Polk studied the man's image for a moment, hovering there over his desk. Was it possible that he'd finally become useful for something other than keeping some assets in play? "What did you propose?"
"Well, sir, I explained to them that I represented an institution with access to a number of different intelligent races, each with its own particular strengths and weaknesses, much like them, and that all of these races had worked out a conversion rate between their own money and the one used for keeping UniBank's own books in order. I further suggested that among those races there existed some that could perform their standard tasks well enough to represent their interests in the conversion. And because those other races had already established a conversion to our currency, it could serve as the intermediary."
"What are you blathering about, Lester? There are no other races."
"So you're going to fabricate whole civilizations just to give them a reason to do business with us?"
"Of course. Lying is what we're best at, after all. But all that is just window-dressing. The real genius in my scheme, if I do say so myself, is the set of exchange rates I've worked out for them."
"Oh? And why is that?"
Captain Gruthner grinned broadly. "I was hoping that you might find this profitable enough to put in a good word for me, sir. To finally relieve me of this assignment I've been on."
"I'm still waiting, Lester."
"In a typical outsourcing arrangement, the labor rate is cheaper on the far end. So even if you're paying the equivalent salary, in terms of buying locally produced goods and services, the amount of money is less, so you profit on the exchange. The people getting the outsourcing live just as well as the people you'd taken the jobs from did while they were still employed. And unless they have some way to directly compare their salaries, they think they are on par with one another. And that's the secret to the whole scheme, because these two races will never be able to do that. You see, sir, I've got it worked out such that each currency is worth less than the other. We make a profit on the conversion in both directions. As I said, it's a mutual outsourcing deal. What do you think?"
Irwin Polk leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "I think we could use you back at the home office, Captain. Consider your assignment complete. That sort of inventiveness deserves to be rewarded. In fact, now that you've set this precedent, we can replicate it elsewhere."
"Thank you, sir. That's very kind."
"Of course, if this scheme ever unravels, it was all your idea."
THE END
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