“Wups!” she answered. “You didn’t punch wrong. I’m Gloria Tomosawa, senior partner in Fong, Tomosawa, et al., now that Grandpa Fong has retired. But that doesn’t interfere with my being a vice-president of Ceres and South Africa Acceptances; we are also the legal department of the bank. And I’m the chief trust officer, too, which means that I’m going to have business with you. Everybody here is sorry as can be at the news of Dr. Baldwin’s death and I hope that it did not distress you too muchÄMiss Baldwin.”
“Hey, back up and start over!”
“Sorry. Usually when people call the Moon they want to make it as brief as possible because of the cost. Do you want me to repeat all that, a sentence at a time?”
“No. I think I’ve assimilated it. Dr. Baldwin left a note telling me to be at the reading of his will or to be represented. I can’t be there. When will it be read and can you advise me as to how I can get someone in Luna City to represent me?”
“It will be read as soon as we get official notification of death from the California Confederacy, which should be any time now as our
San Jose representative has already paid the squeeze. Someone to represent youÄwill I do? Perhaps I should say that Grandpa Fong was your father’s Luna City attorney for many years . . so I inherited him and now that your father has died, I inherit you. Unless you tell me otherwise.”
“Oh, would you?ÄMissÄMrs. TomosawaÄis it Miss or Mrs.?”
“I could and I would and it’s Mrs. It had better be; I have a son as old as you are.”
“Impossible!” (This beauty-contest winner twice my age?)
“Most possible. Here in Luna City we are all old-fashioned cubes, not like California. We get married and we have babies and always in that order. I wouldn’t dare be a Miss with a son your age; nobody would retain me.”
“I mean the idea that you have a son my age. You can’t have a baby at the age of five. Four.”
She chuckled. “You say the nicest things. Why don’t you come here and marry my son? He’s always wanted an heiress.”
“Am I an heiress?”
She sobered. “Urn. I can’t break the seal on that will until your father is officially dead, which he is not, in Luna City, not yet. But he will be shortly and there is rio sense in making you call back. I drafted that will. I checked it for changes when I got it back. Then I sealed it and put it into my safe. So I know what’s in it. What I’m about to tell you, you don’t know until later today. You’re an heiress but fortune-hunters won’t be chasing you. You are not getting a gram in cash. Instead the bank is instructedÄthat’s meÄto subsidize you in migrating off Earth. If you pick Luna, we pay your fare. If you picked a bounty planet, we would give you a Scout knife and pray for you. If you pick a high-priced place like Kaui or Halcyon, the trust pays your fare and your contribution and assists you with starting capital. If you never do migrate off Terra, on your death funds earmarked to assist you revert to the other purposes of the trust. But your migration needs have first call. Exception: If you migrate to Olympia, you pay for it yourself. Nothing from the trust.”
“Dr. Baldwin said something about that. What’s so poisonous about Olympia? I don’t recall a colony world named that.”
“You don’t? No, I guess you’re too young. That’s where those
self-styled supermen went. No real point in warning you against it, however; the corporation doesn’t run ships there. Dear, you are running up a fancy comm bill.”
“I guess so. But it would cost me more if I had to call back. All I mind is having to pay for the speed-of-light dead time. Can you switch hats and be Ceres and South Africa for a moment? Or maybe not; I may need legal advice.”
“I’m wearing both hats, so fire away. Ask anything; today there’s no fee. My advertising loss leader.”