The Fifth Quadrant

by C. J. Ryan

  “There would have to be Dexta involvement. You think I’m running a corrupt sector?”

  “I don’t think any such thing,” Gloria insisted. “But corruption does happen. We don’t care if people are cheating on their taxes, but if they are doing it with help from someone in Dexta, that makes it an OSI matter.”

  “I suppose so,” Opatnu said with an air of glum resignation. “Look, Gloria, I like to think that I run a pretty clean shop, but you know as well as I do that there’s corruption of one sort or another in all twenty-four sectors. But there are some things you need to understand about my sector.”

  “Like what?”

  “Sector 19,” Opatnu began, “has the second-lowest population density of any sector. About forty percent of our territory was Ch’gnth space, before the war. Expansion and settlement were blocked for centuries. In consequence, we only have eighty-six colonies in the sector—far below average. But in the decades since the war, all that territory has opened up for us.”

  “And you now have the highest growth rate of any sector,” Gloria put in.

  “Right. Something to be proud of, but it also presents problems that are unique to Sector 19. Because of our low population density, the Big Twelve have never been very interested in doing business in the sector. Too much empty space, too low a rate of return. Postwar expansion has attracted them, of course, but mainly to the Frontier region. The older, occupied sections of the sector are still underserved by the big corporates. And so, a lot of the sector’s transport and commerce is in the hands of smaller local and regional concerns.”

  “Like Wendover Freight and Storage?” Gloria ventured.

  “Wendover?” Opatnu gave her a sharp gaze. “You think Wendover is doing the double-flagging?”

  “Possibly,” Gloria said.

  “Well,” Opatnu said, “I suppose they’d be the logical candidate. They’ve been the major shipper in the sector for a century or more. And it may be that they decided they need to cut some corners in order to stay in business these days, given the unique circumstances in the sector. We’ve got a pretty good boom going on in the outer regions, which are dominated by the Big Twelve, and at the same time, we’ve got long-term stagnation in the rest of the sector, where Wendover does its business. But Gloria, if Wendover is guilty of something like this, and you take them out, that could turn stagnation into outright recession, or worse. I’m not defending anyone’s criminal activity, understand, but I hope you’ll keep the big picture in mind as you pursue this.”

  “Well,” Gloria said, “I suppose I’ll just have to rely on you to keep reminding me of the big picture.” She leaned close to him and took his face in her hands. They locked eyes for a second, then plunged into a jigli-fired kiss that quickly evolved into eager groping.

  Opatnu untied Gloria’s robe and stared for a moment at her smooth, cocoa-colored flesh, the dark prominences of her straining nipples, and the honey-blond curls of her pubic mound. Meanwhile, she unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands over the taut, almost hairless expanse of his chest. Then her hands descended to his belt, unfastened it, and opened up his trousers.

  “Speaking of the big picture…!” she exclaimed.

  “Like I said,” Opatnu told her, “my sector is noted for its rapid expansion.”

  Opatnu thrust himself into her, and Gloria cried out in delight. He was, she decided on the spot, as skilled and impressive a lover as Charles. She spasmed in electric rapture, and only in the very back of her mind did it occur to her that the moment would have been even better if she had a little Twenty-nine.

  “I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I’LL BE leaving tomorrow for New Cambridge and the Quadrant Meeting. I suppose I’ll see you there.”

  Gloria stood in front of Cornell DuBray in his plush office, wearing a nearly transparent shirtdress, minimally buttoned. She wanted to give him a good look at her body—the body he would never again touch.

  “I guess Erik Manko won’t be making the trip with you, will he?” Gloria added.

  “What do you know about that?” DuBray snapped at her.

  Gloria shrugged innocently. “Only that he was attacked and badly beaten. Right here on the streets of Manhattan. Shocking, isn’t it, that such things still happen? But I’m sure he’ll recover, in time.”

  “A month,” DuBray snarled.

  “Well, I hope he’ll be more careful from now on. It would be terrible if something like that happened to him again.”

  “You’ve gone over the line, VanDeen,” DuBray growled.

  “Which line would that be?”

