in hell are you wasting time trying to drive me out of business?” “I don’t understand it either,” Jane said.
“Think about it for a moment,” Malik said, with an expression on his face almost of pity. “It is necessary to make the whole world convert from fossil fuels to nuclear and solar energy. The entire world!”
“Yes,” Jane said.
“The task cannot be done piecemeal. It cannot be done on a voluntary basis. We cannot ask people to stop driving their petrol-burning cars and wait until we can replace them with electrical vehicles. We cannot expect major corporations to shut down entire industrial plants for months or years while their electrical power plants are replaced. For that matter, how can we raise the capital required to build all these fusion power plants and solar power satellites—in ten years?”
“What choice do we have?” Dan snapped.
Malik took a breath. “A global problem requires global coordination. And global control.”
Dan felt his jaw clench. “I knew it,” he muttered. “The whole frigging world facing disaster and you see it as an opportunity to establish a double-damned dictatorship.”
“Dan, that’s not fair!” Jane said. “Vasily has an important point here. How can you expect-”
“How can you expect free men to act in their own best interest?” Dan felt the anger rising in him again. “A lot better than they’d be able to act when some double-damned global bureaucracy is grinding them down.”
Malik raised his hands in an I told you so gesture. “You see? That is exactly how I expected you to
react. You and your fellow capitalists. That is why it is necessary to remove you from control of Astro Manufacturing. The Council needs Astro’s assets if we are to avert this disaster.”
“And Yamagata ’s?” Dan asked.
“Yamagata also. And all the other privately owned space industries; all seven of them. They are the key to the world’s survival.
Once the Council controls all the Big Seven space industries-” “You’ll have accomplished what you failed to do ten years ago,” Dan said. Ignoring him, Malik finished, “We will be able to begin the process of converting from fossil fuels to nuclear and solar energy, worldwide.”
“And if you succeed, what happens afterward? Will you turn all the space industrial facilities back to their rightful owners?” Malik’s smirking grin returned. “Why, Mr. Randolph, you surprise me. By then, the Global Economic Council will be the legal owner of all space facilities. In the name of the peoples of Earth, of course. For the common good.”
“Bullshit!” Dan answered fervently.
Malik’s expression hardened. “You think that I am doing this for my own personal gain. What do you call it? A power trip?” “An ego trip,” Dan growled.
“That is not the case. What I do I do to save the world from the coming catastrophe. My own personal power, my ego, they mean nothing. I act for the good of all the world’s peoples. Not for profit.” “Sure,” said Dan. “And rain makes applesauce. If you actually believe that, you’re the worst kind of fool.
There’s only one sin in the world: poverty. And there’s only one crime: believing your own propaganda.”
THIRTEEN
“DON’T YOU SEE?” Dan pleaded with Jane. “All he’s after is power! He’s using this cataclysm as an excuse to grab total world power.”
They were walking glumly along the beach as the sunset turned the cloud-streaked sky into flaming reds and oranges.
“Dan, you’re not being fair to Vasily.” “Like hell I’m not.”
“I don’t like what he wants to do, but I’ve got to agree with him. I don’t see how we can accomplish what needs to be done without the authority of the law behind us. We need the GEC’s control over the situation. Otherwise...” Her voice trailed off into silence. Ignoring the beauty of the fading day, Dan urged her, “He wants to be dictator of the world. He’ll be using economic power
“Think about it for a moment,” Malik said, with an expression on his face almost of pity. “It is necessary to make the whole world convert from fossil fuels to nuclear and solar energy. The entire world!”
“Yes,” Jane said.
“The task cannot be done piecemeal. It cannot be done on a voluntary basis. We cannot ask people to stop driving their petrol-burning cars and wait until we can replace them with electrical vehicles. We cannot expect major corporations to shut down entire industrial plants for months or years while their electrical power plants are replaced. For that matter, how can we raise the capital required to build all these fusion power plants and solar power satellites—in ten years?”
“What choice do we have?” Dan snapped.
Malik took a breath. “A global problem requires global coordination. And global control.”
Dan felt his jaw clench. “I knew it,” he muttered. “The whole frigging world facing disaster and you see it as an opportunity to establish a double-damned dictatorship.”
“Dan, that’s not fair!” Jane said. “Vasily has an important point here. How can you expect-”
“How can you expect free men to act in their own best interest?” Dan felt the anger rising in him again. “A lot better than they’d be able to act when some double-damned global bureaucracy is grinding them down.”
Malik raised his hands in an I told you so gesture. “You see? That is exactly how I expected you to
react. You and your fellow capitalists. That is why it is necessary to remove you from control of Astro Manufacturing. The Council needs Astro’s assets if we are to avert this disaster.”
“And Yamagata ’s?” Dan asked.
“Yamagata also. And all the other privately owned space industries; all seven of them. They are the key to the world’s survival.
Once the Council controls all the Big Seven space industries-” “You’ll have accomplished what you failed to do ten years ago,” Dan said. Ignoring him, Malik finished, “We will be able to begin the process of converting from fossil fuels to nuclear and solar energy, worldwide.”
“And if you succeed, what happens afterward? Will you turn all the space industrial facilities back to their rightful owners?” Malik’s smirking grin returned. “Why, Mr. Randolph, you surprise me. By then, the Global Economic Council will be the legal owner of all space facilities. In the name of the peoples of Earth, of course. For the common good.”
“Bullshit!” Dan answered fervently.
Malik’s expression hardened. “You think that I am doing this for my own personal gain. What do you call it? A power trip?” “An ego trip,” Dan growled.
“That is not the case. What I do I do to save the world from the coming catastrophe. My own personal power, my ego, they mean nothing. I act for the good of all the world’s peoples. Not for profit.” “Sure,” said Dan. “And rain makes applesauce. If you actually believe that, you’re the worst kind of fool.
There’s only one sin in the world: poverty. And there’s only one crime: believing your own propaganda.”
THIRTEEN
“DON’T YOU SEE?” Dan pleaded with Jane. “All he’s after is power! He’s using this cataclysm as an excuse to grab total world power.”
They were walking glumly along the beach as the sunset turned the cloud-streaked sky into flaming reds and oranges.
“Dan, you’re not being fair to Vasily.” “Like hell I’m not.”
“I don’t like what he wants to do, but I’ve got to agree with him. I don’t see how we can accomplish what needs to be done without the authority of the law behind us. We need the GEC’s control over the situation. Otherwise...” Her voice trailed off into silence. Ignoring the beauty of the fading day, Dan urged her, “He wants to be dictator of the world. He’ll be using economic power
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