Wearing a kimono of deep blue, decorated with the flying crane emblem of the Yamagata family, his father waited in patient silence until Nobu grew uneasy and turned from the fireplace. Then Saito greeted his son with a full-bodied embrace that delighted Nobu even though it squeezed the breath out of him. Altitude and bear hugs did not mix well.
“You’ve lost a kilo or two,” said the elder Yamagata, holding his son at arm’s length. “That’s good.”
Nobuhiko dipped his chin in acknowledgment.
Saito slapped his bulging belly. “I’ve found them! And more!” He laughed heartily.
Wondering how his father could gain weight in a monastery, Nobu said, “I spoke with Martin Humphries. He apparently does not know that we are backing the Africans.”
“And Astro?”
“Pancho Lane launched an investigation of Nairobi Industries. It has found nothing to tie us to them.”
“Good,” said Saito as he knelt slowly, carefully on one of the mats. It rustled slightly beneath his weight. “It’s better if no one realizes we are returning to space operations.”
“I still don’t understand why we must keep our interest in Nairobi Industries a secret.” Nobu knelt on the other mat, close enough to his father to smell the older man’s aftershave lotion.
Saito patted his son’s knee. “Humphries Space Systems and Astro Corporation are fighting for control of the Belt, aren’t they? If they knew Yamagata will soon be competing against them, they might combine their forces against us.”
Nobu shook his head. “Pancho Lane despises Humphries. And he feels the same about her.”
With a knowing grin, Saito countered, “They might hate each other, but their personal feelings wouldn’t stop them from uniting to prevent us from establishing ourselves in the Belt. Personal emotions take a back seat to business, son.”
“Perhaps,” Nobu conceded.
“Work through the Africans,” Saito counseled. “Let Nairobi Industries establish a base on the Moon. That will be our foothold. The prospecting ships and ore carriers they send to the Asteroid Belt will return profits to Yamagata.”
“One-third of our profits go to Humphries,” Nobu reminded his father.
The hardest thing that Nobuhiko had been forced to tell his father was that Humphries had bought into Yamagata Corporation back in the days when the greenhouse cliff had struck so hard that the corporation was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Humphries owned a third of Yamagata Corporation, and was constantly scheming to gain more. It had taken every gram of Nobu’s courage to tell his father that. He feared it would break the old man’s heart.
Instead, Saito had accepted the news stoically, saying only, “Humphries took advantage of the situation.”
With some heat, Nobu growled, “He took advantage of the catastrophes that struck Japan.”
“Yes,” Saito said, his voice a low rumble. “We’ll have to do something about that, eventually.”
Nobu had never felt so relieved, so grateful.
Now, Saito sat back on his heels and gazed out at the snowy mountains.
“Our first objective is to make certain that neither Humphries nor Astro Corporation learns that we aim to establish ourselves in the Belt.”
Nobu nodded his acknowledgment.
“The best way to accomplish that,” Saito went on, “is to keep them both busy fighting each other.”
“We’ve already destroyed a few automated freighters of both corporations, as you suggested. Pancho Lane blames Humphries, of course, and he blames her.”
“Good,” Saito grunted.
“But they’re not actually fighting. There’s a bit of piracy in the Belt, mainly by the man Fuchs, but he is one lone madman, without support from anyone except a few of the rock rats.”
“He may be the key to the situation, then.”
“I don’t understand how,” said Nobu.
“Let me think about it,” Saito replied. “Our objective remains to keep HSS and Astro focused on each other. Fuchs could be an important element in this. Properly exploited, he could help us to stir this simmering enmity between Pancho Lane and Martin Humphries into a major conflict.”
“A major conflict?” Nobu asked, alarmed. “You mean actual fighting? War?”
“Business is a form of warfare, son. If Astro and Humphries fight each other out there in the Belt, it can only be to our benefit.”
Nobuhiko left his father with his mind whirling. Set Humphries and Astro against each other. Yes, he decided, it would be in Yamagata Corporation’s best interest to do so. And this exile Fuchs could be the pivot that moves the stone.