Banking

Posted on 31 Mar 2023 @ 4:52pm by Moon-Young Chung

Mission: M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Obsidian Command: Promenade
Timeline: MD10: 1430 HR
1677 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

“So, this is a bank,” Moon muttered as she strode through a glass door. She’d imagined a bustling work space with people doing business-y things, but this was definitely not that. Terminal screens lined the walls and a single Bolian sat at a plain gray desk in the center of the room, twiddling his thumbs and wearing a dumb smile on his face.

After stomping out of the tailor shop and leaving Brek somewhere in her wake, she charged around the Promenade in frustration. To think that anyone would make something of subpar quality simply because of this commerce thing! It didn’t make a lick of sense. And Brek wanting to buy anything from them, let alone three new suits. She couldn’t understand it.

He had said something that piqued her interest though, about helping her start a shop. She’d never considered it before. Her charge mellowed into a stroll as she turned over the idea in her mind. Then she remembered the latinum in her pocket.

“Welcome to the Bank of Bolius, Obsidian Command Branch! If you would like to connect to your account using one of our many terminals, just enter your pin number and account name! If you would like to open an account, I can assist you with that!”

“Er. I guess I want to open an account.”

“Excellent choice! And might I say, what a wonderful day to be doing a little banking! My I have your identification please!” Prax held out a biometics scanner. Moon, who was still in the doorway, cautiously stepped forward eyeing the Bolian as if he held a knife.

Even though it took her more than a dozen seconds to cross over to him, Prax’s outstretched arms never even quivered. It didn’t seem natural.

“Are you a hologram?” Moon finally blurted after he’d scanned her hand and face.

“Me? Oh, by the great blue sky, no. Well, yes. And no. And yes. Legally speaking, I am not a hologram because holograms are not allowed access to the computer systems of the Bank of Bolius. We’ve learned our lesson! But I am not physically present on Obisidan Command. What you’re interacting with is a live holographic feed from my office in beautiful Bolot, a city on the western coast of the northern Southern Grapp Region. Have you heard of it?”

“Er. No.”

“Oh, you must come visit. Ah! Your information has presented itself for my consideration. From Earth! Amazing! I would have guessed Alpha Centauri, but that’s only because I’ve never met anyone from Alpha Centauri! What brings you to Obsidian Command? Pleasure or other?”
“Er. Other. My boyf – uh – fiancé is an officer on the station.”

“Oh, excellent. A Starfleet officer. You must live such an exciting life! I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever live on a starbase. You never know when it might just blow up!”

Moon tried to smile, but her lips could only form a unsure squiggly line. “Umm. Okay. I guess I…umm…so how does this work?”

“I don’t understand the question!”

“Like what do I do with an account.”

“Oh! Well, you deposit your currency of choice in the account. We can either keep it in that form or exchange it for any one of the four-hundred-forty-nine currencies the Bank of Bolius is legally allowed to deal in! Then, when you need it, you access your account and the funds will be given to in whatever form you require! For safety sake, we usually suggest you only access your funds digitally!”

“Okay. So. How do I give you my currency? You’re in Bolot.”

“Since we’ll be dealing in Federation credits, those are digital! All I need is the account number in which your currently hold the credits!”

“I don’t have any Federation credits. I have latinum.”

“Oh, excellent! Exchanging Federation credits is a big hassle! No one wants them! One moment!”

The holographic form of Prax froze again with that stupid grin plastered all over his face, twiddling his thumbs. Moon quickly deuced that this image of Prax was the equivalent to being put on hold. He was in his office in Bolot doing something. Whatever he was doing, it was taking a long enough time that Moon started to try and imitate the holograph’s smile, like an actor trying to understand the mannerisms of their character. She twiddled her thumbs and tried to elongate her smile into blissful absurdity, where nothing really mattered.

Just as she felt she was mastering the look, the top of the desk split down the middle and parted smoothly, revealing a large cylindrical safe inside its cavity. The door clanked and clicked, beeped and buzzed and then opened with a hiss. Then flawlessly white instrumentation that looked like an oversized microscope without the eyepiece rose up out of the cavity with a soothing whir sound.

Prax flickered back into motion. “Please place your slips, strips, bars, or bricks on the instrumentation measuring pad!”

“I don’t have slips, strips, bars, or bricks of latinum,” Moon told him.

“Oh! I don’t understand!”

“Well,” Moon fished around in her pocket and pulled out the vial of liquid latinum. “I have this. A friend gave it to me. Oh!” She reached into her pocket again and pulled out the certificate of authenticity issued by the Bank of Bolius. “And I have this.”

She hesitantly held it out to the holographic Prax unsure if his hologram was solid enough to grab it. It didn’t matter, he only leaned forward to examine the document.

“Well! Well! Well! This is a surprise! I will have to confirm that this certificate was legally transferred, but you don’t strike me as a master thief! So, please place the liquid latinum on the measuring pad!”

Moon set the glass vial on the instrument which immediately beeped its acknowledgement. The holographic Prax went back into its twiddling-thumb state while the machine made a series of boops, followed by a quiet purr, which then was finished with a high bell.

“Amazing! This is the most liquid latinum I have ever dealt with! Six-point-two ounces! I am most surprised you were able to make it to the branch without being murdered and your body thrown out an airlock! I will most surely be promoted after opening you account!”

“Great,” Moon said with a questioning shrug. Murdered? Over liquid? And a promotion for what? But not wanting to be impolite, she added, “I mean, you’ve been such a huge help. So. Yeah. Very deserved. You’re the best banker I’ve ever worked with.”

Prax looked please with himself, “That is very kind of you to say! When we are done opening your account, be sure to fill out our customer survey and say exactly that! Now, please place the latinum in the safe!”

Moon carefully placed the vial into the interior. The safe burped out a bloop, the door shut, it buzzed and beeped, clicked and clanked until was sealed. The instruments descended back into the desk and the top slid back into place. It was a desk once more.

“Please review this contract!”

A view screen popped up from the face of the desk and Moon settled down in the chair and began reading. After a while, she became aware that Prax had once again abandoned her since his holograpm was twiddling its thumbs. She couldn’t blame him: it took her a long time to work her way through the document. The most interesting part of what otherwise was a dry legal document were the clauses that dealt with bank robberies, which she quickly deduced had happened on a number of occasions to the Bank of Bolius.

Once she completed the document, Moon waved at the hologram who immediately came back to life. “Excellent,” Prax exclaimed, “Very few people actually read the entire thing! Most just apply their biometics to the document and go on with their day!”

“Oh. I just assumed I should read it, just in case you’ll ask for my first born or something.”

“A Human baby! Who would want one of those? They’re very ugly!”

“Umm. Hmm,” Moon knew her joke had failed, but wasn’t sure how to take Prax’s declaration on the adorability of babies. “So, now what?”

“I will message you with your account specifics to you! Done! And here is the total amount you have deposited with the Bank of Bolius today!”

Moon scanned the new page that appeared on the view screen until she found the information on the deposit. “Seven-hundred-three bricks, four-hundred-twenty-nine bars, seven strips, sixty-four slips,” she read, “Okay. Great. So. How much is that?”

“Oh! You are very, very, very, very, wealthy!”

“So, do you think I could open a shop with that?”

Prax’s head bounced up and down. “You could open an entire space station of shops!”

Moon nodded. Good. If she wanted to do this shop, it’s good to know that she didn’t need Brek to help. Rice’s warning from this morning and Brek’s commentary in the tailor about her emotions rolled through her mind. Having him as a friend was going to prove to be a challenge; having him as a partner could be something else entirely.

On the other hand, her father often had talked about the need for expertise when it came to the unknown. And she definitely didn’t know anything about business. Brek did. He seemed like a duck in water when it came to these commercial enterprises. So, she’d take him up on his offer, but this latinum gave her options. Her father also had said that options were a good thing to have, especially in negotiations (and especially if the other person knew you had options). Maybe him droning on through her childhood dinners was finally going to come in handy.

“I’ll fill out that survey now,” Moon said with a smile.