Artemis by Andy Weir Read Free Book Online

hand like they were equals or something. “Thanks for coming by!”
    Irina showed up and led Ngugi away. Was there a hint of admiration on the grumpy old Russian’s face? I guess even Irina had her limits. You can’t hate
everyone
.
    “Holy shit, dude,” I said to Trond.
    “Pretty cool, huh?” Trond turned to his daughter. “All right, pumpkin, time for you to skedaddle. Jazz and I have business to discuss.”
    She groaned the way only teenage girls can. “You always send me away when things get interesting.”
    “Don’t be in such a hurry. You’ll be a cutthroat business asshole soon enough.”
    “Just like my dad.” She smiled. She reached to the floor and picked up her crutches. They were the kind that gripped the upper arm. She got them both into position with ease and brought herself vertical. Her legs hung free. She kissed Trond on the cheek, then walked out on the crutches without her feet touching the ground.
    The car accident that killed her mother had paralyzed Lene for life. Trond had money coming out his ass, but nothing could buy back his daughter’s ability to walk. Or could it? On Earth, Lene was confined to a wheelchair, but on the moon, she could easily move around on crutches.
    So he hired VPs to manage most of his companies and relocated to Artemis. And just like that, Lene Landvik could walk again.
    “Bye, Jazz!” she said on her way out.
    “Bye, kiddo.”
    Trond swirled his drink. “Have a seat.”
    The dining table was huge, so I picked a chair a couple of spaces away from Trond. “What’s in the glass?”
    “Scotch. Want some?”
    “Maybe a taste,” I said.
    He slid the glass across to me. I took a sip.
    “Ohhh yeahhh…” I said. “That’s better.”
    “Didn’t know you were a scotch gal,” he said.
    “Not normally. But I had an awful approximation of it earlier today, so I needed a reminder of what it’s supposed to be like.” I offered the tumbler back.
    “Keep it.” He went to the liquor credenza, poured a second glass, and returned to his seat.
    “So why was the administrator here?” I asked.
    He put his feet up on the table and leaned back in his chair. “I’m hoping to buy Sanchez Aluminum and I wanted her blessing. She’s fine with it.”
    “Why would you want an aluminum company?”
    “Because I like building businesses.” He preened theatrically. “It’s my thing.”
    “But aluminum? I mean…isn’t that sort of blah? I get the impression it’s struggling as an industry.”
    “It is,” said Trond. “Not like the old days, when aluminum was king—each bubble required
forty thousand tons
of aluminum to build. But now the population has plateaued and we’re not making new bubbles anymore. Frankly, they would have gone out of business long ago if it weren’t for their aluminum monopropellant fuel production. And even that barely turns a profit.”
    “Seems like you missed the gravy train. Why get in now?”
    “I think I can make it hugely profitable again.”
    “How?”
    “None of your business.”
    I held up my hands. “Sheesh. Touchy. Fine, you want to make aluminum. Why not start your own company?”
    He snorted. “If only it were that easy. It’s impossible to compete with Sanchez. Literally impossible. What do you know about aluminum production?”
    “Pretty much nothing,” I said. I settled back in my chair. Trond seemed chatty tonight. Best to let him get it out of his system. And hey, as long as he talked I got good booze.
    “First, they collect anorthite ore. That’s easy. All they have to do is pick up the right rocks. They have automated harvesters running day and night. Then they smelt the ore with a chemical and electrolysis process that takes a shitload of electricity. And I do mean a shitload. Sanchez Aluminum uses
eighty percent
of the city reactors’ output.”
    “Eighty percent?” I’d never thought about it before, but two 27-megawatt nuclear reactors was a bit much for a city of two thousand people.
    “Yeah,