‘Do you still feel that way?“
‘I’m willing to wait and see. Your speech at the meeting persuaded me that it was premature to act against you. I voted in favor of your retention.“
‘I figured that you did.“ Regan shook his head. ”You’re braver than I thought, Olcott. You had the guts to cooperate in hauling me on the carpet, and now you tell me to my face that you had grave doubts about my competence. That’s a novelty. The only people in this company who ever tell me anything to my face are my uncle and Rex Bennett, and what they tell me is not stuff I like to hear.“
Olcott moistened his thin lips. “If you feel that our working relationship has been undermined by my actions against you, Factor, I’ll be glad to tender my resignation. There are other employment opportunities which-”
‘No, Olcott. Your job is to keep watch on the company finances, and if you think things are going wrong, it’s your job to yell. Even if you step on my corns in the process. I’m not firing you. The idea of your going to work for Interworld or one of the other competitors doesn’t appeal to me, and I like your independence, besides.“
‘Thank you, sir.“
‘One thing, though. Bruce may try to oust me again before the Fair is open. Stick with me, will you, Olcott? I think I know where I’m heading-and I think the company will benefit from it.“
Olcott left. Regan was satisfied with the man’s honesty, impressed with Olcott’s willingness to put company loyalty above personal loyalty. They understood each other now. Regan nudged the intercom. “Send in Harris.” Nola’s brother entered, haltingly, walking in a sideways crablike scuttle as though he really preferred to be going in the other direction, which was probably true. He came to a halt in front of Regan’s desk and stood there, soft-bodied, thick-middled, ill at ease. Regan had never understood how someone as hard and cool as Nola could have such a flabby, spiritless older brother.
‘Are you going to fire me?“ Harris asked, blurting the question out a moment after he entered.
‘I just want to talk to you,“ Regan said. ”Sit down, Sid. Relax. Let’s talk.“ ”About what?“
‘The Board of Directors’ meeting.“ ”I voted for keeping you, didn’t I!“
‘I assume so,“ Regan said. ”For all I know, you were one of the three negative votes, though that’s not too likely. Okay, you voted for me. But you also helped to bring the meeting about in the first place. There wouldn’t have been any special meeting if you hadn’t signed that petition. Sid, why did you sign it?“
‘Your uncle asked me to.“
‘Did my uncle have any call on you? Did he put you on the payroll? Did he give you stock options?“ Regan glared at the soft man. ”I bought you, Sid. Why the hell didn’t you stay bought?“
Harris’ expression was woeful to behold. He showed no indignation at the Factor’s blunt words. Looking vacantly past Regan’s left shoulder, he said hoarsely, “Old man Regan offered me a thousand shares to sign the petition.”
‘That’s better than a hundred thousand bucks,“ Regan said. ”Even at the present deflated price. Not bad. Not bad at all. So of course you accepted.“
‘It was only a meeting,“ Harris said miserably. ”I didn’t actually vote against you, Claude. I just let Bruce use my name on the petition. You wouldn’t get hurt any, and I’d be a hundred grand ahead. It seemed safe.“
‘And if, thanks to you, I had been thrown out of my job by the vote of other people at that meeting-“
‘I didn’t think it would happen.“
‘You didn’t think. You didn’t think.“ Regan scowled at him. ”You let Bruce buy you, and you didn’t think! Sid, you’re a damned idiot! Didn’t you have enough sense to realize that if I go, you’d go? Bruce bought your signature, but he’d fire you the day after I left. He’s got no use for you. The only reason you’re here is that you’re Nola’s brother, and Nola’s my wife, and I’m the top man. That’s all.“
Harris reddened. He shifted uncomfortably.
Regan went on, “You were cutting your own throat by letting Bruce buy you. Couldn’t you see that?”
‘It didn’t look that way to me, Claude,“ Harris said hazily. ”I thought it all through. It couldn’t hurt to take the stock from Bruce and then vote for you. I didn’t just jump into the decision. I talked it all over with Nola first, and-“
‘You what?“ Regan gasped.
‘Talked it all over with Nola. She said I’d be a damned fool not to take the stock.“
Regan’s eyes widened. “She advised you to help Bruce throw me out?”
‘You’ve got to understand, Claude, I was never actually going to vote against you.“
‘Forget that. You talked to Nola, and she told you to go along with Bruce. Jesus. Jesus Everlasting Christ!“
‘Claude-“
‘Get out of here!“ Regan spat savagely.
‘Am I fired?“
‘No,“ Regan said. ”Not yet. You’re still Nola’s brother, and as far as I know I’m keeping you here out of pure nepotism. But I’m not sure anymore. I’m not sure of anything. Go on, Sid. Get out!“
Harris got.
Regan sat stunned at his desk. Nola! That trip to Antarctica with Bruce, and to the Moon with Bennett-what sort of poison had they poured into her ear? She was behind the ouster move, then. She had influenced Harris. And in all probability Harris had planned to vote for the ouster, too, despite his claims to the contrary. He had simply chickened out at the last moment, after Olcott’s switch of vote, because he realized Regan was going to win.
So Nola had angled for the ouster. That was interesting. That was very interesting indeed.
Regan decided to have a long talk with his wife. Not in Denver, though. Secluded surroundings were best.
They would take that vacation on Mars, after all. Right away.
TEN
The spaceport had a raw, unfinished look to it. It was six years old, and that had been time enough only to put in the launching pads and the temporary administration buildings. The frills would come later, the landscaping and the murals and the sculpture.
Here, in the summer of 1991, commercial space travel was a long way from being a booming enterprise. The Nevada Spaceport, from which Regan and Nola were departing, was the busiest in the world, but only six Moon flights and two Mars flights departed every month. The air of tranquility and leisure that stamped the spaceport atmosphere already marked it as not of this world. It was too peaceful here to be Earth.
Important as he was, Regan had to check in even as mere mortals did-to be weighed, to be examined, to be checked through. His luggage was searched for bombs, and searched most meticulously.
‘Really,“ Nola said, ”I don’t see why we should have to put up with-“
‘I do,“ Regan snapped. ”I see every reason. Lives are in danger. They can’t take chances.“
‘Would a Factor have a bomb in his luggage?“
‘He might have more reason to than other people,“ Regan replied. ”When a big man decides to end it all, he ought to end it in a big way.“
Nola snorted. They passed on, through the check-in rooms.
The ship waited, alone in the middle of a bare field, upright like a gleaming fish performing a weird balancing act on its tail. The gantry’s tentacles enfolded it. Regan smiled. The ship represented power, and he appreciated power. There were colossal reserves of power held ready in those blast tubes. A commercial ship made the trip to Mars in less than a week, which called for steady, wasteful acceleration of a kind that would have bewildered the space pioneers of Regan’s boyhood. Military ships took longer, because their passengers’ time was generally cheap and fuel wasn’t.
Technicians bustled around, checking the ship through its final hours of countdown as the passengers boarded. Regan and Nola had a first class cabin-hardly luxurious, but the best that was available.
Strapped in, waiting for the crush of acceleration, Regan wondered idly if the ship would make it safely. Probably. In commercial space travel’s brief history there had been only two ships lost, and that was a remarkable record by any score. Rocketing to Mars was, statistically, safer than taking an ordinary jet from New York to London. But still…