Governor's Tribute

Chapter Eighteen

  Tommy held up a wad of cash and a shirt and Boer headed for him. Lola and Jobe were dropping stacks of clothes in cars. The yard was plowed former field, dampened to keep dust down. Tommy handed him shorts and sandals out of the car when he got to him.

  "I didn't know what was going on or I'd have yelled grab cash, Tommy. Glad you thought of it."

  "If I hadn't been in the kitchen when Anverd and Ven both smacked their lips about U pups, I wouldn't have thought of it. I don't know how much it is. I just grabbed it off my dresser. It miraculously appeared there after I spent some of what I found in my shirt pocket the other day. I've got what I didn't spend in my shorts pocket. I think Jobe has some too."

  "Good. I was working hard not to eavesdrop because Li and Mim did a theatrical block on the bedroom door, but I think the evening is planned as an unplanned exploration of U-town by the Hadlains. Which, by the way, would delight both my parents. I do know dinner is included in the unplanned plan."

  "A block, huh?"

  "In the cars you came in! This is a conference?"

  "Just a speculation, Jobe, but I feel a little guilty. Let's go. Let's find those treats and have bunches ready to hand over when they catch up. Roll!"

  "Explain guilty."

  "I think the girls got a lecture from their doctor and I'm the real reason they got it."

  "They're keeping Tommy so busy because both of us would be pleased if one of them was carrying his baby."

  "Jobe, the only problem with being married to you is every time I pick up a nice load of guilt you insist on carrying some of it."

  "It's just not important to me, except... Uh... "

  "That it would please us."

  "Not just you and Jobe, Boer. They don't care whose, or how many of whose, as long as we all father some of them. Right now, they all want Tori to get pregnant and they want me to father a baby. If she had a preference, it would be for yours."

  "Why?"

  "Because you're a spectacular mature male, Boer. She doesn't think of Tommy and I as boys, but most of her students were about our age, or older. You have years of adult experience in common with her that we don't. It's important to me she have a child so she doesn't feel... grandmother-ish about our children. It may be why it's important to her."

  "I don't think of any of you as children, but I do think of all of you but Mim, Dona and Tori as kids sometimes."

  "That's because we are. Li isn't really, but she looks like she is. All the rest of us are between eighteen and twenty-two."

  "She's only twenty-four, Tommy. Ooh."

  "And Dona is 'only' twenty-eight, but I think there's a mental step at 'over twenty-five.' There are some worlds six of us couldn't go in places with adult entertainment, including serving alcohol. We're under twenty-one. There are worlds eight of us couldn't go in those places because we're under twenty-two. Legal age in the empire is eighteen and most worlds and nearly all space stations are the same, but local laws have precedence in everything but voting."

  "No restrictions on voting except citizenship and legally adult under imperial law. That right may be suspended for persons remanded to rehabilitation facilities for sociopathic acts on a case by case judgment by superior court. All such decisions will be subject to review by the office of the Imperial Rights Commissioner. It's fresh because I didn't know how many I might have to try for what they did on Nunture and I definitely didn't want them running for office. It's nice they saved me the trouble of asking for imperial dispensation to issue executive orders for executions under martial law."

  "Yipe!"

  "I was the only one with the authority to judge them, Tommy, and there was no place to put them and no one to conduct a rehabilitation program under imperial guidelines. I caught 'kiosk on the corner of Stadium and Aggie.' This just became Stadium."

  "Oops! And the speed limit dropped abruptly. Twice. Is that a kiosk?"

  "Yes, Jobe, and that's Aggie. It's also five minute parking in front of it. Drop us off. I hope you don't have a long walk from the closest place to park that doesn't have a short time limit."

  "I see a sign that says park and shop two blocks."

  "It's probably a fee lot."

  "That doesn't bother me, Boer. That there may not be room for five cars in it does. See you in a few, I hope."

  There was room for three in the lot. Jobe waited for the other cars, motioned three in and led Aura down the street. They'd dropped off their passengers too. He saw someone pull out of a parking place that didn't have a short time limit and motioned her into it. Eventually, he gave up and went back toward the kiosk. He'd take anything he could find and move the car when the time was up. He pulled into one with a half-hour limit someone pulled out of a half-block down the street from it. The car was quickly surrounded, but not by his family.

