Chapter 107

Back in my apartment, which by the way now covers two floors of the block, Brian is counting the months takings. When he gets to fifty trillion dollars I stop listening and take a swim in my newly installed pool. It is of Olympic length and juts out over the street to allow for its size. How Brian obtained planing permission is a mystery, but as the old saying goes, “Money talks.” It has a wave setting and Atlantic roller surf, but I don't care for all of that, a nice easy swim is all I want. A man could drown in his own home. I do my third tumble turn and realise that I am not alone, swimming next to me are two Dolphins. Back in the late 34^th Century, Dolphins were recruited to help with the colonisation of the Water Planet. For this they needed a speech implant, and now they sit on the Mars council, as vociferous participants.
'Hey Joe hows it hanging? Brian said we could use the pool anytime.'
'I don't mind so long as you don't fill it full of fish.'
'Ha, as if.'
They bounce off turning and leaping, I climb out and head for the sauna. I suppose that will be full of hairy lumberjacks and big blonds with thighs like beer barrels. I open the door and it is empty. I feel slightly disappointed.
It's no good moping, I miss Earth a great deal with all my new budies. Living in a Utopia has it's advantages, but I miss the adrenalin rush of the black and white sirens. My jailers in the 5^th Precinct, and especially Veronica. The Dolphins swim into their water cars and with a spout of water vanish. It's time to annoy Brian.
'How much am I worth now, Brian?'
'You could buy a minor planet, Sir, and use your own Starship to visit.'
'I have Starship?'
'A reconditioned one, we needed a flagship for our enterprise. It has a personal number plate. “SCR4P M3.”
'What happens if the S gets rubbed off in meteor shower?
'It won't Sir the name is lit up from inside the hull.'
'Or it blows a bulb.'
'E bulbs last for 10.000 years.'
Fuck him, now I'm wound up. Time for some R&R.
'Where is Zeno, is she around?'
'She has decided that she likes the wrecking business so much, that she spends most of her time with the wreckers. I think it might be the Abs, Sir. Or is it the pecks.?'
Oh great now my girlfriend is into muscles. Things I don't have.
Time to do some work.
'Brian call the Agency and see if there are any gigs going, I'm going to pop a Zoomer and relax.'
***************

When I come out of my relaxation meditation, there is a niggling thought that popped up and needs to be resolved. It is the second law of thermodynamics, which describes the limits to what the Universe can do. It tells us that the Universe has a bleak future. A desolate future. It can be expressed simply as heat will flow from a hot to a colder body. That is called entropy The formula is ds>0 (ds is measured by how much heat has entered a system, where s is the measure of the amount of disorder in a system.) Imagine the difference between ice and steam, both properties of water. The molecules in ice are stabler than in steam, the entropy of ice is lower than that of steam. How do I know this, because I looked it up. All engines steam, nuclear, star bust, all have inefficiencies built in. They all waste the fuels energy. Apply this to the Universe and this wasteful energy will eventually create an equilibrium, and for microscopic purposes be useless. Called “Heat Death” Is that what I am trying to stop. Is it that close, this heat death? Or is it some other calamity that I have never heard of? I need to ask someone who knows and that someone is Brian. He can hook up to any computer on Mars and beyond and the answer is not 42, as Big Brain said.
I ask Brian if he is familiar with the formula ds>0.
'The second law of thermodynamics, our nemesis. Yes of course I am all computers know about this law.'
'And the final consequences if the law is true, yes?'
'The final rest.'
'The final rest is the end of the Universe. No big bang or blinding flash, just coming to a stop?'
'Yes'
'As I have explained in the past, Sir, when one molecule moves every other molecule has to move, that is what keeps us all solid. When it all comes to a rest, when the Universe is in equilibrium, we will cease to exist. Will you want tea?'
'See if you can conjure up Veronica I need some answers.'
'So don't believe me.'
'It's not that I don't believe you Brian, but that I would like to hear it from a mouth that looks divine and could take you to the ends of the Universe on its breath.'
'Very poetic, Sir, and the tea?'
I hate it when he is in his Jeeves mode.