Freelance On The Galactic Tunnel Network, E. Foner [the unexpected everything txt] 📗

mission, to consolidate the industry in order to improve profitability to the point where we can start working our way up the galactic food chain.”

 “You’re talking about eliminating independent traders,” somebody else said.

“Nothing so dramatic. After all, there are millions of them, and while our resources are large, purchasing that many ships is beyond our current means. What we have been able to do is to acquire the majority of outstanding mortgages on Sharf two-man traders. Your job will be to sell refinancing deals to our mortgage customers, with the ultimate goal of enabling us to legally repossess the ships.”

“Selling drugs was easier,” another attendee complained.

“But we’re no longer in the drug business, which means, you’re no longer in the drug business,” Gregory said, and something in his voice made it clear that no argument would be tolerated. “You’ll find that offering large sums of money to young traders is actually an easy sell, especially after our special ops team sees to it that your prospects are in need of cash.”

The audience, none of whom were visible in the video, broke out in appreciative laughter.

“What’s all this promotional material about Advantage?” a woman’s voice asked.

“My source,” Myort interjected.

“Ah, the pièce de résistance,” Gregory said with a broad smile. “Even if your prospects won’t sign up for the full refi treatment, you can still earn commissions by getting them to use our free suite of tools that will help increase their profits.”

Laughter swelled again, and various voices offered one-word assessments of their marks that were all synonyms for “suckers.”

“Can I apply for the special ops team?” somebody asked. “I used to do that sort of thing back home.”

“I’m afraid we have all the muscle we need right now, and a shortage of salesmen without prominent tattoos on their faces and hands. By the end of the year, we should achieve our first goal of foreclosing on a quarter of the Sharf ships with outstanding balances, and we’ll operate those in such a way to accelerate the losses of the remainder. The traders are a disorganized bunch, and our only fear is that they’ll join the Conference of Sovereign Human Communities. We’re financing a slate of candidates for the Traders Guild election to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

The video came to an abrupt end, and Myort said, “Sorry about that, but I bought all of the surveillance gear in a shop on Earth, and the record times on those hairpin cameras is limited. I didn’t include the video from the morning session, which was all about the benefits package for the reps. The recording was made almost a month ago and it took that long for the chip to reach me. Earth really does need a better package delivery service.”

“This is incredible,” Ellen said. “I’m about to publish a follow-up story to my Advantage piece implying a link to MORE based on user testimony, but I was worried my editor might require more proof.”

“Will the Galactic Free Press include the video?” John asked her.

“Sure, but if you really want to make sure everybody sees it before the election, offer it to the Grenouthians. Georgia already messaged me everything she has, so I can ask Flower to attach the video and send it all in to the home office. I bet it appears in the paper’s next update cycle. You don’t have to delay sending the video to the Grenouthians, and the truth is, they’re much more likely to run it if they can be first.”

“I’ve forwarded the video to both EarthCent Intelligence and the Galactic Free Press,” Flower announced. “I’m contacting my network source to sell it to the Grenouthians.”

“You can just give it to them,” John said.

“No, Flower is right,” the Huktra told him. “They won’t take it seriously unless it comes with a price attached, and the poor video quality is a real drawback for them. Still, I think that they’ll run it as a humor piece.”

“Lucky for us you were spying on our Drazen allies,” Woojin said. “EarthCent Intelligence owes you one.”

“I’ll owe you two,” John said. “I think the election was tilting against us, which would have kept the Guild out of CoSHC.”

“I’d like to cash one of those favors in now, if you don’t mind,” Myort said. “Do you remember what I told you about my wife?”

“Is this the wife who doesn’t know she’s married to you yet?”

“It’s important to project confidence if you want to get anywhere with our females. In any case, she gave me an ultimatum. It’s her or the gryphon. So I was wondering…”

“You want me to keep Semmi?” John struggled for a moment with the idea of playing hard to get to use up both of the open favors he’d promised, but the gryphon was looking at him expectantly, so he caved. “As long as she’s willing, I’m willing. But you know my ship isn’t a quarter the size of yours, and the Farling said that she’s due to have a growth spurt.”

“I’ll put it this way,” Myort said. “If you and Ellen live long enough, you’ll be able to ride her. Together. At the same time.”

Twenty

“Welcome to the last night of Rendezvous, and while I can’t promise you the excitement of the last few days, I think you’ll all be glad you stuck around until the end,” the master of ceremonies addressed the crowd. “Before we proceed to the final round of the Tall Tales contest and the announcement of the election results, a personal representative of the President of EarthCent has an important announcement. Please put down your drinks and your desserts, though for those of you enjoying the complimentary fruitcakes provided by Flower there isn’t much difference, and give a warm welcome to the president’s mistress, Hildy Greuen.”

Even though she looked no larger than an ant to