  "It's gorgeous!"

  "It's a Gasmandy custom. I'd know their work anywhere."

  "Hello."

  "Uh... hello. It's a Gasmandy."

  "Have you raced it?"

  "No. I just got it. My husband bought it for me."

  "Your what?"

  "'Scuse, coming through with hot U pups! Jobe, we were beginning to think you got lost. Boer ordered fresh as soon as he saw you."

  "Thanks, Aura. This is the only parking place I saw after you found one. They like my car. I said my husband got it for me."

  Aura burst into laughter and opened the car door for him. The rest of the family doubled the size of the crowd around the car and Boer came through it. Jobe nearly dove for him. When Tommy suddenly came through them and got on his other side fast, Aura just put her arm on the top of the windscreen and laid her head on it. The university girls were very interested in them and they'd both run for Boer. He knew exactly what was going on.

  "Hi, I'm Boer. The rest of this bunch is my family. Sorry, girls and boys, we're all married. That's what the little rings in our ears mean."

  "You're the governor!"

  "Yes, but that's in another sector. Here, we're just the Hadlain family who live up the road. This is our first trip to U-town. We already like everything about it, except hunting parking places."

  "He told them his husband bought it for him."

  "Well, he did, Aura. He knew what it is, Boer. He asked me if I'd raced it."

  "Do you want to?"

  "Not yet. I haven't been driving roads long enough to be ready for racetracks, to even think about racetracks."

  "It won't be long, Boer. He says, 'Oops!' and slows down to just a bit above the limit often."

  "I say, 'oops,' fairly often too, Tommy, and I did teach him to drive."

  "Any place around here got a good band tonight? We're starved for something besides the inside of a ship and oh-so-polite, lovely teas on the terrace. I want some thump and bounce before all I can do is waddle."

  "You're bragging, Eddy, but I definitely agree on the thump and bounce."

  "That's unanimous, Cal. Oh, please, not another fine performance by a symphony. I like them, but they're real hard to dance to."

  "I nearly always went straight from the palace to a place you could hear the music when you pulled in the parking lot, Lola. I usually had a driver so I took clothes with me and changed in the car."

  "None of you are deprived. I am. I couldn't go in any place that sounded like fun for the last twenty years. They were full of my students. I escaped into fantasy. It was lucrative."

  "I forgot! You're Tori Morris!"

  "No, I'm Tori Hadlain and tonight I intend to move it and shake it in celebration."

  "This is home, kids. You probably won't see all of us together often, but you'll see some of us often. I've got to go take care of some stuff soon, but I'm not going to make them all go with me. A nice thing about being this close to U-town is a bunch can come down for an evening. They're all married, but my father isn't the only person my mother dances with. Considering the way my fath
er dances, he hunts for partners for her. She's been telling people the only place he has rhythm is the bedroom, for forty-five years."

  "She told me that, Boer. She warned me he was going to be polite and ask me to dance and recommended a good hot soak for my feet after he stepped all over them. He told me you'd inherited all your dancing ability from her because he didn't have any for you to inherit. I told him he was right."

  "That's my dad. Tam got him an instructor about ten years ago, Eddy. She told him he wasn't a bad dancer he was hopeless. He agreed and explained to Tam it wasn't her fault. Tam gave up and Mom warns women. You've never been dancing."

  "No, and I'm wondering if I'm like your father."

  "Nobody else is like my father, Jobe. It's a mental block. It has to be. I told you anyone can cook, but I do know someone who can't. Stir to mush or burn to a crisp. She'd push the wrong button when she was heating a prepped dinner. She bought a one-bedroom condo in a building with a restaurant in it, got a standing reservation for three meals a day and remodeled the condo into a two-bedroom without a kitchen. Her friends relaxed a great deal when she did. We were all sure there should be someone standing very close by with an extinguisher when she walked into one."

  Boer winked at Jobe and led the large crowd down the street. It was nice to have Eddy home. She was very good at her job. The 'kids' were laughing and talking with his family about people they'd known with "mental blocks," usually someone in their families. Then someone said his sister never remembered where she parked her car.

