“Supposedly? What do you know?” Delmus asked.
“Nothing except how to read the signs – and not to tell too much of what I interpret the signs to mean,” Foxpat replied.
“Give us an example of how clever you are at reading guys,” Ackack challenged him.
“Since this’ll be fun, I’ll oblige you,” Foxpat said. “The signals are that either of you would sacrifice the other for some personal advantage with hardly a thought. It wouldn’t even have to be a very big advantage.”
Ackack forced a laugh that rang hollow but it was all he could produce. “How wrong you are. We’re tight-knit partners. We stick together. We trust and respect one another.”
“Yeah. Wherever you got that dumb idea, throw it back. You’re way off the mark,” Delmus said weakly.
Foxpat laughed heartily. “Be prudent and don’t challenge me or anyone who has had dealings with you to produce recorded evidence of each of you back-stabbing the other when he wasn’t around. Hey, maybe you could air a show where a series of guys present their recordings showing what you each said and then the one who said it can try to explain it away while the one it was said about pretends not to care.”
“It’s clear that you don’t know much about us at all. Anything like what you’re talking about was obviously said as a joke and you didn’t get that one either. How dumb can you be?” Ackack said.
“Yeah, we joke all the time. Solid partners do that. It doesn’t for really true mean anything. Just mouthing off when he messes things up,” Delmus said. Quickly he became cunning and asked, “If you’re so smart and know everything, what’s the special device that the governors’ rep Parbam is flaunting?”
“I don’t know and I almost certainly won’t tell you when and if I find out about it,” Foxpat said.
“You probably don’t know what technology the Power Players are interested in as the moneymakers of the future either,” Ackack said in a taunting tone.
“That I might know but that I definitely won’t tell you about. They pay better than you do.”
“Aha, so they are the others who control part of our zerpy,” Ackack shouted.
“Believe what you want. They pay me well not to tell anyone else their business and I’m betting they’ll be around as customers after your company’s only a vague memory. Oh wait, it’s not your zerpy, you only rent the use of part of it.”
“Okay, let’s talk business. What will it cost us to find out what any other renters are learning with the secret zerpy and what they try to do if they try to change ship’s systems?” Delmus asked.
“That information isn’t available for any price.”
“Why not?” Delmus asked.
“Call it loyalty, or innocence, or good business sense,” Foxpat said. “I don’t tell anyone else about you and I don’t tell you about anyone else. It’s the best way for the guy in the middle to play it. Put yourself in my footprints. Why keep one paying client completely happy when you can get paid by more than one to keep them all reasonably happy even if not completely so?”
* * *
Outside a few minutes later Delmus said, “That was instructive but not satisfying. I can’t even convince myself that it went well.”
“We understand our situation better even if it didn’t get any less complicated. We need to catch up on what the new mini-zerpies can do. We should be using cutting edge devices.”
“I need a good spa bask.”
“No time for that. There’s work to be done,” Ackack said.
“What should we do?”
“It’s our job to figure that out and get it started.”
Chapter 27
Gopgop and Uldene sat in the Power Players office facing the blank view-screens. Gopgop said, “I don't usually enjoy the shows but today I can't even watch them to distract myself. This last group of intercepts worry me. We've seen what the A.D.U. guys saw and it's garbage. It's so broken up and full of static they'll have to make up half of it to fill in the gaps to make it useable.”
“Last week it wouldn't have been a problem but with the focus now on showing only accurate stuff that can be verified it's hard to see what they can do with it,” Uldene agreed.
“I still hope they can figure out how to fix it. It would really draw and hold an audience if it's believable. They know enough to play up the choppiness as the result of the far away confusion and the technical problems but with even the good cleanly recorded stuff they've shown now being questioned it's hard to predict the reaction of the masses.”
“Can you image what good recordings of that stuff would be worth on this planet now? Wow. Fantasy stuff.”
“But it’s nightmare stuff with so much doubt. Let me say it since it’s roiling my insides, I'm ready to get out. Carpan's polling data isn't absolute but it convinces me that things are headed downhill.”
“I brought in Elfwip to worry for me for a while but he had to leave, he was too upset to stay. Bad omen. I'm edgy too but I'd like to know what, if anything, A.D.U. sees to do with their new material before I make a final decision. Our inside guy at their office reports that the governors are near panic with concerns.”
“Let's set up another off-the-chart meeting,” Gopgop said.
“Agreed. And sooner is better.”
A harsh tone sounded. “That signal never means good news,” Gopgop said. He checked the monitor on the control console. “It’s our insider with a special coded message.” He brought up Techim’s recorded message on the view-screen.
She said, “This is big. The show’s a lot smaller than the producers have admitted until now – and even now the word only leaked out so they probably don’t know anyone but them knows it. There is only one contestant and his zerpy on that planet. The others balked and couldn’t be cajoled into risking the transport system to continue. End of this message.” The screen blanked.
“Whoa, now that changes a lot of things!” Uldene said. “The A.D.U. guys just learned that too so it’s scramble time all around. How do we play this? Knowing what they think is their secret would usually be fun but this could suck them under and, since we’ve been backing them, ruin us too,” Gopgop said.
