Chapter 32: It’s All About the Money
A few days later, Waldo and his family had their personal belongings packed up for them to leave the palace. Outside was a large bus that was to transport them and five trucks to transport their belongings to their country estate.
Ryan, Saliyah, and James had arrived to bid Waldo farewell and to move in. Waldo was surprisingly in very good spirits.
‘Welcome to your new humble home,’ declared Waldo as he welcomed them with arms wide open as they walked into the giant hallway.
‘Oh my Waldo, you’re such a good sport,’ said James. ‘We will deeply miss you.’
‘I’m treating this whole thing like a really long holiday,’ said Waldo as he raised his eyebrows up and down. ‘By the end of this year, they’ll be screaming for their hero’s return.’
‘No doubt, filling your shoes will be a challenge,’ said Ryan as he patted him on the shoulder.
‘Don’t worry; if you ever get into a pickle, just give me a call,’ said Waldo.
‘I appreciate that,’ said Ryan, nodding. ‘Thank you, Waldo.’
Twaldi entered through the front door.
‘First thing you need to do is fire this guy,’ said Waldo as he pointed at his brother. ‘My own blood, a vile traitor.’
‘I just read what was on the piece of paper,’ said Twaldi as he shrugged his shoulders.
‘You spewed poisonous venom on my legacy,’ said Waldo as he brushed past his brother and exited through the door.
‘I’m here on official business from the Economic Institute,’ said Twaldi. ‘We need to discuss appointments and long-term monetary objectives.’
‘Do we need to do that right now?’ moaned Saliyah. ‘I want to explore the palace.’
‘Well, as your head adviser,’ said James, ‘it is my responsibility to deal with mundane matters.’
Saliyah jumped up and down as she held Ryan’s hand.
‘Sounds great,’ said Ryan. ‘I’ll leave this matter in your trusted hands.’
Ryan and Saliyah skipped off to explore the palace.
‘I’m not going to fire you,’ said James as he turned to Twaldi. ‘Someone of your experience is too valuable to let go.’
‘That’s such a relief, sir,’ said Twaldi as his voice became less tense.
‘Still,’ said James as they both walked outside. ‘I can’t keep you as the head of the institute. We need to separate ourselves from Waldo’s influence.’
‘That sounds logical,’ replied Twaldi as they both began walking down the front steps of the palace. ‘Do you have anyone in mind?’
‘I was hoping you would give me a tour of the institute,’ said James. ‘That will give me a better idea of who might be most suited for this sort of work.’
‘Sounds very wise of you, sir,’ said Twaldi as the driver to his car opened the doors for them.
Waldo had his face pressed against the window of the bus as he watched them both get in the car.
‘So, the plot thickens,’ said Waldo as he turned to his wife.
‘Would you like a cream puff?’ she asked as she opened the box that she was holding.
Waldo looked down at the cream puffs and began to wiggle his fingers.
A couple of hours later, James had completed the tour of the Economic Institute.
‘That’s amazing stuff,’ said James to Twaldi as he excitedly rubbed his hands. ‘I didn’t realise there was so much to the creation of money.’
Sapey currency was referred to as coin. One gold coin was equivalent to one coin. Twenty silver coins were equivalent to one gold coin. One hundred nickel coins were equivalent to one silver coin. Five copper coins were equivalent to one nickel coin.
‘Our biggest problem is obtaining enough gold to make new coins,’ said Twaldi. ‘Ryan’s new mining policies will reduce our supply even further.’
‘May I offer a suggestion?’ said the Hat Lady as she appeared by James’ side.
‘Woo, it’s like you came out of nowhere,’ said Twaldi as his hair stood up slightly.
‘She has a habit of that,’ said James, shaking his head. ‘She is my trusted associate.’
‘We don’t need to make any coins out of gold,’ said the Hat Lady as she looked at Twaldi.
‘That would then create a shortage of silver,’ said Twaldi. ‘And nobody wants to be weighed down with hundreds of copper and nickel coins.’
‘We have an opportunity to reinvent our currency,’ said the Hat Lady.
Twaldi stared back at her with a blank expression on his face.
The Hat Lady held up a gold coin.
‘Whose face is on this coin?’ she asked both James and Twaldi.
‘That’s my big brother,’ said Twaldi enthusiastically. ‘I think we did a great job of capturing his majesty.’
‘His face has to go,’ said James firmly. ‘Ryan would look much better on a coin.’
‘Dear James,’ said the Hat Lady, shaking her head. ‘It’s not like you to miss a great marketing opportunity.’
He gave her a perplexed frown, and then he smiled.
‘The gold coin should have the Pound Ball logo, and the other coins should have the different Yensid subsidiary company logos,’ said James.
‘Isn’t this going to make our shortage of gold and silver even worse?’ asked Twaldi as he appeared physically uncomfortable with his suggestion.
The Hat Lady held up another coin. Twaldi looked at it carefully.
