It's been over a month now. Slavers in the Amarr Empire continue to call me, despite my assurance that I have no real interest in human trafficking. They ask me why I did it. All of my acquaintances privy to the bid have asked me why. Why would I spend 1 billion ISK on a single slave?
I wouldn't have noticed the auction if not for Neville bringing it to my attention. I rarely concern myself with what's going on in the world; seeing the misfortunes of others breeds the sort of cynicism I try to avoid. I received the call within moments of the auction's opening, though. As usual, Neville needed money, yet his request proved a far cry from the usual capital investment needed to cover routine corporate expenses.
I asked him the obligatory question: "How much?"
"I don't quite know yet," he replied. I was taken aback because Neville is a meticulous bookkeeper, and he always knows precisely how much he needs to continue operating for months on a very modest budget. "I need to buy a slave. At auction," he continued, "How much are you willing to front?"
Should I applaud or rebuke his audacity?
What could I say? I sat in stunned silence a moment, pondering the question. I had purchased the controlling stock interest of the Interstellar Aid Society to keep Kendar Zek's dream alive, and I was reasonably certain that Mr. Zek wouldn't have approved such a purchase. Neville had seemed the perfect bleeding heart to carry the torch; now I questioned his motives. Nevertheless, he was a friend, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
"Is there something special about this slave?" I asked.
The tale wasn't much different than many others, I suppose. Her mother had been taken captive while pregnant. The girl was born into slavery and groomed as a companion, or perhaps a plaything, for some wealthy aristocrat. It was the sort of thing that evoked some sympathy but raised the question: Why save one when I can't save them all? Such was basically the reason why Neville wasn't rescuing slaves en masse simply by purchasing them on the open market.
It was the mother that caught my attention, though. The woman had been set free by the same master she'd served nearly twenty years. Coincidentally, she was left on a station with an INAS office. Reintegrating liberated slaves is typical business for INAS, so the company had booked her safe passage home to Federation space and provided her some limited assistance until she was back on her feet. She had counted the days until her baby girl would be sold at auction on her twentieth birthday, and she looked up Neville Ducard to ask for his personal assistance.
Neville can't resist any sob story, so he brought it to me for financing. I might've declined, but I thought of my brother James and my own grieving mother. I have no doubt that the only reason I was even conceived was to fill that void in my dear mother's heart. She looks at me and sees him. Her firstborn. Her favorite. I can't imagine what she would give to have him back for just one more day.
I told Neville to spare no expense. I did, however, warn him that my pockets were deep, not bottomless. He shilled the bid a bit, then asked for a buyout price. In the end, I stepped in and bid the buyout price myself. To my knowledge, the bid was the highest price ever paid for a single slave.
Brystal is a sweet girl. Not particularly accustomed to freedom, but getting along reasonably well in a stationside apartment in Aunia. Because I don't see her often, I gave her a kitten to keep her company. I was rather surprised that she elected not to go home with her mother; I think she's a bit enamored with me, though. My hope is that she'll elect to become a pilot.
Plenty of people have called me a fool for saving one rather than many. I wonder myself why a simple set of coincidences would compel me to abandon all sense of pragmatism for the sake of one stranger's freedom and her mother's peace of mind. Indeed, the universe is a strange place, and the valuation of lives a seemingly arbitrary practice.
Was she worth 1 billion ISK? The truth of the matter is that I don't know. I like to believe, however, that she's worth far more.
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