“It was good business to reassure the doubters.”
“Who could have predicted that saying we knew all there was to know so we could be trusted when we said the show is all good stuff could come back on us? Well yeah, the worriers, but we pay them to tell us stuff we intend to ignore. We have to protect ourselves - and fast.”
“Focus, self. Who needs to know about this and who do we want to not know it for as long as possible? The governors need to know. If it eventually comes out looking like a deliberate cover-up, which it was, the audience might decide they were treated like fools, which they were. There could be large scale civil unrest. That answers the other part of my question, the fact must be kept from the audience as long as possible,” Uldene said with a decisive flap of his feet.
“At the very least until we’ve prepared our excuses and have things ready to focus all blame on others. Ninxy, it’d be such fun to hassle the A.D.U. guys about something like this but it’s too late to do that without making our situation worse.”
“How do we warn the governors about this when we shouldn’t know about it? How we know will be sure to come up.”
“The A.D.U. guys found out because of a misdirected signal so we can say that’s how we heard of it too. They can’t safely claim they knew about this until now so they can’t afford to make a fuss about how we heard the rumor,” Uldene said.
“We’ll help our relationship with the governors if we go in ready to suggest ways to distract the masses long enough for this change in things to be aired and become old news with no more than a minimum of active outrage. What can we suggest?”
“Public executions would usually seem worth considering but if this does lead to riots we’ll be on the list of those expendable to be the subjects of such entertainments.”
“This is good. Let’s think bigger though,”
Gopgop said, smiling at what was going through his head.
“Are you spifgrez? Are you going self-destructive?”
“No, I’m being a leader. The executions of a few guys here would distract the mobs for a while but I’m thinking that the loss of the whole bunch of deceivers at a far away spot would fascinate them and satisfy the destructive wishes. Without being too blatant, we let the governors know we can activate the self-destructs on the whole operation.”
“I see how attractive an out that would be. It even makes us the heroes because we thought ahead and made sure that final solution was possible. Whether or not they want the public to know about our role, the governors will appreciate having an option that they don’t even have to take full responsibility for unless they decide that will help them. That’s benefit piled on top of benefit for them which should mean big benefits like them protecting us and rewarding us in lots of ways,” Gopgop said.
“We do need to verify what we can do before we go making promises.”
“At least it’s convenient that we already had this meeting set up. It’s a nuisance going to him but I recognize why it’s best that he not be seen coming here,” Gopgop said as he stood.
* * *
Foxpat sat waiting calmly when they entered the room in the small non-descript building. It was a different room, reached by a different door in the interconnected complex, but was as bare as the one he had used earlier except that it had three intact chairs.
“You wanted to meet so I suggested a spot where anyone who noticed you arrive won’t connect you with me,” Foxpat said. “Which of your many problems do you want to talk-talk to me about?”
“Who said we have any problems, much less many of them?” Gopgop asked defensively.
“Let’s not waste time on the obvious,” Foxpat said.
“We activated Zink,” Uldene said while he watched closely for any reaction, sensitive to the response.
“Good for you. You paid to be able to do.”
“But you already knew we did that, right?” Gopgop asked.
“Really? Well, if you say so,” Foxpat said flatly.
“We can send signals through Zink to set off any self-destruct units we decide need to be used, right?” Gopgop asked.
“You can send those signals, yes. If the crew or an accident hasn’t turned them off, those units will do what they were designed to do, yes.”
“You make it sound like there are doubts,” Uldene noted.
“Exactly those I mentioned. Surely an alert crew of techs will be checking themselves and the ship for nasty surprises like those and analyzing how to deactivate them when they find them,” Foxpat said. “That’s basic self-preservation. I have no information about the status of the self-destruct units so I’m honest enough to hedge my assurances accordingly.”
“Since you’re being honest tell me, are we the only ones who paid you to sneak a zerpy onto Whizybeam?” Uldene asked.
“No.”
“Who else did?” Uldene demanded.
“None of your business.”
“Unacceptable answer,” Uldene shouted.
Foxpat smiled calmly and said nothing.
“How many zerpies did you put aboard?” Gopgop asked, hoping to get enough information to draw conclusions this way.
“One device that has several independent channels. Each channel can be set to monitor and/or take control of those ship’s systems that were specified when it was paid for.”
“Therefore someone else can find out what we’re checking on and maybe interfere with us taking control if it comes to that?” Uldene asked, his tone making it clear how unacceptable this was.
“Very unlikely but if they’ve been changing things on the ship it’s not possible to say totally impossible,” Foxpat said.
“No, we won’t allow this. We paid for an exclusive zerpy. Tell us how to turn off any other channels except our own,” Uldene said.
“No.”
“No is not an acceptable response,” Gopgop insisted.
“If I were willing to do what you’re demanding you’d already have been cut out of the system. We dergigged on an agreement. I would provide you with access to monitor and maybe control certain of the ship’s systems without the crew knowing that was being done or how. You have that ability so you have no valid complaint. If you want to make legal claims against me I’m ready to answer those before the appropriate authorities.”
