Finney Vol. 1 - Immutable Journey - Flipbook - Page 44
“It feels like standing near the volcano on
my home planet,” said Finney, leaning
over the catwalk’s railing, gazing into
the molten metal fuming in the crucible
below.
Mr Shift paid no attention to the comment.
His mind was elsewhere. “Stand back
from there and come here,” he said.
Obeying, Finney turned to Face Mr
Shift. But Mr Shift didn’t meet Finney’s
gaze. Instead, Mr Shift was staring at
Finney’s chestahedron, transfixed. “Are
you looking at my chesta?” asked Finney.
“On my planet, it’s considered bad
manners to look at someone’s chesta
instead of at their eyes.”
“I’m just curious about it,” said Mr Shift.
“I’ve never seen such a thing. Is it purely
decorative, or does it serve some other
purpose?”
“It’s a part of me,” said Finney. “An
important part. Like my nose or my foot
or my brain.”
“And is it made of gold or just painted
that way?” asked Mr Shift.
“It’s solid gold to fit me perfectly,” said
Finney. “Doesn’t anyone on this planet
have chestahedrons? How are your
processes even regulated?”
Mr Shift chuckled darkly. “Pumps and
valves and other such things, I imagine,”
he said. “How heavy is your chesta,
would you say?”
“I don’t know,” said Finney. “It maybe
weighs half as much as my head.”
“Can I touch it?” asked Mr Shift.
Finney recoiled at the thought, but didn’t
want to seem rude. “I guess so,” he said.
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“Just a little, though.”
Mr Shift groped Finney’s chesta, getting
a sense for its true mass. “Must weigh
several pounds, at least,” he said, letting
his hand linger a few moments before
grudgingly removing it.
“Can we get to the part where I trade
you gold for crypto soon?” asked Finney.
“It’s really nice of you to show me around
your office and city and refinery. But I’m
on a mission to learn about crypto and
don’t see how this helps me with that
mission.”
“Ahh yes,” said Mr Shift. “We’ll get to
that. But first, tell me, can your chesta
be removed?”
“It can be removed for cleaning,” replied
Finney guardedly. “And to be reset. But
removing a chesta for any other reason
isn’t really a good idea.”
“But I’m so curious!” said Mr Shift,
feigning playfulness. “What if you just
removed it for a moment, so I could see
how it looks?”
“I don’t know,” said Finney. “That doesn’t
seem like a good idea.”
“Come on,” said Mr Shift. “It’ll be fun.
You like fun, don’t you?”
“Well, I do like fun,” admitted Finney.
“But still, it seems so irresponsible.”
“Tell you what,” said Mr Shift. “What if
I remove a shoe and you remove your
chesta? It would be like a game. How
about it?”
Finney put his hands over his chesta
protectively. “A shoe is different from a
chesta,” he said.
FINNEY VOLUME ONE - IMMUTABLE JOURNEY