Money Make the World Go Round

The gate to the dome was unlike the one at home. The air around it shimmered, projecting some kind of field that repulsed the miasma. Oliver went first, and I could see tiny purple specks fly off him as he passed through it. My turn was next, and I felt an uncomfortable tingling sensation all over my body, not unlike the feeling of being licked by my mother’s prickly tongue.

After passing through the gate, we found ourselves inside a dimly lit building, staring down the barrels of a dozen guns. Behind them stood men and women in immaculate khaki military uniforms. Guess this dome took guard duty more seriously than we ever had.

“Halt. Drop your weapons.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see Apollo tense, but Oliver—still wearing his protective suit—put a hand on his shoulder. “Do as they say. We’re not here to fight.”

After Lea and Apollo placed their rifles on the ground, one of the guards lowered her weapon and stepped forward. The others kept their sights trained on us. She had long blonde hair tied into a ponytail and an icy stare. “Care to explain who you are and why you tried to bring guns into the city?”

“We’re from the WRP Village,” Oliver said. “Our transport was attacked en route to the Federation. After fighting off our attackers, we had no choice but to seek sanctuary here. There’s a large miasma storm not far behind us.”

The guard smirked. “You really expect us to buy that?”

“No, but I hope you’ll be amenable to us buying our way into the city.”

She raised her eyebrows, and the smirk transformed into a genuine smile. “Huh, took you for one of those uptight Federation types, but you know how things work around here.” She pulled a smartphone from her pocket, tapped it a few times, then handed it to him.

Despite facing certain death if the guards decided to open fire, Oliver laughed and handed it back to the woman. “That’s at least fifty percent too high.”

To my surprise, the woman’s smile widened. “You really do know how things work here.” After tapping the phone a few more times, she handed it back to Oliver, who nodded, pulled his protective hood off, and allowed it to scan his retina.

“Pleasure doing business,” the woman said. “Oh, and give me your contact info. If this gets traced back to me, I’m billing you for the extra bribes. If you don’t want that to happen, keep those things out of sight.”

The guns lowered and Apollo immediately got to work disassembling the rifle he’d been carrying. I’d never known him to be one for delicate work, but he had that thing packed away in less than a minute. Lea picked up the Federation rifle, and, after pressing a few buttons on the side of the scope, it folded itself in half.

With the guns stowed, we stepped into the next room, where Lea and Oliver removed and packed away their protective suits. The two of them kept sneaking peeks at one another. It had been days since either had seen the other outside a protective suit, and I could feel the energy between them.

By the way Apollo’s ears turned back and his tail swished around, it was obvious he could feel it too, and he wasn’t thrilled about it. Come to think of it, that might have been the first time he realized something was going on between them. They hadn't had any opportunities to flirt while locked in protective suits.

Even so, he didn’t say anything as we proceeded through the building. It was Lea who eventually broke the silence. “Why’d they let us keep the guns if it’s against the rules?”

“Everything here runs on money,” Oliver explained.

Apollo let out a derisive snort. “How typical for humans.” Even though he wasn’t looking in my direction as he said it, I could tell his words were directed at me.

“This is the Futarchy,” Oliver said. “They take it to a whole nother level. Their government runs on something called a prediction market. Federation doesn’t have ‘em, so I don’t really understand it myself, but it’s kind of like deciding what to do based on who makes the biggest gambles. The more money you have, the more you can wager, so people try to hoard money so they can make a big gamble and tell everyone else what to do.”

“Doesn’t sound right to me,” Lea said.

“Course it ain’t right,” Apollo said. “No point in tryin’ to understand humans.”

Ignoring him, Lea stepped closer to Oliver. “What do they bet on?”

Just as she was about to grab his hand, Oliver lifted it to scratch the back of his head. “Well, this country has a lot of domes. Let’s say they wanted to build a new farm and needed to decide whether to build in Dome A or Dome B. Someone might wager that a farm in Dome A would yield a hundred kilograms per hectare, and someone else might bet that Dome B will produce a thousand kilograms per hectare. The higher you go, the more you gotta bet. Since Dome B got the bigger wager, the government will build the farm there, and if it produces a thousand kilograms or more, the person wins the bet. If it doesn’t, they lose the bet.”

“Seems like a waste to me,” Lea said, pushing herself even closer to Oliver. “Why not just measure the light levels and the soil quality in each dome?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Apollo tense up and clench his fists, his eyes locked on Lea. In hopes of distracting him from the drama playing out in front of his eyes, I cleared my throat. “Hold on. Imagine Dome B has bad soil and light. If I’m rich, I could make a big bet on Dome B and then use my money to bring in soil, fertilizer, and grow lights to make sure I win the bet.”

Oliver nodded. “Sure could, and it happens all the time. The betting markets are dominated by the rich nobility, and if you bet against ‘em, you better have the money to back it up.”

We finally made it to the building’s exit, which was only wide enough for one of us at a time. Oliver let out a sigh of relief as Lea stepped away to let him go through first.

Outside, the city was underwhelming. Far from the clean, modern streets I had come to expect from videos of the Federation, the Futarchy was a dump. Junk was strewn atop the pitted asphalt. Unlit neon lights hung from crumbling buildings with faded paint. Those buildings were hundreds of years old and a mishmash of styles from the area’s history, from Renaissance architecture to brutalist apartment buildings. Even the huts in the village were nicer than this.

“Is it all like this?” I asked.

“Only about half of it,” Oliver said. “Without much of a social safety net, the Futarchy separates people into winners and losers. The big winners dole out small wins to just enough people so they’re not outnumbered.”

“Take a good look, Sprout,” Apollo said. “This is what the humans you admire are really like.”

“Hey.” Oliver puffed up his chest and turned on Apollo. Compared to most people, Oliver would be considered buff, but he looked like an adolescent glaring up at the much larger man. “I told you to cut it out. Save it for after we reach the Federation.”

“Make me,” Apollo growled, displaying his teeth, “mate stealer.”

“I’m not going to fight you,” Oliver said without backing down. “If you have a problem with me, we can work it out after—”

Apollo didn’t give him a chance to finish his sentence. Quicker than my eyes could follow, he swiped at Oliver, claws out.