"But there is money. Credit notes."
"For the convenience of your race alone," she said. "We created your money values and your evidence of wealth so that we could hire your services and pay you - and I might add that we pay you well. We have gone through all the motions. The currency that we create is as valid as anywhere else in the galaxy. It's backed by deposits in Earth's banks and it is legal tender so far as you're concerned. But Kimonians themselves do not employ money."
Bishop floundered. "I can't understand," he said.
"Of course you can't," she said. "It's an entirely new departure for you. Your culture is so constituted that there must be a certain physical assurance of each person's wealth and worth. Here we do not need that physical assurance. Here each person carries in his head the simple bookkeeping of his worth and debts. It is there for him to know. It is there for his friends and business associates to see at any time they wish."
"It isn't business, then," said Bishop. "Not business as I think of it."
"Exactly," said the girl.
"But I am trained for business. I spent - "
"Years and years of study. But on Earth's methods of business, not on Kimon's."
"But there are businessmen here. Hundreds of them."
"Are there?" she asked.