Carnifex

1 Easton Street, London, England, European Union, 11 January, 2126

In his plush office, all woods and wools and crystal, Louis Arbeit stretched like a satisfied cat after a kill.

The nature of the kill? Fifty-thousand small arms smuggled into various spots on Terra Nova in aid of the various insurgencies there. More on point; the payment received for them.

It was perfect, Arbeit self-congratulated. Amnesty can go anywhere there; even the guerillas accepted us because we brought them arms. Oh, not directly, of course. That would have been too dangerous. Instead, we bought space from the Food and Agricultural Organization from what was set aside for them for cargo on the resupply, reinforcement and resettlement ships. And my father made sure that space was considered "hands off" by the crews. After all, it was only "food."

The real food and the arms went to the colonies in Southern Columbia and Northern Uhuru. They paid us and then delivered the arms to the guerillas and the food to whoever needed it.

Arbeit sighed with contentment. And at two-hundred grams of gold for an obsolescent rifle and one thousand rounds, we robbed those bastard guerillas, too.

Looking up and out the window of his office, Arbeit thought, sadly, A shame about the old man, though. I wonder if the guerillas would have assassinated him if they'd known how important he was to their supply of arms and munitions. Fortunately mother is taking it well.

He stood and began to pace about the spacious office. The thing is, though; where should I best invest the money? Even after paying off my helpers, generously, I've still got four tons of gold just sitting in Switzerland.

Maybe it's time to talk to SecGen Simoua about making my posting for life. A single ton of my gold should be enough to remind him of his promise to my father. Then again, the Swiss are said to have some new anti-agathics. New and pricey. Since the old SecGen died, finally, I am reminded that I am mortal and need them. Perhaps Simoua would settle for half a ton, or three quarters.