by Gian Bordin
"That was brave of you, granddaughter."
"The timid and fearful do not survive on Aros, grandfather."
"Did your father by chance also give you the access password for his research records?" asked Ko Young. "You know that he was a famous scientist with UniCom."
That did not take long, she mused to herself. "No, uncle, but I made a lucky guess. Both my parents were extremely fond of the ‘Whispers in the Wind’ poetry. In fact, a leather-bound copy of the book was lying on a low table in the ship lounge when we entered, as if its owner had just placed it there and would be back shortly." Her last words said very softly brought tears to her eyes.
Her grandfather patted her hand. She felt understood. Regaining her calm, she continued: "And that also turned out to be the password… Not that we understood much of what was on those files. If UniCom is interested in getting them, we would be happy to download them for you."
"I doubt that there is anything of much interest to us anymore. It has been over twenty years, and things have made big strides, although it would be appropriate to add it to our historical records. I will ask one of our scientists to arrange it with you. He will call you here."
"Yuen-mong will not be living here," interjected her grandfather. "I have given her permission to arrange her own accommodation."
For several seconds, there was a stunned silence around the table. Yuen-mong sensed the instant rise in emotions of the young women and, in particular, Pat’s growing resentment, and responded by meeting her grandfather’s gaze. Did he secretly enjoy the commotion he caused? she mused. I think I’m going to like the old man.
"But this is highly irregular," exclaimed Pat, showing his outrage openly. "How can we make sure she lives according to the covenant?"
"Cousin, how do you assure that the Foundation members living in the Sanctum honor the covenant?" She locked eyes with him. "I hired a young woman the other day to help me set up an apartment, and she claims that her former employer, a Foundation member, tried to coerce her to have sex. Is that not against the covenant?"
The three young women were visibly embarrassed by her openness.
"Oh, you cannot believe everything you hear, particularly not from a lazy and clumsy domestic."
"Cousin, tell me, why do you think she is lazy and clumsy?"
She heard Susan suck in her breath and look at Pat accusingly. The latter turned crimson. The poor fellow — he constantly gives himself away.
"Ha, they all are," he replied petulantly.
"You speak of experience?"
"Yes."
"So, why do you then hire them if that is the case?"
"Pat, I think you have met your match," remarked her grandfather drily. "But let us not spoil this first gathering with trivialities."
"Thank you, grandfather," Yuen-mong murmured and respectfully lowered her head, while Pat continued staring at her, not even trying to hide his hatred.
"I am curious why Syd Twan was the first person you approached on arrival in Androma," queried her uncle.
"Oh, that is simple. My parents always hoped that sooner or later, some or all of us would make it back to Andromatis. So my mother instructed me that the first person I must contact who would help me get in touch with my relatives was Syd Twan."
"Why not one of us, or the Foundation which has representatives on all planets in the Galactic Federation?"
"She never talked to me about the Foundation. I only discovered its existence when we read old Foundation Families news updates of 2405 or 6 that were in the ship’s AI files. I was also afraid that I might be taken as a fraud, and that Syd Twan as a lawyer would advise me correctly."
"I think you acted wisely, my granddaughter," remarked the old man, cutting off any further questioning. Ko Young raised his eyebrows, but let the subject drop.
The rest of the meal passed without further controversy. The talk revolved mainly about stone-age daily life on Aros. It was Mai and occasionally Bee who asked questions. Susan never opened her mouth, except to eat. Pat also remained silent throughout, putting on a studied, bored expression. His growing resentment toward her and the unspoken words of some of the others began pressing on her mind, absorbing more and more of her energy.
Mai made Yuen-mong promise to visit her after having settled into her new apartment. Her uncle gave her a contact to arrange for the downloading of the research files, and then she was driven back to the hotel in one of her grandfather’s chauffeured limousines.
14
"How did it go?" asked Atun, jumping up from his chair and coming to meet her, as she entered the room.
"Hold me, Atun," she replied and melted into his embrace, eyes closed, suddenly aware of the tension that she had carried inside her up to that moment.
"Was it that bad, love?" he murmurs, stroking her back.
"It was not bad. It was just taxing. I had to be constantly on my guard, weigh up what I said, but it was mainly their mental emanations which were oppressive — intense curiosity mixed with pity, but unwilling to talk openly about it … and then the hidden resentment of some, the open hatred of Pat Young, you know, the guy who tried to coerce Anouk?" She paused and held him closer. "It’s good to be again with somebody where I can be myself."
She kissed him and let go. "I actually liked the old man, my grandfather. I think he is OK. I felt he understood me. But the others were difficult, particularly Pat Young. I clashed with him several times and had to make an effort to hold back … not always successfully, I must admit." She paused. "So I met two more people on my list. Pat is too young to have had anything to do with it. There is the oldest brother who has gone into retreat about twenty years ago — a rather curious coincidence, you agree?"
"Or more ominous."
"Yes. What is even stranger, my grandfather is apparently the only person who knows where he is, and whom he visits him regularly. If I interpreted Syd’s hint correctly, he is mentally ill."
