The most difficult part of helming a space vessel, in Donovan's experience, was not falling asleep. A silly statement in isotion, but made much more meaningful in context.

  See, there wasn't much to do in the cockpit of most vessels - a trait shared by everything from the smallest fighters to the rgest dreadnoughts - and the extended periods of time one would be expected to man or supervise the controls without a break could bring fatigue in a way most people wouldn't even consider. Boredom was a killer, and would continue to be a killer as long as boring tasks remained a manual process. Someone stuck with a boring task could find themselves succumbing to the desire to sleep, daydream, or otherwise becoming incredibly distracted by a weld on the ceiling that bore a passing resembnce to a snake.

  Therefore, the first half of not falling asleep was being aware of what could bring you to that point.

  "AH! Fuck!" The second half being a generous application of electricity. "Sorry."

  "It is not an issue. We are approaching the 50 hour milestone since st you slept."

  "I used to be able to go much longer though."

  "A habit which was detrimental to you physically. We've confirmed the integrity of the tether system with regard to ships that do not possess beacons, so you may rest with an easy mind the next time we are transiting outside of Split-Space."

  "Looking forward to it." Donovan eyed the checklist off to the side, finding there to be more tasks remaining than when they began. "How much of this can you handle yourself?"

  "Even if I performed some of these tasks myself, I would think it wise to have you either supervise or check my work for mistaken assumptions and problem points that are still within the acceptable margins."

  "Better to do it when I'm present then . . . do I really need to do the calcutions for livestock?"

  "Yes."

  ". . . not going to eborate?"

  "Why would I need to?"

  "This isn't something I should be focusing on right now."

  "Why not?"

  "Why not? Because there are a million other things more important than livestock at the moment. I'd rather get a handle on the mechanics behind the Split Reactor and establish a communication regimen with our Holifanian friends. Cattle is pretty low on the list of priorities."

  "Perhaps in the immediate, but I wish for you to entertain my suggestion regardless. I believe that performing this exercise will be beneficial for you in the long term."

  "What do you mean?" Donovan tugged on his shock colr, moving the prongs to a different location.

  "Your current education and skillset is almost entirely focused around the military. It covers a wide range of topics, such as design, doctrine, deployment, organization, and industry, many of which have applications outside of that field but you are still severely cking development in many areas I would consider to be essential for a ruler."

  "Cattle calculus is one of them?"

  "Yes." Donovan recoiled slightly, shocked not by the colr but the curt reply. "Agriculture is one thing, but livestock is a completely different animal, if you would pardon the pun. While it is certainly true that a primary product of animal rearing is food, primarily in the form of meat and dairy, there are other aspects to consider when selecting both the type of livestock to invest in and the method through which you raise them."

  "Is this a quality versus quantity issue?"

  "Partially, though I think you'll find cultural and ethical implications as well as impacts on the overall health and physiology of a society. To provide an example of the cultural, I would like for you to imagine two different societies. The first society is one centered around agriculture, tied closely to a nd feature such as a river that serves to keep them alive. The second is a society that depends upon livestock, their own livelihoods entirely dependent upon their wellbeing. What cultural differences and developmental struggles might you suspect to arise between them?"

  "Why does it matter? Neither situation seems relevant to an industrialized nation." Donovan found himself unreasonably annoyed.

  "Entertain the question, please. There are lessons for you to learn here, and I wish for you to piece them together by yourself. This is just as much an exercise in reasoning as it is ruling."

  Donovan scoffed, aware that he had time to participate in these shenanigans but unwilling to admit it.

  "One is likely to develop . . . nomadic tendencies - if that's the term - while the other is all but guaranteed to remain sedentary. It would follow that one gets really good at learning when, where, and how to move around, while the other is going to have a much more developed and centralized governing structure, as well as better construction capabilities."

  "Anything else?"

  ". . . I suppose the sedentary group would be more likely to develop a writing system given they don't need to move their writings with them, though that doesn't seem relevant to a world without nguage."

  "I give your answer a three out of ten. A solid analysis given your ck of familiarity with the humanities and societal development, particurly that of ancient history, however you failed to address the culture oriented part of the question in its entirety and seem to have a rather serious misconception about relying upon animals, though the form of my question may be somewhat to bme. While it is true that relying on animals to sustain yourself provides the opportunity to live nomadically, it is entirely possible to remain in a single location and raise your livestock there. This is called pastoralism."

