On Basilisk Station

who supply them. We've tried to limit the dependency syndrome by slapping fairly tough ceilings on the levels of technology we'll let anyone introduce, but both the Medusans and the off-worlders resent our interference.'

She paused, and Honor nodded again.

'The really frustrating part of it,' Dame Estelle went on more forcefully, 'is that Manticoran merchants are specifically restricted by Act of Parliament from trading anything more advanced than muscle-powered technology to the natives lest we make them dependent upon us. Mind you, I think there's some wisdom to that, but it means our own people are at least as irked with us as some of the other off-worlders, possibly even more so, since our proximity would give them a major competitive edge. That makes it hard for us to get an accurate reading on the entire process. Not even Manticorans go out of their way to cooperate with us, so the NPA and I are virtually outsiders on a planet nominally under our protection. Worse, I'm pretty sure the `native trade' is being used as a cover for covert exchanges of illegal goods between off-worlders— including Manticorans—but I can't stop it, I can't prove it, and I can't even seem to get the powers that be back home to care about it!'

She paused and unclenched the hands which had tightened on her knee, then gave a wry chuckle.

'Sorry, Commander. I think I just punched one of my own buttons.'

'Don't apologize, Commissioner. It sounds like you're even more hamstrung than I thought you were.'

'Oh, it's not really as bad as I sometimes feel it is,' Dame Estelle said judiciously. 'The physical restriction of the enclaves to a single central location here in the Delta, coupled with my authority to control the use of off- world transport outside them, limits the physical reach of the trade networks. It doesn't stop off-worlder-to-off- worlder smuggling, if in fact there is any, and it can't completely stop the flow of off-world goods to the Medusans, but it slows it and means that most of them trickle through native merchants before they reach more distant destinations. And, truth to tell, concerned as I am about the impact on the Medusans, I'm even more concerned—as the Crown's local representative—by what else may be going on under the surface.'

'Oh?' Honor sat straighter, and Nimitz raised his head as she stopped stroking his ears.

'I've reported my suspicions—well, `feelings' might be a more honest word for them—that there's more involved here than native trade, or even smuggling, to Countess Marisa, but no one back home seems particularly concerned.' Matsuko gave her a sharp glance, but Honor kept her face carefully expressionless. Countess Marisa of New Kiev was Minister for Medusan Affairs; she was also the leader of the Liberal Party.

Dame Estelle snorted softly, as if Honor's very lack of expression confirmed her own opinion of her superior, then sighed.

'I suppose I could be paranoid, Commander, but I just can't avoid the conclusion that ... certain parties are much more concerned with their trading rights than the dollar value of the trade itself—legal and illegal alike—could possibly justify.'

'Would those `certain parties' happen to include the Republic of Haven?' Honor asked quietly, and the commissioner nodded.

'Exactly. Their consulate has an awfully large staff, in my opinion, and I don't think they need that many `trade attaches.' Granted, a lot of their traffic passes through the terminus—the western third of the Republic is closer to Basilisk than it is to Trevor's Star, after all—but they keep pushing for more freedom to trade with the Medusans, as well. In fact, their consulate is officially accredited to one of the local Medusan city-states, not to Her Majesty's Government. Both the Government and Haven know that's a legal fiction under the circumstances, and I've been able to sit on them reasonably successfully so far, but it seems to me that what they're really after is more contact with the natives, a more active role in shaping the Medusans' relations with off-worlders generally.'

'As a counter presence to our own?'

'Exactly!' Matsuko repeated even more enthusiastically. She produced her first genuine smile of the meeting and nodded firmly. 'I think they're hoping the anti-annexationists back home may get their way after all. If that happens, Haven would be well-placed to move in and assert its own sovereignty, especially if they were already involved in native affairs. Lord knows they don't need any more motive than controlling the terminus, but they like to have `moral justifications' for their propaganda machine to report to their own population and the Solarian League. That's why they're so stubborn about maintaining the official position that the terms of the Act of Annexation amount to a unilateral renunciation on our part of any legal claim in the first place. If we do pull out, they want the planet to fall into their laps like a ripe plumapple.'

