Pushing

'But the Register of Shareholders shows that 33% of the shares are held by high ranking members of the Institute. This is a worrying development!'

'It could be, but the Jarnell family still owns 44%. They don't hold an absolute majority but they still have a very, very powerful saying in the company.'

'Unless the remaining 23% would be acquired by the Institute through their members. Than they would control the company and God knows what happens then. They could shut down the complete enterprise.'

'I suppose they could. But... would that mean the end of space travel? I don't think so. My guess is that the production of space propulsion systems would just "move" to The Beyond and there would be nothing Jarnell corporation could do. The Oikumene would gradually loose its "raison d'être" and the Institute would have effectively eliminated itself. The Beyond is there for a reason. It controls and supervises The Oikumene in a very delicate way. Push to hard in Oikumene and you push right through its delicate fibers into The Beyond and out of your control. So, if you'd ask me - and you probably will - the Institute just wants "acceptable control" and not a big-bang-all-or-nothing scenario. The nasty thing with those scenario's is that they tend to backfire upon the instigator... The Institute knows this.'

- Rachael Uhma interviews Pica Spitzberghen, member of the Olliphane parliament and honorary professor at the Sea Province University

Take over

Feritse Precision Instruments Company at Sansontiana, Olliphane and Toned Skin Products at Patris, Krokinole announce the following:

"Effective immediately Toned takes over the production activities - factories, offices, inventory and employees - of Feritse geared towards the fabrication of skin dye dispensers. The takeover will not have any influence on current employment. All employees currently working for Feritse will be offered an equal position within Toned.

Management of Feritse Precision Instruments and Toned Skin Products predict that the take over will be beneficial for the financial results of both companies."

Feritse Precision Instruments, Olliphane

Rider Feritse, President

Toned Skin Products, Krokinole

Yvonne Chilou, President

Buy your own!

Our universe has changed. Not just a bit. It has changed profoundly. Centuries ago the Jarnell engine brought us access to the stars and now almost anybody can afford intergalactic space travel either by public available transport or by acquiring a private space ship. A round trip ticket on one of the Vega - Rigel lines is now less than 30 SVU, including taxes.

However, if you don't fancy a trip on the commercial lines, you should consider buying your private ship. Second hand space ships sell nowadays for under 100.000 SVU. The most popular models like the basic 9B and the bigger Cobalt Cuckoo support up to four people. Although the purchase of a private ship still requires a vast amount of money by anybody's standards, a growing number of financial institutions in Oikumene are willing to supply a funding construct for someone who wants to get hist hands on private access to the stars.

People used to go to a bank to lend money for building or buying a house. With real estate prices dropping to historic lows due to new and highly optimized building technologies - a decent family house nowadays sells for under 1.000 SVU in the Rigel Concourse - there's no longer a real need for funding in this segment. Housing has become a true commodity. So banks are looking for emerging markets. Such an emerging market is financing the purchase by an individual of his or hers private space ship.

Today, prospective buyers can choose from a fast growing range of interesting offers. The popular ones from The Bank of Rigel and VF Bank on Aloysius - both considered experts and market leaders in this segment - offer a complete all-in package including insurance, pre-buy survey, registered maintenance and operator training courses for about 200 SVU per month for a basic 9B model space ship.

What will the future hold? Several scenario's are likely however private spaceflight is here to stay. Private space flight becoming a commodity is probably only a matter of time...

- "Buy your own!", abstract of a feature article in Cosmopolis on the popularity of privately owned space ships by Finn Komatsen.

Universe without money

What a preposterous idea! A universe without money would be like a world without air, water, food... Inhabitable!!! Money is what makes our worlds go round. It has been, it still is and it will always be...

- Kipper D. Storm, senior vice president of the Bank of Vega during a talk show on Vegan's Business TV Daily