Moving Mars (17 page)

Dear Casseia Majumdar,

Your application to serve as an apprentice to Syndic Bithras Majumdar of Majumdar BM has been approved. You will act as his assistant on the upcoming journey to Earth. You will meet with Bithras soon. Please prepare your affairs quickly.

(signed)

Helen Dougal

Secretary to the Syndic, Majumdar BM

A shiver took me. I lay back on the bed, wondering whether I would laugh or throw up.

I was spinning right to the center of power, if only to observe.

The other lucky apprentice was an earnest fellow from Majumdars station in Vastitas Borealis, Allen Pak-Lee. Allen was two years older than me. I had met him briefly at UMS. He seemed quiet and sincere.

We were also taking a registered copy of Alice. Majumdar BM was paying, at discount, about seven and a half million to ferry the four of usAlice Two counting as one passenger, though she weighed less than twenty kilos.

As secretary and apprentice negotiator I would spend a lot of time with my third uncle. Bithras, a perpetual bachelor almost three times my age, was legendary for his tendency to seek the female. Our family relationship presented no absolute obstacle to him; I was not blood, and while liaisons within BMs were mildly discouraged, they were common enough. I knew this going into the jobI thought I could handle the situation.

I had been told his advances were reasonably diplomatic and that he took rebuffs without loss of face or resentment; I was also told that in public he would act fatherly and protective, and that in many respects he was honorable, intelligent, and kind.

But if you go to bed with him, my mother told me as she helped me pack, youre sunk.

Why? I asked.

Because hes a conservative old sodder, she said. He professes to love women dearly, and he does in his own way. Butand this I learned from one of his partners-he hates sex.

Im confused, I said, packing a cylinder of raw cloth into the single steel case allowed for the journey.

Hes like a dog that adores the hunt but doesnt enjoy killing the fox.

I laughed, but Mother raised her eyebrows and pinched her lips. Believe me. He lives for his work, and for an unmarried man of his stature, sex can be messy, irrational, and potentially dangerous. He has to live with this other self, a self he has never been able to control. But this is a prime opportunity for you.

I made a face and folded my medicine kit into the case.

Poke it, mother said. I poked the kit and it squirmed.

Its fresh, I said. I didnt know he was such a monster. Why does anybody put up with him?

A sacred monster, dear Casseia. If he didnt exist, wed have to invent him. Think of him as a family rite of passage. Resist his advances with humor and cleverness, and hell do anything in the world for you. And once he has your measure, hell stop pushing. She surveyed the perfectly packed case with a critical eye, then nodded approval. I envy you, she said wistfully. Id love to go to Earth.

Even traveling with Bithras?

There isnt a chance in hell you or I would go to bed with him. She winked. We have such good taste. But what an opportunity Resist the beast, and come out the other side still a virgin, covered with gold and jewels.

Well I said.

Two days before we were to depart, Bithras summoned me to his offices in Carter City in Aonia Terra. I boarded the train in Jiddah and crossed to Aonia, removing my bag at the Carter depot. Carter was where most of Majumdar BMs staff lived, the locus of long-range planning; it was Bithrass home, as well.

I had never met Bithras and I was more than a little nervous.

Helen Dougal met me at the depot and escorted me as we took a cab through the transit tunnels. Helen was an attractive woman of twenty Martian years who appeared not much older than me.

Carter had a population of ten thousand BM members and several hundred applicants, most of them Terries immigrating because of Eloi laws on Earth. It was a big town, yet run efficiently, and the tunnels and warrens were large and well-designed. It didnt seem crowded and haphazard, as did Shinktown, nor cleanly officious, like Durrey; but it certainly wasnt cozy and familiar, like Ylla. The presence of so many Terriesa few of them exotic transformsat times gave it a very unMartian atmosphere.

Helen fed my slate background on the subjects to be discussed and filled me in on the itinerary for the two-day visit. Study it later, she said. Right now, Bithras wants to meet his new assistant.

