"Perhaps so, my lord." Having gone so far, Alemph was not to be put off. "But permit me to point out that well as we may know our own galaxy, we know nothing of others."

  Markhamwit eyed Minister Ganne. "Do you consider it possible for an intergalactic chasm to be crossed?"

  "It seems incredible, my lord," said Ganne, more than anxious not to commit himself. "Not being an astronautical expert I am hardly qualified to give an opinion."

  "A characteristic ministerial evasion," scoffed Markhamwit. Resorting to his earplug and voice tube again, he asked for Sector Commander Yielm, demanded,

  "Regardless of the prac-tical aspect, do you think it theoretically possible for anyone to reach us from the next galaxy?" Silence while he listened, then, "Why not?" He listened again, cut off, turned to the others. "That's his reason: nobody lives for ten thousand years."

  "How does he know, my lord?" asked Alemph.

  Half a dozen guards conducted James Lawson to the august presence. They formed themselves into a stiff, expressionless row outside the door while he went into the room.

  His approach from the entrance to the middle of the floor was imperturbable.

  Nothing in his manner betrayed slightest consciousness that he was very far from home and among a strange kind. Indeed, he mooched in casually as if sent on a minor errand to buy a pound of crackers.

  Indicating a chair, Markhamwit spent most of a minute weighing up the visitor, then voiced his scepticism. "So you are a Solarian?"

  "I am."

  "You come from another galaxy?"

  "That is correct."

  Markhamwit shot a now-watch-this glance at Minister Ganne before he asked, "Is it not remarkable that you can speak our language?"

  "Not when you consider that I was chosen for that very reason," replied Lawson.

  "Chosen? By whom?"

  "By the Combine, of course."

  "For what purpose?" Markhamwit insisted.

  "To come here and have a talk with you."

  "About what?"

  "This war you're having with the Nileans."

  "I knew it!" Folding his top arms, Markhamwit looked self-satisfied. "I knew the Nileans would come into this some-where." His chuckle was harsh. "They are amateurish in their schemings. The least they could have done for you was to think up a protective device better than a mere myth."

  "I am little interested in protective devices," said Lawson, carelessly. "Theirs or yours."

  Markhamwit frowned. "Why not?"

  "I am a Solarian."

  "Is that so?" He showed his teeth, thin, white and pointed. "In that case our war with Nilca is none of your business." "Agreed. We view it with splendid indifference.

  "

  "Then why come to talk about it?"

  "Because we object to one of its consequences."

  "To which one do you refer?" inquired Markhamwit, no more than mildly curious.

  "Both sides are roaming the spaceways in armed vessels and looking for trouble."

  "What of it?"

  Lawson said, "The spaceways are free. They belong to everyone. No matter what rights a planet or a system may claim for its own earthly territory, the void between worlds is common property."

  "Who says so?" demanded Markhamwit, scowling. "We say so."

  "Really?" Taken aback by the sheer impudence of it, the Great Lord invited a further display by asking, "And what makes Solarians think they can lay down the law?"

  "We have only one reason," Lawson told him. His eyes took on a certain coldness. "We have the power to enforce it."

  The other rocked back, glanced at Minister Ganne, found that worthy studiously examining the ceiling.

  "The law we have established and intend to maintain," Lawson went on, "is that every space-going vessel shall have the right of unobstructed passage between worlds. What hap-pens after it lands does not concern us unless it happens to he one of our own." He paused a moment, still cold-eyed, added, "Then it does concern us very much."

  Markhamwit did not like that. He didn't like it one little bit. It smacked of an open threat and his natural instinct was to react with a counter-threat. But the interview with Alcmph was still fresh in his mind and he could not rid his thoughts of certain phrases that kept running around and around like a dire warning.

  "Fifty years later they were weak and despezate. In a hun-dred years they were gone—forever!"

