Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty-Three

Soapy was troubled by looking at the pile of papers. You see, the word "Urgent" was written on each paper.He picked up a copy, glanced at it, put it down, and said, "Dolores, turn on the display controller and go home." "I can stay here, sir." "I just said, 'go home'. How can you see your husband with dark circles under your eyes?" "Yes, sir," she said, switching on the plug and turning on the monitor, "good night, sir." "Good night." Soapy thought, what a girl, so loyal.He wanted his men to be as loyal as she was.Although it is said that a new official has taken office, he dare not even change a new broom in the office, because the original set of rules will continue for now.Then, he sent a digital signal to the machine.

Immediately a voice rang out, but the speaker's face did not appear on the display: "'Emergency takeoff' number 7." "'Prometheus bound,'" Soapy answered him also in coded words, "9 becomes 16." "'Scramble takeoff' ready." "Encrypted." Suobi said. The face of the wing's supreme commander appeared on the display. "Hello, Sol." "Commander Jack, I have to postpone this month's meeting again. I hate procrastination, but you should see all the papers piled up on my desk." "Nobody expects you to devote all your energy to X-Force affairs."

"But that's what I've always wanted to do. I want to finish the work here as soon as possible, arrange the company management personnel, and then go to report to the army! But the problem now is not that simple." "Saul, I can understand your current situation. Before a leadership team is settled, any responsible company leader will not feel at ease. We also know that you have too many facts at hand." "Um... well, I won't be at the meeting. Can I speak to you for a few minutes?" "Go ahead," "Smith" agreed. "I think I've found a porcupine boy. You remember we talked about that before?"

"Yes, I said at the time, 'Nobody touches a porcupine.'" "Yes! But at that time, in order to find out what a porcupine is, I had to look up pictures of porcupines. According to the traders, buyers and sellers do not do business at a loss. Slave robbery is also a kind of business, and it is best to prohibit this kind of business The method is to make it unprofitable, and the loss outweighs the gain. I think that if they put porcupine quills on the bodies of their prey, it may have this effect." "The premise is that we have a porcupine quill like this." The head of the X-Force said dryly, "Have you invented an effective weapon?"

"Me? Who do you think I am? A genius? But I think of a man named Joel Delacroix, who is said to be the most powerful MIT graduate ever. I talked to him Talked about being a fire controller on the Sisu. Before I could bring it up, he came up with some good ideas. He also said: 'Sol, as long as a ship is powerful, it's impossible to use a beam Little insignificant narcotic light to subdue it." "I agree with him." "Well, I've installed him at the Hafemeyer Laboratory in Toronto. I'll give him a lot of money and discretion as soon as your unit agrees. Tell him—and maybe my hypnosis tapes. I'm so busy right now that I don't have time to talk to him about it."

"He needs a team, and that's not something that can be solved with a little fuss." "I know that. I'll get a list of the people involved as soon as possible. 'Project Porcupine' will have all the men and money it needs. But how much of this gizmo can I sell to the National Guard?" "what?" "I'm a businessman who runs a company. If the company doesn't make any profit, the directors will kick me out. I think I can let 'Project Porcupine' spend money like water, but I have to give the directors and shareholders a satisfactory explanation. .So I thought about it and wanted to sell a bunch of stuff to free traders, and some stuff to my own people. Anyway, I'm going to show them a potentially big market to prove that the expense was not in vain. So I ask you, how much of this stuff can the National Guard actually 'digest'?"

"Sol, you are thinking too much. Even if you still can't figure out this kind of super weapon in the end-judging from the current situation, the possibility is not very high-but even so, these researches are still valuable, will not Waste of money. Your shareholders don't have much to lose." "I'm not a mediocre person! I know that I only became the chairman with a little extra stock. If there is another extraordinary general meeting tomorrow, I may be fired. Of course research is valuable, but not necessarily It will be reflected soon. Please believe that every sum of money I spend will give an explanation to those who wholeheartedly expect my downfall, so I must get a guarantee from you."

"How about we make a contract for Joel Delacroix's research?" "Let another lieutenant colonel stare at my man and tell him what to do at any time, okay? We need to give him a little autonomy." "Hmm... yes. How about a letter of intent? I can quote a higher price. But I have to see the commander in chief. He's on the moon now, but I don't have time to go to the moon this week. You have to wait a few more days." "I can't wait. I'm going to say you've said yes. Jack, I want to get this thing over here and get out of this crazy position. Even if you don't want me to be in the X-Force, I can always be A gunner."

