Alvin and the Blacks reached an agreement...
Black generously handed Alvin the blueprints for the Attilan Force Field and agreed to provide him with a ton of helium-3 every year to cover the tuition of all the children in the future.
The Gun Club was being reasonably fair. They hadn't arrogantly claimed the entire moon as their territory, and Attilan already had mining rights to part of it.
Besides, helium-3 was a "renewable" resource dependent on solar radiation. Letting Attilan mine a share of it so its people could live with dignity would do a lot to foster future cooperation.
Black couldn't possibly agree to have all of Attilan work for the Gun Club...
Having someone hold the lifeline to your throat was painful enough. Black couldn't hand over the last bit of power he had.
Whether out of respect for Black's strength or consideration for his ally Alvin's wishes, Zhang Qiang had given Attilan some room to maneuver and a degree of choice in the agreement.
The allowance was limited, and any trades had to go through the Gun Club...
But the Attilan Royal Family would control the income from that share. It would be enough to make them richer than many so-called oil kingdoms, turning them into the wealthiest royal family around...
If they paid Alvin's school fees with the helium-3 they mined, the Gun Club wouldn't raise any objections.
Alvin was pleased with Black's generosity. He said he would soon organize a group of people to come from Earth and provide the children of Attilan with the necessary preparatory education.
But none of that could happen until the epidemic in Attilan was over and Crystal had fully recovered.
After reaching an agreement with the Blacks, Alvin went to talk things over with Zhang Qiang...
Zhang Qiang reluctantly