“Things don’t quite work that way here,” Calan explained. “The people who seek refuge here are being educated so they can learn skills and earn their own way. You’re a businessman, you know how that works.”
“Yes, yes I do. That’s why I’m here, Narcaza. You took all my workers. I can’t run my business without them.” Berke said.
“Don’t you mean slaves? In most places, workers get to go home after their shift. They don’t get locked up in rooms with no windows.” Calan quirked a dark brow.
“That was for their own protection.”
“And, of course, you paid them for their services…?”
“They had a roof over their heads and regular meals,” Berke answered.
“Apparently, they were not satisfied with that arrangement. I didn’t force them to leave your employ, and I use the term loosely. I simply told them what we offered and invited them to come to live here.”
“What I want to know is how did you do it without my security knowing it? Every one of them told me they didn’t see a thing?”
Calan shrugged. “Parlor tricks,” he said finally. “They wanted to leave. I just provided transportation. Perhaps if you had paid them a fair price for their services and gave them their freedom, they wouldn’t have left.”
“This was your plan all along,” Berke said with a hint of menace. “You think I’m responsible for what happened to your mother, and you want to put me out of business.”
“I don’t know what you did to my mother, she never shared that with me, but you did try to have my father killed because she wanted to be with him.”
“I had gotten attached, what can I say? It was a long time ago. We’re all a little older and wiser,” Berke said, trying for a touch of regret. “But you’re killing my business, all of the overlords are upset with you for taking away their workers. So, I said I would come to see you and try to work this out. If we can’t work it out, I can’t stop what they might do next. I can see that you have a fortune invested in this place. I don’t think you want anything to happen to it or to the people here.”
Calan didn’t even ask whether it was a threat. He knew it was. “I am not forcing anyone to stay here, nor am I forcing anyone to leave. Maybe if you make them a better offer---give them a percentage of what they earn for you, they would agree to come back. I will be glad to pass on any offer you care to make.”
Berke frowned, trying to decide if Calan was serious or simply trying to placate him to get rid of him. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, yet. The greedy bastard didn’t think he was making enough off the fight clubs to compensate for the shutdown of his brothels.
On the other hand, Berke was not altogether against what Calan was trying to do. A great deal of his business came from the civilized Starport City. Did he want to wait years for Revival to get it to that level? He didn’t think so. He didn’t like to give up anything that was his. He doubted the other overlords would just accept Calan’s interference.
In all honesty, aside from the loss of profits, Berke had nothing against Calan’s plan or Calan himself. But Calan was challenging his and the rest of the overlords’ power. They would agree the situation must be corrected.
Berke thanked him for showing him around then left with his men. Calan and Rax followed them outside and watched them board the hovercraft and lift off.
“What do you think he’s going to do?” Rax asked.
“I think he and his associates are going to try to run us out,” Calan said. “I’m trying to decide whether to free the fighters or not.”
“Did you ask them?”
“That would probably be the first step---see if they want to leave the fight clubs.”
“If they were treated like Mikki, they will want to leave,” Rax asserted. “What are we going to do if they come at us en masse with weapons? We’ve got nothing to fight back with---not even a puny projectile pistol.”
“Amplified parlor tricks,” Calan told him. “I pretty much knew this was coming. It was just a matter of when.”
“I’ve learned a lot about psions since I was awakened. What level are you anyway?” Rax asked.
“They think I’m about a twenty-three. I never went to Velran like my sister and brother. Lara’s a twenty-three and Jamerin is closer to thirty. I’m at least as strong as Lara, but testing is only an estimate.”
“I thought the scale only went up to twelve.”
“That’s for double recessive psions. Double dominant psion scale goes over double that. My brother Jamerin was off the scale before Aledus. He’s still close to thirty.” Calan said.
“What about Ajha?”
“She and I are about the same. That means she must be a double dominant, too. Ajha’s ability isn’t fully dawned, but we can combine our psionic energy because we are psion mates,” Calan explained.
“Did you ever think about a force field generator?” Rax asked.
