‘Maybe so,’ Chic agreed, nodding.
Obviously it was hopeless to try to reason with him. Al could see that; so could Ian. Nicole had won another convert and she was not even here to enjoy it; she was not even interested. ‘Back to your job, is it?’ Al said.
‘That’s right.’ Strikerock nodded. Back to the stale routine.’
‘You’ll never make it here to this lot again,’ Al said. ‘This is undoubtedly absolutely the last chance you’ll ever have to break away in your entire life.’
‘Maybe so,’ Chic Strikerock said, nodding morosely. But he did not budge.
‘Good luck,’ Al said bitingly, and shook hands with him, ‘Thanks,’ Chic Strikerock said, with no trace of a smile.
‘Why?’
Al asked him. ‘Can you explain to me why she affected you so?’
‘No, I can’t,’ Strikerock said. ‘I just feel it. I don’t think it. It’s not a logical situation.’
Ian Duncan said to Al, ‘And you felt it, too. I watched you. I saw the expression on your face.’
‘Okay!’ Al said with irritation. ‘So what?’ He walked away from them and stood by himself, smoking his pipe and gazing out the window of the office at the jalopies parked outside.
I wonder, Chic Strikerock wondered, if Maury will take me back. Maybe it’s too late; maybe I burned my bridges too well. At a public phonebooth he dialled Maury Frauenzimmer at the factory. Taking a deep shuddering breath he stood with the receiver pressed to his ear, waiting.
‘Chic!’ Maury Frauenzimmer yelled, when his image appeared. He beamed, expansive and younger-looking with a radiant, triumphant joy that Chic had never witnessed before. ‘Boy, am I glad you finally called! Come on back here, for chrissakes and — ‘
‘What’s happened?’ Chic said. ‘What’s up, Maury?’
‘I can’t tell you. We got a big order; that’s all I can say over the phone. I’m taking on men right and left. I need you back; I need everybody! This is it, Chic, what we’ve been waiting for all these goddam years!’ Maury seemed almost on the verge of tears. ‘How soon can you get back here?’
Muddled, Chic answered, ‘Very soon. I guess.’
‘Also,’ Maury said, ‘your brother Vince called. Trying to get hold of you. He wants a job. Karp fired him or he quit or something — anyhow he’s looking everywhere for you. He wants to get on here, situation-wise, alongside of you. And I told him if you recommended him — ‘
‘Oh sure,’ Chic said absently, ‘Vince is a first-rate ersatz technician. Listen, Maury. What is this order you’ve got?’
A slow, secretive expression appeared on Maury’s wide face. ‘I’ll tell you when you get here; don’t you understand? So hurry!’
Chic said, ‘I was going to emigrate.’
‘Emigrate, shmemigrate. With this you don’t have to, now. We’re set up for life; take my word for it — you, me, your brother, everybody! I’ll see you.’ Maury abruptly cut the connection at his end; the screen died.
It must be a government contract, Chic said to himself.
And whatever it is, Karp’s lost it. That’s why Vince is out of a job. And that’s why Vince wants to work for Maury; he knows.
We’re now a Ge outfit, Chic said to himself with exultation. We’re at last, long last, on the inside.
Thank god, he thought, that I didn’t emigrate. I drew back just on the brink, just in the nick of time.
Finally luck, he realized, is with me.
This was absolutely the best — and most decisive — day of his life. A day, in fact, which he would never forget as long as he lived. Like his boss Maury Frauenzimmer, he was all at once thoroughly, completely happy.
Later on, he was to look back to this day …
But he did not know that now.
After all, he did not have access to von Lessinger equipment.
12
Chic Strikerock leaned back against his seat and said expansively, ‘I just don’t know, Vince. Maybe I can get you a job with Maury, maybe not.’ He was thoroughly enjoying the situation.
They were on their way together, he and Vince, up the autobahn by car, heading towards Frauenzimmer Associates. Their centrally controlled but private vehicle spun along, expertly guided; they had nothing to worry about in that department and it left them free for more important considerations.
