Part 12 (2/2)
Rachael said indignantly.
”I'm afraid you don't understand the situation-Ms.
Xamantina the younger, isn't it? You see, the floating towns are not owned directly by any of the large com- panies. They are variously leased, sublet, or otherwise rented to the citizens who live and work on them. In return for supplies and salaries, the bulk of their catches is turned over to the large plants here on Mou- 'anui or on the other permanent atoll installations and is credited against a town's general account.
”So if a town is destroyed,” he said easily, as if he were talking only about equipment and structures and not about people, ”it is the company that bears the financial loss, not the inhabitants.”
58 CACHALOT.
”They only lose their lives,” Rachael muttered.
But Hwos.h.i.+en did not hear her, or chose to ignore the comment.
”Without any huge investment in the towns, the citizens are free to pick up and leave if they so desire.
If a major panic arose, the companies would be left with the expensive floating towns, no one to run them, and no raw materials for their equally expensive orbital factories. The repercussions would be felt throughout the Commonwealth. And ordinary citizens would feel the loss of such irreplaceable substances as exene.
We simply cannot afford a panic.”
”So you s.h.i.+eld the commercial interests involved,”
Cora commented quietly.
”As I said, in addition to other things, yes.” The Commissioner seemed not the least perturbed by her veiled accusation.
”Of course,” Merced agreed. ”Death is a fiscally irresponsible policy.”
v
JTJLwos.h.i.+en looked over at the little scientist, finally replied in a different tone, a touch less formal than the one he had been employing thus far.
”I had friends on those lost towns myself. Kindly keep in mind that I'm in a very difficult personal po- sition here. I do not expect you to sympathize. I do expect you to understand. I am trapped between the average citizen, who cares nothing as long as he or she is protected, and the commercial interests, which don't care what happens as long as the flow of produce is not interrupted. In addition, I am responsible first to a third party, the Commonwealth government itself.
”My sympathies lie with the first group, my thoughts with the second, and my allegiance with the last. This is a problem none of you must face. You will have everything in the way of material a.s.sistance you re- quest, though I would ask you to be circ.u.mspect.
Large, new concentrations of scientific instrumentation could attract the attention of our as yet hypothetical human killers.
”You will have complete working freedom. I sin- cerely hope you won't disappoint me.”
Despite his formality, a formality that bordered on hostility, Cora found herself wanting to please Hwo- s.h.i.+en. He inspired in others the desire to please him,
59.
60 .
as one would try to please a distant but concerned
parent.
Could he be a mechanism, a robot? On rare oc- casions the Commonwealth was known to make such subst.i.tutions for organic personnel. No, she decided.
He could not be a machine. A robot a.s.signed to such a position already would have displayed far more warmth and affection. Hwos.h.i.+en was too mechanical
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