It turns out I’ve had to devote very little thought to the Phertipton problem. Once the victims and potential victims got their eyes opened, an informal committee began dealing with the problem. Loner Billionaires don’t get to be loner billionaires by being fatalists or ineffectual, so Phertipton had self assembled a formidable enemy list.
My people stonewalled on my case, and while that was happening, the committee baited Phertipton and got him to strike the target of their choice. The result was devastating for Phertipton: As his ship started going down, his rats jumped off. By the time I entered the Inner System, there were such significant behind-the-scenes settlements that the entire relative abuse legal concept was effectively derailed--the “sharks” would not bother me on my second expedition to the Honeycomb.
Will there be another expedition? You have any doubt!
In a year I will be a multi-trillionaire. Jack will have his wish--a huge empire to manage--and the Honeycomb will no longer be a hobby. The biggest problem will be just that: The Honeycomb is no longer a hobby, so I’ll be sharing the expedition with a hundred other people. The Honeycomb will be smacked hard with The Curse of Being Important, so I will have to share exploring it with the whole world.
But ... that’s for another day. Today I get to enjoy preparing to be the Hero of the Century.
Bull Burnmeshorts did return a conquering hero, and five years later did lead the 2nd expedition to the Honeycomb Comet. On that expedition he was killed when a millions-of-years-old booby trap was sprung.