Monument

'I understand,' Fornri said. He smiled. 'We are a peaceful people. We do not need weapons.'

Dillinger took a deep breath. For some reason he had expected the negotiations to collapse at that point. 'Lieutenant Protz,' he said, 'will you see that the terms are drawn up for signature?'

Protz nodded, and got to his feet.

'One moment,' Dillinger said. 'There is one thing more. We must have an official name for your planet. What do you call it?'

Fornri seemed puzzled. 'Sir?'

'Up to now, you have only been co-ordinates and a number to us. You must have a name. It is probably best that you name your own planet. If you don't, someone else will, and you might not like it. It can be your native name for the planet, or a descriptive term — anything you like.'

Fornri hesitated. 'Perhaps we should discuss the matter.'

'By all means,' Dillinger said. 'But one word of caution. Once the planet has been named, it will be infernally difficult to change it.'

'I understand,' Fornri said.

The native withdrew, and Dillinger settled back with a smile, and sipped from a tumbler of the native drink. The drink was everything the survey man had claimed.

Perhaps Paradise would be a good name for the place, he thought. But then — better to let the natives decide. Paradise might mean something very different to them. All sorts of complications resulted when planets were named by outsiders. He remembered the famous story of the survey ship calling for help from a swamp on a strange planet. 'Where are you?' Base had demanded. The survey ship gave its coordinates, and added, quite needlessly, 'It's a helluvaplace.' The people of that planet had been trying for two centuries to have its name changed, but on all the official charts it was still Helluvaplace.

'Your sun, too,' he called after Fornri. 'We'll have to name that.'

Three hours later they were in space, on their way to Fron, the sector capital. Protz looked back at the dwindling planet, and shook his head. 'Langri. What do you suppose it means?'

On Fron, Dillinger reported to the sector governor. 'So they call it Langri,' the governor said. 'And — you say they speak Galactic?'

'Speak it rather well, with a kind of provincial accent.'

'Easily accounted for, of course. A ship touched down there some time in the past. People liked the place and stayed, maybe. Did you see any traces of such a ship, or ships?'

'No. We didn't see anything except what they wanted us to see.' 'Yes. Awkward position you stumbled into. Not your fault, of course. But those survey men. .' He shook his head. 'What beats me is that they learned Galactic. Normally the aliens would learn the native language, unless there was a crowd of them. There is a native language, isn't there?'

'I can't say. I never heard any of them speak anything but Galactic. Of course I didn't hear them talking among themselves. They withdrew well out of hearing whenever they had to confer about something. But now that I think about it, I did overhear some kids speaking Galactic.'

'Interesting,' the governor said. 'Langri — that must be a native word. I'd better attach a philologist to the staff we'll place there. I'd like to know how they happened to learn Galactic and keep on speaking it, and I'd like to know how long it's been since there were aliens in their midst. Very interesting.'

'They're an intelligent people,' Dillinger said. 'They drove a good bargain, but they were very civilized about it. My orders say I'm to pick up an ambassador for Langri, and the personnel to form a permanent station there. Know anything about that?'

'I'll furnish the personnel for the station. The ambassador has been appointed, and he should be along in a few days. In the meantime, give your men some leave and enjoy yourselves.'

A week later H. Harlow Wembling, Ambassador to Langri, waddled up the ramp to the Rirga, carrying his ample paunch like a ceremonial badge of honor. He bullied the duty officer, snarled at the crew, and, when Dillinger called at his quarters to pay his respects, demanded a member of the space navy to serve as his valet for the duration of his time on board.

Dillinger emerged wiping his brow, and gave Protz his precise opinion of the new ambassador in words that made the executive officer wince and rub his ears thoughtfully.

'Are you going to give him what he wants?' Protz asked.

'I told him,' Dillinger said, still savoring his remarks, 'I told him that the only person on board likely to have that much free time would be myself, and I lack the proper qualifications. It's too bad. It's really a shame.'

'Oh, we'll be rid of him in no time.'

'I was thinking of the natives on Langri. It's politics, of course.

Wembling will be a party stalwart, getting paid off for years of loyal service and campaign donations. It happens all the time, and most of the appointees are decent enough. Some of them are even competent, but there's always the exceptional case where a man thinks the word Ambassador in front of his name elevates him forty degrees towards divinity. So why does our planet have to draw this one?'

'It's probably nothing to worry about. These political appointees never keep their jobs long. Anyway, it's no concern of ours.'

'It's my concern,' Dillinger said. 'I negotiated the Langri treaty and I feel some responsibility for the place.'

They delivered Ambassador Wembling to Langri, along with the personnel to set up a permanent Federation station. There was one last-minute altercation with Wembling when he suddenly insisted that half of the Rirga's crew be left to guard the station. Then they were back in space, ready, as Dillinger said, to forget Langri and get back to work.

But he did not forget Langri and there were many times in the months and years that followed that he found himself reminiscing dreamily of perfect beaches and water swarming with fish and sea air blended with the perfume of myriads of flowers. Now there would be the place for a vacation, he would think. Or for retirement — what a place that would be for a retired naval officer!

III

An obsolete freighter, bound from Quiron to Yorlan on a little-used space route, disappeared. Light-years away a bureaucrat with a vivid imagination immediately thought of piracy. Orders went out, and Lieutenant Commander James Vorish, of the battle cruiser Hiln, changed course and resigned himself to a monotonous six months of patrolling.

A week later his orders were canceled. He changed course again, and mulled over the development with Lieutenant Robert Smith.

'Someone's been stirring up an indigenous population,' Vorish said. 'We're to take over, and protect Federation citizens and property.'

'Some people never learn,' Smith said. 'But — Langri? Where the devil is Langri? I've never heard of it.'

Vorish thought it was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. To the west, that is. Trees stretched glistening pale-green foliage over the narrow beach. Flowers were closing delicately beautiful petals as the evening sun abandoned them. Waves rippled in lazily from an awesomely blue sea.

Behind him, the hideous skeleton of an enormous building under construction stood out sharply in the dusk. The afternoon shift was busily and loudly at work. Clanging sounds and thuds echoed along the shore. Motors chugged and gurgled. Mercifully, the uncertain light disguised the havoc the construction work had wrought in the unspoiled forest.

The man Wembling was still talking. 'It is your duty to protect the lives and property of citizens of the Federation.'

'Certainly,' Vorish said. 'Within reason. The installation you want would take a division of troops and a million credits worth of equipment. And even then it wouldn't be foolproof. You say part of the time the natives come in from the sea. We'd have to ring the entire peninsula.'