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diff --git a/20659.txt b/20659.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a868631 --- /dev/null +++ b/20659.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2381 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ministry of Disturbance, by Henry Beam Piper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ministry of Disturbance + +Author: Henry Beam Piper + +Release Date: February 24, 2007 [EBook #20659] +Last updated: January 19, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINISTRY OF DISTURBANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + +MINISTRY ... OF DISTURBANCE + + +BY H. BEAM PIPER + + +Illustrated by van Dongen + + ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | +| Transcriber's Note | +| | +| This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction | +| December 1958. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence | +| that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. | ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + _Sometimes getting a job is harder than the job after you get + it--and sometimes getting out of a job is harder than either!_ + + +[Illustration] + +The symphony was ending, the final triumphant paean soaring up and up, +beyond the limit of audibility. For a moment, after the last notes had +gone away, Paul sat motionless, as though some part of him had followed. +Then he roused himself and finished his coffee and cigarette, looking +out the wide window across the city below--treetops and towers, roofs +and domes and arching skyways, busy swarms of aircars glinting in the +early sunlight. Not many people cared for Joao Coelho's music, now, and +least of all for the Eighth Symphony. It was the music of another time, +a thousand years ago, when the Empire was blazing into being out of the +long night and hammering back the Neobarbarians from world after world. +Today people found it perturbing. + +He smiled faintly at the vacant chair opposite him, and lit another +cigarette before putting the breakfast dishes on the serving-robot's +tray, and, after a while, realized that the robot was still beside his +chair, waiting for dismissal. He gave it an instruction to summon the +cleaning robots and sent it away. He could as easily have summoned them +himself, or let the guards who would be in checking the room do it for +him, but maybe it made a robot feel trusted and important to relay +orders to other robots. + +Then he smiled again, this time in self-derision. A robot couldn't feel +important, or anything else. A robot was nothing but steel and plastic +and magnetized tape and photo-micro-positronic circuits, whereas a +man--His Imperial Majesty Paul XXII, for instance--was nothing but +tissues and cells and colloids and electro-neuronic circuits. There was +a difference; anybody knew that. The trouble was that he had never met +anybody--which included physicists, biologists, psychologists, +psionicists, philosophers and theologians--who could define the +difference in satisfactorily exact terms. He watched the robot pivot on +its treads and glide away, trailing steam from its coffee pot. It might +be silly to treat robots like people, but that wasn't as bad as treating +people like robots, an attitude which was becoming entirely too +prevalent. If only so many people didn't act like robots! + +He crossed to the elevator and stood in front of it until a tiny +electroencephalograph inside recognized his distinctive brain-wave +pattern. Across the room, another door was popping open in response to +the robot's distinctive wave pattern. He stepped inside and flipped a +switch--there were still a few things around that had to be manually +operated--and the door closed behind him and the elevator gave him an +instant's weightlessness as it started to drop forty floors. + +When it opened, Captain-General Dorflay of the Household Guard was +waiting for him, with a captain and ten privates. General Dorflay was +human. The captain and his ten soldiers weren't. They wore helmets, +emblazoned with the golden sun and superimposed black cogwheel of the +Empire, and red kilts and black ankle boots and weapons belts, and the +captain had a narrow gold-laced cape over his shoulders, but for the +rest, their bodies were covered with a stiff mat of black hair, and +their faces were slightly like terriers'. (For all his humanity, +Captain-General Dorflay's face was more like a bulldog's.) They were +hillmen from the southern hemisphere of Thor, and as a people they made +excellent mercenaries. They were crack shots, brave and crafty fighters, +totally uninterested in politics off their own planet, and, because they +had grown up in a patriarchial-clan society, they were fanatically loyal +to anybody whom they accepted as their chieftain. Paul stepped out and +gave them an inclusive nod. + + * * * * * + +"Good morning, gentlemen." + +"Good morning, Your Imperial Majesty," General Dorflay said, bowing the +couple of inches consistent with military dignity. The Thoran captain +saluted by touching his forehead, his heart, which was on the right +side, and the butt of his pistol. Paul complimented him on the smart +appearance of his detail, and the captain asked how it could be +otherwise, with the example and inspiration of his imperial majesty. +Compliment and response could have been a playback from every morning of +the ten years of his reign. So could Dorflay's question: "Your Majesty +will proceed to his study?" + +He wanted to say, "No, to Niffelheim with it; let's get an aircar and +fly a million miles somewhere," and watch the look of shocked +incomprehension on the captain-general's face. He couldn't do that, +though; poor old Harv Dorflay might have a heart attack. He nodded +slowly. + +"If you please, general." + +Dorflay nodded to the Thoran captain, who nodded to his men. Four of +them took two paces forward; the rest, unslinging weapons, went +scurrying up the corridor, some posting themselves along the way and the +rest continuing to the main hallway. The captain and two of his men +started forward slowly; after they had gone twenty feet, Paul and +General Dorflay fell in behind them, and the other two brought up the +rear. + +"Your Majesty," Dorflay said, in a low voice, "let me beg you to be most +cautious. I have just discovered that there exists a treasonous plot +against your life." + +Paul nodded. Dorflay was more than due to discover another treasonous +plot; it had been ten days since the last one. + +"I believe you mentioned it, general. Something about planting loose +strontium-90 in the upholstery of the Audience Throne, wasn't it?" + +And before that, somebody had been trying to smuggle a fission bomb into +the Palace in a wine cask, and before that, it was a booby trap in the +elevator, and before that, somebody was planning to build a submachine +gun into the viewscreen in the study, and-- + +"Oh, no, Your Majesty; that was--Well, the persons involved in that plot +became alarmed and fled the planet before I could arrest them. This is +something different, Your Majesty. I have learned that unauthorized +alterations have been made on one of the cooking-robots in your private +kitchen, and I am positive that the object is to poison Your Majesty." + +They were turning into the main hallway, between the rows of portraits +of past emperors, Paul and Rodrik, Paul and Rodrik, alternating over and +over on both walls. He felt a smile growing on his face, and banished +it. + +"The robot for the meat sauces, wasn't it?" he asked. + +"Why--! Yes, Your Majesty." + +"I'm sorry, general. I should have warned you. Those alterations were +made by roboticists from the Ministry of Security; they were installing +an adaptation of a device used in the criminalistics-labs, to insure +more uniform measurements. They'd done that already for Prince Travann, +the Minister, and he'd recommended it to me." + +That was a shame, spoiling poor Harv Dorflay's murder plot. It had been +such a nice little plot, too; he must have had a lot of fun inventing +it. But a line had to be drawn somewhere. Let him turn the Palace upside +down hunting for bombs; harass ladies-in-waiting whose lovers he +suspected of being hired assassins; hound musicians into whose +instruments he imagined firearms had been built; the emperor's private +kitchen would have to be off limits. + +Dorflay, who should have been looking crestfallen but relieved, stopped +short--shocking breach of Court etiquette--and was staring in horror. + +"Your Majesty! Prince Travann did that openly and with your consent? +But, Your Majesty, I am convinced that it is Prince Travann himself who +is the instigator of every one of these diabolical schemes. In the case +of the elevator, I became suspicious of a man named Samml Ganner, one of +Prince Travann's secret police agents. In the case of the gun in the +viewscreen, it was a technician whose sister is a member of the +household of Countess Yirzy, Prince Travann's mistress. In the case of +the fission bomb----" + +The two Thorans and their captain had kept on for some distance before +they had discovered that they were no longer being followed, and were +returning. He put his hand on General Dorflay's shoulder and urged him +forward. + +"Have you mentioned this to anybody?" + +"Not a word, Your Majesty. This Court is so full of treachery that I can +trust no one, and we must never warn the villain that he is suspected--" + +"Good. Say nothing to anybody." They had reached the door of the study, +now. "I think I'll be here until noon. If I leave earlier, I'll flash +you a signal." + + * * * * * + +He entered the big oval room, lighted from overhead by the great +star-map in the ceiling, and crossed to his desk, with the viewscreens +and reading screens and communications screens around it, and as he sat +down, he cursed angrily, first at Harv Dorflay and then, after a +moment's reflection, at himself. He was the one to blame; he'd known +Dorflay's paranoid condition for years. Have to do something about it. +Any psycho-medic would certify him; be no problem at all to have him put +away. But be blasted if he'd do that. That was no way to repay loyalty, +even insane loyalty. Well, he'd find a way. + +He lit a cigarette and leaned back, looking up at the glowing swirl of +billions of billions of tiny lights in the ceiling. At least, there were +supposed to be billions of billions of them; he'd never counted them, +and neither had any of the seventeen Rodriks and sixteen Pauls before +him who had sat under them. His hand moved