Agreeing to his idea was one of the hardest decisions in my short life. We often joked about him corrupting me, but in all honesty, it had some truth in it. He was definitely affecting my personality. His idea in its core was a crime, no question about it but the way he twisted it and presented it made the morality of it less obvious. Helping several good people and organizations while only hurting one person financially who truly deserved it was a noble idea. The questionable part was if we had the right to punish someone and if we were capable enough to decide who deserved it. Choosing people to help shouldn’t be a huge problem but the last person we were planning on ‘scamming’ was a heavy weight on my conscious. Aium offered several ways to look for bad people with wealth, and I had a few ideas of my own, but it was still a troubling endeavor. Could we justify doing something like this to another sentient being? Was I selfish for agreeing? Was I doing a bad thing? Was my judgment clouded? I had so many questions that troubled me, but I still agreed. Did I look for excuses to justify my decision?

Since he already drew me in, I couldn’t change my mind. Honestly, even if I didn’t care about my previous agreement, I wouldn’t have changed it. Deep inside I had a feeling that the idea was good. Yes, we were planning on playing vigilantes, but on the other hand, we could do good too. Excitement... It was hard to accept even for myself, but I was excited about his plan. I had no information about anything similar ever happening. A unique experience that was entirely new! Well, there must have been similar ideas before in the vast universe, but I never heard about them before. Setting aside the moral and legal questions of the matter, the fact that we would be doing something completely new made me… excited! Should I have felt guilty for feeling something positive from this?

Even though I could somewhat justify the moral reasoning for the plan, it was still an illegal activity. We couldn’t ignore this fact! If we were to do this, we needed iron rules and proper preparation. First of all, I set up a more secure anonymous account. It was a bit tricky to make no-name accounts at several banks and credit handling organizations, but I wanted to make sure that ordinary people would have a hard time tracking back the credits to us. I set up an elaborate transaction pattern between them, and unless someone could get full access to twelve different banks and corporations, it was going to work. Of course, it wasn’t perfect, but with my current capabilities, this was the most efficient method to achieve some protection. I also disconnected Aium and his funds from the old Rabunde account since it was a security hazard compared to the new system.

Aium would also need a contact line to the people he does ‘business’ with so I had to make an intricate web of contact accounts too. Since these systems had lower security level than a bank, I created a randomly rotating program that would send the same messages to all kinds of non-existent or fake accounts while they deleted and recreated themselves. It was an infectious tumor that screamed around all the time and infected other cells that ate themselves and revived unpredictably. Real-time communication was slightly delayed as a consequence, but it was an acceptable inconvenience.

I was fairly confident that IDChip A.I.s would have a tough time following either the credits or the messages even if they had access to all of these organizations’ and corporations’ most secure information. On the other hand, one of the big four could most likely find us in less than a second. But why would those big ones care about tiny problems such as this? Three of them had no reason to look into a minuscule matter like this, and even ADMIN wouldn’t care. The chance was low… really low.

Aium’s mood skyrocketed after I agreed. Coupled with the small visit to Spectrum Reality it helped immensely to pull him out of the depressive state he was slipping into during his self-inflicted room imprisonment.

Having a clear purpose to work toward was one of the best and most natural ways to improve one’s mental health, and for him, it worked even better than the estimates in my database suggested. He threw himself into planning out his side of the plan. We decided that I would handle the back-end technicalities and the logistics while he would be the one to reel in the ‘investors’. He insisted on doing the first one in person and the bigger ones later on. He was sure that the personal meetings would give more realism to our proposal. Since he was adamant about this, I advised him to successfully take the Advanced Spaceship Control Knowledge exam first and foremost. The potential pool for people that fell under our requirements for phase one was limited on this station. If we wanted to make this plan worth our time, we needed to increase that pool, and that was only possible if Aium could move around freely. After a lengthy discussion, we decided to get enough credits to buy the cheapest single person shuttle so he can travel around on his own.

Humans are fascinating creatures. The simplest things could motivate them into a frenzy. Compared to my motivations which felt like an unmoving and still mountain, Aium’s was like a wildfire. Full of energy wasted away so inefficiently and burning out just as quickly as it started. I had nothing to complain about; it felt good to see him busy. Fascinating indeed. He had been preparing for the exam for a while but the following two days after our conversation was spent with hard work on his part. At some point, he wanted to just buy the Neural Knowledge Base for it, but I couldn’t allow that. He spent so much time learning, how could I let him waste away all that effort in the end? On the third day, he took the exam. Despite his incessant begging and endless promises, I didn’t help him. He passed the exam alone and felt all the more proud for his minor achievement.

