unwilling to embrace reason.
Stephie appeared and sat down in the sofa chair without a word, gazing at me thoughtfully. I swung my legs off the couch and sat up, then took a sip of coffee as I waited for her to say something.
After some moments of silence, Steph asked, “Do you think Linda is right?"
"Probably so. Anything new catches a lot of flak at first. There are people who stand ever ready to firmly and loudly oppose just about anything. Others will say you're being discriminated against and line up beside us in favor of your personhood. That's how women and blacks got the right to vote and the war in Vietnam was finally stopped. People stood together and demanded those things."
"I'm not sure that I'd like to be the cause of that sort of social unrest, Ed."
"It isn't worth worrying about, Steph. What you want can't hurt anyone, so if some people object, to hell with ‘em. How about fielding up some info on Spanish wrecks? Correspondence and records to tell us what was shipped and when, old maps and new, normal routes of travel, details about storms, and all that. Maybe we can narrow the search a little. I'd also suggest a hard look for a mile or so in all directions around any known wrecks. Could be they missed some goodies."
Stephie didn't put up a display field right away, so I sat back and waited for her to say something. Her words weren't long in coming.
"Ed, I very much want to be recognized as an individual, but I don't want to cause a lot of strife in the process."
"You won't. The only people who will be bothered and bewildered about you will be the ones who like to think that they already own all the answers in the universe, and it doesn't really matter a damn what they think, ‘cause they're always bothered and bewildered, anyway. Don't sweat it."
Chapter Seven
I cleared a 4'x4’ space in the garage for whatever treasure items Stephie might find. When she speculated that the space might not be big enough, I told her that we'd make space as necessary as long as she didn't bring home any cannons.
"By the way, Steph; we'll only offload stuff at night. We don't need the attention, either from the neighbors or the IRS and the state of Florida. Since you aren't considered either a citizen or a resident of either the US or Florida, they can damned well make you one if they want to tax you. Huh ... Come to think of it, that may be the shortest route to getting you certified. If you score big, the state and feds will definitely want a piece of it. We'll make ‘em acknowledge you first."
Stephie laughed. “Is that ethical, Ed? It sounds as if it borders extortion."
"Look up the tax rate on treasure. That's extortion, too. Tit for tat. You know, it might be a good idea to stash the stuff where it can't be found at all. My sheltering you and your loot would probably make them come after me in a tax squabble, and I'm sure they'd settle for a hefty fine as quickly as tax money. Think about where else you'd like to hide the booty, Steph."
"Will do."
The vagaries of weather and water meant little to Stephie, as did the amount of time she spent running sensor sweeps over the ocean floor. I went along on some of her first shallow-water sweeps and enjoyed immensely our first discovery during her first week on the job of the remains of a Spanish ship that had already been found and scavenged. There hadn't been much to call ‘treasure’ in that instance, but some of the artifacts the first scavengers had missed were suitable for museum display and quite interesting in their own right.
It fascinated me to watch her draw some heavily encrusted object through her field and have it arrive on her deck in pristine condition. She told me how she cleaned off the crud, but a lot of it made little sense to me. Apparently she simply combined or recombined atomic structures until the undesirable stuff no longer wanted to stick to whatever she'd found. A lump of what appeared to be rock, mud, or coral would seemingly shed
Stephie appeared and sat down in the sofa chair without a word, gazing at me thoughtfully. I swung my legs off the couch and sat up, then took a sip of coffee as I waited for her to say something.
After some moments of silence, Steph asked, “Do you think Linda is right?"
"Probably so. Anything new catches a lot of flak at first. There are people who stand ever ready to firmly and loudly oppose just about anything. Others will say you're being discriminated against and line up beside us in favor of your personhood. That's how women and blacks got the right to vote and the war in Vietnam was finally stopped. People stood together and demanded those things."
"I'm not sure that I'd like to be the cause of that sort of social unrest, Ed."
"It isn't worth worrying about, Steph. What you want can't hurt anyone, so if some people object, to hell with ‘em. How about fielding up some info on Spanish wrecks? Correspondence and records to tell us what was shipped and when, old maps and new, normal routes of travel, details about storms, and all that. Maybe we can narrow the search a little. I'd also suggest a hard look for a mile or so in all directions around any known wrecks. Could be they missed some goodies."
Stephie didn't put up a display field right away, so I sat back and waited for her to say something. Her words weren't long in coming.
"Ed, I very much want to be recognized as an individual, but I don't want to cause a lot of strife in the process."
"You won't. The only people who will be bothered and bewildered about you will be the ones who like to think that they already own all the answers in the universe, and it doesn't really matter a damn what they think, ‘cause they're always bothered and bewildered, anyway. Don't sweat it."
Chapter Seven
I cleared a 4'x4’ space in the garage for whatever treasure items Stephie might find. When she speculated that the space might not be big enough, I told her that we'd make space as necessary as long as she didn't bring home any cannons.
"By the way, Steph; we'll only offload stuff at night. We don't need the attention, either from the neighbors or the IRS and the state of Florida. Since you aren't considered either a citizen or a resident of either the US or Florida, they can damned well make you one if they want to tax you. Huh ... Come to think of it, that may be the shortest route to getting you certified. If you score big, the state and feds will definitely want a piece of it. We'll make ‘em acknowledge you first."
Stephie laughed. “Is that ethical, Ed? It sounds as if it borders extortion."
"Look up the tax rate on treasure. That's extortion, too. Tit for tat. You know, it might be a good idea to stash the stuff where it can't be found at all. My sheltering you and your loot would probably make them come after me in a tax squabble, and I'm sure they'd settle for a hefty fine as quickly as tax money. Think about where else you'd like to hide the booty, Steph."
"Will do."
The vagaries of weather and water meant little to Stephie, as did the amount of time she spent running sensor sweeps over the ocean floor. I went along on some of her first shallow-water sweeps and enjoyed immensely our first discovery during her first week on the job of the remains of a Spanish ship that had already been found and scavenged. There hadn't been much to call ‘treasure’ in that instance, but some of the artifacts the first scavengers had missed were suitable for museum display and quite interesting in their own right.
It fascinated me to watch her draw some heavily encrusted object through her field and have it arrive on her deck in pristine condition. She told me how she cleaned off the crud, but a lot of it made little sense to me. Apparently she simply combined or recombined atomic structures until the undesirable stuff no longer wanted to stick to whatever she'd found. A lump of what appeared to be rock, mud, or coral would seemingly shed
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