It turned out Bull had to devote very little thought to the Valence problem, once the victims and potential victims got their eyes opened. Loner billionaires don’t get to be loner billionaires by being fatalists or ineffectual, so Valence had self-assembled a formidable enemy list, and they proved quite capable of cooperation when required.
His people stonewalled on Bull’s case while the informal victims’ committee baited Valence into striking a carefully selected target, producing devastating publicity for Valence: As his ship started going down, the rats jumped off. By the time Bull reached the Inner System, there were such significant behind-the-scenes settlements that the entire relative-abuse legal concept was effectively discredited.
* * *
After playing a set of tennis with Suzanne—one of his main ways now of getting back in shape for dealing with Earth’s gravity—Bull had a candle-lit dinner with her in her bungalow.
He told her with placid easiness, “In a year I’ll be a multi-trillionaire. Jack will have his wish, a huge empire to manage. Already the Honeycomb is no longer a hobby.”
Concerned, Suzanne asked, “Will I see much of you? After you go to Earth?”
Bull smiled at her. “Not as much. I’ll be real busy every day for a while … quite a while. I can already see that this Honeycomb Comet business is going to get smacked hard with the Curse of Being Important. It’s going to keep me busy. I’ll have to share exploring it with the whole world.”
Suzanne smiled at him and reached over to touch his hand. “I’m happy for you, Bull.”
“At least this time I won’t have to worry about the sharks bothering me.”
“That will be good.”
“And there will be a next time, and you’re sure going to be coming along for that one.”
Suzanne smiled brightly at that thought.
“But … that’s for another day. Today I get to enjoy preparing to be the Hero of the Century.”
She stared deep into his eyes. “You know you’ll always be my hero of the century.”
As Bull stared back, he thought, “She may be virtual, but she sure is perfect.”
Together they got up and headed for the bedroom. Earth was coming, and he still needed all the exercise he could get.