F. Paul Wilson
Wheels Within Wheels
(LaNague Federation — 2)
SUMMARY:
Canny old Pete Paxton thinks there's a monstrous conspiracy brewing that threatens the LaNague Charter and the freedoms it guarantees for Federation planets. The only way to head it off is to enlist the aid of Josephine "Jo" Finch, the current CEO of Interstellar Business Advisors, a firm Pete co-founded with Jo's grandfather more than half-a-century before. Jo mistrusts Pete and suspects he may be responsible for the bizarre death of her father, but she is soon convinced that the old man's fears are more than justified. Jo and Pete are soon matching wits with one of the shrewdest, most devious politicos in the Federation, threatened by a ruthless psi-talent whose victims face a fate far worse than mere death. They must also deal with the Vanek — the gentle, enigmatic inhabitants of the planet Jebinose who, against all logic, claim to have murdered Jo's father. "Wilson tells a fast-paced, well-written story that holds reader interest from the first chapter. If he can keep up the quality he reached with the first two (LaNague Federation) novels, it will be quite an impressive series indeed." (Future Retrospective) "Ho hum, you think. Here comes future history saga. Then you start meeting interesting people. If you've caught the cleverly planted clues, you close the book with all the satisfaction of a good Agatha Christie. Vive la Federation!" (Library Journal) "The ending holds a surprise, as well as a satisfying resolution of the political intrigues. Recommended." (Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review) "Wilson creates a nice blend of science fiction, politics, and finance in a diverting page turner." (Booklist) "Easy to follow, hard to put down." (Manchester Evening News) TheInfrapress edition has been revised and will include stories "Higher Centers" and "The Man with the Anteater" as well as a new introduction by the author. Wheels Within Wheels, Wilson's second novel, won the first Prometheus Award for Libertarian fiction in 1979. The award helped pigeonhole the author as "that Libertarian science fiction writer" and Wilson consequently dropped out of SF and wrote horror thriller (and beginning of the Repairman Jack franchise) THE KEEP (1981). "Higher Centers" (published in "Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact," April 1971) and "The Man with the Anteater" ("Analog," July 1971) were Wilson's first two published stories.
I
Peter J. Paxton marveled as he moved his old body through the brand-new offices of Interstellar Business Advisers. He had played no small part in the genesis of the organization, but in the old days he and Joe Finch had operated out of a small, rented office on the far side of the city. IBA now owned the building in which it was located and many others. The firm had come a long way.
He was on his way to the top office to see Josephine Finch. She had been a teen-ager the last time he had been on this side of Ragna; she’d be in her late twenties by now.
“May I help you, sir?” the receptionist asked politely from behind her pearly desk.
“Yes. Is Miss Finch busy at the moment?”
She answered his question with another. “Do you have an appointment?” Her day book was open and her pencil was poised to check off his name.
“No, I’m afraid not. You see-”
“I’m very sorry,” she said, closing the book with an air of finality. “Miss Finch can see no one without an appointment.”
Paxton rested a gnarled hand on the desk and leaned toward the girl. “Listen, dearie. You just tell her Old Pete is here. We’ll worry about appointments later.”
The receptionist hesitated a second or two, then shrugged and pressed a button. A simple click acknowledged her call.
“Someone named Old Pete demands to see you, Miss Finch,” she said.
“Is this a joke?” a tiny speaker replied.
“I really couldn’t say,” the girl answered nervously.
“Send him in.”
The receptionist rose to show him in, but Paxton waved her back to her seat and strode toward an ornate door of solid Maratak firewood that rippled with shifting waves of color; the name JosephineFinch was carved in the wood at eye-level and its color shifts were out of sync with the rest of the wood.
A young woman opened the door as he reached it. She wore an azure clingsuit that highlighted the blue of her eyes and the curves of her body. Short, raven hair framed a full-lipped, fine-featured face.
“Hello, Jo,” said Paxton, eying her up and down. “You’ve grown a bit since I saw you last.”
The girl examined him closely, then smiled with delight. “Old Pete! It’s really you!”
“It’s me all right,” he said as he stepped into the office and glanced around. “You’ve really taken over, haven’t you?”
“Why not? I own controlling interest and I happen to enjoy the work.” She moved behind her desk and sat down. “But how about you? You’ve been retired and tucked away on an island in the Kel Sea for the past eight years. What brings you to IBA?”
Old Pete smiled as he settled himself into a chair. “Beating around the bush never was a Finch trait.”
Jo shrugged. “As second largest stockholder you should know that IBA’s being plagued with a host of imitators. You can’t beat around the bush and stay on top.”
“True, true. So I’ll get to the point. Jo, what do you know about the Restructurist Movement?”
She paused before answering and regarded her visitor. Why would an aging man travel halfway, around a planet just to ask her what she knew about the Restructurists? A simple call would have accomplished the same purpose with much less difficulty. Something was up.
“It’s a political group that wants to change the Federation,” she replied. “Elson deBloise is their current leader, I believe. They want to broaden the powers of the Federation to include planetary affairs.”
Paxton nodded slowly. “To say, `change the Federation’ is to understate their purposes by a long shot-turn the Fed inside-out is more like it! The Federation was designed to keep the lid on interplanetary affairs, but that’s not enough for the Restructurists. They think the Fed should be some sort of equalizer between planets; they want to regulate trade and aid underdeveloped planets.”
Jo was unconcerned. “They’ll never get anywhere. The Federation Charter severely limits its activities.”
“But there’s an emergency clause in the Charter that allows for a temporary increase in powers should the Fed, or its planets, be threatened.”
“I’m aware of that,” Jo said. “But they’ve tried to invoke that clause many times and every time they’ve been voted down. And even if they did invoke it, so what? It’s only temporary.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Jo,” Paxton said gravely. “If you look at the history of old Earth, you’ll find that very seldom is any increase in governmental power temporary. The emergency clause is the key to Restructurist control; once they invoke it they’ll have their foot in the door and the Federation may never be the same again. I don’t want to see that happen, Jo. Your grandfather and I were able to make IBA a growing concern because the Federation’s policy toward a legally operating business has been strictly ‘hands off.’ We humans have got as far as we have as fast as we have because of that policy. I don’t want to see that changed. I don’t want the Federation turned into an empire, and I see the word
‘Empire’ looming in the future if the Restructurists get their way.”
“But they won’t.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, my dear. Many of the Restructurists may be starry-eyed idealists but not a few of them are crafty plotters with power as their goal. I’ve made a study of the movement and Elson deBloise is by far its most dangerous member. He’s after empire, I’m sure of it. He’s a capable man-a mere planetary delegate ten years ago, he’s now a sector representative. And something is cooking in his circle. I don’t know exactly what it is, but a connection has been made between deBloise and a certain physicist named Denver Haas. If deBloise thinks Haas can further his aims, then both Haas and the Federation had better be on guard!”