Chapter 32

"That is true, Governor, but we are able to extend its supervisory capability, from our position in orbit. We will put other satellites in permanent orbit to provide visual intelligence data, and we will supply a set of mechanoids to offer assistance where and when required by the human colonists. Thus, should we have to leave the planet without any Personalia, the observation capability will remain and the city mind will be able to operate our mechanoids in our stead."

"Fine. I just wanted to know what you are proposing to do."

"We do understand the need for an administrative structure to be in place. The settlers will need a contact point for assistance with any problems, and a source for any physical needs that cannot be supplied from their fellow colonists. This will essentially mean any items that have to come from another planet; usually manufactured items; but perhaps there may be trace elements missing from the locality. Most trace elements are findable elsewhere on the planet, but often not readily, so importing them from another planet may be simpler."

He was intrigued at their planning. "So, you need an organisation to receive new settlers, and allocate land to each family. You also need to provide transport to the parcel of land, and ensure that the materials for building a house are to hand. On the assumptions that settlers will not carry all the utensils and household goods they may require, some sort of shop facility would be easiest; a commissary of some kind, with every settler having a credit line for such basics of family life. For those with enough finance, they can buy their own goods; for those with almost nothing, they just run up a debt until they are in a position to repay it. Do you believe that such an operation would be acceptable to business-oriented people such as yourselves?"

"Governor, you know that money in itself has no interest for us. Money is a human requirement for economic transactions. We do not have the same need or stimulus. As long as we have access to the materials that we utilise, that is fine with us. Your concept of money and finance is a mathematical manipulation of figures, and these numbers are more interesting than what they represent.

However, we have accepted human requirements in a number of fields, and finance is one of those. Auditing a company's accounts is an interesting lesson in manipulation of figures, so when a human tries to hide figures (assets you would say) within or exterior to accounts, it intrigues us."

"So I understand. That is what makes you so desirable as auditors for companies and organisations: you unearth what is hidden, and restore missing assets. I do know about that."

"Of course you do. That is what has brought us to this point: discovering stolen and hidden assets, and employing them to help the poor. We now know that there is at least one organisation on Earth devoted to discovering such assets that are physical in nature. These are where the thief turned part or all of his stolen cash into gemstones, gold, and other precious metals, or purchased land, or obtained documentation of ownership of company shares, and so on. These were assets where we had no means of accessing them, except perhaps where the documentation could be subverted electronically. We are still exploring that possibility. It would mean the destruction of the original ownership documents. Fortunately many companies are turning to electronic registration of such asset ownership.

The organisation we spoke of has no official existence, but it seems to be an offshoot of the British Foreign Office, with connections to the SAS regiment. No one in the Foreign Office admits to its existence, and the British Secret Service say it is nothing to do with them. We discovered the presence of their agents while we were recovering cash assets from an African leader who was now designated "Life President", but was effectively retired with his embezzled gains. Our "disappearing" of the money was investigated by this organisation. We noted what was happening, and in response we investigated the investigators. Our contact with them led to a mutual agreement: we would seek the cash assets, and they would pursue the physical assets. We have not come to any agreement yet about the regained assets, but we would hope to suggest that a proportion go to our "help the poor" project. Would you be prepared to send them a message to that effect? We would ensure it reached them."

"I find no reason to object, so I shall draft a message for you to pass on. I shall ring off now, and get to work on that."

The thought took little time, and the writing not much more. He was soon back to them with this statement: "I am Robert Kempe, Governor of Rehome Colony. I understand that The Personalia are in contact with you. I should like to notify you that the cash assets which The Personalia are recovering from thieves are being applied to assisting poor people from Earth, as many of them as possible. The intention is for them to colonise another world (not Rehome) with their own self-determination for their future. This requires some financial input - even more than already allocated by The Personalia - so I would suggest that whatever assets you are able to "liberate" from these thieves, it would be a good idea for a proportion of these to be devoted to the same effort. I urge you to make your own arrangements with The Personalia. I can assure you that they are reliable in every way, and have been very helpful to this Colony. End of message."

The Personalia contact was delighted with this message. "Thank you, Governor. It says it all. We shall give them a phone contact for us."

Susan Lubbock found that she was restless. Her mind would not settle for long on anything, and it all went back to that home visit.

The tall girl had enjoyed her visit with Peggy to the Defreitas household, and was delighted that Dinah and Tracy had safely had their babies. Susan had initially assumed that when they had their babies, they would return to school, but now realised that having a baby to look after was not conducive to attending school, unless you had a babysitter during school time. Perhaps they could arrange that, but with an ex-teacher as a husband, continued home schooling was an option for them.