  “You went outside of Dexta to settle a personal matter. You couldn’t handle Manko yourself, so you hired some muscle to do the job for you. I’ve half a mind to have Internal Security look into this.”

  “Look into what? Manko’s misfortune happened out on the city streets. It’s a matter for the New York City Police Department, not IntSec. They have no jurisdiction.”

  “They do if I tell them they do. Don’t get too clever with me, VanDeen. You’d regret it.”

  “More threats and bullying, DuBray? Where’s all that upper-level finesse you’re so proud of?”

  “I can break you, VanDeen. Anytime I want.”

  “Would you like to try it here and now?”

  DuBray offered her a thin, cold smile. “We are of unequal levels, as you are well aware. Don’t think you can provoke me into physicality. I have other means at my disposal.”

  “You might give a little thought to some of the means at my disposal,” Gloria suggested. “I’m not some anonymous Ten cowering before the awful power of a Four. The public adores me, Norman Mingus has faith in me, and I have powerful friends and relations—and ex-relations.”

  That gave DuBray pause, as Gloria had intended it should. This was the first time in her Dexta career that she had so directly referred to her Imperial connections. She had always been determined to succeed at Dexta without any help from Charles and without trading on her link to him. But DuBray, with or without the services of Erik Manko, was the most powerful obstacle she had encountered, and she had finally accepted the fact that she couldn’t fight him with one hand tied behind her back. Fight dirty, Chandra had told her.

  “OSI has work to do in Quadrant 4,” Gloria told him. “We’ll be doing it on New Cambridge, during the Quad Meeting. Don’t get in our way, DuBray.”

  DuBray considered her words in silence for a few moments, then nodded slightly. “Very well, then,” he said. “You’ve decided on war.”

  “Call it what you want. I’m fighting back.”

  “You’re being stupid, VanDeen. I’m not alone in this, you know. All four Quadrant Administrators will be aligned against you.”

  “From now on,” Gloria said, “you should think of OSI as the Fifth Quadrant.”

  “THE FIFTH QUADRANT? BUT THAT DOESN’T EVEN make sense,” Grant Enright protested. “You can only have four quadrants.”

  “You have no poetry in your soul, Grant,” Gloria replied. “I kind of like it. And it exactly describes what OSI must become. In order to survive at all, we have to make ourselves as strong and independent as the Quadrants themselves, and their Administrators.”

  “Especially the Administrators,” said Enright, frowning a little.

  “It’s not simply personal, Grant. I mean—yes, it’s personal, but it’s much more than that. The Quad Admins mean to destroy or neuter the OSI. They intend to make life as difficult as possible for everyone in this office.” Gloria looked around the room, where the entire OSI staff had gathered. Some were sitting at the big conference table, and more were standing along the walls. All of them were staring at Gloria.

  “We are at war for our survival, people,” she said. “It’s as simple as that. I think OSI is worth saving, and I’m going to fight for it.” For a brief moment, Gloria thought she might be able to get away with turning this into a rah-rah, pep-rally speech, stirring the troops’ blood and getting them into a fighting mood. But she thoug
ht better of it, and went in another direction instead.

  “It’s going to get nasty, and it’s possible that sticking with OSI may not be good for the long-term health of your Dexta career. If anyone wants out, I’ll arrange for your transfer immediately. I won’t blame anyone who wants to make the sane, safe choice. You have a lot invested in being at Dexta, and I won’t force you to risk it for my sake.”

  “Oh, Gloria, darling,” Althea Dante interrupted, “don’t be so melodramatic about it. Of course we’ll stay and help you fight the evil Quad Admins! I think it will be delicious.”

  Althea was probably telling the truth, Gloria reflected. Althea had some strange notions about what was fun, but Gloria was grateful to her for the strategic support. After Althea had spoken, no one else could think of anything they wanted to say. Gloria let the silence go on for only a few seconds before swiftly moving to change the subject.

