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Honicker entered the office looking sheepish. 'How did
you find out my Iridium number?'
'Your government department in Canberra put me
through,' said Christine, smiling warmly at the Australian's
momentary flicker of surprise. A hopeless spy. She definitely
liked him. Especially now that she had control. He even sat
when she indicated the chair and waited for her to speak.
'So the Commonwealth of Australia want to buy our
company? Will you forgive me, Bill - may I call you Bill? if
I say right at the outset that your story about millions of
cubic metres of fertiliser is a load of fucking crap?'
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Honicker looked taken back for a moment, uncertain
133
how to react until he saw the half-smile playing at the
corners of Christine's mouth. He nodded in agreement and
admitted that it was indeed a load of fucking crap. He was
not given to swearing and had old-fashioned views about
doing so in front of women, but she'd started it.
'Congratulations on finding out about us, Bill. Alec, make
some coffee, we've got a lot of talking to do.'
The three talked for an hour, listening to each other's
point of view with respect, each side divulging as much as
they dared and offering compromises when the discussion
got bogged down.
Damn Houseman and his civil servant mole-like mentality,
thought Honicker when Alec and Christine expressed
their mistrust of Shief. The direct approach from the outset
would have saved time all round.
'You're right about Shief up to a point,' said Honicker.
'But you must remember that he's a businessman with a
legal responsibility to protect his shareholders' investments.
Naturally, businessmen like political stability for long-term
projects involving major capital investments. Indonesia
under military control offered stability for many years.
Foreign investment boomed. Now the country has a creaking
democracy with ten political parties vying for control.
The result: inter-trade union disputes, riots, strikes, civil
unrest. And the corruption that was always there, now running
out of control. It's a gross simplification but those are
the bald facts.'
'You sound as though you favour the return of a military
dictatorship,' said Alec.
'Never,' said Honicker vehemently. 'We've done everything
we can to support President Sulimann. The guy is our
best hope for peace in Melanesia. He wants to pull out of
south Borneo and Timor, but he can't with General Oman
Putriana still in command of the armed services and just
itching to get back into the presidential palace. Sulimann
tried to sack him twice last year and nearly had an army
uprising on his hands. Putriana is the real danger. I don't like
superlatives because they tend to obscure the problem, but
134
in his case, "power-mad megalomaniac" fits extremely well.
With south Borneo he was testing the mettle of the West,
and the West was found wanting. He nibbles. A little bite
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here, a little bite there. Always testing. Next it'll be the rest
of Borneo and Brunei. And then maybe a really big and
bloody bite - Australia. Shief and businessmen like him have
to live with realities. That's why Shief is in thick with
Putriana.'
'Are you sure?' Christine interrupted.
'They're almost buddies.'
A silence followed. Christine found her wedding ring of
great interest. 'Do you have proof?' she asked.
'I can get it,' Honicker replied. He met Christine's eye
without flinching. 'If you wish I can supply you with video
recordings of the two together on Shief's yacht in
Singapore.'
'That won't be necessary,' Christine replied, making no
attempt to hide her concern.
'It's not just Shief but at least twenty multinationals that
are providing Putriana with tacit support. And then there's
the whole of the European arms industry - particularly the
British and Dutch. They continue to curry favour with
Putriana because his budget is undiminished since he lost the
palace. You sell your company to Shief and you strengthen
Putriana's hand. If Indonesia has the potential to become the
biggest oil-producing country in the world, his position
would become unassailable and the West would want him to
stay in power. Look at the lengths the West goes to to support
corrupt and despotic regimes in the Persian Gulf.'
'Our equipment is a long way from commercial application,'
said Alec.
Honicker regarded him steadily. Now he was getting to
the nub of this discussion. The geo-engineer had left most of
the talking to his wife, but he was the key to the whole issue.
He phrased his next question carefully. 'There's a graph
that can be applied to turning any new technology into a
commercial proposition. One component is time. The longer
the time line, the greater the opportunities for serendipity
135
and hard work to solve problems. The other component is
money. In the case of your development' - he was careful to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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