Artemis (31 page)

“Oh, shut up!”

“A thousand slugs says you two get freaky within a month.”

I glared at him. He glared back.

“Well?” he said.

I finished off my pint. “No bet.”

“Ha!”

Dear Kelvin,

Sorry for the slow response. I'm sure you've read all about the chloroform leak in the news. People around here call it “The Nap.” There were no deaths or serious injuries, but I'm shooting you an email just to confirm I'm okay.

I did spend three minutes sizzling on the lunar surface without a spacesuit. That kind of sucked (no vacuum pun intended). Also, everyone knows I was responsible for the Nap.

Which leads me to my next problem: I'm broke. Again. Long story short, the city took most of my money to bitch-slap me for my indiscretions. Unfortunately, I hadn't transferred your share of our profits this month, so I'm going to have to owe you. I'll pay you off the moment I can, you have my word.

I have some legwork for you: There's a guy named “Jin Chu” (might be an alias) headed back to Earth right now. He claimed to be from Hong Kong and that's probably true. He works for a Chinese materials research company. I don't know which one.

He got sent home from Artemis for being naughty. They shipped him out a few days ago, so he must be aboard the
Gordon
. That means you've got four days before he arrives at KSC. Hire a detective or whatever to find out where he works. We need that company's name.

Because Kelvin, old buddy, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. That company is about to make billions. I'm going to invest as much as I can in it and I suggest you do the same. Long story—I'll send you a more detailed email later.

Aside from that, we're back to business as usual. Keep the goods coming. Also, we'll be ramping up our smuggling volume soon. Artemis is going to have a population boom. More customers coming our way!

We're going to be rich, buddy. Filthy rich.

And hey, once that happens, you should come visit. I've learned a lot about the value of friends lately and you're one of the best friends I've ever had. I'd like to meet you in person. And besides, who doesn't want to come to Artemis?

It's the greatest little city in the worlds.

People I want to thank:

David Fugate, my agent, without whom I would still be blogging my stories on nights and weekends.

Julian Pavia, my editor, for being a pain in my ass at exactly the right times.

The entire team at Crown and the Random House sales force for their hard work and support. You're an army too numerous to name individually here, but please know I'm incredibly grateful to have had so many smart people believe in my work and get it out into the world.

A special shoutout is due to my longtime publicist Sarah Breivogel, whose efforts have been instrumental in keeping me sane over the last few years.

For their smart feedback in various arenas, but most especially for helping me tackle the challenge of writing a female narrator, Molly Stern (publisher), Angeline Rodriguez (Julian's assistant), Gillian Green (my UK editor), Ashley (my girlfriend), Mahvash Siddiqui (friend, who also helped make sure the portrayal of Islam was accurate), and Janet Tuer (my mom).

ANDY WEIR
built a career as a software engineer until the success of his debut novel,
The Martian,
allowed him to pursue writing full-time. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects such as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He lives in California.