“The only other source of redress would be the legislature,” Jarnes said glumly. “Since the party in power is also the party responsible for the injustice, the outlook is less than bright.” Clerk Wyland gestured forlornly. “That leaves only one point of attack for us,” Jarnes went on. “Wembling’s charter. Rather, his use of his charter, since the courts would decline jurisdiction on any question concerning its legality.”
Clerk Wyland nodded. “Justice Laysoring agrees that each of the points your Master McLindorffer listed has legal validity and should secure you a temporary injunction with a temporary restraining order stopping Wembling’s work until the hearing. He also gives it as his opinion that none of the points would be sustained.”
Jarnes turned to Fornri. “Do you understand all this? The copy of your treaty means nothing unless something official exists that it is a copy of. Wembling somehow managed to get the official version lost. Eventually it’ll be found again, perhaps with appropriate scandal, but that may not happen for years. There are various legal questions we can raise, but the best we can hope for is to delay and harass Wembling and Company. We can make him stop work on his resort while the legal questions we raise are being decided—one week, two weeks, sometimes a little longer. There’s very little chance that we could win one of these actions. They will be extremely expensive, and the most we can hope to gain for you is a little time.”
“Time is what we need,” Fornri said. “Time for the Plan.”
“Do they have money?” the clerk asked.
“That’s another peculiarity about this case. The Federation Office of External Affairs maintains that Langri is a dependent world. The Bank of the Galaxy has half a million credits, plus some interest, registered to a Government of Langri. Oddly enough, that half million credits was deposited to the Government of Langri by the same Federation Office of External Affairs that now maintains there is no such government. Would you care to comment?”
“You can’t amaze me with governmental stupidities,” Clerk Wyland said. “I’ve seen too many of them. You’ll be able to stir things up a little with the half million—but only a little, unfortunately. A fortune doesn’t buy much legal action on the interworld market.”
“Yes. They also have a cache of retron crystals. From Fornri’s description I’d estimate the value at a minimum million credits and possibly as much as two million. Enough to stir things up quite a bit. Problem is getting the crystals back here. Would it be feasible to have a couple of marshals sent to Langri when we make our first filing? They’d be on the scene to answer any court questions, and they could make certain that Wembling does in fact stop work when an injunction is issued.”
Clerk Wyland nodded eagerly. “It would have to be done at your expense, but relatively the cost would be a pittance and well worth it. Otherwise Wembling might take no notice of your actions.”
“When eventually the marshals returned, they could be instructed to bring sealed containers of records or other objects of value the natives wished to send to their attorneys. We could provide the necessary containers to mask the retron interference. Feasible?”
“Entirely feasible,” the clerk agreed.
“Fornri could return to Langri with the marshals, and we’d send communications equipment with him. The natives won’t be able to entrust any secrets to it, because Wembling certainly will intercept every message they send, but the fact that they are able to communicate will help us immensely and restrain Wembling a bit. Maybe we could arrange for the marshals to deputize this anthropologist Hort so there’ll be someone permanently on the scene who can make official reports.”
“Excellent idea,” the clerk said. “If there’s an observer on the scene who can report violations, Wembling will obey court orders scrupulously. He won’t want the investigation that a contempt citation would provoke. How will you begin?”
“By questioning Wembling’s use of his charter. The charter gives him the right to develop Langri’s natural resources. Actually he’s building a vacation resort, which should be, ipso facto, a violation of the charter.”
Clerk Wyland flashed his smile and nodded approvingly. “Have you searched it?”
“Yes. There’s no firm authority as to whether a vacation resort constitutes the development of natural resources. It would require a new point of law.”
“Very good. That should give you a handsome delay—perhaps as much as three or four weeks.”
“I hope so,” Jarnes said. He turned to Fornri. “I’d feel better about this if I knew what your Plan is, but since you’d rather not say—and I can understand that the universe must seem like a rather bewildering place right now and you’d rather keep your own secrets until you know us better—I’ll spend your money as wisely as I can and stop Wembling’s work as often and as long as I can. At the moment that’s the only thing I can do, but it will give you a little time for your Plan.”
“Thank you,” Fornri said. “We need all the time you can find for us.”
“Then we’ll do it that way. Since I haven’t got a Plan, I might as well help you as much as I can with yours, whatever it is. In the meantime, I’m sure you’re needed on Langri, so we’ll send you back with the marshals and the communications equipment.”
“May I give you some advice, Fornri?” Clerk Wyland asked. “This Plan of yours. Don’t let it get you into trouble. Mr. H. Harlow Wembling has a charter, which is a very weighty document, and the law is on his side. If you try to interfere with him, except through the courts, you can do yourself substantially more harm than good. Leave that problem to Submaster Jarnes. He’ll do the very best he can for you, and one careless act there on Langri might destroy everything he accomplishes here.”
Fornri smiled politely and nodded.
14
H. Harlow Wembling had developed the habit of looking out of one particular window of his embassy office. Now his office was in a different location—all of the embassy buildings had been moved down the slope to the construction area, where dormitories, offices, and workshops made up a small village—but in his idle moments Wembling continued to look out of the same window.
It faced on the ocean, and now the beach was crowded the way he had anticipated when he envisioned his resort—except that it was crowded with Wembling and Company’s idle work force. Men and women were cavorting in and out of the water and playing silly games, and Wembling glowered at them.
Hirus Ayns came in and seated himself. Wembling said, without turning around, “Any news?”
“About lifting the injunction, no. Otherwise, one small item. Fornri is back.”
Wembling turned.
“Narrif told me,” Ayns said. “He arrived with the marshals—he was the mysterious third passenger, and he managed to slip off the ship without being noticed. They’ve made him head of the council again.”
“Pity,” Wembling said. “I think we could have come to an agreement with Narrif, but we’ll never manage it with Fornri. He’s as smooth a scoundrel as I’ve ever met. So he came with the marshals.” He paused for a moment. Then he exclaimed, “So it was Fornri that started the legal action!”
“Right. And until the natives spend that half million credits they collected in fines, you can count on more of the same. Let’s cut to a token work force until the natives run out of money or their attorneys run out of arguments.”
Wembling shook his head. “Time is much more important than money. We’ve got to get as much work done as possible before the blowup over the treaty. If we can only work between law-suits, that’s better than no work at all. Anyway, this morning I reached an agreement with the overseers. As long as the court stops work, they’ll take half pay. They’ll still be making good wages in addition to having a glorious vacation. They hardly put up an argument. They were afraid I’d close down completely. No, I’ll keep everyone here. Did Narrif give you anything else?”