There was a pause, then: “For beginners, they sure don’t kid around,” said Old Pete with a visible shudder.
“This means deBloise is finished,” Jo said with satisfaction. “Proska’s recording should be on its way to the
Federation Ethics Council by now. That’s where he said it would go if his death had anything suspicious about it.”
“That stops deBloise,” Old Pete concurred, “but what about the Haas plan? The other Restructurists can carry it through without him.”
Jo smiled. “That remains to be seen.” She turned to the visiphone and placed a call to the Jebinose brokerage house.
“I’d like to buy some stock in Op-sal Pharmaceuticals and Fairgood Drive,” she said as a man’s face appeared on the screen.
“You and everybody else,” he said with a smirk. “I’ve been trying to get a bid in on those two issues all night. The Galactic Board has gone wild!”
“How about Teblinko, or Star Ways Drive?”
The man’s eyes lit up. “As much as you want! Good prices, too!”
“I’ll think about it,” Jo said. “Thank you.” She turned to Old Pete and Larry. “Well, that’s the end of deBloise’s plan.”
“I still don’t understand,” Old Pete said.
Jo moved away from the phone and slumped into a chair. “DeBloise was planning on SW running Haas out of business. He knew it would happen; and when it did he expected to go before the Federation and plead that further development of the warp gate is vital to the security of the Fed and will be needed on that inevitable day when we clash with the Tarks. He’d claim that unregulated competition was depriving the Federation of the gate, and he’d demand invocation of the emergency clause so that the Fed could intervene against SW.”
“That’s it!” Old Pete cried with dancing eyes. “If the plan succeeded, the Restructurists would have had a foothold in one of their prime target areas: regulation of trade!”
Easly was still somewhat puzzled. “How can you be so sure this is the plan?”
“It’s obvious when you tie everything together. DeBloise was carefully hiding his financial link with Haas-that indicated he feared a conflict of interest charge. He was also aware that backing Haas was financial suicide … Haas is a monomaniac and a lousy businessman to boot. With him in charge of production and marketing, the warp gate was doomed; Star Ways would drive him out of business before he could get off the ground. And since Haas will allow no one other than himself to produce the gate-to which he has full legal rights-the warp gate would thus be lost to humanity and ‘unregulated trade’ would be painted as the villain.
“The obvious military advantages of the gate would have made it a perfect lever to get at the emergency clause. The Restructurists would scream Security and it would be difficult to oppose them. So I decided to stop them before they got started … I struck at SW.”
Jo leaned forward as she spoke. “You see, SW is a well-diversified corporation and could afford to lose money on their warper in a price war as long as they could count on their subsidiaries to make up the difference. So I aimed at SW’s diversity: I took a gamble and tried to hurt its two biggest subsidiary companies and succeeded. An effective competitive price war is almost impossible for SW now and so there’s no excuse to invoke the emergency clause!”
Old Pete was on his feet. “This calls for a celebration!”
“Not yet,” Jo said, her facial muscles tightening and her eyes going crystalline. “Not until I go to Fed Central and personally see Elson deBloise thrown out on his ear!”
DeBloise was not to be thrown out. When the accusation was made in the General Council, he and his Restructurist allies were ready. Jo and Old Pete arrived in time to hear the end of his firey speech.
“… And so we take our leave of you. You haven’t driven us out with your false, slanderous smears against my character! It is your stupidity, your blindness which causes us to leave you to fester in this pool of anarchy called the Federation! We’ve tried to warn you, tried to help you bring order to the galaxy but you seem to desire chaos. Then chaos you shall have! We leave to form a new coalition of worlds. And woe to everyone who stands in our way!” With a dramatic swirl of his cloak he left the dais and headed for the door. Other Restructurist members of the Council followed him out.
Jo and Old Pete were standing by the main door as the group marched through. Jo stared intently at deBloise: their eyes met, then deBloise was past. She was just a bystander to deBloise. He did not know-and perhaps never would-that the young, attractive woman watching his grand exit was the cause of his downfall.
A vid reporter rushed frantically around the foyer of the Council hall trying to get reactions. He approached Old Pete and aimed his recording plate at him.
“Sir,” he asked, breathlessly, “what do you think this means? Do you think there’s a chance of war between the Fed and the new Coalition?”
“The secession is certainly a bold move,” Old Pete replied, “but I doubt if it means war. Oh, there might be a few armed skirmishes over some of the resource planets, but I hardly think the Fed will go to war in the full sense of the word.”
This calm, reasoned reply was not at all to the reporter’s liking. He turned to Jo.
“What about you, Miss? Mr. deBloise claims the terrible charge against him is all part of a plot to destroy him? Do you think there’s a possibility of such a thing?”
Jo smiled and shrugged. “Wheels within wheels, bendreth.”
She took Old Pete’s arm and they walked away, laughing.