  "Mhm. Yeah, this isn't exactly my wheelhouse, so . . ."

  "Which makes it all the more important that you have at least some understanding. I doubt anybody would seriously expect their king to be intimately familiar with the challenges and history of animal husbandry and agriculture, but having enough knowledge to understand what is going on when these subjects come up may prove vital in the future."

  "How so?" Donovan had given up trying to argue whether or not this was even worth it. He was tired, and Arc seemed eager to give him something 'easy' to keep him from stressing.

  "An example you may find easier to understand pertains to conquest and integration. Historically, nomads have been retively difficult peoples to conquer given their proclivities toward movement and a ck of loyalty to a given plot of nd. However they also have their fair share of difficulties and weaknesses, among them their herd. Demonstrating yourself as a threat or boon to that herd may make them more receptive to your demands."

  "Is that really something that requires cultural enrichment course? That's more like a possible objective I should be informed of."

  "Possibly, however you won't always be approaching these matters militarily."

  "Then wouldn't you or Diana be capable of handling the situation? Or even a subordinate? Kings, generals, and admirals hardly engage with cattle."

  "Donovan."

  "Look, all I'm saying is that our time would be better spent handling more pressing issues."

  "Would you say you possess the necessary capacity to complete the tasks to a satisfactory degree?"

  Donovan scanned the list again, taking note that almost all of them required some level of technical analysis or data interpretation. Those that didn't needed another person present to navigate the Holifanian communication's directory, or were instruction on key mechanical elements of the ship. He couldn't imagine handling any of it in his current state to any degree of confidence.

  "Cattle it is."

  "Thank you. I will attempt to keep things simple, though I encourage you to answer the questions I pose to you with a degree of thought."

  "Understood." Donovan slumped down in his seat, allowing himself to rex. He might as well give this an honest effort, even when hindered by his ck of sleep.

  "Returning to the first question, that which pertains to cultural differences, I must admit that this was something of a trick question. Nomadic, pastoral, and agricultural societies exist along something of a scale, a line of development if you would. Nomadic and agricultural lifestyles are completely at odds with each other, however livestock can be made to thrive in both scenarios. This does not mean that a society requires livestock to settle into a sedentary lifestyle, nor does it mean that a nomadic people with a herd will develop into an agricultural society."

  "Why is that?" If these 'lifestyles' could be though of as a points of development needed to reach 'civilization', how could one be skipped? Wouldn't something in the center need to be present to reach the end?

  "The logic goes something like this. Humans first started as groups engaged in hunting and gathering to sustain themselves, most frequently moving between pces with more readily avaible food. It is believed that some tribes captured a selection of more docile herbivores and decided to make a decision that would benefit them long-term, keeping them alive to sustain their numbers while protecting them from threats, the first herds. Others did something simir with pnts, figuring out they could pnt the profitable seeds and protect them from other beasts instead of roaming around to gather them in nature. At some point people began to realize that they could do both jobs more efficiently at the same time, growing food for their herds and utilizing the powerful bodies of certain animals to provide bor to grow more food."

  "So it's a positive feedback loop. Without one of those methods you don't develop the efficiency needed to support specialists in fields extraneous to subsistence."

  "That conjecture is more or less correct. In a fertile enough environment it is possible to develop a great enough efficiency to not require working animals, though a greater portion of the popution ends up working to sustain the popution as a result."

  "Mhm. I take it this is one of the reasons the Americas fell behind?"

  "Yes. The inability to generate a consistent food surplus hindered popution growth and the portion of which could dedicate themselves to specialization, but that is beyond the scope of this conversation. Livestock and agricultural practices are both pivotal in societal developments, however this does not mean that nomads are without use to an agricultural society. In fact, nomadic communities pyed an incredibly important role given their proclivity towards movement. Can you guess what that might be based on their retive strengths?"

  "Were they scouts?" Donovan had no idea what they had aside from movement, and he didn't exactly know what was considered 'valuable' for the period of time Arc referred to. "Maybe as navigators? Cartographers?"