‘This looks highly suspicious,’ said Twaldi while frowning.
‘It’s a counterfeit,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘It’s not made from gold. It’s a copper-zinc alloy.’
Twaldi shook his head in disapproval.
‘I propose we recall all existing coins with Waldo’s face on them,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘After a certain date, the Waldo coins will no longer be considered legal tender. The new legal tender will be far cheaper to make from metals we have in abundance.’
‘Sounds like a great solution,’ said James. ‘We’ll be able to legally mint as many coins as we need for a fraction of the cost. With Ryan’s spending plan, we’re going to need a lot of coins.’
‘I know there’s something wrong with this idea,’ said Twaldi as he ran his hand through his thick mane of hair. ‘I just can’t quite put my finger on it.’
‘Don’t worry. That’s a problem for your replacement,’ said James, patting Twaldi on the back.
‘On the topic of replacements,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘That guy over there could be perfect.’
‘That’s Atlas,’ said Twaldi, sounding surprised. ‘His job is to stock the refrigerator.’
‘Is it always well stocked?’ asked the Hat Lady.
‘Yeah, he does an excellent job,’ replied Twaldi.
‘Fantastic,’ said the Hat Lady, clapping her hands. ‘With that kind of reference, I know he’ll be perfect for the job.’
‘Hey Atlas,’ called out James. ‘We would like a word with you.’
‘Mr. Yensid, how may I help?’ asked Atlas as he scurried over to him.
‘We are promoting you to the position of head of the Economic Institute,’ said James as he placed his hand on Atlas’ shoulder. ‘We want to reward you for all the effort you have put in over the past few years.’
‘We only hired him last month,’ said Twaldi, sounding frustrated.
‘Just more proof of what an outstanding employee Atlas is,’ said the Hat Lady as she patted him on the back.
‘Thanks so much,’ said Atlas in amazement. ‘I will do you proud.’
James and the Hat Lady left the Economic Institute. James was still a little uncertain of the Hat Lady’s plans and her motivations. Therefore, he confronted her on them.
‘What’s your angle?’ asked James as he grabbed the Hat Lady’s arm.
‘Now that Waldo is out of the way, the next target is the Alset Company,’ said the Hat Lady as she pulled her arm free from James’ grasp.
‘Did you see?’ said James, sounding annoyed. ‘Patricia came for me after the election results.’
‘That’s because she doesn’t feel threatened,’ said the Hat Lady as she began walking again. ‘She knows Ryan’s promises cannot hurt her. Alset mines all the gold and silver. She knows there is a shortage. She knows that by avoiding the mining tax, the shortages will become far worse. Ryan can neither mint more coins nor raise taxes that hurt the ones he’s promised to help.’
‘He can hurt them with the high minimum wages,’ said James.
‘No, he can’t,’ said the Hat Lady firmly. ‘Alset with their technology has greatly reduced the price of everything. How can he raise minimum wages when prices have fallen? Businesses won’t be able to afford to pay their employees. Instead, they will make secret deals to accept lower pay. The businesses will report the higher wages, thus greatly reducing their tax burden, leaving Ryan with even less money.’
‘Oh, you think this is all so funny,’ said James angrily.
‘No, I’m providing you with insight into how Patricia thinks,’ said the Hat Lady as she shook her head.
‘Based on her thinking, what’s the Alset plan?’ asked James as he stopped walking.
‘They will cut back on mining until Ryan is forced to remove the tax,’ replied the Hat Lady as she turned to face him. ‘The North and Carrington governors will never enforce minimum wages; almost half their workforce is slave labour. The Alsets will continue to flood the markets with cheaper goods. They will continue hoarding gold coins because their purchasing power will keep increasing. As it is, almost half the gold coins in circulation are locked away in their vault.’
James frowned as he rubbed his chin.
‘Don’t look so concerned,’ said the Hat Lady as she spun around. ‘The best thing we can do right now is my favourite hobby, shopping.’
‘Buy whatever the Alset family is selling,’ said James as a broad smile came over his face. ‘Flood them with their precious gold coins. Take those gold coins off them when we recall them. Give them our new legal tender, the much cheaper alloy imitation gold. Use our new inflow of coins to address all of Ryan’s promises. At the same time, greatly devaluing the coins that the Alset family has hoarded.’
‘Good, you get it,’ said the Hat Lady as she nodded and smiled.
‘Is there any way they could predict our little plan?’ asked James.
‘They could, but they won’t,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘They’ll be distracted with another problem.’
She pulled out a flyer from her bag.
‘They sent these around to employees in North prior to the election,’ said the Hat Lady.
James looked at the flyer. At first, he frowned, and then he smiled.
‘Now, this is definitely newsworthy,’ said James.
‘Do you think you could sell this as unlawful coercion?’ asked the Hat Lady.
‘It practically sells itself,’ said James as he casually waved the flyer.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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