The Goliath Stone by Larry Niven, Matthew Joseph Harrington Page B

technically minded people need a permit from DHS. GISS. Except for England, Europe’s just as bad. Good grief. Nairobi U has had a Science Fiction College for years and funds a convention every month . The college has just established a Tobias Glyer Memorial Scholarship Fund. No action in Haiti, but they’re still short of topsoil. Hang on … Haiti’s building an OTEC plant at Cap Haitien. Since January. You got anything?”
    “Westralia has a Con in Perth in six weeks. With Wade Curtis. Who is over a hundred and twenty.”
    May sat with her mouth hanging open for a moment, then said, “Connors a big Curtis fan?”
    “That seems fairly likely, wouldn’t you say? But that sounds like Connors must have had something life-extending made before he went to prison. Curtis was older then than Connors is now. Jane Curtis is still alive too. —Well, of course she is,” he told himself.
    “So he was treating prostitutes before he went to prison?”
    “I hadn’t thought about it. Seems likely.”
    “I’d have said certain. I hardly think Connors stuck his own tongue into Curtis’s mouth. Or into his wife’s.”
    “I doubt anyone did except each other. Curtis had combat experience. He wouldn’t have been successfully ambushed. I wonder how it was delivered.” He looked in vain for a phone number or e-mail address. “Can’t contact him to ask.”
    “We know where he’ll be on August twenty-third.”
    Toby stared. “You want to go to Australia so we can say hi to somebody?”
    “No, actually I want to go to the Moon so we can play darts at forty paces, but this is what’s available. Toby, you created life to hopefully end poverty forever, I sent it into space to do the job, and a friend of yours has used it to make us young again. This is just an airplane ride. If you can’t get used to an age of miracles, at least try to get used to having money.”
    “Easy for you to say. You grew up with it,” he said.
    “Okay, it takes a generation or two. You’ve got that and more. Get started now. You want me to make the reservations?”
    He nodded. “I’d better check the bread anyway.”
    He was getting the loaves out when she called out, “We have reservations.”
    “That was quick.”
    “We already did. All I had to do was confirm them. Ambrose Hawking and October Kroft have a honeymoon cabin on a Last Continent Skyhook on August eighteenth.”
    “A zeppelin ?” When the Westralians had finally gotten fed up and seceded, a host of new industries had started there to take advantage of the tax structure. After various other governments had begun harassing the successful outfits to protect their own campaign contributors, a corporate alliance had formed under the name Last Continent, giving them enough muscle to fight back effectively.
    One of the screwy ideas that hadn’t been able to get backing elsewhere was the manufacture of hot-nitrogen airships for the luxury tourist trade. “It’s probably not a great idea to use the German term with Aussies. They learn history. Anyway, it’s all that’s open. Reservation was made last week.”
    “Connors strikes again.”
    “Yep. You know, I’m not sure I wanted to meet him anyway. I’m not used to talking with people who are smarter than I am.”
    “Then I better do the talking when we see Curtis. Connors met him a few times. He said it felt really weird not to be the smartest one in the room.”
    “Curtis is smarter than Connors?”
    “Yes. And that’s in the opinion of Connors .” Toby tore off a chunk of loaf, split it, slathered it with butter, poured a glass of milk, and brought them out. “Bread?”
    “I’m still full.” May inhaled, fluttered her eyelids, sighed happily, picked up the bread, and took a bite. “God bless the Egyptians,” she said indistinctly.
    “And GM foods,” Toby said.
    “?”
    “Somebody once took apart wheat DNA and found it was a cross between four different wild grasses. Had to be deliberate. Some precivilization