  "Navigator, while a crude description of the answer, is close. The answer I was looking for was 'traders' or 'merchants', or perhaps the suggestion they travelled between settled agricultural societies to barter. Early on they were likely the only reasonable means of communication between settlements, and facilitated the spread of ideas. There is reason to believe that many of these nomadic traders were ostracized from settled communities for one reason or another, a conclusion derived from documented evidence worldwide - from discrimination against the Roma in Europe to the merchant caste of the Feudal Japanese - though it should be noted that not all polities engaged in the practice. Aside from the basic economic implications of resource acquisition, can you guess why?"

  "I imagine it would be difficult for an aristocrat to obtain luxuries without someone willing to go the distance." This seemed a little too obvious to Donovan, and he felt they were straying from the topic of 'cattle'.

  "While a reasonable assumption in some instances, the answer I was looking for is 'taxes'." Donovan spped his forehead, why hadn't he thought of that? "Do not beat yourself up over it. As I said, your answer is a reasonable assumption. Taxes could be pced in a variety of ways, including the taking of a percentage of profits or goods, the charging of tolls to access certain roads, bridges, or cities, or even requiring the purchase of a permit to trade within a polity, which brings me to another question. What would you categorize 'livestock' as for the purposes of revenue generation?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Would you consider them a traded good subject to taxes as they cross municipal borders? The property of the peasants charged with their care? These creatures are quite valuable in a variety of ways, their very existence capable of generating value in one way or another, so would you consider a tax on that value as well?"

  "I don't know enough about taxes for that." Donovan's attempt at dodging the question earned him a light shock to the throat. "Fine. Given the magnitude of investment that a cow apparently represents, which I assume to be a fairly substantial portion of their net worth, I would not consider issuing a tax on their transportation between municipalities. In fact, I probably wouldn't consider taxing any part or product not exchanged with another person."

  "So a sales tax then?"

  "If that is what you call it, then yes."

  "I won't say it is a proposal without merit, but it cks substance. Your proposal fails to consider the ability of livestock to reproduce, an action that effectively generates value from nothing. It also fails to consider methods through which your tax can be evaded." Donovan raised an eyebrow, not entirely sure how that was possible. "The terms of the tax you described involve the sale of goods, presumably with currency. This completely disregards the potential for barter or 'gifting' in exchange for other goods or services, something that would be incredibly difficult to keep track of and assign a value to. For example, it would be reasonable to assume someone might re-roof a barn or house in exchange for a cow's leg, meat itself being quite valuable and the volume being able to sustain a family for quite some time."

  "I don't think that's an issue though?"

  ". . . you don't?"

  "Yeah. As far as I'm concerned, a tax on goods exists to reimburse the state for the use of its currency. If the parties involved have no need to exchange it, then the state has no need to collect a portion of the value." Donovan felt that to be a reasonable position given his understanding of the state's role as the facilitator of reguted societal interaction. "Is that wrong?"

  ". . . I don't know if I would consider it an incorrect stance, but it is definitely an archaic position. Transactions facilitated within a nation's borders have traditionally been seen as realized by the state, and therefore subject to taxation. Would you like to eborate? If only so I can better understand your position?"

  "Child A has a sandwich in his lunchbox. Child B has a burrito in his. Both children would prefer what the other has, and so agree to trade. Would it be right or fair for their teacher to take a bite because he allows the children to trade their lunches?"

  "That hardly seems ethical."

  "Two days ter, Child A has forgotten his lunch at home. Child B still had a burrito packed in his lunchbox, however he's not really that hungry today. He supposes he wouldn't mind giving Child A his burrito, but he doesn't want to do it without getting something in return as he still might get hungry ter. Child A offers to exchange a sum of Css Cash in exchange, something recognized by everyone in the css as a valuable item as it is earned through extra credit assigned by the teacher and may be exchanged at the end of the semester for a few extra percentage points on their final. They agree on a price for it, and perform the trade. Would it be right or fair for the teacher to take a portion of the Css Cash in this exchange because his system facilitated the exchange?"

  "Yes, and I think I see where you are going with this."

  "I'd hope so."

