Patrick Wilkins

“ Yes, I can understand all too well how you feel. It's really horrible when you have grown up in a society, learned about its every intricacy, its principles, and come to have faith in it—then see it suddenly disintegrate. ”

“ You come to think of your society as the universe, nothing else is as permanent as your world, your people. You make plans and move through that society, believing in it with a faith stronger than any religious faith—for you can see and understand it constantly. ”

“ Some of those people had their life's saving of luxury pay invested in the corporation-men, and when those men failed them, they lost their savings and their futures. Poverty is a treacherous catalyst, it makes men do weird and horrible things. Common tricks of psychology added to that, make the whole mess into a primitive society of revenge and hatred. ”

“ People you have known suddenly become beasts. Your world has collapsed. And even if you know the reason, it doesn't seem possible, the reason is out of a textbook and unreal, but the disillusionment and despair are all too real. ”

“ Kim made one last desperate appeal. "I firmly believe that this should be a Class AA emergency!"
"Your field of specialization is overriding your business sense, Kim. You are fascinated, as an economist, by this Lyrane system, and you would like to see us put it back on its feet so you economists would have a live experiment to observe. I'm sorry, but it isn't practical. You know how fantastically expensive a Class AA is, and no one planet is about to get it." ”

“ Kalgor, capital of the Galactic Empire, is not, as one would expect, one solid city. As a matter of fact, it is more suburban and rural than many farming planets.
The reason is obvious if but considered. The galactic government and the equally large galactic businesses are so immense that they must be distributed throughout the whole galaxy, with only the very cream of the hierarchy located on Kalgor. Thus, each company would have only one small building—but with a communication web that enfolded macroscopic enterprises.
Universal Relief Incorporated was typical of this arrangement. ”

“ They certainly need it to support a planet."
"That's the easiest part of it. People would use their luxury pay to establish businesses. At these businesses men could work their five hours a day to get their commodity pay. It was not only possible, but mandatory that such businesses develop. There were two types: mass production of commodities, with a regulated profit in commodity pay; or specialization and production of fine merchandise that was sold at cost, but which the government paid for in luxury pay in proportion to its quality as thoroughly tested. ”

“ Florin smiled. "I do not feel that I have been betrayed. I know that the corporation-men, representing the most intelligent element of Lyrane, wouldn't do this thing without a sound reason."
Erol said, "Apparently you wish to throw in your lot with us, rather than the mob."
"My loyalty to my teacher and his associates compels me to do so. It is also my personal desire."
"You won't get any luxury pay for that loyalty," Yma snapped.
"That's unfair. You know Tomlin always advocated proper living from a moral obligation rather than for mercenary reward." ”

“ And at every turn, every election, guided by citizen-agents who would never have seen political power under the old status quo.
"The future of this plan is even more fascinating—putting Lyrane on an industrialized economy, when Lyrane has never had industrial potential, gumming up the works with embargoes and tariffs; and a bureaucratic, leech-like government that will sop up everything in taxes.
"It's a masterpiece of planning—of planning the permanent financial and moral destruction of a planet." ”

“ For once a man, who has been a stable entity in a stable organization, develops and believes a strange and contradictory idea—the result is inevitable. Misunderstanding, resentment, hate, violence. The cycle carries on from there with its own momentum. ”

“ How could these incorporated individuals get any luxury pay for themselves if they had to hand it out to their stockholders?"
"The administration would allow for that. A person received luxury pay in proportion to the number of stockholders that he claimed. The government had to do this since they indirectly were investing in these corporation-men—but I'll explain that later.
"The corporation-man lived off the original investments of stockholders, with some of the stock solvent for sales. In this way, the individual would profit from "good-doing" by receiving many new investments." ”

“ The fate of one planet, more or less, is irrelevant.
"Galactic Aid's method of destroying us for that advantage was very crude and very simple; but effective because of its simplicity.
"As you know, the ratio of corporation-men to citizens here is very disproportionate, and the economy of the planet is vested in comparatively few individuals. These few people were the ones Galactic Aid attacked.
"They sent their agents to the corporation-men, my father included, and told them to stop research, writing, art, or whatever they were doing to earn their luxury pay. ”

“ This luxury pay, issued in a different currency than the commodity pay, could be used in any way a person saw fit. Some people naturally developed the idea of investing stock in a particularly virtuous or intelligent person. Every time that person did a good deed, the stockholders received a dividend from his luxury pay. All of the scientists and philosophers, therefore, became corporations in themselves, with as many as five thousand people holding stock in one man. ”

