Yuen-Mong's Revenge

by Gian Bordin

  The beaming face of the mayor was replaced by the scene in the Palo night sky. Almost instantly, the noise level in the conference hall rose to pitch level.

  Atun went to the lectern, raising his arms, trying to call for silence. It took several minutes. There was only a sliver of obscuration left on the Palo moon. He noticed that several people were probing around the equipment and Anouk with signal measuring devices, shaking their heads.

  "Participants, what you have seen is, as Yuen-mong Shen has said, the first demonstration of instant space communication. HST signals to or from Palo take about twelve standard hours. Instantcom has no delay."

  The murmur that had persisted rose again in intensity.

  "Please, have the courtesy to let me speak… You can have your laugh afterward, but as Yuen-mong said, she will have the last laugh. Instantcom is the work of one of the foremost communication researchers the galaxy has ever known, Dr. Takash Scardan, Yuen-mong Shen’s father. He disappeared over twenty standard years ago on his way back to Andromatis from Santori, where he had just supervised the extension of the HST network to that mining planet. He was diverted to Aros, the planet of no return, to investigate the mineral composition of its ring. The only records of his instantcom work remained lost in a space ship that was orbiting Aros during all these years. It was rediscovered by Yuen-mong Shen and myself when we managed to escape Aros a few months ago, and we have now demonstrated its feasibility. The equipment is completely portable and in time will be reduced in a size to little more than a hand-held video interface connected to the helmet worn by a medium who merges her or his mind with an equally equipped matched medium somewhere in space — in a space ship in transit, a space station, or on another planet. It is a process akin to telepathy that happens outside the full awareness of the two mediums. That is all I’m willing to disclose at this time, for obvious reasons, nor will I entertain any questions now. Thank you for your forbearance."

  In the uproar that followed, he went over to Anouk and helped her finish packing the equipment. Ignoring the protests of the session chairman and other officials, they quickly left the stage by a side door to the waiting transport vehicle, the same one that had picked them up at the space port.

  * * *

  Chen Young did not attend the conference. He had attended many and now left it to the younger members of his family to do their duty. Although the telepathy sessions were known to be good entertainment, he had not gone to any, not since his youth, when he enjoyed them as the highlight of several conferences. Many presentations were intended to be deliberate hoaxes. There was a spirit of competition who could come up with the most implausible ideas and present them in a believable manner that left many people in the audience confused and uncertain. And woe to those who sincerely believed that their work on telepathy should be taken seriously. They often ended up as the laughing stock of the conference. But he had been too busy for idle fun of that sort while he was actively leading UniCom in either the capacity of chairman or co-chairman. As he had gradually withdrawn from active involvement in the day-to-day management of UniCom three years ago when his son became chairman of the board, he had again begun following some of the proceedings via their broadcasts. So this year he made it a point to tune in on the telepathy session.

  After a supposedly humorous but actually boring introduction, the cameras focused on the first speaker. The name sounded vaguely familiar and then he recognized Atun Caruna and with him was a young woman that he thought he had once seen at his grandson’s villa, although she was in an elegant, stylish dress. Was Yuen-mong back? His son’s contacts on Palo had never been able to trace Vishnu, except for two stays on its moon after it had already departed from there.

  When Yuen-mong’s face appeared on the screen, wearing a helmet, he instantly knew that this was not the beginning of a hoax, but that she was finally going to reveal her hand. He recognized the very distinctive silhouettes of the mountains north of Cherni and admired her cool and poise in response to the calls and laughter from the audience. Yes, she would have the last laugh, and it would cost UniCom dearly. He found it difficult to reconcile the many facets of her that he had learned to know — her humility toward him, her warmth for Mai and Ming, both of whom were very dear to him, her seemingly naive, almost juvenile response to the Foundation Covenants and rules, the deep, lingering sorrow over her parents’ death revealed in her song to their souls, and now this.

  That was it! The missing pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place. She blamed her parents’ death on UniCom. In her eyes all of them were guilty, and this was her revenge, a revenge as ruthless as the way she had dealt with his son’s inept people. She knew what it implied. Had she not sold her shares to his son, even at a bargain price? The fool. He reached for his comunit and called him. It took a long time before the call was answered and his son’s ashen face appeared on the screen.

  "The bitch, how could she do this to us," Ko Young spouted immediately, "and there she boasted that she never lied; not telling us that she had found the records of Scardan’s research in Vishnu’s system."

  "Ranting won’t get you out of this. Pull yourself together, and she did not lie. Did you ever ask her directly about it? … No, you only hinted and she parried you cleverly. But that is of little importance now. Have you already contacted Kim Deng?"

  "No, but I will shortly."

  "And what strategy do you have in mind?"

  "We have to get hold of them and their equipment. Once we have that we can declare it a hoax, the most elaborate ever concocted. I think that will fit in well with her notoriety. Maybe we should even have her put into seclusion and get rid of her lover and the girl. That should be no problem."