to a control button on his +chair arm, and a red patch, roughly the shape of a pork chop, appeared +on the western side. + +That was the Empire. Every one of the thousand three hundred and +sixty-five inhabited worlds, a trillion and a half intelligent beings, +fourteen races--fifteen if you counted the Zarathustran Fuzzies, who +were almost able to qualify under the talk-and-build-a-fire rule. And +that had been the Empire when Rodrik VI had seen the map completed, and +when Paul II had built the Palace, and when Stevan IV, the grandfather +of Paul I, had proclaimed Odin the Imperial planet and Asgard the +capital city. There had been some excuse for staying inside that patch +of stars then; a newly won Empire must be consolidated within before it +can safely be expanded. But that had been over eight centuries ago. + +He looked at the Daily Schedule, beautifully embossed and neatly slipped +under his desk glass. Luncheon on the South Upper Terrace, with the +Prime Minister and the Bench of Imperial Counselors. Yes, it was time +for that again; that happened as inevitably and regularly as Harv +Dorflay's murder plots. And in the afternoon, a Plenary Session, Cabinet +and Counselors. Was he going to have to endure the Bench of Counselors +twice in the same day? Then the vexation was washed out of his face by a +spreading grin. Bench of Counselors; that was the answer! Elevate Harv +Dorflay to the Bench. That was what the Bench was for, a gold-plated +dustbin for the disposal of superannuated dignitaries. He'd do no harm +there, and a touch of outright lunacy might enliven and even improve the +Bench. + +And in the evening, a banquet, and a reception and ball, in honor of His +Majesty Ranulf XIV, Planetary King of Durendal, and First Citizen Zhorzh +Yaggo, People's Manager-in-Chief of and for the Planetary Commonwealth +of Aditya. Bargain day; two planetary chiefs of state in one big +combination deal. He wondered what sort of prizes he had drawn this +time, and closed his eyes, trying to remember. Durendal, of course, was +one of the Sword-Worlds, settled by refugees from the losing side of the +System States War in the time of the old Terran Federation, who had +reappeared in Galactic history a few centuries later as the Space +Vikings. They all had monarchial and rather picturesque governments; +Durendal, he seemed to recall, was a sort of quasi-feudalism. About +Aditya he was less sure. Something unpleasant, he thought; the titles of +the government and its head were suggestive. + +He lit another cigarette and snapped on the reading screen to see what +they had piled onto him this morning, and then swore when a graph chart, +with jiggling red and blue and green lines, appeared. Chart day, too. +Everything happens at once. + + * * * * * + +It was the interstellar trade situation chart from Economics. Red line +for production, green line for exports, blue for imports, sectioned +vertically for the ten Viceroyalties and sub-sectioned for the +Prefectures, and with the magnification and focus controls he could even +get data for individual planets. He didn't bother with that, and +wondered why he bothered with the charts at all. The stuff was all at +least twenty days behind date, and not uniformly so, which accounted for +much of the jiggling. It had been transmitted from Planetary +Proconsulate to Prefecture, and from Prefecture to Viceroyalty, and from +there to Odin, all by ship. A ship on hyperdrive could log light-years +an hour, but radio waves still had to travel 186,000 mps. The +supplementary chart for the past five centuries told the real +story--three perfectly level and perfectly parallel lines. + +It was the same on all the other charts. Population fluctuating slightly +at the moment, completely static for the past five centuries. A slight +decrease in agriculture, matched by an increase in synthetic food +production. A slight population movement toward the more urban planets +and the more densely populated centers. A trend downward in +employment--nonworking population increasing by about .0001 per cent +annually. Not that they were building better robots; they were just +building them faster than they wore out. They all told the same story--a +stable economy, a static population, a peaceful and undisturbed Empire; +eight centuries, five at least, of historyless tranquility. Well, that +was what everybody wanted, wasn't it? + +He flipped through the rest of the charts, and began getting summarized +Ministry reports. Economics had denied a request from the Mining Cartel +to authorize operations on a couple of uninhabited planets; danger of +local market gluts and overstimulation of manufacturing. Permission +granted to Robotics Cartel to---- Request from planetary government of +Durendal for increase of cereal export quotas under consideration--they +wouldn't want to turn that down while King Ranulf was here. Impulsively, +he punched out a combination on the communication screen and got Count +Duklass, Minister of Economics. + +Count Duklass had thinning red hair and a plump, agreeable, extrovert's +face. He smiled and waited to be addressed. + +"Sorry to bother Your Lordship," Paul greeted him. "What's the story on +this export quota request from Durendal? We have their king here, now. +Think he's come to lobby for it?" + +Count Duklass chuckled. "He's not doing anything about it, himself. Have +you met him yet, sir?" + +"Not yet. He's to be presented this evening." + +"Well, when you see him--I think the masculine pronoun is +permissible--you'll see what I mean, sir. It's this Lord Koreff, the +Marshal. He came here on business, and had to bring the king along, for +fear somebody else would grab him while he was gone. The whole object of +Durendalian politics, as I understand, is to get possession of the +person of the king. Koreff was on my screen for half an hour; I just got +rid of him. Planet's pretty heavily agricultural, they had a couple of +very good crop years in a row, and now they have grain running out their +ears, and they want to export it and cash in." + +"Well?" + +"Can't let them do it, Your Majesty. They're not suffering any hardship; +they're just not making as much money as they think they ought to. If +they start dumping their surplus into interstellar trade, they'll cause +all kinds of dislocations on other agricultural planets. At least, +that's what our computers all say." + +And that, of course, was gospel. He nodded. + +"Why don't they turn their surplus into whisky? Age it five or six years +and it'd be on the luxury goods schedule and they could sell it +anywhere." + +Count Duklass' eyes widened. "I never thought of that, Your Majesty. +Just a microsec; I want to make a note of that. Pass it down to somebody +who could deal with it. That's a wonderful idea, Your Majesty!" + + * * * * * + +He finally got the conversation to an end, and went back to the reports. +Security, as usual, had a few items above the dead level of bureaucratic +procedure. The planetary king of Excalibur had been assassinated by his +brother and two nephews, all three of whom were now fighting among +themselves. As nobody had anything to fight with except small arms and a +few light cannon, there would be no intervention. There had been +intervention on Behemoth, however, where a whole continent had tried to +secede from the planetary republic and the Imperial Navy had been +requested to send a task force. That was all right, in both cases. No +interference with anything that passed for a planetary government, but +only one sovereignty on any planet with nuclear weapons, and only one +supreme sovereignty in a galaxy with hyperdrive ships. + +And there was rioting on Amaterasu, because of public indignation over a +fraudulent election. He looked at that in incredulous delight. Why, here +on Odin there hadn't been an election in the past six centuries that +hadn't been utterly fraudulent. Nobody voted except the nonworkers, +whose votes were bought and sold wholesale, by gangster bosses to +pressure groups, and no decent person would be caught within a hundred +yards of a polling place on an election day. He called the Minister of +Security. + +Prince Travann was a man of his own age--they had been classmates at the +University--but he looked older. His thin face was lined, and his hair +was almost completely white. He was at his desk, with the Sun and +Cogwheel of the Empire on the wall behind him, but on the breast of his +black tunic he wore the badge of his family, a silver planet with three +silver moons. Unlike Count Duklass, he didn't wait to be spoken to. + +"Good morning, Your Majesty." + +"Good morning, Your Highness; sorry to bother you. I just caught an +interesting item in your report. This business on Amaterasu. What sort +of a planet is it, politically? I don't seem to recall." + +"Why, they have a republican government, sir; a very complicated setup. +Really, it's a junk heap. When anything goes badly, they always build +something new into the government, but they never abolish anything. They +have a president, a premier, and an executive cabinet, and a tricameral +legislature, and two complete and distinct judiciaries. The premier is +always the presidential candidate getting the next highest number of +votes. In the present instance, the president, who controls the +planetary militia, is accusing the premier, who controls the police, of +fraud in the election of the middle house of the legislature. Each is +supported by the judiciary he controls. Practically every citizen +belongs either to the militia or the police auxiliaries. I am looking +forward to further reports from Amaterasu," he added dryly. + +"I daresay they'll be interesting. Send them to me in full, and red-star +them, if you please, Prince Travann." + +He went back to the reports. The Ministry of Science and Technology had +sent up a lengthy one. The only trouble with it was that everything +reported was duplication of work that had been done centuries before. +Well, no. A Dr. Dandrik, of the physics department of the Imperial +University here in Asgard announced that a definite limit of accuracy in +measuring the velocity of accelerated subnucleonic particles had been +established--16.067543333--times light-speed. That seemed to be typical; +the frontiers of science, now, were all decimal points. The Ministry of +Education had a little to offer; historical scholarship was still +active, at least. He was reading about a new trove of source-material +that had come to light on Uller, from the Sixth Century Atomic Era, when +the door screen buzzed and