Despite the Biocontrol monopoly on the production and distribution of the antitoxin pills, Flandry is confident that there has to be a black market:
armed, masked men raid dispensaries;
shipments are hijacked;
hunters', sailors', prospectors' etc advance supplies are stolen or appropriated after their deaths;
local dispensers profiteer or are bribed or blackmailed;
Luang knows a young male dispenser...
By contacting the local underworld, Flandry gains access to the vitally necessary blue pills without the knowledge of Biocontrol who must assume his death after thirty days.
When Flandry has spelt out all this, Luang comments that he is "'...wise in such matters...'" (VII, p. 61) However, he has experiential knowledge of many human societies and can probably also hazard a few generalizations about non-human societies. Nicholas van Rijn survived for an indefinite period among the winged Diomedeans by understanding and manipulating their contrasting cultures and psychologies.
4 comments:
Yup. No operation can be leak-proof when it operates on that scale and the incentives are so high.
From Biocontrol’s p.o.v. It doesn’t matter much as long as it’ ‘close enough for government work’.
Yup. No operation can be leak-proof when it operates on that scale and the incentives are so high.
From Biocontrol’s p.o.v. It doesn’t matter much as long as it’ ‘close enough for government work’.
Yup. No operation can be leak-proof when it operates on that scale and the incentives are so high.
From Biocontrol’s p.o.v. It doesn’t matter much as long as it’ ‘close enough for government work’.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! Human cussedness, venality, and accident makes it inevitable for SOME of the antitoxin pills to fall out of Biocontrol's grasp.
Ad astra! Sean
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