[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"I'll tell you on a need-to-know basis," Lutt said. "Now, there's one thing I
need to know. How far did you get in your plan to have me murdered on Venus?"
Woon's little eyes blinked hard. He paled slightly. "Mr. Hanson, I have to
know how you learned about that."
"My father told me." Lutt smiled gently and embellished his statement with a
lie. "He also told me other things he learned about you."
"Shit in a gumboot!" Woon said. "Get one Hanson off my back and another one
climbs right up there to take his place!"
So Woon is one of those Father manipulated through the Listening Post, Lutt
thought. Full details of the plot against me must be up there in the sanctum
someplace.
"I just want you to know who's running things here," Lutt said. "My mother
was never privy to
Father's private sources."
"That's what he always told me but he never said a word about you."
"It's part of my inheritance," Lutt said. "Did you see the Hanson Guards all
over this building when you came in?"
"How could I miss 'em? They wanted to do a body search on me until I called
your mother. She apologized but said the guards were here at her orders.
What's going on?"
"A minor disagreement in the family about who controls what."
"Didn't look very minor to me. Must be fifty guards I had to pass through,
and all of 'em armed to the teeth."
"We'll chalk it up to terrorist threats if the need arises," Lutt said. "You
can think of it as a show of strength by my mother. She's demonstrating to me
who gives orders to the Hanson Guards."
"And she controls the purse strings?"
"I have other sources."
"And expensive tastes. What's this project out at your shop?"
"An invention that will make us plenty."
"How soon?"
Lutt's desktop communicator buzzed to interrupt his reply. A switchboard
attendant said, "Sorry, Mr. Hanson, but it's your mother on line three."
Lutt opened The line. "Yes, Mother?"
Phoenicia's finishing-school lilt came through the speaker with only slight
clipping. "There was nothing in your father's will about your shop, Lutt.
I've put it under special guard to keep it safe."
file:///F|/KaZaA%20Lite/My%20Shared%20Folde...20Herbert%20-%20Man%20of%20Two%2
0Worlds.txt (227 of 281) [10/27/03 6:59:25 PM]
file:///F|/KaZaA%20Lite/My%20Shared%20Folder/Frank%20Herbert%20-%20Man%20of%20
Two%20Worlds.txt
Lutt scowled. "And to keep me out?"
"Now, Son. You and your man, Kand, can go back as soon as you've been briefed
Page 201
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
on the new security measures."
"So you kicked Sam out, too. I see."
"The discoveries at your shop were made on Company time with Company funds,
Lutt, all while you were an employee of Hanson Industries."
Lutt suppressed a surge of anger. His mother was a wily bitch! Never mind
what Father's will said, she was going to block him at every turn until she
had her way!
"I understand, Mother," he said. "But Father's will says the Enquirer and
Spiral News Service are mine. Are you contesting that?"
"Oh, no! But this odd spaceship is something else, is it not?"
"It works on the same principle as the communicators," Lutt said.
"What's this about a spaceship?" Woon asked.
"Who's that with you?" Phoenicia asked.
Lutt clicked the telekey and saw his mother's face on the desk screen. She,
at the same time, saw the occupants of Lutt's office.
"Oh, it's you, Senator," Phoenicia said. "Yes, your meeting with Lutt over
his campaign."
"Good afternoon, madame," Woon said. "So sorry you could not join us."
That unctuous tone, Ryll offered. Is he wooing your mother?
He could be. We'd better watch that.
"I hope you can make my son behave," Phoenicia said.
"And, madame, I hope we are not about to have a dramatic battle in court over
your son's inheritance. That would be a rather foolish form of political
suicide."
Phoenicia put a hand over her mouth.
Lutt looked at the senator. Did this mean the wily old politician had chosen
to back him? A
mixture of fear and political savvy could have dictated such a decision. Time
to test it.
"I'm afraid I'd withdraw my candidacy if that happened," Lutt said.
"A wise decision," Woon said.
"I will not be blocked in my administration of Hanson Industries!" Phoenicia
said.
"Minor matters can always be dealt with by compromise," the senator said.
"May I offer my services as arbiter?"
"There's no reason for us to oppose each other," she said.
Lutt heard conciliation in her tone.
I do not understand your mother's motives, Ryll intruded.
She's ambivalent. Motherly pride wants me President. But she also sees me as
a pawn in her economic schemes.
You Earthers are truly weird.
file:///F|/KaZaA%20Lite/My%20Shared%20Folde...20Herbert%20-%20Man%20of%20Two%2
0Worlds.txt (228 of 281) [10/27/03 6:59:25 PM]
file:///F|/KaZaA%20Lite/My%20Shared%20Folder/Frank%20Herbert%20-%20Man%20of%20
Two%20Worlds.txt
"I'm sure I can work out a satisfactory agreement for all concerned," Woon
said.
"That's fine with me," Lutt said. "Mother?"
MAN OF TWO WORLDS
347
"What is it you really want, son?" she asked.
"I've always gone my own way. Father understood. It's time you understood.
I need some free rein."
"I've already given you considerable free rein -- a blank check for your
political ambitions, my assurance you --"
"Your political ambitions, Mother."
"Our political ambitions?" she offered.
"If we keep our heads, all of us will profit greatly," Woon said.
Page 202
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Exactly!" Phoenicia said.
"You and the senator should discuss this," Lutt said. "But your meetings had
better be secret."
"Very well," Phoenicia sighed.
Lutt had heard that sigh before, a tiny victory sign. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]