“Oh, Prosper knows what he’s doing. Rezel and Tanya have had diplomatic and psychosexual training, and in the past they’ve been very successful. They’re smart, they work as a team, and they’ll do absolutely anything to get results.”

“Anything?”

“Pretty much. Uncle Karolus calls Rezel and Tanya the nympho twins.”

“But you wouldn’t know about that? Never mind. Prosper said they might need you, too. Why not Cousin Hector, he sounds like he doesn’t do much.”

“He doesn’t. People won’t let him. He looks like a berserker hero, tall and blond and with a profile like a Viking. That’s where it stops. He’s Uncle Karolus’s son, but even Karolus says Hector would be better off with his brain removed and replaced with a bowl of fruit.”

“I still don’t see why they want you involved. You’re busy here.”

“I’m just backup. Uncle Prosper doesn’t know who the leaseholder is, but he asked around and got word from somewhere that it’s a kind of freak recluse computer-modeling type.”

“Just like you. But uphill work for Weasel and Stoaty.”

“I think that’s what’s worrying Prosper. No one else in the family will put their lily-white hands anywhere near a computer, so he sees me as a default option. That’s why I may have to hop out to Saturn.” Alex paused, stared at the table, then took in half of his drink in a single swallow. “But I haven’t got to the other part of the meeting—”

“ ‘The old order changeth.’ ” With phase two of the Starseed contract voted on and accepted, Prosper was moving on to new business. He was handing out printed sheets for distribution around the table. “With or without the effects of the Starseed contract, Ligon Industries has been losing ground. The printed columns summarize the combined assets for each of the top ten commercial enterprises in the solar system, as they were a decade ago and as they are today. You will observe that two of the current top ten were not present on the earlier list. Delop SA and Sylva Commensals are new entries, replacing Global Minerals and Turbide. Delop are engaged primarily in Saturn system development, and I do not have to describe Sylva Commensals to some of those here.” His eye glanced briefly at Lena Ligon as he went on, “We, I am happy to say, are still in the top ten. I am less happy to note that we have slipped from third to ninth place.”

Great-aunt Agatha Ligon, her hundred and ten years impossible to guess from the trim, youthful body and lively gray eyes, said sharply, “Ninth! Pah! I remember when we were number one.”

“So do several others present.”

“We should never have left Earth! It was a ridiculous decision. I told Gonville so at the time.”

“Possibly. But I would have you note that Global Minerals, which was formerly a top ten enterprise, elected to remain on Earth. It now occupies the thirty-fourth position on the list. Permit me to continue. My analysis suggests two possible futures for Ligon Industries. We can continue as we are, watching our relative size and influence decline over the next decade. Or we can seek merger with some other group, preferably one of the rising powers in the solar system. You may have your own suggestions. I, of course, also have my preference.” Prosper Ligon’s bony finger stabbed at the sheet. “I propose that we pursue alliance and merger with the burgeoning empire of Cyrus Mobarak.”

Alex was surprised, but less so than others around the table. Hector sat with his mouth open. Cora and Agatha muttered, “Upstart,” and “Charlatan,” in unison. Alex’s mother whispered, “The Sun King!” as though the phrase was original with her. Alex knew that it wasn’t. But his mother’s words were echoed in awed tones by Cousins Juliana, Rezel, and Tanya. Uncle Karolus gave a short bark of laughter and said, “Full marks for nerve, Prosper. But Cyrus Mobarak is riding high. Give me one sound reason why he would have the slightest interest in merger.”

“I propose to do exactly that. Cyrus Mobarak has indeed been successful—”

“Damn right.”

“—and he is ambitious. At the same time, he is a self-made man who, although he would never admit it, yearns to be associated with old money and influence. Who, thirty years ago, had heard of the controlled-fusion Mobies, or of Cyrus Mobarak? Did someone here utter the word upstart when I mentioned his name?”

Karolus nodded across the table. “I think that was Agatha. But you’re missing the point, Prosper. Merging Mobarak’s operation with Ligon wouldn’t give Mobarak himself any status with the Inner Circle.”

“A simple business merger would not. But what if it was a union of the two families, through shared children? Cyrus Mobarak has two offspring of his own. The elder, his son David, is already committed to a union. However, his daughter Lucy-Maria is young, unattached, and eligible. Lena, we have already had discussions on this matter. If you would like to summarize—”

“Let me get this straight.” Kate had stopped fiddling with the top of her dress as Alex went on with his description of the meeting. Now she was sitting totally still. “All this talk about a ‘family union.’ Do they mean marriage?”

“I guess so.” When Kate stared at him, he added, “That is what they mean.”

Alex had been told a hundred times that he was the System’s least perceptive man when it came to reading women’s feelings. But when Kate still said nothing, he went on, “Are you against marriage?”

“No, no.” Kate’s blue eyes looked away. “I think that the whole marriage business is a bit, well, old-fashioned, especially if people haven’t lived together. But if someone wants to get married, it’s up to them. Maybe Mobarak’s daughter feels like that. But in your family — is this your mother again?”

“Of course it’s my mother again.” And then he was forced to make a correction. “No, it’s not just mother. It’s the whole damned family.”

“But what right have they to decide?” Now Kate could not sit still. She was rubbing her hand along the tabletop, spreading a ring of condensation from her glass. “It would be an arranged marriage. You’d think we were in India or Persia, a thousand years ago. Have you seen pictures of this Lucy woman?”

“Yes.”

“Well?”

“She looks nice.”

“Nice? That’s the best you can come up with? Strawberries and cream are nice. Is she pretty?”

“Yes, but I think she’s been worked over quite a bit.”

“I’ll bet. Mobarak can afford the best surgeons and splices. Have you met her?”

“Not yet. But Hector has, and he says she’s stunning.”

“Is Hector a candidate to marry her? Isn’t he the cousin with a turnip where his brain should be?”

“No one is talking about Hector.”

“They are talking about you. Right?”

“They want me to meet with her.”

“And are you going to meet her?”

“I don’t see that I have much choice.” Alex realized that wasn’t enough. “It’s hard to describe what the situation is like to somebody who has never been in one of the meetings. Family needs take precedence over everything.”

“Like hell they do. Family needs weren’t considered when your cousin Juliana opted to become a Commensal, with permanent sterility. Suppose that Mobarak’s second child had been a boy? Family needs didn’t make your mother become a Commensal, either.”

“I wish she hadn’t. I worry about that. Nobody really knows what being a Commensal can do in the long run.”

“But she did it anyway. And so did one of your great-aunts.”

“Agatha.”

“So they are allowed to choose multi-organism symbiosis and sterility, in exchange for guaranteed health and beauty. But you can’t. Let’s get back to the subject. To be a negotiable asset with Cyrus Mobarak, you have to be young, male, of adequate intelligence, and able to breed. Like you. It’s a miracle they let you come and work here in the first place. Who knows who you might sleep with? Who knows what diseases you might pick up? And there’s another thing.”