F. Wilson - Wheels Within Wheels

“What specifically do you want to know? I could talk all day.”

“I know you could,” Jo replied with a smile. “But I want to know SW’s two top subsidiaries-not necessarily the most active but the ones most important to the gross income.”

“The first is easy: their tube-drive company. When they acquired that they really began to move because they could outfit ships for both interstellar and peristellar travel. They have a number of fair-sized competitors … Fairgood is giving them the best fight they’ve had in years.” He beamed as he said this; Fairgood was an IBA account.

“The second most important subsidiary is a debatable choice. General Trades generates a lot of income on luxury items but there’s that pharmaceutical company they acquired a while back-Teblinko Drugs-that’s been a thorn in their side. They had to pour a lot of money into it but things seem to be paying off at last. Latest figures show that it’s pulled up behind Opsal Pharmaceuticals which makes it the number two drug firm. So I’d say that Teblinko and General Trades are of equal importance at the moment, but once Teblinko consolidates its gains its well-being will be somewhat less crucial to overall profits.”

Jo nodded and made a few notes.

“What’s this all about?” he asked. Jo had decided to keep her counterplan to herself. She was debarking on a precarious course of action, the repercussions of which might well reverberate throughout the whole galactic economic structure; the fewer who knew about it the better.

“Just working out a theoretical problem,” she replied. “You’ve been a big help. May I call on you again if I need you?”

“Sure,” Grange replied, taking the hint and rising. He was too canny to be fooled by Jo’s lame explanation-you weren’t told to drop everything and get up to the head office because of a theoretical problem-but he was confident of being filled in on all the details if and when he came to be involved.

When he had gone, Jo ordered the complete files on Fairgood Drive and Opsal Pharmaceuticals; both were long-standing IBA accounts. She began poring over them as soon as they arrived.

With the Fairgood file was an envelope with new information: a natural deposit of Leason crystals had been found on the second planet of the Rako system-the Tarks, however, were also claiming the find since Rako occupies a place along the mutual expansion border. To further complicate matters, consent for export had to be obtained from the inhabitants-a group of senile savages.

Jo shook her head and put the file aside. That would take a very careful evaluation. Now to look at Opsal. Opsal and Teblinko were in a pitched battle for the galactic pharmaceutical trade. The two companies were about equal in product quality but Opsal had a slight advantage in distribution since it was slightly older. Teblinko, however, was closing the gap.

What was clearly needed was a new product and both companies were vying for the rights to a certain grain rust on the planet Lentem. Again, the only thing holding them up was the native intelligent race. For the Tarks wanted the same item and the natives were holding out, hoping to use their commodity as a bargaining point between the two interstellar races.

Jo frowned. The Tarks were popping up more and more lately. There would be a clash someday-a big one. The Tarcan Empire was ruthless and active and no doubt took the Federation’s laissez-faire attitude as a sign of weakness, or poor organization. One day they would overstep their boundaries to test the Federation’s mettle. That would be a fatal mistake for the Tarks.

She fed the Opsal data into the computer and asked for a few correlations and information on any existing variables which she might be able to manipulate. The machine gave her a number of items, among them was the fact that the Tarcan representative was due for another visit to Lentem in quest of the grain rust rights. Also, there emerged a short biography on a man named James Rondo, a terran and the only

“alien” allowed permanent residence on Lentem.

She immediately sent an urgent message to the president of Opsal telling him to send a man to Lentem as soon as possible and to place one thousand shares of Opsal stock under the name of one James Rondo, resident of Lentem. She could give no reasons now but asked the president to trust her.

IBA had done well for them in the past and was trying to do so now.

Now for Fairgood: that company had followed IBA’s advice by sending out exploration teams to any star systems which showed spectroanalytic traces of Leason crystals. It was an expensive undertaking which had yielded only analogues until last year when a motherlode of true, natural Leason crystals had been found on Rako II. Leason crystals were the major lining of peristellar drive tubes and until now could only be obtained through an expensive, low-yield synthesis; a large natural deposit was priceless.

However, the Tarks were claiming the planet, too. A major incident was avoided-luckily-by the discovery of a dying, semi-savage race on the planet. By mutual agreement, Tark and Terran had agreed not to exploit any planet with intelligent natives without the permission of those natives. These natives wanted rejuvenation of their race in return for the crystals, and both the Fairgood company and the Tarcan Empire had research teams at the site trying to solve the problem. No one was meeting with any success. A public-relations expert was clearly indicated here-only the “public” in this case would be a group of aliens.

Jo thought she knew the firm which could supply the right man; if he was free at this time and the firm could be convinced to send him, Andy Tella was the man. She got a message off to Fairgood and virtually insisted that they send one Andrew Tella off to Rako II-and be sure to give him plenty of incentive, she added.

These preparations completed, Josephine Finch could only sit and wait. If her plan was successful, deBloise would be countered. That was all that mattered. As far as she was concerned, this was merely an economic move with political implications. She was using her economic influence to preserve a political system she believed in.

She was totally unaware of what Larry Easly would find on Jebinose and had no idea that her detachment toward deBloise was about to be transformed into a very personal involvement.

After two fruitless weeks on Jebinose, Easly went to Danzer to contact the local Vanek group. He still had his suspicions about Junior’s death and wanted confirmation directly from the mouth of a Vanek.

For Vaneks never lie.

It was easy enough to find one. The Vaneks had made a sort of shrine out of the place where Junior had died and there they mounted a constant vigil. In the fatal alley, in the center of a crude circle of stones, sat a lone Vanek beggar, humming and jiggling his broken salad bowl.

“Wheels within wheels,” he said as Easly approached.

“Sure,” said Easly, stopping outside the circle. “Uh, can I speak with you a minute?”

“Speak, bendreth.”

Easly squatted and looked at the Vanek. Pupils dilated from a long watch in the shade of the alley looked out at him from beneath hooded eyelids. The blue-tinted skin of his face was wrinkled and dusty.

This was one of the older Vaneks.

“I want to know about Junior Finch.”

The Vanek smiled. “He was our friend.”

“But he was killed.”

The smile remained. “Wheels within wheels, bendreth.”

“But who killed him?” Easly asked.

“We did.”

“But why?”

“He was our friend.”

Easly was getting annoyed. “But why did you kill a man who was your friend?”

“He was different.”