“Yes, sir.” She changed connections. “Good night, sir.”
“Good night.”
Good girl, there. Loyal, he thought. Well, he hoped. He hadn’t dared use a new broom all the way; the administration had to have continuity. He signaled a number.
A voice without a face said, “Scramble Seven.”
” ‘Prometheus Bound,’ ” Thorby answered, “and nine makes sixteen.”
“Scramble set up.”
“Sealed,” Thorby agreed.
The face of Wing Marshal “Smith” appeared. “Hi, Thor.”
“Jake, I’ve got to postpone this month’s conference again. I hate to — but you should see my desk.”
“Nobody expects you to devote all your time to corps matters.”
“Doggone it, that’s exactly what I planned to do — clean this place up fast, put good people in charge, grab my hat and enlist for the corps! But it’s not that simple.”
“Thor, no conscientious officer lets himself be relieved until his board is all green. We both knew that you had lots of lights blinking red.”
“Well . . . all right, I can’t make the conference. Got a few minutes?”
“Shoot,” agreed “Smith.”
“I think I’ve got a boy to hunt porcupines. Remember?”
” ‘Nobody eats a porcupine.’ ”
“Right! Though I had to see a picture of one to understand what you meant. To put it in trader terms, the way to kill a business is to make it unprofitable. Slave raiding is a business, the way to kill it is to put it in the red. Porcupine spines on the victims will do it”
“If we had the spines,” the “X” Corps director agreed dryly. “You have an idea for a weapon?”
“Me? What do you think I am? A genius? But I think I’ve found one. Name is Joel de la Croix. He’s supposed to be about the hottest thing MIT ever turned out. I’ve gossiped with him about what I used to do as a firecontrolman in Sisu. He came up with some brilliant ideas without being prodded. Then he said, ‘Thor, it’s ridiculous for a ship to be put out of action by a silly little paralysis beam when it has enough power in its guts to make a small star.’ ”
“A very small star. But I agree.”
“Okay. I’ve got him stashed in our Havermeyer Labs in Toronto. As soon as your boys okay him, I want to hand him a truckload of money and give him a free hand. I’ll feed him all I know about raider tactics and so forth — trance tapes, maybe, as I won’t have time to work with him much. I’m being run ragged here.”
“He’ll need a team. This isn’t a home-workshop project.”
“I know. I’ll funnel names to you as fast as I have them. Project Porcupine will have all the men and money it can use. But, Jake, how many of these gadgets can I sell to the Guard?”
“Eh?”
“I’m supposed to be running a business. If I run it into the ground, the courts will boost me out I’m going to let Project Porcupine spend megabucks like water — but I’ve got to justify it to directors and stockholders. If we come up with something, I can sell several hundred units to Free Traders, I can sell some to ourselves — but I need to show a potential large market to justify the expenditure. How many can the Guard use?”
“Thor, you’re worrying unnecessarily. Even if you don’t come up with a superweapon — and your chances aren’t good — all research pays off. Your stockholders won’t lose.”
“I am not worrying unnecessarily! I’ve got this job by a handful of votes; a special stockholders meeting could kick me out tomorrow. Sure research pays off, but not necessarily quickly. You can count on it that every credit I spend is reported to people who would love to see me bumped — so I’ve got to have reasonable justification.”
“How about a research contract?”
“With a vice colonel staring down my boy’s neck and telling him what to do? We want to give him a free hand.”
“Mmm . . . yes. Suppose I get you a letter-of-intent? Well make the figure as high as possible. I’ll have to see the Marshal-in-Chief. He’s on Luna at the moment and I can’t squeeze time to go to Luna this week. You’ll have to wait a few days.”