"I give even more."
"And if you're selling this to more than one?"
Hock Seng shakes his head. "I do not need a fleet. I need one ship."
"Tan Hock Seng, seeking to restore his shipping empire here in the Thai Kingdom" The Dung Lord turns abruptly. "Maybe you've already sold it to others."
"I can only swear that it is not so."
"Would you swear on your ancestors? On your family's ghosts all walking hungry in Malaya?"
Hock Seng shifts uneasily. "I would."
"I want to see this technology you claim."
Hock Seng looks up surprised. "You haven't already started to wind it?"
"Why don't you demonstrate now?"
Hock Seng grins. "You're afraid it is a booby trap of some sort? A blade bomb maybe?" He laughs. "I do not play games. I come for business only." He looks around. "You have a winding man? Let us both see how many joules he can put into it. Wind it and see. But do be careful with it. It is not as resilient as a standard spring, because of the torque it operates under. It cannot be dropped." He points at a servant. "You there, put this spring on your winding spindle, see how many joules you can shove into it."
The servant looks uncertain. The Dung Lord nods agreement. A sea breeze rustles across the high garden as the young man sets the kink-spring on its spindle and settles on the winding cycle.
Hock Seng is suddenly seized by new worry. He confirmed with Banyat that he was taking one of the good springs, that it had passed QA, unlike the ones that always failed and cracked as soon as they started their winding. Banyat assured him that he should take one from a certain stack. But now, as the servant prepares to lean on his pedals, doubt flares. If he chose wrong, if Banyat was wrong… and now Banyat is dead under the feet of a crazed megodont. Hock Seng couldn't confirm one last time. He was sure… and yet…
The servant leans against the pedals. Hock Seng holds his breath. Sweat appears on the servant's brow and he looks over at Hock Seng and the Dung Lord, surprised at the resistance. He changes gears. The pedals turn, slowly at first, then faster. He begins cycling up through the gears as his momentum increases, jamming more and more energy into the kink-spring.
The Dung Lord watches thoughtfully. "I knew a man who worked at your kink-spring company. A few years ago. He didn't spread his wealth around as you do. Didn't curry favor with so many of his fellow yellow cards." He pauses. "I understand that the white shirts killed him for his watch. Beat him bloody, robbed him blind, right in the street, because he was out after curfew."
Hock Seng shrugs, forcing down memories of a man lying on cobbles, a ruined mess, broken already, begging for help…
The Dung Lord's eyes are thoughtful. "And now you work for this company as well. It seems like an unlikely coincidence."
Hock Seng doesn't say anything.
The Dung Lord says, "Dog Fucker should have paid more attention. You're a dangerous one."
Hock Seng shakes his head emphatically. "I only wish to reestablish myself."
The servant continues to pedal, cranking more joules into the spring, forcing more energy into the tiny box. The Dung Lord watches, trying to hide his astonishment as the process continues, but still, his eyes have widened. Already the servant has pushed more energy into the box than any spring its size should accept. The cycle whines as the servant pedals. Hock Seng says, "It will take all night for a man like this to wind it. You should take it to a megodont."
"How does it work?"
Hock Seng shrugs. "There is a new lubricating solution, it allows the springs to be tightened to significantly higher tensions, without breaking or locking."
The man continues to pour power into the spring. Servants and bodyguards begin to gather around, all of them watching with a certain awe as he cranks away at the box.
"Astonishing," the Dung Lord mutters.
"If you chain it to a more efficient animal-a megodont or a mulie-the calorie-to-joule transfer is nearly lossless," Hock Seng says.
The Dung Lord watches the spring as the man continues to wind. He is smiling. "We'll test your spring, Hock Seng. If it performs as well as it winds, you'll have your ship. Bring the specifications and blueprints. Your kind I can do business with." He motions to a servant and orders liquor. "A toast. To a new business partner."
Relief floods through Hock Seng. For the first time since blood washed his hands in an alley long ago, since a man begged for mercy and found none, liquor flows in Hock Seng's veins, and he is content.
Jaidee remembers when he first met Chaya. He had just finished one of his early