flashed. + + * * * * * + +He lit it, and his son Rodrik appeared in it, with Snooks, the little +red hound, squirming excitedly in the Crown Prince's arms. The dog began +barking at once, and the boy called through the phone: + +"Good morning, father; are you busy?" + +"Oh, not at all." He pressed the release button. "Come on in." + +Immediately, the little hound leaped out of the princely arms and came +dashing into the study and around the desk, jumping onto his lap. The +boy followed more slowly, sitting down in the deskside chair and drawing +his foot up under him. Paul greeted Snooks first--people can wait, but +for little dogs everything has to be right now--and rummaged in a drawer +until he found some wafers, holding one for Snooks to nibble. Then he +became aware that his son was wearing leather shorts and tall buskins. + +"Going out somewhere?" he asked, a trifle enviously. + +"Up in the mountains, for a picnic. Olva's going along." + +And his tutor, and his esquire, and Olva's companion-lady, and a dozen +Thoran riflemen, of course, and they'd be in continuous screen-contact +with the Palace. + +"That ought to be a lot of fun. Did you get all your lessons done?" + +"Physics and math and galactiography," Rodrik told him. "And Professor +Guilsan's going to give me and Olva our history after lunch." + +They talked about lessons, and about the picnic. Of course, Snooks was +going on the picnic, too. It was evident, though, that Rodrik had +something else on his mind. After a while, he came out with it. + +"Father, you know I've been a little afraid, lately," he said. + +"Well, tell me about it, son. It isn't anything about you and Olva, is +it?" + +Rod was fourteen; the little Princess Olva thirteen. They would be +marriageable in six years. As far as anybody could tell, they were both +quite happy about the marriage which had been arranged for them years +ago. + +"Oh, no; nothing like that. But Olva's sister and a couple others of +mother's ladies-in-waiting were to a psi-medium, and the medium told +them that there were going to be changes. Great and frightening changes +was what she said." + +"She didn't specify?" + +"No. Just that: great and frightening changes. But the only change of +that kind I can think of would be ... well, something happening to you." + +Snooks, having eaten three wafers, was trying to lick his ear. He pushed +the little dog back into his lap and pummeled him gently with his left +hand. + +"You mustn't let mediums' gabble worry you, son. These psi-mediums have +real powers, but they can't turn them off and on like a water tap. When +they don't get anything, they don't like to admit it, and they invent +things. Always generalities like that; never anything specific." + +"I know all that." The boy seemed offended, as though somebody were +explaining that his mother hadn't really found him out in the rose +garden. "But they talked about it to some of their friends, and it seems +that other mediums are saying the same thing. Father, do you remember +when the Haval Valley reactor blew up? All over Odin, the mediums had +been talking about a terrible accident, for a month before that +happened." + +"I remember that." Harv Dorflay believed that somebody had been falsely +informed that the emperor would visit the plant that day. "These great +and frightening changes will probably turn out to be a new fad in +abstract sculpture. Any change frightens most people." + +They talked more about mediums, and then about aircars and aircar +racing, and about the Emperor's Cup race that was to be flown in a +month. The communications screen began flashing and buzzing, and after +he had silenced it with the busy-button for the third time, Rodrik said +that it was time for him to go, came around to gather up Snooks, and +went out, saying that he'd be home in time for the banquet. The screen +began to flash again as he went out. + + * * * * * + +It was Prince Ganzay, the Prime Minister. He looked as though he had a +persistent low-level toothache, but that was his ordinary expression. + +"Sorry to bother Your Majesty. It's about these chiefs-of-state. Count +Gadvan, the Chamberlain, appealed to me, and I feel I should ask your +advice. It's the matter of precedence." + +"Well, we have a fixed rule on that. Which one arrived first?" + +"Why, the Adityan, but it seems King Ranulf insists that he's entitled +to precedence, or, rather, his Lord Marshal does. This Lord Koreff +insists that his king is not going to yield precedence to a commoner." + +[Illustration] + +"Then he can go home to Durendal!" He felt himself growing angry--all +the little angers of the morning were focusing on one spot. He forced +the harshness out of his voice. "At a court function, somebody has to go +first, and our rule is order of arrival at the Palace. That rule was +established to avoid violating the principle of equality to all +civilized peoples and all planetary governments. We're not going to set +it aside for the King of Durendal, or anybody else." + +Prince Ganzay nodded. Some of the toothache expression had gone out of +his face, now that he had been relieved of the decision. + +"Of course, Your Majesty." He brightened a little. "Do you think we +might compromise? Alternate the precedence, I mean?" + +"Only if this First Citizen Yaggo consents. If he does, it would be a +good idea." + +"I'll talk to him, sir." The toothache expression came back. "Another +thing, Your Majesty. They've both been invited to attend the Plenary +Session, this afternoon." + +"Well, no trouble there; they can enter by different doors and sit in +visitors' boxes at opposite ends of the hall." + +"Well, sir, I wasn't thinking of precedence. But this is to be an +Elective Session--new Ministers to replace Prince Havaly, of Defense, +deceased, and Count Frask, of Science and Technology, elevated to the +Bench. There seems to be some difference of opinion among some of the +Ministers and Counselors. It's very possible that the Session may +degenerate into an outright controversy." + +"Horrible," Paul said seriously. "I think, though, that our +distinguished guests will see that the Empire can survive difference of +opinion, and even outright controversy. But if you think it might have a +bad effect, why not postpone the election?" + +"Well--It's been postponed three times, already, sir." + +"Postpone it permanently. Advertise for bids on two robot Ministers, +Defense, and Science and Technology. If they're a success, we can set up +a project to design a robot emperor." + +The Prime Minister's face actually twitched and blanched at the +blasphemy. "Your Majesty is joking," he said, as though he wanted to be +reassured on the point. + +"Unfortunately, I am. If my job could be robotized, maybe I could take +my wife and my son and our little dog and go fishing for a while." + +But, of course, he couldn't. There were only two alternatives: the +Empire or Galactic anarchy. The galaxy was too big to hold general +elections, and there had to be a supreme ruler, and a positive and +automatic--which meant hereditary--means of succession. + +"Whose opinion seems to differ from whose, and about what?" he asked. + +"Well, Count Duklass and Count Tammsan want to have the Ministry of +Science and Technology abolished, and its functions and personnel +distributed. Count Duklass means to take over the technological sections +under Economics, and Count Tammsan will take over the science part under +Education. The proposal is going to be introduced at this Session by +Count Guilfred, the Minister of Health and Sanity. He hopes to get some +of the bio-and psycho-science sections for his own Ministry." + +"That's right. Duklass gets the hide, Tammsan gets the head and horns, +and everybody who hunts with them gets a cut of the meat. That's good +sound law of the chase. I'm not in favor of it, myself. Prince Ganzay, +at this session, I wish you'd get Captain-General Dorflay nominated for +the Bench. I feel that it is about time to honor him with elevation." + +"General Dorflay? But why, Your Majesty?" + +"Great galaxy, do you have to ask? Why, because the man's a raving +lunatic. He oughtn't even to be trusted with a sidearm, let alone five +companies of armed soldiers. Do you know what he told me this morning?" + +"That somebody is training a Nidhog swamp-crawler to crawl up the +Octagon Tower and bite you at breakfast, I suppose. But hasn't that been +going on for quite a while, sir?" + +"It was a gimmick in one of the cooking robots, but that's aside from +the question. He's finally named the master mind behind all these +nightmares of his, and who do you think it is? Yorn Travann!" + + * * * * * + +The Prime Minister's face grew graver than usual. Well, it was something +to look grave about; some of these days---- + +"Your Majesty, I couldn't possibly agree more about the general's mental +condition, but I really should say that, crazy or not, he is not alone +in his suspicions of Prince Travann. If sharing them makes me a lunatic, +too, so be it, but share them I do." + +Paul felt his eyebrows lift in surprise. "That's quite too much and too +little, Prince Ganzay," he said. + +"With your permission, I'll elaborate. Don't think that I suspect Prince +Travann of any childish pranks with elevators or viewscreens or +cooking-robots," the Prime Minister hastened to disclaim, "but I +definitely do suspect him of treasonous ambitions. I suppose Your +Majesty knows that he is the first Minister of Security in centuries who +has assumed personal control of both the planetary and municipal police, +instead of delegating his _ex officio_ powers. + +"Your Majesty may not know, however, of some of the peculiar uses he has +been making of those authorities. Does Your Majesty know that he has +recruited the Security Guard up to at least ten times the strength +needed to meet any conceivable peace-maintenance problem on this planet, +and that he has been piling up huge quantities of heavy combat +equipment--guns up to 200-millimeter, heavy contragravity, even +gun-cutters and bomb-and-rocket boats? And does Your Majesty know that +most of this armament is massed within fifteen minutes' flight-time of +this Palace? Or that Prince Travann has at his disposal from two and a +half to three times, in men and firepower, the combined strength of the +Planetary Militia and the Imperial Army on this planet?" + +"I know. It has my approval. He's trying to salvage some of the young +nonworkers through exposing them to military discipline. A good many of +them, I believe, have gone off-planet on their discharge from the SG