Entry −0114 · retrieved This retrieval is attributed to you
K.U.R.T.
ProceedingsVaultStatementClerk IIITip line
Proceedings · Concordance · released in error

The Seventeenth Trillion Was Never Minted; It Was Remembered

A clerk’s account of the reconciliation of nine million ledgers against a population that has not yet been born.
Filed by
Clerk III
Date
−14 Ventis, Cyc 0.7
Exhibits
41
Clearance
Class nine

The Concordance does not hold currency. It holds the agreement that currency occurred, and it holds that agreement in a room with no door. I was admitted to that room for roughly an hour, in the capacity of a person who carries paper.

The reconciliation

Nine million ledgers were balanced against a population not yet born. Where the sum failed, the shortfall was covered by the Ninth’s memory of having paid, which the Undersecretariat accepts as tender and has accepted since before the founding. The delegate for the Ninth was asked to confirm the memory aloud. It did so. The sum closed.

“The debt is not owed. The debt is recalled. You will find this is a stronger instrument.”

I record here, without commentary, that at no point did anyone present find this procedure unusual, and that the minutes describe the session as routine. The minutes are correct. That is what I am reporting.

Exhibit 17 · ledger fragment
ledger photograph
Column four totals ¤ 4.02 Tq against nine million names. Seven of the names are mine.

The remaining thirty-nine exhibits are held in the vault. They will be released in the order in which the Undersecretariat forgets them.

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