Yuen-Mong's Revenge (38 page)

 
     
"I guess the mistake happened over twenty years ago when I yielded
to Zoshan and let her marry Scardan rather than insist that she marry Syd
Twan." He pondered that for a few seconds. "I want her kept under
surveillance. We have to find out what she is planning. Once we know
we may still be able to twist her arm to let us in. But no violence, Ko,
hear me?’

16

"Let’s review our list of potentials," said Yuen-mong. "There is the old
man. I think he is a wily fox — is that the right expression?"

 
     
"Yes, it is," Atun replied with a smile. "He was in charge of UniCom
when your parents were sent to investigate the ring of Aros. As one of the
biggest shareholders, he had the most to lose. And from what he said
today, he was probably aware of Aros’ reputation."

 
     
"Furthermore, he was also opposed to my mother marrying my father,
but I don’t know how this enters the equation. The trouble is, I like the
old man. Except for Mai, and Bee’s little girl, I find it hard to warm to
any of the others, although none are on our list, with the exception of my
uncle. They were all too young at that time."

 
     
"Yes, and he’s the next one on the list, and from what I have seen so
far I trust him the least. He has been in charge of UniCom for the last
three years. You remember that he has already shown keen interest on
two occasions about your father’s research record. He even mentioned
the communication breakthrough. For a second there, I was scared when
you went right along with it."

 
     
"I was aware of that, but I wanted to draw him out, see whether he
would give himself away inadvertently."

 
     
"He didn’t. Your father could well have hinted that he was on the
verge of a breakthrough."

 
     
"Yes, that’s plausible. Still I put him fairly high on our list. I also
think that he’s vindictive. We have to watch out for him, and even more
for the little snot of a son of his." She grinned. "Ain’t I adding daily to
my non-Foundation vocabulary?"

 
     
He laughed. "Yes, you’re doing just fine." He liked her eagerness to
try out new expressions. She came over to him and looked at him in that
special way that went right to his core. "And don’t you get sidetracked
now. We are engaged in serious business."

 
     
"Is that not serious business too?" Her smile intensified and he could
feel her reach into his mind. "But it can wait," she continued, moving a
bit away. "The only other member of the Young clan is Kwong Fook.
There’s something fishy about his going into seclusion shortly after my
parents disappeared."

 
     
"Yes, it could be that he was put away, so to speak, because he didn’t
want to play along —"

 
     
"— or his mental illness, if this is what he suffers from, was caused
by guilt. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is the one who holds the key to our
riddle. Sooner or later we’ll have to find him and talk to him. I also put
him high on our list."

 
     
"And then there’s the Deng family — the other controlling side of
UniCom, and all we have are names. Kao Deng, who became chairman
after your grandfather and who died three years ago, his two sons, Kim
and Xi Deng, and their four sons, although all of those were in their low
teens or younger when it happened. We can rule them out."

 
     
"We have to find a way to meet the Dengs. I still trust that my
empathic skills will ultimately help me to identify the guilty party."

 
     
"Don’t forget Syd Twan." He could not shake off the feeling that this
man was going to become his rival for Yuen-mong, and then his own
chances to retain her were small. Syd could offer her so much more than
he would ever be able.

     
"No, I haven’t, but again so far my instincts tell me that he’s innocent.
He loved my mother too much to want to harm her."

 
     
"But maybe the plan was that your father would go alone. His death
would then have opened the door for Syd Twan, although there is one
missing link. He would have needed help from inside UniCom, somebody who cooperated with him to send your father to Aros."

 
     
"Yes, that has occurred to me too, and then the whole thing would
have nothing to do with instantcom and we may be doing UniCom great
harm."

 
     
"True, but your father’s invention had the potential of ruining
UniCom anyway. So our plan is only doing what would have happened
twenty years earlier. In some sense, they’ve profited from your parents’
death."

 
     
"Oh, I’m not sorry for them, and selling my shares has in fact opened
up a new possibility. Is it not correct that once instantcom becomes
known, the UniCom shares will drop in value?" She might as well test if
she had understood her current studies in economics and finance.

     
"Yes, they’ll go down a lot, especially at the beginning when panic
strikes, but I guess they’ll recover partially later on again. Stock markets
often show the most illogical behavior, particularly in the short run."

 
     
"So we could take advantage of that and buy the shares held by
private investors when they are at their lowest. If they drop to about ten
percent of their current value, then I have enough funds to buy all shares
not owned by the Young and Deng clans. Is my reasoning right?"

 
     
"It is, and I bet when the shares drop, even some of the Young and
Deng shares may be offered for sale. But you forget the agreement
between the Young and the Deng clans. Since you are part of the Youngs
you would violate that agreement if you bought shares without an equal
match by the Dengs, which is unlikely."

 
     
"I don’t really consider myself part of the Young clan. I don’t feel
bound by that agreement, and if necessary we can always buy them in
your name and then end that agreement later on."