and +hired as mercenaries, which is a far better profession than vote +selling." + +"Quite a plausible explanation: Prince Travann is nothing if not +plausible," the Prime Minister agreed. "And does Your Majesty know that, +because of repeated demands for support from the Ministry of Security, +the Imperial Navy has been scattered all over the Empire, and that there +is not a naval craft bigger than a scout-boat within fifteen hundred +light-years of Odin?" + +That was absolutely true. Paul could only nod agreement. Prince Ganzay +continued: + +"He has been doing some peculiar things as Police Chief of Asgard, too. +For instance, there are two powerful nonworkers' voting-bloc bosses, Big +Moogie Blisko and Zikko the Nose--I assure Your Majesty that I am not +inventing these names; that's what the persons are actually called--who +have been enjoying the favor and support of Prince Travann. On a number +of occasions, their smaller rivals, leaders of less important gangs, +have been arrested, often on trumped-up charges, and held incommunicado +until either Moogie or Zikko could move into their territories and annex +their nonworker followers. These two bloc-bosses are subsidized, +respectively, by the Steel and Shipbuilding Cartels and by the Reaction +Products and Chemical Cartels, but actually, they are controlled by +Prince Travann. They, in turn, control between them about seventy per +cent of the nonworkers in Asgard." + +"And you think this adds up to a plot against the Throne?" + +"A plot to seize the Throne, Your Majesty." + +"Oh, come, Prince Ganzay! You're talking like Dorflay!" + +"Hear me out, Your Majesty. His Imperial Highness is fourteen years old; +it will be eleven years before he will be legally able to assume the +powers of emperor. In the dreadful event of your immediate death, it +would mean a regency for that long. Of course, your Ministers and +Counselors would be the ones to name the Regent, but I know how they +would vote with Security Guard bayonets at their throats. And regency +might not be the limit of Prince Travann's ambitions." + +"In your own words, quite plausible, Prince Ganzay. It rests, however, +on a very questionable foundation. The assumption that Prince Travann is +stupid enough to want the Throne." + +He had to terminate the conversation himself and blank the screen. +Viktor Ganzay was still staring at him in shocked incredulity when his +image vanished. Viktor Ganzay could not imagine anybody not wanting the +Throne, not even the man who had to sit on it. + + * * * * * + +He sat, for a while, looking at the darkened screen, a little worried. +Viktor Ganzay had a much better intelligence service than he had +believed. He wondered how much Ganzay had found out that he hadn't +mentioned. Then he went back to the reports. He had gotten down to the +Ministry of Fine Arts when the communications screen began calling +attention to itself again. + +When he flipped the switch, a woman smiled out of it at him. Her blond +hair was rumpled, and she wore a dressing gown; her smile brightened as +his face appeared in her screen. + +"Hi!" she greeted him. + +"Hi, yourself. You just get up?" + +She raised a hand to cover a yawn. "I'll bet you've been up reigning for +hours. Were Rod and Snooks in to see you yet?" + +He nodded. "They just left. Rod's going on a picnic with Olva in the +mountains." How long had it been since he and Marris had been on a +picnic--a real picnic, with less than fifty guards and as many courtiers +along? "Do you have much reigning to do, this afternoon?" + +She grimaced. "Flower Festivals. I have to make personal tri-di +appearances, live, with messages for the loving subjects. Three minutes +on, and a two-minute break between. I have forty for this afternoon." + +"Ugh! Well, have a good time, sweetheart. All I have is lunch with the +Bench, and then this Plenary Session." He told her about Ganzay's fear +of outright controversy. + +"Oh, fun! Maybe somebody'll pull somebody's whiskers, or something. I'm +in on that, too." + +The call-indicator in front of him began glowing with the code-symbol of +the Minister of Security. + +"We can always hope, can't we? Well, Yorn Travann's trying to get me, +now." + +"Don't keep him waiting. Maybe I can see you before the Session." She +made a kissing motion with her lips at him, and blanked the screen. + +He flipped the switch again, and Prince Travann was on the screen. The +Security Minister didn't waste time being sorry to bother him. + +"Your Majesty, a report's just come in that there's a serious riot at +the University; between five and ten thousand students are attacking the +Administration Center, lobbing stench bombs into it, and threatening to +hang Chancellor Khane. They have already overwhelmed and disarmed the +campus police, and I've sent two companies of the Gendarme riot brigade, +under an officer I can trust to handle things firmly but intelligently. +We don't want any indiscriminate stunning or tear-gassing or shooting; +all sorts of people can have sons and daughters mixed up in a student +riot." + +"Yes. I seem to recall student riots in which the sons of his late +Highness Prince Travann and his late Majesty Rodrik XXI were involved." +He deliberated the point for a moment, and added: "This scarcely sounds +like a frat-fight or a panty-raid, though. What seems to have triggered +it?" + +"The story I got--a rather hysterical call for help from Khane +himself--is that they're protesting an action of his in dismissing a +faculty member. I have a couple of undercovers at the University, and +I'm trying to contact them. I sent more undercovers, who could pass for +students, ahead of the Gendarmes to get the student side of it and the +names of the ring-leaders." He glanced down at the indicator in front of +him, which had begun to glow. "If you'll pardon me, sir, Count Tammsan's +trying to get me. He may have particulars. I'll call Your Majesty back +when I learn anything more." + + * * * * * + +There hadn't been anything like that at the University within the memory +of the oldest old grad. Chancellor Khane, he knew, was a stupid and +arrogant old windbag with a swollen sense of his own importance. He made +a small bet with himself that the whole thing was Khane's fault, but he +wondered what lay behind it, and what would come out of it. Great +plagues from little microbes start. Great and frightening changes---- + +The screen got itself into an uproar, and he flipped the switch. It was +Viktor Ganzay again. He looked as though his permanent toothache had +deserted him for the moment. + +"Sorry to bother Your Majesty, but it's all fixed up," he reported. +"First Citizen Yaggo agreed to alternate in precedence with King Ranulf, +and Lord Koreff has withdrawn all his objections. As far as I can see, +at present, there should be no trouble." + +"Fine. I suppose you heard about the excitement at the University?" + +"Oh, yes, Your Majesty. Disgraceful affair!" + +"Simply shocking. What seems to have started it, have you heard?" he +asked. "All I know is that the students were protesting the dismissal of +a faculty member. He must have been exceptionally popular, or else he +got a more than ordinary raw deal from Khane." + +"Well, as to that, sir, I can't say. All I learned was that it was the +result of some faculty squabble in one of the science departments; the +grounds for the dismissal were insubordination and contempt for +authority." + +"I always thought that when authority began inspiring contempt, it had +stopped being authority. Did you say science? This isn't going to help +Duklass and Tammsan any." + +"I'm afraid not, Your Majesty." Ganzay didn't look particularly +regretful. "The News Cartel's gotten hold of it and are using it; it'll +be all over the Empire." + +He said that as though it meant something. Well, maybe it did; a lot of +Ministers and almost all the Counselors spent most of their time +worrying about what people on planets like Chermosh and Zarathustra and +Deirdre and Quetzalcoatl might think, in ignorance of the fact that +interest in Empire politics varied inversely as the square of the +distance to Odin and the level of corruption and inefficiency of the +local government. + +"I notice you'll be at the Bench luncheon. Do you think you could invite +our guests, too? We could have an informal presentation before it +starts. Can do? Good. I'll be seeing you there." + +When the screen was blanked, he returned to the reports, ran them off +hastily to make sure that nothing had been red-starred, and called a +robot to clear the projector. After a while, Prince Travann called +again. + +"Sorry to bother Your Majesty, but I have most of the facts on the riot, +now. What happened was that Chancellor Khane sacked a professor, physics +department, under circumstances which aroused resentment among the +science students. Some of them walked out of class and went to the +stadium to hold a protest meeting, and the thing snowballed until half +the students were in it. Khane lost his head and ordered the campus +police to clear the stadium; the students rushed them and swamped them. +I hope, for their sakes, that none of my men ever let anything like that +happen. The man I sent, a Colonel Handrosan, managed to talk the +students into going back to the stadium and continuing the meeting under +Gendarme protection." + +"Sounds like a good man." + +"Very good, Your Majesty. Especially in handling disturbances. I have +complete confidence in him. He's also investigating the background of +the affair. I'll give Your Majesty what he's learned, to date. It seems +that the head of the physics department, a Professor Nelse Dandrik, had +been conducting an experiment, assisted by a Professor Klenn Faress, to +establish more accurately the velocity of subnucleonic particles, beta +micropositos, I believe. Dandrik's story, as relayed to Handrosan by +Khane, is that he reached a limit and the apparatus began giving erratic +results." + +Prince Travann stopped to light a cigarette. "At this point, Professor +Dandrik ordered the experiment stopped, and Professor Faress insisted on +continuing. When Dandrik ordered the apparatus dismantled, Faress became +rather emotional about it--obscenely abusive and threatening, according +to Dandrik. Dandrik complained to Khane, Khane ordered Faress to +apologize, Faress refused, and Khane dismissed Faress. Immediately, the +students went on strike. Faress confirmed the whole story, and he added +one small detail that Dandrik hadn't seen fit to mention. According to +him, when these micropositos were accelerated