Van Rijn On Kilimanjaro

"Margin of Profit."

Nicholas van Rijn is immensely wealthy. When his self-driving air car lands at the one of his mansions that is on the peak of Kilimanjaro, armed, liveried household staff rush forward. A new maid takes his cap. The butler says that the guests have arrived. A mobile chair, responding to the order, "Conference room," (p. 79) carries van Rijn:

"...along corridors paneled in the woods of a dozen planets. A sweet smell of attar of janie and a softly played Mozart quartet enlivened the air." (p. 79)

Observations

(i) Four senses: felt motion; seen panels; smelled incense; heard music.

(ii) The original "Margin of Profit" was published in 1956. Anderson's three short stories and one novel set on the planet Avalon were published in 1973. The Earth Book Of Stormgate, containing this revised "Margin of Profit," was published in 1978. Thus, the revised "Margin..." can refer to the Avalonian flower, janie. (Scroll down.)

(iii) We understand why, when van Rijn says that he wants ten percent of the Mirkheim profits, David Falkayn replies:

"'Sir, you don't need the money. You stopped needing more money a long while back.'"

-Poul Anderson, "Lodestar" IN Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate (New York, 1979), pp. 370-408 AT p. 407.