 
     
"Yuen-mong, I don’t like that plan. It’s your fortune, not mine."

 
     
"I’m confident we’ll find a way. Let’s not worry about that aspect yet.
The more serious question is whether we should let Syd Twan in on the
whole thing."

 
     
"It will be difficult to hide from him. He’ll easily put two-and-two
together when you suddenly start withdrawing huge amounts of credits."

 
     
"So we might as well let him arrange the purchases, but we’ll only let
him know right when it happens, not before. Agreed?" He nodded. "Once
I’m the majority shareholder, we’ll take control of UniCom and will have
access to all internal files where we may find some clues about who sent
my father to Aros, and we’ll also get to know the Dengs. It seems a
roundabout way to get to our goal, but it’s a feasible plan —"

 
     
"— provided we don’t get killed before. We’re playing with fire, not
just any fire, but the hottest."

 
     
"That’s nicely put. I like that."

 
     
"Can’t you ever be serious?"

 
     
"I thought I was, but maybe now it’s time to forget about being
serious. Come to bed, Atun. Your woman is waiting for you." She was
already shedding her clothing.

* * *

Monday morning, the day after the Young family dinner, Yuen-mong had
an uneasy feeling when she and Atun worked out at the gym in their
apartment complex. A new voice stuck out from the background noise of
minds surrounding her, a voice that seemed to have more than a casual
interest in her. She tried to place it and focused on a man who was sitting
in the café-bar below them next to the pool. He was facing them so that
the glassed-in exercise room, except for the farthest corners, was clearly
visible from where he sat. While she was running on the treadmill, she
observed him unobtrusively. He had already got his third coffee from the
hot drinks dispensing unit. When they left the gym, she quickly reentered
a few seconds later as if to search for something on the floor and noticed
that he had gotten up too.

     
"There is a man shadowing us," she whispered as she caught up with
Atun on their way back to the apartment. He only nodded.

     
Once inside their unit, he said: "I guess your uncle wants to find out
more about our projects. We should now also expect that they’ll try to
break into our apartment and into Vishnu. Fortunately, there will be no
need to visit the electronics firms until I take delivery, although I still
will have to purchase several standard parts, such as flat screens."

 
     
"And the shuttle manufacturer wants us to approve the interior
arrangements."

 
     
"Yes, but there’s nothing suspicious replacing Vishnu’s shuttle."

 
     
"Except they may find out that we want dual control."

 
     
"True; however, I doubt they’ll try to find out the technical details of
the shuttle, once they realize that the reason for having one built is that
a standard shuttle doesn’t fit into Vishnu’s airlock, and we stressed that
point with the people there several times. I’m pretty sure that will be the
first thing they tell them if they’re questioned."

 
     
"We cannot avoid taking some risks and this is a minor one, although
I hate to think that Aros might be ravaged by mining."

 
     
"They may try, but the technical difficulties of working with only mechanical equipment are just too great."

 
     
"I hope so. Our major difficulty will arise when we need to test the
equipment."

 
     
"I think it would be best to go off-planet. We could go to Palo. That
would hardly be suspicious, and then you could take Vishnu some
distance into space, while I stay on Palo with Anouk for the tests."

 
     
"No, it has to be the other way round. I know when I’m in danger, you
don’t. So you have to take Anouk into space for the test. I also think that
we should time the test for shortly before the conference. In fact, I stay
on Palo while you return to Androma for the conference and we make the
tests while you are in transit. If it works, you present at the conference,
if it doesn’t, you come to fetch me and we go back to the drawing board
— another of these strange expressions. What’s a drawing board?"

 
     
"I think before they had AIAD — AI aided design — the plans for
anything to be built were hand-drawn on paper, using a big board — a
drawing board.

     
"Is it not curious how all these expressions have survived for
centuries?"

 
     
He responded with an amused smile. "Yes, but this is a good plan."

* * *

They were not invited to the following Sunday’s dinner. Yuen-mong
visited her grandfather the Tuesday after and spent time with Mai.

     
"I missed you at the dinner last Sunday. Why didn’t you attend?" Mai
asked accusingly.

     
"We were not invited."

 
     
"But why?"

 
     
"No need to ask. I’m not judged fit to be a Foundation member."

 
     
"You have embarrassed the Foundation like no other woman has done
before. Pat wants you expelled. Aren’t you afraid?"

 
     
"No, Mai, Except for the last few weeks, I have lived without any
knowledge of the Foundation. So it’s no great deal to me whether I’m a
member or not."

 
     
"You’re such a strange person. I wish I had your courage, but I’m too
timid, I have no confidence in myself."

 
     
"Maybe I can help you, and the first step would be to make a life-size
sculpture of me."

 
     
"You’re really serious about that? You didn’t just say it the other day?
Would you trust me?"