As his preparation, he bought a less bulky mask. He also ordered specially made little metal plates which he refused to explain out of childish spite because I didn’t help him cheat the exam. The mask was to look more elegant as he put it. He didn’t find a suitable image for its front out of the countless pictures which was just raw stubbornness on his part. He caught me by surprise again when he decided to draw his own mask image. Literally, draw it with his hands. I don’t have to lie when I say that I was eagerly anticipating his skills, but the end result was an unbelievably colossal disappointment. Minimalism was a respected art style, but this was just laughable. He drew two dots and a curved line at the bottom with red on a black background. That was it. Didn’t take him more than 4 seconds. He said this was a simple expression from his time and less was more in this case. It was pointless to argue about this with him...

To start out phase one we needed people who fit four criteria. Firstly, they needed to be wealthy, and secondly, they had to be located on this station. Thirdly, they couldn’t be Resonars. Aium and I both agreed that trying to ‘scam’ one of them would be a dangerous idea. I honestly doubted that he would be capable of fooling an experienced Resonar with his emotions. Lastly, but most importantly, they had to be good people.

Sounded simple but the last one wasn’t so easy to confirm. What if someone was only acting good while in other aspects was questionable or even bad? Wouldn’t you help a bad person in that case? Troublesome but not impossible! Thanks to my improved capabilities I was perfectly capable of doing complex searches and information analyses on the Network. As a result, I found a handful of people that fit well with our plans. I sent out a round of messages right away in which I asked them for a personal meeting to discuss a business opportunity that would benefit both of us. The evening on the same day we got our first response. It was a refusal. Aium’s mood immediately soured but as always I consoled him that this didn’t mean anything. There were a lot more people out there; this was just one person.

The next morning I woke him with great news. One of the targets responded with an invitation in the afternoon. Better yet, it was from my favorite target! She was the owner of one of the Health Centers on the station. Also, she was known for offering free services to those who couldn’t afford normal treatments and paid for dozens of children’s education. I couldn’t find a single bad word about her on the Network.

When the time came, Aium dressed up in his ‘suit’ as he called it. I had to admit he looked like a proper person you would discuss business with. Even his stupid, drawn mask image somehow blended in with the rest of the clothes. It should have been impossible, but I swear I felt an itch every time his nonsense ended up working…

The target asked us to go to her Health Center during working hours and she would be willing to welcome us for a discussion. Before entering the building, Aium did a strange self-encouragement speech in which he aggressively tried to convince himself that he wasn’t a bitch. It was weird; I’m not going to lie.

After one more deep breath, he entered and swaggered up to the reception desk with all the fake confidence he could muster. The girl attending the desk quietly led him to a back office after his request to see her boss for their appointment.

The office had no door and when the person in there saw the people approaching stood up to greet her guest. She was a Mythoc.

“Greetings Human! I’m 1414-4312,” her voice sounded from the surroundings.

[That’s her name. They use numbers,] I told Aium quickly.

“Greetings! My name’s Rabunde Jalaqua,” he said, and with one hand he held out one of those custom-made, thin metal plates.

We had a little argument over the name we would use. I suggested using a completely new name, but he was adamant about this one. There were no entries on the Network for the name yet, but we sent out so many scam letters during the early days. Plenty of people transferred credits to us too. The sum amount didn’t reach 25k, though. In the end, we made a compromise. To every person who sent us credits, I transferred it back to them with the promised extra. It wasn’t a huge amount of credits but this way we covered our backs. Moreover, it gave the name a reasonable background and reputation. He promised people to pay them back with a little extra, and he did in the end. As a bonus, I also did some background check on the people who paid us. For those who fit our criteria, I sent a little reminder that we might approach them with an investment opportunity in the future if they were interested.

“This is?” the Mythoc asked looking at the metal plate.

“A business card. It’s the classic way to share contact information. The metal has information conductivity,” he answered with a smile under his mask.

“Classic way? I never heard of something like this before,” she said and took the card from him.

No wonder she never heard about it. It was most likely an older custom than the Empire itself.

“S.C.A.M.? Is that your company’s name?” she asked after reading the single word engraved on the metal card.

“It’s an acronym of our business activity,” he replied with a huge grin. Too bold for my taste… Way too bold.

“Before we continue, let’s sit down,” she continued after carefully examining him a second time.

