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- System - Glisten, Glisten Spinward Marches 2036
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Jeet Story #1: Cheated?!?
Jeet Story #2: Don't Judge a Robot by its Cover
Jeet Story #3: TBD (James Principle)
Fake?!
“What do you think” asked the well dressed man, as Jeet walked very slowly around the leaping and twisting flames on the black pedestal.
“It’s interesting. One would think it is a reasonable imitation of a Darrian Flame Sculpture.” Jeet took his eyes off the light show at the gasp. Looking at the gentleman, Jeet saw a face go from shock to anger.
“I will have you know this display was provided by the Glisten Museum, and is on loan from the Seacheard Museum of Art on Mertactor!” The gentleman sputtered, with a raised voice.
Jeet studied the twisting flames, again. “I don’t really care where it is supposed to be from. It isn’t a Darrian Flame Sculpture. It is a good attempt at forgery, if the observer has never seen a real one. It even gives off heat. But, if you had a thermal imager, I’d be surprised if the entire sculpture gave off heat to represent the visual flames. I see a really good holograph, myself. My slow study was an attempt to feel why there is only heat at the bottom center of the display, and not uniformly over the whole of the flame presentation.”
Looking back at the flustered gentleman, Jeet held out his hand. “Gerlis Agamki. I’m a novice holographic artist and part-time maintenance technician. Because I specialize in grav and electronics, I can see the quality in this display. But, it is a holograph. Mostly. There has to be a heater in there somewhere, to give off the heat emanating from it, though. And that makes sense. If it was a real Flame Sculpture, it would have to have fuel of some type. So, why not burn it, to emulate the flames, not just electrical energy to produce the visuals. There are lots of holographic souvenirs around replicating Darrian Flame Sculptures, so people have seen them. But most are only holographs, and don’t give off heat. Completely safe for travel and around the unwary.”
“Check this out.” Jeet says to the gentleman, and sticks his hand into a part of the twisting flames.
The gentleman jumps at Jeet, grabbing him and pulling Jeet away from the sculpture. Jeet was expecting this, and does not resist. Jeet holds up his hand, showing the gentleman his unburnt hand and non-smoldering sleeve.
“See? No burns, no burnt cloth, no smoking embers. Not a Darrian Flame Sculpture. Very good fake.”
“That was incredibly foolish!” stuttered the gentleman. “What if you had been wrong?”
“I wouldn’t have put my hand in a real flame sculpture. I was very certain, and my examination has been proven correct.” Jeet shakes his head. "May I ask who you are, that you are so concerned about this exhibit?"
The gentleman put out his hand, "I am Lord James Gellikoe, 1st Baron of Glisten, and Curator of this Gallery. I will have to contact the Seacheard Museum representative as soon as possible. We have to determine how this exhibit was replaced!”
“My Lord." Jeet gives a bow to the gentleman. "Are you sure it was replaced? Is there a way to determine if the exhibit came to you as a forgery? And, would the Seacheard Museum representative already know it isn’t a real Flame Sculpture? Consider doing everything possible to ensure the gallery's security was air-tight and there wasn’t an opportunity to do a switch while the sculpture was in the gallery's possession.”
The Curator gives Jeet a hard stare, and ponders the thought. “Yes. Did Seacheard know it was a fake when they sent it? That might be important for liability issues. Perhaps we should check our own security, first. I don’t know what the scam is, and if it is something originated on Mertactor, there could be a few things that could be diplomatically bad, not just financial.” Lord Glisten looks around the gallery room, and then back to Jeet.
“M. Agamki, can I have your contact information? I may need a third party expert to check this out. I can pay you a consulting fee, if we need this exhibit checked out.”
“Certainly, my Lord. If you give me your info, I will send you my Holo-Tech credentials. As this is not a real Flame Sculpture, I can provide some expertise on the holographic side. Perhaps even some of the grav units that flame sculptures are supposed to use, as I have some Engineering cross-training in Power systems.”
“I was supposed to have a similar, smaller Flame Sculpture in the lounge on my Yacht. The yacht is under construction in Bilstein Yards, and they said they could acquire one for me. I don’t want to pay for a fake.”
“My Lord, I could easily check out any unit the Yard comes up with. For that matter, you could, now, check out a sculpture on your own. For a formal ‘expert’s’ opinon, I could do up a report for any legal or insurance paperwork.”
“M. Agamki, I thank you profusely. I will be in touch in a day or two, once we check our security situation and any evidence we have.”
“I’m available at your convenience, my Lord.” Jeet gives an appropriate bow to the Lord, before leaving.
Jeet departs, and as he walks out of the Glisten Art Gallery, he smiles. This was completely unexpected. Jeet was just visiting the display to get ideas for some compositions of his own. Now, contacts, reputation, and money! As well as giving another body of work for the artist alias. This was too good.
