large amount of money, when you have it - but it is a great fortune when
you do not. The man tugged at the thick black bush of his beard.
And sixty days can be an eternity. I have a charter for Golden Dawn/
Duncan said softly.
A ten-year charter. He slipped the nine-carat gold catches on the slim,
finely grained pigskin briefcase and brought out a batch of Xeroxed
sheets. As you see, it is signed by both parties already. Ten years?
asked the man, watching the papers in Duncan's hand.
Ten years, at ten cents a hundred ton miles and a guaranteed minimum
annual Of 7 5,000 miles. The hand on the man's thick black beard
stilled. Golden Dawn has a burden of a million tons - that will gross a
minimum of seventy-five million dollars a year. With an effort he
managed to disguise his awe, and the hand resumed its gentle tugging at
the beard. Who is the charterer? The thick eyebrows formed two thick
black question marks.
Orient Amex, said Duncan, and handed him the Xeroxed papers.
The El Barras field. The man's eyebrows stayed up as he read swiftly.
You are a brave man, Mr. Alexander. But I never once doubted that. He
read on in silence for another minute, shaking his head slowly so that
the ringlets danced on his cheeks. The El Barras field. He folded the
papers and looked up at Duncan. I think Christy Marine may have found a
worthy successor to Nicholas Berg - perhaps the shoes are even a little
small, maybe they will begin to pinch your toes soon, Mr. Alexander. He
squirmed down in his chair thinking furiously, and Duncan watched him,
hiding his trepidation behind a remotely amused halfsmile.
What about the environmentalists, Mr. Alexander? The new American
Administration, this man Carter is very conscious of environmental
dangers., The lunatic fringe/ said Duncan. There is too much invested
already. Orient Amex have nearly a billion in the new cadmium cracking
plants at Galveston, and three of the other oil giants are in it. Let
them fuss, we'll still carry in the new cad-rich crudes. Duncan spoke
with the force of complete conviction.
There is too much at stake, the potential profits are too large and the
opposition is too weak. The whole world is sick of the doom-merchants,
the woolly-headed sentimentalists/ he dismissed them with a short abrupt
gesture.
Man has already adjusted to a little oil on the beaches, a little smoke
in the air, a few less fish in the sea or birds in the sky, and he will
go on adjusting. The man nodded, listening avidly. Yes! he nodded.
You are a brave man. The world needs men like you. The important thing
is a cadmium catalyst cracking system which breaks down the high carbon
atoms of crude and gives back a 80% yield in low carbon instead of the
40% we hope for now. go % yield, double-double profits, double
efficiency - and double danger. The man smiled behind his beard.
There is danger in taking a bath. You might slip and crack your skull,
and we haven't invested a billion dollars in bathing. Cadmium in
concentrations of 100 parts to the million is more poisonous than
cyanide or arsenic; the cad-rich crudes of the EIL Barras field are
concentrated 2000 parts to the million. That's what makes them so
valuable, Duncan nodded, To enrich crude artificially with cadmium would