  "You believe that a tax should only be levied against an exchange of goods or services when it is facilitated by legitimate currency as a means of paying the state for the use of this system. Transactions that can be handled without the exchange of currency are those the state had no part in actuating, and therefore the state has no right or legitimate cim to a portion of the value traded. Following the chain of logic established earlier, the state would need to take a portion of value each side offered the other in order to be fair, meaning that the state would then have a legitimate cim to a portion of the good or service purchased with currency - a ridiculous assertion in its own right."

  Donovan nodded, confident he had swayed Arc.

  "However, this is still not enough to satisfy the need to tax livestock."

  "Why not?"

  "I suppose it isn't entirely correct to call it a need, though I would still consider it to be a good idea in order to disincentivize market saturation. Instead, it would be better to impose some sort of head tax alongside the regur sales taxes as a means to encourage a maximization of efficiency in terms of herd management. Would you like an example?"

  "Go ahead."

  "For the sake of argument let us use cows, supposing that a fully matured cow is worth 200 ducats, a bull is 500, and they subsist on the grass they eat so do not require an annual upkeep. Let us also assume that a cow will reach the age of maturity at two, begin to decline in fertility at five dropping to a minimum at ten, and that a bull can handle ten cows. We shall also assume, for the sake of calcution, that a cow at maturity has a 100% annual fertility rate, 50% while in decline, 5% after the age of ten, and are guaranteed to die at 20 for one reason or another. Are you following?"

  "Is the fertility rate multiplicative?"

  "No. To simplify the model into something you can work out in your head, we will take our sample size to be one herd of a bull and ten cows and derive the total value from how this herd is managed."

  "So we can expect each cow will birth three times during their mature years, two and a half times as fertility declines, and only has a fifty percent chance to spawn a calf in her twilight years?"

  "Close enough. Successive chance suggests a fifty percent chance of no calves in those twilight years with the possibility of multiple birthing years shifting the average above a fifty-fifty, however it should not be significant enough to change the point I intend to make."

  "Perfect. So what is it you want me to do?"

  "To begin with, let us consider the total value this herd has to begin with. Ten cows at 200 ducats and one bull at 500 come to 2500 ducats. Let us then consider what this herd has the potential to produce."

  "Ten cows birthing an average of six calves over the course of their lives, coming to 60 for the herd. Half of those will be bulls, though, won't they? And our model does not require that many."

  "True, so let us assume that bulls not necessary for further breeding will be sold for sughter at their prime for about half of what a breeding bull is worth. The rger size should justify the difference in price between it and a cow."

  "Got it. So if we want to maximize the generated value from this batch, we would end up with three additional 'full' herds of cattle and 27 'waste' bulls. Is that correct?" Donovan didn't need to check that math, he just wanted to continue. "Uh, hold on for a second. If we are deriving value from the sale of materiel from each member of the herd, why is the breeding bull worth more? Won't they all be worth the same dead?"

  "This will be covered by depreciating value. The total generated value of this herd amounts to 14250 ducats, an impressive sum, but only amounts to about 712 ducats a year on average over the course of the herd's lifespan, 792 if we consider only their fertile years when this value is being generated, the majority of which is manifested early on. More specifically, we can expect 3000 during the first birthing year as a result of the first three bulls having increased values, the second and third returning a value of 2250. The years of declining fertility have an anticipated average return of 1125 each year, while the twilight years have a frankly abysmal return of 112.5 ducats, the full ten returning the equivalent of a single year of decline."

  "So most farmers would choose to sughter them in their twilight years to maximize profit."

  "Not necessarily, though the answer depends upon what we estimate the value of depreciation at. I believe it would be a good idea to assume that the bull has lost the added value of being prime breeding stock at the end of declining fertility becoming worth the same 250 ducats of all other bulls, and for the sake of argument we shall assume 5% annual depreciation of the maximum value for each animal. This would give an annual loss of value equivalent to the potential value gained - 112.5 ducats."

  "But that fails to factor in opportunity costs."

  "It does, however it is entirely possible that immediate value is not the intended purpose. Supposing there is enough manpower avaible, working as many animals as possible to maximize the growth of the popution could drastically increase immediate value production in a few generations. Remember, each calf born has a fifty percent chance to be a catalyst for generating an infinite amount of future value."

  "Oh, I thought we were maximizing market value."

