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never bought into the whole socialist or
communist ideas either, but here it seems to work.”
    “Any economic system will work so
long as the people believe it works,” Iris pointed out. “We got by for years
without realizing none of us had any personal money, but this is not a commune,
nor are the Mer cities socialist states.”
    “Has the new council invented
their own monetary system yet?” Park asked.
    “Not yet,” Iris replied, “They
really are adopting the Alliance system which is not too far from what we are
all used to. The thing is, the Alliance system is closer to that of the Mer
than it is to old Earth’s international set of currencies. The money flows between
worlds, but each world has its own way of figuring out how much an individual
owns. So it’s going to be interesting to see how this all settles out, but
you’re right, the Exploration Corps will probably have to fund the new
government.”
    “You’ll loan them the money they
need to operate?” Marisea chuckled.
    “Pretty much,” Park admitted
seriously. “The nice thing is that members of the council are personally
responsible for their own expenses. That’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard
about and I imagine a lot of them are going to take loans and then declare
bankruptcy when they get out of office. Hmm, there’s a world bank among the Mer
cities, isn’t there?”
    “I know what you mean,” Marisea
told him, “but there isn’t. Not the way you mean it. When money must be transferred,
the Primes of the involved cities negotiate the amounts and terms. If they
cannot do so quickly enough to suit them, another Prime is called in to arbitrate.
That would usually be the Prime of Primes, Terius these days, but not
necessarily, but in most cases it doesn’t go that far.”
    “Then I guess the Exploration
Corps had better establish a bank,” Park sighed. “There weren’t any economists
in Project van Winkle that I recall, though.”
    “Hire a Mer,” Iris told him.
    “I doubt you could find a Mer that
will understand your system sufficiently,” Marisea told them. “I only have a
vague grasp of it, but while I was trying to understand I did talk to bankers
and economists from other Alliance worlds on Owatino. Maybe you should hire one
of them?”
    “We may have to,” Park nodded. “I
know nothing about running a bank, but I really do want an Earthling in charge.
I’ll look through the   files tomorrow and
maybe I can spot someone who had a minor in a related field, or maybe your Dad,
Marisea.”
    “My father isn’t a banker, Park,”
Marisea pointed out.
    “But I’ll bet he knows bankers,”
Park shot back. “The main thing is to make sure anyone borrowing from us, and
that’s probably only going to be the new government at least at first, is going
to   have to pay us back in full with
interest. I’m not really looking to make a profit, of course, but I see no
reason to waste the money we earned with the sweat and literally blood of our
fellow Earthlings. Good people were killed in the battles that established us
as members of the Alliance with the right to travel freely.”
    “I know, Park,” Marisea nodded.
“I was there too. Well, I’ll ask Dad to give you a call in the morning. He does
know everyone who is anyone on Earth, or it always seemed that way to me. But,
you know, hiring an expert from one of the other Alliance worlds might not be a
bad idea. I could be wrong, but having someone who understands the
world-to-world finances is going to be essential eventually.”
    “Keep that up and I’ll send you
back to school to learn the job,” Park laughed.
    “Not me!” Marisea shook her head.
“I want to head up the Explorers.”
    “Be careful what you wish for,
kiddo!” Park laughed. “We do need to establish a bank though. If not for use on
Earth then outside it. We’ve been kind of running on credit with the Alliance
worlds. Between back rent on Luna and some other in-system Alliance bases