Zero Sum

DATE: Year 322-B. Sol 359

LOCATION: Administrative Spire (Auditor’s Office)

The view from the Spire made Windhoek look more alive than it really was. From this height, the rust was just a color, and the Lankies scurrying between the hab-domes looked like a super organsim.

Ephim Adams sat behind his new desk, the surface a seamless sheet of white composite that repelled even the persistent Martian dust. He swiped a finger across his slate, closing the "Loss of Productivity" report from the previous sol. The funeral had cost too much.

He opened the file for Clarion.

-The expert's findings are conclusive? Adams asked, not looking up.

The lead safety investigator was sitting across from him. He preferred Adams to the Duke. He asked less questions and focused on the bottom line.

-Conclusive, sir. The black box in the loader’s cab was damaged in the collapse, but the secondary telemetry shows the operator was engaged in "non-standard manual gestures" for three beats prior to the hydraulic failure.

-This is why we automate, Adams muttered.

-Right, the investigator said. This he didn’t like. He knew the MTC could automate him too. The primary lift was stuttering, the investigator continued, and instead of initiating a hard-reset of the neural link, the operator diverted his focus. Under the Master Contract, Clause 14-C, operator distraction during a critical mechanical event constitutes gross negligence.

Adams tapped a button, and a red "VOID" stamp appeared over the Life-Continuity Credit field.

-Which means the insurance payout is nullified, Adams noted.

-Correct.

Adams leaned back. It was a simple calculation. By voiding the credits, he had just saved the Windhoek operating budget several million credits, enough to cover the cost of the Type-4's replacement and then some. But there was more.

He pulled up the file for Clarion, Juyiet: Dependent ID 77-Delta-01.

-The widow, Adams said. She has no independent income. Her habitation unit is being subsidized by the now-voided credits of the deceased. In three sols, she becomes a 'Delinquent Asset.'

-There’s a child there too, sir. One unit, male, age five. They named him already.

After the Rip, infant mortality had gotten so bad parents didn’t name their children until they were five or six. It was one of humanity’s oldest, most universal cultural practice off Earth.

Adams looked at the demographic charts for Windhoek. They were not doing enough to reverse their downward trend. The Qaddafi Authority had been too soft, allowing families to linger in "meditative idleness" while the settlement’s population aged and withered.

-Windhoek is well below the replacement threshold for the next five-year cycle, Adams said, more to himself than the investigator. We cannot afford idle younglings.

He opened the Population Continuity Mandate, an old directive the Duke had signed under pressure but never enforced. Under the mandate, any fertile unit without a supporting provider was required to be re-integrated into the active breeding registry to ensure the settlement’s long-term viability. Very clinical.

-Flag Juyiet Clarion for immediate audit, Adams commander. If she cannot pay for her air with her husband’s credits, we will find another way.

He stood up and walked to the window. Below, he could see the school hub. To Adams it was a waste of pressurized volume, but for now, it was a legal wall he couldn't quite scale.

-And keep an eye on that WMR Teacher, Adams added. We don’t like outsiders.

He swiped the slate dark. The audit was moving along.