[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
plethora of treaties have established that entering a city voluntarily
constitutes acceptance of the prevailing law. In TunFaire a crime in human law
remains a crime when committed by anyone else, even when the behavior is
acceptable among the perpetrator's people.
Treaties deny Karenta the power to conscript persons of nonhuman blood,
nonhuman being defined as anybody of quarter blood or more who wants to revoke
his human rights and privileges forever. Lately, though, the press gangs had
been grabbing anybody who couldn't produce a parent or grandparent on the
spot. That's what happened to the captains of the Travelers, though they were
breeds.
Maya said, "So you want a couple of chukos off your back."
"No. I want you to know they're there. If they bother me I'll just knock
their heads together."
She looked at me hard.
Maya has a byzantine mind. Whatever she does she has a motive behind her
surface motive. She isn't yet wise enough to know that not everyone thinks
that way.
"There're a couple of farmer types staying at the Blue Bottle, using the
names Smith and Smith. If somebody was to run a Murphy on them and it was to
turn out that they had documents, I'd be interested in buying them." That was
spur of the moment but would satisfy Maya's need for a hidden motive.
It couldn't be that I just wanted to see how she was doing. That would mean
somebody cared. She couldn't handle that.
Page 43
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
I paused at the door. "Dean says he's whomping up something special for
supper. And a lot of it." Then I got out.
I hit the street and stopped to count my limbs. They were all there, but they
were shaky. Maybe they have more sense than my head does. They know every time
I go in there I run the chance of becoming fish bait.
Dean was waiting to open the door. He looked rattled. "What happened?"
"That man Crask came."
Oh. Crask was a professional killer. "What did he want? What did he say?"
"He didn't say anything. He doesn't have to."
He doesn't. Crask radiates menace like a skunk radiates a bad smell.
"He brought this."
Dean gave me a piece of heavy paper folded into an envelope. It was a
quarter-inch thick. I bounced it on my hand. "Something metal. Draw me a
pitcher." As he headed for the kitchen I told him, "Maya might turn up
tonight. See that she eats something and slip her a bar of soap. Don't let her
steal anything you're going to miss."
I went into the office, sat, placed Crask's envelope on the desk, my name
facing me, and left it alone until Dean brought that golden draft from the
fountain of youth. He poured me a mug. I drained it.
He poured again and said, "You're going to get more than you bargained for if
you keep trying to do something for those kids."
Page 44
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"They need a friend in the grown-up world, Dean. They need to see there's
somebody decent out there, that the world isn't all shadow-eat-shadow and the
prizes go to the guys who're the hardest and nastiest."
He faked surprise. "It isn't that way?"
"Not yet. Not completely. A few of us are trying to fight a rearguard action
by doing a good deed here and there."
He gave me one of his rare sincere smiles and headed for the kitchen. Maya
would eat better than Jill and I if she bothered to show.
Dean approved of my efforts. He just wanted to remind me that my most likely
reward would be a broken head and a broken heart.
I wasn't going to get into heaven or hell letting Crask's present lie there.
I broke the kingpin's wax seal.
Someone had wrapped two pieces of card stock tied together with string. I cut
the string. Inside I found a tuft of colorless hair and four coins. The coins
were glued to one card. One coin was gold, one was copper, and two were
silver. They were of identical size, about half an inch in diameter, and
looked alike except for the metal. Three were shiny new. One of the silver
pieces was so worn its designs were barely perceptible. All four were temple
coinage.
Old style characters, a language not Karentine, a date not Royal, apparent
religious symbology, lack of the King's bust on the obverse, were all
giveaways. Crown coinage always shows the King and brags on him. Commercial
coinage shouts the wonders of the coiner's goods or services.
Karentine law lets anyone coin money. Every other kingdom makes minting a
state monopoly because seigniorage the difference between the intrinsic metal
value of a coin and its monetary value is a profit that accrues to the state.
The Karentine Crown, though, gets its cuts. It requires private minters to buy
their planchets, or blanks, from the Royal Mint, costs payable in fine metal
of a weight equal to that of the alloy planchets. There's more state profit in
not having to make dies and pay workmen to do the striking.
Page 45
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The system works most of the time and when it doesn't, people get roasted
alive, even if they're Princes of the Church or officials of the Mint who are
cousins of the King. The foundation of Karentine prosperity is the reliability
of Karenta's coinage. Karenta is corrupt to the bone but will permit no
tampering with the instrument of corruption.
I gave the gold piece the most attention. I'd never seen private gold. It was
too expensive just to puff an organizational ego.
