“Not by choice it hasn’t been, sir.”
“I understand.”
“Thank you. I guess that’s everything then, sir. The Spindizzy is due in orbit here next week and I’ll be on it. I’ll make contact with my district representative as soon as possible. I don’t think it would do any good to try and resume my normal route where I left off, not almost two years late. For all I know my samples are a year out of date. Is Langan Ferris still my supervisor in this area?”
“Yes, Ferris is still out your way,” Malaika said indifferently. “But why the rush? What’s your hurry to be away?”
“What’s my hurry?” For an instant Ethan forgot whom he was talking with. “Sir, I’ve been stuck on this ice ball for more than a year. I’d like to get back to civilization. I’d like to converse in Terranglo instead of Tran, enjoy some civilized company and companionship.”
“Think of how you’ve positioned yourself, Fortune. Think of it! From what you’ve told me you’re uniquely familiar with the natives and their ways. With their culture and their desires, their wants. You’re best qualified to advise the new Resident Commissioner on how to deal with these Tran.
“If this local federation or union or whatever it is continues to mature and grow, these Tran will be ready to apply for associate status within the Commonwealth in a very short time. If they are accepted it means that their world will be upgraded from a restricted Class IVB to a IVA. They might even qualify for a special Class II. That means they would be allowed access to reasonably sophisticated goods and services. Goods and services which outside concerns would bid to provide.” Ethan tried to inject an objection but Malaika raised a hand and rushed on.
“You have gained the trust of these people. I do not need to tell you how important trust is when you’re trying to sell somebody something. You know the natives and what they would want. You could so advise the new Resident Commissioner.”
“Please, sir.” Ethan found he was starting to sweat. It was clear where Malaika was heading and Ethan searched desperately for a side road. “Any company rep could do what I’ve done. I’d be glad to brief anyone you decide to send out here. Myself, I’m looking forward to getting back to my old routine.”
“Old routine. It defines itself.” Malaika leaned back in his chair. “That’s for your average, mildly competent, unimaginative salesman.”
“But sir, that’s what I am.”
“Your modesty does you credit, Fortune. I couldn’t begin to ask a man like you, who’s been through what you’ve been through, accomplished what you’ve accomplished, to go back to the dull, boring grind of visiting the same old places and talking to the same old customers. I wouldn’t dream of asking it of you.”
“Ask it of me, please.”
Malaika went on as though he hadn’t heard the last: Perhaps he hadn’t, though Ethan doubted it. The head of the House hadn’t missed anything else.
“I envy you, Fortune; yes, I do. To have enjoyed the experiences you have and emerged from them wiser and more knowledgeable is something the rest of us, chained to our computers, can only imagine. The life of a travelling sales rep is clearly not for you, no, clearly not.”
“Begging to differ with you, sir, but I don’t have an adventurous bone in my body. Everything that’s happened has been an accident, and I’m tired of living an accident.”
Malaika nodded. “I understand, truly I do, Fortune. You’ve tired of aimless wandering, you’re tired of being bounced around the surface of a backward, primitive world. You want some stability, want to know where you’re going to be from day to day. You want a regular routine again, want to know that tomorrow’s work is assured and not radically different from what you’ve done today.”
Ethan relaxed a little. For a while there he feared he wasn’t going to be able to make his point. “Yes, that’s exactly what I want, sir. If it’s not too much to ask.”
“Of course not. We are in agreement, then.”
Ethan sat up straight in his chair. “We are?”
“Certainly. Taking into account all that you have told me, I have no choice but to appoint you as full factotum representing the House of Malaika on Tran-ky-ky. You will supervise the establishment and growth of a full-scale trading operation. With your unique knowledge and experience to draw upon, we will have a near monopoly on trade with the locals before any of the other great houses so much as get wind of the possibilities there. There are possibilities, I take it?”
“Yes sir, but as to the need for a permanent representative …”
“Every world no matter how recently opened to trade requires a permanent representative. A lucky man I am to have someone well qualified already on the spot!” Again Ethan hastened to argue and again Malaika overrode any incipient protests.
