Tentacles of the Dominion by D.T. Read

Author:D.T. Read [Read, D.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2023-11-28T16:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Fifteen

“Ranze?” The voice coming through the blank visiphone belonged to Madam DeByes.

What does that woman have against using the viewscreen? Ranze wondered, and why is she calling me at home?

“What is it?” she asked a bit too curtly.

“I’d like to meet with you over lunch tomorrow,” DeByes said, her tone business terse. “I found a discrepancy in your trade proposal, and I think we need to discuss it.”

Only one? Ranze thought. And you’re actually going to discuss it with me this time?

DeByes had made so many changes to her proposed trade agreement during the last week, she hardly knew what it contained anymore. She drew a deep breath and released it slowly before she said, “Now what?”

“That’s what I’d like to know, Ranze,” DeByes said. “Every time I think we’ve gotten all the problems resolved, you make another change, and we have to start all over again.”

Ranze stiffened. “I’ve been making changes? One minute, Madam. You’re the one who told me last week I couldn’t discuss this with the planetary trade reps, and then you sent out the message to all of them. I told you before you did it that your message changed the whole intent of the trade program. You insisted it didn’t, but every one of the trade reps interpreted it the same way I did. I’m still getting confused calls from half of them.”

“I never said that!” DeByes’ tone suggested affront. “I never said you couldn’t talk to the trade reps.”

“You did, Madam. Very specifically.” Ranze found herself struggling to bring her voice under control. “You said that doing so would give the opposition a chance to prepare their own campaign against it.”

“I said no such thing!” DeByes said.

Ranze didn’t pursue it. She wouldn’t gain anything with a childish bout of “You did” and “I did not.” She said instead, “They’ve been calling me with their concerns, and every time I bring those to you, you decide to make a change, usually without informing me of the details until after the fact.”

“Now, Ranze—” DeByes began.

Ranze cut across her. “In fact, I had a call this morning from Ng Quoc, Bonobo’s trade rep, about something in a message you disseminated last night. All I could say to her was, ‘What message? I never got a copy.’”

“It was the one on paragraph 8.3, about tariffs and trade balances,” DeByes said. “We talked about it in depth yesterday.”

“I asked Quoc to read the message to me,” Ranze said. “What you and I talked about and what came out in the message were two completely different things.” She made a helpless gesture, spreading her arms. “I don’t know what’s going on with the trade agreement anymore. It’s like you’ve taken it completely out of my hands.”

She heard a short silence from beyond the blank viewscreen before DeByes said, “We’re two days away from presenting the proposal in the Assembly, Ranze, and the trade agreement will be one of its most important aspects. I want to make sure we both understand its intent.

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