"I find it odd that a Catteni is trying to bargain for us with his own species. Strikes me as collusion," was Aarens's retort, and he in-cluded the miner in his angry glance.
"We'd still be under Cattem rule if Zainal hadn't intervened with that Kamiton," Yuri Palit said angrily.
"How do we know that? How do we know this business with the Barevi merchants isn't another way of robbing us and Botany of re-sources?" Aarens demanded, waggling an accusing finger at Palit.
"Considering what Zainal has already put on the line for us," Chuck said, his face flushed with anger, "your suggestion is imper-tinent."
"I'm always impertinent," Dick Aarens retorted, pleased.
"You are also out of order," Iri Bempechat said with a crack of his gavel.
"Let me straighten one thing out," Zainal said. "We have a Coun-cil," and he gestured to the dais, "to decide matters of planetary sig-nificance. Which this is, since it is Botany's assets that I hope to use to get the components we need to put more communication satellites in orbit around Botany and to restore the rest of the network around Earth. If that goal seems wrong to any of you, you have a chance to say so now, impertinent or pertinent. And I want Dick Aarens to come with us since he is an expert in circuitry."
"That's a safe enough offer," Dick Aarens said with a sneer. "You know I won't go out into space again.,,
Not everyone caught the second part of his comment because everyone wanted a turn to speak and the judge had to bang his gavel to restore order.
Zainal raised his hands high for silence, too, and when it was re-instated, he went on.
"We also have several spaceships which are currently not in use. I suggest that one of these could be profitably sold to cover costs." There was a roar of disapproval at that suggestion. Botanists took great pride in their space capability.
"We can dig more gold and stuff, but we can't get another space-ship as easily!"
"We'll all get something useful out of that gold 'n' stuff. Go to it, Zainal."
"I'll dig for more. Just show me where!" "Are you sure this'll work, Zainal?"
"I have been assured it will," Zainal said. "As sure as one can be. You all know my deal with Kamiton, but he didn't figure on the stub-bornness of Barevi merchants. Therefore it's up to me to do a private deal with them personally. And I take that responsibility very much to heart. We wouldn't have the problem we have now if I hadn't forgot-ten how materialistic that group are."
"Not your fault, Zainal," Chuck said, bringing his fist down on the table with a bang that startled everyone sitting around him. "Don't you blame yourself, Zainal," Dorothy Dwardie said, point-ing her finger at him. "You made a deal with Kamiton, and it's not your fault that he welshed on it."
"'Welshed on it'?" Zainal asked, blinking at her.
"Couldn't deliver," Kris translated. "Make good on his word. Kamiton seems to have some internal difficulties in his new govern-ment." She grinned and then confided to the assembly, "We'll sort it out, I'm sure. And we'll bring some coffee back with us, too."
There was a cheer to that statement.
"They'll be sorry they started on a coffee addiction. We can make that work for us, you know. Demand for goods is always a good in-centive to trade."
"What about the gold teeth?"
"It takes a lot longer to make teeth than it does to brew good coffee."
"Ah, coffee!"
"Hey, did they get a taste for chocolate, too?" a woman wanted to know.
"Hey, that can be just as addictive!" There was good-natured laughter at that.
"You will keep records of where the ransom goes, won't you, Zainal?"
"We certainly will," Chuck answered stoutly. "Every flake of gold, every ounce of copper, tin, and grain of minerals will be accounted for. Won't it, Sally?"
"Am I going, too?" Sally Stoffers asked, eyes wide with excitement. "You were an accountant once, weren't you?" Chuck asked. "Yes, but only on Earth."
"Accounting is accounting wherever it's done," Chuck said em-phatically.
"I motion to put the matter of our colony's assets being turned over to Zainal for the purposes of obtaining technological parts to the vote," cried Walter Duxie.
"I second that motion," said Mike Miller.
"All in favor, please stand!" He signaled to Dorothy, as Council secretary, to count the vote.
It was not a unanimous vote but more than two-thirds of those at-tending the meeting approved and that was all, judge Bempechat said, that was needed.
"Let's devoutly hope we succeed," Kris murmured to Peter, sitting next to her.
"That was almost too easy," he replied, "or have such diehards as Anne and Janet changed their tunes?"
Kris had not looked to see if those two conservative women who had such high and righteous morals and little compassion were in the audience. It took her a time to find them, sitting at the back. "They don't look happy, do they?" she said, for she had been certain they'd have a negative response from that pair.
"Well, they do have family back on Earth, as I'm sure you've heard them tell."
Kris nodded and then caught her breath as Janet got to her feet. "I raise the question of relatives being allowed here on Botany. I know that some folk are in terrible physical condition and could ben-efit by being here, away from the scenes of stress and destruction." Dorothy raised her hand to Iri to be heard.
"We have, indeed, been addressing that problem in the Council, Janet. As you will have heard, Chuck has brought his cousins back, and we will certainly entertain other applications for refuge. But, as you all know, Botany works because we all do. We can, of course, ad-mit a quantity of folk whose mental and physical state would improve by a change of scenery, but we must weigh our resources and staffing levels. If you would like, Dr. Hessian and I will set up interviews with those wishing to offer space available to relatives. Would that be ac-ceptable, Janet?"
"What about those valleys? And the one we fixed up for the Cat-teni families?"
"It has limited occupancy but it certainly figures in our plans to accommodate affected folk."
"Affected?" Janet retorted, incensed. "I'll have you know-" "Discuss what you know with me in the interview," Dorothy said firmly, effectively cutting off Janet's spiel before she could get started. "See me after this meeting and we'll arrange a time, Janet."
Kris would have liked to throttle Janet-once again. Botany was a sanctuary and should be available to those suffering from trauma, but not on a wholesale basis. The recovery of those victims who had suf fered from the effects of the mind-machine had proved that Botany's serene beauty could eradicate stress and injury. Certainly there were people here trained-and available-to help. One more reason to have better communications between the two planets: to forestall a mass exodus from Earth to Botany. This planet could sustain the people already here but not a mass immigration from Earth. She liked Botany as it currently existed, with a good balance of people and skills. If it were to be overbalanced in one direction-like becoming a vast hospital-it would founder under such weight. Still, it was the resilience of the community that had proved its strongest asset. Then she wondered about the feasibility of constantly running spaceships back and forth.
"Are there any more matters that need to come before the Coun-cil and the people?" Iri Bempechat asked, looking around the room. "Hearyez, hearyez," Chuck said, using his parade-ground voice to cut through the babble to be sure Iri's message had been heard. "Any more business for the Council and the assembled?"
A long pause answered that query.
"We got schedules to keep then," Leon Dane said, rising to his feet.
The judge gave one more bang of his gavel then, getting to his feet-a little stiffer for having sat for so long in one position. Then he put his gavel back inside his official robe and walked off the dais.