Tom Hyman by Jupiter's Daughter

as Goth says it will, the market for it is unlimited. We’re talking about the one thing that matters to people more than anything else in their life
    —their children. Everybody naturally wants the best. And a kid who’s a genius? Who never gets sick? Who’ll probably live to be over a hundred? My God, they’ll be kicking the doors down.
    Everybody will want this. Those who can afford it will demand to have it.”
    The jeep reached the bottom of the mountain road, and Trabert swung it onto the highway and headed back toward their hotel on the west end of the island.
    “If it works,” Ajemian said. He pulled out another tissue to wipe his nose.
    Stewart warmed to his subject. “We could build the first clinic right here. Just buy up that medical school up on the hill. It’s perfect.
    Give Goth whatever he needs and put him in charge. Then buy up one of the island’s best hotels. Or build one. Or two.
    People who come to the clinic could make it a Caribbean vacation. And we’d sock it to them. Make the deal so expensive only the rich could afford it. Hell, we could set almost any price we wanted. Figure a package deal of about a hundred thousand dollars per couple, everything included—food, transportation, hotel, and all the time they need at the clinic. Probably a week, with some future trips during and after the pregnancy. We might charge more for those. When the first clinic is going full blast, we build a second one. And another hotel. And then a third. When the island can’t hold any more, we find a second island. And right now the whole region’s economy is a shambles. We could buy up beach front property for nothing on half a dozen out-of-the-way islands. Then invite some of the big, prestigious chains—Hyatt, Sheraton—to build here. And while we’re at it, we’ll buy out one
    Jupiter s Laugter ù 65
    of the local feeder airlines and expand it. Maybe we could even develop our own international routes….
    Ajemian tucked the used tissue into his pants pocket. “What about legal problems?”
    “I don’t think there are any. In fact, the legal situation could work to our benefit. If genetic research on the germ line is illegal everywhere else, then people’ll have no choice except to come down here. We’d have the whole market to ourselves—indefinitely. Even if someone stole the program, he’d be hard put to find a place to set up the sophisticated clinics needed to administer it. Of course we’d have to protect ourselves—keep the local politicians here happy. That shouldn’t be hard. We can make the economy on this island boom.”
     
    Ajemian still resisted the idea. “What about Goth himself? He could be a problem. I heard him asking for fifty percent in there.”
    “I’ve been thinking about that. Fifty percent is out of the question, of course. Even a thirty-percent share’s too high. But suppose we just offer him carte blanche. Go to him and say, ‘Look, here’s the ten million. It’s a grant. No strings attached. Just get to work.
    When you’ve got your formula in shape, then we’ll sit down and work out a longterm arrangement.” Nobody can possibly offer him a better deal than that.”
    Ajemian sniffled. “No, but what’s to keep him from taking his formula to the highest bidden-after weJve paid him to develop it?”
    “Let him think he can do just that. He’s arrogant enough to think he deserves it. And naive enough about business to go for it. But by the time he’s spent our ten million, we’ll own him. He’ll have to get our permission to go to the bathroom. For openers, we’ll buy the medical school and make ourselves his landlord.
    And we’ll make sure that we have a copy of that genetic program of his physically in our possession before he can do anything with it. Then he’ll have to accept whatever we put on the table.”
    Ajemian saw that his boss was not going to be dissuaded. He shifted his ground to tactical considerations. “What about the others at