  "I forgot to check the time! I have to move in a half-hour, Boer. The sign says they'll impound it."

  "Who's got the time?"

  "Fifteen fifty-two."

  "Thanks. Do any of us have the time? That's what I thought. Tommy, in there. Find something useful."

  "Like what, Boer?"

  "A wrist chron would be good."

  "Oh. There are chrons in the window."

  "He was looking at the russet shirt, Boer."

  "Ooh, it would be pretty with his hair, Dirda."

  "It certainly would, Cal."

  "Oh, look at those turquoise pants. Barri, they'd be incredible on you."

  "I like the color, Dona."

  "Girls, we didn't bring a lot of cash."

  "That's all right, Boer. We all know the account number."

  "I was just sure you did, Lola."

  "Boer, we just lost them."

  "It was inevitable, Jobe, but I did expect to get a little farther down the street."

  "Did you get one already, Tommy?"

  "No, Jobe, I ran when they decided to see how some things fit me. I had this mental image of Aura picking me up and them trying three or four pair of pants on me in the middle of the store. I know I have swim briefs on, but I'd rather take the chance what they pick doesn't fit."

  "I'd have run. There's a tech shop with good chrons and a lot better selection about a half-block down on the other side of the street."

  "You're the one who knew what kind of car it is."

  "Kever Eiseman. Gasmandy builds nice cars."

  "I'll take your advice on tech, Kever. We should probably all get chrons. There's just one problem."

  "What's that, Boer?"

  "I don't remember the account number, Tommy. You two?"

  "Huh, uh."

  "I've never used it."

  "Oh, well, I'm sure they'll find us by the time we're ready to buy something. We're not going to get out of a store with just what we went after."

  "You guys really are married."

  "Yes, Kever, we are. The treaty says where from, how many and it's marriage. Every other male governor was presented fourteen women. There was only one woman and she was presented fourteen men. Remember, I'm only the sixth governor. When Jobe was presented to me, I was furious, but it was because of... why and what they were doing to him. He was cuffed and hobbled and they were about dragging him. He couldn't see or hear, but he was fighting. I was so mad I decided I would, damn it, do it. I was sure he understood what I was telling him, but I couldn't explain why except put his hand on my coronet. He gave me his trust. When O'Dona, probably Misty, chose Tommy, they'd read what the treaty doesn't say. This time the important word that is in it, to all those worlds, was 'marriage.' I suspect it had always been 'advocate' before. Maybe one man and fourteen women can build a marriage, or the other way around. I intended to try, but it wouldn't have been... as richly textured, as well-woven, as it is with three men in it. We're outnumbered and spoiled rotten and very sure we're married, happily married."

  "Each of us loves each and all of us. I was a real lonely kid. Sort of too much everything, if you know what I mean, including being from the 'right' family. I was sure nobody really knew me or understood me. I was wrong. My fourth-cousin did, better than I did by quite a bit. I was so surprised that it was right for me and I knew it from the moment I got here. I'm sure I'm married, happily married."

  "Oh! They want to go dancing. Eddy never got an answer to her question. Is there a place with a good band tonight, Kever?"

  "There are three. See the red sign up on the left? That's the Top Floor, medium-size, mostly stand and lean tables. They leave more room for dance floor. The Silver Lining is about a block-and-a-half down on the next street over. The cover charge is higher, because it's smaller, but it's nice with comfortable chairs and big booths. The dance floor is about half of it. Two blocks down that way, across from the parking lot, is Bear's Den. It's most of the basement of the block. It is a dance floor. There are little tables and chairs, but they're auxiliary dance floor if you can't find a place to put both feet anyplace else. No table service. Big bars down both sides. If you want something, you go get it. Beer and soft drinks and the selection isn't wide, but they'll have the best band because they pay the best money. A lot of the bands that play the Den go from there to concert tours. It's mind-numbing loud, but it's great. It's also for two-and-a-half hours, starting at twenty-two. They play recorded for three hours before and a half-hour after. The Top Floor is twenty-one to one. Cover is half after midnight. The Silver Lining is twenty to midnight. They serve breakfast midnight til two-thirty. All of them let you leave and come back. You just ask for a hand stamp on the way out."