  "We are, but I wanted to remind you that there may be other objectives. Returning to the example, if a farmer finds himself with a surplus of bor and is particurly future-minded about his herds, he may find the equalized nature of immediate loss and gain an acceptable sacrifice to maximize his profits ter, but this is not necessarily what the state may want. Using your example of a sale's tax, can you imagine why?"

  "Would that be because the value of the cattle has decreased? So less money will be collected from the sale of their parts?"

  "Exactly. I will assume that this taxation is additive rather than subtractive - that meaning the tax is added to what the customer pays as opposed to taking a portion of what the supplier receives - so that we may pretend it has no effect on the farmer's finances. Regardless, a total depreciation of half the maximum value means that there will only be half the tax revenue."

  "Even if it is not the only source of revenue, I can see why a state might be concerned about that."

  "Which is why the state might consider implementing something called a 'Head Tax'. This type of tax charges a ft fee for each 'head' every year, which accomplishes two things. The first thing it does is provide a constant trickle of cash to the state, something reliable that does not depend as much upon fluctuations in the market and value of the livestock, but it also incentivizes the farmers to sell their cattle earlier. I'll use an annual head tax of 1% of material sale value as the example. This would mean cows will be taxed at 2 ducats a year, while bulls require 2.5 ducats-"

  "It's artificial depreciation." Donovan figured out the mechanism behind it right away. Essentially, the government was taking future value in the present. "That would effectively cut 40% of the earnings after the full twenty years, but only 10% at the ten year mark."

  "Precisely. While there is no question that the model we have created is incredibly crude, it demonstrates the potential ramifications of tax policies. Would you like an idea of how selling at the three different points in the lives of the cattle affect the economics of the situation after forty years?"

  "Go ahead." Donovan pressed the button to voluntarily shock himself. "Will these include tax policies?"

  "And an analysis of derived profit as a result of current herd net worth. The values will cover the growth of the herd with time, so giving an idea of the effort needed to manage a given herd in terms of profit to net worth will show the economic efficiency of each."

  "Wonderful."

  "Selling cattle at their prime will increase the total value of the herd from 2250 ducats to just over a million over the course of 40 years, netting almost 190 thousand ducats per year in cattle sales while paying a little under thirteen thousand ducats per year with a 1% head tax. The herd will have generated 1.46 million ducats in sales and 98 thousand ducats in head taxes total.

  Selling the breeding stock at the ten year mark and excess bulls at the five will increase the total value of the herd to 52.5 million ducats, generating 3.18 million in sales and 477 thousand in head taxes annually. The herd will have generated 15 million ducats in sales and 2.25 million ducats in head taxes total.

  Selling the breeding stock at the end of their lives and the bulls at five will bring the herd's value to 63.5 million ducats, generating 2.65 million in sales and 546 thousand in head taxes per year. Total sales come to 12.4 million and taxes to 2.55 million ducats."

  "So selling at the ten year mark is by far the best then."

  "If you wish to bance growth with generated value, then yes, this would be the best for all parties, but what if you have reached the limit of what the market wants? At this point the point shouldn't be to maximize growth, but efficiency. This model assumes that cattle have no upkeep, but in real life there is an incredibly important factor we have not considered, that being the bor needed to manage the herd. The tter two models both have herd sizes that have ballooned into the tens of thousands of cattle, a frankly unmanageable quantity for a single person. This would require more people, splitting the profits between them and making the job less desirable while also stripping the bor market of workers that could be used elsewhere."

  "How big is the difference in that department?"

  "These numbers are percent transformations of net worth, and consider the herd to be growing as before. Twenty year cycles will stabilize in the 3.0 to 3.5% range, ten year cycles in the 5.0 to 5.5% range, and five year cycles have an efficiency of about 16.5 percent. This suggests that a cattle operation prioritizing the most fertile years of a cow's life will generate three times as much money per unit of bor and upkeep for the ten year cycles, and five times that of the full lifetime of the cows."

  "And taxes?"

  "That depends on the specific rates. You will never be able to completely control the market, but a harsh enough head tax can disincentivize production practices that are detrimental to the market and state coffers."

  "Seems a little scummy."

  "It is impossible for a state to be moral if it desires a continued existence. The circumstances of reality will eventually force it to confront a problem to which there is no clean solution. I will be adding a few books to your reading list as well."

  cakeonfrosting