"Then come here right away. I'll enlist you in the army immediately, and then I'll send you out to perform missions, and I'll send you to your current position." Soapy bowed his head and said, "Jack! You can't do that to me!" "If you foolishly put yourself under my leadership, Rudbeck, that's what I'm going to do to you." "But—" Soapy shut up. Arguing was useless.Besides, there are many other things waiting for him to deal with. "Smith" asked again: "Is there anything else?" "I don't think so."

"Tomorrow I will have my first review of Joël Delacroix. Goodbye." After turning off the monitor, Soapy was in a particularly bad mood.The reason why he was so disappointed was not because the supreme commander of the wing had doubts about his idea of ​​enlisting in the army, nor was it because he wanted to invest other people's huge funds in a project with little hope, so he was condemned by his own conscience .The reason is simply that he was entangled in an intricate and confusing job. Soapy picked up the topmost document from the table again, then put it down again, and pressed the button leading directly to Rudbeck Manor, and the image of Leda appeared on the video screen immediately.Soapy said, "Sorry, I'm late again."

"I'll delay dinner. They're having fun now, and I asked the cook to make you real antipasto pancakes." Soapy shook his head and said, "Eat, I'll eat here and maybe sleep here." She sighed and said, "It's fine to sleep there, but you must remember, my dear fool, that you must sleep on the bed in the middle of the night and don't get up before six in the morning. Will you promise me?" "Okay, try to do it." "You'd better do it, or I'll be nagging again. Goodbye." This time he didn't go to get the document on top, but just sat there thinking quietly.Lyda was a good girl... She even tried to help him with business, but then she found out that she was not the type, so she had to give up.But she was a bright spot in the darkness, always uplifting and entertaining Soapy.If he enlists in the army again and makes her a soldier's wife, I don't know if it's unfair... He can't be too sorry for Leida, and she doesn't want him to be a soldier.Of course, there are still some things that I am sorry for her, such as often avoiding banquets and so on.He thought that he must try to treat her better in the future. How simple he had thought in the past: take over the company, review the company's branch in the Sargon region, and re-elect the leader of a branch in the region.But the deeper he thought about it, the more things he felt he had to do.For example, the issue of taxes... The matter of paying taxes is too complicated, and he really can't figure it out, so he has been confused.Also, Wigan Group is trying to expand.He hasn't done any fieldwork, how can he make a decision?But even after looking, would he be able to figure it out?Besides, how could he find the time? How funny that a man who was born with a thousand starships never had time to ride in one of them.Maybe in a year or two— Impossible, and even then, those damned will issues would still be unresolved!It has been two years and the court is still looking at the issue.Why don't these people take the example of traders and deal with death decently and simply? In addition, he is still not free to inherit his father's behest and complete his unfinished business. Soapy did get things done, like allowing X-Force access to Rudbeck's dossier.Jack had told him last time that a recent raid had cleared a slaver-infested district.They didn't know the relevant data originally, but with the file provided to them by Thorby, the attack was carried out successfully.Also, is there anyone in the company colluding with the slave traders?For a while it seemed to Soapy that Wimsby and Bruder knew about the crime, but after a while it seemed to him that they didn't—all the records showed that what they were doing was legal. It's just that sometimes the people they do business with are bad guys, but who knew they were bad guys at the time?Soapy opened the drawer and took out a file folder.It wasn't marked "Urgent" for the simple reason that the document never left his hands.He felt that the issues involved in this folder should be the most urgent matters in Rudbeck, perhaps in the entire galaxy, even more urgent than the "Porcupine Project", because the Porcupine Project still has a bit of luck, and this project Documents absolutely eradicated, or at least dealt a severe blow to, the sinful activity of the slave trade.But his work was slow—there was too much to do. Soapy is always busy.In the past, the patriarch's grandma always said, don't put too many eggs in one basket.Soapy didn't know where she got this experience—traders never bought eggs.But now, he has too many baskets and too many eggs in each basket, and the number of such baskets seems to increase every day. When encountering difficulties, Soapy always asked himself: "In this case, what will Daddy do?" Colonel Brisby also said: "I just ask myself 'What will Baslim do?" "That question really worked.Soapy remembered what the judge said when he took over his parents' shares that day: "No one can completely own anything by himself. The bigger the asset, the less he owns. You can't do whatever