Empire

by Clifford D. Simak

  _CHAPTER NINE_

  Ludwig Stutsman pressed his thin, straight lips together. "So that's thesetup," he said.

  Across the desk Spencer Chambers studied the man. Stutsman was like awolf, lean and cruel and vicious. He even looked like a wolf, with hislong, thin face, his small, beady eyes, the thin, bloodless lips. But hewas the kind of man who didn't always wait for instructions, but wentahead and used his own judgment. And in a ruthless sort of way, hisjudgment was always right.

  "Only as a last resort," cautioned Chambers, "do I want you to use theextreme measures you are so fond of using. If they should provenecessary, we can always use them. But not yet. I want to settle thisthing in the quietest way possible. Page and Manning are two men whocan't simply disappear. There'd be a hunt, an investigation, an uglysituation."

  "I understand," agreed Stutsman. "If something should happen to theirnotes, if somebody could find them. Perhaps you. If you found them onyour desk one morning."

  The two men measured one another with their eyes, more like enemiesthan men working for the same ends.

  "Not my desk," snapped Chambers, "Craven's. So that Craven coulddiscover this new energy. Whatever Craven discovers belongs toInterplanetary."

  Chambers rose from his chair and walked to the window, looked out. Aftera moment's time, he turned and walked back again, sat down in his chair.Leaning back, he matched his fingertips, his teeth flashing in a grinunder his mustache.

  "I don't know anything about what's going on," he said. "I don't evenknow someone has discovered material energy. That's up to Craven. He hasto find it. Both you and Craven work alone. I know nothing about eitherof you."

  Stutsman's jaw closed like a steel trap. "I've always worked alone."

  "By the way," said Chambers, the edge suddenly off his voice, "how arethings going in the Jovian confederacy? I trust you left everything ingood shape."

  "As good as could be expected," Stutsman replied. "The people are stilluneasy, half angry. They still remember Mallory."

  "But Mallory," objected Chambers, "is on a prison ship. In near Mercurynow, I believe."

  Stutsman shook his head. "They still remember him. We'll have troubleout there one of these days."

  "I would hate to have that happen," remarked Chambers softly. "I wouldregret it very much. I sent you out there to see that nothing happened."

  "The trouble out there won't be a flash to this thing you were tellingme about," snapped Stutsman.

  "I'm leaving that in your hands, too," Chambers told him. "I know youcan take care of it."

  Stutsman rose. "I can take care of it."

  "I'm sure you can," Chambers said.

  He remained standing after Stutsman left, looking at the door throughwhich the man had gone. Maybe it had been a mistake to call Stutsman infrom Callisto. Maybe it was a mistake to use Stutsman at all. He didn'tlike a lot of things the man did ... or the way he did them. Brutalthings.

  * * * * *

  Slowly Chambers sat down again and his face grew hard.

  He had built an empire of many worlds. That couldn't be done with gentlemethods and no sure goal. Fighting every inch from planet to planet, hehad used power to gain power. And now that empire was threatened by twomen who had found a greater power. That threat had to be smashed! Itwould be smashed!

  Chambers leaned forward and pressed a buzzer.

  "Yes, Mr. Chambers?" said a voice in the communicator.

  "Send Dr. Craven in," commanded Chambers.

  Craven came in, slouchily, his hair standing on end, his eyes peeringthrough the thick-lensed glasses.

  "You sent for me," he growled, taking a chair.

  "Yes, I did," said Chambers. "Have a drink?"

  "No. And no smoke either."

  Chambers took a long cigar from the box on his desk, clipped off the endand rolled it in his mouth.

  * * * * *

  "I'm a busy man," Craven reminded him.

  Puckering lines of amusement wrinkled Chambers' eyes as he lit up,watching Craven.

  "You do seem to be busy, Doctor," he said. "I only wish you hadsomething concrete to report."

  The scientist bristled. "I may have in a few days, if you leave me aloneand let me work."

  "I presume that you are still working on your radiation collector. Anyprogress?"

  "Not too much. You can't expect a man to turn out discoveries to order.I'm working almost night and day now. If the thing can be solved, I'llsolve it."

  Chambers glowed. "Keep up the good work. But I wanted to talk to youabout something else. You heard, I suppose, that I lost a barrel ofmoney on the Ranthoor exchange."

  Craven smiled, a sardonic twisting of his lips. "I heard something aboutit."

  "I thought you had," said Chambers sourly. "If not, you would have beenthe only one who hadn't heard how Ben Wrail took Chambers for a ride."

  "He really took you then," commented Craven. "I thought maybe it wasjust one of those stories."

  "He took me, but that's not what's worrying me. I want to know how hedid it. No man, not even the most astute student of the market, couldhave foretold the trend of the market the way he did. And Wrail isn'tthe most astute. It isn't natural when a man who has always played thesafe side suddenly turns the market upside down. Even less natural whenhe never makes a mistake."

  "Well," demanded Craven, "what do you want me to do about it? I'm ascientist. I've never owned a share of stock in my life."

  "There's an angle to it that might interest you," said Chamberssmoothly, leaning back, puffing at the cigar. "Wrail is a close friendof Manning. And Wrail himself didn't have the money it took to swingthose deals. Somebody furnished that money."

  "Manning?" asked Craven.

  "What do you think?"

  "If Manning's mixed up in it," said Craven acidly, "there isn't anythingany of us can do about it. You're bucking money and genius together.This Manning is no slouch of a scientist himself and Page is better.They're a combination."