Of course. I detected no envy in Helen Dougals face. I wondered why Bithras wasnt taking her instead of me wondered if she thought I was moving in on her meal pan. Since I was a little younger in appearance certainly in age

With what I had heard, anything might be possible. I must have gone a little distant, for Helen smiled patiently and said, Youre an apprentice. I have nothing to fear from you, nor you from me.

How about from Bithras?

And believe me, a lot of what youve heard about our syndic is pure dust.

Oh.

Advocates and family representatives meet this afternoon at fifteen. First, however, youre going to join Bithras and me for lunch. Allen Pak-Lee is still in Borealis. Hell be here the day after tomorrow.

The lunch was held in a dining hall outside Bithrass main office. I had expected moderate luxury, but the setting was Spartan: box nano food, hardly inspiring, and packaged tea served from ancient battered carafes in worn cups, on tables that must have had pioneer metal in them.

Bithras entered, clutching his slate and cursing in what I first took to be Hindi; later I learned it was Punjabi. He sat peremptorily at the tableit isnt easy to sit down hard on Mars, but he did his best. The slate skittered a few centimeters across the table and he apologized in perfect, rapid English.

He was dark, almost purple, with intense eyes and handsome features puffing in his middle years. His head was topped with a short stiff brush of black hair lacking any gray. Thick arms and legs, well-muscled for a Martian, stuck out assertively from a short body. He wore a white cotton shirt and tennis shorts. Low-court tennis was Bithrass favorite sport.

It is pressing. It is pressing very hard, he said, and shook his head in frustration. Then he looked up, his eyes glittering like a little boys, and beamed a broad smile. Getting acquainted! My niece, my new apprentice and assistant?

I rose from my seat and bowed. He did the same, and reached across the table to shake my hand. His eyes lingered on my chest, which hardly invited scrutiny beneath a loose jumpsuit. You come highly recommended, Casseia. I have great expectations.

I blushed.

He nodded briskly. I had thought we would have time for a lunch alone, but not sowe start work immediately. Where are the advocates?

The door opened and six of Majumdar BMs most prominent advocates and managers entered. I had met four of them at social functions over the years. Three male, three female, they, too, wore white shirts and shorts, and towels draped around their necks, as if they had all been playing tennis with Bithras.

I had never seen so many crucial characters assembled in one room: my first taste of being at the center.

Bithras greeted each with a familiar nod. Introductions were ignored. I was here for my own benefit, not theirs. Now I will begin, he said. We are an unhappy planet. We do not satisfy Earth. That is sad enough, but actually our progress is slow from any point of view; nobody can agree how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. It has been more than a year since the end of the Statist government, and all we have managed is to patch the Council back together and hold interim meetings. Economics have slid, and we are in worse condition than before Dauble threw her hammers. This has hurt trade. We do not have a single entity governing trade; Earth organizations must work with every BM separately, and contend with zealous district governors. We still run scared of actually cooperating in our own mutual interests, of being caught again in the Statist trap. So

He folded his hands. We are hurting ourselves. There must be an end to recriminations as to who agreed with Dauble and who did not. We must stop punishing Lunar and Earth sympathizers with exclusion from the Council. As you know, I have been meeting with the syndics of the twenty largest Mars-based BMs for the past few months to put together a proposal for Martian unification, working behind and around the Council. I go to Earth with a package to present, and I present it to the Council for debate this evening. You have studied it It is quick, it is dirty, it has handicaps. Im giving you a final chance to criticize it, from a selfish perspective. Tell me something I do not know.

It curtails the rights of BMs to control their own trade, said Hetti Bishop, chief advocate. I know we must organize, but this is too damned Statist.

Again I ask, tell me something I dont know.

It gives district governors more power than ever, said Nils Bodrum from Argyre. The governors are in love with their duties and their lands. Some of them think Mars is a natural paradise to be preserved. Weve had six Triple loan deals fall through because we couldnt guarantee quick answers to resource requests. We strangle in conservationist tape.

Bithras smiled. So, get to your point, Nils.

If governors keep hewing to a preservation line, and we give them more power, we can say good-bye to billions of Triple dollars. Triple money wont back our resource digs. Well have to curtail settlements and turn down Terrie immigrants. That wont make anybody happy, least of all Earth. Where will they, send their seekers after eternity? For each Eloi refugee

Immigrant, Hattie Bishop said wryly.