“You owe it to us to tell us who and how many other groups are using channels on the hardware.” Gopgop said.
“No, I don’t.”
“We can make trouble for you if we’re not satisfied,” Uldene said.
“Same goes for me. But I can do more damage to you and do it faster and in more quarters than you can even have nightmares about so threats aren’t a prudent way to go, Uldene.”
“Right now we have the access we paid for, correct?” Gopgop asked. “Nothing that we’ve said here has changed that.”
“So far nothing I agreed to in meetings with you two, together or separate, has changed,” Foxpat said. Only with difficulty did he keep the smile off his face as the others processed those implications.
After a long moment of silent consideration Gopgop and Uldene each decided not to follow that up at least for now since that would expose things he didn’t want the other to know.
“You stay up to date on that area, what’s the very latest in zerpy development, Foxpat?”
“They’re getting smaller, more versatile, and the newest ones have a huge amount of built-in data storage. I won’t even admit to knowing any details about any new devices the governors have available. I hear there are some things but they’ve been declared off-limits so I respect that,” Foxpat said.
“Is there anybody who does know about such things and might share a little information for a good price?” Uldene asked.
“I only know one guy who might, emphasis on the uncertainty of that, might know something. He’s sneaky but generally has the goods and has a reputation for being discrete. I don’t have any dealings with him precisely because he has a reputation in certain closed circles for taking more risk of upsetting the governors than most of us want to do,” Foxpat said.
“Can you tell us how to contact him?” Gopgop asked.
“No. Too dangerous. He’s called Ritrup,” Foxpat said.
“That’s not his real name?” Uldene asked.
“I don’t know and I have no interest in checking it out. I’m clear of him, only know him by the whispers, and I intend to keep it that way,” Foxpat said.
* * *
A short time later Gopgop and Uldene sat in another room in the same complex with the guy who went by the name Ritrup. He was tall, thin, had only three back-to-front rows of short, round-topped head spikes, and red feet that looked suspiciously like they were doctored in some way to make them conspicuous but wouldn’t be this shade of red anywhere but here and now.
“This is faster than we expected,” Uldene said.
“I was in the area and someone who knew someone who knew someone heard you wanted to meet,” Ritrup said. “It’s prudent to meet in a place like this. Not many know me but those who do would want to know why I visited your office.”
“What do you know about Sproingy?” Uldene asked.
“A sort of pet name a certain someone has given a very powerful new zerpy model. An amazing device,” Ritrup said.
“Have you seen one?” Gopgop asked.
“I can’t risk saying that I have but if I blink three times real fast it might mean yes,” Ritrup said. Then he blinked three times real fast.
“I’m only asking as a hypothetical question since I know you won’t answer but have you ever held one?” Uldene asked.
Ritrup blinked three times. Then he patted his pants pocket.
The others silently registered their surprise.
“Here? Now?” Gopgop gasped.
Ritrup nodded yes - and patted the pocket again.
&n
bsp; “For sale?” Uldene asked, hardly daring to whisper it.
Ritrup nodded yes but then added a shrug.
For a moment the others were caught between surprised delight and confused doubt.
Ritrup whispered, “Are you recording this meeting?”
“Yes, but if it will make you feel safer I’ll turn off my zerpy,” Gopgop said. Turning a bit in his chair to let him get the device from his pocket he gave Uldene a quick wink. “It’s small but an old model so it only records.” He pushed controls and placed the small zerpy on the floor. As proof it was turned off it laid there rather than hovered.
“Yours too,” Ritrup said to Uldene.
Uldene hesitated, considering arguing, but then shrugged and placed his own, apparently turned off, small device on the floor too.
Ritrup took the latest model mini-zerpy from his pocket but the others were momentarily distracted because Uldene’s device exploded with a distinct pop and turned to dust on the floor.
“Seems it wasn’t turned off after all,” Ritrup said.
Uldene stared at the pile of dust by his chair then looked up at Gopgop who was doing all he could to send the non-verbal signal not to complain about that loss. Ritrup acted as if he didn’t notice that but any alert person would doubt that.
“How I got this isn’t important but be aware that simply having seen it or even just hearing that an unauthorized person has one puts you in line for punishment by the governors if they find out,” Ritrup said.
“Understood,” Gopgop said.
“I’d prefer to let someone inspect and analyze it so they could make copies and I could put this one back but if you insist on a direct sale I’ll go with that.”
“We need what this can do now, not in a few weeks or even days. We’re ready to buy it. Tell us your price.”
The mini-zerpy extended its virtual screen and keyboard . Ritrup entered a figure, then held it for them to see.
“You can’t be serious,” Uldene said, going automatically into haggling with inferiors mode.
Gopgop leaned forward and said, “We’ll pay it. Set it up for a money transfer and let’s get this done.”
Uldene’s expression showed he thought it was a mistake to pay the first asking price but he didn’t object. He thought, I’ll make sure I get part of my share of the overpayment back one way of the other so I won’t be the loser in this.
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