Kissur said, that he would cripple the horse riding this way, and Bemish said that he would like to observe Kissur driving a car ten years ago. Then, Kissur sent his people off with the horses and walked on foot next to Bemish. Bemish enquired, where they were going, and Kissur explained that the future owner of the spaceport should better get acquainted with the local villages. "In ancient times, a good official always arrived to his appointment region incognito, to learn the problems and difficulties of the oppressed locals," Kissur said with admonition. Bemish wanted to point out, that he was not an official and he was not going to solve the locals' problems, but he was afraid of overdoing it and he shut up.
By the evening, they both departed from the spaceport through a hole in the wall and walked in the dusk down a beautiful beaten dusty road, winding by the neatly planted gardens and rice paddies. They were both unbelievably dirty. Kissur braided a water lily wreath for himself and dashed around the road, laughing.
"Kissur," Bemish said, "I have a request for you."
"Yes?"
"The spaceport is built on the peasant land, even though there is a lot of state land around. But it was built on the communal land and the families were handed shares in the way of compensation. I could buy them out."
"How much will you pay them?"
Bemish hesitated. He would happily buy them for a rice vodka jug but he could still see the whip marks on the Krasnov's shoulders.
"These shares aren't liquid, Kissur. They cost no more than three hundred isheviks each. I am ready to pay this money."
"And, when you build the spaceport, will each one cost three hundred thousand? You will swindle this money out of the peasants."
"They will not cost three hundred thousand if I don't build the spaceport."
"Shavash told me that you are not even going to build it."
Bemish shuddered.
"Shavash said," Kissur continued, "that you make money, buying a company stocks, and then threatening the company management, till they buy the stocks back at triple price, and that you are reputed to be such a man, a greenmailer. Is it true?"
"Yes," Bemish said.
"So, are you going to buy Assalah?"
"I am."
"Why haven't you bought the other companies before?"
"I wanted to buy them. Only, the stock price increased so much during the fight, that it would be stupid to buy them. As Shavash maybe told you, two companies, whose management bought me off, went bankrupt."
"Has it happened because of you?"
"It was their choice to set a ludicrous stock price."
"The same will happen to Assalah, won't it? The price will seem too high for you, you will sell the stocks and the company will go bankrupt."
I don't think so. You see, enormous amount of money was sunk in Assalah and, despite all this view around us, — Bemish here gestured with his arm encompassing the bamboo growth far away and the semicircular administration center hulk, looking like an empty watermelon rind- despite all this, the spaceport is more than three quarters built. If we try hard, the first ships will start landing practically in six months. You heard, why it was abandoned — to cost very cheap. Also, everybody has heard, that it's dangerous to invest in a market like yours, but not everybody understands that spaceports and, also, interstellar communication systems are the only safe parts of your economy. This item will not be abandoned at any government and it depends on the local communications, in the least, because its main profits come from the sky. Assalah costs now less than two eateries in the middle of Toronto but, really, it is impossibly under priced. So, the stock price may increase tenfold but it will still be a good acquisition.
Kissur was silent for a moment.
"Are you buying the Assalah stocks now?"
"Yes."
"How much do you have?"
"The Empire Fund Committee requires registration of any company stock acquisition of more than 5 %. I have more now but I would ask you to keep it confidential. I haven't registered it."
"How is it possible?"
"Several companies act as the dummy agent stockholders for me."
Kissur paused and asked then,
"What is this investment auction of yours?"
"Ffty one percent of government stocks will be divided in two blocks — 20 % and 31 %. As you see, I will have a controlling block of shares even if I get only a 20 % block at the auction."
"Wouldn't it be better to offer a good price at the auction?"
"I am not entirely satisfied by the tender conditions. They are defined so cleverly that they allow, for instance, the government to raise the price after the winner is selected."
"What, if you don't come out as a winner, and Shavash sells the company to somebody else, will you sell these stocks with a multiple-fold profit?"
"I will buy Assalah."
Kissur was silent. The birds fluttered out of the grass, a lost cow mooed far away in the field, and the sun, round like a pumpkin, rolled above the Earthman's and the Empire ex-first minister's heads.
"What did the clerks do? The ones bankrupted by you?"
"What clerks?"
"Well, these…" Kissur clicked his fingers, "general directors."
"Nothing. They are civilized people."
"Now remember this, Bemish. I will help you. But, if you do as Shavash said, I will shoot you."
Kissur got up and walked down the road.
X X X
Richard Giles, the IC company representative, found the finance vice-minister, Shavash, performing a ceremony. Shavash walked stately around the new building of Adako bank carrying in his hands a golden basin, with a burning candle floating on a splinter, and two dozen children in the identical silk clothes followed him with the same candles in their arms.
Numerous gapers enjoyed the view.
Shavash entered the building, sluiced water on the marble floor and, with the proper words, handed the basin to the new bank's president — his good friend's nephew.
When the ceremony finished in five minutes, Shavash withdrew to the future director's office. Giles followed him. Shavash dropped the billowing silk vestment and an impeccable white suit underneath revealed itself.