  “Elaine and I are off for New Cambridge in a Flyer tomorrow. But I really want to show the OSI flag at this meeting, so I’m sending a Cruiser, too. Jill, Althea, Brent, Darren, plus Arkady, and four or five of our Bugs. Our mission will be to assist Petra and Pug in their investigation on New Cambridge. Our real mission will be to sell OSI to everyone at the Quad Meeting. We are going to work that meeting like a local politician working a town fair or a funeral. Althea, when you get there, I want you to plan an OSI reception and dinner some night. Spare no expense, and forget about the entertainment budget. Bill me, if necessary. Just make certain it is the one event that everyone will want to attend.”

  “Gloria, darling,” Althea gushed, “I do believe this is the best assignment I’ve ever received at Dexta! I promise you, it will be a party to remember.”

  “Jill, Brent, and Darren,” Gloria continued, “will join me at as many of the other receptions and parties as we can manage, and we’ll haunt the committee meetings, general sessions, and the hotels, corridors, and restrooms. We are out to win friends for OSI, so we have to be friendly.”

  “Just how friendly?” Jill warily asked.

  “I’ve never asked anyone in this office to screw someone for the sake of the job, and I never will. Anyway, we can’t screw everyone, so it’s probably just as well if we don’t screw anyone. We don’t want to make any of them angry because they were left out.”

  “Gloria, I hope you are not trying to tell me that I shouldn’t screw anyone on New Cambridge,” Althea complained.

  “As the Spirit moves you, Althea, as the Spirit moves you—as always. I’m just saying that it’s not official OSI policy.”

  Gloria turned to look at Enright, the OSI Administrator. “Grant,” she said, “I couldn’t help noticing that it’s crowded in here.”

  Enright shrugged. “It’s the biggest conference room we have,” he said.

  “Get a bigger one,” Gloria told him. “If we are going to be the Fifth Quadrant, we need to look the part. When I get back from New Cambridge, I expect OSI to have twice the office space it does now. Beg, barter, or bully, as necessary, but get it done.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And once we have all that new office space, we’re going to need bodies to fill it. I want you to get us a dozen new Fifteens. Bring them in straight out of training and we’ll raise ’em up right. Also, review all the transfer requests—I know we have a lot of them. See if you can snag half a dozen good Fourteens and maybe a couple of Thirteens.”

  “How are we going to pay for all those people? There’s nothing in our budget for anything like that.”

  “Initially, we can pay them out of contingency funds. But you’re right; we’ll have to start submitting Resource Allocation Amendments. I know you’ve got friends in the Comptroller’s Office. Wine and dine them, call in old favors, renew old threats. Whatever it takes.”

  Gloria turned from Enright and looked around the room at the rest of her people. “What I want,” she said, “is for all of you to analyze the overall structure of Dexta. Look into some of the more obscure and neglected corners of the organization. Office of Weights and Measures, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Exo-Technology Review. Did you know that there is such a thing as the Dexta Ornithological Survey? I want you to identify all the bureaucratic orphans you can find and invite them to join the OSI family. We’ll absorb some of their functions, promise to support them in their core missions, and offer them an ally in the never-ending battle against the tyranny of the Quadrants. There are a lot of offices in Dexta that are not under Quadrant jurisdiction. Consequently, they have little power in intramural squabbles and get rolled by the Quads at budget time. They’re used to that and most of them don’t even bother to fight back. But if we can get them organized and aligned with us and each other, they’ll gain a lot of clout—at least, that’s going to be our sales pitch.”

  “Hey, Gloria?” someone at the back of the room said. “It might help a lot if we could promise all these people some…uh…personal attention from the head of OSI.”

  “Good idea. Start scheduling lunches for after my return from New Cambridge. In fact, I think I’ll throw a party at my penthouse and invite all our new allies and recruits. Drop some hints about that. Be sure to mention my deep, personal gratitude to everyone who helps us. And it wouldn’t hurt to remind them that I’m an Avatar of Joy now.” She grinned at her troops. “Never can tell what might happen with an Avatar of Joy!”

  Grant Enright smiled along with everyone else, but shook his head. “I’m with you on this, Gloria,” he said, “but I hope you realize what you’re getting us into. This is nothing less than an attempt at an internal coup. A power play.”

