"Which was?"
"Only that Shelby's father has lots of clout back on Earth, and that's where they have the best facilities for treating people with mental problems. I told Uncle Thurgood that maybe we could arrange for a cure for Scrimshander."
"Which explains everything." Mungo Trask, who had sat through dinner with his returned family in contented silence, scowled and sighed. Suddenly he looked like his brother Thurgood. "Grace, I have one question for you. Can you tell me what a cure would be for Scrimshander Limes?" And, when Grace sat in awkward silence, "Would it be going back to become Lucky Jack Linden again, remembering exactly how his wife and family died? Is that a cure? I don't think so. I didn't speak to Thurgood today, but he spoke to me. He was as happy as I've ever seen him. He told me that Scrimshander has never been as much at peace as he is now, because when he dreams it's not about the Trachten blowout. It's about piloting a corry with a couple of young idiots aboard and bringing them safe home against all the odds."
"Sorry." Grace's face was white. Shelby had the feeling that Mungo Trask never spoke like that to his children.
"That's all right." Mungo looked around the table. "I'll talk to Thurgood, and I'll reassure him. And we're all like family here, so it won't go any farther."
Before anyone could react to that curious statement, J. P. Cheever had jumped in. "I guess that was my cue. For the past two days, ever since I learned that Shelby was alive, I've been puzzling over two things: What should he be doing with himself now? And how can I ever thank the crew of the Harvest Moon, and all the harvesters, for what they did for him?" He gave Shelby a reassuring glance that said Don't worry. I'm not going to suggest money. "I didn't have any idea, though, until Mungo and I had a talk and found we agreed on two things: Being a parent is hell; and the thing that the two of us lack and always regret missing is any sort of real education. It's particularly hard to get out here, in the Kuiper Belt, and damn nigh impossible in the Cloud.
"So Mungo and Lana and I are proposing a deal, and here it is. You, Shelby, will go back to Earth and be educated. After that, if you want to, you return to the Cloud and help with its development. Now, wait a minute." J. P. Cheever held up his hand to cut off Shelby's protest. "This isn't just for you. The same offer goes for all the teenage children in the Cloud, Grace and Doobie and Nick Rasmussen and all the rest of them. There will be a free education for each of you, courtesy of Cheever Enterprises, the best that you can get on Earth—which also means the toughest. Five years or more of hard grind, with emphasis on science and technology. And then—but only then—Cheever Enterprises will begin a major development program in the Messina Cloud."
Grace and Doobie had been giving Shelby questioning looks. He realized that he was being appointed as the spokesman.
"What do you mean," he asked, "a major development program? Do you mean that you'll come out to the Cloud in five years and manage things?"
"No." J. P. Cheever shook his head. "Definitely not."
"Then if you won't, who will? Me?"
"Maybe, but not necessarily."J. P. Cheever waved his arm vaguely around the table. "It could be Grace, or Doobie, or maybe someone I've never met. You and the others will be evaluated on a fair and equal basis. No favoritism. The best-qualified of you, whoever that turns out to be, will be in charge. I can be sure of inherited money, you see, though I don't have a high regard for it. What I can't guarantee is inherited ability, to manage a development program or to do anything else that's worth doing. You may or may not have it. You get an equal chance, with everyone else. Fair enough?"
He was staring at Shelby. They all were. Shelby could tell, if he said yes, that Grace and Doobie would go along. He thought of them, and of Nicky and Mooks and Skip and the rest of the harvester teenagers. That would be his competition. Tough competition, too, but he believed that he could handle it. And the prize for the winner was the Messina Cloud development program, with a freer hand in its direction than he had ever dreamed of.
And suppose he didn't beat the competition? Then it meant that there was someone in the group smarter and better qualified than he was. And he would learn from that person.
The others had been watching him closely, observing the changing expressions on his face. When finally he nodded and said, "Fair enough," Lana Trask, Mungo Trask, and his father shared a three-way smile.
And when Lana spoke she was facing Shelby, but her words didn't seem to be addressed to him at all. "Now I see where he gets it from," she said.
Her words seemed clear enough. It was five more years before Shelby understood what they meant.
THE END
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The Billion Dollar Boy
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirtee
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
The Billion Dollar Boy Page 23