[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
is where the business is being done. It's getting impossible to do business at
all in Wardshaven. What little business there is to do."
"Just what's been happening?"
"Well, taxation, first. It seems the more money came in from here, the higher
taxes got on Gram. Discriminatory taxes, too; pinched the small landholding
and industrial k barons and favored a few big ones. Baron Spasso and his
crowd."
"Baron Spasso, now?"
Ffayle nodded. "Of about half of Glaspyth. A lot of the Glaspyth barons lost
their baronies-some of them their heads-after Duke Omfray was run out. It
seems there was a plot against the life of his Majesty. It was exposed by the
zeal and vigilance of Sir Garvan Spasso, who was elevated to the peerage and
rewarded with the lands and estates of these conspirators."
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"You said business was bad, as business?"
Ffayle nodded again. "The big Tanith boom has busted. It got oversold;
everybody wanted in on it. And they should never have built those two last
ships, the Speedwell and the Goodhope; the return on them didn't justify it.
Then, you're creating your own industries and building your own equipment and
armament here; that's caused a slump in industry on Gram. I'm glad Lavina
Karvall has enough money invested to live on. And finally, the consumers'
goods market is getting flooded with stuff that's coming in from here and
competing with Gram industry."
Well, that was understandable. One of the ships that made the shuttle-trip to
Gram would carry enough in her strongrooms, in gold and jewels and the like,
to pay a handsome profit on the voyage. The bulk-goods that went into the
cargo holds was practically taking a free ride, so anything on hand, stuff
that nobody would ordinarily think of ship
101
ping in interstellar trade, went aboard. A two thousand foot freighter had a
great deal of cargospace.
Baron Trask of Traskon hadn't even begun to realize what Tanith base was going
to cost Gram.
X
As MIGHT be expected, the Beowulfers finished their hypership first. They had
started with everything but a little know-bow which had been quickly learned.
Amaterasu had had to begin by creating the industry they needed to create the
industry they needed to build a ship. The Beowulf ship, she was named Viking's
Gift-came in on Tanith five and a half years after the Nemesis and the
Space Scourge had raided Beowulf; her skipper had fought a normal-drive ship
in that battle. Beside plutonium and radioactive isotopes, she carried a
Page 58
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
general cargo of the sort of luxury-goods unique to Beowulf which could always
find a market in interstellar trade.
After selling the cargo and depositing the money in the Bank of Tanith, the
skipper of the Viking's Gift wanted to know where he could find a good planet
to raid. They gave him a list, none too tough but all slightly above the
chicken stealing level, and-another list of planets he was not to raid;
planets with which Tanith was trading.
Six months later they learned that he had showed up on Khepera, with which
they were now trading, and had flooded the market there with plundered
textiles, hardware, ceramics and plastics. He had bought kregg-meat and hides.
"You see what you did, now?" Harkaman clamored. "You thought you were making a
customer; what you made was a competitor."
"What I made was an ally. If we ever do find Dunnan's planet, we'll need a
fleet to take it. A couple of Beowulf ships would help. You know them; you
fought them, too."
Harkaman had other worries. While cruising in Corisande 11, he had come in on
Vitharr, one of the planets where
102
Tanith ships traded, to find it being raided by a Space Viking ship based on
Xochitl. He had fought a short but furious ship-action, battering the invader
until he was glad to hyper out. Then he had gone directly to Xochitl, arriving
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Space%20Viking.txt
(66 of 130) [2/4/03 10:07:04 PM]
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Space%20Viking.txt on
the heels of the ship he had beaten, and had had it out both with the captain
and Prince Viktor, serving them with an ultimatum to leave Tanith trade
planets alone in the future.
"How did they take it?" Trask asked, when he returned to report.
"Just about the way you would have. Viktor said his people were Space Vikings,
not Gilgameshers. I told him we weren't Gilgameshers, either, as he'd find out
on Xochitl the next time one of his ships raided one of our planets. Are you
going to back me up? Of course, you can always send Prince Viktor my head, and
an apology . . ."
"If I have to send him anything, I'll send him a sky full of ships and a
planet full of hellburners. You did perfectly right, Otto; exactly what I'd
have done in your place."
There the matter rested. There were no more raids by Xochitl ships on any of
their trade-planets. No mention of the incident was made in any of the reports
sent back to Gram. The Gram situation was deteriorating rapidly enough.
Finally, there was an audiovisual message from Angus himself; he was seated on
his throne, wearing his crown, and he began speaking from the screen
abruptly:, "We Angus, King of Gram and Tanith, are highly displeased with our
subject, Lucas, Prince and Viceroy of Tanith; we consider ourselves very badly
served by Prince Trask. We therefore command him to return to Gram, and render
'r to us account of his administration of our colony and realm of Tanith."
After some hasty preparations, Trask recorded a reply. He was sitting on a
throne, himself, and he wore a crown just as ornate as King Angus', and robes
of white and black Imhotep furs.
"We, Lucas, Prince of Tanith," he began, "are quite willing to acknowledge
the suzerainty of the King of Gram, formerly Duke of Wardshaven. It is our
earnest desire, if possible, to remain at peace and friendship with the King
of 103 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
is where the business is being done. It's getting impossible to do business at
all in Wardshaven. What little business there is to do."
