Business enterprises -- Fiction; Psychic ability -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
He needed a particularly clever lawyer, one not connected with the
corporation. Not that he had committed or that he contemplated
committing a crime. But the eyes of the law and the minds of the psis
of the government's Business Ethics Bureau were equally keen. Anyone
in the business of commercially applied atomics was automatically and
immediately investigated in any proposed transaction as soon as BEB
had knowledge thereof. There was still the fear that someone somewhere
might attempt, secretly, to build a war weapon again.
Lawrence had an idea, a great, burning, impossible-to-discard idea.
Lawrence Applied Atomics, Inc., had been his first great idea--the
idea that had made him a multi-millionaire. But through some devious
financing he had lost control of the corporation. And although his
ideas invariably realized millions, the other major stockholders were
becoming cautious about risking their profits. Overly cautious, he
thought. And on this new idea he knew they would never support him.
They'd consider it a wild risk. He could blame BEB with its psis for
that. BEB was too inquisitive. A business man just couldn't take a
decent gamble any longer.
The real estate firm in Los Angeles was secretly securing options from
individual landowners. Fortunately the firm employed a psi, one of the
few known psis not in government service. Lawrence had wondered why
this psi was not working for the government, but decided the 'why'
didn't matter if there were positive results.
Lawrence knew a little about psis. He knew, of course, what was
commonly known--that they possessed wide and very varied talents, that
they were categorized as plain psis, psi-espers, esper-psis, telepaths
and other things. They weren't numerous; the Business Ethics Bureau
which employed at least sixty percent of the known psis showed thirty
on the payroll for this fiscal year.
Despite their rumored emotional instability, he knew that they were
clever and he would steer clear of them in the present stages of his
transaction. Although his idea wasn't unethical, the so far closely
kept secret would be out if BEB investigated. Then anybody could cut
in. BEB advertised whatever it did on its video show, "Your
Developing Earth."
So, he needed a lawyer who could act for him personally, now, and
steer his project clear of the government service psis. But where to
find a psis....
* * * * *
Of course! Bob Standskill! Standskill had helped him once years before
when he had had that trouble with the Corporation Stock Control Board
over a doubtful issue of securities he had floated to build Mojave
City out of desert wastes. Without Standskill's techniques he never
would have put that issue across. Standskill could handle this if
anyone could.
Lawrence reached to the visiphone, punched the button sequence of
Standskill's office number. The bell rang interminably before a rather
bored young voice said, "Offices of Standskill and Rich,
Attorneys-at-Law."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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