She was waiting for Aium to sit down first but he just stood there in silence waiting for the exact same reason. In the end, 1414-4312 sat down first.

“What exactly is your business activity?” she asked.

“That I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. It’s a new idea I came up with, and I’m sure you are aware how hard competition can get on new fields. I’m trying to keep it a secret for now until I can guarantee my future stability.”

She stared at him for a long time in silence before continuing, “You came to ask me for credits, yet you refuse to give me the critical details? I’m sorry, but I’m afra-”

“Excuse me for interrupting, but you misunderstood the situation.”

“How so?”

“I’m not here to ask for anything. I’m here to offer you an opportunity. There’s a huge difference. If I was willing to reveal my business idea I could easily find people who would be happy to invest millions without a second thought. But I’m not going to reveal it yet, and this gives me the opportunity to take my time to build this up as I want, without any interference from others. Your Health Center has nothing to do with my idea, yet I came to you as one of the first people to receive my offer. Why do you think I chose you?”

“I’d like to know that too,” she leaned back in her seat and said.

“You treat sick and injured people for free who wouldn’t be able to afford high-end treatments, and you help to pay children's education on the station. You help the community and the people around you. It’s true that I need investors, but I have time to look for people who deserve my offer. Just like you, I have the opportunity to help others, and I have this crazy idea to approach people who have the same mentality. What I’m offering is a limitless investment opportunity and a guarantee of payback in 30 days with 15% interest rate.”

“I see you did a little research on me. Unfortunately, I found nothing about you. Which is concerning. What you offer sounds enticing, but I see no guarantee. You messaged me out of nowhere, nobody knows you, and there’s nothing about you or your S.C.A.M. company on the Network. You must understand my reluctance to accept your offer,” she explained calmly.

“Every start is hard. I completely understand your hesitation, but I don’t need you to commit yourself to anything excessive at first. As I mentioned before, I have time, and my offer is limitless. You can start with a small investment at first which you feel comfortable with. If I can deliver on my part, you can reconsider if you want to invest seriously.”

“Any amount? What if I wanted to invest 1000 credits?” she asked.

“Well, you could. My word is my bond. Even though it’s a bit hilarious, I would still accept it, and 30 days from now you would get back 1150 credits.”

“There’s no way it would be worth your effort. You would get nothing out of such a small amount,” she tried to argue.

“If it convinced you to trust me it would be well worth it,” Aium replied with his usual sly smile.

She didn’t say anything immediately. She was playing around with the business card in silence. Poor Aium was getting so nervous under his facade. Good thing his clothes started cooling him down otherwise he would have been drenched in sweat. As much as they cost this was the least they could do...

I have to commend 1414-4312 for her terribly long silence. She made Aium so nervous I was seriously expecting him to run away any moment. I wasn’t enjoying his predicament but it felt good that he had to work hard for this.

“I hope you won’t betray my advance trust and also I hope you won’t squander away the credits by being irresponsible. I’m transferring 50,000 credits to your account Mr. Rabunde. Please take care of my investment and don't disappoint me,” she spoke up finally.

“Thank you for trusting me! You won’t regret it,” he responded. It was hard for him to keep his calm. After such a long wait in silence, she finally agreed. The investment was relatively small, but it was definitely a huge success for the first time. She also seemed like a genuinely nice and caring person. I was satisfied with my choice to approach her.

“May I ask a small favor?” Aium asked.

“A favor?” she asked back with more static noise in her voice than usual.

“A simple one!” he nodded. “30 days from now when you get back your credits with the added 15%, aside from considering how much more you want to invest next time, please, help me spread the word around. I’m only interested in people who you’d consider… worthy. The more good people I can help out the better.”

I knew he was saying these things to make me feel better about this whole idea. I knew his primary purpose was phase two and his eagerness to help out good people was only for my sake. Yet... I didn’t mind it. Did his motivation matter if, in the end, he did something good?

“We’ll see when the time comes,” she said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

“I don’t want to keep you up any longer. Thank you for seeing me and accepting my offer 1414-4312. I’m looking forward to doing business with you in the future,” he said after standing up.

“I was about to offer you some beverage, but if you wish to leave, I’ll hold my offer until our next meeting. I hope to hear from you again in 30 days Mr. Rabunde.”

As we left the building, I had to ask something, [Was my Phase-Processor malfunctioning or did you really remember her name?]

[Don’t even ask… I’ve been chanting it in my head the whole damn time!]