Sagramanda, a Novel of Near-Future India

Whatever it was, the mollysphere's sales pitch was having the intended effect. Chhote Pandit was not merely interested: he was entranced.

Fine tea or no fine tea, Sanjay was beginning to squirm when his host finally shifted to the other end of his couch, leaving the molly activated and the last page of information hanging in the air. As

Sanjay waited, the display winked out. Frowning, Pandit spoke again into his command bracelet. Nothing happened.

'That's odd. The storage sphere you gave me now reads empty.' He studied something out of Sanjay's line of sight. 'Not just empty, but as if it had never been written to.'

His guest was apologetic. 'I was told by the person who wishes to sell this information that you would be able to view it one time only. It was quantum secured.'

'Ah.' Pandit leaned back in his couch and nodded understandingly. 'Viewing the information simultaneously destroys it. A sensible precaution. It means that one option open to me, that of holding you against your will and stealing this information, is no longer applicable. Nothing personal, you understand. In business of this nature, one must always consider every available option.'

'Naturally.' Sanjay maintained his composure. 'Then you find my client's merchandise worthy of consideration?' Given the price Taneer was asking, Sanjay would not have been in the least surprised if his host had sneered or even laughed at the query.

Instead, Chhote Pandit fell to stroking his wispy beard with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. 'I admit I was initially more than skeptical. But the presentation provided ample proof that your client can deliver what is promised.'

Sanjay tried not to hold his breath. 'And the proposed fee arrangements?' The reply stunned him.

'I would only be passing along the indicated materials to the final purchaser, as per your request, but from what little I know of such things, I would count it a bargain.'

Despite his promise to himself to conceal anything like an emotional reaction for the duration of the meeting, Sanjay found himself startled. He recovered as rapidly as possible. 'My client will be pleased to hear that.'

'There is only one problem.' Pandit removed his hand from his beard and gestured absently in the direction of the gleaming console, as if its presence in the room could explain everything. 'I am not sure I am equipped to negotiate a transaction of this magnitude.'

Sanjay frowned. 'I was reliably informed that-

His host cut him off with a wave of his right hand. 'Oh, I did not say I could not do it. It is just that business of this nature comes along once in a man's lifetime, and I want to be sure of the schematics before I can proceed. But I am certainly willing to try! Oh yes, I am certainly willing to try.' The look in his eyes was one Sanjay had come to know well. It was the same whether one saw it in the face of a fellow Indian, or a Chinese, or a European, or an African.

Greed knows no ethnicity.

A fresh thought came to his host. Instinctively he looked around, back toward the entrance Sanjay had used. 'Did anyone see you come in here? Not just to my office, but to the complex? Do you think there was any possibility you may have been followed?'

The shopkeeper's muscles tightened. By accepting the proposition of the customer Taneer, Sanjay had known he was going to be operating in territory hitherto unfamiliar to him, but to see the venerable businessman sitting on the couch suddenly tense and look toward his own doorway left him feeling more uneasy than he had anticipated.

'I do not think so. There was no reason for anyone to follow me.' He offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile. 'My client has been very circumspect in every aspect of his dealings with me, and I with him.'

Pandit relaxed slightly. 'See to it that it remains so. Where some thing of this importance is involved, civility tends to be the first casualty.' His somberness gave way to a winning smile, missing teeth notwithstanding. 'To say our relationship in this matter is to be mutually possible is to speak the mother of all understatements. Provided neither of us ends up dead, of course.'

'Of course,' Sanjay agreed with a calmness he did not feel.

'We should conduct future dealings in person as much as we can. These days, it is easier to trace and read an electronic communication than a live person. Provided you do not mind coming back here.' Pandit's eyes were fixed on his guest. The intensity of their gaze and the intelligence behind them both belied the age of their owner.

'I will do whatever my client thinks best.'

'Spoken like an honest broker. I promise that I will be no less.' Pandit paused a moment, thoughtful, then asked, 'You really do not have any idea what you have gotten yourself into, do you?'

'I am focused on making a profit, so that I can bring my family out of the village where I was born,' Sanjay replied, a little stiffly. 'Besides, I gave my client my word.'

Rather than being put off by the response, Pandit appeared greatly pleased. 'A child of the soil, come to this. Who says there is no opportunity in Mother India for upward mobility?' He rose from his couch, prompting Sanjay to do likewise. The two men shook hands.

'I will go to work on this immediately. Given what is at stake for both sides, I am sure your client will understand it will take a little time to put the necessary arrangements and precautions in place.'

Sanjay thought back to what Taneer had told him. 'Speed is of the essence for my client.'

'I can imagine.' Pandit chuckled. 'I know that I wouldn't want to be in his position, given the nature of the information that storage unit contained.' He shook a cautionary finger at the younger man. 'Watch your step, and your back, Mr. Ghosh. This is not a game for children. But then, you are clearly aware of that, or you would not be involved to the extent that you are.'

Pandit's words hung in Sanjay's memory as he exited the office, departed the complex, and made his way out of the great market. It was too late to back out now. Anyway, he didn't want to back out. He wanted his three percent. Presumably, Pandit's cut was among the information disseminated by the mollysphere he had brought to the office. Sanjay was understandably curious to know what it was. He did not expect 'Mr. Mohan' to tell him. That would be bad business. Whatever else he was, Sanjay suspected that his unusual client was anything but a bad businessman.

Especially when the business at hand was exceptional enough to involve such very real tangibles as life and death.

It was late evening when Taneer left the little gift shop in a state of measured euphoria. The storekeeper, Sanjay Ghosh, had struggled to contain his own excitement as he related the details of his meeting with the counterpart he had chosen. Taneer was not surprised that this person, whom Ghosh quite properly left unnamed, had been overwhelmed by the offer: the researcher knew perfectly well the value of what he had to sell. But to have already struck a deal to move forward to the next stage, that of having the second merchant agree to put the merchandise on the open market and handle the resultant bids, was more than Taneer could have hoped for.

He had never doubted for a moment that from the instant of his abdication from his former employer, the hounds would be set loose on his trail. Thankfully, he had been able to make Depahli understand this. Therefore and obviously (as his uncle Dilip liked to say), the sooner a deal could be consummated, the better it would be for all concerned. He was under no illusions as to what would happen to him if the minions deployed (during the Raj one might have said 'sepoyed,' he reflected with a small smile) by his company found him first. In that event, his beloved Depahli would find herself attending not to the details of a marriage but to those of a funeral.

As he turned down a side street whose brand-new sidewalk fronted an empty lot littered with garbage and slabs of upturned concrete from which twisted rebars protruded like tormented brown snakes, he reflected on how right he had been in his selection of an intermediary. The shopkeeper Sanjay Ghosh was clever enough to follow instructions but not clever enough to think of a way to outsmart his client. Recognition of his own shortcomings would help to keep him honest. It also did not hurt that the two men had established something of a personal rapport. Though he would not trust the shopkeeper any more than he would anyone else except the final buyer with the full particulars of what he had to sell, Taneer found himself liking the immigrant from the countryside more and more each time they met. He could only hope it was not all a polite, businesslike sham, and that his feelings, as well as his instincts, were reciprocated.

If all went well, the entire risky business could be concluded in a few days. Sanjay had assured him that the contact he had made had sufficient status to engage interested buyers on the appropriate scale. That contact had