“Naturally such a promotion and increase in responsibility carries with it a hefty rise in salary. You can look forward to a better and earlier retirement, Fortune. You will have people under you to supervise. No more worrying about lost commissions and an irregular income.”
“Even so, sir, I …”
“Don’t thank me, don’t thank me. You’ve earned this. It’s an opportunity that comes rarely to one your age. Normally one serves twenty to thirty years before being appointed a factotum. And after our monopoly has been secured and you’ve trained a solid core of new people to handle the business, the House would consider transferring you to another world. Paris, say, or New Riviera.”
Ethan hesitated. By themselves the promotion and increase in salary weren’t sufficient to make him consider staying, but the possibility of obtaining both and then taking them with him to one of the paradise worlds, that was something worth thinking about. More than that, the offer was tempting. A factotum on a world like New Riviera could make an enormous amount of money while working in the most congenial surroundings the Commonwealth had to offer.
Even so, the memories of the bone-chilling arctic cold, the unceasing wind, and the more prosaic dangers of Tran-ky-ky were far fresher in his memory than tridees of warm beaches on unvisited worlds. Not that he didn’t have a choice. He could accept promotion and promise or he could quit and take the next ship one way to Drax IV and start looking for a new profession. Drax IV was a nice civilized world but not a major one. Jobs there might not be so easy to come by.
“Don’t thank me,” Malaika said again. “I will make arrangements for an account to be opened in the company’s name for you to draw upon. Within, oh, say a few weeks I’ll expect to see a comprehensive report on our prospects there, I’ll need to know what kind of approach you think we should begin with, what kind of assistance you’ll need, what sort of office equipment, what trade goods will be admissible under the planet’s current status, that sort of thing. I have complete confidence that you will do a thorough and businesslike job. Your raise in pay will be entered into the company’s computers immediately. I think that’s everything.” He reached forward to break the connection, paused.
“One more thing. How did you manage to pay for this communication, anyway?”
“Through a gift from a friend,” Ethan muttered dazedly.
“Ah. A very good friend indeed. Well, I have enjoyed our little conversation immensely, yes, immensely. Perhaps some day circumstances will allow you to visit Moth and we can meet in person. Lovely place, Moth. All the amenities with none of the concomitant restrictions and plenty of room for a man to stretch his legs as well as his mind.”
“Sure.” You wouldn’t want to risk freezing your precious backside by coming out here, of course, Ethan thought. If he’d known Maxim Malaika better, he wouldn’t have thought that. Or maybe he would have. He was mad: at Malaika, and at himself.
“Good-bye then, Fortune. Kwa heri. I’ll be looking forward to reading that report.”
The screen filled with static, then blanked. The operator fiddled with a few instruments, then swiveled in his chair to regard them both. “Transmission broken at the other end. Anything else?”
Una
ble to reply, Ethan simply shook his head as he stood. And he thought he was a pretty good salesman. The operator unsealed the bubble, letting them out. The line of waiting bureaucrats gaped at them as they strode silently out into the corridor.
“There now, young feller-me-lad, everything’s going to turn out all right.” September put a comforting arm around Ethan’s shoulders.
“Sure it is. For Malaika.”
“What about the money?”
“Money can’t buy happiness, Skua.”
“Well now, lad, it appears our philosophies differ on that point. You have to admire your boss. Made the whole thing seem as much your idea as his. He never actually gave you the choice to make.”
They turned a bend in the corridor. “The raise and the promotion are gratifying, sure. I just wish they applied on a slightly more benign world.” He nodded toward one of the insulated windows at the perpetual snow and ice outside.
