Sun!Valanda in Cloudbank
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He is very good at talking!

And he picked the people to invite well, these four all sound like they know what they're talking about when they discuss manufacturing and business.

 

"I assume you're going to be cagey with whatever lost technology is powering this little slew of inventions..."

"You assume correctly."

"Well, I can't really make a large outlay of investment just based on this - I only have your word that you did this in two days, sirs. But if I can inspect the-"

"No," Nick interrupts cheerfully.

"-No? It's a reasonable request."

"None the less, no. That is a very high-trust course, and I have only met you this morning as well, madam."

"Hmph."

"If you give me a specification - nothing huge like a whole computer - that I have no reason to have made up beforehand, I can provide it. Free of charge, even. Will that not serve as proof?"

"I suppose it might." But she doesn't look happy, and she withdraws from the conversation.

 

The other three seem tentatively interested though. They don't want to give him money as an investment quite yet, but they start to work out deals to buy up stuff Nick and Valanda produce, and deals for loans, and deals for sending tools and experts over.

Nick doesn't mention scrap at all, though one of the guys does own a junkyard.

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Well, he'll trust that Nick isn't mentioning scrap for a reason.

He smirks a little, a few times. Hard to help it when for once he's in the know and other people aren't.

Mostly he just listens and tries to figure out what all the deals that get floated would mean for his bottom line.

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The deals getting floating are all pretty good for his bottom line, in local money.

 

The kid knows something.

When the rest of the group is distracted by a demonstration of the radios, the woman who wanted to see Nick's source leans towards him... A bit further than usual, and smiles brightly at him. "Your boss is quite the clever chap, isn't he? But I bet you are as well. Are you an apprentice, or...?"

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Hard to tell if the way she's leaning in means what it looks like. He is new here and people do act different.

"He's a friend. Most of what I know I didn't learn from him but maybe that'll change when we've worked together some more."

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"Someone once told me that good friends are worth their weight in gold." She leans back again. "It sounds like you only met him recently if you phrase it like that, though."

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"Only their weight in gold? Ha. Yeah, we haven't known each other long. Why?"

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"Only?" She was right, they do have access to some kind of - source of metal - try to find out more. "No particular reason, I suppose. You two make a bit of an odd pair, is all."

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"Oh? Odd how?"

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"I can see how Nicholas's personality leads to this, to building a workshop and inviting big names over and making grand promises, but you're... Overwhelmed? It'd be one thing if you were his - son, but the age difference doesn't quite work, and you two don't act like that. So I'm wondering what your reason for sticking around is, I think."

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"I'm here to improve the standard of living for all of Cloudbank, get rich doing it, eliminate slavery, fix the gate and see what's on the other side. Nick was the first person I met with complementary skills and a ship that could get me here. Turns out he's also better at talking to people and knows things about cities. But this is my project. I'm just lucky enough to have such a useful partner."

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"...A worthy goal." An utterly batty, impossible pipe dream that the charismatic captain has taken this poor sop in with. "But the question remains, how?"

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"Well, to start with, what we're working on right now could reduce the fire risk relative to other heating and lighting solutions. The reduction in property damage and injuries over time will add up, it'll mean less is spent on replacing things and more people will be able to do cool things instead of not. But in the slightly longer term, any technology that was ever made can be made if you know how or have the means to figure it out. So once we're done recreating everything they could do centuries ago, well, obviously we'll have everything they had then. Like the means to get up to the gate and check it out and see if it's fixable. It might not be but since we're going to end up with the ability to go check, we obviously should. I don't actually know how we'll end slavery yet but it's really, really important to do it somehow so I'll find a way. - I promise I'm not looking for an investment to build a rocket today, mostly because I'm not confident of my metalworking enough yet. And I don't have anywhere to put one if I had one. I'm not going to take any stupid risks."

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"This is all very big picture stuff... If you can pull it off you'll have my blessing. It's a big if though. There's a lot of steps to that plan, such as getting materials to work with."

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"Doesn't matter if we fail at the big-picture stuff, though. Not to you, I'll hate it if I can't end slavery, but as an investor what do you care if we only come out with a bunch of useful new consumer products and make this town more prosperous? And you've already seen that we can do that."

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...Sigh. Forget it.

"With respect, no, I haven't. This seems more like a confidence job assisted by some shiny artifacts than a genuine game-changer. I don't know what trick you two are pulling, but I'm sure there is one. If I don't know the trick, I fundamentally cannot trust you two. But if you tell me, he doesn't need to know, and I have plenty of coins on me right now, and the deed to a fine apartment..."

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"So what I'm hearing is that you think knowing how we've done what we've done so far would be worth plenty of coins and the deed to a fine apartment. Now, maybe it's just that curiosity is worth that much to you, but maybe it's because you think you could turn a profit with that knowledge. So you believe that having the knowledge that we have would let you make more than plenty of coins and the deed to a fine apartment. I'm not sure why you don't want to invest, given your confidence in our moneymaking ability."

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Or maybe she thought she could get away with not actually paying up. But she doesn't need to know all the details to make moves towards dumping her stock of metals if it looks like they're legit, and taking advantage of her three competitors' misfortune if they're not.

"Trust and the possibility that it will all disappear tomorrow morning. We'll see, I suppose..."

And a bit louder, she says, "This enterprise is not for me. Good day." And heads for the door.

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He tries not to look upset. Or glad. Or anything. Since he seems to just be ruining everything today.

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Nick waits until she's gone before asking, "Is she always like that?"

"Oh, yes. Underhanded, conniving, impatient. Somehow she makes it work but I was hoping she'd leave, honestly."

"Well. Wish granted."

"I should probably head off whatever she's going to try to get the Commerce Office to do to you..."

"Surely we have at least an hour or two."

"Yes, yes. By all means, let's keep talking shop, then."

"Thank you. Valanda, are you alright? I don't know what she said, but take a break if you need it."

Finds a break in the conversation with the other three investors.

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"I don't like her. What do we need to worry about from the Commerce Office now?"

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"Perhaps Customs and Immigration might be tempted to suddenly find an issue with your papers that slipped their mind the first time."

"Can she do worse than harassment to us?" Asks Nick.

"Random fines, maybe. Tossing you in jail? Not if you toe the line, I think. Especially with me gunning for you. If you're in jail I can't sell your products, can I?"

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"I guess we'll deal with that when we know what she's planning. If any of the rest of you want me to betray my friend, the answer is no, by the way."

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"And I much appreciate it. I actually think this is a good time to wrap up if you three want to head out, though. We've worked out some deals to start off with. Mr. Rhys, I'll work on your freezer today and give you an update if you send a runner here tomorrow. The improved radio might be a few days, but once we have a process and tooling for all this, we can make many of them. As you said, better to do it right than do it fast in this case."

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"We're doing a freezer now, huh? That should be simple in theory if we don't somehow make it leak or explode or something..."

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The three investors shake Nick's hand and will try to shake Valanda's hand if he looks up for it, and then leave.

 

"There's issues with condensation, and insulation, yeah. But he wants a freezer, or at least an ice-maker. So that's where the money is."

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