beyond sixteen and a +fraction times light-speed, they began registering at the target before +the source registered the emission." + +"Yes, I--_What did you say_?" + +Prince Travann repeated it slowly, distinctly and tonelessly. + +"That was what I thought you said. Well, I'm going to insist on a +complete investigation, including a repetition of the experiment. Under +direction of Professor Faress." + +"Yes, Your Majesty. And when that happens, I mean to be on hand +personally. If somebody is just before discovering time-travel, I think +Security has a very substantial interest in it." + +The Prime Minister called back to confirm that First Citizen Yaggo and +King Ranulf would be at the luncheon. The Chamberlain, Count Gadvan, +called with a long and dreary problem about the protocol for the +banquet. Finally, at noon, he flashed a signal for General Dorflay, +waited five minutes, and then left his desk and went out, to find the +mad general and his wirehaired soldiers drawn up in the hall. + + * * * * * + +There were more Thorans on the South Upper Terrace, and after a flurry +of porting and presenting and ordering arms and hand-saluting, the Prime +Minister advanced and escorted him to where the Bench of Counselors, all +thirty of them, total age close to twenty-eight hundred years, were +drawn up in a rough crescent behind the three distinguished guests. The +King of Durendal wore a cloth-of-silver leotard and pink tights, and a +belt of gold links on which he carried a jeweled dagger only slightly +thicker than a knitting needle. He was slender and willowy, and he had +large and soulful eyes, and the royal beautician must have worked on him +for a couple of hours. Wait till Marris sees this; oh, brother! + +Koreff, the Lord Marshal, wore what was probably the standard costume of +Durendal, a fairly long jerkin with short sleeves, and knee-boots, and +his dress dagger looked as though it had been designed for use. Lord +Koreff looked as though he would be quite willing and able to use it; he +was fleshy and full-faced, with hard muscles under the flesh. + +First Citizen Yaggo, People's Manager-in-Chief of and for the Planetary +Commonwealth of Aditya, wore a one-piece white garment like a mechanic's +coveralls, with the emblem of his government and the numeral 1 on his +breast. He carried no dagger; if he had worn a dress weapon, it would +probably have been a slide rule. His head was completely shaven, and he +had small, pale eyes and a rat-trap mouth. He was regarding the +Durendalians with a distaste that was all too evidently reciprocated. + +King Ranulf appeared to have won the toss for first presentation. He +squeezed the Imperial hand in both of his and looked up adoringly as he +professed his deep honor and pleasure. Yaggo merely clasped both his +hands in front of the emblem on his chest and raised them quickly to the +level of his chin, saying: "At the service of the Imperial State," and +adding, as though it hurt him, "Your Imperial Majesty." Not being a +chief of state, Lord Koreff came third; he merely shook hands and said, +"A great honor, Your Imperial Majesty, and the thanks, both of myself +and my royal master, for a most gracious reception." The attempt to grab +first place having failed, he was more than willing to forget the whole +subject. There was a chance that finding a way to dispose of the grain +surplus might make the difference between his staying in power at home +or not. + +Fortunately, the three guests had already met the Bench of Counselors. +Immediately after the presentation of Lord Koreff, they all started the +two hundred yards march to the luncheon pavilion, the King of Durendal +clinging to his left arm and First Citizen Yaggo stumping dourly on his +right, with Prince Ganzay beyond him and Lord Koreff on Ranulf's left. + +"Do you plan to stay long on Odin?" he asked the king. + +"Oh. I'd _love_ to stay for simply _months_! Everything is so +_wonderful_, here in Asgard; it makes our little capital of Roncevaux +seem so _utterly_ provincial. I'm going to tell Your Imperial Majesty a +secret. I'm going to see if I can lure some of your _wonderful_ ballet +dancers back to Durendal with me. Aren't I _naughty_, raiding Your +Imperial Majesty's theaters?" + +"In keeping with the traditions of your people," he replied gravely. +"You Sword-Worlders used to raid everywhere you went." + +"I'm afraid those bad old days are long past, Your Imperial Majesty," +Lord Koreff said. "But we Sword-Worlders got around the galaxy, for a +while. In fact, I seem to remember reading that some of our brethren +from Morglay or Flamberge even occupied Aditya for a couple of +centuries. Not that you'd guess it to look at Aditya now." + + * * * * * + +It was First Citizen Yaggo's turn to take precedence--the seat on the +right of the throne chair. Lord Koreff sat on Ranulf's left, and, to +balance him, Prince Ganzay sat beyond Yaggo and dutifully began +inquiring of the People's Manager-in-Chief about the structure of his +government, launching him on a monologue that promised to last at least +half the luncheon. That left the King of Durendal to Paul; for a start, +he dropped a compliment on the cloth-of-silver leotard. + +King Ranulf laughed dulcetly, brushed the garment with his fingertips, +and said that it was just a simple thing patterned after the Durendalian +peasant costume. + +"You have peasants on Durendal?" + +"Oh, _dear_, yes! Such quaint, _charming_ people. Of course, they're all +poor, and they wear such _funny_ ragged clothes, and travel about in +rackety old aircars, it's a wonder they don't fall apart in the air. But +they're so _wonderfully_ happy and carefree. I often wish I were one of +them, instead of king." + +"Nonworking class, Your Imperial Majesty," Lord Koreff explained. + +"On Aditya," First Citizen Yaggo declared, "there are no classes, and on +Aditya everybody works. 'From each according to his ability; to each +according to his need.'" + +"On Aditya," an elderly Counselor four places to the right of him said +loudly to his neighbor, "they don't call them classes, they call them +sociological categories, and they have nineteen of them. And on Aditya, +they don't call them nonworkers, they call them occupational reservists, +and they have more of them than we do." + +"But of course, I was born a king," Ranulf said sadly and nobly. "I have +a duty to my people." + +"No, they don't vote at all," Lord Koreff was telling the Counselor on +his left. "On Durendal, you have to pay taxes before you can vote." + +"On Aditya the crime of taxation does not exist," the First Citizen told +the Prime Minister. + +"On Aditya," the Counselor four places down said to his neighbor, +"there's nothing to tax. The state owns all the property, and if the +Imperial Constitution and the Space Navy let them, the State would own +all the people, too. Don't tell me about Aditya. First big-ship command +I had was the old _Invictus_, 374, and she was based on Aditya for four +years, and I'd sooner have spent that time in orbit around Niffelheim." + +Now Paul remembered who he was; old Admiral--now +Prince-Counselor--Gaklar. He and Prince-Counselor Dorflay would get +along famously. The Lord Marshal of Durendal was replying to some +objection somebody had made: + +[Illustration] + +"No, nothing of the sort. We hold the view that every civil or political +right implies a civil or political obligation. The citizen has a right +to protection from the Realm, for instance; he therefore has the +obligation to defend the Realm. And his right to participate in the +government of the Realm includes his obligation to support the Realm +financially. Well, we tax only property; if a nonworker acquires taxable +property, he has to go to work to earn the taxes. I might add that our +nonworkers are very careful to avoid acquiring taxable property." + +"But if they don't have votes to sell, what do they live on?" a +Counselor asked in bewilderment. + +"The nobility supports them; the landowners, the trading barons, the +industrial lords. The more nonworking adherents they have, the greater +their prestige." And the more rifles they could muster when they +quarreled with their fellow nobles, of course. "Beside, if we didn't do +that, they'd turn brigand, and it costs less to support them than to +have to hunt them out of the brush and hang them." + +"On Aditya, brigandage does not exist." + +"On Aditya, all the brigands belong to the Secret Police, only on Aditya +they don't call them Secret Police, they call them Servants of the +People, Ninth Category." + +A shadow passed quickly over the pavilion, and then another. He glanced +up quickly, to see two long black troop carriers, emblazoned with the +Sun and Cogwheel and armored fist of Security, pass back of the Octagon +Tower and let down on the north landing stage. A third followed. He rose +quickly. + +"Please remain seated, gentlemen, and continue with the luncheon. If you +will excuse me for a moment, I'll be back directly." I hope, he added +mentally. + + * * * * * + +Captain-General Dorflay, surrounded by a dozen officers, Thoran and +human, had arrived on the lower terrace at the base of the Octagon +Tower. They had a full Thoran rifle company with them. As he went down +to them, Dorflay hurried forward. + +"It has come, Your Majesty!" he said, as soon as he could make himself +heard without raising his voice. "We are all ready to die with Your +Majesty!" + +"Oh, I doubt it'll come quite to that, Harv," he said. "But just to be +on the safe side, take that company and the gentlemen who are with you +and get up to the mountains and join the Crown Prince and his party. +Here." He took a notepad from his belt pouch and wrote rapidly, sealing +the note and giving it to Dorflay. "Give this to His Highness, and place +yourself under his orders. I know; he's just a boy, but he has a good +head. Obey him exactly in everything, but under no circumstances return +to the Palace or allow him to return until I call you." + +"Your Majesty is ordering me away?" The old soldier was aghast. + +"An emperor who has a son can be spared. An emperor's son who is too +young to marry can't. You know that." + +Harv Dorflay was only mad on one subject, and even within the frame of +his madness he was intensely logical. He nodded. "Yes, Your Imperial +Majesty. We both serve the Empire as best we can. And I will guard the +little Princess Olva, too." He grasped Paul's hand, said, "Farewell, +Your Majesty!" and dashed away, gathering his staff and the company of +Thorans as he went. In an instant, they had vanished