Freehold by William C. Dietz Read Free Book Online Page B

each of its quarter-million members contributed equal shares of the five-million-credit down payment. The agreement called for another five million credits per Earth year for fifty years. At the end of that time, Freehold would become the sole property of the consortium and their descendants.” Kasten paused to gather his thoughts. “If, however, the payments were missed for two years running, Freehold would revert to Intersystems Inc., and all payments made thus far would be forfeit.” Kasten sighed and shook his head. “It wasn't fair, but that's the best deal they could get. Thirty years have passed since then. As you saw earlier, Freehold is no garden planet. The early years were very hard. My mother died first, then my father, and thousands more with them. But we managed in spite of that. For the first few years we barely made the payments on time. Gradually, things started to improve. We found ways to deal with Freehold's hostile environment, even ways to profit from it.”
    Now Kasten's eyes glowed with the fervor of a man on his favorite subject. “Eventually we managed to produce a small surplus. We used that to buy the technology we didn't have, but needed. We put the technology to work and our surplus grew larger.” The glow faded from Kasten's eyes and his shoulders slumped as if under a great weight.
    “Then our good fortune stopped. As you might expect with a planet like Freehold, the weather is cyclical. We're still learning what makes it tick, but the geological evidence, plus our own experience, tells us that years of reasonably moderate weather can be followed by equal periods of bad. Two years ago we entered such a time and are only now coming out of it. Consequently, all sectors of our economy have suffered. Our surplus was quickly eroded, and then gone.”
    Now the pain in Kasten's eyes turned to anger, huge fists opened and closed in frustration, and he fought to keep his voice level. “Even so, we would have made it except for the pirates. Oh, we always had a few raids from both the pirates and Il Ronn, since the budget cutbacks most of the frontier worlds do, but nothing like this. Day after day, week after week, raid after raid the pirates pound away at us. And they've exacted a terrible toll, not just in material terms, but in human lives and suffering as well.” Kasten's voice broke, and he turned away for a moment as he fought to regain his composure.
    “They killed my mother two months ago,” Olivia said softly. “She was visiting one of the outlying settlements when it was hit. We miss her very much.” Stell saw sorrow in her eyes overlaid with concern for her father. He started to speak, to suggest a break, but Kasten held up a restraining hand.
    “It's all right, Colonel. I apologize for imposing my personal troubles on you and Sergeant Major Como, but my wife and I were very close, and I'm afraid I haven't adjusted well. I was going to say that, while we've done our best, we're no match for the pirates. We have no military as such; it's not practical for a population as small as ours, and there has never been a need. In the past, our Civil Defense Force has dealt with the occasional pirate or Il Ronnian raid.”
    “And quite well, too,” Roop added, gazing at the ceiling.
    “Maybe at first,” Kasten acknowledged, “but not lately. Their weapons and training beat anything we've got. Plus, they have the element of surprise on their side.” He shrugged and smiled wanly. “We've missed one yearly payment and we're about to miss another. And that's why we're talking to you, Colonel.”
    Stell knew Kasten was right. From what he'd heard, the pirates were well organized, well equipped and well trained. They had to be in order to survive. The ironic part was that originally the pirates had been soldiers, too—soldiers on the losing side of a long, bloody civil war. The war wound up destroying the confederation it sought to preserve; from its ashes had risen the present empire, the