"How come you're here?" Norvis asked. "Skip ship or something?"
The elderly ex-farmer was even more washed out than he had looked aboard ship. "No," he said. "When the ship rolled, I became sick." He demonstrated with a vivid gesture. ''I am too old to learn to stay aboard a ship."
"Sorry to hear that," Norvis said sympathetically.
"What happened then?"
"It was impossible for me to remain aboard ship," Ganz said, "So Captain Del agreed to release me from my contract, pay me some money, and find me a job here on the docks. I am very grateful to him."
"Captain Del is a fine man," Norvis said. "I'm waiting for the Balthar to come back myself, right now."
"Oh? Then your venture in Gelusar didn't work out?" the peasant asked innocently.
Norvis grinned. "I'm afraid not. I'm hoping to get my berth back on the Balthar. "
"That is sad," Ganz peKresh said. "Tell me: how is it, in the peych regions? Are many of the farmers being—being driven out?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Norvis said. "And it'll get worse. The Elders have their own farms treated with this stuff, and they 're turning out enough peych to fill the warehouses. The small men like yourself who can't afford the treatment are being pushed out."
Ganz peKresh's faded face became even more unhappy looking. "I can't understand how the Great Light will permit His Elders to do such a thing."
"I don't know, either, Ganz peKresh,'' Norvis said. He pulled together his cloak. At this time of year, the wind blew in from the sea, directly through the narrow, rock-bound channel. The combination of the sharp winds whipping in and the pungent odor of fish was becoming a little too much for Norvis, and he decided he'd best move on.
"They are so wise,'' Ganz peKresh said reflectively. "They hold our world in their hands. They should see what they're doing."
"I guess there's no answer," Norvis said. "Not when the Elders are becoming so wealthy."
As Norvis turned to leave, Ganz smiled wistfully and said: "It's too bad the growth treatment can only be given to the few; how wonderful it would be if all farmers could share equally in its bounty."
"Yes,'' Norvis said politely, barely listening to what the old man had said. "Well, I must be moving on."
"May the Great Light bless you," Ganz peKresh said.
"May He illumine your mind," responded Norvis. He had gone more than a hundred paces before he realized that the old farmer had given him the answer.
V
Norvis spent the next two weeks in his dingy hotel room, scribbling over page after page of calculations and formulae of the new mathematics he had learned at the Bel-rogas School, trying frantically to dig out of his memory the things he had striven so hard to forget for four years.
Fool! Why hadn't he seen it before? Of course, it simply wasn't done; it was unethical, dishonest, and a downright dirty trick. He grinned gleefully as he worked. Sure it was a low blow, but the Scriptures said: "Those who transgress the Law shall fall before other transgressors." That was justification enough.
Finally, after he had all his notes down and was absolutely sure they were correct, he had one more problem to solve. He knew he could make the new hormone, but he had to make more of it, and faster. And, if possible, cheaper.
Now, let's see. What's the thing that makes the process so slow? He considered: it's got to be fermented in the vats, and then ...
The Earthman, Smith, had taught him the trick of examining a problem closely to see where the solution lay. It was an Earthman kind of thinking. The first thing to do was to see what the problem really was. "Get back to the basic concept,'' Smith would say over and over again.
Norvis hadn't tried to use the method in years, because he hated everything he'd learned at the School. But now he saw that that kind of thinking was necessary if he were going to beat a man who thought that way. Smith and Company were going to be tripped by their own feet.
When Captain Del peFenn Vyless strode down the gangplank of the Balthar, he saw a familiar figure standing on the deck. His weathered face broke into a grin.
"Hoy! Norvis peKrin! By the Light, I thought you'd be back; once the sea gets into a man's blood, it's there to stay!" He shook the younger man's hand heartily. "What happened in Gelusar? I heard they stoned a man to death there for blasphemy, I hope you didn't get mixed up in it."
"No; I'm still alive. I saw what could happen to a man who tries to stir up trouble that way, so I decided on different tactics."
"Oh, so? Still trying to buck the Council?" The sea captain shook his head. "That's like trying to dim the Great Light Himself. Give it up, my boy."
Norvis shook his head. "I'm not giving up yet. I've got an idea, Captain. I've got a little scheme that will make the Elders uncomfortable and make us some money at the same time. It may be a little underhanded, but it's perfectly legal. Do you want to hear it?"
"Won't do any harm to listen," Del peFenn said.
"Come along to the Seaman's Guild Hall. I'll stand you to a drink." "Right."
The public room of the Guild Hall was crowded with sailors who were relaxing after long voyages or bracing themselves for a new one. Norvis and the Captain managed to get themselves a table, and after the drinks had been brought, Norvis began to outline his plan.
"You know this new hormone that's being used to make peych grow better and mature faster? Well, I've got the formula for making it."
"But I thought some kid from the School held a monop—"
"Sure," Norvis interrupted. "But what does a hereditary monopoly guarantee? It guarantees that if someone else makes the stuff, the owner of the monopoly must get the same profit as if he had made it himself, and the quality must be as good or better than the quality of the good turned out by the original monopoly holder. Naturally, most people don't try infringing because they won't be able to get any profit. And if they do find a method of making it more cheaply, the original monopoly holder soon finds out about it, changes his own methods, and cuts out the newcomer by reducing his price and getting the same profit."
"Certainly," snorted Del peFenn. "But what good does that do us?"
"Well, I've got a method of producing the stuff that is cheaper than the Dran peNiblo process, and it requires an entirely different kind of factory. In order to do it our way, they'd have to scrap most of their present factory and rebuild entirely. That will take time and money, and by then we will have made our own little pile."
"I'll grant that, but reluctantly," the Captain said.
"Go ahead."
"All right; the way I see it, we'll make the hormone cheaper than the Gelusar plant is turning it out, and we'll sell it to the small farmers. We can give it to them at a lower cost, and still make enough to pay Dran peNiblo his proper profit, thereby keeping within the Law. That way, the schemes of the Earthmen will bounce right back on them, and we'll keep the Elders from becoming too powerful. We might even be able to drive the Gelusar manufacturers out of business, in which case, the monopoly will revert to us! All we need is a handful of men who will keep our process secret.''
The Captain looked highly skeptical. "I've got men on my ship I'd trust anywhere," he said. "But how do you propose to do it? And what makes you think you have the right formula? And how can you produce more of it than the Gelusar plant can?" He gestured with a sinewy hand. "Why, it took several of the Council Elders to put up enough money to build that one little plant. How can we build more than that? I don't have that kind of money, Norvis. Nor do you."