‘But you’re hiring all sorts of people,’ Vince pointed out.
‘I’m not the boss, though,’ Chic said.
‘Do what you can,’ Vince said. ‘Okay? I really would appreciate it. After all, Karp is going to be methodically ruined, now. That’s obvious.’ He had a peculiar, miserable, hangdog expression which Chic had never seen before. ‘Of course, anything you say is all right with me,’ he murmured.
‘I don’t want to put you to any trouble.’
Pondering the matter, Chic said, ‘I think also we should settle this business about Julie. This is as good a time as any.’
His brother’s head jerked; Vince stared at him, his face twisting. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Call it a tie-in deal,’ Chic said.
After a long pause Vince said wooden, ‘I see.’
‘But’ — Vince shuddered — ‘I mean, you said yourself — ‘
‘The most I’ve ever said is that she makes me nervous. But I feel a lot more psychologically secure, now. After all, I was about to be fired. That’s all changed; I’m part of an expanding, growing company. And we both know it. I’m on the inside and that means a lot. Now I think I can handle Julie. In fact I ought to have a wife. It helps ensure status.’
‘You mean you intend to formally marry her?’
Chic nodded.
‘All right,’ Vince said, at last. ‘Keep her. Frankly I don’t give a damn about it. It’s your business. Just as long as you get me on at Maury Frauenzimmer’s place; that’s all I care about.’
Strange, Chic thought. He had never known his brother to be that concerned with his career, to the exclusion of any other topic. He made a mental note of it; perhaps it meant something.
‘I can offer Frauenzimmer a lot,’ Vince said. ‘For example, I happen to know the name of the new der Alte. I picked up some scuttlebutt at Karp’s, before I left. You want to know it?’
Chic said, ‘What? The new what?’
‘The new der Alte. Or don’t you understand what this contract is that your boss has got away from Karp?’
Shrugging, Chic said, ‘Sure. I know. I was just startled.’
His ears rang from shock. ‘Listen,’ he managed to say, ‘I don’t care if it’s going to be called Adolf Hitler van Beethoven.’ The der Alte; so it was a sim. He felt really good, knowing that. This world, Earth, was a fine place to live in, at long last, and he meant to make the most of it. Now that he was truly a Ge.
‘It’s name is going to be Dieter Hogben,’ Vince said.
‘I’m sure Maury knows what it’ll be,’ Chic said nonchalantly, but inside he was still nonplussed. Utterly.
Bending, his brother turned on the car radio. ‘There’s some news about it already.’
‘I doubt if there would be so soon,’ Chic said.
‘Quiet!’ His brother turned up the volume. He had a news bulletin. So everyone, throughout the USEA, would be hearing it, now. Chic felt a little disappointed.
‘ … a mild heart attack which doctors revealed occurred at approximately three A.M. and which has given rise to widely-held fears that Herr Kalbfleisch may not live to serve out his term of office. The condition of der Alte’s heart and circulatory system is the subject of speculation, and this unexpected cardiac arrest comes at a time when — ‘ The radio droned on. Vince and Chic exchanged glances and then suddenly both of them burst into laughter. Knowingly and intimately.
‘It won’t be long,’ Chic said. The old man was on his way out; the first of a series of public announcements had now been made. The process ran a regular course, easily predictable. First, the mild, initial heart attack, coming out of the blue, thought at first to be merely indigestion, this shocked everyone but at the same time it prepared them, got them used to the idea. The Bes had to be approached in this manner; it was a tradition, and it functioned smoothly, effectively. As it had each time before.
Everything’s settled, Chic said to himself. The disposal of der Alte, who gets Julie, what firm my brother and I are working for … there are no loose ends, troublesome and incomplete.
And yet. Suppose he had emigrated. Where would he be now? What would his life consist of? He and Richard Kongrosian … colonists in a distant land. But there was no use thinking about that because he had turned that down; he had not emigrated and now the moment of choice had passed. He shoved the thought aside and turned back to the matter at hand.