down the nearest +rampway. + +The emperor watched their departure, and, at the same time, saw a big +black aircar, bearing the three-mooned planet, argent on sable, of +Travann, let down onto the south landing stage, and another troop +carrier let down after it. Four men left the aircar--Yorn, Prince +Travann, and three officers in the black of the Security Guard. Prince +Ganzay had also left the table: he came from one direction as Prince +Travann advanced from the other. They converged on the emperor. + +"What's happening here, Prince Travann?" Prince Ganzay demanded. "Why +are you bringing all these troops to the Palace?" + +"Your Majesty," Prince Travann said smoothly, "I trust that you will +pardon this disturbance. I'm sure nothing serious will happen, but I +didn't dare take chances. The students from the University are marching +on the Palace--perfectly peaceful and loyal procession; they're bringing +a petition for Your Majesty--but on the way, while passing through a +nonworkers' district, they were attacked by a gang of hooligans +connected with a voting-bloc boss called Nutchy the Knife. None of the +students were hurt, and Colonel Handrosan got the procession out of the +district promptly, and then dropped some of his men, who have since been +re-enforced, to deal with the hooligans. That's still going on, and +these riots are like forest fires; you never know when they'll shift and +get out of control. I hope the men I brought won't be needed here. +Really, they're a reserve for the riot work; I won't commit them, +though, until I'm sure the Palace is safe." + +He nodded. "Prince Travann, how soon do you estimate that the student +procession will arrive here?" he asked. + +"They're coming on foot, Your Majesty. I'd give them an hour, at least." + +"Well, Prince Travann, will you have one of your officers see that the +public-address screen in front is ready; I'll want to talk to them when +they arrive. And meanwhile, I'll want to talk to Chancellor Khane, +Professor Dandrik, Professor Faress and Colonel Handrosan, together. And +Count Tammsan, too; Prince Ganzay, will you please screen him and invite +him here immediately?" + +"Now, Your Majesty?" At first, the Prime Minister was trying to suppress +a look of incredulity; then he was trying to keep from showing +comprehension. "Yes, Your Majesty; at once." He frowned slightly when he +saw two of the Security Guard officers salute Prince Travann instead of +the emperor before going away. Then he turned and hurried toward the +Octagon Tower. + + * * * * * + +The officer who had gone to the aircar to use the radio returned and +reported that Colonel Handrosan was bringing the Chancellor and both +professors from the University in his command-car, having anticipated +that they would be wanted. Paul nodded in pleasure. + +"You have a good man there, Prince," he said. "Keep an eye on him." + +"I know it, Your Majesty. To tell the truth, it was he who organized +this march. Thought they'd be better employed coming here to petition +you than milling around the University getting into further mischief." + +The other officer also returned, bringing a portable viewscreen with him +on a contragravity-lifter. By this time, the Bench of Counselors and the +three off-planet guests had become anxious and left the luncheon +pavilion in a body. The Counselors were looking about uneasily, +noticing the black uniformed Security Guards who had left the troop +carrier and were taking position by squads all around the emperor. First +Citizen Yaggo, and King Ranulf and Lord Koreff, also seemed uneasy. They +were avoiding the proximity of Paul as though he had the green death. + +The viewscreen came on, and in it the city, as seen from an aircar at +two thousand feet, spread out with the Palace visible in the distance, +the golden pile of the Octagon Tower jutting up from it. The car +carrying the pickup was behind the procession, which was moving toward +the Palace along one of the broad skyways, with Gendarmes and Security +Guards leading, following and flanking. There were a few Imperial and +planetary and school flags, but none of the quantity-made banners and +placards which always betray a planned demonstration. + +Prince Ganzay had been gone for some time, now. When he returned, he +drew Paul aside. + +"Your Majesty," he whispered softly, "I tried to summon Army troops, but +it'll be hours before any can get here. And the Militia can't be +mobilized in anything less than a day. There are only five thousand Army +Regulars on Odin, now, anyhow." + +And half of them officers and noncoms of skeleton regiments. Like the +Navy, the Army had been scattered all over the Empire--on Behemoth and +Amida and Xipetotec and Astarte and Jotunnheim--in response to calls for +support from Security. + +"Let's have a look at this rioting, Prince Travann," one of the less +decrepit Counselors, a retired general, said. "I want to see how your +people are handling it." + +The officers who had come with Prince Travann consulted briefly, and +then got another pickup on the screen. This must have been a regular +public pickup, on the front of a tall building. It was a couple of miles +farther away; the Palace was visible only as a tiny glint from the +Octagon Tower, on the skyline. Half a dozen Security aircars were +darting about, two of them chasing a battered civilian vehicle and +firing at it. On rooftops and terraces and skyways, little clumps of +Security Guards were skirmishing, dodging from cover to cover, and +sometimes individuals or groups in civilian clothes fired back at them. +There was a surprising absence of casualties. + +"Your Majesty!" the old general hissed in a scandalized whisper. "That's +nothing but a big fake! Look, they're all firing blanks! The rifles +hardly kick at all, and there's too much smoke for propellant-powder." + +"I noticed that." This riot must have been carefully prepared, long in +advance. Yet the student riot seemed to have been entirely spontaneous. +That puzzled him; he wished he knew just what Yorn Travann was up to. +"Just keep quiet about it," he advised. + + * * * * * + +More aircars were arriving, big and luxurious, emblazoned with the arms +of some of the most distinguished families in Asgard. One of the first +to let down bore the device of Duklass, and from it the Minister of +Economics, the Minister of Education, and a couple of other Ministers, +alighted. Count Duklass went at once to Prince Travann, drawing him away +from King Ranulf and Lord Koreff and talking to him rapidly and +earnestly. Count Tammsan approached at a swift half-run. + +"Save Your Majesty!" he greeted, breathlessly. "What's going on, sir? We +heard something about some petty brawl at the University, that Prince +Ganzay had become alarmed about, but now there seems to be fighting all +over the city. I never saw anything like it; on the way here we had to +go up to ten thousand feet to get over a battle, and there's a vast +crowd on the Avenue of the Arts, and----" He took in the Security +Guards. "Your Majesty, just what _is_ going on?" + +"Great and frightening changes." Count Tammsan started; he must have +been to a psi-medium, too. "But I think the Empire is going to survive +them. There may even be a few improvements, before things are done." + +A blue-uniformed Gendarme officer approached Prince Travann, drawing him +away from Count Duklass and speaking briefly to him. The Minister of +Security nodded, then turned back to the Minister of Economics. They +talked for a few moments longer, then clasped hands, and Travann left +Duklass with his face wreathed in smiles. The Gendarme officer +accompanied him as he approached. + +"Your Majesty, this is Colonel Handrosan, the officer who handled the +affair at the University." + +"And a very good piece of work, colonel." He shook hands with him. +"Don't be surprised if it's remembered next Honors Day. Did you bring +Khane and the two professors?" + +"They're down on the lower landing-stage, Your Majesty. We're delaying +the students, to give Your Majesty time to talk to them." + +"We'll see them now. My study will do." The officer saluted and went +away. He turned to Count Tammsan. "That's why I asked Prince Ganzay to +invite you here. This thing's become too public to be ignored; some sort +of action will have to be taken. I'm going to talk to the students; I +want to find out just what happened before I commit myself to anything. +Well, gentlemen, let's go to my study." + +Count Tammsan looked around, bewildered. "But I don't understand----" He +fell into step with Paul and the Minister of Security; a squad of +Security Guards fell in behind them. "I don't understand what's +happening," he complained. + +An emperor about to have his throne yanked out from under him, and a +minister about to stage a _coup d'etat_, taking time out to settle a +trifling academic squabble. One thing he did understand, though, was +that the Ministry of Education was getting some very bad publicity at a +time when it could be least afforded. Prince Travann was telling him +about the hooligans' attack on the marching students, and that worried +him even more. Nonworking hooligans acted as voting-bloc bosses ordered; +voting-bloc bosses acted on orders from the political manipulators of +Cartels and pressure-groups, and action downward through the nonworkers +was usually accompanied by action upward through influences to which +ministers were sensitive. + + * * * * * + +There were a dozen Security Guards in black tunics, and as many +Household Thorans in red kilts, in the hall outside the study, +fraternizing amicably. They hurried apart and formed two ranks, and the +Thoran officer with them saluted. + +Going into the study, he went to his desk; Count Tammsan lit a cigarette +and puffed nervously, and sat down as though he were afraid the chair +would collapse under him. Prince Travann sank into another chair and +relaxed, closing his eyes. There was a bit of wafer on the floor by +Paul's chair, dropped by the little dog that morning. He stooped and +picked it up, laying it on his desk, and sat looking at it until the +door screen flashed and buzzed. Then he pressed the release button. + +Colonel Handrosan ushered the three University men in ahead of +him--Khane, with a florid, arrogant face that showed worry under the +arrogance; Dandrik, gray-haired and stoop-shouldered, looking irritated; +Faress, young, with a scrubby red mustache, looking bellicose. He +greeted them collectively and invited them to sit, and there was a brief +uncomfortable silence which everybody expected