"You're sailing west with the second load, then," Del told him. "We ought to return rich men."
Norvis grinned. "Even with the share we'll have to give the Gelusar company, we'll make more profit than they will."
Del nodded. "And we ought to be able to get rid of the first two loads in no time."
They did. The hungry farmers of Sugon practically swarmed all over the Balthar as soon as word went round that a ship had arrived bearing the same wonderful mystery that had resulted in such marvelous production on the Elders' farms.
Del peFenn found people bidding frantically for the cargo, and one rich land-owner offered to buy the whole shipment for use on his farms. But Del kept in mind the carefully laid plan of Norvis peKrin, which was to distribute the hormone evenly according to acreage, and he resolutely held the price down and rationed out the quantity. He returned to Vaschor with an empty hold and a full purse.
As for Norvis, his first experience as captain of his own ship was an equally successful one. He guided the Krand flawlessly around the coast, heading in a westerly direction toward the southwestern port of Sundacor, and at each of the three stops along the way he disbursed a part of his cargo.
Del peFenn had been back in Vashcor for several days when the Krand returned. As soon as his ship was docked and anchored, Norvis made his way to the Balthar, but was told that the Captain was at the hormone factory.
A swift deest-ride took Norvis there. It was a tall and fairly imposing building, and he allowed himself the luxury of a sensation of pride at the sight of it.
He entered, and a busy-looking workman directed him up the stairs and around a corridor, where he opened a door and found Captain Del in conference with Foreman Drosh peDrang.
He sniffed as he entered. "It doesn't smell any better in here than it does in the rest of the plant."
The two men, startled, looked around. "Norvis!"
"Hoy, Del. How was business?"
Hurriedly, the two men spilled out to each other the story of the success of their respective voyages.
"It's going well, isn't it?" Norvis said. "Good, good. We'll teach the Elders they can't corner a valuable commodity like this and expect to keep it cornered." He turned to Drosh peDrang. "How are the local sales going?"
"We've established a center in Elvisen," he said. "The farmers have been coming from all over Pelvash to buy the stuff. The money's coming in faster than we can get it into the bank."
"Hmmm. We don't want to get too rich out of this thing," Norvis said slyly. "Next thing we know, the Elders will be coming to us, looking for a loan." "What's wrong with that?" Del asked. - "Looks bad in the public eye," explained Norvis. "The people are pretty much sold on the Elders, and we don't want to appear to be showing them up too badly. Remember what happened to that prophet fellow in Gelusar."
"The one they stoned?" said Del. "Well, they were right to stone him, I think. Wasn't he saying that the hormone should be abolished altogether?"
Norvis nodded uneasily. He was sure that Del was unaware that he was addressing that very prophet, but he wanted to make sure that the Captain never found out. Norvis peRahn Brajjyd was better off where he was.
"Well," the Captain said, "no wonder they stoned him. He was a false prophet, to say that the hormone should be abolished. That's an evil and stupid way to solve the problem! Give it to everyone! That's what he should have said."
"It probably didn't occur to him," Norvis said. "The poor devil! He didn't have enough brains to see the right way to handle the stuff—that's why they stoned him."
"I don't know why you're so sympathetic," Del peFenn boomed. "After all, doesn't it say in the Scripture that a false prophet shall be stoned? Doesn't it? I think I'm right, this time."
"You are," Norvis said. "Seventh Section. 'And men will come who will rise up and preach to the people, but unless they agree with the people, they will be called false prophets, and the people will stone them and kill them.' There was a dispute over the exact meaning of die passage a hundred cycles back, as to whether it was a prophecy or a command. The Council ruled that it was a command; they said that to call it a prophecy would eventually lead to heretical teachings."
Del was impressed. "You're quite a scholar, aren't you?"
"I've done a little reading," Norvis admitted casually. To change the subject, he got up and walked to the window. 'The point I was trying to make is that we mustn't antagonize the people by openly pitting ourselves against the Council. That's why we have to give full credit for our own operations to the Dran peNiblo Sesom plant in Holy Gelusar. We get the money, they get the credit."
Del scowled. "Well, I did as you said, but I don't like it. Those fanners took our stuff and went away full of praise for the Elders."
"Be satisfied with the money," Norvis said. "The Elders will get their comeuppance when the new crops ripen." He pointed out the window at the view of the rolling farmlands of the province of Pelvash. "Looks like they've got all their fields treated." . The fields were bright with the blossoms of the peych plants. It was easy to see that the hormone was already in active use by the local farmers.
"Yes," said Drosh peDrang. "Sales have been tremendous—just tremendous."
Norvis smiled. "It's going to be quite a surprise to the Elders when that harvest starts ripening all over Nidor, isn't it? They're not going to like it at all."
"At least we've broken their stranglehold," Del said. "And we've given those Earthmen something to think about, too."
I'll say." Norvis looked out at the spreading gray green plains, the fertile hills with the tributary of the Vash River wandering lazily among them. On every hill and in every valley, the golden blossoms of the peych shone, bright harbingers of the future.
It occurred to Norvis as he stood there that a couple of men had engaged in blunt rebellion against the Earthmen and succeeded. For the first time, possibly, in the history of Nidor, a man, an ordinary man, had taken the course of action into his own hands. And the Great Light still smiled upon him.
VI
"Wiped out!" shouted Captain Del peFenn Vyless. "Ruined! Destroyed!''
The Krand, her sails taut with the wind that pushed her across the scudding sea, vibrated with the sound of her owner's voice, and shook with the sound of his angry footsteps.
"The Balthar—burned! The factory—burned! Four of my best men—dead! Darkness take every one of the moronic sons-of-deests who did it!"
"That'd be about three-quarters of the farmers of Nidor," said Captain Norvis peKrin Dmorno. "What would we do for food without the farmers?"
The two men were sitting in the Captain's Cabin of the Krand-ov, rather, Norvis was sitting; Del sat only for restless moments before he rose again to pace the gently moving deck.
Del peFenn whirled on Norvis. "What would we eat? Great Light, man! There's plenty to eat! The warehouses are full of peych-beans! The plants are rotting in the fields! Something to eat? Go grab yourself a handful! A basketful! Nobody will begrudge you a few worthless peych-beans!
"Or perhaps you'd like a steak. Go grab yourself a nice, fat, yearling deest! Nobody would mind—least of all the farmer who owns it! The only thing it's good for is to eat up the excess peych and breed more food-deests! And the Light knows we don't need any more food-deests!"
Norvis remained silent. In the year since the first great crop of hormone-charged peych had been harvested, the economy of Nidor had literally fallen apart. The first crop had more than filled the storage warehouses, it had filled the bellies of beast and man. And still there were tens of thousands of manweights of the crop lying unsold and unused in the farmers' bins, and more yet lying unharvested in the fields.