  “Grant,” Gloria said, “we don’t have any choice. It’s a fight we have to make. OSI either grows, or it dies. Think of it as our manifest destiny.”

  “Manifest destiny,” Enright mused. “All right, then, manifest destiny it is. When do we invade Mexico?”

  THE DEXTA OFFICE COMPLEX ON NEW CAMBRIDGE was a dark, massive structure built out of native rock. It dominated the skyline in downtown Central so thoroughly that the residents referred to it as “Gibraltar”—complete with a colony of baboons inhabiting it. The baboons, Petra and Pug discovered, were not friendly.

  After a day of settling in and sightseeing, they approached the Dexta offices with a sense of eager anticipation. They reported to the Regional Office Administrator, or tried to, but soon found that no one was available to see them. It took them most of the morning to track down someone who could officially, if reluctantly, acknowledge their presence on New Cambridge.

  “We want to examine old Quadrant records from fifty or sixty years ago,” Petra explained to the administrator.

  “Is that so?” said the administrator.

  “Yes. Where can we work?”

  “You’ll have to find a spot.”

  “Can you recommend something?”

  The administrator blandly shook his head. “Not really.”

  “Well, who can?” Pug asked.

  “You’d need to talk to someone in Building Management.”

  But no one in Building Management seemed to want to talk to them. Another hour went by before someone’s assistant deputy provided them with the necessary forms to be filled out. Forms completed, Petra and Pug waited expectantly to be assigned office space. They waited more than two hours. Finally, the assistant deputy’s assistant told them to come back the next day.

  The following day, after more hours of frustration, they were at last assigned an office. On closer inspection, the office turned out to be a utility closet. It was equipped with two desks, but no chairs, windows, or computers. Getting the computers took the rest of the day. They couldn’t do anything about windows, but they did manage to steal two chairs.

  On the third day they arrived early, ready to plunge into their assignment. It was a short plunge. They found that their computers could not access the necessary records. No explanation was immediately forthcoming. They spent most of the day finding someone who could (and would) speak to them on th
e subject.

  “You want records from 3163?” asked a bored administrative coordinator.

  “Yes!” cried Petra.

  “Don’t have ’em.”

  “What the hell do you mean you don’t have them?” Pug exploded. “How could you not have them? The Quadrant Administration offices were right here in this building for over four hundred years. How could those records not exist?”

  “Didn’t say they didn’t exist,” the administrative coordinator responded. “Said we ain’t got ’em.”

  “Well, who does?”

  “Lessee…3163, you say?”

  “Yes.”

  “That would be over in the Archives Section. Everything up to 3180 is there. That’s when Mingus moved Quad Administration back to Earth, you know.”

  “So the records would be in the Archives Section’s computers?” said Petra. “How do we tap into them?”

  “You don’t. Not from this building, anyway. Archives Section is a whole separate deal. Just down the block from here, in the Old Annex. Can’t miss it.”

  Three days later, Petra and Pug at last settled in to begin their research in another utility closet in the Old Annex. They had uniformly been treated with opaque courtesy and bland indifference by the local Dexta staff, who regarded them not as plague-carriers, perhaps, but certainly as people who carried an unpleasant odor about them. For the first time, Petra understood at a visceral level why so many people throughout the Empire passionately hated Dexta.

  She wanted to believe that Dexta got it right most of the time, and most of the time, it probably did. For all its flaws, shortcomings, overreaching, and outright idiocy, Dexta had somehow managed to keep the Empire humming for nearly seven hundred years. Dexta was the most successful bureaucracy in history, so it had to have been doing something right.

  But successful or not, it was nevertheless still a bureaucracy, and dealing with it could be a nightmare for the citizens of the Empire. One way in which Dexta served the Empire was by functioning as a lightning rod for all the many resentments of the scattered masses, which would otherwise have focused on the Emperor. Whatever was wrong, it was Dexta’s fault, not the Emperor’s, who stood above the hurly-burly bureaucracy and thought only of what was best for his people. It was generally understood that Dexta thought only of what was best for Dexta.