  "We are going to have fun tonight. That's a Kesi-Mac! You're right, Kever. Nice chrons. Thanks much. Twice. You going to be out wandering tonight?"

  "No. I'm headed for a text now. I just came down for a munch and to let my brain cool down a few. I've got an exam in two days. It's going to be fairly light down here tonight because most do. The ones who are out will be screaming crazy for an hour or two and headed back for the books when they get it out of their systems. Most of them will be in the Den. A light crowd there means you can probably get back to a table with a drink. Heavy is you drink it at the bar, then dance your way back. Oh, they check identification. No exceptions period. Have fun."

  "May your idea of what's important to study be the same as your instructor's idea of what's important to know. In other words, good luck on the exam."

  "Thanks. I like the definition."

  "Boer, I don't have identification."

  "Anverd said he'd be back in about three-and-a-half hours, Jobe, and home is not far. In here, we will find truly useful chrons. Hello, you have a Kesi-Mac chron in the window. Do you have their Quadrana?"

  "No, but I've got a chron made by Omtura Tech with all the functions plus a couple."

  "I don't know the company."

  "Where are you from?! Sorry."

  "The answer is about ten k up the road, but it's recent. Tell me about Omtura."

  "One of the best tech companies on-planet. They don't so much invent new as put the best ideas together better than anybody else, and I don't mean just on Valer. Let me show you their Trade Gem comm/chron as example. Now, it's a little bigger than you'll be used to seeing, but it does a lot more. Not
two more functions than the Quadrana, five, and four-and-a-half are in the comm. They designed it for a gem trader who wanted a secure link to her ship comp. They couldn't come up with a way to do that in a wrist comm/chron, but they came up with a sensor that would tell her if the link was being listened and also if the connect was being locator-traced either direction. The comm can be operated as a primary receiver, secondary, and as a link to specific comms, up to six. That basically means you can link it to the comm net, just comm through the ship, or direct link to others without going through either the net or the ship. That function can be used whether you're using it as a primary or secondary. She decided they'd found a way to reduce the probability of being robbed, as much as a secure connect, by telling her if someone was looking for her and giving her a way to yell for more escort without using the link that was being traced. Other than that, it has all the chron functions of the Quadrana plus you can add worlds to the data bank either through a comp link or block mapping and it's as sturdy as any chron made."

  "How many do you have?"

  "Two, but I could get another in a couple hours."

  "Could you get four more before you close today?"

  "Are you be willing to pay courier cost?"

  "Yes."

  "Let me check. The continental distributor can send four, but they'll be assorted styles."

  "I'd actually prefer that. Let's start with the two you have and a lesson for them on the chron functions and all of us on the comm. We may have enough cash if you need it first, but our wives will catch up soon and they remember the shopping account number because they're the ones who have been doing a lot of shopping."

  "I remember ours. My wife calls for it with great regularity. She's never sure if the one she remembers is the right one or two mixed together. Since she's been doing it for nine years, I doubt she ever will be."

  Boer noted there might not be enough left in the shopping account by the time the girls got there when the lesson was through and they hadn't found them. Tommy said he didn't mind spending some time looking around the store and was sure Li would find it because it was her kind of place to shop too.

  They didn't see the girls glance in and go by, because they were behind a rack of sound equipment and all squatting down to look at the one on the bottom shelf. Then Jobe looked at the chron on his wrist, yelped and ran for the door. Boer yelled "No!" and alarms went off. Tommy tossed the store owner his chron and ran after Boer. He was chasing Jobe down the street, but so were the police. The shoplifting imprint hadn't been cleared from the chron he was wearing because the sale hadn't been entered in the comp. The store owner was straightening it out fast, but the police caught up with Jobe at his car first. He said he was moving it, but they grabbed him.

  "Officers! He didn't steal the chron! He suddenly realized he'd been parked over the time limit and forgot he had it on!"

  "That's a very audible alarm."

  "Was that what that was?"

  "Officers, I'm Governor Thiretess Boer Hadlain. He's Prince Jobim Thiretess-Relatross. He doesn't know about shoplifting prevention methods and alarms. This is his new car and he was afraid it would be impounded. We're buying several of the chrons. I'm sure the store owner is clearing the alarm. Tommy! The alarm?!"