  He found himself wondering whether even now the ship in which this biped had arrived was-ready to broadcast or radiate an invisible, unshieldable power designed to bring about the same result. It was a horrid thought. As a method of coping with incurably antagonist life-forms it was so per-fect because so permanent. It smacked of the appalling tech-nique of Nature herself, who never hesitated to exterminate a biological error.

  One tended to think that this biped was talking out of the back of his neck. The tendency was born of hope that it was nothing but a tremendous bluff waiting to he called. One could call it all too easily by removing the bluffer's headpiece and tearing his ship apart.

  As the Elmones were said to have done. What E!mones? There were none!

  Suppose that it was not bluff?

  CHAPTER V

  MUCH as he hated to admit it even to himself, the situation had unexpectedly shaped up into a tough one. If in tact it was a cunning Nilean subterfuge it was becoming good enough to prove mighty awkward.

  A ship had been dumped on this world, the governmental center of a powerful system at war. On the strength of an ancient fable and its pilot's glib tongue it claimed the ability to sterilize the entire planet. Therefore it was in effect either a mock-bomb or a real one. The only way in which to ascertain its real nature was to hammer on its detonator and try to make it explode.

  Could he dare?

  Playing for time, Markhamwit pointed out, "War is a two- sided affair. Our battleships are not the only ones patrolling in space."

  "We know it," Lawson informed. "The Nileans are also being dealt with."

  "You mean you've another ship there?"

  "Yes." Lawson registered a faint grin. "The Nileans are stuck with the same problem, and doubtless are handicapped by the dark suspicion that it's another of your tricks."

  The Great Lord perked up. It gave him malicious satisfac-tion to think of the enemy in a jam and cursing him for it. Then his mind suddenly perceived a way of at least partially checking the truth of the other's statements. He turned to Ganne.

  "That neutral world of Vailc still has contact with both sides. Go beam it a call.

  Ask if the Nileans have a vessel claiming to be of Solarian origin."

  Ganne went out. The answer could not be expected before nightfall yet he was back with it in a few moments.

  Shaken and nervous, he reported, "The operators say Valle called a short time ago. A similar question was put to us at the request of the Nileans."

  "Hah!" Markhamwit found himself being unwillingly pushed toward Alemph's way of looking at the matter. Folk-lore, he decided, might possibly be founded on fact.

  Indeed, it was more likely to have a positive basis than not. Long-term effects had to have faraway causes.

  Then just as he was nearing the conclusion that Solarians actually do exist it struck him with awful force that if this were a crafty stunt pulled by the Nileans they could be de-pended upon to back up their stooge in every foreseeable manner. The call through Valle could be nothing more than a carefully planned byplay designed to lend verisimilitude to their deception. If so, it meant that he was correct in his first assumption: that the Solarian Myth was rubbish.

  These two violently opposed aspects of the matter got him in a quandary. His irritation mounted because one used to making swift and final decisions cannot bear to squat on the horns of a dilemma. And he was so squatting.

  Obviously riled, he growled at Lawson, "The right to un-obstructed passage covers our vessels as much as anyone else's."

  "It covers no warship bearing instructions to intercept, question, search or detain any other spaceship it considers suspicious," declared the other. "Violators of the law are not entitled to claim protection of the law."

  "Can you tell me how to conduct a war between systems without sending armed ships through space?" asked Mark-hamwit, bitterly sarcastic.

  Lawson waved an indifferent hand. "We aren't the least bit interested in that problem. It is your own worry."

  "It cannot be done," Markhamwit shouted.

  "That's most unfortunate," remarked Lawson, full of false sympathy. "It creates an awful state of no-war."

  "Are you trying to be funny?"

  "Is peace funny?"

  "War is a serious matter," bawled Markhamwit, striving to retain a grip on his temper. "It cannot be ended .with a mere flick of the finger."

  "The fact should be borne in mind by those who so non-chalantly start them,"

  advised Lawson, quite unmoved by the Great Lord's ire.

  "The Nileans started it."

  "They say that you did."

  "They are incorrigible liars."