"Oh, that's you, Dick," he said. "Welcome here, how didn't I see you at the ceremony start?"
"I flew to Assalah," Giles replied dryly. "Bemish was also there."
"He is in his right," Shavash shrugged his shoulders. "You have to agree, if the company wants to participate in the auction, its general director can visit a spaceport."
"We had an agreement that he would not take part in the auction."
"A man can't fulfill all his promises," Shavash explained, "especially, if the other offer is better."
Giles swore glumly and said. "Damn it, if we pay a dinar per share, we can't afford somebody else applying for the auction!"
"I regret, but you will have to raise the price. Terence Bemish is offering seven point seven dinars — just raise the price."
"I didn't pay you, Shavash, to pay for the shares. Kick Bemish out."
"I am sorry," Shavash said, "but Bemish is a Kissur's protege. If we show him the door, Kissur will complain to the sovereign. Do you want a second Kaminsky scandal?"
"Enraged Giles silently slammed the door. His friend was waiting for him in the corridor.
"So?"
"The damned briber!" the enraged Earthman hissed, "Kissur's protege, my ass! Do you know who got the officials' signatures on the papers when they were all drunk? Kissur? Devil's spawn! Kissur was lying with a wench — Shavash was getting the signatures! He will now harry us with this Bemish till we pay three dinars for a share."
X X X
By four o'clock, Bemish was fatigued. The road was dusty and covered with potholes, the spaceport disappeared a long time ago behind the endless flat fields and the rows of olive trees, planted next to the road so that the dust settled on olives and they ripened faster. They made at least twenty five miles, not including the morning spacep
ort trip. Bemish was tired as a dog and was slowly getting nuts — what is Kissur trying to prove? That he walks on foot better than Bemish? It comes as no surprise in a man who fought in a country with motorized divisions consisting of one horsepower units! The temptation to make it all clear to Kissur was pretty strong. But Bemish still kept silence and dragged himself after the ex-minister like a dog's tail.
By the evening, Bemish and Kissur reached a local village and came in a tavern. Both wanderers were dirty up to their ears and looked so unprepossessing, that the host didn't even move seeing them at the entrance. Only, when Kissur sat at the table and bellowed, did he amble to the visitors. Kissur inspected the geese the host offered, demanded to grill one of them and ordered, additionally, mushroom sauce, appetizers and wine.
The goose soon appeared in front of the travelers in the grilled state and it was impossible to recognize — such an appetizing crust covered it and so cheerfully did the goose fat drip down in the steaming rice plate. The travelers embarked on the food and, though Bemish was very hungry, he soon realized that he had no chance holding his own with Kissur. They conversed in English. Bemish noticed suddenly that Kissur was trying to not to bang his spoon on the plate and was listening to the conversation between two poorly dressed peasants — they were scraping rice quickly out of their plates with their heads down. Finally Kissur couldn't hold it, he bid them come to the table, handed over some goose and started to ask questions. Bemish, being barely able to understand a few words, inquired what the problem was.
"These are the peasants from the second village," Kissur said, "and they are going to the manor's headman. Two years ago, their father became sick and they borrowed money from the headman for medical treatment, at first, and then for the funeral. In two years, the interest grew to match the original loan size. At that point, the headman sent his servants to the village and took their sister as a loan payment. The guys went to their relatives to borrow money but it didn't work out and they are going to the headman again." They were silent for a while.
"What about the shares," Bemish wondered. "Did you ask them about the shares?"
"They don't know what shares are," Kissur replied, "if you mean the red paper pieces they were issued for their land, they gave it to the headman as a name day gift."
"But they cost ten isheviks a share even now!" Bemish exclaimed involuntarily, totally forgetting a vodka crock.
The peasants swung their heads nervously, listening to two bums talking — they were clearly speaking some thief's argot — the peasants couldn't make a single word out! Kissur pulled a wad of money out of his pants, counted two hundred isheviks and gave them to the older guy.
"Hold it," he said, "that's for your sister's bail." The peasant's eyes bulged out at the bum, he fell down on his knees and started kissing the earth in front of Kissur, till Kissur threw him outside.
"Where are we going now?" Bemish asked when the peasants left.
Kissur opened his dirty coat's flap, making sure that the gun was still there, and said, "Let's spend a night in the manor where the sister was taken to."
By the late evening, tired as a dog Bemish slogged after Kissur to a hilltop crowned by a toothy tarred fence. Upon the travelers' arrival, a gate appeared in the fence and a servant with a flashlight and an assault rifle appeared in the gate.
"Talk," Kissur elbowed Bemish.
"I… our… sleep," Bemish started.
The servant raised his flashlight a bit, realized that he was dealing with the foreigners that understood the human speech worse than dogs and let them into the manor with hardly a word.
X X X
It's should be pointed out, that the headman, in the manor they came to, was an awful man. He fleeced the peasants mercilessly, traded in girls, purchased stolen goods and ruled a racketeering gang. He had a great relationship with the regional authorities. At the same time, he attempted to look honorable. Fleecing the peasants, he always referred to the manor owner's merciless orders. Since the local peasants were really dumb, it had never even come to their mind to complain to the manor's owner, living in the capital and totally ignorant of all these depravities. In such a simple way the headman persuaded the peasants that he was their protector.