  "You have not learned anything, have you? Do you expect that she did not foresee this possibility? Do you know where Caruna and the equipment are? Your people did not even know that he was back or would present at the conference. Caruna left right after the presentation. He will be out of your reach again and, if you catch him, all you will do is to botch it up again. But the difference now is that, if anything happens to any of them, the finger will be firmly pointed as UniCom. I predict that UniCom will already be blamed for the previous two failed attacks. Once the press has realized that this is no hoax, and that will be in eight hours, she will become a hero superwoman. Don’t even think of touching her, Caruna or the girl. We have to find a way to work with her. That may be the only way to salvage what is left of UniCom."

  "Why do you always defend her? She deceived you. She destroyed your family’s heritage."

  "I am not defending her. I only recognize that she has a superior mind, a mind that we must harness for us, not fight. We are bound to lose. If you finally get that into your thick head, then maybe we will get somewhere. I told you that you would rue the day you bought her shares."

  "Yes, she did it on purpose, and I am now in serious financial difficulties… Father, I will get back to you later. Kim Deng has just signaled."

  Chen Young remained sitting, pondering, watching the conference broadcast absentmindedly. The session had degenerated into chaos. The session chairman’s repeated appeals were ignored. More and more people were squeezing into the already packed hall. The announcer reported that all other sessions had emptied out and that the committee was considering canceling the rest of the sessions for the day. She never does anything by half measure, he mused idly. What will her next move be? Will she set up her own company and will this spell the end of UniCom? With its monopoly gone, its major source of revenue would dwindle, leaving little or no profits. UniCom might as well get out of that business and put whatever resources were left into its subsidiary activities, shrink to twenty percent of its current size. The demise of the Young and Deng dynasties, unless she could be brought inside.

  * * *

  Half an hour after Atun and Anouk exited from the conference hall, Miss Blacey ushered them into Syd Twan’s office.

  "Mr. Twan will be back shortly," she apologized.
"Please make yourself comfortable."

  Atun set up the equipment once more and Anouk got ready, the helmet in her lap. They would connect with Yuen-mong shortly, this time in the presence of Syd Twan. When he entered the office, Atun noticed that he was in a state of extreme agitation. He did not even greet them, but immediately asked: "What has Yuen-mong done now? I just heard that the UniCom conference has been thrown into chaos. The rest of the afternoon sessions have been abandoned. The news broadcast said that this was the most elaborate and most ingenious hoax ever presented at a telepathy session." His face was one big question mark, as he looked at Atun, then at Anouk’s helmet and the equipment.

  "Mr. Twan, you’ll know in a moment. Anouk, are you ready?"

  "What are you doing?" questioned Syd Twan.

  "Hasn’t Yuen-mong told you that she would contact you around this time and that she wanted us present?"

  "Yes."

  "Then let’s start. Anouk, signal when you have contact."

  He turned on the equipment. A few seconds later, Yuen-mong’s face appeared on the flat screen he directed toward Syd Twan. They could hear her voice.

  "Atun, Anouk, thanks, thanks. We did it… Syd, it’s really me."

  Anouk turned to Syd.

  "What you see is the way I see myself as I stand in front of a mirror," Yuen-mong continued. "And this is no hoax. It is communication over space without delay. I’m still in Cherni on Palo and I will depart with a planetary shuttle to Palo City in a few hours, when it’s daylight here, and then will board the daily commercial liner to Androma. I will be there in nine days."

  It took Syd Twan a moment to recover. "So this is what you two were up to. You realize you ruined UniCom? And the attacks on you were not robbery, but attempts to stop you. Do you have no respect for your own life? You could have been killed."

  "I faced that possibility whenever I left my cave on Aros. But I didn’t contact you to get a lecture."

  "Sorry, Yuen-mong, that was not my intention. It was my deep concern for your welfare… I now understand why you wanted to get rid of the UniCom shares. Indeed a very smart move and sufficiently ahead of time that it could not be called insider trading."

  "No, Syd, you do not understand. The reason for calling you is that I want you to buy as many UniCom shares as you can get your hands on."

  "But they will be worthless? Within a day or two their price will have dropped to a few cents."

  "That’s exactly the point. Once they’ve reached rock bottom and before they start to recover, say when they are down to between 5 and 10 percent of their current value, I want you to buy as many as my liquid assets allow you to, up to 51 percent."

  "I see, you want to get control UniCom. But why? It will be a worthless company. There are much better investments to increase your wealth."

  "Syd, I have my reasons, and I cannot reveal them to you now, nor is more wealth my aim. So, please do what I ask you to, and do it in a way so that nobody knows that you’re acting for me. Atun suggested that the purchases be made by a dozen or so independent agents and that they have clear and explicit instructions not to bid against each other."

  "I see. You realize though that only the shares not held by the Young and Deng families will be offered for sale and probably not even all of those. So there is no chance of getting 51 percent."

  "According to Atun, you might be in for a surprise. Have separate dealers approach each of the Young and Deng family members with 10 percent offers."

  "And what about the agreement between the Youngs and the Dengs about owning equal blocks? You are part of the Young family."

