Finney Vol. 1 - Immutable Journey - Flipbook - Page 48
As Finney held his golden chestahedron
out for inspection, Mr Shift snatched
the object. “What are you doing?”
demanded Finney. “What are you doing
with my special chesta?”
“You mean my chesta,” said Mr Shift
coldly. “Every bit as heavy as I thought
it would be,” he said, casually tossing
the chesta into the smoldering crucible
below the catwalk where they stood.
“Don’t worry my boy, we’ll make you a
new one.”
Finney was aghast. He felt panic rising
up, threatening to overwhelm his senses.
“My chesta!” he cried. “You’re melting
my chesta!”
“As I said, we’ll make you a new one,”
said Mr Shift smoothly. “Out of something
less heavy. Maybe steel. Or even tin. I
promise, it’ll be an improvement.”
“But my chesta regulates my processes!”
said Finney. “I need it!”
“You seem fine without it so far,” replied
Mr Shift. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you
fixed up better than ever. You’ll probably
thank me for this one day.”
Unconvinced, Finney watched the last
of his precious chesta disappear into
the crucible’s molten contents. “It’s like
watching my heart sink,” he whimpered.
“How could you do something like that?
Are you a bad person?”
“Not a bad person, just an excellent
capitalist,” said Mr Shift. “You say you
came here to learn about business?
Consider this your first important lesson.”
“I’m here to learn about cryptocurrencies
and blockchain technology,” said Finney
weakly.
48
“Like I said, business,” said Mr Shift.
“But I don’t see the lesson,” said Finney.
“You just took my chesta and melted it.”
“I identified a thing of worth and secured
it,” said My Shift. “The lesson for you is
to be more careful with the things you
value.”
“But what does that have to do with
crypto?” asked Finney.
“Everything, lad,” said Mr Shift. “Crypto
is all about custody. Ownership. You
allowed me to take custody of your
chesta and I used it for my own purposes.
Something similar would’ve happened if
you handed over the private keys to one
of your crypto wallets.”
“But,” argued Finney. “Wait a minute.
You took my chesta without permission.
When I finally get some crypto, will
people be able to take my private keys
without permission, too?”
“If you fail to secure your keys like you
failed to secure your chesta, they will,”
said Mr Shift. “Hold on a sec,” he said,
taking out his phone and texting for a
minute.
“I really can’t go on without my chesta,”
said Finney when Mr Shift looked up
again.
“Not to worry,” said Mr Shift. “My
people are on it. They’ve got images
of your chesta from the security feeds.
And I’ve just instructed my best worker
to make a suitable replica.”
In the oppressive heat, without his chesta,
Finney was having a hard time thinking
clearly. “Can we go somewhere less
hot?” he asked.
FINNEY VOLUME ONE - IMMUTABLE JOURNEY