The White Elephant of Panschin

Other Doings while Veronica is Trapped Underground

     His stomach growled suddenly, reminding him it was getting on towards lunch. He didn't have time to eat at the Dappled Yak and he didn't want to join the rest of the branch office's staff. Socializing with them over lunch was still very awkward. Malcolm sighed again. It would be faster and maybe, while he listened to the bank staff gossip about people he didn't know, he'd think of something he could do about Mr. Burgess to save Shelby.

     ***

     Airik left the ballroom with a strong sense of relief. Mr. Burgess had carefully avoided him; it was easy enough to do for both of them since Mr. Burgess, draped in violently colored cabbage roses, could not hide in the crowd. He had learned one thing during his strained conversations. Nobody liked Sajag Burgess and nobody could explain to Airik's satisfaction why he held the power he did. That was interesting and led directly to speculation as to what kind of hold Mr. Burgess had over some of the businessmen of Panschin along with his peers at Second National.

     Even more interesting was that Maerski, Atto, Davis, and Fuziwara didn't have an explanation, despite their own extensive dealings and subsidiary holdings in Panschin. He would have expected better. Airik had quite a bit of background information on the political and business leaders in his own free-city of Purnell, despite Shelleen never having been rich enough to influence the city. That situation was changing, thanks to the Red Mercury lode. Similarly, he knew far more about the demesnes surrounding Shelleen than he had in the past and for the same reason.

     Yet the daimyos of the demesnes encircling Panschin didn't know what was happening in their own backyard.

     That was interesting too, as it implied that the leading demesnes in the Northern Mining Tier weren't nearly as capable in their business dealings as their public relations claimed they were. This could leave more room for Shelleen's own expansion into the mining business. His demesne had substantial mineral deposits, mostly unexploited.

     Airik allowed himself a smile. He would make Shelleen rich and do it in such a way that the wealth would benefit his demesne for generations to come. Shelleen would become a powerhouse in the quadrant. They'd no longer be an ignored and scorned backwater, always last on the list for political alliances, business deals, and advantageous marriages.

     "Sir?"

     "Yes, Gaston," Airik said, storing away thoughts of which site to exploit first and whether or not he should do his own in-house refining, thus earning a better profit.

     "I've been sorting through the reports that you had been working on with Upton, getting ready for the next round of meetings. Where is the report on Chung/Banerjee? I can't find it."

     "It's not in Upton's case?"

     "No, sir. The contents were wildly disarrayed, so I had to check each piece of paper." Gaston stopped and sneezed violently. After recovering and mopping his face clean, he said, "I've seen Upton sneezing. Has Panschin been getting to him? He's normally fastidious about his paperwork for you."

     "Yes, it has," Airik said. On his way out of the infirmary, the hotel doctor had uttered the dread word 'pneumonia' as something he was watching out for. "Unfortunately, he's barely conscious in the infirmary so I doubt we'll get an answer from him."

     "We have to have that report, sir, for the meeting. It contains all the data from Chung/Banerjee along with my own estimates."

     "Is that the only one missing?"

     "I believe so, but I was only searching for this report."

     "Damnation," Airik said.