| I Will Fear No Evil |
| 1 | Robert A Heinlein I Will Fear No Evil To Rex and Kathleen 1 The room was old-fashioned, 1980 baroque, but it was wide, long, high, and luxurious. Near simulated view windows stood an automated hospital bed. It looked out of place but was largely concealed by a magnificent Chinese screen. Forty feet from it a boardroom table also failed to match the decor. At the head of this table was a life-support wheelchair; wires and tubings ran from it to the bed. |
| 2 | Near the wheelchair, at a mobile stenodesk crowded with directional mikes, voice typewriter, clock-calendar, controls, and the usual ancillaries, a young woman sat. She was beautiful. Her manner was that of the perfect unobtrusive secretary but she was dressed in a current exotic mode. "Half & Half"—right shoulder and breast and arm concealed in jet-black knit, left leg sheathed in a scarlet tight, panty-ruffle in both colors joining them, black sandal on the scarlet side, red sandal on her bare right foot. |
| 3 | Her skin paint was patterned in the same scarlet and black. On the other side of the wheelchair was an older woman garbed in a nurse's conventional white pantyhose and smock. She ignored everything but her dials and a patient in the chair. Seated around the table were a dozen-odd men, most of them in spectator-sports style affected by older executives. Cradled in the life-support chair was a very old man. |
| 4 | Except for restless eyes, he looked like a poor job of embalming. No cosmetic help had been used to soften the brutal fact of his decrepitude. "Ghoul," he was saying softly to a man halfway down the table. "You're a slavering ghoul, Parky me boy. Didn't your father teach you that it is polite to wait for a man to stop kicking before you bury him? Or did you have a father?. |
| 5 | Erase that last, Eunice. Gentlemen, Mr. Parkinson has moved that I be invited to resign as chairman of the board. Do I hear a second?" He waited, looking from face to face, then said, "Oh, come now! Who is letting you down, Parky? You, George?" "I had nothing to do with it." "But you would love to vote Aye.' Motion fails for want of a second." "I withdraw my motion." "Too late, Parkinson. Erasures are made only by unanimous consent, implied or overt. |
| 6 | One objection is enough—and I, Johann Sebastian Bach Smith, do so object... and that rule controls because 1 wrote it before you learned to read. "But"—Smith looked around at the others—"I do have news. As you heard from Mr. Teal, all our divisions are in satisfactory shape; Sea Ranches and General Textbooks are more than satisfactory—so this is a good time for me to retire." Smith waited, then said, "You can close your mouths. |
| 7 | Don't look smug, Parky; I have more news for you. I stay on as chairman of the board but will no longer be chief executive. Our chief counsel, Mr. Jake Salomon, becomes deputy chairman and—" "Hold it, Johann. I am not going to manage this five-ring circus." "Nobody said you would, Jake. But you can preside at board meetings when I'm not available. Is that too much to ask?" "Mmm, I suppose not." "Thank you. |
| 8 | I'm resigning as president of Smith Enterprises, and Mr. Byram Teal becomes our president and chief executive officer—he's doing the work; it's time he got the title—and pay and stock options and all the perks and privileges and tax loopholes. No more than fair." Parkinson said, "Now see here, Smith!" "Hold it, youngster. Don't start a remark to me with Now see here—' Address me as Mr. Smith' or Mr. Chairman.' What is your point?". |
| 9 | Parkinson controlled himself, then said, "Very well, Mister Smith. I can't accept this. Quite aside from promoting your assistant to the office of president in one jump—utterly unheard of!—if there is a change in management, 1 must be considered. I represent the second largest block of voting stock." "I did consider you for president, Parky." "You did?" "Yep. I thought about it...and snickered." "Why, you—" "Don't say it, I might sue. |
| 10 | What you forget is that my block has voting control. Now about your block— By company policy anyone representing five percent or more of voting stock is automatically on the board even if nobody loves him and he suffers from spiritual bad breath. Which describes both you and me. "Or did describe you. Byram, what's the late word on proxies and stock purchases?" "A full report, Mr. Smith?" "No, just tell Mr. Parkinson where he stands.". |
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