Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

like it is on all my checks,” Holloway said. He could sense Bourne stiffening up behind him. This was very close to not behaving. Fortunately a small ripple of laughter went around the table at the comment.
    “So it is,” Irvine said. “And likely not too far in the future, it’ll be his signature there.”
    “Hopefully later rather than sooner,” Aubrey said in a tone that to Holloway did not suggest that the former was in fact all that much more preferable than the latter. Aubrey turned in his seat to face Holloway. “I see from your file you went to Duke.”
    “Law school, yes,” Holloway said.
    “I was there for undergrad,” Aubrey said. “Class of ’18.”
    “We missed by three years,” Holloway said.
    “It’s not every Duke JD that ends up in the wilds of a Class Three planet,” Aubrey said.
    “It’s a long story,” Holloway said.
    “I would think so, considering it apparently involves disbarment,” Aubrey said. “That’s never a quick thing to explain, is it?”
    Holloway looked at Aubrey, with his pleasant, sun-tousled features, notwithstanding the famously beakish Aubrey nose, which Holloway guessed had never once been punched in for its owner being a smug dick. “No, it’s not,” he said. “But inasmuch as this particular long story ends up with me getting rich and you and your family getting even richer, I don’t suppose either of us can complain about it too much.” He smiled at Aubrey.
    After a moment, Aubrey smiled back. “Indeed not,” he said. He turned toward Irvine, who had watched the exchange between Aubrey and Holloway with some consternation. “And it’s one story that we can skip to the end of, since I believe we were about to discuss just how much richer we are all going to be.”
    “Right,” Irvine said, and tapped the infopanel on the table in front of him. The wall directly behind him woke up and displayed a presentation slide. “Johan, I think you’re going to walk us through what we’re seeing.”
    “Yes,” said Johan Gruber, Director of Exploitation for Zara XXIII. He turned to the wall. “After Mr. Holloway established the claim and forwarded the data from the initial survey, it became clear that the sunstone seam was likely larger than we had originally estimated. We sent an additional survey team to the area—”
    “Excuse me?” Holloway said. All surveys of a contracted surveyor’s land had to be performed or supervised by the surveyor. To do otherwise was to risk loss of a claim or subsequent profits from finds stemming from the original claim. “I wasn’t made aware of that.”
    “Exigent circumstances,” said Janice Meyer, ZaraCorp’s General Counsel on Zara XXIII. “If you look in your contract, you’ll see that ZaraCorp may, in certain pressing circumstances, operate in a contractor’s territory to expedite the collection of information or materials.”
    “What’s the pressing circumstance?” Holloway said.
    “I am,” said Aubrey. “This is a significant find, and I wanted to be able to report on it to the chairman and the rest of the board. I was scheduled to leave Zara Twenty-three tomorrow, so I authorized the exigent circumstances clause.”
    “You needn’t worry, Mr. Holloway,” Meyer said. “In the event of the exigent circumstances clause being triggered, all additional finds are automatically appended to the original find and the surveyor additionally compensated.”
    “How so?” Holloway said.
    Meyer looked over to Irvine, who nodded. “We feel an additional tenth of a percent is appropriate,” he said.
    “That sounds fine,” Holloway said.
    “Congratulations on your point-three-five percent,” said Aubrey, with the sort of casual condescension that comes from knowing that one’s own share of the pie is immeasurably greater. He motioned at Gruber to continue.
    Holloway debated saying anything but then realized that if he didn’t, he’d be forced to take a cut. “Half a percent, actually,” he