Meeting at Infinity Read Online Free

sold, then, is totally exclusive—unique to its proprietor. Yes?”
    Again Athlone muttered some sort of answer.
    “Therefore the system has to be proof against abuse from either direction—from carelessness on the part of a concessionary, and from interference with a concessionary. Moreover, unsupervised application of Tacket’s Principle has to be rigorously suppressed. Fortunately, the force of public opinion is against it, and that’s the strongest safeguard of all. Half the living population recalls the White Death, you realize. We sell a franchise only when it’s been properly explored; we sell it only to a party we consider reliable—whether an individual or a syndicate. But thereafter the onus is on the concessionary to observe the rules. In the case of any infringement, we act at once.”
    A peculiar note in Clostrides’s voice cut through the fog of Athlone’s gloom. It seemed to him that the bailiff was playing him, that in fact he was concealing a sliver of hope. He looked up.
    “Is harboring a wanted criminal an infringement, maybe?” he suggested, clutching at a straw.
    Clostrides shrugged, turning away from the gold-lined rock. “How badly wanted?” he said. “And by whom? I should have said that if you can’t get evidence to convict this man Nevada right here, you stand small chance of being able to extradite him if Lyken permits him entry to his franchise.”
    Defeated, Athlone sagged in his chair.
    Clostrides watched him with faint amusement. It was quite obvious what was going on in the man’s mind. Of course, it was no concern of his. The Market, like the medieval church, was a society within society, having its own laws and its own law enforcement methods. Nonetheless, it would cost nothing to add to the truth he had already spoken. Half a truth was often more misleading than a straightforward lie, Clostrides found.
    He returned to his chair.
    “Anyway,” he said, “the problem is really academic. We’re repossessing Lyken’s franchise tomorrow.”
    Athlone was not so far lost in his own problems that he could not recognize world-shaking news when it was given to him. He leaned forward, shaking a little. “Why?” he demanded.
    “For reasons good and sufficient!” snapped Clostrides.
    “I—I didn’t mean to be inquisitive—”
    “All right. You’ll find out when the news is announced officially. As I was saying: we’re going to repossess. Lyken has refused to yield, so we shall have to take the franchise by force. This man Nevada—if we find him in the franchise and alive, I suppose we could turn him over to you. I warn you, it’s unlikely; he’ll represent an encumbrance to Lyken, and the chances are good he’ll be used as cannon fodder. It depends at least partly on how successful Lyken’s recruiting is this evening.”
    “His—?”
    “His recruiting, I said.” Clostrides sounded impatient. “He’s usually quick off the mark; his agents may already be on the streets signing up the dregs. If you want to get anywhere in a hurry before midnight, I’d avoid the streets near his base. They’ll be choked to near roof level with eager would-be suicides—not that they’ll know they’re suiciding.”
    Athlone shook his head. “It’s a little above me, this,” he confessed humbly, and hated himself for the admission.
    “Is it?” Clostrides seemed surprised. “Why, a franchise is a valuable property, and Lyken will want to hang on to it. So he’ll raise and drill an army; he’ll get weapons through to the maximum of his credit before midnight, which is when we foreclose. Then it’s a matter of time. In the end, it may prove uneconomic to repossess, and we’ll have to come to an arrangement. Some of our most famous concessionaries have had to fight for what they have. We live in a jungle. You’re a—whatshall I call you?—you’re a jackal, perhaps, in a jungle where lions are fighting. I should advise you not to involve yourself more than you can help,