Chapter 30

"So…that was interesting," Thomas said when the train start moving and Suzy closed the door to their coup. They returned to the hotel exhausted and decided to talk about the meeting on a way home the next morning.

"I will check the forum when I get home, so do not ask me about it yet,"

"We could meet up on our club's first day in school," Ember suggested.

"Just call me, I will come," Suzy agreed.

"I think we should all put the money together for Swen. After all, he will share the info with us," Thomas said and Swen awkwardly smiled.

"I think it is fair," Mat sighed, and with even him agreeing everybody else followed.

"So what do you think?" Norr asked and Suzy looked at the ceiling. She said she wants to go to

sleep. They all understood and talked a bit about it until she raised her hand and turned off her WW. Everybody quickly followed.

"They obviously disturbed the Internet at the restaurant, but they couldn't do anything to our WW, so I did record the whole conversation,"

"What? I thought you needed an Internet connection to do that," Norr said surprised.

"Well, yes. It is illegal to record it anonymously, but I still got the software as a journalist. For us it is legal,"

"You are not a journalist,"

"Which is why I turned off the WW," Thomas blinked, still not understanding how she got it.

"I see, well anything important?" Mat asked.

"Not really, but listening to Merik… I think he was a free pilot before,"

"I think so too, but it is just a feeling from the way he talked," Swen nodded.

"He was not exactly happy about them,"

"And he is now part of a company…"

"Still the meeting was more exciting than I expected," Norr laughed.

"You ate pancakes during that dense exciting time!" Thomas laughed with her.

"It was honestly pretty enlightening, I did not realize how a relatively small company views the free pilots and Earth. They use their own network, disturbed the Internet, openly criticized Earth…" Swen pondered.

"Criticizing Earth is not that uncommon, they might watch your WW more closely but generally just to be sure you do not do anything like treason. The rest was unexpected though," Suzy nodded.

"You were surprised? You even asked what kind of cryptic network it is!" Thomas pointed out to Swen.

"Well, everybody knows the D-tablet network, no? The decentralized encrypted connection of special tablets. They do not use holographic screens, but old screens, they are pretty famous," Swen shrugged.

"I was more surprised that Mat actually thought about the possible ways about how to handle the planet with them,"

"Of course! I did some digging about the way they generally operate, though by their reaction I was about maybe just halfway there. It was probably obvious, but the law about not being able to sell the planet or allow my family to take on the burden seems to be more and more obviously stupid," Mat said.

"What do you mean…that your family cannot help you? You said they cannot buy it from you, but help is pretty broad," Ember asked.

"They were not allowed to send me more than 1000 credits per month, we found a few small loopholes, like that they can still allow me to stay home and take care of me normally. And they bought from me most of my stuff…"

"What the hell is this shit? This makes no sense!" Thomas said surprisingly angrily.

"I know, right?" Suzy chuckled.

"That is even worse than I realized, we should definitely contact your father," Ember looked at Suzy.

"Mat was against it,"

"It felt too dangerous, but since we already did this, we might as well…" Mat looked away.

"Do you have some kind of plan?" Norr asked Suzy, who shook her head.

"Not really, but I would love to talk to that person,"

"I will send you all my messages with him, as a journalist, that should not be a problem, right?"

"No, though do not send me it as a forward, just copy the content and send me that. I will give you the details when we get home," she slowly nodded.

"The forum might also be a great source of information, after all, we only know the general

circumstances and the law, not much else. We should be careful, but…thank you for going along with this,"

"Of course! It is great to have a planet-owner in your debt!" Thomas laughed.

***

When Mat got home, his parents prepared lunch right away.

"So…tell us what happened? You look tired, did you party the whole night?" his mother asked.

"Partied? No, no…" Mat laughed realizing that that would be normal to expect.

"So what happened?" Anya asked.

"There was a lot, several people recognized me!"

"Who? Some private company?" his dad asked seriously.

"Yes we meet with them to listen to their offer, they were friendly but obviously looking for profit,"

"Obviously," he muttered.

"You went with them? I warned you to do that!" his mother said annoyed.

"I was not alone! We all went together, they did not scout me specifically. They just realized who I was, but didn't really call me out. In the end, we just talked!"

"Hmm, that is okay then," she nodded and while his father looked more worried he said nothing.

"So what did they say?"

"Nothing that surprising, they were also not the only ones who talked to me,"

"Really?"

"Few others, though nobody as brazen. Apart from one…there was a woman from a research institute. I have her contact for potential collaboration,"

"Now, that is good. Is it from Earth?"

"Yes, however, I will have to look into it before I contact her," he said and his mother smiled, just as his WW vibrated with a message from somebody important.

"After meal!" Anya said and their parents laughed and finished the food. Mat then looked at the message from Lucas:

I would like to meet with you this Friday after school. We have a lot to talk about. I hope you know what I mean.

"Wow, if he send me this kind of message just days after the win, I would get sick!" Mat shook his head and played with his fingers before writing a message.

We shall meet indeed. I also have a lot to talk about. I hope you know what I mean.