“What’s this? Losing your affection for good ol’ Tran-ky-ky? I thought you’d feel right at home here by now, feller-me-lad. It ain’t as though you’re going to be skidding across the ice in the Slanderscree for the next few years. You’re going to have underlings to do the fieldwork for you while you sit back here in the commercial building in your nice warm office, staring at entertainment tridees and reading good books. With the deep-space beam in place you don’t have to feel cut off from what’s happening in the rest of the Commonwealth. There’ll be news, and new visitors—maybe you can hire a few competent young ladies to help you out—and in a few years, if all goes well here, you’ll get yourself boosted over to Paris or some place soft.”
“You make it all sound so reasonable and inviting. You sure you don’t work for Malaika on the sly?”
“Not likely, lad. And if the Tran qualify for associate status, you’ll be able to use a skimmer when you do have to make checks on your people out in the field. Your promotion will be good for you and good for our friends.”
“If it’s all so wonderful, why don’t you call Malaika back and offer to take the job?”
September’s eyes widened. “What, d’you think I’m crazy? I’m getting out of here on the next ship!”
II
EVERY BUILDING AT THE outpost where humans could expect to meet with Tran was equipped with a transition room, a chamber where the temperature was lowered to just above freezing. It enabled humans to talk unburdened by survival suits, while the Tran found it bearably tropic; a climate where different races from different temperatures could get together. Hunnar Redbeard was to meet them here. They waited in the corridor for the Tran to arrive.
Maybe Skua was right. The decision had been made. Nothing to gain from moping and moaning about his fate. There were plenty of people who would gladly have traded places and opportunities with him. And if he changed his mind, he could quit anytime. Sure he could. Just throw away his job, his career, his seniority within the House, and, as Malaika had so irresistibly put it, the chance of a lifetime for someone his age.
“At least I’ll have one old friend to keep me company.”
“Oh, you’ll make plenty of friends here,” September readily agreed. “Not all of them are likely to be as stiff-necked and tight-assed as that bunch back in communications. You’ll strike up all sorts of friendships as you get to meet the personnel.”
“I wasn’t talking about new friendships.”
“What’s that?” The giant eyed him askance. “Whoa now, feller-me-lad, you know better. When the Spindizzy settles herself in orbit, I’m up and away for Alaspin, I am. For Alaspin and a warm climate and the understanding solicitudes of a lady friend.”
“What was all that then about Tran-ky-ky’s wonderful opportunities and its delightful people?”
“All true, all true, young feller-me-lad, and just think of the good you’ll sip from that glass. I’d gladly stay and keep you company save for my prior obligations.”
“What obligations? A two-year-old half promise to join some archaeologist on a distant world? She’s probably forgotten all about you by now.”
“Ah, now, feller-me-lad, there you’re mistaken. Those who meet old Skua don’t forget him so fast, and a promise is a promise even if I am to be a bit late fulfilling it.”
Ethan nodded disgustedly. “That’s it then? You’re just going to run out on me?”
“Now, lad.” September looked hurt. “I’m not running out on you. You’ve chosen to stay here. You can still leave with me if you want to.”
“Sure I can.”
“Sure’s the word. Would you really deny me the choice you deny yourself? After all, I don’t have so much as a job here.”
“I can give you one. I’m going to be in charge, remember. You could be my executive assistant. I’m sure I could arrange a good salary for you.”
“Not good enough, feller-me-lad. Old Skua, he ain’t much for regular employment. I like to kind of keep moving around, if you know what I mean.”
Ethan turned away from him. “All right, then, go on, leave, forget it. Forget me, too. See if I care.”
“I had hoped,” September told him softly, “that our final parting when it came would be under more pleasant circumstances. We’ve been through too much this past year and more to say farewells without smiles, feller-me-lad.” Ethan didn’t reply. “Let’s put it another way. Would you ask anyone else to stay here if they didn’t have to?”
The younger man considered, slumped against the wall. “No. No, you’re right, damn you. It’s wrong of me to expect you to stay just to make it easier on me. You’re carrying around enough emotional baggage without me dumping extra guilt on you.” He managed a smile. “Maybe it’ll help if I can think of one of us enjoying himself someplace else relaxing and taking it easy in the sun.”
