"Tomorrow. Tonight, if you can work it. And set up a poll of some kind to keep check on the program's effectiveness. I want two messages kaleidowhirled alternately: one supporting Popeek, one demanding a peaceful settlement with the aliens. Have your pulse takers feel out the populace on those two propositions, and report any fluctuation to me immediately." "Got it." "Oh, one more thing. I suspect you'll have some extra responsibilities as of tomorrow, Lee." "Eh?" "Your office will have one additional medium to deal with. Telefax. I'm buying _Citizen_ and we're going to turn it into a pro-Popeek rag." Percy's mouth dropped in astonishment; then he started to laugh. "You're a wonder, Roy. A genuine wonder." * * * * * Moments after Percy departed, Noel Hervey, the security and exchange slyster, called. "Well?" Walton asked. Hervey looked preoccupied. "I've successfully spent a couple of hundred million of Popeek's money in the last half-hour, Roy. You now own the single biggest block of _Citizen_ stock there is." "How much is that?" "One hundred fifty-two thousand shares. Approximately thirty-three percent." "Thirty-three percent! What about the other eighteen percent?" "Patience, lad, patience. I know my job. I snapped up all the small holdings there were, very quietly. It cost me a pretty penny to farm out the purchases, too." "Why'd you do that?" Walton asked. "Because this has to be handled very gingerly. You know the ownership setup of _Citizen_?" "No." "Well, it goes like this: Amalgamated Telefax owns a twenty-six percent chunk, and Horace Murlin owns twenty-five percent. Since Murlin also owns Amalgamated, he votes fifty-one percent of the stock, even though it isn't registered that way. The other forty-nine percent doesn't matter, Murlin figures. So I'm busy gathering up as much of it as I can for you--under half a dozen different brokerage names. I doubt that I can get it all, but I figure on rounding up at least forty-nine percent. Then I'll approach Murlin with a Big Deal and sucker him into selling me six percent of his _Citizen_ stock. He'll check around, find out that the remaining stock is splintered ninety-seven different ways, and he'll probably let go of a little of his, figuring he still has control." "Suppose he doesn't?" Walton asked. "Don't worry," Hervey said confidently. "He will. I've got a billion smackers to play with, don't I? I'll cook up a deal so juicy he can't resist it--and all he'll have to do to take a flyer will be to peel off a little of his _Citizen_ stock. The second he does that, I transfer all the fragmented stock to you. With your controlling majority of fifty-one percent, you boot Murlin off the Board, and the telefax sheet is yours! Simple? Clear?" "Perfectly," Walton said. "Okay. Keep in touch."