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The Stars My Destination ( Tiger! Tiger! ) :: Bester Alfred
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«Fee or percentage?»
«Both. Quarter of a million fee, and a quarter of a million guaranteed against 10 per cent of the total amount at risk.»
«Agreed. The matter?»
«PyrE.»
«Spell it, please.»
«The name means nothing to you?»
«Good. It will to Dagenham. PyrE. Capital P-y-r Capital E. Pronounced «pyre» as in funeral pyre. Tell Dagenham we've located the PyrE. He's engaged to get it. . . at all costs. . .through a man named Foyle. Gulliver Foyle.»
The courier produced a tiny silver pearl, a memo-bead, repeated Presteign's instructions into it, and left without another word. Presteign turned to his telephone operator. «Get me Regis Sheffield,» he directed.
Ten minutes after the call went through to Regis Sheffield's law office, a young law clerk appeared on Presteign's private jaunte stage, was vetted and admitted through the maze. He was a bright young man, with a scrubbed face and the expression of a delighted rabbit.
«Excuse the delay, Presteign,» he said. «We got your call in Chicago and I'm still only a D class five hundred miler. Took me a while getting here.»
«Is your chief trying a case in Chicago?»
«Chicago, New York and Washington. He's been on the jaunte from court to court all morning. We fill in for him when he's in another court.»
«I want to retain him.»
«Honored, Presteign, but Mr. Sheffield's pretty busy.»
«Not too busy for PyrE.»
«Sorry, sir; I don't quite…”
«No, you don't, but Sheffield will. Just tell him: PyrE as in funeral pyre, and the amount of his fee.»
«Which is?»
«Quarter of a million retainer and a quarter of a million guaranteed against 10 per cent of the total amount at risk.»
«And what performance is required of Mr. Sheffield?»
«To prepare every known legal device for kidnaping a man and holding him against the army, the navy and the police.»
«Quite. And the man?»
«Gulliver Foyle.»
The law clerk muttered quick notes into a memo-bead, thrust the bead into his ear, listened, nodded and departed. Presteign left the study and ascended the plush stairs to his daughter's suite to pay his morning respects.
In the homes of the wealthy, the rooms of the female members were blind, without windows or doors, open only to the jaunting of intimate members of the family. Thus was morality maintained and chastity defended. But since Olivia Presteign was herself blind to normal sight, she could not jaunte.
«Fee or percentage?»
«Both. Quarter of a million fee, and a quarter of a million guaranteed against 10 per cent of the total amount at risk.»
«Agreed. The matter?»
«PyrE.»
«Spell it, please.»
«The name means nothing to you?»
«Good. It will to Dagenham. PyrE. Capital P-y-r Capital E. Pronounced «pyre» as in funeral pyre. Tell Dagenham we've located the PyrE. He's engaged to get it. . . at all costs. . .through a man named Foyle. Gulliver Foyle.»
The courier produced a tiny silver pearl, a memo-bead, repeated Presteign's instructions into it, and left without another word. Presteign turned to his telephone operator. «Get me Regis Sheffield,» he directed.
Ten minutes after the call went through to Regis Sheffield's law office, a young law clerk appeared on Presteign's private jaunte stage, was vetted and admitted through the maze. He was a bright young man, with a scrubbed face and the expression of a delighted rabbit.
«Excuse the delay, Presteign,» he said. «We got your call in Chicago and I'm still only a D class five hundred miler. Took me a while getting here.»
«Is your chief trying a case in Chicago?»
«Chicago, New York and Washington. He's been on the jaunte from court to court all morning. We fill in for him when he's in another court.»
«I want to retain him.»
«Honored, Presteign, but Mr. Sheffield's pretty busy.»
«Not too busy for PyrE.»
«Sorry, sir; I don't quite…”
«No, you don't, but Sheffield will. Just tell him: PyrE as in funeral pyre, and the amount of his fee.»
«Which is?»
«Quarter of a million retainer and a quarter of a million guaranteed against 10 per cent of the total amount at risk.»
«And what performance is required of Mr. Sheffield?»
«To prepare every known legal device for kidnaping a man and holding him against the army, the navy and the police.»
«Quite. And the man?»
«Gulliver Foyle.»
The law clerk muttered quick notes into a memo-bead, thrust the bead into his ear, listened, nodded and departed. Presteign left the study and ascended the plush stairs to his daughter's suite to pay his morning respects.
In the homes of the wealthy, the rooms of the female members were blind, without windows or doors, open only to the jaunting of intimate members of the family. Thus was morality maintained and chastity defended. But since Olivia Presteign was herself blind to normal sight, she could not jaunte.