Rissa and Tregare Read Free Page A

spaceport. . . load in and out without undue delay..."
    Liesel waved a hand. "Enough-you see it perfectly. Now, then-you'll take it?" Rissa nodded. "Al right; let me do the dickering, though-I can do it quicker than I could coach you on the details." She brought out another paper. "Now, then-" With elaborate ostentation, Tregare yawned. "Liesel, with al due respect, you'd stop in mid-fuck to modify a contract. Enough of business, I say! Who votes with me?"
    Laughter answered him, and Hawkman said, "If your mother's not insulted-and I see she isn't-I'll forgive your underestimation of me. And you have my vote!"
    Sparline lit a drugstick. "Shall we relax, then?" Each, ex-cept Rissa, took one. She thought, then shook her head.
    "I am still tuned to utilize tension for survival. In a few days, perhaps, but not now." She watched the euphoria take them, and knew their time-senses were expanding as hers had done under adrenaline shock. But it is so different, she thought-the one time-dilation so diffuse and relaxed, the other so tense and concentrated. In her own way she, too, relaxed, and enjoyed the vague strands of conversation as the others went deeper into pleasant drug-hazed introversion. When, much later, the group dispersed, she steadied Tregare's path to the stairs and up them. Drug or no drug, she thought, if necessary, he could act. But here there was no need. She helped him out of clothing and into bed, and fell asleep against his warmth.
    next morning, she woke first. Seeing that Tregare stil slept heavily, she did not wake him as she dressed and prepared for the day. Downstairs she found Liesel with papers, some coffee-stained, spread among her breakfast debris.
    "Morning, Rissa. Sit here; clear yourself a space. Just shuffle that stack together; my clerk can sort them later."
    "Good morning." But Liesel's attention was back to her work. Not until Rissa had been served her breakfast and eaten it, and was thinking of taking coffee to Tregare as a wake-up bonus, did Liesel speak again.
    "The warehouses-I'll offer six, and eight is tops. All right?"
    "You know the values; I do not. Liesel, something bothers me. Even with the poor routing, that complex should make a profit. Tel me-how does Bleeker base his charges?"
    Liesel shoved papers at her. "Look it over. If you see any changes to make, note them down." And she went back to her own chores, reading, muttering, marking and underlining in red slashes.
    Rissa puzzled at the tariff sheets; finaly she saw what was wrong. Depending on weight and bulk, storage was charged by a flat daily rate.
    ". . . nothing separate for loading in and out, and that is where his costs are greatest." The charges were disproportionate, with longer-storage items paying far more than their fair share.
    She wrote. A base fee for having a given weight and bulk on the premises at al. Then-she was surprised at how much the daily rates could be reduced-longer storage, which meant less work and more profit, would become considerably more at-tractive. Finished, she handed the sheets back to Liesel and waited.
    After a moment, the older woman nodded. "You've caught it-except one point you couldn't know. Only about a tenth of what Bleeker stores rates special security. But the damn fool installed and maintains it for the whole complex."
    "I see. We cut costs by maintaining the extra precautions only where needed, and sel the excess equipment-cheaper than new, but not by much-as demand arises."
    "I was hoping you'd see that one. Now, then-here's a list of things you could invest in or buy outright. For instance-" As the talk continued, Rissa approved most items. When she demurred, it was on the grounds that the enterprise was outside her field of knowledge. Until they came to the ques-tion of land, Liesel agreed, but that mater she refused to pass.
    "No. To be taken seriously, Rissa, you've got to have some. And this peninsula's ideal. It's Fennerabilis' last toehold near Windy Lakes, distant from his