"Just what's been happening?"
"Well, taxation, first. It seems the more money came in from here, the higher
taxes got on Gram. Discriminatory taxes, too; pinched the small landholding
and industrial k barons and favored a few big ones. Baron Spasso and his
crowd."
"Baron Spasso, now?"
Ffayle nodded. "Of about half of Glaspyth. A lot of the Glaspyth barons lost
their baronies-some of them their heads-after Duke Omfray was run out. It
seems there was a plot against the life of his Majesty. It was exposed by the
zeal and vigilance of Sir Garvan Spasso, who was elevated to the peerage and
rewarded with the lands and estates of these conspirators."
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Space%20Viking.txt
(65 of 130) [2/4/03 10:07:04 PM]
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Space%20Viking.txt
"You said business was bad, as business?"
Ffayle nodded again. "The big Tanith boom has busted. It got oversold;
everybody wanted in on it. And they should never have built those two last
ships, the Speedwell and the Goodhope; the return on them didn't justify it.
Then, you're creating your own industries and building your own equipment and
armament here; that's caused a slump in industry on Gram. I'm glad Lavina
Karvall has enough money invested to live on. And finally, the consumers'
goods market is getting flooded with stuff that's coming in from here and
competing with Gram industry."
Well, that was understandable. One of the ships that made the shuttle-trip to
Gram would carry enough in her strongrooms, in gold and jewels and the like,
to pay a handsome profit on the voyage. The bulk-goods that went into the
cargo holds was practically taking a free ride, so anything on hand, stuff
that nobody would ordinarily think of ship
101
ping in interstellar trade, went aboard. A two thousand foot freighter had a
great deal of cargospace.
Baron Trask of Traskon hadn't even begun to realize what Tanith base was going
to cost Gram.
X
As MIGHT be expected, the Beowulfers finished their hypership first. They had
started with everything but a little know-bow which had been quickly learned.
Amaterasu had had to begin by creating the industry they needed to create the
industry they needed to build a ship. The Beowulf ship, she was named Viking's
Gift-came in on Tanith five and a half years after the Nemesis and the
Space Scourge had raided Beowulf; her skipper had fought a normal-drive ship
in that battle. Beside plutonium and radioactive isotopes, she carried a
Page 58
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
general cargo of the sort of luxury-goods unique to Beowulf which could always
find a market in interstellar trade.
After selling the cargo and depositing the money in the Bank of Tanith, the
skipper of the Viking's Gift wanted to know where he could find a good planet
to raid. They gave him a list, none too tough but all slightly above the
chicken stealing level, and-another list of planets he was not to raid;
planets with which Tanith was trading.
Six months later they learned that he had showed up on Khepera, with which
they were now trading, and had flooded the market there with plundered
textiles, hardware, ceramics and plastics. He had bought kregg-meat and hides.
"You see what you did, now?" Harkaman clamored. "You thought you were making a
customer; what you made was a competitor."
"What I made was an ally. If we ever do find Dunnan's planet, we'll need a
fleet to take it. A couple of Beowulf ships would help. You know them; you
fought them, too."
Harkaman had other worries. While cruising in Corisande 11, he had come in on
Vitharr, one of the planets where
102
Tanith ships traded, to find it being raided by a Space Viking ship based on
Xochitl. He had fought a short but furious ship-action, battering the invader
until he was glad to hyper out. Then he had gone directly to Xochitl, arriving
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Space%20Viking.txt
(66 of 130) [2/4/03 10:07:04 PM]
file:///F|/rah/H.%20Beam%20Piper/Beam,%20Piper%20H%20-%20Space%20Viking.txt on
the heels of the ship he had beaten, and had had it out both with the captain
and Prince Viktor, serving them with an ultimatum to leave Tanith trade
planets alone in the future.
"How did they take it?" Trask asked, when he returned to report.
"Just about the way you would have. Viktor said his people were Space Vikings,
not Gilgameshers. I told him we weren't Gilgameshers, either, as he'd find out
on Xochitl the next time one of his ships raided one of our planets. Are you
going to back me up? Of course, you can always send Prince Viktor my head, and
an apology . . ."
"If I have to send him anything, I'll send him a sky full of ships and a
planet full of hellburners. You did perfectly right, Otto; exactly what I'd
have done in your place."
There the matter rested. There were no more raids by Xochitl ships on any of
their trade-planets. No mention of the incident was made in any of the reports
sent back to Gram. The Gram situation was deteriorating rapidly enough.
Finally, there was an audiovisual message from Angus himself; he was seated on
his throne, wearing his crown, and he began speaking from the screen
abruptly:, "We Angus, King of Gram and Tanith, are highly displeased with our
subject, Lucas, Prince and Viceroy of Tanith; we consider ourselves very badly
served by Prince Trask. We therefore command him to return to Gram, and render
'r to us account of his administration of our colony and realm of Tanith."
After some hasty preparations, Trask recorded a reply. He was sitting on a
throne, himself, and he wore a crown just as ornate as King Angus', and robes
of white and black Imhotep furs.
"We, Lucas, Prince of Tanith," he began, "are quite willing to acknowledge
the suzerainty of the King of Gram, formerly Duke of Wardshaven. It is our
earnest desire, if possible, to remain at peace and friendship with the King
of 103 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]