“I think you’ve a false conception of what archaeology’s all about, feller-me-lad. From what I’ve heard this Alaspin’s as primitive as they come. Don’t think they’ve got a deep-space beam dug in there yet. But if warmth can be transmitted by telepathy, I’ll do my best to share some with you. Maybe one of these days we’ll both meet under more comforting circumstances.” He looked past Ethan, through the transparent walls that lined both sides of the transition room.
“Let’s put made decisions aside. Here come our friends.”
Ethan turned. Hunnar and his two squires, Suaxus-dal-Jagger and Budjir, were approaching from outside. They halted at the entrance to the chamber, then stepped inside, waving at their human friends. They couldn’t come any farther since the temperature in the outpost would lay them out with heatstroke inside fifteen minutes.
As Ethan and Skua passed into the meeting room, a blast of cold air struck their exposed skin. Leaving the comforting confines of the outpost was always a shock, and this wasn’t even outside. Out on the ice beyond, the midday reading hovered between twenty and thirty below zero—on a clear day. Near the poles it was so cold that if not for the steady circulation of the atmosphere, the air itself would have frozen and fallen to the ground like dust.
Hunnar looked a little heavier than usual, Ethan mused. Marriage was already showing its effects. Greetings were exchanged.
“Well, friend Ethan, were you able to talk across the night to your Landgrave?” At the look on Ethan’s face the Tran adopted a tone of concern. “It went badly?”
“No, not badly. It’s just that—well, it was decided that I’m to stay here and continue with my work.”
“Here?” Suaxus’s pointed ears twitched forward. “With us? But that be wonderful news, Sir Ethan!”
“It is good,” Hunnar agreed. “I understand if you will not be able to return to Sofold with us, but because we now have the Slanderscree we will be able to come and visit you.”
“Yes, and one day I’ll be able to travel in a skimmer.” Despite what Malaika had said about letting employees do the fieldwork Ethan knew he could hardly turn a bunch of innocents lose on the surface of Tran-ky-ky without personal supervision. They wouldn’t last a month. The Tran
would eat them alive, perhaps literally.
“I know that our climate and some of our people are not to your liking,” Hunnar said perceptively, “and that mayhap you wish still to return to your home, but when and wherever possible we shall strive to make a home for you here, among us.”
“It won’t be bad,” Ethan assured him, talking as much to himself as to his friends. “For a salesman, home is where you plug in your order screen.” And he had friends here already, he reflected. Unlike humans, when you made friends with a Tran you had a friend for life. He clapped a hand on Hunnar’s arm, feeling the thick bristly fur through the sensitive glove of his survival suit. “Let’s go see how the Slanderscree’s repairs are coming along. Now that I hold an official position here, I’m going to be able to help you a lot more. Anything Captain Ta-hoding requires in the way of joints or glue or bolts, I’ll be able to requisition from outpost stocks and charge to the company. I can put it all down to priming the customers.” He flipped up his hood but kept the ice visor unsealed. Maybe he couldn’t help himself but he could damn well help his friends.
“That’s the spirit, feller-me-lad.” September hung back. “While you’re out looking over the old Slanderscree I’m going to be getting what personal possessions I have together. The Spindizzy’s shuttle should be arriving pretty quick now and I won’t want to be late.”
Ethan turned at the exit to grin back at his friend. “You know these commercial shuttles. Some of them are pretty small.” September was six foot ten and built like a tank. “What if they don’t have a seat wide enough to fit you?”
“Why in that case, lad, I’ll have the factotum for the House of Malaika order me up a special crate and I’ll ship myself out as cargo.” He winked. “Happens as how I know the factotum himself and he owes me a favor or two.”
In fact, September was not quite ready for departure when Ethan thumbed the privacy buzzer set in the door of the small apartment the giant had been allotted. Several days had passed and the Spindizzy’s shuttle rested in the outpost hangar, still taking on cargo and comments.