I picked up the top piece of card stock and read the terse note, "See the
man," followed by a fish symbol, a bear symbol, and a street name that
constituted an address. Few people can read so they figure out where they are
by reference to commonly understood symbols. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szamanka888.keep.pl
plethora of treaties have established that entering a city voluntarily
constitutes acceptance of the prevailing law. In TunFaire a crime in human law
remains a crime when committed by anyone else, even when the behavior is
acceptable among the perpetrator's people.
Treaties deny Karenta the power to conscript persons of nonhuman blood,
nonhuman being defined as anybody of quarter blood or more who wants to revoke
his human rights and privileges forever. Lately, though, the press gangs had
been grabbing anybody who couldn't produce a parent or grandparent on the
spot. That's what happened to the captains of the Travelers, though they were
breeds.
Maya said, "So you want a couple of chukos off your back."
"No. I want you to know they're there. If they bother me I'll just knock
their heads together."
She looked at me hard.
Maya has a byzantine mind. Whatever she does she has a motive behind her
surface motive. She isn't yet wise enough to know that not everyone thinks
that way.
"There're a couple of farmer types staying at the Blue Bottle, using the
names Smith and Smith. If somebody was to run a Murphy on them and it was to
turn out that they had documents, I'd be interested in buying them." That was
spur of the moment but would satisfy Maya's need for a hidden motive.
It couldn't be that I just wanted to see how she was doing. That would mean
somebody cared. She couldn't handle that.
Page 43
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
I paused at the door. "Dean says he's whomping up something special for
supper. And a lot of it." Then I got out.
I hit the street and stopped to count my limbs. They were all there, but they
were shaky. Maybe they have more sense than my head does. They know every time
I go in there I run the chance of becoming fish bait.
Dean was waiting to open the door. He looked rattled. "What happened?"
"That man Crask came."
Oh. Crask was a professional killer. "What did he want? What did he say?"
"He didn't say anything. He doesn't have to."
He doesn't. Crask radiates menace like a skunk radiates a bad smell.
"He brought this."
Dean gave me a piece of heavy paper folded into an envelope. It was a
quarter-inch thick. I bounced it on my hand. "Something metal. Draw me a
pitcher." As he headed for the kitchen I told him, "Maya might turn up
tonight. See that she eats something and slip her a bar of soap. Don't let her
steal anything you're going to miss."
I went into the office, sat, placed Crask's envelope on the desk, my name
facing me, and left it alone until Dean brought that golden draft from the
fountain of youth. He poured me a mug. I drained it.
He poured again and said, "You're going to get more than you bargained for if
you keep trying to do something for those kids."
Page 44
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"They need a friend in the grown-up world, Dean. They need to see there's
somebody decent out there, that the world isn't all shadow-eat-shadow and the
prizes go to the guys who're the hardest and nastiest."
He faked surprise. "It isn't that way?"
"Not yet. Not completely. A few of us are trying to fight a rearguard action
by doing a good deed here and there."
He gave me one of his rare sincere smiles and headed for the kitchen. Maya
would eat better than Jill and I if she bothered to show.
Dean approved of my efforts. He just wanted to remind me that my most likely
reward would be a broken head and a broken heart.
I wasn't going to get into heaven or hell letting Crask's present lie there.
I broke the kingpin's wax seal.
Someone had wrapped two pieces of card stock tied together with string. I cut
the string. Inside I found a tuft of colorless hair and four coins. The coins
were glued to one card. One coin was gold, one was copper, and two were
silver. They were of identical size, about half an inch in diameter, and
looked alike except for the metal. Three were shiny new. One of the silver
pieces was so worn its designs were barely perceptible. All four were temple
coinage.
Old style characters, a language not Karentine, a date not Royal, apparent
religious symbology, lack of the King's bust on the obverse, were all
giveaways. Crown coinage always shows the King and brags on him. Commercial
coinage shouts the wonders of the coiner's goods or services.
Karentine law lets anyone coin money. Every other kingdom makes minting a
state monopoly because seigniorage the difference between the intrinsic metal
value of a coin and its monetary value is a profit that accrues to the state.
The Karentine Crown, though, gets its cuts. It requires private minters to buy
their planchets, or blanks, from the Royal Mint, costs payable in fine metal
of a weight equal to that of the alloy planchets. There's more state profit in
not having to make dies and pay workmen to do the striking.
Page 45
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The system works most of the time and when it doesn't, people get roasted
alive, even if they're Princes of the Church or officials of the Mint who are
cousins of the King. The foundation of Karentine prosperity is the reliability
of Karenta's coinage. Karenta is corrupt to the bone but will permit no
tampering with the instrument of corruption.
I gave the gold piece the most attention. I'd never seen private gold. It was
too expensive just to puff an organizational ego.
I picked up the top piece of card stock and read the terse note, "See the
man," followed by a fish symbol, a bear symbol, and a street name that
constituted an address. Few people can read so they figure out where they are
by reference to commonly understood symbols. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]