Between the Strokes of Night

“As I have told you many times, Judith, you are a genius. You can maneuver simple innocents like me around like puppets. But you are not — yet — a manipulator to match Salter Wherry. He is the best in the System, and he can call on seventy years of experience. When you think of your own objectives, and your hidden agenda — which I do not even pretend to be privy to — remember that he undoubtedly has a hidden agenda also, with quite different goals. And if you are a genius, he is an undoubted genius also in finance and organization. And he has a reputation of getting his way.”

De Vries crossed his legs carefully and adjusted the sharp crease on his trousers. “But from the look on your face I suspect I’m digressing. What’s this great offer you want to discuss? Why aren’t you off by the great gray-green greasy Avon River, dining on strawberries and cream to the sound of trumpets — or whatever other delights of dalliance the sadly out-of-touch Mr. Gibbs had in mind?”

Judith Niles rubbed delicately at her left eye, as though it was troubling her. “Hans Gibbs brought me an offer. They’re having problems on Salter Station. Did you know that?”

“I have heard rumors. The insurance rates for Station personnel have been raised an order of magnitude above those for conventional space operations. But I fail to see any connection with the Institute.”

“That’s because you don’t know what the problems are. Jan, the offer I had today was a simple one. Hans Gibbs came here with authority from Salter Wherry. The budget of the Institute will be quadrupled, with guaranteed funding levels for eight years. In addition, the schedule of experiments that we conduct here will be free from all outside control or interference. So will our hardware and software procurement.”

“It sounds like paradise.” De Vries stood up and went to stand next to Judith. “Where’s the worm in the apple? There must be one.”

She smiled at him, and patted his shoulder. “Jan, how did I get along before you joined the Institute? Here’s your worm: to get all the good things that Salter Wherry promises, we must satisfy one condition. The key staff of the Institute must relocate — to Salter Station. And we must do our best to crack a problem that has been ruining the arcology construction projects there.”

“What! Up into orbit. I hope you didn’t agree to it.”

“No, not yet. But I might. I have to go up there and see for myself — Hans Gibbs will make the arrangements this weekend.” As Jan de Vries became more and more doubtful, Judith looked more relaxed.

“And since I’ll be gone, Jan,” she went on, “somebody else has to look at the initial list of key staff members, just in case we decide to do it. I know my own choices for the top people, but I’m not close enough to all the support staff — and we’d need some of them, too. Who are the best ones, and who is willing to go to Salter Station?”

“You sound as though you have made up your mind already.”

“No. I just want to think ahead in case it does happen.” She went across to her desk and picked up a handwritten page. “Here’s my first selection. Sit down again, and we’ll go over it together.”

“But — “

“Get Charlene to help you on this while I’m away.”

“Charlene? Look, I know she’s good, but can she be objective? She’s a mass of insecurity.”

“I know. She’s too modest. That’s why I want her to know she was on my preferred list from the start. While you’re at it, take a look at this.” She handed him a couple of pages of printout. “I just ran it out of the historical data banks. It’s the statement that Salter Wherry made to the United Nations when he started his industrial space activity, thirty years ago. We need to understand the psychological make-up of the man, and this is a good clue to it.” “Judith, slow down. You’re pushing me. I’m not at all sure that I want to — “ “Nor am I. Jan, we may be forced to do this, even if some of us don’t like the decision. Things have been absolutely falling apart around here in the past few months, bit by bit.”

“I know times are hard — “

“They’ll get worse. The way the Institute is getting screwed around, we can’t afford to do nothing. If we’re being raped we have to fight any way we can; even if it means risking Salter Wherry trying to screw us too.”

He took the sheets from her hand, sighing. “All right, all right. If you insist, I’ll blunder ahead. Let’s all become experts on Salter Wherry and his enterprises. But Judith, must you be so crude? I prefer to avoid these unpleasant suggestions of rape. Why can’t we regard this overture as the first touch of Salter Wherry’s perfumed hand in our genteel seduction?” He smirked happily. “That makes it all positively appealing; in seduction, my dear, there’s so much more scope for negotiation.”

* * *

From the invited address of Salter Wherry to the United Nations General Assembly, following establishment of Salter Station in a stable six-hour orbit around the Earth, and shortly before Wherry withdrew from contact with the general public: