Charles Sheffield - Starfire

“Let’s say middling dangerous if you went in there bare-handed. Years ago I had things that you wouldn’t want to get within a mile of, but now I have other reasons for keeping the habitat sealed off. It took twenty years to create two thousand acres of controlled environment — three square miles of land and water — where I can run well-designed and controlled experiments. If visitors found their way in and meddled with what I’m doing, they would ruin everything.”

“But there’s nothing dangerous in there now}” Nick found himself reluctant to turn his back on the door.

“I told you, there’s nothing dangerous to an armed man. But I’ve got some fascinating work going on in the habitat. When it gets darker we’ll take a look.” Gordy smiled at Nick’s expression. “No, I don’t mean that we’ll go in. See the rovers? We’ll send one of them.”

Now that they were pointed out, Nick saw two of them. They were squat vehicles about three feet long, with eight thin jointed legs along their sides. At their front end a long, segmented neck rose to a round head circled with ruby sensors. They sat facing the wall of the chamber, not far from the door.

Nick said, “They look like the rolfes that Colombo and his group use in shield work.”

“Yeah.” Rolfe nodded. “Similar technology, though these are a bit smarter. Colombo paid top price, but I keep the best for myself. These rover rolfes are intelligent enough to wander the habitat — it’s tricky in places — without getting stuck. I just tell them where I want them to go, and they figure out the rest. What they see will be displayed there.”

Rolfe pointed to a set of screens in the communications center. “That will be our entertainment later. I think you’ll find it interesting. But first things first.” He gestured to a seat by a worktable in the central chamber. When Nick sat down, Rolfe perched on the table itself so that his head was higher than Lopez’s. He stared down at Nick. “Are you ready for business?”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“So let’s do the status review, see where we stand.” Gordy Rolfe waved to the assortment of food and drink beside him on the table. Nick knew from experience that Rolfe himself would touch nothing. The word from Nick’s information network was that drugs and alcohol disagreed with Rolfe’s metabolism. In fact, Nick realized that he had never seen Gordy eat. The same information sources said that he was also celibate.

What were Gordy Rolfe’s pleasures? Nick had his own operating philosophy: If you want to see inside a man, you find out what he does for recreation.

Nick filed that question away for future reference. He had enough hedonistic tastes for both of them. He declined the offer of refreshment with a shake of the head.

Rolfe went on, “Let’s start with John Hyslop. Are you sure you didn’t screw up with him?”

Nick Lopez knew Gordy’s style. Deference and politeness were for the representatives of the Argos Group, not for its leader. Rolfe played rough, and he hated you to know what he would say next. This time Nick had no idea. Be casual. He said, “I’m sure I didn’t screw up. Hyslop’s an even better engineer than we thought. Leave him up there on Sky City, he’ll have the shield back on schedule before you know it. Neither of us wants that.”

“Okay, okay. Just want to be sure you’re not backing off. I did my part. I sent one of my top people, Maddy Wheatstone, up to talk Bruno Colombo into releasing Hyslop from all shield work. I told her to get Hyslop reassigned to the asteroid capture project.”

Now it was harder for Nick to be casual. “You mean it didn’t work? I thought Hyslop was taken care of. No one gave me any negative feedback.”

“I mean it worked too damn well. Maddy came to see me a few hours ago and asked me what game I was playing. She said that I had told her it would be tricky to make Colombo agree, but that I relied on her to carry out a difficult job. Now she says Colombo served Hyslop up to her on a plate almost before she could ask. I knew that had to be your doing, but of course I didn’t tell her.”

“You never met Colombo?” When Rolfe shook his head, Nick went on, “If you had, you’d understand. Bruno Colombo is big — bigger than me — and impressive. The first time you see him you think he’s really somebody. The second or third time, you see right through him. It’s not a man inside that beautiful suit; it’s a dog waiting to be kicked. I got him his job as head of Sky City, and he’d do anything to keep it. If I say, ’Shit,’ Bruno’s down there squatting before I finish speaking. All I did was hint that I’d be pleased if John Hyslop could be reassigned to help on an Argos Group project. He did the rest.”

“He doesn’t know how important Hyslop is to shield development?”

“It would make no difference. I’m telling you, Colombo’s my man.”

“I won’t stand people like that working for me. I pay for self-starters. If they don’t show independence, they’re gone.”

“You’re lucky, Gordy. The Argos Group is privately owned—”

“More than privately. It’s mine .”

“So it’s yours to do what you like with. It’s different when you’re in my position and you run a public institution like the WPF, with a hundred countries arguing about what your priorities should be. I have to have people like Bruno Colombo, men who’ll scramble to do absolutely anything I tell them. One worry I still have about John Hyslop is that he may be too independent.”

“Could be. Hyslop’s an engineer. Engineers are dangerous because they’re obsessed by facts and you can’t divert them or buy them off. But Hyslop’s working for us now, or he will be as soon as he’s wrapped up what he was doing on the shield. What about the man who’ll be taking his place on Sky City? That’s who I’m worried about.”

“It’s a woman. Stansfield; Lauren Stansfield.”

“Woman, then. What do we know about her? How do we know she won’t be as likely as Hyslop to get the shield back on schedule, or put facts and trends together and come to conclusions that we can’t tolerate? How do we know it’s a change for the better?”

“Gordy, somebody has to run engineering; it won’t run itself. And I’m not a fool. I already looked to see who Hyslop was likely to offer as his replacement. I’ll send you every Sky City background report on Lauren Stansfield. If you like, I can give you a summary right now.”

“Do it. I need to be sure you know what you’re doing.”

It wasn’t a request. It was an order, rudely delivered. Nick Lopez bit back his irritation. Gordy Rolfe had an absolute need to prove that he was the boss. That might be all very well within the Argos Group, where he had total control; but Nick had held senior government positions when Gordy Rolfe was still in diapers. Nick told himself for the hundredth time, Steady. He’s a power-mad dwarf, but we’re in this thing together. Someday, though . . .

“How much do you want to know? Lauren Stansfield is thirty-one years old. She’s from a very rich family back on Earth, but she wasn’t in line to inherit so she took technical training and became a systems engineer. Five years ago a power system installation took her out to Sky City. She stayed there, worked her way up to become top specialist on Sky City life-support systems: energy, air, water, food, she knows them better than anyone.”

“So she’s as bad as Hyslop.”

“No. She’s not as creative, and she doesn’t have the whole shield construction program in her head the way that Hyslop does. Also, she doesn’t know the inventory procedures. Remember, what we have to avoid is a single person who knows procurement for both Sky City and the shield. Hyslop does, and he might easily have compared orders and started counting. Lauren Stansfield won’t.”