  "He's working on it, Boer!"

  "Boer!"

  "Aura, I'm very glad to see you! Where have you been?!"

  "Looking for you! Where have you been?"

  "Waiting for you to find us in the tech store with the alarm sounding. "

  "We looked in when we went by it. I was doing a check back this way because we about ran out of town."

  "We were there. We've been there the whole time."

  "The sound system on the bottom of the rack, Boer."

  "You're right, Tommy. We didn't really mind waiting Aura. There's some nice stuff in the store."

  "Why were you waiting?"

  "None of us know the account code. We haven't used it."

  "Sir, we've got a clear on the alarm, but I suggest you get the chron back and thoroughly explain security systems to the prince."

  "Definitely. Thank you, Officers. Let's go back and pay for that, Jobe."

  "Can we take my car? I have to move it."

  "I don't see any parking places, but I see the girls. They're about a block-and-a-half down. People are getting out of the way fast."

  "I see them, Tommy. Give Aura the chron, Jobe. Aura, head the bunch off and get this, the other he has and the four coming by courier paid for. Find a nice bar and we'll find you. And get the account number."

  "The Pigeon Coop. Slow down, girls! It's fixed!"

  "Tommy, get us some U pups. Just pull up into the that empty five minute spot, Jobe. Then we'll find a place to park it. You all right?"

  "I'm getting over scared and just feeling dumb. I heard it, but I was thinking about it was more than forty minutes and it just didn't register that I was the cause of it."

  "You did good. You stood real still when the officers grabbed you."

  "They were in uniforms. I thought they were there to take the car. That wasn't nice! He could see I was about to pull into it. I had my signal on."

  "I think he's about to get a lesson in manners, Jobe. Tommy noticed. Just sit here. I'd rather pay a fine than miss this."

  Tommy looked at the person and informed him he might as well leave because he wasn't ordering anything. The man told him to get out of the way. Tommy turned to the girl in the kiosk and told her to call the owners and tell them they had an offer for the business at five percent over their investment and the estimated profit for three years if they sold it immediately. He noted Nora really wanted their recipe for U pups and it was obviously a good investment over a ten-year period. The girl giggled and asked for a comm connect.

  The man made a mistake. He told Tommy to get out of his way and the girl he'd have her fired if she didn't "drop the act and get to work." Tommy looked at him coolly and he shoved him. Boer grabbed the back of seat and the car door, 'folded' and went over the side in one fast move. Jobe went over the same side right behind him. Tommy dove in front of him.

  "Boer, no! Jobe! Boer?"

  "Looks like a good investment, Tommy. Pay cash if they want to sell."

  The man left fast. Boer looked at the bag of U pups Tommy was holding out to him a second before he took it. Tommy raised an eyebrow and got a smile.

  "Governor, they don't want to sell, but that person's business is not welcome and he won't be served. They know who he is. Most of us do."

  "Thank you, young lady, and your employers."

  "Oh, my car!"

  "Find out who he is, Tommy. Our neighbors don't like him. I want to know if bad manners is the only reason."

  "So do I. I'll catch up with the girls and meet you at the bar."

  "Do catch up."

  "Boer, I'd have slugged him myself if it hadn't occurred to me getting assault charges dismissed would occupy most of the evening, probably wouldn't teach him manners and might delay our departure."

  "If he hadn't run, I might have decided it was worth it and I'd enjoy paying the hospital bill for his education."

  "I'll catch up."

  "Good."

  Tommy caught up, grabbed the chron out of Aura's hand, set it to go through the house fast and commed Jobe's car. They were still in it and still hunting a parking place.

  "Boer, he's been buying mortgage notes on properties in the area. He's not doing it personally, but no one seems to know who's backing and he's really throwing his weight around. The kiosk is one of three debt-free properties on that block and he's trying to get them zoned out. The block is currently zoned multi-dwelling residential/commercial. The kiosk and the convenience store beside it are the only commercial and that's the word he's trying to get removed. The buildings north of them and east side of the block are primarily four to six-apartment units owned by individuals or small groups of i
nvestors and about fifty years old. He also bought the notes on two farms beyond it along the gravway. Guess is someone thinks a big apartment complex would be profitable if it was close enough to town. Their choice of representative and method makes me doubt we want them as neighbors."