  "That's their opinion of you, too."

  A menacing expression on his face, Markhamwit said, "Do you believe them?"

  "We never believe opinions."

  "You arc evading my question. Somebody has to be a liar. Who do you think it is?"

  "We haven't looked into the root-causes of your dispute. It is not our woe. So without any data to go upon we can only hazard a guess."

  "Go ahead and do some hazarding then," Markhamwit in-vited. He licked expectant lips.

  "Probably both sides have little regard for the truth," opined Lawson, undeterred by the other's attitude. "It is the usual setup. When war breaks out the unmitigated liar comes into his own. His heyday lasts for the duration. After that, the victorious liars hang the vanquished ones."

  Had this viewpoint been one-sided Markhamwit could have taken it up with suitable fury. A two-sided opinion is discon-certing. It's slippery. One cannot get an effective grip on it.

  So he changed his angle of attack by asking, "Let's suppose I reject your law and have you shot forthwith. What happens then?"

  "You'll be sorry."

  "I have only your word for that."

  "If you want proof you know how to get it," Lawson pointed out.

  It was an impasse over which the Great Lord brooded with the maximum of disgust. He was realizing for the first time that by great daring one creature could defy a world of others. It had pregnant possibilities of which he had never previously thought. Some ingenious use could have been made of it, to the great discomfort of the enemy—assuming that the enemy had not thought of it first and were now using it against him.

  There was the real crux of the matter, he decided. Somehow, anyhow, he had to find out whether the Nileans had a hand in this affair. If they had they would make every effort to conceal the fact. If they had not they would be only too willing to show him that his troubles were also theirs.

  But then again, how deep was their cunning? Was it more than equal to his own perceptive abilities? Might they not be ready and willing to hide the truth behind a smoke screen of pathetically eager cooperation?

  If this new ship actually was a secret Nilean production it followed that those who could build one could equally well build two. Also, the unknown allied world that had provided a biped stooge plus some winged, stinging creatures could provide a second set of pseudo-Solarians.

  So even now another fake extra-galactic vessel and crew might he grounded on Nilean territory waiting the inspection of his own or some neutral deputation; everything prepared to convince him that fiction is fact and thereby persuade him to recall all warships from the spaceways. That would leave the foe a clear field for long enough to enable them to grasp victory. He and his kind would know that they had been taken for a ride only when it was too late. About the sole crumb of comfort he could find was the thought that if this were not an impudent hoax, if all this Solarianism were genuine and true, then the Nileans themselves were being tor-mented by exactly the same processes of reasoning. At this very moment they might be viewing with serious misgivings the very outfit that was causing all his bother, wondering whether or not the ship was supporting evidence born of the Great Lord's limitless foresight.

  This picture of the Nileans' predicament served to soothe his liver sufficiently to let him ask, "In what way do you expect me to acknowledge this law of yours?"

  Lawson said, "By ordering the immediate return of all armed vessels to their planetary bases."

  "They'll be a fat lot of use to us just sitting on their home stations."

  "I don't agree. They will still be in fighting trim and ready to oppose any attack.

  We deny nobody the right to defend themselves."

  "That's exactly what we're doing right now," declared Mark-hamwit. "Defending ourselves."

  "The Nileans say the same."

  "I have already told you that they are determined and per-sistent liars."

  "I know, I know." Lawson brushed it aside like a subject already worn thin. "So far as we are concerned you can smother every one of your own worlds under an immense load of warships ready to annihilate the first attacker. But if they fight at all it must he in defense of their territory. They must not roam around wherever they please and carry the war some-place else."

  "But—"

  "Moreover," Lawson went on, "you can have a million ships roaming freely through space if you wish. Their numbers, routes or destinations would be nobody's business, not even ours. We won't object so long as each and every one of them is a peaceful trader going about its lawful business and in no way interfering with other people's ships."

  `"You won't object?" echoed Markhamwit, his temper again tried by the other's airy self-confidence. "That is most gracious of you!"

