Read Online Man Who Used the Universe by Alan Dean Foster - Free Book Online
Authors: Alan Dean Foster
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entered into the syndicate's computers. A born administrator.
"That's why you and Khrys are still here," he told the older man, "and the other two are not." His gaze traveled across the room to Khryswhy. "Basright here is smart enough to know how stupid he is, whereas you, Khrys, are smart enough to know how smart I am."
She fiddled with the airborne folds of her dress, uncertain what to say. "You certainly have a low opinion of yourself, Kees vaan Loo-Macklin."
"Have you ever known me to suffer from false modesty?"
"No."
"It's not a question of opinion but of fact. I'm here. Other people who were careless are not."
"I'd be redundant then," she continued, lighting up a blue dopestick of legal manufacture but laced with highly illegal hallucinogens, which the Ninth Syndicate imported to Evenwaith, "in saying that Amoleen and Nubra's passing was accidental."
He nodded once.
"How come no one in my section reported any of this to me?" She glanced over at Basright. "What about you?"
He shook his head violently. "None of my people knew about it or had anything to do with it. At least, none that I know of, sir." He frowned at a sudden thought. "They've all been busy with their regular work, and Nubra was responsible for any stronger 'coercive measures' business required. Who did you get to vape him and Amoleen? If something major like that was afoot I should have heard rumors of it, at least."
"Five years," Khryswhy was murmuring. "They worked for you for five years."
"They got tired of me," he said bluntly, folding his hands across his enormous chest. His eyes dropped to study his interlocked fingers.
"I knew they were plotting against me as early as two years back, but they were valuable people. Within their own sections they performed with great efficiency."
"If you knew all this time that they were out to get you," she asked him curiously, "why didn't you ever let them know that you knew? Maybe none of this would have happened."
Loo-Macklin shook his head. "That's not how people's minds work, Khrys. I know a little about human nature. I've been forced to learn. If I'd confronted them with what I'd learned they would have denied everything. Then they would have bided their time and hatched some new plot, which I might have been lax in uncovering.
"Five years ago I told them, as I told you, that within a year I would triple the syndicate's earnings. Well, we're now the largest, most prosperous illegal enterprise on Evenwaith. We've absorbed four of the original twelve syndicates. With some more hard work and perseverance, I think that within another year we will control more than two thirds of the underworld commerce on this planet. That will put us in a dominant fiscal position vis-Ã -vis any possible competitors." Basright nodded agreement.
"I've also initiated expansion operations on Helhedrin and Vlox. Quietly, of course, and in such a way that the small local syndicates there are as yet unaware of our intentions."
Khryswhy gaped at him, half-rising from her chair. "But otherworld expansion by syndicates is . . ."
"Illegal?" He laughed, as he rarely did, a high-pitched sound almost like barking.
"Sometimes I wonder at the way our galactic society is structured, let alone how it manages to muddle along so effectively. Crime syndicates are illegal by definition and are supposed to restrict themselves to a single world. To prevent them from attaining a dangerous amount of power, I presume.
"Meanwhile, legal corporations and syndicates, which destroy the surfaces of whole worlds with their operations, are permitted to expand wherever they're able. I see little enough difference in our activities." There was unusual passion in his voice, and Basright and Khryswhy watched in fascination as he paced the room.
"We will expand. It's vital to our continued security. I see no reason why we can't."
"You'll find out why when word of what you're trying to do reaches the Board of Operators on Terra and Restavon,"
"That's why you and Khrys are still here," he told the older man, "and the other two are not." His gaze traveled across the room to Khryswhy. "Basright here is smart enough to know how stupid he is, whereas you, Khrys, are smart enough to know how smart I am."
She fiddled with the airborne folds of her dress, uncertain what to say. "You certainly have a low opinion of yourself, Kees vaan Loo-Macklin."
"Have you ever known me to suffer from false modesty?"
"No."
"It's not a question of opinion but of fact. I'm here. Other people who were careless are not."
"I'd be redundant then," she continued, lighting up a blue dopestick of legal manufacture but laced with highly illegal hallucinogens, which the Ninth Syndicate imported to Evenwaith, "in saying that Amoleen and Nubra's passing was accidental."
He nodded once.
"How come no one in my section reported any of this to me?" She glanced over at Basright. "What about you?"
He shook his head violently. "None of my people knew about it or had anything to do with it. At least, none that I know of, sir." He frowned at a sudden thought. "They've all been busy with their regular work, and Nubra was responsible for any stronger 'coercive measures' business required. Who did you get to vape him and Amoleen? If something major like that was afoot I should have heard rumors of it, at least."
"Five years," Khryswhy was murmuring. "They worked for you for five years."
"They got tired of me," he said bluntly, folding his hands across his enormous chest. His eyes dropped to study his interlocked fingers.
"I knew they were plotting against me as early as two years back, but they were valuable people. Within their own sections they performed with great efficiency."
"If you knew all this time that they were out to get you," she asked him curiously, "why didn't you ever let them know that you knew? Maybe none of this would have happened."
Loo-Macklin shook his head. "That's not how people's minds work, Khrys. I know a little about human nature. I've been forced to learn. If I'd confronted them with what I'd learned they would have denied everything. Then they would have bided their time and hatched some new plot, which I might have been lax in uncovering.
"Five years ago I told them, as I told you, that within a year I would triple the syndicate's earnings. Well, we're now the largest, most prosperous illegal enterprise on Evenwaith. We've absorbed four of the original twelve syndicates. With some more hard work and perseverance, I think that within another year we will control more than two thirds of the underworld commerce on this planet. That will put us in a dominant fiscal position vis-Ã -vis any possible competitors." Basright nodded agreement.
"I've also initiated expansion operations on Helhedrin and Vlox. Quietly, of course, and in such a way that the small local syndicates there are as yet unaware of our intentions."
Khryswhy gaped at him, half-rising from her chair. "But otherworld expansion by syndicates is . . ."
"Illegal?" He laughed, as he rarely did, a high-pitched sound almost like barking.
"Sometimes I wonder at the way our galactic society is structured, let alone how it manages to muddle along so effectively. Crime syndicates are illegal by definition and are supposed to restrict themselves to a single world. To prevent them from attaining a dangerous amount of power, I presume.
"Meanwhile, legal corporations and syndicates, which destroy the surfaces of whole worlds with their operations, are permitted to expand wherever they're able. I see little enough difference in our activities." There was unusual passion in his voice, and Basright and Khryswhy watched in fascination as he paced the room.
"We will expand. It's vital to our continued security. I see no reason why we can't."
"You'll find out why when word of what you're trying to do reaches the Board of Operators on Terra and Restavon,"
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