  "Shit! If someone is making that kind of investment, it's likely they're using borrowed money. If not... "

  "Yes, I've got a feeling it's dirty too."

  "All we can do is hand it to the girls, Tommy. They can take care of dirty on this one. We have nine."

  "I've got a trace!"

  "What?!"

  "Damn, Cal! It was Cal testing them, Boer, with Anverd's help. She says they're both impressed and he suggests a reduction in number of vehicles and three stop by his house at about nineteen-thirty with the results of the drawing. They're going to test the rest of the functions. See you at the bar."

  "If we ever find a parking place. Out. There!"

  "It says, 'restaurant parking only,' Boer."

  "It's the one we're going to for dinner, Jobe. We'll go through, tell them we've got fifteen coming in about an hour-and-a-half and their lot was the only place we could park one car for more than a third of it. They won't mind because they're not busy this time of day. Most of these cars probably belong to people who had lunch here, plan on dinner or just plain ignored the sign, mostly those."

  "It says cars will be impounded."

  "They will be if they're still here when the restaurant starts really needing the parking. Up until then, there's no point in aggravating potential customers. That cam tells them who didn't go in the restaurant after they parked. People who do plan on being customers will check in if they're going to be late ones, because they know there's a point when the threat will kept. In a place like this, probably between seventeen-thirty and eighteen. If they don't like it, they'll thank us for being polite, tell us and we'll hunt some more, or give up and move it again in a half-hour. Mmm, smells good in here. Hello! We have fifteen coming for dinner, but not til about eighteen. Your lot was the only place we could find to park for more than a half-hour, just one car though and we will move it after dinner. The hot little white one with red interior."

  "Nice car. Nice of you to ask. Come about a quarter-til if you can. Tonight, we'll bring out the fresh seafood for the salad bar at ten til and it can go in ten. We change the schedule of when we bring it out every night so the place won't be packed, but I recommend you have plates in hand by then. We restock twice, but not as soon as it runs out or we'd have people sitting here three hours eating just shellfish for the price of two plates of vegetables. We're looking forward to serving the Hadlain family dinner."

  "You obviously know who we are."

  "Margy's friend Chelse said we'd been recommended and make sure we take real good care of you."

  "You've already started. Thank you. See you about a quarter til. Oh, which way is the Pigeon Coop?"

  "A half-block left."

  "Thanks."

  Boer smiled when they walked in the door and Jobe grabbed him. It had been bright outside and was rather dim in the bar. He felt him relax when his eyes began to adjust. He understood why it had frightened him. The day was proving very valuable as a learning experience.

  Tommy held up two bottles of ale. Boer grinned and headed for the three tables shoved together in the corner. Anverd had mentioned the brand, twice. He noticed Cal had a remote comp board in front of her with a wrist chron laying on top of it. He raised an eyebrow.

  "Li said, 'Nice, tech. Got an idea.' She went in, chose a board and a couple of parts, bought them and borrowed a couple tools. The store owner is probably still giggling. The chron is built to accept comp input. She just 'reconfigured things a little' to operate the house comp through it with a remote board. She's got a scramble connect to Anverd through it. They ordered nine more chrons, three more boards, six data pads she said would reconfigure the same way, the sound system we liked and parts. Li likes the tracer. We'll pick up all but the nine chrons when we get ours. Mim has an idea too."

  "Let's hear it, Mim."

  "I think Tommy is right about apartments, but not on that block. That man is supposed to make everyone dislike him. I think the re-zoning push is to make the owners of the store and kiosk fight and enlist the business community to help. They need more space, not less. 'Residential' is the word they want out. They buy suddenly rezoned property cheap because they already hold the notes, level about ninety dwellings and put a fee parking lot there. They offer to clear the mortgage debt on the farms for the land along the gravway. They get that zoned multi-dwelling residential and build a bunch of cheap ugly stacks of apartments. They'll rent fast for higher than they're worth because of the housing shortage they created."

  "I don't like them."

  "This time I thoroughly agree, Jobe. This is good."

  "I do like it."