  * * * * *

  "You think they're good?" asked Chambers.

  "Good? Didn't they discover material energy?" The scientist glowered athis employer. "That ought to be answer enough."

  "Yes, I know," Chambers agreed irritably. "But can you tell me how theyworked this market deal?"

  Craven grimaced. "I can guess. Those boys didn't stop with just findinghow to harness material energy. They probably have more things than youcan even suspect. They were working with force fields, you remember,when they stumbled onto the energy. Force fields are something we don'tknow much about. A man monkeying around with them is apt to find almostanything."

  "What are you getting at?"

  "My guess would be that they have a new kind of television working inthe fourth dimension, using time as a factor. It would penetrateanything. Nothing could stop it. It could go anywhere, at a speed manytimes the speed of light ... almost instantaneously."

  Chambers sat upright in his chair. "Are you _sure_ about this?"

  Craven shook his head. "Just a guess. I tried to figure out what I woulddo if I were Page and Manning and had the things they had. That's all."

  "And what would you do?"

  Craven smiled dourly. "I'd be using that television right in thisoffice," he said. "I'd keep you and me under observation all the time.If what I think is true, Manning is watching us now and has heard everyword we said."

  Chambers' face was a harsh mask of anger. "I don't believe it could bedone!"

  "Doctor Craven is right," said a quiet voice.

  Chambers swung around in his chair and gasped. Greg Manning stood insidethe room, just in front of the desk.

  "I hope you don't mind," said Greg. "I've been wanting to have a talkwith you."

  Craven leaped to his feet, his eyes shining. "Three dimensions!" hewhispered. "How did you do it?"

  Greg chuckled. "I haven't patented the idea, Doctor. I'd rather not tellyou just now."
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  "You will accept my congratulations, however?" asked Craven.

  "That's generous of you. I really hadn't expected this much."

  "I mean it," said Craven. "Damned if I don't." Chambers was on his feet,leaning across the desk, with his hand held out. Greg's right hand cameout slowly.

  "Sorry, I really can't shake hands," he said. "I'm not here, you know.Just my image."

  Chambers' hand dropped to the desk. "Stupid of me not to realize that.You looked so natural." He sat back in his chair again, brushed his graymustache. A smile twisted his lips. "So you've been watching me?"

  "Off and on," Greg said.

  "And what is the occasion of this visit?" asked Chambers. "You couldhave held a distinct advantage by remaining unseen. I didn't entirelybelieve what Craven told me, you know."

  "That isn't the point at all," declared Greg. "Maybe we can get tounderstand one another."

  "So you're ready to talk business."

  "Not in the sense you mean," Greg said. "I'm not willing to makeconcessions, but there's no reason why we have to fight one another."

  "Why, no," said Chambers, "there's no reason for that. I'll be willingto buy your discovery."

  "I wouldn't sell it to you," Greg told him.

  "You wouldn't? Why not? I'm prepared to pay for it."

  "You'd pay the price, all right. Anything I asked ... even if itbankrupted you. Then you'd mark it down to loss, and scrap materialenergy. And I'll tell you why."

  * * * * *

  A terrible silence hung in the room as the two men eyed one anotheracross the table.

  "You wouldn't use it," Greg went on, "because it would remove thestranglehold you have on the planets. It would make power too cheap. Itwould eliminate the necessity of your rented accumulators. The Jovianmoons and Mars could stand on their feet without the power you ship tothem. You could make billions in legitimate profits selling theapparatus to manufacture the energy ... but you wouldn't want that. Youwant to be dictator of the Solar System. And that is what I intend tostop."

  "Listen, Manning," said Chambers, "you're a reasonable man. Let's talkthis thing over without anger. What do you plan to do?"

  "I could put my material engines on the market," said Greg. "That wouldruin you. You wouldn't move an accumulator after that. YourInterplanetary stock wouldn't be worth the paper it is written on.Material energy would wipe you out."

  "You forget I have franchises on those planets," Chambers reminded him."I'd fight you in the courts until hell froze over."

  "I'd prove convenience, economy and necessity. Any court in any land, onany planet, would rule for me."

  Chambers shook his head. "Not Martian or Jovian courts. I'd tell them torule for me and the courts outside of Earth do what I tell them to."

  * * * * *

  Greg straightened and backed from the desk. "I hate to ruin a man.You've worked hard. You've built a great company. I would be willing, inreturn for a hands-off policy on your part, to hold up any announcementof my material energy until you had time to get out, to save what youcould."

  Hard fury masked Chambers' face. "You'll never build a material energyengine outside your laboratory. Don't worry about ruining me. I won'tallow you to stand in my way. I hope you understand."

  "I understand too well. But even if you are a dictator out on Mars andVenus, even if you do own Mercury and boss the Jovian confederacy,you're just a man to me. A man who stands for things that I don't like."

  Greg stopped and his eyes were like ice crystals.

  "You talked to Stutsman today," he said. "If I were you, I wouldn't letStutsman do anything rash. Russ Page and I might have to fight back."

  Mockery tinged Chambers' voice. "Am I to take this as a declaration ofwar, Mr. Manning?"

  "Take it any way you like," Greg said. "I came here to give you aproposition, and you tell me you're going to smash me. All I have to sayto you, Chambers, is this--when you get ready to smash me, you'd betterhave a deep, dark hole all picked out for yourself to hide in. BecauseI'll hand you back just double anything you hand out."