“No, sir. I mean yessir… I mean, Professor Leoh is the one…”
“Nonsense. Albert told me all about it. You’re the one who faced the danger.”
Hector’s mouth twitched once or twice, as though he was trying to say something, but no sounds came out.
Spencer stuck a massive hand into his pocket and pulled out a small ebony box. “This is for you, Lieutenant.” He handed the box to Hector.
The Watchman opened it and saw inside, against a jet-black setting, two small silver pins in the shape of comets. The insignia of a full lieutenant. His jaw dropped open.
“The official notification is grinding through Star Watch processing, Lieutenant,” Spencer said. “I thought there was no sense letting you wait until the computers straightened out all the records. Congratulations on a well-earned promotion.”
Hector managed a half-strangled, “Thank you, sir.”
Turning to Leoh, Spencer said, “Now then, Albert, let us recount old times. I assume you have some refreshments on the premises?”
Several hours later the two old men were sitting on the air couch, while Hector listened from the web chair. The room’s color had shifted to reds and yellows now, and the scent was of desert flowers.
“And what do you intend to do now?” Sir Harold was asking the Professor. “Surely you don’t expect me to believe that you’re going to luxuriate here and then return to Carinae, in the midst of the deepest political crisis of the century.”
Leoh shrugged and hiked his eyebrows, an expression that sent a network of creases across his fleshy face. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’d still like to take a good look at some ideas for better interstellar transportation. And I’d want to be on hand here if those savages from Kerak try to use the dueling machine for their own purposes again.”
Nodding, Spencer rumbled, “I knew it. You’re getting yourself involved in politics. Sooner or later you’ll be after my job.”
Even Hector laughed at that.
More seriously, Spencer went on, “You know, of course, that I’m here officially to attend the inauguration of General Martine as the new Prime Minister.”
“Yes,” said Leoh. “And your
Lowering his voice slightly, Spencer answered, “I hope to persuade Martine to join the Commonwealth. Or at least to sign a treaty of alliance with us. It’s the only way that Acquatainia can avoid a war with Kerak. All of Acquatainia’s former allies have been taken over by Kerak or frightened off. Alone, the Acquatainians are in grave danger. As a Commonwealth member, or an ally, I doubt that even Kanus would be foolish enough to attack them right now.”
“But Acquatainia has always refused Commonwealth membership… or even an alliance.”
“Yes, but General Martine might see things differently now that Kanus is obviously preparing for war,” Spencer said.
“But the General…” Hector began, then stopped.
“Go on, my boy. What were you going to say?”
“Well, it might not be anything important… just something that Geri told me about the General… er, the Prime Minister. She, eh, well, she said he’s a stubborn, shortsighted, proud old clod. Those were her words, sir.”
Spencer huffed. “The Terran embassy here used slightly different terms, but they painted the same picture of him.”
“And, uh, she said he’s also very brave and patriotic .… but short-tempered.”
Leoh turned a worried expression toward Spencer. “It doesn’t sound as though he’d be willing to admit that he needs Commonwealth protection, does it?”
Shrugging, Sir Harold replied, “The plain fact is that an alliance with the Commonwealth is the only way to avert a war. I’ve had our computer simulators study the situation. Now that Kerak has absorbed Szarno and has neutralized Acquatainia’s other former allies, the computer predicts that Kerak will defeat Acquatainia in a war. Ninety-three percent probability.”
Leoh’s look of gloom sank deeper.
“And once Kanus has Acquatainia under his grasp, he’ll attack the Commonwealth.”
“What? But that’s suicide! Why should he do that?”
“I’d say it’s because he’s a lunatic,” Spencer answered, with real anger edging his voice. “The sociodynamicists tell me that Kanus’ sort of dictatorship must continually seek to expand, or it will fall apart from internal dissensions and pressures.”
“But he can’t beat the Commonwealth,” Hector said.
“Correct,” Spencer agreed. “Every computer simulation we’ve run shows that the Commonwealth would crush Kerak, even if Kanus has Acquatainia’s resources in his hands.”
The Star Watch Commander paused a moment, then added, “But the computers also predict that the war will cost millions of lives on both sides. And it will trigger off other wars, elsewhere, that could eventually destroy the Commonwealth entirely.”
Leoh leaned back with the shock. “Then—Martine simply
Spencer nodded. But his face showed that he didn’t expect it.
3
Leoh and Hector watched General Martine’s inauguration on tri-di, in the professor’s apartment. That evening, they joined the throngs of politicians, businessmen, military leaders, ambassadors, artists, visitors, and other VIP’s who were congregating at the city’s main spaceport for the new Prime Minister’s inaugural ball. The party was to be held aboard a satellite orbiting the planet.
“Do you think Geri will be there?” Hector asked Leoh as they pushed along with the crowd into a jammed shuttle craft.
The Watchman was wearing his dress black-and-silver uniform, with the comet insignias on his collar. Leoh wore a simple cover-all, as advised in the invitation to the party. It was a splendid crimson with gold trim.
“You said she’s been invited,” Leoh answered over the hubbub of the hundreds of other conversations.
They found a pair of seats together and strapped themselves in.
“But she wasn’t certain that she ought to go… what with her father’s death only a few weeks ago.”
Leaning back in the padded chair, Leoh said, “Well, if she’s, not there, you can spend hours telling her all about the party.”
The Watchman’s lean face broke into a toothy grin. “I hadn’t thought of that…”
The shuttle filled quickly with noisy party goers and then took off. It flew like a normal rocket plane to the top of the atmosphere, then boosted swiftly to the satellite. The party was well under way when Hector and Leoh stepped from the shuttle’s air lock into the satellite.
It was a huge globular satellite, with all the interior decks and bulkheads removed so that it was as hollow as an enormous soap bubble. The shell of the “bubble” was transparent, except for small disks around the various air locks.
There must have been more than a thousand people present already, Leoh guessed as he took a first look at the milling throng floating weightlessly through the vast globe. They seemed to be suspended over his head, many of them upside down, others hanging sideways or calmly drifting along and gesturing, deep in conversation. Most of them held drinks in sealed plastic squeeze containers with straws poking out from their tops. The crowd formed a dizzying kaleidoscope overhead: brilliant costumes, flashing jewelry, buzzing voices, crackling laughter, all mixing and gliding effortlessly in mid-air.
Leoh put a hand out to Hector, to steady himself.
