The Man Who Sold Mars (8 page)

“At the close of markets yesterday, my
stock was undervalued.  I think we have a future.  And a great future.  Today,
when the future markets open, I will go long on that future optioning and buying
as much as I can of mine and any other under valued stock that would normally
fit into my investment portfolio.  I recommend that everyone do the same and
not give into panic.”

“Thank you, Stephen.”

“Thank you.”

I returned to my group as George and
Tatyana left to talk on their phones in secluded, quieter places of their own,
while in panic most of the revelers left.  A few on the other hand choose to
stay and party harder.  A slightly inebriated man in a great mood, grinned
hoisted a beer to the heavens, “ET!”  Others realized where he was going and
hoisted their beers, He continued “
пойти
—” Go—  The rest of the bar shouted “
домой
!!!!
” HOME!!!  They drank from their beers
and cheered.

Selena asked, “So what do we do?”

Gardner said, “Buy gold.”

Kevin agreed.  “Invaders love gold.”

Selena, her thoughts elsewhere thought
Kevin and Gardner were serious, “What?!”

I told them, “I’m going to do just as I
said.  Wait until the markets settle and buy everything.  I would suggest that
all of you do the same.  I margined all I have so I’d have cash in an extreme
emergency to keep us going.  I think this is it.

Kevin spoke a truth, “They will call your
margin tomorrow and in seven days you’ll have to pay.”

Selena asked, “And if you don’t have the
money, what then?”

“I’ll have it.”

“How?”

“I’ll have it.”

And Gardner told them why, “The capitol
markets are a fiction. I imagine within those seven days you’ll—we’ll pick up
investments for pennies on the dollar, pennies on the tens of thousands of
dollars.  And when the capitol markets regain their sanity and value even
slightly, we’ll have investments worth not just multiples of our purchase
prices, but exponential powers of the purchase price.”

And as everyone predicted, when the
markets opened, all of the prices tumbling toward negative infinity and all the
traders panicked and frenzied and Gardner, Tot, George, Kevin and I publicly
brought everything we could to stem the madness.

But it did no good and for six frightful
days madness reigned, until the streets looked post apocalyptic.  Stores were
abandoned, vandalized, and looted and the streets littered with debris.

From the Samsung billboard in Times
Square, a CNN broadcast played, while above it, big and close, the full moon
mirrored the telecast.

A montage of scenes aired from around the
world, showing the phenomenon of the moon and its alien intruder over
Washington, DC; Chicago; Paris; Beijing Square; The Great Pyramids; London; Red
Square.

From her set, the somber CNN anchor
addressed the world.  “With each day the anomaly has increased with greater
penetration over the lighted area of the moon and then retreated.  Today, it is
not retreating and continuing to press forward with greater velocity.  Here you
can make out the form.  It appears to be a ship design of interlocking
crescents forming . . .”

The darkened image moved completely into
the light to reveal . . .

Relived the anchor grinned, “The cursive YSR
logo for Young Stellar Resources.  Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve just witnessed
the greatest PR event in history.”

In my penthouse condo, my group –
Tatyana; Selena becoming increasingly less frightened hugging Patricia;
Hemmingson; George; Gardner and Kevin - watched TV with me.  Their reactions
varied ranging from humor to anger.

Patricia said, “Cooooooooool.”

Gardner grinned at me, “Why didn’t you
tell us?”

“I—“

Kevin poured himself more wine.  “A whole
lot of people are going to be maaaaadd.”

Selena was livid.  “Like me.  How could
you?  You threw the world into mass panic.”

Hemmingson picked up a wine bottle and
drank from it, “And I lost a shirt.  A t-shirt granted, but a shirt.  More like
one on those little ity bitty ones worn by newborns, or big breasted women at
wet t-shirt competitions, but it was a shirt none the less.”

Matter of fact, George stated.  “He told
everyone that night in the pub.  But as always people chose to believe what
they chose to believe, the thing that validated them most, whether it was right
or wrong.”

Selena whipped around to look at “Tatyana!”

Looking guilty, Tatyana came to attention
gave the
Sieg Heil
, “Hail Victory” salute and in a German-English accent
said, “Javol mine fraulein.  I was only following orders.”

Selena was furious. “Stephen you still
haven’t answered my question.  A lot of innocent people died then too.  You
three inflicted on the world the highest suicide rate of all time.”

I was sad about that, even as it was
happening, but what we had to accomplish with the moon was more important than
they realized.  “Selena, I—“

“You did all this over money?!  Wait
until the lawsuits come in.”

George unworried said, “Selena, it wasn’t
about money.  And the lawsuits will be an issue, but they won’t.”

Selena snapped, “Stephen, You still
haven’t answered my question.”

And so I did, “Selena, the world is
always panicked about something real or imagined.  For God’s sake, half the
people in the US can’t even read on an eighth grade level and we’re the
wealthiest nation on this planet.  And when we average in the rest of the
world, we have a people with a less than Neolithic education with modern day
technology.”

“And you know what’s good for the world?”

George answered for me.  “Yes.”

And I continued.  “Yes, I do know what’s
better for some of the world far better than most.”

“I can’t believe you two. 
Sieg Heil
is
right—“

I continued, “Selena, I think about the
world all the time.  If I didn’t we would have been way wealthier when I ran
The Group than we were.  I could have eviscerated half those companies we took
over and made ten times the money had I torched the people working for them and
the families they provided for with those jobs.”

