Playing the Market

We’d been in the city for less than half a day. I shuddered at the realization of how close they were. If we’d just been a bit slower, our bodies would be in shallow graves and the nuke would be on its way to whichever city they were targeting.

That might still be our fate. Oliver was right: traveling through the city was dangerous.

“Did they get any answers?” Oliver asked.

“I didn’t tell them anything, but I still could.”

“How much for your silence?”

“Ohh, I knew you’d understand. I have a lot of guys on staff. Keeping them quiet is gonna cost you… let’s say three-hundred thousand euros?”

“What makes you think I have that kind of cash?” Oliver scoffed.

“Nice try, but I tracked your last payment, and I know it came from the business account of that Federation farming village out in the wastes. Friend of mine at the bank says you got a few million in there. What’s a few hundred thousand between friends?”

Apollo gasped. “You’re using the village’s money? We’re gonna need that to rebuild.”

He tried to take the phone from Oliver, but Lea grabbed him and pulled him into his seat. “If we get caught, there won’t be a village left to rebuild.”

Probably isn’t a village left to rebuild, I thought to myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud. The dome could be patched, the machines replaced, and the huts rebuilt, but the villagers couldn’t be brought back to life.

“How about two hundred thousand for their silence, another two hundred thousand to have one of your guys slip out and sell them false intel, and a hundred thousand for information on their numbers?” Oliver offered.

“Deal.”

I had to jump from my seat to help Lea hold Apollo back as Oliver held his phone up to his eyes for a retina scan. In the din, I still managed to hear the guard’s voice.

“Two dozen entered the dome, but some of their friends stayed outside.”

“Any nekomimi among them?” I shouted at the phone.

“Just humans.”

As much as I wanted to yell that I was human too, she wouldn’t have cared, and there was no time to waste.

“Hey Oliver,” I said, “Are we allowed to trade on the Futarchy’s market?”

“Technically, yes.” He nodded. “But it’s like I told you, the nobles rig the game so their preferred policies always win. If you bet against them, you lose, so everyone tries to buy in on the same side, driving the price up. Trying to make money on it is pointless.”

A grin spread across my face. “Good thing we ain’t—aren’t—trying to make money.”

⁂

On the outside, the bank looked like any other large building in the area; on the inside, every surface was polished to a shine and the walls were lined with computers utilizing the latest holographic displays. On the back of the room, a single teller sat behind a desk with a bored expression on her face. As soon as I saw her, I made a beeline right toward her.

She looked up from her phone as she heard me approach. “Can I—Oh my goooooosh! Your ears are so fluffy. Can I touch them?”

“Why would you want to touch my ears?” I was so surprised I blurted out the words without thinking.

“Because they’re so adorable.”

“Gee, thanks. I’m flattered, really, but how would you feel if I asked to touch your ears?”

The teller’s brow furrowed as she looked at me as if I were some kind of pervert. “Why would you want to touch my—Oh, I get it now. Sorry about that. How can I help you today?”

“We wanna make a trade, a big one. Tried to do it on the app, but it said it couldn’t handle transfers that large.”

“No problem. I’ll just need to scan your retina and we can get started.” Her expression changed so fast that it creeped me out. It was my first encounter with a customer service smile, and I mistakenly assumed she was ecstatic that I wanted to buy shares, but why would she care? After scanning Oliver, she looked me straight in the eye and asked, “So, which market are you interested in?”

“The market on Nexura virus lockdowns.”

The smile on her face faltered for just a moment. “Certainly, which position are you interested in?”

“We want to buy as many shares in favor of a lockdown as we can get for two million.”

This time, the smile remained, but the furrowed brow returned. “I am required by law to remind you that investment carries inherent risk. You could lose the entire sum.”

“We know.”

“Are you sure? Everyone knows the virus is waterborne. If you send the country into lockdown, it’ll disrupt lives—It’ll damage the economy—and if it turns out that you’re wrong, you won’t just lose your money, you’ll have a mob after you.”

I leaned toward the woman, resting my elbow on her desk. I was going to show Oliver I had what it took to survive in human society. “This virus is about to turn airborne, if it hasn’t already, and your existing vaccines won’t protect you.”

That wiped the smile from the woman’s face. She swallowed hard. “What makes you think that?”

“Federation’s got the best geneticists in the world.” With my free hand, I pointed to my ears. “Why do you think they sent us? Nekomimi are naturally immune.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You’re telling me the Federation wants to interfere with our markets?”

“Interfere? No, we’re investing. Nothing illegal about that, is there? We do something good for you and make a nice profit in exchange. Everyone wins. Assuming you put that trade through on time. Market’s about to close. So unless you want that virus to spread unchecked, start moving those fingers.”

⁂

“Did you see the look on her face?” I couldn’t help but gloat as soon as we left the bank. “Who’s the real master of deception now?”

“Don’t get overconfident,” Oliver said. “She was a lightweight. We’re still in danger.”

I crossed my arms behind my head, still holding the suitcase with one hand. “Maybe she was, but all good cons start with an easy mark. Did you see the holo displays as we were leaving? I was so convincing that a whole bunch of traders followed our lead and bought into the lockdown.”

“What I don’t understand,” Apollo said, “is how you knew the virus was dangerous before everyone else.” Lea’s mouth dropped open and she gave him an exasperated look.

“Don’t worry about it, big guy,” I replied. “We gotta get back on the road. I may have bought us some time, but we still have a long way to go.”

The sidewalks were still bustling as we made our way back to the tram. Over the next hour, more and more people descended on the markets in an avalanche of panic buying. By the time we reached the end of the line, the streets were emptying out except for the police officers out enforcing the lockdown.

As we walked to the guard station between domes, a young man in a police uniform stopped us. “Sorry folks, travel between domes is currently restricted.”

“The restrictions don’t apply to nekomimi,” I said. “We’re immune.”

“That wasn’t covered in the training…”

Oliver stepped forward and flashed his smartphone at the man. “For your troubles.”

A smile appeared on his face. “Now that you mention it, they did say something ‘bout animals not carryin’ the disease. You folks have a nice day.”

The way he called us animals didn’t sit right with me, but if it bothered the others, they didn’t let it show. Since it would be a bad idea to draw more attention to ourselves, I let it go.

The sun was starting to set as we entered the Eastern Futarchy’s main dome. One of the biggest domes in the world—forty kilometers in diameter—it was a marvel of engineering. Feeling invincible from my recent success, I couldn’t help but imagine we were four cats walking into a large birdcage.

Completely forgetting that while cats may hunt birds, sometimes birds gang up on cats, and their talons are just as sharp as our claws.