OCR Text |
Show " O h . . . w e l l . . . " Igor smiled and looked at the Constitution. "We will tell the Governor to do it!" "Tell...?" cried Dr'Anya. "Then," Dr'Igor went on, "it will forthwith install a new Exalted Board of Managers and a permanent chairman with veto power..." "Veto. . . ? " "Thou knowest well," Dr'Igor said, "'tis only influence itself that gets a Vice Manager onto the Board of Managers. They are the ones that judge the annual reviews, and they are the ones to elect the rotating chairfolk, year after year." "'Twas ever thus, Dr'Igor," said Dr'Anya reasonably, "in all the worldes and down through the a g e s . . . ." "But no longer!" Dr'Igor rushed on. "A permanent chair for me on BauerWorlde will mean stable, benign, and intelligent governing for whole centuries to come-no more influence peddling, no more favoritism, no more power failures, overpayments, underpayments...." Dr'Anya looked at him blankly- "Ah, and thou wilt hold the c h a i r . . .I see...I understand." "And," Janni put in, "after you worthy sir, who will take the chair?" "Ah..." Dr'Igor waved a hand, "we will needs cross that drawbridge when we come to it. Mayhap one of my sons-Pymlyn, say-or mayhap some kind of election among the Exalted Board, o r - . . ." But Janni had once again raised her eyes to the roof beams and had lost the thread of his explanation. " . . . b u t never mind all that," he said impatiently- "That, for a 249 |