"It’s the same," Benson said. "There are a number of them, all connected with different parts of the same business. It’s a complicated setup." He paused for a moment, then resumed, "Up until around the first few years of this century, a lot of Van Geelink-controlled money went into preserving white dominance in the area by undermining the stability of black Africa politically and economically, which is one reason why nobody seemed interested in backing resistance to the Cuban and Communist subversions that were going on from the ’70s through ’90s. To maintain their own position militarily in the face of trade embargoes, the family organized arms deals through intermediaries, frequently South American regimes."

"Is this where the Brazilian guy fits in?" Caldwell asked, raising an eyebrow.

Benson nodded. "Among others. Saraquez’s father and grandfather were both big in commodity financing, especially to do with oil. There are links from them as well as from the Van Geelinks to the prime movers behind the destabilization of the Middle East in the late twentieth century. The main reason for that was to maximize short-term oil profits before the world went nuclear, which also accounts for the orchestrated sabotage of public opinion against nuclear power at around the same time. A side effect that worked in the Saraquezes’ interests was that it boosted the demand for Central American oil." Benson shrugged and tossed out his hands. "There’s more, but you can see the gist of it. The same kind of thing shows up with a few more who were on that delegation. It’s one happy family, in a lot of cases literally."

Caldwell studied the charts with a new interest once Benson had finished. After a while he sat back and asked, "So what does it tell us? What’s the connection with what went on at Farside? Figured that out yet?"

"I just collect facts," Benson replied. "I leave the rest to you people."

Packard moved to the center of the room. "There is another interesting side to the pattern," he said. "The whole network represents a common ideology-feudalism." The others looked at him curiously. He explained, "Cliff’s already mentioned their involvement in the antinuclear hysteria of thirty or forty years ago, but there’s more to it than that." He waved a hand at the charts that Benson had been using. "Take the banking consortium that gave Sverenssen his start as an example. Throughout the last quarter of the 1900s they provided a lot of behind-the-scenes backing for moves to fob the Third World off with ‘appropriate technologies,’ for various antiprogress, antiscience lobbies, and that kind of thing. In South Africa we had another branch of the same net pushing racism and preventing progressive government, industrialization, and comprehensive education for blacks. And across the ocean we had a series of right-wing fascist regimes protecting minority interests by military takeovers and at the same time obstructing general advancement. You see, it all adds up to the same basic ideology-preserving the feudal privileges and interests of the power structure of the time. What it says, I guess, is that nothing’s changed all that much."

Lyn appeared puzzled. "But it has, hasn’t it?" she said. "That’s not the way the world is these days. I thought this guy Sverenssen and the rest were committed to just the opposite-advancing the whole world all over."

"What I meant was that the same people are still there," Packard replied. "But you’re right-their underlying policy seems to have shifted in the last thirty years or so. Sverenssen’s bankers provided easy credit for Nigerian fusion and steel under a gold-backed standard that couldn’t have worked without the cooperation of people like the Van Geelinks. South American oil helped defuse the Middle East by leading the changeover to hydrogen-based substitutes, which was one of the things that made disarmament possible." He shrugged. "Suddenly everything changed. The backing was there for things that could have been done fifty years earlier."

"So what about their line at Bruno?" Caldwell asked again, looking mystified. "It doesn’t fit."

There was a short silence before Packard proceeded. "How’s this for a theory? Controlling minorities never have anything to gain from change. That explains their traditional opposition to technology all through history, unless it offered something to advance their interests. That meant it was okay as long as they controlled it. Hence we get the traditional stance of their kind through to the end of the last century. But by that time it was becoming obvious from the way the world was going that if something didn’t change soon, somebody was going to start pressing buttons, and then there wouldn’t be any kind of pond left to be a fish in. The only choice was nuclear reactors or nuclear bombs. So this revolution they made happen, and they managed to maintain control in the process-which was neat.

"But Thurien and everything it could mean was something else. This group would have been swept away by the time the dust from that kind of revolution finally settled. So they cornered the UN handling of the matter and put up a wall until they got some ideas about where to go next." He threw out his hands and looked around the room to invite comment.

"How did they find out about the relay?" Norman Pacey asked from a corner. "We know from what Gregg and Lyn said that the coded signals had nothing to do with it. And we know Sobroskin wasn’t mixed up with it."

"They must have been involved with getting rid of it," Packard replied. "I don’t know how, but I can’t think of anything else. They could have used some personnel of UNSA who they knew wouldn’t talk, or maybe a government or commercial outfit that operates independently to send a bomb or something out there, probably as soon as the first signal from Gistar came in months ago. So what they’ve been doing is stalling things until it got there."

Caldwell nodded. "It makes sense. You’ve got to hand it to them-they almost had it tied up. If it wasn’t for McClusky-who knows?"

A solemn silence descended and persisted for a while. Eventually Lyn looked inquiringly from one man to another. "So what happens now?" she asked.

"I’m not sure," Packard replied. "It’s a complicated situation all around,"

She looked at him uncertainly for a second. "You’re not saying they might get away with it?"

"It’s a possibility."

Lyn stared as if she couldn’t believe her ears. "But that’s ridiculous! You’re telling us that for. . . I don’t know how many years, people like this have been keeping whole nations backward, sabotaging education, and supporting all kinds of idiot cults and propaganda to stay on top of the pile, and there’s nothing anybody can do? That’s crazy!"

"I didn’t put the situation as definitely as that," Packard said. "I said it’s complicated. Being pretty sure of something and being able to prove it are two different things. We’re going to have to do a lot more work to make a case out of it."

"But, but . . ." Lyn searched for words. "What else do you need? It’s all wrapped up. Bombing that relay outside Pluto has to be enough on its own. They weren’t acting for the whole planet when they did that, and certainly not in its interests. There has to be enough in that to nail them."

"We don’t have any way of knowing for sure that they did it," Packard pointed out. "It’s pure speculation. Maybe the relay just broke down. Maybe Calazar’s organization did it. You couldn’t pin anything on Sverenssen that’d stick."

"He knew it was going to happen," Lyn objected. "Of course he was mixed up in it."

"Knew on whose say-so?" Packard countered. "One little girl at Bruno who thinks she might have overheard something that she didn’t understand, anyway." He shook his head. "You heard Norman’s story. Sverenssen could produce witnesses lined up all down the hall to state that he never had anything to do with her. She became infatuated, then went running to Norman with a silly story to get even when Sverenssen wasn’t interested. Such things happen all the time."