Businessmen -- Fiction; Human-alien encounters -- Fiction; Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
Castlebottom shook his head and leaned against the Patrolman who had
picked him up. He tried desperately to reassemble his rage. "I'll have
his hide for that!" he croaked. "Arrest him!"
Bill suddenly waved a warning finger. "You'll have nothing for that,
Tubby boy. _I still hold the trump cards!_ First of all, Interworld
Laws don't apply on Uva. The government here, when it remembers it's a
government, is autonomous. So you can't arrest me unless the Uvans do
it. Furthermore you're going to drop all charges against Kitty, myself
and anyone else."
"Drop charges!" Castlebottom revived and exploded. "You practically
kidnapped Kitty!"
Bill shook his finger again. "Easy there," he smiled. "If you want any
etheroel, you'd better forget everything, including Kitty. You see, I
control the etheroel on Uva!"
Castlebottom fell back a step, white as a sheet. "What's this, a
trick?" he demanded.
"No--just freebooting," Bill grinned. "My Caviar Import Company became
a big holding company. For shares in the Caviar concern, the Uvans
had only two things worth trading--brains and etheroel rights. Being
a freebooter myself, why, should I want anyone else's brain. Since I
still hold fifty-one per cent of the Caviar Company stocks, naturally I
control the etheroel rights. Come to think of it, I'm the head of two
monopolies.... Maybe three.... I don't think Kitty will mind!"
"I don't think so either." It was Kitty, speaking.
End of Project Gutenberg's A Planet for Your Thoughts, by James Norman
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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