Hemmingson nursing his bottle said,
“That’s the problem I had.  Greediness is next to godliness.”

Selena gave a laugh of disdain, “Stephen,
you know what’s good for the world?  I can’t believe you.”

“Why do you think we’re doing this?  I
have a personal motivation and a global.  I do think about the world all the
time.”

Selena was in tears, “My God, people
committed suicide over this.”

George attempting to redeem us spoke with
her.  “Not to be callous, but people’ve committed suicide over our corporate
takeovers, over celebrity divorces and marriages, their team losing—“

“That's cruel.”

“Selena, I don't mean to be.  It's just a
truth.”

“I can't believe you three.  And you
pulled the rest of us in with you.  And you Stephen have the arrogance to say
you know what's good for the world?”

“I was adamant I was right, “It’s the
21st century and we’re fighting another crusade, a Holy War between the Arabs
and The Christians with the Jews warming up in the bullpen for their shot at
the Arabs.  You tell me if the world knows what's best for it.”

Selena was silent.  And, the rest of us,
not really knowing what to say, were silent.

Wanting Selena to understand my deeds I
continued, “The only chance humanity has to evolve beyond its “humanity” is to
reach out for the stars and spread ourselves away from one another as far and
as fast as we can.  At least one of those groups will reach that ideal.  The
rest will no doubt sink further into the depths of their humanity.  And, I’m
going to do everything I can to help make sure that everything that’s good
about us survives.”

Selena remained silent and resolute in
her mood.

I thought about the things I’d done and
those I must and spoke to everyone.  “I know all of you didn’t agree with
everything I did when I ran The Group.  And then we only had dollars on the
table.  Now, we’re talking about the future or lack of one for humanity.  You
will hate some of the things I’ll do.  I love all of you and you have the
freedom to go at anytime.  But if you leave . . . you will always be my
friend.  And, I hope to always be yours.”

There was only silence for a while and
George spoke.  “Stephen, tell them the next step.”

“Tomorrow, I have an appointment with the
Secretary General of the United Nations.  I would like for all of you to be
there.”

Gardner asked, “What time?”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t made it yet.”

Kevin asked an obvious and important
detail.  “How do you know he’ll see you?”

Beyond certain George answered, “He
will.”

Still stinging Selena asked, “Is this
going to be something we like?”

I tried to be diplomatic.  “Probably
not.”

George was a hammer.  “No.  You will not
like it.”

Hemmingson took a sip from his bottle. 
“Whoooo Hooooo.  Sounds like a party.  I’m there.”

And on the following day as I said we
would, our ensemble – Selena, Kevin, George, Gardner, Hemmingson, and I met
with the Secretary General, the head of the United Nations.

And, he was not pleased. “Mr. Young, in a
week, you’ve become the wealthiest man on the planet.  They estimate that if
you were a nation you would be the 15th wealthiest.  All this “earned”, and I
use the word “earned”, loosely, by inducing global panic.  And yet, you are in
my office talking on the behalf of humanity.”

“Did I kill anyone?  Invade a country and
steal their wealth?  Steal their people?  Steal from anyone?”

“Yes, you did—“

“No, I did not.  I went on international
television repeatedly and told everyone not to panic.  I’m spending billions to
go to Mars.  And, they chose not to listen to me.  They sold and I “openly”
bought and bought and bought.  They lost.  I gained.  That’s their fault.  Not
mine.  But that’s not what we’re here for.”

“Now you’re trying to steal the moon and
later Mars.  I’m a lawyer too.”

“Really?  Stealing the Moon and Mars?  I
think I’m expanding the rule of law to space.”

“By saying that because you were the
first to “appropriate” the moon’s “atmosphere” and surface for advertising—“

“That I own that right and only that
right.  Nothing more.”

“At this time, Mr. Young.  At this time.”

“Yes, at this time.  But, I’m here to
give it to your August body, the United Nations, for the benefit and
stewardship of all humanity, provided no one else is allowed to advertise on
it.”

“And, if I accept that “gift” I extend
the doctrine of prior appropriation to the stars.”

Reserved, George said, “You already
have.  It’s the same rationale your August body used when you usurped the sky
above the equatorial nations for geostationary satellites for non-equatorial
nations and corporations.”

“That was—“

“When countries located near the Earth's
equator created the Bogata Declaration in which they reasserted their legal
claim to control the use of space above their territory.
 The nations who’d appropriated their
airspace along with the “United Nations” ignored them.

“That was—“

“Ignored.”

Every time the Secretary General
attempted to speak, George cut him off with a country that signed the Bogata
Declaration of 1975.

“That —“

“Brasil,”

“That —“

Colombia,

“That —“

Congo,

“That —“

Ecuador,

“That —“

Indonesia,

“That —“

Kenya,

“That —“

Uganda,

“That —“

Zaire

“That was—“

“Theft”

I echoed George’s words.  “That was
theft.  For centuries the rule of law has been that the sovereign owns all the
land to the center of the Earth and the skies above to the heavens out towards
infinity.

And George continued, “The fourteen or so
wealthiest nations and the UN stole something that belonged to those poorer,
smaller nations.”

“Are you through?”

I answered him.  “No, Mr. Secretary. 
No.”

And so did George.  “We are not through.”