S.T.A.R. FLIGHT Read Online Free PDF Page B

news of the fire and disturbance, and this was his first meal of the day. He would eat once more during the twenty-four hour period, probably in eight hours time, and if he got to bed before midnight he would be lucky.
    His secretary looked up from her desk as he entered his office. She was a pale, intense young woman from the European Federation, her hair drawn back in a hard bun, her face devoid of makeup. She practised yoga and thought of Chung as a modern saint.
    “I was about to page you,” she said. “You have a visitor. Sire Eldon of the Kaltich,” she added. “I thought it best to pass him in.”
    “Eldon? Not Kondor?”
    “No, sir. This one is new.”
    Chung thanked her and passed into his own, inner office. The alien was sitting at his desk. He was dressed all in green, a gamma, and Chung fought a momentary irritation. It was bad enough that the Kaltich had sent a stranger, to havesent a man of lower rank was a deliberate insult. He crushed the thought. You don’t know that an insult was intended, he told himself. Don’t confuse the mores of Earth with those of the Kaltich. And yet, after fifty years, he was not wholly ignorant of their ways.
    “I am honoured, sire,” he said, approaching his visitor. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
    “There was a fire last night close to the Celestial Gate,” said Eldon. “A delivery of supplies was delayed because of it. This must not happen again.”
    “We hope that it will not,” said Chung.
    “If it does the Gate may be closed. It is incredible,” continued the alien, “that you fail to appreciate the service we give you. In return we ask so little. This fire,” he said. “Who started it? What was its cause?”
    “Our young people are getting impatient,” said Chung. “They are overcrowded, unemployed. If you could see fit to grant us access to a new world —” He broke off. The alien wasn’t listening. They are all the same, thought Chung, looking at the hard, white face. All arrogant, all giving the impression that they couldn’t be bothered with the local problems of Earth. And, he told himself, they were probably justified. What was one world among so many? How many? He didn’t know. No one did. No one but the Kaltich and they spoke of worlds as if they were grains of sand. “We shall do our best to prevent a repetition of the trouble,” he said. “We like it even less than you. You may rest —”
    “There is another thing,” interrupted the alien. “As from today the cost of our services will be doubled. You have no one to blame but yourselves,” he pointed out. “The cost of the items we purchase from you has greatly increased since we first did business. It is only fair that the cost of our services should rise in proportion. I am sure, Mr Chung, you will agree with that.”
    Inflation, thought Chung bleakly. A two-edged sword. “These increases,” he said desperately. “They will hit ourpeople very hard. It is not possible for you to reconsider? A subsidy on all goods you purchase, perhaps?”
    “As from midnight,” said the alien, not bothering to discuss the matter. “It would be best for you to broadcast the information. You understand?”
    “Yes, sire.”
    “That will be all.”
    And that, Chung thought, looking after his departing visitor, was more than enough. He pressed a button on his intercom. “Nader? Chung. Get up here and fast!”
    Nader was the head of the UNO information service. He sucked in his cheeks at the news and savagely kicked a wastepaper basket. “It isn’t going to be easy,” he said, “How the hell can we justify it? The economy is breaking at the seams already. How do I put it over?”
    “Play up the survival aspect,” suggested Chung. “Get the youngsters to start their longevity fund right away. Tread on the smoking, drinking, drug habits. Make them appreciate that saving is all-important.”
    “Don’t Fritter Away Your Lives!”
mused Nader. He shook his head: the slogan lacked