She sat on the edge of the bed, undoing her hair. "My grandfather wanted me to live in his house, with my uncle as my guardian. But I convinced him that I needed my own space and that I already had a partner." She smiled at him.
"And how did that go down?" questioned Atun, standing in front of her.
"He said that the covenant is flexible and can accommodate special circumstances. He wants to meet you." She got up and undressed, while begging: "Atun, I’m tired. Are you willing to come to bed with me, let me snuggle up to you?"
"Oh Yuen-mong, you know that I love nothing better than that."
He helped her undress and then joined her in bed. She started recounting word-for-word what had happened and then almost in the middle of a sentence fell asleep.
* * *
Saturday, after their morning exercise in the gym, they moved into their apartments and put Anouk in charge of stocking their kitchen. Yuen-mong instructed her that she wanted naturally grown foods, none of those artificial substitutes, and that cost was no consideration.
Atun installed hidden surveillance equipment in both units that would record any unauthorized entry and send a text message to their wristunits.
Monday morning, Syd Twan notified Yuen-mong that all inheritance matters had been finalized and only her signature was needed for it to take effect. They dropped by his office the same afternoon. Miss Blacey proudly showed her the new necklace that her jeweler had crafted from two of the gold nuggets, with the smallest and most irregular one used as a pendant.
Syd asked about the family reunion and was relieved to hear that everything seemed to have gone reasonably well. He then went over her financial position. In addition to the over fifteen million in ready credits, she owned her mother’s villa, valued at about eighteen million, shares in UniCom amounting to five percent of all shares issued, as well as investments in other conglomerates and real estate valued conservatively at half a billion credits.
"Your total wealth is about five and a half billion credits," Syd concluded, looking at her with a pleased smi
le.
She sensed that Atun was stunned, but these figures had little meaning to her. She quickly calculated that this was about 10,000 times the amount they got for the ten kilograms of gold. "The equivalent of about 100 tons of gold? Is that much?" she asked, looking from one to the other. Both men smiled, seemingly amused.
"It’s staggering," exclaimed Atun.
"You are one of the richest women in the galaxy, if not the richest," said Syd. "Naturally, you cannot touch your shares in UniCom. They form part of an honor agreement between the two main shareholding groups of UniCom, the Young and the Deng dynasties, which each hold 27 percent of the company shares. Any increase in shares of one requires an equal increase in shares of the other."
So lack of money will not be an obstacle to my quest, she mused, guessing Atun’s similar thought. In fact, this wealth opened up untold possibilities. "Are you willing to manage my fortune according to my instructions?"
"I would gladly do this, but I doubt that this would be wise. It is currently managed by your uncle, who also exercised the proxy votes on your mother’s behalf for the last ten years. He would see this as a vote of no confidence, and your appearance, barely a month before the inheritance procedure they had initiated became final, has already caused considerable misgivings and friction. I advise you to leave things the way they are right now, at least for the foreseeable future."
She exchanged a brief glance with Atun that confirmed her own view. "My uncle can still exercise the voting rights on my behalf. I don’t understand much about that anyway. No, I want an outsider to be my financial advisor, and I would like it to be you. That is the only way I can remain independent. If I allow them to interfere in my financial matters, they will also try to dictate my private life, and I have been my own master for the last eight years and have no intention of giving that up."
Syd looked at her with admiration. "You are your mother’s child. Since you put it that way, I will accept that duty under one condition, that you talk to your uncle about it first."
She smiled. "Certainly. May I now sign all documents?"
* * *
"One of the richest women in the galaxy, Yuen-mong. Did you hear?" Atun exclaimed as they left Syd Twan’s office, still overwhelmed by the size of her fortune.
"It has raised the stakes of what I can do to revenge my parents. Are you still willing to help me? I would like you to."
"Yes, love, I do, but I want you alive, not dead."
"I want to stay alive too, and I will. We can now go ahead with our plans full steam — what a funny expression. What does it mean?"
"I think it’s an old saying from Old Earth, five, six hundred years ago when they built the first locomotive engines that were driven by producing steam pressure." He smiled, hugging her shoulder. "Sometimes I forget that you are a stone-age survivor."
She answered his smile and then turned serious. "Have you settled yet on an electronics firm to build the equipment needed?"
"I’ve given this some more thought. I could do it myself, but that would take about six to eight months. The main advantage of this would be that nobody else is involved."
"Yes, but I would prefer things to happen faster."
"There’s another reason for doing it fast. In a bit over three months there is the galactic communications convention here in Androma. That’s an annual event sponsored by UniCom, where everybody in the communication field will either be present in person or linked up at various remote locations. This would be the ideal forum to demonstrate instant communications to the whole galaxy. If it’s disclosed there, there is no way to suppress it anymore."
"Oh, Atun. Fantastic. How did you find out?"
"I knew that it was an annual event and searched for its date the other night. There is still time to register for it and submit a conference paper."
"What’s that?"
