Meanwhile, back on Earth, Adam was having a ball sliding down the side of Pete's Peak with his new lady friend, Tana. It wasn't a bumpy ride, after all, and Adam was such a good navigator. Tana was able to pour them both glasses of the bubbly without a problem. Adam took his first sip. "Mmm, superb." He never looked at the bottle itself but instead just said, "A  Dom from approximately one hundred years ago. Very expensive. Appropriately chilled. These associates live well." 

     It was then that they noticed they were no longer alone. Four other snowmobiles suddenly appeared. 

​     "We've got company, Tana." 

​     This was a stretch of mountainside that was long and flat and slick. The ski-sled they rode in had a bit of a jet-like motor attached to it. Adam switched it on,

and now the ski-sled flew down the side of the mountain, outdistancing their pursuers within seconds. 

     "Are you sure you know how to drive this thing?" Tana inquired as they  continued to sip. 

​     "Of course. I'm doing a good job so far, aren't I? You know what I've been wondering all day? Why do they call themselves associates? They're just thugs, right? Yet, from the moment I first started dealing with them..."

     "What, you really don't know?"

​     "No. No one's told me."

​     "And you never went anywhere near the introductory brochure because…"

     "I was never sent one. I was never actually invited. My invitation was a fake. I know a lot about the Skymaster itself. I memorized its schematic when Claudia first brought me to Pete's Peak, but I didn't read anything about any associates."

​     "Goldbody's convinced all those people who work for him, all those hundreds and hundreds of his employees, all of his underlings, that they own his wealth every bit as much as he does."

     "Oh no, they're not buying that old chestnut are..."

     "Yes, and, as you notice, they are very, very loyal." 

     "He must be promising them billions."

​     "He's literally promising them the world." 

​     "I've seen dozens of them die for him."

     "By your hand." 

​     "In self-defense."

​     "Uh-oh. Company."

​     They found themselves surrounded by dozens of Goldbody's ski-sleds, all of their riders fully armed. 

CONTINUE