  "Slowly, Jobe, or we'll be carrying you to dinner. That has a higher alcohol content than most you've had. You evidently had problems finding a parking place again, which is what gave Mim the idea."

  "We did, Dirda. Boer said park in the reserved lot behind Pards and tell them we were coming for dinner or we'd have still been driving around."

  "They knew just who we were, the Hadlain family. They're expecting us. Evidently Chelse has a friend who works there. Deciding to ask if it would be all right to park got us a recommendation for a time for dinner based on the short duration of the stock of seafood on the salad bar. Basically get in the door five minutes ahead of stocking time, which is changed daily, get our plates and get close. A quarter til."

  "Boer, I've got weird."

  "What kind of weird, Cal."

  "I've got a connection that goes... too far. What? Why those areas? Rural university towns with big ports within about fifty k. Uh-oh. That did it. I'm out. Anverd just yelled he needed all the comp and brain capacity he had and he hoped it was enough. Boer, we hit Yarrow sector."

  "Say what?"

  "Our ugly is just an ugly like a bunch of other uglies. Somebody is handing them the idea, the technique and providing the financing. There are several doing about the same thing on several worlds in the same kind of area, all working on creating a housing shortage and filling it. Their only connection is someone is backing them. We tracked sector debt purchases. They have to be registered. Anverd guesses someone has plans for a big market expansion, drugs from the university and port proximity, distribution from apartment complexes whose owners owe them and have to cover the drug dealing or admit what they did. The fact they took money from them makes them guilty by association, even if they didn't do anything actually illegal in creating the housing shortages. He's hunting a connection to nine worlds that are too average. He thinks the plan is too long-term to have originated with the people who want to expand the market and someone is using them. He won't be able to get much farther. He's about to hit lag time."

  "Create a market and change the product, or add something to it, corrupt a generation. In ten years, they'll be the middle managers or supervisory techs and have the attitude you just ignore drugs. Yes, they're illegal, but everybody goes a little over the speed limit too. It's socially acceptable."

  "Boer, Tommy presents a very possible scenario, even without something added to the drugs. 'Everybody does it' is more powerful than the law. We're social animals. If something becomes socially acceptable, people will do it because they want to be socially accepted."

  "True, Barri. Respect for the law and authority are taught as social ideals by the culture, not in classrooms. One of the main difficulties in enforcing drug laws is making the ethical connection. They aren't hurting anyone else when they do them; therefore, the laws they're breaking are 'legislated morality.' Even speed limits can be seen as reducing the probability of doing injury to others."

  "I came up with a section heading in your text as support for that, Tori. It was very
interesting. If my stomach wasn't churning, I'd have probably found it humorous. They're not trying to take a chunk out of the empire, they're trying to destroy it. Why?"

  "The Imperial fleet. 'We want to be a sector. We want to sign a treaty. Let us join. We need protection. Send the fleet.' It's how the empire ended up with two hundred fifty-five worlds."

  "Yes, Lola, it is, and I'm beginning to wonder if the ones who originated the plan are human. If they're not, our species, not just the empire, is under attack and this is war."

  "You personally won the greatest battle so far, Boer."

  "What battle, Tori?"

  "You decided you would do what was necessary and accepted Jobe. The first world expected to pull out of the empire didn't set the precedent."

  "Credits were moved to Yarrow sector. The plan to take over Nunture and enslave the population may not have originated on it."

  "I agree, Eddy. I wasn't all that impressed with the people being groomed for advancement."

  "Neither was I, Aura, and the building program to cover the population reduction in orbital surveys was extremely sophisticated."

  "So was the comp program, Dona. I think they blew it when they presented Jobe. It was an opportunity to put the planet in their personal control, not that of the next group of bureau directors and senior deputies."

  "It just goes to prove my mother was right, Cal."

  "About what, Nora."

  "That working hard to please a healthy appetite is one of the most important things a person can do for the species. If those people hadn't worked so hard to do it, Boer wouldn't have wanted more U pups and we wouldn't have learned someone is attacking us."

  Boer nearly choked on his ale. He managed to get the mouthful down and joined in the laughter. Nora had decided they couldn't do anything else about what they'd learned that evening but worry and she had other plans for it. Building the memory of all being together and having a good time was productive. Worrying was not.