  Lawson eyed him coolly. "The strong can afford to be gracious."

  "Are you insinuating that we are not strong?"

  "Reasonableness is strength. Irrationality is weakness."

  Banging a hand on 'a chair arm, Markhamwit declaimed, "There are many things I may be, but there is on thing I am not: I am not irrational."

  "It remains to be seen," said Lawson significantly.

  "And it will be seen! I have not become the ruler of a great system by benefit of nothing. My people do not serve under a leader whose sole qualification is'

  imbecility. Given time for thought and the loyal support of those beneath me, I can cope with this situation or any other that may come along."

  "I hope so," offered Lawson in pious tones. "For your own sake."

  Markhamwit leaned forward, exposed his teeth once more and spoke slowly. "No matter what decision I may come to or what consequences may follow, the skin in danger is not mine. It is yours!" He straightened up, made a motion of dis-missal. "I will give my answer in the morning. Until then, do plenty of worrying about yourself."

  "A Solarian deeply concerned about his own fate," Lawson informed, his hand on the door, "would he rather like one of your hairs bothered about falling out."

  Opening the door, he stared hard at the Great Lord and added, "The hair goes and is lost and becomes at one with the dust, but the body remains."

  "Meaning—?"

  "You're net dealing with me as an individual. You are dealing with my kind."

  CHAPTER VI

  THE guard alerted and accompanied Lawson to the interroga-tion center, left him at the precise spot where they had first picked him up. Going through the door, he closed it behind him, thus cutting himself off from their view. In leisurely manner he ambled past desks where examiners looked up from their eternal piles of forms to watch him uncertainly. He had reached the main exit before anyone saw fit to dispute his progress.

  An incoming three-comet officer barred his way and asked, "Where are you going?"

  "Back to my ship."

  The other showed vague surprise. "You have seen the Great Lord?"

  "Of course. I have just left him." Then with a confiding air, "We had a most interesting conversation. He wishes to con-sult with me again first thing in the morning."

  "Does he?" The officer's eyes hugely magnified Lawson's importance. It did not take him a split second to conceive a simple piece of logic: to look after Markhamwit's guest would be to please Markhamwit himself. So with praiseworthy op-portunism he said, "I will get a truck and run you back."

  "That is very considerate of you," assured Lawson, looking at the three comets as if they were six.

  It lent zip to the other's eagerness. The truck was forth-coming in double-quick time, rolled away before Ganne or Kasine or anyone else could intervene to question the pro-priety of letting the biped run loose. Its speed was high, its driver inclined to be garrulous.

  "The Great Lord is a most exceptional person," he offered, hoping it might be repeated in his favor on the morrow. Pri-vately he thought Markhamwit a pompous stinker. "We are most fortunate to have such a leader in these trying times."

  "You could have one worse," agreed Lawson, blandly damning Markhamwit with faint praise.

  "I remember once—" The other broke off, brought the vehicle to an abrupt stop, scowled toward the side of the road. In a rasping voice he demanded of the new object of his at-tention, "Who gave you orders to stand there?"

  "Nobody," admitted Yadiz, dolefully.

  "Then why are you there?"

  "He cannot be somewhere else," remarked Lawson.

  The officer blinked, studied the windshield in complete silence for a while, then twisted to face his passenger. "Why can't he?"

  "Because wherever he happens to be is there. Obviously he c:i;l= :ot be where he isn't." Lawson sought confirmation of Yadiz. "Can you?"

  Something snapped, for the other promptly abandoned all further discussion, flung open the truck's door with a resound-ing crash and snarled at Yadiz, "Get inside, you gaping idiot!"

  Yadiz got in, handling his weapon as if it could bite him at both ends. The truck moved forward. For the remainder of the trip its driver hunched over the wheel, chewed steadily at his bottom lip and said. not a word. Now and again his eye-brows knotted with the strain of thought as he made vain attempts to sort out the unsortable.

 

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