“Hi there, El.”
I sat up, suddenly aware of my neglect of personal hygiene during this past week. I smelled like ass. To be fair, so did Jagcoop.
“Hey.” I’d been a jerk to him, hadn’t I? I should say something about that, but I wasn’t great at apologies.
Jagcoop watched the screen, but he remained standing. “I seen this one. It’s from Earth, right?”
“Nah. The statues are mass produced on Bellia.” Much like authentic Earth animals, authentic Earth artifacts were rarer than a proper start-up sequence on a Natel V. The rich people on the show had usually been suckered into buying junk for planetfulls of money. It was a laugh.
“Huh. I’d buy it. If I had room at my place.”
And the idle small talk ended. Time for the awkward part. “So, that whole expo thing…”
“Yeah, I didn’t know that Sev Tech stole your design. I didn’t know anything about the job. It was just a job, you know.”
“I know.” I rubbed my face and turned down the volume. “I’m sorry that I used you like that. It wasn’t great.”
If he was mad, he didn’t show it. Jagcoop was a guy who’d take a few punches and still call the puncher a friend. “It’s fine. It was a little rough at the time, but your friend came by a couple days later with the money and everything. Helped me get in the clear.”
“My friend?”
“The woman they handcuffed you to? You two were working together, right?”
Back in the gondola, I’d insisted that Cadinoff take care of Jagcoop. I’d forgotten in the rush of everything after, but Myka hadn’t. Even after Halcyore’s she’d made good on her word.
“She gave you money?”
Jagcoop nudged me over to take a seat. “Money, yeah. And she somehow smoothed things over with Sev Tech. Made sure my reputation didn’t take a dive. Keeps jobs coming in.” He picked at something stuck in his back teeth. “She was nice.”
I held my head and regretted doing so as soon as my hands hit unwashed hair. Bad tactile feeling. “Yeah.” Real nice.
“And I heard you got that design. Don’t know much about it, but I’m happy for you. Probably big money there, right?”
“Probably. Hadn’t thought about it, but yeah. It’ll bring in some big money.” It’d bring in more if I locked down the patent and played things like a corporation. Milk the proprietary rights. But that wasn’t my thing. I was going open design; whoever wanted it, got it. Best way for technology to advance.
But even with an open design, I’d get money coming in. New jobs, publicity, grants and funding. I wouldn’t be able to live in a Hightower condo, but I could expand the garage. Hire some new people. Maybe even get a bigger place.
“Were me, I’d buy one of those poodle statues,” Jagcoop said. “Build a patio and put it there. Also a zero-g room. You know, for sex.”
How much money would I get from this? My attorney had sketched some numbers, but I hadn’t paid attention. My habit was to assume I had no money and would never have money, and it had served me well thus far. But with two corporations fighting over this design, then this thing was worth a shitload, right? Some would get shunted to legal and attorney fees, but the rest? Maybe I should find a financial adviser.
An idea settled in my stomach, blooming from days of endless thinking. A crazy, stupid idea. An idea that I knew was what I wanted to do.
Even if it would throw a wrench into everything.
The Smartest Thing I've Ever Done
I puffed the elba root cigarette as I savored the grimace of the receptionist.
Of course Cadinoff had a professional human receptionist. No robots or holos or underpaid teens for Cadinoff. They had to show off that they could employ the most expensive workers, just like they had to build their colonial headquarters with reams of glass and modern architectural foofy. Levels moved and dazzled and natural lighting blah blah blah. The wet dreams of the rich person’s designer.
I hated this fucking building.
Ryan didn’t know I was there. Nobody knew I was there. Well, one person knew I was there, but I had paid them and they didn’t care. The rest? Well, I didn’t want to be talked out of this.
“Be a dear…Mabella.” I spotted the name tag. “Could you ring up Glezos? Let her know Elly Henderson’s waiting to see her.”
Mabella blinked multi-hued eyelashes. “Do you have an appointment?”
I rested an elbow on the desk. I’d made sure to get nice and greasy before coming, and I branded a palm print of burned engine oil onto that desk. “Nope. Tell her it’s about the solar engine design plans. She’ll want to see me.”
“You need to set up an appointment to see Ms. Glezos.”
She was gonna make this difficult. “Mabella, did you work here, in this building, last year?”
“I got this job three months ago. I assure you, I know how to handle people asking to see the regional Vice-President of Cadinoff.” She was not amused by me or my luxury mechanic’s jumpsuit.
“If you’d been here a year ago, you would have been treated to the raid that the Corporate Enforcement Agency threw here. They busted in those doors with guns blazing to rescue me from floor twenty-four, where I was being held like a fucking princess in a tower. And you wanna know what I was doing in that tower, Mabella? I was designing a fucking amazing engine for your boss, the Vice-President. She lost those plans. I have them. And I. Want. To give. Them to. Her.”
Mabella’s eyes widened.
“So call Glezos.”
The younger woman nodded and tapped at a comm. She cocked her head
