"Hmm... I don't want to know badly enough to make a lady cry. Fritz? Let's try this ride." So they did -- and after speeds in excess of light and accelerations up to one hundred gravities, Thorby found a roller coaster too exciting. He almost lost his lunch.
A Great Gathering, although a time of fun and renewed friendships, has its serious purposes. In addition to funerals, memorial services for lost ships, weddings, and much transferring of young females, there is also business affecting the whole People and, most important, the paramount matter of buying ships.
Hekate has the finest shipyards in the explored Galaxy. Men and women have children; ships spawn, too. Sisu was gravid with people, fat with profit in uranium and thorium; it was time that the Family split up. At least a third of the families had the same need to trade wealth for living room; fraki shipbrokers were rubbing their hands, mentally figuring commissions. Starships do not sell like cold drinks; shipbrokers and salesmen often live on dreams. But perhaps a hundred ships would be sold in a few weeks.
Some would be new ships from the yards of Galactic Transport, Ltd., daughter corporation of civilization-wide Galactic Enterprises, or built by Space Engineers Corporation, or Hekate Ships, or Propulsion, Inc., or Hascomb & Sons -- all giants in the trade. But there was cake for everyone. The broker who did not speak for a builder might have an exclusive on a second-hand ship, or a line to a rumor of a hint that the owners of a suitable ship might listen if the price was right -- a man could make a fortune if he kept his eyes open and his ear to the ground. It was a time to by-pass mails and invest in expensive n-space messages; the feast would soon be over.
A family in need of space had two choices: either buy another ship, split and become two families, or a ship could join with another in purchasing a third, to be staffed from each. Twinning gave much status. It was proof that the family, which managed it, were master traders, able to give their kids a start in the world without help. But in practice the choice usually dwindled to one: join with another ship and split the expense, and even then it was often necessary to pledge all three ships against a mortgage on the new one.
It had been thirty years since Sisu had split up. She had had three decades of prosperity; she should have been able to twin. But ten years ago at the last Great Gathering Grandmother had caused Sisu to guarantee along with parent ships the mortgage against a ship newly born. The new ship gave a banquet honoring Sisu, then jumped off into dark and never came back. Space is vast. Remember her name at Gathering.
The result was that Sisu paid off one-third of forty percent of the cost of the lost ship; the blow hurt. The parent ships would reimburse Sisu -- debts are always paid -- but they had left the last Gathering lean from having spawned; coughing up each its own liability had left them skin and bones. You don't dun a sick man; you wait
Grandmother had not been stupid. The parent ships, Caesar Augustus and Dupont, were related to Sisu; one takes care of one's own. Besides, it was good business; a trader unwilling to lend credit will discover that he has none. As it was, Sisu could write a draft on any Free Trader anywhere and be certain that it would be honored.
But it left Sisu with less cash than otherwise at a time when the Family should split.
Captain Krausa hit dirt the first day and went to the Commodore's Flag, Norbert Wiener. His wife stayed aboard but was not idle; since her succession to Chief Officer, she hardly slept. Today she worked at her desk, stopping for face-to-face talks with other chief officers via the phone exchange set up by city services for the Gathering. When her lunch was fetched, she motioned to put it down; it was still untouched when her husband returned. He came in and sat down wearily. She was reading a slide rule and checked her answer on a calculator before she spoke. "Based on a Hascomb F-two ship, the mortgage would run just over fifty percent"
"Rhoda, you know Sisu can't finance a ship unassisted."
"Don't be hasty, dear. Both Gas and Dupont would cosign... in their case, it's the same as cash."
"If their credit will stretch."
"And New Hansea would jump at it -- under the circumstances -- and --"
"Rhoda! You were young, two Gatherings ago, but you are aware that the debt lies equally on all... not just Hansea. That was unanimous."
"I was old enough to be your wife, Fjalar. Don't read the Laws to me. But New Hansea would jump at the chance... under a secrecy taboo binding till the end of time. Nevertheless the carrying charges would eat too much. Did you get to see a Galactic Lambda?"
"I don't need to; I've seen the specs. No legs."
"You men! I wouldn't call eighty gravities 'no legs.' "
"You would if you had to sit in the worry seat. Lambda class were designed for slow freight inside the Hegemonic sphere; that's all they're good for."
"You're too conservative, Fjalar."
"And I'll continue to be where safety of a ship is concerned."
"No doubt And I'll have to find solutions that fit your prejudices. However, Lambda class is just a possibility. There is also you-know-which. She'll go cheap."
He frowned. "An unlucky ship."
"It will take powerful cleansing to get those bad thoughts out. But think of the price."
"It's more than bad thoughts in you-know-which-ship. I never heard of a chief officer suiciding before. Or a captain going crazy. I'm surprised they got here."
"So am I. But she's here and she'll be up for sale. And any ship can be cleansed."
"I wonder."
"Don't be superstitious, dear. It's a matter of enough care with the rituals, which is my worry. However, you can forget the you-know-which-one. I think we'll split with another ship."
"I thought you were set on doing it alone?"
"I've merely been exploring our strength. But there are things more important than setting up a new ship single-handed."
"There certainly are! Power, a good weapons system, working capital, blooded officers in key spots -- why, we can't man two ships. Take firecontrolmen alone. If --"
"Stop fretting. We could handle those. Fjalar, how would you like to be Deputy Commodore?"
He braked at full power. "Rhoda! Are you feverish?"
"No."
"There are dozens of skippers more likely to be tapped. I'll never be Commodore -- and what's more, I don't want it."
"I may settle for Reserve Deputy, since Commodore Denbo intends to resign after the new deputy is elected. Never mind; you will be Commodore at the next Gathering."
"Preposterous!"
"Why are men so impractical? Fjalar, all you think about is your control room and business. If I hadn't kept pushing, you would never have reached deputy captain."
"Have you ever gone hungry?"
"I'm not complaining, dear. It was a great day for me when I was adopted by Sisu. But listen. We have favors coming from many sources, not just Gus and Dupont. Whatever ship we join with will help. I intend to leave the matter open until after election -- and I've had tentative offers all morning, strong ships, well connected. And finally, there's New Hansea."
"What about New Hansea?"
"Timed properly, with the Hanseatics proposing your name, you'll be elected by acclamation."
"Rhoda!"
"You won't have to touch it. And neither will Thorby. You two will simply appear in public and be your charming, male, non-political selves. I'll handle it By the way, it's too late to pull Loeen out of the play but I'm going to break that up fast Your Mother did not see the whole picture. I want my sons married -- but it is essential that Thorby not be married, nor paired off, until after the election. Now... did you go to the flagship?"
"Certainly."
"What ship was he born in? It could be important."