VI + 

The Bad News Came After the Coffee + 

The last clatter of silverware and dishes ceased as the native servants finished clearing the table. There was a remaining clatter of cups and saucers; liqueur-glasses tinkled, and an occasional cigarette-lighter clicked. At the head table, the voices seemed louder. + 

тАЬтАж┬аdonтАЩt like it a millisolтАЩs worth,тАЭ Brigadier-General Barney Mordkovitz, the Skilk military C.O., was saying to the lady on his right. тАЬTheyтАЩre too confounded meek. Nowadays, nobody yells тАШZnidd suddabit!тАЩ at you. Nobody sticks all four thumbs in his mouth and waves his fingers. Nobody commits nuisance on the sidewalk in front of you. They just stand and look at you like a farmer looking at a turkey the week before Christmas, and that I donтАЩt like!тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, bosh!тАЭ Jules Keaveney, the Skilk Resident-Agent, at the head of the table, exclaimed. тАЬYou soldiers are all alikeтБатАФbegging your pardon, General von Schlichten,тАЭ he nodded in the direction of the guest of honor. тАЬIf they donтАЩt bow and scrape to you and get off the sidewalk to let you pass, you say theyтАЩre insolent and need a lesson. If they do, you say theyтАЩre plotting insurrection.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhat I said,тАЭ Mordkovitz repeated, тАЬwas that I expect a certain amount of disorder, and a certain minimum show of hostility toward us from some of these geeks, to conform to what I know to be our unpopularity with many of them. When I donтАЩt find it, I want to know why.тАЭ + 

тАЬIтАЩm inclined,тАЭ von Schlichten came to his subordinateтАЩs support, тАЬto agree. This sudden absence of overt hostility is disquieting. Colonel Cheng-Li,тАЭ he called on the local Intelligence officer and Constabulary chief. тАЬThis fellow Rakkeed was here, about a month ago. Was there any noticeable disorder at that time? Anti-Terran demonstrations, attacks on Company property or personnel, shooting at aircars, that sort of thing?тАЭ + 

тАЬNo more than usual, general. In fact, it was when Rakkeed came here that the condition General Mordkovitz was speaking of began to become conspicuous. We did catch some of RakkeedтАЩs disciples trying to get in among the enlisted men of the Tenth N.U.N.I. and the Fifth Zirk Cavalry and promote disaffection. That was reported at the time, sir.тАЭ + 

тАЬAnd acted upon, as far as the civil administration would permit,тАЭ von Schlichten replied. тАЬAnd I might say that Lieutenant-Governor Blount has reported from Keegark, where he is now, that the same unnatural absence of hostility exists there.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, of course, general,тАЭ Keaveney said patronizingly. тАЬKing Orgzild has things under pretty tight control at Keegark. HeтАЩd not allow a few fanatics to do anything to prejudice these spaceport negotiations.тАЭ + 

тАЬI wonder if the idea back of that spaceport proposition isnтАЩt to get us concentrated at Keegark, where Orgzild could wipe us all out in one surprise blow,тАЭ somebody down the table suggested. + 

тАЬOh, Orgzild wouldnтАЩt be crazy enough to try anything like that,тАЭ Commander Dirk Prinsloo, of the Aldebaran, declared. тАЬHeтАЩd get away with it for just twelve monthsтБатАФthe time it would take to get the news to Terra and for a Federation Space Navy task-force to get here. And then, thereтАЩd be little bits of radioactive geek floating around this system as far out as the orbit of Beta Hydrae VII.тАЭ + 

тАЬThatтАЩs quite true,тАЭ von Schlichten agreed. тАЬThe point is, does Orgzild know it? I doubt if he even believes there is a Terra.тАЭ + 

тАЬThen where in Space does he think we come from?тАЭ Keaveney demanded. + 

тАЬI believe he thinks Niflheim is our home world,тАЭ von Schlichten replied. тАЬOr, rather, the string of orbiters and artificial satellites around Niflheim. Where he thinks Niflheim is, I wouldnтАЩt even try to guess.тАЭ + 

тАЬWell, it takes six months for a ship to go between here and Nif,тАЭ Prinsloo considered. тАЬBecause of the hyperdrive effects, the experienced time of the voyage, inside the ship, is of the order of three weeks. Taking that as the figure, heтАЩd estimate the distance at about a quarter-million miles, assuming the velocity as being the speed of one of our contragravity-ships here on Uller. IтАЩm assuming he doesnтАЩt even know there is a hyperdrive.тАЭ + 

тАЬYes. After heтАЩd wiped us out, he might even consider the idea of an invasion of Niflheim with captured contragravity ships,тАЭ Hideyoshi OтАЩLeary chuckled. тАЬThat would be a big laughтБатАФif any of us were alive, then, to do any laughing.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou donтАЩt really believe that, general?тАЭ Keaveney asked. His tone was still derisive, but under the derision was uncertainty. After all, von Schlichten had been on Uller for fifteen years, to his two. + 

