some fantasies. But when you're young, it's a crime. Committed by you, on yourself."
Li Yang had never played any video games except for a few fumbled minutes on a friend's phone. What he heard made him feel like a saint. He really liked Mr. Morello a lot.
He was happy to wait until late May or even June with the founding of their colony. And it really made sense, because they needed to make enough money from the mint to pay for their licenses.
For the first time since the catastrophe, he had the feeling that everything was going to go well.
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