The warlock unlocked by Christopher Stasheff

the Abbot declared stiffly. “The Order’s holdings are scarcely a fortieth part of thy whole kingdom!”
    “Datum correct,” Fess immediately hummed behind Rod’s ear. And if Fess said it, it hadto be right—statistics were his hobby.
    But it struck Rod as anomalous, that a medieval administrator could be so accurate, without being able to consult the State’s records.
    “Many of thy barons hold more!” the Abbot went on. “And of our income from those lands, the bulk is already given out to the poor—so thou wouldst gain quite little by taxing us! Excepting, mayhap,” he amended, “that thou mightest, thereby, take even morefrom the poor!”
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    “You see?” Rod threw up his hands. “The well’s dry; you’ve said it yourself.”
    The Abbot looked up, startled, then realized that he had.
    “And if both Church and State are already giving all they can,” Rod pursued, “what more can we do?”
    “Put the administration of what funds there are under one single exchequer,” the Abbot said promptly; and Rod’s stomach sank as he realized he’d lost the initiative. “Two whole trains of people are currently employed in the disbursing of these funds, and the upshot is, a village I know has two poorhouses, one a hospice of our Order, one paid by the Crown—and there are scarcely twenty souls who need either!
    Such doubling is costly. Moreover, if only one staff worked at this task, the others’ pay could go to the poor—and since the Brothers of St. Vidicon do this work for only meager bed and board, assuredly ours would be the less expensive staff to maintain!”
    Rod sat, dumfounded. Of course, it was possiblethat the Lord Abbot had hit on this idea by himself—but Rod doubted it.
    “Subject refers to duplication of effort,” Fess murmured behind his ear, “a concept in systems analysis. Such concepts are far too sophisticated for a medieval society. Off-planet influence must be suspected.”
    Or time-traveller influence. Who was sticking a finger in the Gramarye pie thistime, Rod wondered—the future Anarchists, or the Totalitarians?
    Probably the Anarchists; they tended to work on highly-placed officials. Though there wasa proletarian issue here…
    He’d paused too long. Catharine was saying, caustically, “Aye, leave an hundred or so loyal servants without employment, and their wives and families without bread! Thou wilt thus assure thyself of good custom at thine almshouses, Lord Abbot!”
    The Lord Abbot’s face reddened; it was time for Rod to get back in. “Surely neither system is perfect, Lord Abbot. But, with two operating, what the one misses, the other catches.” Had he heard of redundancy? “For example, does the Church still divide its charity-money equally, between all the parishes?”
    “Aye.” The Abbot nodded, frowning. “That which the parish itself doth not raise.”
    “But parishes inRunnymede have a much greater proportion of desperately needy than the rural parishes,” Rod explained.
    The Abbot blinked, and stared, wide-eyed.
    “I don’t think the parish priests have even had time to notice it, they’re so overworked.” Rod was a great one for saving the other guy’s face. “But the King’s almshouses are there, giving these poor parishioners at least enough for bare subsistence. That’s the advantage to having two systems—and the disadvantage to only having one. Who then would catch what the officers missed?”
    He’d gone on long enough for the Abbot to recover. “There’s some truth in that,” he admitted. “But surely, if there are to be two systems, at least each one should be self-governing. Would it not work at its best that way?”
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    Rod glanced at the Queen and King. Catharine was considering it—and didn’t seem disposed to commit herself.
    “Aye,” Tuan said slowly,