“I’ve waited for something like this, hoped for it all my life, but never expected anything of this magnitude. Only one thing bothers me.” He turned sharply to stare at the watching Katherine. “Has she filed a claim on it?”
228
i
Ye Who Would Sing
“No,” Caitland told him. “It should still be open land.” Morris relaxed visibly.
“No problem, then. Who is she, anyway?”
“A research botanist,” Caitland informed him, and then the words tumbled out in a rapid stream. “She’s found a way to make the trees reproduce after transplanting, but you need a full forest group, at least two hundred and six trees for it. If you leave at least that many, out of the thousands, we’ll be able to mine it like a garden, so there’ll always be some trees avail-ble.”
“That’s a good idea, John, except that two hundred and six trees works out to about twenty million credits. What are you worrying about saving them for? They live two, sometimes three thousand years. I don’t plan to be around then. I’d rather have my cash now, wouldn’t you?”
“Ari?” Caitland’s counterpart looked alert. “Go to the skimmer and call Nohana back at the lodge; Give him the details, but just enough so that he’ll know what piece of land to register. Tell him to hop down to Vaanland and buy it up on the sly. No one should ask questions about a piece of territory this remote, anyway.”
The other nodded, started for the door but found a small, gray-haired woman blocking his way.
“I’m sorry, young man,” she said tightly, looking up at him, “I can’t let you do that.” She glanced frantically at Caitland, then at Morris and Hashin. “You can’t do this, gentlemen. I won’t permit it. Future generations—”