him to break. + +"Well, gentlemen," he said, "we want to get the facts about this affair +in some kind of order. I wish you'd tell me, as briefly and as +completely as possible, what you know about it." + +"There's the man who started it!" Khane declared, pointing at Faress. + +"Professor Faress had nothing to do with it," Colonel Handrosan stated +flatly. "He and his wife were in their apartment, packing to move out, +when it started. Somebody called him and told him about the fighting at +the stadium, and he went there at once to talk his students into +dispersing. By that time, the situation was completely out of hand; he +could do nothing with the students. + +"Well, I think we ought to find out, first of all, why Professor Faress +was dismissed," Prince Travann said. "It will take a good deal to +convince me that any teacher able to inspire such loyalty in his +students is a bad teacher, or deserves dismissal." + +"As I understand," Paul said, "the dismissal was the result of a +disagreement between Professor Faress and Professor Dandrik about an +experiment on which they were working. I believe, an experiment to fix +more exactly the velocity of accelerated subnucleonic particles. Beta +micropositos, wasn't it, Chancellor Khane?" + +Khane looked at him in surprise. "Your Majesty, I know nothing about +that. Professor Dandrik is head of the physics department; he came to +me, about six months ago, and told me that in his opinion this +experiment was desirable. I simply deferred to his judgment and +authorized it." + +"Your Majesty has just stated the purpose of the experiment," Dandrik +said. "For centuries, there have been inaccuracies in mathematical +descriptions of subnucleonic events, and this experiment was undertaken +in the hope of eliminating these inaccuracies." He went into a lengthy +mathematical explanation. + +"Yes, I understand that, professor. But just what was the actual +experiment, in terms of physical operations?" + + * * * * * + +Dandrik looked helpless for a moment. Faress, who had been choking back +a laugh, interrupted: + +"Your Majesty, we were using the big turbo-linear accelerator to project +fast micropositos down an evacuated tube one kilometer in length, and +clocking them with light, the velocity of which has been established +almost absolutely. I will say that with respect to the light, there were +no observable inaccuracies at any time, and until the micropositos were +accelerated to 16.067543333-1/3 times light-speed, they registered much +as expected. Beyond that velocity, however, the target for the +micropositos began registering impacts before the source registered +emission, although the light target was still registering normally. I +notified Professor Dandrik about this, and----" + +"You notified him. Wasn't he present at the time?" + +"No, Your Majesty." + +"Your Majesty, I am head of the physics department of the University. I +have too much administrative work to waste time on the technical aspects +of experiments like this," Dandrik interjected. + +"I understand. Professor Faress was actually performing the experiment. +You told Professor Dandrik what had happened. What then?" + +"Why, Your Majesty, he simply declared that the limit of accuracy had +been reached, and ordered the experiment dropped. He then reported the +highest reading before this anticipation effect was observed as the +newly established limit of accuracy in measuring the velocity of +accelerated micropositos, and said nothing whatever in his report about +the anticipation effect." + +"I read a summary of the report. Why, Professor Dandrik, did you omit +mentioning this slightly unusual effect?" + +"Why, because the whole thing was utterly preposterous, that's why!" +Dandrik barked; and then hastily added, "Your Imperial Majesty." He +turned and glared at Faress; professors do not glare at galactic +emperors. "Your Majesty, the limit of accuracy had been reached. After +that, it was only to be expected that the apparatus would give erratic +reports." + +"It might have been expected that the apparatus would stop registering +increased velocity relative to the light-speed standard, or that it +would begin registering disproportionately," Faress said. "But, Your +Majesty, I'll submit that it was not to be expected that it would +register impacts before emissions. And I'll add this. After registering +this slight apparent jump into the future, there was no proportionate +increase in anticipation with further increase of acceleration. I wanted +to find out why. But when Professor Dandrik saw what was happening, he +became almost hysterical, and ordered the accelerator shut down as +though he were afraid it would blow up in his face." + + * * * * * + +"I think it has blown up in his face," Prince Travann said quietly. +"Professor, have you any theory, or supposition, or even any wild guess, +as to how this anticipation effect occurs?" + +"Yes, Your Highness. I suspect that the apparent anticipation is simply +an observational illusion, similar to the illusion of time-reversal +experienced when it was first observed, though not realized, that +positrons sometimes exceeded light-speed." + +"Why, that's what I've been saying all along!" Dandrik broke in. "The +whole thing is an illusion, due----" + +"To having reached the limit of observational accuracy; I understand, +Professor Dandrik. Go on, Professor Faress." + +"I think that beyond 16.067543333-1/3 times light-speed, the +micropositos ceased to have any velocity at all, velocity being defined +as rate of motion in four-dimensional space-time. I believe they moved +through the three spatial dimensions without moving at all in the +fourth, temporal, dimension. They made that kilometer from source to +target, literally, in nothing flat. Instantaneity." + +That must have been the first time he had actually come out and said it. +Dandrik jumped to his feet with a cry that was just short of being a +shriek. + +"He's crazy! Your Majesty, you mustn't ... that is, well, I +mean--Please, Your Majesty, don't listen to him. He doesn't know what +he's saying. He's raving!" + +"He knows perfectly well what he's saying, and it probably scares him +more than it does you. The difference is that he's willing to face it +and you aren't." + +The difference was that Faress was a scientist and Dandrik was a science +teacher. To Faress, a new door had opened, the first new door in eight +hundred years. To Dandrik, it threatened invalidation of everything he +had taught since the morning he had opened his first class. He could no +longer say to his pupils, "You are here to learn from me." He would have +to say, more humbly, "_We_ are here to learn from the Universe." + +It had happened so many times before, too. The comfortable and +established Universe had fitted all the known facts--and then new facts +had been learned that wouldn't fit it. The third planet of the Sol +system had once been the center of the Universe, and then Terra, and +Sol, and even the galaxy, had been forced to abdicate centricity. The +atom had been indivisible--until somebody divided it. There had been +intangible substance that had permeated the Universe, because it had +been necessary for the transmission of light--until it was demonstrated +to be unnecessary and nonexistent. And the speed of light had been the +ultimate velocity, once, and could be exceeded no more than the atom +could be divided. And light-speed had been constant, regardless of +distance from source, and the Universe, to explain certain observed +phenomena, had been believed to be expanding simultaneously in all +directions. And the things that had happened in psychology, when +psi-phenomena had become too obvious to be shrugged away. + +"And then, when Dr. Dandrik ordered you to drop this experiment, just +when it was becoming interesting, you refused?" + +"Your Majesty, I couldn't stop, not then. But Dr. Dandrik ordered the +apparatus dismantled and scrapped, and I'm afraid I lost my head. Told +him I'd punch his silly old face in, for one thing." + +"You admit that?" Chancellor Khane cried. + +"I think you showed admirable self-restraint in not doing it. Did you +explain to Chancellor Khane the importance of this experiment?" + +"I tried to, Your Majesty, but he simply wouldn't listen." + +"But, Your Majesty!" Khane expostulated. "Professor Dandrik is head of +the department, and one of the foremost physicists of the Empire, and +this young man is only one of the junior assistant-professors. Isn't +even a full professor, and he got his degree from some school away +off-planet. University of Brannerton on Gimli." + +"Were you a pupil of Professor Vann Evaratt?" Prince Travann asked +sharply. + +"Why, yes, sir. I----" + +"Ha, no wonder!" Dandrik crowed. "Your Majesty, that man's an +out-and-out charlatan! He was kicked out of the University here ten +years ago, and I'm surprised he could even get on the faculty of a +school like Brannerton, on a planet like Gimli." + +"Why, you stupid old fool!" Faress yelled at him. "You aren't enough of +a physicist to oil robots in Vann Evaratt's lab!" + +"There, Your Majesty," Khane said. "You see how much respect for +authority this hooligan has!" + +On Aditya, such would be unthinkable; on Aditya, everybody respects +authority. Whether it's respectable or not. + +Count Tammsan laughed, and he realized that he must have spoken aloud. +Nobody else seemed to have gotten the joke. + +"Well, how about the riot, now?" he asked. "Who started that?" + +"Colonel Handrosan made an investigation on the spot," Prince Travann +said. "May I suggest that we hear his report?" + +"Yes indeed. Colonel?" + +Handrosan rose and stood with his hands behind his back, looking fixedly +at the wall behind the desk. + +[Illustration] + +"Your Majesty, the students of Professor Faress' advanced subnuclear +physics class, postgraduate students, all of them, were told of +Professor Faress' dismissal by a faculty member who had taken over the +class this morning. They all got up and walked out in a body, and +gathered outdoors on the campus to discuss the matter. At the next class +break, they were joined by other science students, and they went into +the stadium, where they were joined, half an hour later, by more +students who had learned of the dismissal in the meantime. At no time +was the gathering disorderly. The stadium is covered by a viewscreen +pickup which is fitted with a recording device; there is a complete +audio-visual of the whole thing, including the attack on them by the +campus police. + +"This attack was ordered by Chancellor