I’m looking for a short story I think was published in either Asimov’s or Analog magazine probably more than 10 years ago.
It may also have been published in one of the World’s Best Sci-Fi anthologies, by Donald A. Wollheim
It’s about aliens who are smuggling art-work off Earth by rewarding an exclusive club of humans with advanced technology in the form of luxury items.
The narrator finds out about this club when his girlfriend drops a cigarette lighter in the pool and it miraculously still works.
There is the letter “P” engraved on the lighter.
He sneaks into her house and also finds all kinds of high tech items, all with an engraving of the letter “P”
I thought the story was titled “P for Perfect” but it could be wrong.
He eventually traces the Alien headquarters to a nondescript shop on a side street in the city.
He eventually steals the girlfriend’s gig (she was going to dump him anyway) and takes her place in the club.
