pay them a salary...."

"You mean, give them money?" Ranal Valdry, the Lord Provost-Marshal
demanded, incredulously. "Pay our own slaves?"

"You idiot," somebody told him, "they aren't our slaves any more. That's
the whole point of this discussion."

"But ... but how can we pay slaves?" one of the committeemen-at-large
asked. "Freedmen, I mean?"

"With money. You do have money, haven't you?"

"Of course we have. What do you think we are, savages?"

"What kind of money?"

Why, money; what did he think? The unit was the star-piece, the stelly.
When he asked to see some of it, they were indignant. Nobody carried
money; wasn't Masterly. A Master never even touched the stuff; that was
what slaves were for. He wanted to know how it was secured, and they
didn't know what he meant, and when he tried to explain their
incomprehension deepened. It seemed that the Mastership issued money to
finance itself, and individual Masters issued money on their personal
credit, and it was handled through the Mastership Banks.

"That's Fedrig Daffysan's Management; he isn't here," Rovard Javasan
said. "I can't explain it, myself."

And without his chief-slave, Fedrig Daffysan probably would not be able
to, either.

"Yes, gentlemen. I understand. You have money. Now, the first thing you
will have to do is furnish us with a complete list of all the
slave-owners on the planet, and a list of all the slaves held by each.
This will be sent back to Odin, and will be the basis for the
compensation to be paid for the destruction of your property-rights in
these slaves. How much is a slave worth, by the way?"

Nobody knew. Slaves were never sold; it wasn't Masterly to sell one's
slaves. It wasn't even heard of.

"Well, we'll arrive at some valuation. Now, as soon as you get back to
the Citadel, talk at once to your former chief-slaves, and their
immediate subordinates, and explain the situation to them. This can be
passed down through administrative freedmen to the workers; you must see
to it that it is clearly understood, at all levels, that as long as the
freedmen remain at their work they will be provided for and paid, but
that if they quit your service they will receive nothing. Do you think
you can do that?"

"You mean, give them everything we've been giving them now, and then pay
them money?" Ranal Valdry almost howled.

"Oh, no. You pay them a fixed wage. You charge them for everything you
give them, and deduct that from their w