Empyrion I: The Search for Fierra Read Online Free PDF Page A

office—more an apartment or luxury suite than an office.
    “Whatever the Chairman wants, the Chairman gets—is that it?”
    “Something like that.” Varro put on a wry smile. “You've met him. You see how he is. He's explained to you his reasons for wanting you.”
    “Yes, he explained. But why don't I believe him?”
    “What is it that you find so difficult to believe?”
    “That I should have been hauled in here like a wanted man, for one thing.”
    “But you
are
a wanted man, Mr. Treet. Chairman Neviss wants you.”
    “Your
agent,”
he said the word with some contempt, “told me he was being paid thirty-five thousand in metal for finding me. Isn't that a lot of money to arrange a simple job interview?”
    Varro simply shook his head. “No, it isn't. Not when you're the Chairman of Cynetics Corporation. Chairman Neviss is a man who is used to—”
    “Used to getting what he wants—so everybody keeps telling me.” What Treet wanted was to grab the smarmy man and pummel him. He forced the lid back down on his anger and tried a new approach. “For another thing, I find this proposal highly suspect. It was all I could do to keep from laughing in His Highness's Royal Face, if you care to know the truth.”
    “What exactly is your difficulty?” Varro blinked back at him; his round gray eyes held genuine puzzlement.
    “Don't let's be coy, all right?”
    “I don't see a problem, Mr. Treet. Perhaps if you'd elaborate—”
    “Certainly I'll elaborate. Setting aside the fact that it is well nigh impossible to even get to Epsilon Eridani from here, it would be equally impossible to keep an extrasystem colony a secret. Why keep an achievement of that magnitude secret in the first place? And then there is the problem of wanting me to go there to write about it. Why me in particular? You must have dozens, hundreds, a thousand people equally or better qualified for such an assignment already on payroll. Why bring in an outsider? Why do it at all? If you want to know about Empyrion, why not go there yourself and find out? Better still, why send anyone? Why not have someone who is already there write back to you? Shall I continue?”
    Varro laced his fingers beneath his chin and nodded slightly. “That is quite enough. I'm beginning to see it from your point of view, I think. Yes, looking at it that way it might seem rather odd.”
    “Odd? Oh, I wouldn't say odd. It's raving lunacy!”
    “But you do not fully appreciate our situation here.” Varro continued as if Treet's outburst had not occurred. “What you have been told is true. Cynetics has, as you know, several extraterrestrial colonies. Mining is an important part of our business. Empyrion is a colony like any other—it just happens to be on a rather more distant planet.”
    “One that just happens to be in another star system.”
    “Undoubtedly Chairman Neviss would prefer to visit Empyrion himself, but that is out of the question. As Chairman, he must remain here where his services are most needed. And then there is the matter of his health. He is simply not well enough to make the trip.”
    “What's wrong with him? He didn't look all that ill to me. And if he is, why isn't he in a hospital?”
    “I am not at liberty to discuss his medical condition with you. But he
is
being cared for, around the clock. The entire floor below this one is a private hospital. Small, but one of the best in the country, I'm told.”
    “All for him?”
    “He is the principal recipient of its services, yes. But anyone may use it. Any Cynetics employee.”
    “What about the secrecy?”
    Varro leaned forward in an attitude of perfect candor. “Have you any idea of the legalities involved in creating a colony?”
    “I imagine there is a certain amount of red tape,” Treet allowed.
    “Mountains of it. Not just here in the United States, but in every other nation and paranation as well. Colonies are considered free states under international law—countries in their own