'And you think that's all it is?' Honor pressed.

'I ... don't know,' the commissioner said slowly. 'I can't see any other advantage for them, but I can't quite shake the notion that there's something else going on. My people and I are keeping as close an eye on their consulate and factors as we can, and there certainly hasn't been anything concrete I could report to Countess Marisa, but there's—call it an attitude on their part I don't like.' She shook herself, and her smile turned wry. 'Of course, I don't like them, either, and that may be coloring my perceptions.'

Honor nodded slowly, leaning back in her own chair and pursing her lips in thought. Dame Estelle did not strike her as a woman who leapt to conclusions, whatever her prejudices might be.

'At any rate,' Matsuko said more briskly, 'that's the basic off-worlder situation here on Medusa. As far as the natives themselves are concerned, my NPA people are spread too thin and too overworked to provide the kind of coverage I'd prefer, but our relations with the Medusans have been remarkably good ever since our arrival—far better than seems to be usual when such disparate cultures come into contact. Some of the clan chiefs want the restrictions on higher-tech imports lifted, which is causing some strain, but by and large we're in pretty good shape, especially with the city-states here in the Delta. We do have a few problems in more remote areas of the Outback, but the thing that I find most worrisome just now is that we've been picking up hints of an upsurge in the Medusans' use of mekoha over the last year or so.'

Honor raised an eyebrow, and Dame Estelle shrugged.

'Mekoha is an indigenous drug. It's difficult to refine, by local standards, and I don't like the effect it has on its users, but it's nothing new. I suppose it bothers me because one of the first signs of a self-destructing aboriginal culture always seems to be an increase in the use of drugs and intoxicants, and I'd hate to see the Medusans go that route. My predecessor, Baron Hightower, and I have adopted the position that the original Medusan culture is inevitably doomed by our mere presence and the technological temptation we offer, but I'd like to think we can replace it with a fusion of their original values with more advanced technology—do it without their losing themselves, if you will. That's why both Baron Hightower and I have devoted our efforts to controlling the rate of change as much as we can. I'm afraid it's also why I rather resent the amount of effort I have to divert from that goal to keeping an eye on off-worlders, but that's part and parcel of the basic effort to keep from destroying the Medusans' cultural integrity.'

'So your major requirement from me will be to assist in managing the comings and goings between the enclaves and orbital traffic?'

'I'd say that was pretty much correct,' Dame Estelle agreed. 'I'd like to be able to call on your Marine complement in the case of any emergency down here, but, as I say, we seem to be pretty well covered so far. If you could take over the inspection of ship-to-surface shuttles and general traffic control, it would free up a lot of my NPA personnel.'

'You mean Young didn't even—?' Honor shut her mouth with a click before she said something even more revealing, and the commissioner coughed into her hand to hide a laugh.

'Very well, Commissioner, I think we can handle that. Give me a day or two to work out the details, and I'll have a pair of cutters on permanent standby for shuttle inspection. If you can spare me whoever you've had managing the situation from your end, I'd like a chance to pick their brains before we set it up.'

'Done,' Dame Estelle said promptly.

'I'd also like to set up some sort of permanent liaison officer,' Honor went on thoughtfully. 'I had to detach almost ten percent of my naval personnel to provide customs parties and security personnel for Basilisk Control—' she ignored the commissioner's raised eyebrows '—and that leaves me more understrength than I'd like. I imagine it's going to get worse when we start controlling and inspecting shuttle traffic, too. Do you have someone you could assign to me to coordinate with your office?'

'I not only can provide you a liaison officer, Commander, but I will be delighted to do so. And I think I have just the man for you. Major Barney Isvarian is my senior NPA field man, but he was a Marine sergeant before he retired and moved over to my side of the street. I wouldn't want him off-planet on any