Chapter 5

They looked at Jonnie with their heavy-lidded eyes. They were very serious now.

His Excellency Dries Gloton leaned forward. “It’s a question of clear title. The bank would never have anything to do with a clouded title.”

"Never!" said Lord Voraz.

“The whole reputation of the bank, indeed, the racial reputation of the Selachees," said Dries, “is based on absolute honesty and impeccable legality.”

“Always legal,” said Lord Voraz. “It would be our ruin if we ever did anything illegal. We never bend rules. That's why uncounted quintillions of people trust us.”

Jonnie was not among those quintillions of people. There was something cold, hard, and horrible here. “Perhaps you had better explain further,” said Jonnie. "If I am to arrange a meeting for you, I really have to know the background of what will be taken up.”

Dries leaned back. “Ah, well. That's true. Where shall I begin? Well, the point of discovery of this planet is a good place.

“The sixteenth universe,” he continued, “was the last one to be discovered, possibly less than twenty thousand years ago. It was never wholly mapped. The Psychlo Imperial government introduced probes into it to do further charting but for a very long time they found nothing new.

“This planet is part of what might be called a 'rim star system' way out at the edge of a galaxy. It might have gone overlooked had it not sent out some probes of its own. It gave its exact location, an imperial probe picked it up, and the rest is history.

“The Psychlo Imperial government obtained title, quite valid, on the right of discovery. And this system's title was entered on the books for the first time.

“That government sold the planet to Intergalactic Mining which, being short of cash, borrowed the purchase price from the Galactic Bank. All this is very routine, ordinary, and usual. Intergalactic Mining has done this countless times.

“Such loans are secured by lodging the deed of title of a planet with the Galactic Bank. The interest rate is usually two parts in eleven. Or, in non-Psychlo arithmetic, roughly eighteen percent per annum. The term was twenty-five hundred years.

“Intergalactic in the past always paid such loans off smoothly– they knew better than not to. In fact, this was the only planet they had bought in recent times; all the others had been paid off. Such a transaction is called a 'mortgage.' Are you following me so far?”

Jonnie was. He had begun to guess what was coming.

“There was a second mortgage also,” said His Excellency. “It was to pay for the expenses of military conquest by Intergalactic. But that was a minor matter and, being at a higher interest rate, was paid off in only five years.”

Jonnie got it. The Galactic Bank had financed the invasion of Earth. Financed the gas drone.

They must have detected that something had changed in his attitude.

Lord Voraz said, “It is just business. The bank tends to banking and the customers tend to their own affairs. It does not mean the bank was ever hostile to you. Actually we are not hostile now. This is all just routine. Ordinary banking business.”

“So anyway,” said Dries easily, not bothering to assert his prerogatives, “the basic mortgage has fourteen hundred years to run.”

Jonnie digested that, very warily, very alertly. “But I should think that a war and so on would tend to wipe out that mortgage.”

“Oh, dear no!” said Dries. “The simple fact of military take-over does not change the basic debt structure of a planet. That a government changes does not relieve the property of debt. Why, if that were true, then governments would just arrange to change hands every day and they would be rid of all their financial obligations.” He laughed. “No, no. A change of government or a military take-over does not change a country's debts. The new owners have to pay.”

“The original conquest,” said Jonnie, “when Intergalactic took over Earth, did not assume any debts.”

“They would have been internal,” said Dries. “internal debts have nothing to do with international debts. No, the planet was properly discovered, properly bought from the Psychlo Imperial government by Intergalactic Mining. The mortgage papers were all properly executed. Everything was totally legal.”

“Totally,” said Lord Voraz.

“The debt is not in question,” said Dries. “Who pays it is in question.”

“You called this conference to see who pays the debt?” said Jonnie.

“Not precisely, but close. You see,” said Dries, “so long as combat was threatened and so long as one could not really determine who was and who would be the actual responsible government of this planet, I could not serve this paper.”

He was holding a big legal-looking piece of paper. He did not hand it over.

Jonnie reached out his hand for it but Dries said, “No, you are not a member of the government, by your own statement.”

“What happens when you do serve it?”

“Why, we have a meeting to arrange the possibility and terms of payment, and if no agreement can be reached, we foreclose.”

“And then what happens?” said Jonnie.

“Why, the planet is put up for public auction and sold to the highest bidder.”

Jonnie began to understand the feeling he had had about these two.

“And what happens to the planet's people?” said Jonnie.

“Why, that is up to the buyer, of course. The title would not be clouded in any way. He could do with them pretty much as he liked. That is wholly outside the province of the bank.”

“And what do such buyers usually do?” said Jonnie.

“Oh, it all depends. Ordinarily they would pay cash or use their credit to pay for the auctioned planet– such buyers usually have credit or other collateral and they assume the balance of the mortgage. They often just move in, but if there is local protest, they get a short-term loan from the bank and engage in a swift military suppression of the population. Sometimes they sell the original population as slaves to meet their payments. Such buyers want to move in their own people, you know.”

Jonnie sat and looked at them. “I don't think a buyer would find it so easy to take this planet.”

“Oh!” said Dries, brushing it away. “The planet has no defenses worth mentioning. You have very few people. Modern arms could do it in a few days. This combined force you had here was just a buzzing of insects. The real fleets of these combatants weren't even involved. But be calm. There is no reason to become alarmed. It is just business. Just a matter of a mortgage and paying one's obligations. A banking matter.”

“So you are waiting now to see whether we win so you can serve that paper,” said Jonnie.

“Oh, I think you will win,” said Dries. “That is why we are talking with you tonight. We want you to arrange a meeting with your government the moment we know it really has won. And then we can serve this paper and discuss things. That's all.”

"If I’m going to arrange a meeting for you,” said Jonnie, “you had better show me the paper so I will know what I am talking about.”

"I’m not serving this on you,” said Dries, “but you can look it over.”

Jonnie took it.

It had pages and pages of legal details, tracing the discovery, the loan, the payments made. And then it had a huge, single page attached to it. Jonnie had held each page of it up to catch the light better (and to expose it to the button camera that had been going in the upper corner of the room all evening), and he now held up the final one. It said:

NOTICE OF DELINQUENCY

To: ____________ (legal owners and occupiers of planet at time of service) Date: _______ You are hereby summoned to a meeting with the duly appointed officials of THE GALACTIC BANK to: (a) Discuss terms for the discharge of this pressing financial obligation forthwith, well understanding that it is overdue by “one year and one days" without any payment of any kind and without any arrangements to extend or discharge. (b) If such arrangements are found unsatisfactory by THE GALACTIC BANK, to surrender title, occupancy and use promptly to avoid further penalties, WITHIN ONE WEEK FROM ABOVE DATE. The undischarged amount of said loan and mortgage being FORTY TRILLION, NINE HUNDRED SIXTY BILLION, TWO HUNDRED SEVENTEEN MILLION, SIX HUNDRED FIVE THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED SIXTEEN GALACTIC CREDITS (C40,960,217,605,216), being the unpaid remainder and interest of the initial loan, advanced in good faith to THE INTERGALACTIC MINING COMPANY of Psychlo, of SIXTY TRILLION GALACTIC CREDITS (C60,000,000,000,000), and paid by GALACTIC BANK TRANSFER at the order of said INTERGALACTIC MINING COMPANY to the account of THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT OF PSYCHLO, being, in full, payment for purchase of said planet “Earth, Solar System, Universe Sixteen.”