  "Maybe in their eyes, not in mine. I’m not bound by any agreements in which I had no say, and besides I’m a Shen." Her face took on a steely expression.

  "Yuen-mong, you are the toughest and most determined woman I know. But it just raises you in my esteem."

  They could see her smile. "See you soon, Syd… Atun, please take yourself and Anouk into orbit and land again only two hours after my commercial liner. I want you out of reach until then and want to be there when you land. Bye, take care."

  The screen went blank. Atun began packing the equipment. Syd Twan remained standing, his face pensive. After a while he said: "She is not just endangering herself, but also you. Can’t you make her listen to reason?"

  "I’ve full trust in her. The more impossible the obstacle, the more likely she’s to succeed. That’s her secret weapon. She has saved my life at least five times and some against all odds."

  "Is she always as ruthless as she was with the ones that attacked you at the space port?"

  "She’s ruthless to anyone who opposes her, but she never kills wantonly. I’ve seen her several times avoid confrontation in order to save lives."

  "What a school Aros must have been for her!"

  "It’s not just Aros. It’s her… Mr. Twan, thanks you for your help. I presume we may still use the transport you arranged to get back to the space port, and then we’ll follow Yuen-mong’s plea to go into orbit."

  "You really think that even now you are in danger?"

  "I’m not willing to take any chances and besides, if she says so, I do it.’

  20

  As the Palo’s liner got into orbit around Andromatis to await landing clearance, Atun contacted her on the standard channel. He warned her that an army of press and broadcast reporters was awaiting her arrival at the commercial terminal. She had expected that and was steeling her nerves against the ordeal. What surprised her more though was the VIP treatment she got from all officials at the terminal. Her luggage was brought to her on a driver-controlled vehicle before any other luggage appeared. No documents were asked of her and she was ushered into a totally packed terminal arrival hall. Banners hailing ‘Welcome home, Yuen-mong’ were displayed on the walls and hung from the high ceiling. Broadcast cameras were trained on her from several vantage points.

  Her first instinct was to withdraw, and then she caught herself. She forced a smile and stepped on the down escalator to the cheering and waving crowd that was kept back by a cordon of uniformed police. Her song ‘calling the soul of my parents’ playing softly over the public address system was drowned out. At the bottom of the escalator, a man who was introduced to her as Androma’s deputy mayor greeted her, and a young girl presented her with a huge bouquet of red roses. She bent down to the girl and kissed her cheek, saying "thank you," to the renewed cheering of the crowd.

  "Miss Shen, transport is waiting outside for you. But I’m afraid, before that you have to meet the press and answer a few questions."

  On cue, the cordon was opened and several dozen reporters and camera crews rushed to her. Within seconds she was completely surrounded, with questions shouted to her from all directions.

  Holding up her free hand, she shouted: "Please, one question at a time… I will answer six and I will choose the questioners myself."

  She waited for silence, while some reporters continued shouting questions. Finally they fell silent. She surveyed the group. Several reporters were holding up their hand. She pointed at a young man who had remained quiet. The woman next to him immediately shot out a question.

  Yuen-mong interrupted her: "Not you, lady, and don’t bother anymore. I want the young man next to you who has been waiting quietly."

  The young man blushed, saying: "Miss Shen, your invention —"

  "This is my father’s invention, I’m only the messenger."

  "— your father’s invention means the end of UniCom’s monopoly in space communications. UniCom as we know it may disappear. What is your comment on that?"

  "My father made this invention more than twenty years ago. If he could do it, other researchers would sooner or later have come up with it again. It was not a question of ‘if’ but only of ‘when’. It could have already happened twenty years ago. So, UniCom has hugely profited from the delay. It will break the HST monopoly, but UniCom is a highly diversified company and hopefully will survive."

  While s
he spoke, she probed the minds surrounding her and, as she spoke the last words, pointed already at a middle-aged woman, whose question she suspected would be embarrassing.

  "Since this invention is very damaging to UniCom, do you know or at least suspect that UniCom sent your father to Aros to get lost there, with the intention of suppressing the invention."

  She smiled. "People will grasp on various theories. I have a completely open mind. At this point, I have no evidence to support your conjecture, and I hope that my grandfather, Chen Young, will still love me after this."

  She pointed to an older man in the back.

  "Since your arrival in Androma four months ago, you have flouted Foundation etiquette, destroyed the invincible Foundation security system with a stone-age weapon, taken the galaxy by storm with the two top music hits, left a carnage on the tarmac of the Soro Space Port. Could you let us in on your next move so that we are ready when it happens?"

  Widespread cheering and laughter greeted his question.

  "Give me your business card, and I will let you know when it happens."

  "Business card? Lady, they went out of fashion over three hundred years ago."

  "Sir, forgive my ignorance. Six months ago I still lived in the stone age."

  Over the laughter of the spectators, she heard a shout: "What about beating the best in sport?"

  "That would be an interesting challenge, especially for somebody seen by the majority of you people as a cripple. I might consider it… The young woman with the pink hair."

  "Miss Shen, we women have noticed that you never wear any makeup. Would you tell us why?"