you want with this asset. And don't deal with it stupidly. Your interests don't override other shareholders, employees and the public." Before deciding to implement the porcupine project, Soapy had a heart-to-heart exchange with Dad about the judge's words. The judge was right.After taking over the business, he initially wanted to suspend all operations of the Rudbeck Company in slave areas to combat the slave trade.But he can't do that.You cannot take down a handful of criminals at the expense of thousands or even millions of people.Fighting against criminals must be prudent and accurate, and innocent people must not be hurt. The latter was the approach Soapy was taking now.He started working on the problems in this unmarked folder. Just then, lawyer Gash knocked on the door and came in. "What are you still working on? Why are you so busy?" "Jim, where can I find 10 reliable people?" "Huh? The Greek philosopher thought that if he could find one, he would be overjoyed." "What I mean is to find 10 honest people who can be trusted. They must be able to serve as the managers of Rudbeck's planetary branches," Thorby added, "and they must be acceptable to the X-Force." "You really intend to do this?" "What other solution do you have? I'm going to have them replace the managers of every dubious area and bring back the ones who got fired - we can't fire them, we can only use them because we don't know where situation. But we have to be able to trust new people and tell them something about the slave trade and make them watch for signs of it.” Gash shrugged and said, "This is the best we can do. But don't have the illusion of sucking up the Nile. Besides, we can't find so many qualified people at once. Watch out, boy, whether you How long have you worked on that 10-man list, you won't be able to solve it tonight. When you're as old as I am, you'll know that it's not possible to do everything at once - the most likely thing to do is Take your own life. Let's just say that one day you pass away and someone else will do it. I feel like the guy who tried to count every star in the sky: the faster he counts, the stars that appear More and more, as a result, he stopped counting the stars and went fishing. This is a method you should have understood earlier and thought of frequently, and that is what I want to remind you." "Jim, why did you agree to come here? I don't think you've let these things go." "Because I'm an old fool. Besides, someone has to help you. Maybe I'm interested in poking out the hornet's nest of the slave trade. It's just my character. I'm old and fat. If I don't do it now, I won't get a chance later." gone." Soapy nodded, and said, "I think so. I have another thought--damn, I've been so busy with what I have to do, I've never had time for what I really should be doing... I've never had a chance to do what I want to do." What you did!" "It happens all the time, boy. The trick to avoiding wasting your energy for no reason is to do what you want to do once in a while. That is, right now—and there's still a whole day to-morrow—you and I Go out together, have a sandwich, and see pretty girls." "Have someone send it here to eat." "No, you have to go out to eat. Even if you are a steel spaceship, you have to have a certain amount of time to maintain it. Come with me." Soapy looked at the pile of documents, "OK." The old man chewed his sandwich with relish, drank his beer, and looked at the beautiful girl with an innocent and cheerful smile.They are so beautiful.Rudbeck's entertainment industry has attracted a slew of talented actors who command high prices. But Soapy was not interested in them, he was only thinking about his own affairs.A man cannot abdicate his duty, not the captain, nor the patriarch.But he just didn't know what to do with himself.If he slapped his ass and left, he could join Dad's army forever.But Commander Jack is also right, this is also a place to fight dirty business. But what if he didn't like the way he was fighting?By the way, when talking about Dad, Brisby once said: "This means that you have to devote yourself to the struggle for freedom, and even give up your own freedom for this: including being a beggar, being a slave, Give up your own life." You're right, Dad, but I don't know how to do it.I'll do it... and I'm trying to do it right now, but I'm just groping because I can't do it. At this moment, the old man's answer appeared in Soapy's mind: "Nonsense! You can learn anything as long as you put in your best efforts. Even if I want to beat you up, you have to learn!" The grandma of the patriarch behind the father nodded in agreement with a serious face.Soapy nodded to her too. "Okay, Grandma. It's a deal, Dad. I'll try." "Not to try, but to do!" "I'll do it, Dad." "Now, eat your meal." Obediently, Soapy reached for the spoon, but instead of the stew his father used to give him, he saw a sandwich.Gash asked him curiously, "What are you talking to yourself?" "Nothing. I just made up my mind." "Now let your mind rest and use your eyes. No matter what you do, there is a question of whether the time and place are right." "You're right, Jim." "Good night, boy," said the old beggar, as if to whisper good-bye to Soapy, "have a sweet dream . . . and good luck!"