So, Kissur and Bemish found a place in a hay bale inside the cattle yard and watched the peasants come to the meeting hall. The headman even came out to meet them.
"I am so sorry about this," he declared, "but I have already sent your sister to the lord in the capital, so there is no way to get her back. If the lord likes her, you are lucky — maybe he will agree to forgive you the rest of your debt."
"But we managed to get the money," the peasant said happily and handed the banknotes over.
Who could guess that the headman had quarreled with one of his servants yesterday and bashed his head in with a stick? He stuck the body into the trunk afterwards, got it out of the manor and threw it into the bushes next to the construction. In the morning, he said that he had sent the servant to buy some stuff in the capital. He was going to report the servant as having deserted afterwards but an incredible idea came to him, when he saw the money. He leafed through the bank notes again and, suddenly, he pulled one of them out — it was a twenty isheviks note with a "200" ink bank mark.
"Hold them," he cried to the servants. "I gave this twenty isheviks note to my servant Anai when I sent him out yesterday. Anai should have returned this morning; they must have robbed and killed him. Otherwise, where would they get the money?"
The servants grabbed the bewildered peasants.
"Where did you get the money?" the headman attacked them.
"Your grace," the elder begged, "a bum gave us the money; it looked like he followed us here — he is sleeping now on the hay bale! How would we know if he robbed somebody?"
The headman ordered the servants to take a look and they reported in no time that, truly, one sturdy bum was sleeping on a bale and another one had dug himself in it. The headman was pleased. "The prey comes to the hunter on its own," he thought, "I will arrest these bums and accuse them of the murder!" But then he changed his mind. "Who knows where these bums came from? Only bandits carry this kind of money on them and they won't be overjoyed, if I accuse an acclaimed gang member of murder and robbery! I will meet my end this way. To the opposite, the bandits will appreciate my tact if I don't get them mixed in this business."
And he assailed the peasants.
"It's such nonsense! Where would bums get this money? You don't even stop at accusing innocent fellow travelers." And he ordered to bring whips and canes.
X X X
Kissur was by no means sleeping in the bale at that time. He aspired to see his philanthropy's results. To avoid attention, he took the boots off and stuck them in the hay, so that they looked like a sleeper's legs, noiselessly climbed on the barn roof and jumped from there to the main house. He took off his belt with a hook on the end, snatched a post on the roof with a hook and lowered himself down the belt, to a cornice encircling the house. He walked down the cornice to the entry hall. Hanging down there, he heard the peasants being accused of the servant's murder and he heard them breaking down at the torture and confessing their guilt.
In a while, the prisoners were taken away, the headman locked the money in the small metal safe in the corner and everybody left. Having waited for half an hour, Kissur carefully pried the wooden frame open with a knife and climbed inside.
X X X
Bemish woke up in the middle of the night — Kissur was missing. "Where is he hanging his ass out?" Bemish got angry. The moon shined and the roofs of wing houses and utility shacks were clearly outlined on the night sky background. Just then, Bemish saw a man's silhouette sneaking along the main house rooftop with a sack under his armpit. Bemish shuddered and rubbed his eyes. The man jumped over to the garage roof and disappeared inside. "Hold the thief!" a scream issued, and something glistened in the house. Bemish jumped.
Something boomed in the garage, its gate was throw
n wide open and a truck rushed out puffing.
"Jump!" Kissur screamed.
Bemish leaped on the truck, tore the door open and fell on the seat. The truck scurried around the yard, kicked out the gate and sprinted down the slope. Awaken servants rushed after it but, since everybody was afraid that the robbers could start firing and make some holes in the lackeys' hides, — they limited their activities to the loud screams and flashlight hustling.
The headman silently contemplated the stripped safe. "These robbers are crummy people," he thought, "in my benevolence, I didn't prosecute them for the murder and they thanked me in such a way!"
X X X
The truck swerved down the night road and, inside the truck Bemish castigated the Empire ex-first minister. Bemish finished and Kissur asked,
"Terence, have you killed anybody at the construction?"
The Earthman only flapped his hands at such a question.
"I also think that you haven't killed anybody," Kissur agreed, "then, how did the headman recognize this note?" and he started recounting, what happened between the headman and the peasants.
"I think," the Earthman said, "the problem is, that the headman has already sent the girl to his lord and he is afraid to call her back. That's why he kicked this hoax with the money off; the servant ran away somewhere or he will come in a week."
"You think well," Kissur said, "and the peasants likely think the same way. Keep it."
And to the financier's horror, the Empire ex-minister handed him over a wad of square notes that Bemish immediately recognized to be the Assalah bearer stocks.
"My God," Bemish moaned, "what is this?"
"These are your stocks. Do you remember the peasants' story, how the headman requested them as a gift?"
"Why?!"
"You said it yourself, that if you have these shares, you will be able to control Shavash."
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