Immigrant, I remind this august assembly, we are paid a million Triple dollars. And that money flows first through Majumdar banks.

Bithras listened intently.

I dont see why Earth wants the governors stronger, Bodrum concluded, folding his hands.

They are pushing for a unified government and for BMs to concede power, said Samuel Washington of Bauxite in the Nereidum Mountains. Thats been their goal for ten years. And theyre willing to exert considerable pressure.

What kind of force can they use? Hettie Bishop asked.

Beside her, Nance Misra-Majumdar, the eldest of our advocates, chuckled and shook her head. Two hundred and ninety thousand Terrie immigrants on Mars have arrived in the last ten years. Theyve found their way into high and trusted positions in every BM, some work on the council

What are you getting at, Nance? Hettie asked.

Nance lifted her shoulders. They used to be called fifth columnists, she said.

All of them? Bithras asked sardonically.

Nance smiled patiently. Our thinkers are manufactured on Earth. It may be years before the Tharsis thinkers come on line. All of our nano factories come from Earth, or the designs at least.

No one has ever found irregularities in any designs or software, Hettie said. Nance, we have no reason to be paranoid.

Bithras lifted his chin from his hand and spun his chair halfway. I see no reason to anticipate trouble, but Nance is right. In theory, there are many ways we could be undermined without facing a massive military expedition across space, which at any rate has never been feasible, even for so rich and powerful a world as Earth.

I could hardly believe such things were being discussed. I was at once dubious, repelled, and fascinated.

Nils Bodrum said, We have no organized defenses. That much could be said for a central authorityeasier to raise an army and defend our planet.

Bithras was clearly not pleased by the direction the conversation was taking. Friends, this is not a serious problem, certainly not yet. Earth simply wants us to present a united negotiating front, and they have targeted the largest financial BMourselvesto catalyze unification. If you pardon the word.

Why should unification be a dirty word? Hettie said. My God, as an advocate, I tell you, Id love to find a way out of the morass of special cases and fooleries we call our Charter.

The Moon went through this decades ago, Nance said. Since the Schism, when Earth could not afford to administer such far-flung worlds and we took our leave-

Sounds a note of history vid, Nils said with a grin.

Nance continued after the slightest pause for a glare. We have wrangled and tangled our way into perpetual unrest. The Moon found a solution, changed its constitution

And was reabsorbed by Earth, Nils said. Independent in dreams only.

We are much farther away, Hettie said.

Nils would not be swayed. We do not need order imposed from outside. We need time to find our own path, our own best solution.

Bithras sighed heavily. My esteemed advocates tell me what I already know, and they say it over and over.

When you take this suggestion for compromise to Earth, Hettie said, how do you expect them to believe you can make it stick in the Council? Preliminary agreement is one thing

Bithrass features expressed extreme distaste. I am going to tell Earth, he said, that Majumdar BM will put a hold on further Triple dollar transactions for any BM that does not sign.

Nils exploded. That is treasonous! We could be sued by every BM on this planetand rightly so!

What court would hear them? Bithras asked. We have no effective court structure on Mars, not since Dauble Our own advocates pressed suit against Dauble on Earth, not Mars. What court on Earth would hear a suit pertaining only to Mars? Bithras stared at them sternly. My friends, how long has it been since a BM sued another BM?

Thirty-one years, Hettie said glumly, chin in hand.

And why? Bithras pursued, slapping his palm on the table.

Honor! Nils cried.

Nonsense, Nance said. Nobody has wanted to prick the illusion. Every BM is a rogue, an outlaw, and the Council is a polite sham.

But it works! Nils said. Advocates negotiate, talk to each other, settle things before they ever reach court. We work around the governors. For Majumdar to put the very existence of other BMs in jeopardy is unconscionable!

Perhaps, Bithras said. But the alternative is worse. Earth will doubtless make many threats if we do not act soon. And one of them will be complete embargo. No more designs, no more technical assistance. Our newer industries would be badly damaged, perhaps crippled.