What you mean, Nathan, Kolokoltsov thought, is that your buddies in the transstellars are worried about somebody’s seceding from the League and nationalizing their investments. That’s what they’re really worried about. And it’s what they’re turning the screws on you about, too. They could care less whether or not the entire Shell stays in the League as long as it went on being business as usual for them! Which it won’t, of course, if the people they’ve been exploiting for so long see a chance to get out from under them.

He nodded gravely once more, keeping his thoughts out of his expression. And the truth was that what MacArtney was describing would become an all too plausible scenario if things went all the way south on them. For that matter, Kolokoltsov had entertained the occasional nightmare about what would happen if the transstellars started trying to cut deals with the Manties. Given the way their tentacles completely permeated the League, they could do an enormous amount of damage if they decided to throw in openly—or, possibly even worse, clandestinely—with the Manties and Havenites. He had no idea how likely the Manties would be to accept an offer like that, but he never doubted that the “loyal and patriotic” men and women who ran the transstellars would make it in a heartbeat if they thought it would benefit them. Which meant he had to keep them happy—or as happy as he could, at least—too.

Wonderful.

“I think Nathan has a point,” Omosupe Quartermain said. She didn’t much like MacArtney, and she didn’t sound very happy about supporting him, but the permanent senior undersecretary of commerce was probably the only person hearing more from nervous transstellars than he was. “I just have this feeling the avalanche is still accelerating,” she continued, looking around at the holographic faces of the electronic conference room. “It’s only going to get worse and worse, at least for the immediate future, and if we don’t do something to at least slow it down, we may run out of time to do anything else.”

Wodoslawski looked at her colleague, and Kolokoltsov’s heart sank as the permanent senior undersecretary of the treasury nodded slowly. The nature of Wodoslawski and Quartermain’s responsibilities meant the two female Mandarins ended up supporting one another more often than not, and Kolokoltsov didn’t like the way he thought this was headed.

“What would you like us to do to try and slow it up, Omosupe?” Malachai Abruzzi asked.