So why was she restless, she wondered? It gradually dawned on her that she was jealous of Peggy! Why should she be jealous of Peggy? Really! A girl brought up in a less than loving home, tossed out when she got pregnant, and decanted for another family to be responsible for her? What was good about that, to make her jealous of Peggy? It didn't make sense ... unless ... Good grief! Was she actually jealous of Peggy for having a lover, especially if he was a married man, as Sue suspected?

She tried to analyse her feelings. They were both aged fifteen, so surely a bit young for having a lover, no matter how experienced and talented he was at the task? Normally having a lover would put you off your studies, with that distraction always hanging around. Curiously, it didn't seem to have that effect on Peggy, but really, Peggy was a special case, wasn't she?

Then why was she rubbing herself down there? And her nipples felt tender. Her body was saying things to her that she didn't want to know. She made a point of crossing her legs, and grabbing her school textbook with both hands.

Sue belatedly came to the realisation that she herself was thinking in terms of having a lover. That was a daft idea, she told herself, even if Trevor was a gorgeous man. Trevor? Oh, God, she was thinking in terms of Trevor as a lover, already! She had to get away from that line of thinking. She should concentrate on her schoolwork for tomorrow. Where were her books?

At school next day, Susan sought out Peggy, at a spot where no-one else was around. She almost had to drag Peggy from her books, as the other girl was engrossed in her maths textbook. Once her attention had been gained, Peggy declared to her friend, "Sue, did you know that recorded measurement dates back to at least 3,000 BC, when the Sumerians were using metrology – though they didn't call it that then! There is also evidence from megalithic monuments that geometry was well understood at the time, and the range of stone circles and other alignments suggest that that throughout Europe, everyone was using the same standards! There is considerable argument about proof of Megalithic standards, for the apparent megalithic yard approximates to an adult human's pace, just as almost all ancient measurements are derived from the dimensions of the human body."

She got on to another tack. "Even more interesting, Sue, is that the Babylonians were using zero before zero existed! They used numbers in tabular form, and where there was a place without a number, where you or I would write a zero, they inserted a mark to do the same thing. Then the Indians started to work out rules for dealing with the concept of zero; but it the name comes from the Arabic term sifr, which means "empty". That got transcribed into Italian by the famous Fibonacci, but somehow he used zephyrum, probably because it sounded the same., but actually is the Latin and Greek for "west wind"! The Italians changed that into their word zephiro or zefiro, then the Venetians shortened it to zero. It is amazing how some of our numbers came about, Sue."

Susan brushed this aside. "Peggy, can I tear you away from mathematical history for a moment? I want to ask you, for my ears alone, if Trevor is your lover?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, he is, why?" Peggy gulped at what she had inadvertently revealed, and burst out anxiously, "Sue, I never said anything, get it?"

"Of course, Peggy. If anyone asks, I know nothing; I didn't hear anything."

"Thanks, Sue. I don't want anybody to get into any sort of bother through me. I am grateful for the Defreitas family's welcoming me. I shouldn't like to spoil things for them."

"Yeah. I know what you mean, Peg. I just wanted confirmation of an assumption I made yesterday, and I think it is LOVELY!"

Peggy looked askance at her, and admitted, "It is, and I want it to stay that way. My abortion treatment put me off-limits for a while, as you would appreciate. I hope that now I can get the loving I got before, but I am not certain of that. I shall just have to go with the flow, but I can at least hope, can't I, Sue?"

"Naturally, Peg. You know, I am here to support you, so if you need to speak to Trevor, I would be happy to be there with you. Do you think you will have to do something like that? What do you think he will say to you? Will you need Dinah to speak up for you again, or can we manage this between you and me?"

Peggy was having second thoughts about this. "I don't know, Sue. I don't want to impose on Trevor, but if he is willing, I would be happy to resume our times together. Why do you think your presence would help? He doesn't know you, except as another classmate." She stopped and pondered for a moment.

"Sue, I am getting odd vibes. Are you wanting to be there to support me, or have you visions of Trevor falling for you?" She had another thought, "Or, are YOU falling for him and just looking for an opportunity to get close to him?" She faced Sue, with a determined face, "Sue, he is a happily married man! He has four wives who love him, and he has new babies with all of them. I was extremely lucky to be around when his wives couldn't make love with him, and they were amenable to an awestruck teen like me to be there to help him out. I don't anticipate they would happy about me expecting a more permanent arrangement as a standby lover; and I am certain they are not thinking of anyone else taking over from me!"