Kerane In the Sky With Platinum

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"Religions tend to wind up in their own differing philosophical camps. Far be it for me to speak on behalf of all of them, though a fair amount support that kind of determinism. Albeit they would have it that their god, gods, or grand high poobah are the real source of all that has happened and all that will happen. It's all distressingly repetitive."

As it were, religion had not been a very powerful force in the galaxy. It had held sway when the Moross Crusade was in power, but now they were gone. It was about as far as any real religious ideology had gotten since the Pius Dei cult, Gerion imagined. Religion was a fine and dandy way to control the masses, but it lacked the oomph of government and economic ideology. The why was irrelevant when there was security, prosperity, and happiness to be achieved. Not in an alleged next life (although after the Netherworld catastrophe, it was obvious there was a next life and it really wasn't all that pleasant), but in this one. The important one.

"Was there any other path? Probably not. But I'm not a determinist. A great deal of people, myself included, tend to function better if we think we're in control." He sniffed. "Even if it only is a delusion."

There were more pings as more deposits were discovered, and Gerion quietly lamented not being in the mining business. Regardless of whether Danger and Gerion found this platinum asteroid, Danger was walking out of here with more money that she could feasibly spend in her lifetime. Not that she didn't already have that. In fact, she had more money than she could hope to spend in three dozen lifetimes. Ovmar and Arceneau were absolute monsters when it came to corporate excess. The primary difference was that it looked better on Danger.

And Ovmar would probably write no shortage of angry letters once he found out about that. Regardless of who it looked better on, Gerion still cared little for near-monopolies and corporations with hands in everything. Even if they were, demonstrably, more successful than he could ever aspire to be.

Gerion scratched his chin, watching the screen intently. "A little stimulus for upcoming projects on my end. Nothing more. I'm sure your aims are drastically more far-reaching."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Danger's smile would wane, turning to one of a tune a bit more polite. Her aims? No.

"No, my aims are merely to expand enterprise; network and make connections." she would explain, her attention drawing back to the screen, presenting him her profile. Her brow would furrow.

"Reinvestment." she said plainly. After another second, a ghost of a smile came to her, "I got a little system that always sees me through."

It was a motto you see, one Colette Arceneau taught Danger well. When you're good to momma, momma's good to you.

"The system called reciprocity."

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"Yes, well, reciprocity tends to be something most corporations rely on." It sounded like Danger was about to burst into some hackneyed musical number. Gerion was unsure how to feel about that, but then decided his uncertainty would indicate that, no, he would not enjoy it. Not one bit. This was the bridge of his Lucrehulk, yes, but they weren't alone up here. This was a public space as far as he was concerned and musical numbers were best reserved for private occasions.

If at all.

Something beeped on the screen. By now, Gerion was quite done leaping up every time some probe droid detected a hint of platinum. Kerane was probably just a myth, or maybe it had broken up and crashed into these asteroids centuries earlier. It might have even been knocked from the asteroid belt and sent spiraling into Hoth for all he knew.

"Besides, that sounds rather far reaching to me. I assumed your network already extended as far as it needed to go."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

"My network reaches as far as my ambition does, Mistah Ardik." Danger would reply, a soft chuckle in its wake. "A girl can't be too careful. It is all about maintaining and ensuring all the cogs are well greased and in working order." there was no song for the Trade Queen to burst into. Gerion would rest easy.

However, there was always time for a tapdance were he so inclined!

"As it is, whatever we may find here would be to our benefit. I can always invest in energy and water technology on Hoth."

The slight beeping and alarms that kept coming in were of no consequence. One would wonder if they would really ever find this so called platinum moon. Perhaps it was all a myth. Perhaps there wasn't really any --

Another loud beep of the sensor would alert the duo. With how the sensors had been teasing them throughout the entire discussion, neither would really pay attention to the stream of data incoming in. This was larger than a small speck of platinum.

No, this was most definitely larger than that.