Artemis

“Those are certainly parts of it as well.”

“Yeah,” I said. “But you didn’t mention them. In fact, you only talked about the parts of the industry that rely on fiber optics.”

She shrugged. “Well, we’re talking about fiber optics, so that’s only natural.”

“Except I hadn’t brought up fiber optics yet.”

“You must have.”

I shook my head. “I’ve got a very good memory.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

I pulled a knife from my boot holster and held it at the ready. “How did O Palácio find my Gizmo?”

She pulled a gun from under the desk. “Because I told them where it was.”

“A gun?!” I said. “How did a gun get into the city?! I never smuggle weapons!”

“I’ve always appreciated that,” she said. “You don’t have to keep your hands up. You do, however, have to drop that knife.”

I did as I was instructed. The knife floated down to the floor.

She kept the gun pointed at me. “May I ask, how did you come to suspect me?”

“Process of elimination,” I said. “Rudy proved he wasn’t selling me out. You’re the only other person with access to my Gizmo location info.”

“Reasonable,” she said. “But I’m not as sinister as you think.”

“Uh-huh.” I gave her a dubious look. “But you know all about ZAFO, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re going to make a shitload of money off of it?”

She scowled. “Do you really think so little of me? I won’t make a single slug.”

“But…then…why…?”

She settled back into her chair and relaxed her grip on the gun. “You were right about the gravity. ZAFO is a crystalli

ne quartzlike structure that only forms at 0.216 g’s. It’s impossible to make on Earth, but they can make it here with a centrifuge. You’re such an intelligent girl, Jasmine. If only you’d apply yourself.”

“If this is turning into a ‘You have so much potential’ lecture, just shoot me instead, okay?”

She smiled. She could be grandmotherly even while holding a gun. Like she’d give me a butterscotch candy before putting a hole in my head. “Do you know how Artemis makes its money?”

“Tourism.”

“No.”

I blinked. “What?”

“We don’t make enough from tourism. It’s a large part of our economy, yes, but not enough.”

“But the economy works,” I said. “Tourists buy stuff from local companies, companies pay employees, employees buy food and pay rent, and so on. And we’re still here, so it must be working, right? What am I missing?”

“Immigration,” she said. “When people move to Artemis, they bring their life savings with them. Then they spend it here. As long as our population kept growing that was fine, but now we’ve plateaued.”