“Although we refer to them now as 'Psychlos,' that name didn't come into use until that time. Previously they called themselves after whatever king might chance to be on the imperial Throne.
“Anyway, not to bore you for I see you know something of this, the ensuing centuries were very, very bad for everyone, especially the
Psychlos. They built a reputation of being the cruelest, most sadistic oppressors any universe had ever seen.
“But they were in internal trouble. Their population was bursting. They were in economic chaos. They were nine parts in eleven unemployed. The royal house was terrified of revolution and as a matter of fact, experienced, I think, four assassinations of princes-”
“Seven,” said Lord Voraz. “And two queens.”
“Thank you,” continued Dries. “And in total desperation, they came to the Gredides and actually begged the Selachees for help. They wanted money to hire soldiers and buy arms. But our parliament, the Creditable Body, along with every other race in sixteen universes, wanted nothing to do with them and it looked like outright war. But somebody in the
Creditable Body-'
“Lord Finister," said Lord Voraz.
“Thank you. Had the good sense to turn them over to us. We were as big a bank then. The current head of it-'
“Lord Loonger," said Lord Voraz.
“Thank you. Brought them to the bargaining table and really got them on the signature line! The bank would handle all economic connections they had with other races, handle all transfers of Psychlo funds, handle all peace conferences. And in return every Selachee would be held inviolate, the Selachee planets and the Gredides System were totally hands off, and the Psychlos would furnish teleportation facilities throughout the universes for the bank. They signed, they got their money, they stabilized.”
Lord Voraz spoke up, “The only two times they ever sought to violate those agreements, they went into a nose-dive splash and they hastily reformed at once.”
“So there,” said Dries Gloton, “you have the whole background of the Galactic Bank. We call it 'Galactic,' you know, even though it should be 'Pan-Galactic,' covering sixteen universes as it does. But 'Galactic' makes customers look on it as their galaxy's bank. More neighborly, don't you think?”
What Jonnie thought was that he was dealing with an outfit more powerful than the Psychlos. With the galactic organization that could give orders to monsters and be obeyed. He was very alert. There was trouble here somewhere.
“Then possibly,” said Jonnie, “you want to talk with the government here about teleportation service.”
Dries and Lord Voraz looked at each other and then back at Jonnie.
“Not with the government,” said Lord Voraz. “I doubt it owns any of that. Teleportation would be quite another subject and really we aren't engaged in having a talk to arrange a talk about it just now. You see, there is space travel. It is slow and time-consuming but it does exist.”
Jonnie felt he was not saying everything but he wouldn't push that. It evidently wasn't where the danger lay– for certainly it lay someplace! He could feel it. He sat easily and said, “Maybe it's about the payment of fees for this conference. They might be much larger than we had anticipated.”
“Oh, heavens, no!” scoffed Dries. And he went to work with a ring he wore. The fingers flew, a thread came out and popped into an expanded tape, and he looked at it. “Negligible. The fees vary for emissaries because their governments vary in size and even pay them differently. But they only add up to about C85,000-it could, of course, be more if they delay. But not much. The bank fee is standard: only C25,000. There is of course the matter of my yacht-'
“The bank,” said Lord Voraz, “pays the space yacht expenses when he uses it on bank business. I think it would be fair, Dries, for you to charge up all the months you searched-”
Dries cut him off sharply. “The yacht would only be charged from the Batafor planet of Balor– that's the Galactic Bank branch office for this sector,” he added for Jonnie's benefit. “It’s a Hawvin planet. They're not such bad people really. Honest enough individually. So call it C60,000. The total is only around C 170,000.”
They had that much, thought Jonnie.
But Dries was hesitating. “We're not entirely sure yet that you would get this bill. It sort of depends on the outcome of the conference.”
Something here, Jonnie told himself. He was now getting a finger on it.
Chapter 5
They looked at Jonnie with their heavy-lidded eyes. They were very serious now.
His Excellency Dries Gloton leaned forward. “It’s a question of clear title. The bank would never have anything to do with a clouded title.”
"Never!" said Lord Voraz.
“The whole reputation of the bank, indeed, the racial reputation of the Selachees," said Dries, “is based on absolute honesty and impeccable legality.”
“Always legal,” said Lord Voraz. “It would be our ruin if we ever did anything illegal. We never bend rules. That's why uncounted quintillions of people trust us.”
Jonnie was not among those quintillions of people. There was something cold, hard, and horrible here. “Perhaps you had better explain further,” said Jonnie. "If I am to arrange a meeting for you, I really have to know the background of what will be taken up.”
Dries leaned back. “Ah, well. That's true. Where shall I begin? Well, the point of discovery of this planet is a good place.
“The sixteenth universe,” he continued, “was the last one to be discovered, possibly less than twenty thousand years ago. It was never wholly mapped. The Psychlo Imperial government introduced probes into it to do further charting but for a very long time they found nothing new.
“This planet is part of what might be called a 'rim star system' way out at the edge of a galaxy. It might have gone overlooked had it not sent out some probes of its own. It gave its exact location, an imperial probe picked it up, and the rest is history.
“The Psychlo Imperial government obtained title, quite valid, on the right of discovery. And this system's title was entered on the books for the first time.
“That government sold the planet to Intergalactic Mining which, being short of cash, borrowed the purchase price from the Galactic Bank. All this is very routine, ordinary, and usual. Intergalactic Mining has done this countless times.
“Such loans are secured by lodging the deed of title of a planet with the Galactic Bank. The interest rate is usually two parts in eleven. Or, in non-Psychlo arithmetic, roughly eighteen percent per annum. The term was twenty-five hundred years.
“Intergalactic in the past always paid such loans off smoothly– they knew better than not to. In fact, this was the only planet they had bought in recent times; all the others had been paid off. Such a transaction is called a 'mortgage.' Are you following me so far?”
Jonnie was. He had begun to guess what was coming.
“There was a second mortgage also,” said His Excellency. “It was to pay for the expenses of military conquest by Intergalactic. But that was a minor matter and, being at a higher interest rate, was paid off in only five years.”
Jonnie got it. The Galactic Bank had financed the invasion of Earth. Financed the gas drone.
They must have detected that something had changed in his attitude.
Lord Voraz said, “It is just business. The bank tends to banking and the customers tend to their own affairs. It does not mean the bank was ever hostile to you. Actually we are not hostile now. This is all just routine. Ordinary banking business.”