тАЬAny question of geek psychology is wide open as far as IтАЩm concerned; the longer I stay here, the less I understand it.тАЭ Von Schlichten finished his brandy and got out cigarette-case and lighter. тАЬI have an idea of the sort of garbled reports these spies of his who spend a year on Niflheim as laborers bring back.тАЭ + 

тАЬYou know the line RakkeedтАЩs been taking, of course,тАЭ Colonel Cheng-Li put in. тАЬHe as much as says that NiflheimтАЩs our home, and that the farms where we raise food here, and those evergreen plantings on Konk Isthmus and between here and Grank are the beginning of an attempt to drive all native life from this planet and make it over for ourselves.тАЭ + 

тАЬAnd that savage didnтАЩt think an idea like that up for himself; he got it from somebody like Orgzild,тАЭ the black-bearded brigadier-general added. тАЬYou know, the main base off Niflheim is practically self-supporting, with hydroponic-gardens and animal-tissue culture vats. And itтАЩs enough bigger than one of the City ships to pass for a little world. Yes, somebody like Orgzild, or King Firkked here, could easily pick up the idea that thatтАЩs our home planet.тАЭ + 

тАЬBut King Kankad was talking about.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ Paula Quinton began. + 

тАЬWe were speaking of geeks, not Kragans.тАЭ Von Schlichten lit his cigarette and held his lighter for hers. тАЬYou saw that big Beta Hydrae orrery at KankadтАЩs observatory. Well, thereтАЩs quite a little story about that. You know, itтАЩs generally realized by the natives here that Uller is a globe. The North Zirks have ridden all the way around it, on hipposaur-back, in the high latitudes, and the thalassic peoples at the Equator have sailed all the five equatorial seas and portaged all the isthmuses between. But, of course, Uller is the center of the universe; the sun travels around it, on a rather complicated double-spiral track. As a theory, it explains most of what theyтАЩre able to observe, and any minor effects that donтАЩt conform to it are just ignored. They have a model, a most ingenious affair run by clockwork, at the University of Konkrook, to show the apparent movement and position of Beta Hydrae in the sky; it does so fairly accurately. + 

тАЬWell, some of our astronomers constructed this orrery, and exhibited it to a gathering of the leading native scholars, who are also the high-priests of the local religion. Sort of combined Academy of Arts and Sciences and College of Cardinals. They almost were massacred. As soon as the assembled pundits saw this thing and grasped its meaning, they began geeking and skreeking and yorking and squawking and brandishing knivesтБатАФit was blasphemous, and sacrilegious, and undermined the Faith, and invalidated the whole logic-system. + 

тАЬI was brigadier-general, in command of Konkrook military district, thenтБатАФthe post Them MтАЩzangwe has now. When I got a riot-call from the University, I hustled around with a company of Kragans, and we cleared the hall with the bayonet and ran the reverend professors out onto the campus, and after we got things in hand, the Kragans crowded around the orrery, trying to set it up to show the existing position of the planet relative to the primary and figure out the theory back of it. They were very much interested; some of them must have sent word home about it, because Kankad came in on the next ship, wanting to see it. He was so much taken with it that Sid Harrington gave it to him. ItтАЩs one of his most cherished possessions, but the Konkrook pundits bite all four thumbs and wave their fingers every time they think of it.тАЭ He warmed his coffee from a controlled-temperature pot. тАЬYou canтАЩt use Kragan thinking on any subject as a criterion of what somebody like OrgzildтАЩs opinions will be.тАЭ + 

тАЬI never could understand the admiration some of you military people have for those cutthroats,тАЭ Keaveney declared. тАЬOh, yes, I can. You like them because they do your dirty work for you.тАЭ + 

тАЬHe reads Stanley-Browne, too, IтАЩll bet,тАЭ Hideyoshi OтАЩLeary said. тАЬMiss Quinton, how did you like your visit to KankadтАЩs Town? Still think the Kragans are cultural mongrels?тАЭ + 

тАЬWhy, theyтАЩre wonderful! I never expected anything like it. They just seem to have picked up everything they could from us, and then gone on from there to develop a culture of their own with our techniques. For instance, those big guns, the ones they call the Ridge Battery, that they built for themselves. They arenтАЩt copies of Terran guns. They donтАЩt look like our work, or give you the feel our work would. And that telescope at the observatory,тАЭ she continued. тАЬDid they build that, too?тАЭ + 

