Galaxy Magazine (December 1957) by Galaxy

Author:Galaxy
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 1957-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

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THE Chief called me in about ten that morning. With a sweep of the hand, he-cutoff all communication buttons with the rest of his subordinates, by which I knew that something big was stirring.

"Carl," he said, "do we or do we not ship chemicals to Mars from which the Earth Colony can make hard-to-get water and oxygen for their climate-restoration project?"

I spoke right up. "We do."

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GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

He nodded his crew-cut, iron-gray head. "Do we not also carry mail at special mail rates for the Colonies on Mars and the Asteroids?"

"It brings in good money." The Chief fingered one of our

space tariffs, which gave rates on the thousand or so most essential Earth-manufactured items that we shipped to the Moon and Mars Colonies as well as to the new Asteroid groups. Scientific instruments needed to survive on strange

PAYLOAD

planets. Special foods and clothing. Communication stuff. Even a few luxury items to make the Earth Colonists feel at home.

To do all this, Carl," said the Chief, leaning back and closing his eyes, "we maintain a fleet of a dozen of the finest spaceships. We pay rental on three of the space stations, and we have another half-dozen new spaceships a-building"

I nodded. "Cost Accounting is worried about that, too, Chief. We've got almost two hundred million tied up there, and no matter how many trips we make with full cargo, we can't make money. The little profit we show has to be plowed back into equipment."

"It takes fourteen men, good and true, drawing fourteen salaries to run those ships," he said. "Not roustabout salaries, but money paid to good technical men who will put up with the vicissitudes of space travel month in and month out."

WT OOK," I said, growing impa--*-^ tient, "I know all about what it takes to run Quantum Associates. I dream those figures at night. With the last three rate boosts, we've finally gotten past the experimental stages of cost accounting and know what it costs us to deliver a pound of goods on Mars. The figures may seem fantastic to our customers, but the

point to argue is that so far there is no return trade to spread the expense. When we find something valuable out there, we can fill our ships on the return sweep and lower shipping costs."

He smiled the sickly sweet smile that meant trouble. "And so we charge twenty-five hundred dollars a day running costs per ship in space."

I realized that he was quoting my new figures for the National Spaceloading contract. This was a purchasing firm, similar to the old railroad carloading companies that sold shipping space to small shippers at the higher less-than-carload rates, and shipped enough to send out full carloads at the lower rates and made their profit on the difference. We encouraged this, as it guaranteed full payloads on every trip. The National Space-loading contract was new and it was going to do a lot for Quantum Associates.

"I can't shave those figures, Chief. National Spaceloading has no complaint. Let them ask for a government subsidy if they can't stand the new rate.

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