“ Under this pressure the incorporated men stopped producing, the economy crumbled, and the riots began.
"We have developed a peaceful, cultural society, but no matter how civilized and stabilized a society is, once you knock out the financial props, the populace is going to go mad.
"The corporation-men didn't receive the promised protection. They soon realized that they had been tricked, but it was too late. Galactic Aid wanted them destroyed by the mob; they wanted murder and riots; and they wanted a Class AA emergency which would drain Universal Relief's resources. ”

“ They stopped doing good deeds, stopped writing, stopped research, and what-not and, consequently, stopped drawing luxury pay.
"Naturally, their stockholders got mad and wanted to sell, but incorporated men couldn't liquidate and the values of the stocks dropped to zero, along with the value of the luxury pay. The result was a depression and a lot of angry people."
"A planetary depression is not such an outstanding emergency that it should cause Universal Relief to be in such an uproar. I believe that it is merely a Class B emergency, with complete regulations on proper handling." ”

“ Naturally, the resentment against the corporation-men for betraying them has turned into hatred, with murder, riots and a civil war in the offing. Yes, their politics were unitary and stable until this emergency, but you'd be surprised at the number of political factions that can be formed and develop hostilities in a period of crisis. ”

“ The irony disappeared, and Florin's voice transmuted to a tone of accustomed authority. "I want to find out just how you were able to organize and take over so quickly in this emergency. With this planet's economy completely shot after the corporation-men quit producing and with stocks down to nothing, I am fascinated by the problem of how you got financial backing." ”

“ On the contrary, it is a social structure of the finest minds in the galaxy. The rest are all weeded out. Although the motives of the system are idealistic, they are enforced with a rigid practicality. They demand quality and truth, and gauge it with the revealing yardstick of public consumption and approval as measured in sales and polls. ”

“ Those controls consist of complete administration of the planet until status quo is resumed, establishment of martial law with the right to arrest and confiscate any persons or things that may have caused the emergency, confiscation of all planetary currency to be retained and re-issued at face value when normalcy returns and, of course, the right to bring charges in Galactic Court against individuals or organizations that have caused the emergency. ”

“ I have no doubt that those ships are part of the mob. Even if it is the police, and I doubt there are any left after the rioting, they will imprison us."
Erol said, "This is a hunting lodge. There are some weapons here. We have nothing but your gyro to escape in, and it's too slow. I can see that those are police gyros."
"Then we'll fight," Yma declared and rushed inside, with Florin and Erol following her.
"This place is not much for defense," Florin said while they rummaged for rifles, for nothing more deadly was allowed outside the hands of the Galactic Patrol. ”

“ But when you're dealing with that sort of power, you have to bluff fast and hard. We didn't have enough evidence to actually stop Galactic. We needed inside testimony. When you rescinded the Class AA order, two hours later, the confession was already signed."
Exasperation was now Kim's mood. "One of these times your bluff won't work, and all your secret agents won't do you a bit of good. Empire law is nothing to tamper with."
Roald smiled. "I think that Galactic Aid found that out." ”

“ Actually, what the whole thing amounts to is a complete shift of emphasis from big business and its speculations—which is what we've always known—to individuals and the intangibles and variables of their ideas and deeds. ”

“ Until then her story had been told in the dispassionate voice of a mechanical reader, but when she continued, there was vehemence.
"In a galactic company there is inconceivable power, and inconceivable greed. They are willing, and able, to go to any lengths to gain an economic advantage over a rival. ”

“ You know perfectly well we don't have the powers you had us state in that bulletin. It was a galactic offense to even print such a thing. What if the Governor had known that?"
"I counted on him not knowing it. Even though he was an executive of Galactic Aid, Class AA emergencies are so rare that very few people are familiar with their actual provisions. ”

“ They circled over the lodge, with two finally landing and one remaining aloft. Florin padded over to Yma, and whispered for her to station herself in some bushes by the lodge. He told her to try to shoot down the gyro above when firing began.
Men piled out of the ships which had landed, and approached the lodge. They spread out and swiftly encircled the building. They all carried rifles. Florin estimated that there were about twenty of them. Three of them approached Erol. ”

“ There are only 224 corporation-men with over a hundred stockholders. These people are, of course, quite clannish and have little actual contact with the masses. Therefore, this mass threat was heightened by the unity of the small group that it affected. ”