тАЬYes, all we furnished was a couple of textbooks on lens-grinding and telescope-design, and a book on optics. You see, when we made that deal with them, they realized that we werenтАЩt any better fighters than they were; we just had better weapons. To have the same kind of weapons, theyтАЩd have to learn to make them, and once they began studying technology, they found that they had to study science. Weapon-making was the entering-wedge; after that, they found that they could use the same skills to make anything else they wanted. Give them another century or so and theyтАЩll be one of the great races of the galaxy.тАЭ + 

тАЬYes, and itтАЩs a good thing theyтАЩre our friends, too,тАЭ Mordkovitz added. тАЬIтАЩm only sorry there are so few of them, and so many of the geeks.тАЭ + 

тАЬYes, the Company ought to let us stockpile nuclear weapons here, just to be on the safe side,тАЭ another officer, farther down the table, said. + 

тАЬWell, IтАЩm not exactly in favor of that,тАЭ von Schlichten replied. тАЬItтАЩs the same principle as not allowing guards who have to go in among the convicts to carry firearms. If somebody like Orgzild got hold of a nuclear bomb, even a little old First-Century H-bomb, he could use it for a model and construct a hundred like it, with all the plutonium weтАЩve been handing out for power reactors. And there are too few of us, and weтАЩre concentrated in too few places, to last long if that happened. What this planet needs, though, is a visit by a fifty-odd-ship task-force of the Space Navy, just to show the geeks what we have back of us. After a show like that, thereтАЩd be a lot less znidd suddabit around here.тАЭ + 

тАЬGeneral, I deplore that sort of talk,тАЭ Keaveney said. тАЬI hear too much of this mailed-fist-and-rattling-saber stuff from some of the junior officers here, without your giving countenance and encouragement to it. WeтАЩre here to earn dividends for the stockholders of the Uller Company, and we can only do that by gaining the friendship, respect and confidence of the natives.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 

тАЬMr.┬аKeaveney,тАЭ Paula Quinton spoke up. тАЬI doubt if even you would seriously accuse the ExtraterrestrialsтАЩ Rights Association of favoring what you call a mailed-fist-and-rattling-saber policy. WeтАЩve done everything in our power to help these people, and if anybody should have their friendship, we should. Well, only five days ago, in Konkrook, Mr.┬аMohammed Ferriera and I were attacked by a mob, our native aircar driver was murdered, and if it hadnтАЩt been for General von Schlichten and his soldiers, weтАЩd have lost our own lives. Mr.┬аFerriera is still hospitalized as a result of injuries he received. It seems that General von Schlichten and his Kragans arenтАЩt trying to get friendship and confidence; theyтАЩre willing to settle for respect, in the only way they can get itтБатАФby hitting harder and quicker than the geeks can.тАЭ + 

Somebody down the tableтБатАФone of the military, of courseтБатАФsaid, тАЬHear, hear!тАЭ Von Schlichten came as close as a man wearing a monocle can to winking at Paula. Good girl, he thought; sheтАЩs started playing on the Army team! + 

тАЬWell, of course.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ Keaveney began. Then he stopped, as a Terran sergeant came up to the table and bent over Barney MordkovitzтАЩ shoulder, whispering urgently. The black-bearded brigadier rose immediately, taking his belt from the back of his chair and putting it on. Motioning the sergeant to accompany him, he spoke briefly to Keaveney and then came around the table to where von Schlichten sat, the Resident-Agent accompanying him. + 

тАЬMessage just came in from Konkrook, general,тАЭ he said softly. тАЬSid HarringtonтАЩs dead.тАЭ + 

It took von Schlichten all of a second to grasp what had been said. тАЬGood God! When? How?тАЭ + 

тАЬHereтАЩs all we know, sir,тАЭ the sergeant said, giving him a radioprint slip. тАЬCame in ten minutes ago.тАЭ + 

It was an all-station priority telecast. Governor-General Harrington had died suddenly, in his room, at 22:10; there were no details. He glanced at his watch; it was 22:43. Konkrook and Skilk were in the same time-zone; that was fast work. He handed the slip to Mordkovitz, who gave it to Keaveney. + 

тАЬYou from the telecast station, sergeant?тАЭ he asked. тАЬAll right, letтАЩs go.тАЭ + 

тАЬWait a minute, general.тАЭ Keaveney put out a hand to detain him as he took his belt and put it on. тАЬHow about this?тАЭ He gestured nervously with the radioprint slip. + 

тАЬGet up and make an announcement, now,тАЭ von Schlichten told him, fastening the buckle and hitching his pistol and survival-kit into place. тАЬItтАЩll be out all over the planet in half an hour. Never hold news out unnecessarily.тАЭ He stubbed out his cigarette. тАЬCome on, sergeant.тАЭ + 

As he hurried from the banquet-room, he could hear Keaveney tapping on his wineglass. + 

тАЬEverybody, please! Let me have your attention! There has just come in a piece of the most tragic news.тБатАКтБатАжтАЭ + 