"It’s actually a misnomer. In the olden times, applicants would submit to the conference organizers a document, usually on new research findings or on new theories, actually printed on paper, and then either read it or talk about it to an audience of other interested researchers. Today, one submits an electronic file containing an extensive summary of what one proposes to present. There’s always a session or two on telepathy, viewed by most serious researchers as discredited, but tolerated at the conference for its entertainment value. All sorts of crazy ideas may be presented there and none are taken seriously. So a presentation with a title of ‘remote communication by empathy’ would be accepted. Obviously it would be under my name. Yours can’t appear or else it’ll raise suspicions. And my proposal would also has to disguise the full nature of instantcom."
She beamed and kissed his cheek. It surprised him every time she did it. "So we have a date to aim for. Can you get the equipment made in time to allow us testing it out prior to the convention?"
"I think so. It looks to me that the devices can be built as several separate modules and it would be wise to use separate firms to produce each module. They should be able to do this within a month. Some parts I can buy finished and then I put everything together. Like this no firm really knows what they’re building."
"Yes, that’s an excellent idea."
"I also think that we should select small, unknown firms."
"And as a diversion we also should at the same time make preparation for a trip back to Aros —"
"— such as getting a new shuttle. We need one in any case."
"Yes, but we also want to have it modified so that it can be used with both electronic and manual control where absolutely nothing, not even energy sources, involve electronics, and that must be kept secret too."
"You’re really serious about visiting Aros again?"
"Yes. At least I want to keep the option open."
"Since the PA4 class hasn’t been produced for a long time, a suitable shuttle will have to be constructed especially and that would make it easier to have dual control built in. So I also need to find a suitable shuttle manufacturer. That means we need to go back to the ship to get a copy of the ship’s specifications, and I’ll also need to prepare separate specifications for each module —"
"— and while we are on the ship, we also download all of father’s research records for UniCom," interrupted Yuen-mong with an amused twinkle. "Let’s go tomorrow and take Anouk along. She can help me tidy up the ship while we are there."
* * *
The next day, Atun visited three small electronics outfits, while Yuen-mong continued her training of Anouk and also signed her up for further study through the extramural Free University of Androma to occupy her ample free time. All three agreed to build the modules they were given within one month and Atun paid half the cost on signing the contracts. Rather than charge it to his personal account, he used the one under the name Aros Enterprises he had set up specially for these transactions. Another precaution to make detection more difficult.
For Thursday, Yuen-mong had arranged an appointment with her uncle at her grandfathers’s house where he had lived ever since the tragic death of his wife ten years earlier. She asked Atun to accompany her. The relatives might as well get to know her partner. They took a taxi to the Sanctum gate they had entered illegally and were promptly admitted when she presented her own thumb. They again strolled leisurely through the park, taking a different path. As they approached the pedestrian area that led to the covered shopping mall, three young men in aristocratic dress entered the park and came down the path. She sensed their snide remarks about her limp without the need to hear them. Atun grabbed her elbow, pulling her aside, and whispered: "We are expected to move aside."
"I won’t, not for snotty guys like these," she replied and, resisting his pressure, continued up the path, but leaving enough space to her left for two people to pass. The three continued to occupy the whole width and, as they encountered each other, everybody came to a halt. She answered their outraged looks with an amused smile.
"Move, cripple," sneered the one in the mi
ddle.
"Since you consider me a cripple, it is only courteous of you to move aside and let the cripple pass," she replied calmly.
"Insolent woman! I will teach you," he shouted, while raising his hand to slap her face, but he never connected. Her open left hand hit his wrist like a blade, while her right knee crunched into his groin. He crumbled to the ground, moaning. Then she countered the man on his right with a fist in his face. He staggered back, holding his bleeding nose, hollering. She looked at the third, but he stepped aside, raising both hands palms forward, and said: "Lady, I know when I face a superior force. Please pass."
She smiled at him and walked past, Atun at her side. He had not said a word, but now whispered: "They’ll call security. Let’s disappear quickly."
They hurried into the covered mall. The alarm sounded almost immediately and everybody around them stood still. Not sensing any danger, Yuen-mong continued walking.
Atun held her back. "Freeze," he whispered.
Only one uniformed man moved rapidly through the crowd toward them. He was armed with a laser gun and looked at her. Still, she felt no emanations.
"Who’s this?" she whispered.
"An android security device."
The android lifted his gun, pointing it at her, and a metallic voice said: "You are under arrest. Do not move."
She acted instinctively. In one swift flowing movement, her right hand ripped the sling from her pony tail while the left retrieved two stones from her top side pocket and a split second later the first and then the second stone flew at the Android, shattering the eye lenses. A fraction of a second later, she threw herself sideways, just barely avoiding the flash of his laser gun that made the safety glass of the display window behind her explode. In the same movement, she cartwheeled to him and kicked the gun from his grip. A new burst of alarm sirens broke the silence, followed by a second metallic voice hailing her from the other side of the mall. She quickly picked up the gun, and with short blasts disabled all six surveillance cameras. A final long blast sent the blind android smoking to the ground.
