Starfist: FlashFire by David Sherman & Dan Cragg Read Free Book Online

ridiculous little man named Stutz had to be leading the Coalition’s negotiating team, aside from the fact that on his home world of Hobcaw he owned several million hectares of arable land that he farmed.
    “Y’see, we are an ag-ri-cul-tur-al world, us Cob’uns,” Stutz emphasized the word “agricultural” as if speaking to ignorant schoolchildren, “and our economy depends on its produce exports.”
    “We are prepared to offer substantial subsidies, sir,” Pieters said.
    “Yeah? Wall, that was tried a long time ago, folks, ’n it din work then neither. You pay us for not growing crops we can’t export anyhow and before you know it we’ll be dependent on yer handouts. No, siree!”
    “It would only be for an interim period, Mr. Stutz,” Pieters replied. “It will take some time to get the other member worlds to accept your produce and manufactures into their own markets in exchange for things they can provide that you need on Hobcaw and the other worlds in your Coalition.”
    “We don’t have a lot of time, Mr. Minister Pieters,” Stutz replied. “Our trade deficit with your member worlds reached twenty trillion last fiscal year and it’s gettin’ higher the longer we sit on our rumps here banging our chops. And your bankers, their only fix is to loan us more money to pay off our debts at interest rates that only get us deeper into the debt cycle. You gotta remember, even though there’s twelve of us in our Coalition, we’re still underpopulated, compared to the longer-settled places, and that deficit is holding back our development. Your financiers are strangling us! The way we figure it, if we was totally independent of the trade policies and treaties your government has cooked up we could go at each member world separately and haggle our own agreements.”
    “Well, Mr. Stutz,” Pieters leaned forward as he spoke, “this is merely our preliminary meeting, a session to familiarize ourselves with the problems. Their resolution will take time, sir. Surely your members would agree that if we can settle these issues to their satisfaction the time would be well spent?” Stutz did not reply, only gazed at the Commerce Minister through half-lidded eyes. Frustrated by the lack of response, Pieters tried being conciliatory. “We agree there are disadvantageous imbalances in our trade relations with your worlds and we’re here to see if we can eliminate them.”
    “But you must try to see things from our perspective,” Wellington-Humphreys added. “There was the outbreak of ‘Mad Tomato Disease’ five years ago that severely damaged your truck garden exports and —”
    “That was utter hysteria, madam,” Stutz interjected, “typical of the paranoia that has always manifested itself in your relations with us.” He smiled, revealing jagged, yellowed teeth.

Wellington-Humphreys stared at Stutz in surprise for a moment. The man did not always talk like a bumpkin! She realized then that his folksy manner was assumed and behind that façade worked a facile and astute intelligence. She had underrated the man. She should have known anybody who could have built an agricultural empire such as the one Stutz ruled was no rube. But he had inadvertently given himself away with that outburst. Obviously his own harvests had been most adversely affected by the Mad Tomato virus. A very undiplomatic smile crept across her face.
    “You find that amusing?” Stutz asked, not amused.
    “Not in the least, sir.” Since her smile nettled Stutz, she enlarged it to a grin. She challenged him with it and at the same time let him know she was on to his tactics.
    Realizing he’d made a slip, Stutz permitted himself a tight grin and continued in a more affable tone. “Wall, it was all exaggerated and it’s behind us now, but don’t forget that other worlds have had their problems too. How’s about what happened on Atlas just a while back, whose crops were destroyed by a virus imported from one of the Confederation