Khane, at about 1100; the chief +of the campus police was told to clear the stadium, and when he asked if +he was to use force, Chancellor Khane told him to use anything he wanted +to." + +"I did not! I told him to get the students out of the stadium, but----" + +"The chief of campus police carries a personal wire recorder," Handrosan +said, in his flat monotone. "He has a recording of the order, in +Chancellor Khane's own voice. I heard it myself. The police," he +continued, "first tried to use gas, but the wind was against them. They +then tried to use sono-stunners, but the students rushed them and +overwhelmed them. If Your Majesty will permit a personal opinion, while +I do not sympathize with their subsequent attack on the Administration +Center, they were entirely within their rights in defending themselves +in the stadium, and it's hard enough to stop trained and disciplined +troops when they are winning. After defeating the police, they simply +went on by what might be called the momentum of victory." + +"Then you'd say that it's positively established that the students were +behaving in a peacable and orderly manner in the stadium when they were +attacked, and that Chancellor Khane ordered the attack personally?" + +"I would, emphatically, Your Majesty." + +"I think we've done enough here, gentlemen." He turned to Count Tammsan. +"This is, jointly, the affair of Education and Security. I would suggest +that you and Prince Travann join in a formal and public inquiry, and +until all the facts have been established and recorded and action +decided upon, the dismissal of Professor Faress be reversed and he be +restored to his position on the faculty." + +"Yes, Your Majesty," Tammsan agreed. "And I think it would be a good +idea for Chancellor Khane to take a vacation till then, too." + +"I would further suggest that, as this microposito experiment is crucial +to the whole question, it should be repeated. Under the personal +direction of Professor Faress." + +"I agree with that, Your Majesty," Prince Travann said. "If it's as +important as I think it is, Professor Dandrik is greatly to be censured +for ordering it stopped and for failing to report this anticipation +effect." + +"We'll consult about the inquiry, including the experiment, tomorrow, +Your Highness," Tammsan told Travann. + +Paul rose, and everybody rose with him. "That being the case, you +gentlemen are all excused. The students' procession ought to be +arriving, now, and I want to tell them what's going to be done. Prince +Travann, Count Tammsan; do you care to accompany me?" + + * * * * * + +Going up to the central terrace in front of the Octagon Tower, he turned +to Count Tammsan. + +"I notice you laughed at that remark of mine about Aditya," he said. +"Have you met the First Citizen?" + +"Only on screen, sir. He was at me for about an hour, this morning. It +seems that they are reforming the educational system on Aditya. On +Aditya, everything gets reformed every ten years, whether it needs it or +not. He came here to find somebody to take charge of the reformation." + +He stopped short, bringing the others to a halt beside him, and laughed +heartily. + +"Well, we'll send First Citizen Yaggo away happy; we'll make him a +present of the most distinguished educator on Odin." + +"Khane?" Tammsan asked. + +"Khane. Isn't it wonderful; if you have a few problems, you have +trouble, but if you have a whole lot of problems, they start solving +each other. We get a chance to get rid of Khane and create a vacancy +that can be filled by somebody big enough to fill it; the Ministry of +Education gets out from under a nasty situation; First Citizen Yaggo +gets what he thinks he wants----" + +"And if I know Khane and if I know the People's Commonwealth of Aditya, +it won't be a year before Yaggo has Khane shot or stuffs him into jail, +and then the Space Navy will have an excuse to visit Aditya, and +Aditya'll never be the same afterward," Prince Travann added. + +The students massed on the front lawns were still cheering as they went +down after addressing them. The Security Guards were conspicuously +absent and it was a detail of red-kilted Thoran riflemen who met them as +they entered the hall to the Session Chamber. Prince Ganzay approached, +attended by two Household Guard officers, a human and a Thoran. Count +Tammsan looked from one to the other of his companions, bewildered. The +bewildering thing was that everything was as it should be. + +"Well, gentlemen," Paul said, "I'm sure that both of you will want to +confer for a moment with your colleagues in the Rotunda before the +Session. Please don't feel obliged to attend me further." + +Prince Ganzay approached as they went down the hall. "Your Majesty, what +_is_ going on here?" he demanded querulously. "Just who is in control of +the Palace--you or Prince Travann? And where is His Imperial Highness, +and where is General Dorflay?" + +"I sent Dorflay to join Prince Rodrik's picnic party. If you're upset +about this, you can imagine what he might have done here." + +Prince Ganzay looked at him curiously for a moment. "I thought I +understood what was happening," he said. "Now I---- This business about +the students, sir; how did it come out?" + +Paul told him. They talked for a while, and then the Prime Minister +looked at his watch, and suggested that the Session ought to be getting +started. Paul nodded, and they went down the hall and into the Rotunda. + +The big semicircular lobby was empty, now, except for a platoon of +Household Guards, and the Empress Marris and her ladies-in-waiting. She +advanced as quickly as her sheath gown would permit, and took his arm; +the ladies-in-waiting fell in behind her, and Prince Ganzay went ahead, +crying: "My Lords, Your Venerable Highnesses, gentlemen; His Imperial +Majesty!" + +Marris tightened her grip on his arm as they started forward. "Paul!" +she hissed into his ear. "What is this silly story about Yorn Travann +trying to seize the Throne?" + +"Isn't it? Yorn's been too close the Throne for too long not to know +what sort of a seat it is. He'd commit any crime up to and including +genocide to keep off it." + +She gave a quick skip to get into step with him. "Then why's he filled +the Palace with these blackcoats? Is Rod all right?" + +"Perfectly all right; he's somewhere out in the mountains, keeping Harv +Dorflay out of mischief." + + * * * * * + +They crossed the Session Hall and took their seats on the double throne; +everybody sat down, and the Prime Minister, after some formalities, +declared the Plenary Session in being. Almost at once, one of the +Prince-Counselors was on his feet begging His Majesty's leave to +interrogate the Government. + +"I wish to ask His Highness the Minister of Security the meaning of all +this unprecedented disturbance, both here in the Palace and in the +city," he said. + +Prince Travann rose at once. "Your Majesty, in reply to the question of +His Venerable Highness," he began, and then launched himself into an +account of the student riot, the march to petition the emperor, and the +clash with the nonworking class hooligans. "As to the affair at the +University, I hesitate to speak on what is really the concern of His +Lordship the Minister of Education, but as to the fighting in the city, +if it is still going on, I can assure His Venerable Highness that the +Gendarmes and Security Guards have it well in hand; the persons +responsible are being rounded up, and, if the Minister of Justice +concurs, an inquiry will be started tomorrow." + +The Minister of Justice assured the Minister of Security that his +Ministry would be quite ready to co-operate in the inquiry. Count +Tammsan then got up and began talking about the riot at the University. + +"What did happen, Paul?" Marris whispered. + +"Chancellor Khane sacked a science professor for being too interested in +science. The students didn't like it. I think Khane's successor will +rectify that. Have a good time at the Flower Festivals?" + +She raised her fan to hide a grimace. "I made my schedule," she said. +"Tomorrow, I have fifty more booked." + +"Your Imperial Majesty!" The Counselor who had risen paused, to make +sure that he had the Imperial attention, before continuing: "Inasmuch as +this question also seems to involve a scientific experiment, I would +suggest that the Ministry of Science and Technology is also interested +and since there is at present no Minister holding that portfolio, I +would suggest that the discussion be continued after a Minister has been +elected." + +The Minister of Health and Sanity jumped to his feet. + +"Your Imperial Majesty; permit me to concur with the proposal of His +Venerable Highness, and to extend it with the subproposal that the +Ministry of Science and Technology be abolished, and its functions and +personnel divided among the other Ministries, specifically those of +Education and of Economics." + +The Minister of Fine Arts was up before he was fully seated. + +"Your Imperial Majesty; permit me to concur with the proposal of Count +Guilfred, and to extend it further with the proposal that the Ministry +of Defense, now also vacant, be likewise abolished, and its functions +and personnel added to the Ministry of Security under His Highness +Prince Travann." + +So that was it! Marris, beside him, said, "Well!" He had long ago +discovered that she could pack more meaning into that monosyllable than +the average counselor could into a half-hour's speech. Prince Ganzay was +thunderstruck, and from the Bench of Counselors six or eight voices were +babbling loudly at once. Four Ministers were on their feet clamoring for +recognition; Count Duklass of Economics was yelling the loudest, so he +got it. + + * * * * * + +"Your Imperial Majesty; it would have been most unseemly in me to have +spoken in favor of the proposal of Count Guilfred, being an interested +party, but I feel no such hesitation in concurring with the proposal of +Baron Garatt, the Minister of Fine Arts. Indeed, I consider it a most +excellent proposal----" + +"And I consider it the most diabolically dangerous proposal to be made +in this Hall in the last six centuries!" old Admiral Gaklar shouted. +"This is a proposal to concentrate all the armed force of the Empire in +the hands of one man. Who can say what unscrupulous use might be made of +such power?" + +"Are you intimating, Prince-Counselor, that Prince Travann is +contemplating some tyrannical or subversive use of such power?" Count +Tammsan, of all people, demanded. + +There was a concerted gasp at that; about half the Plenary Session were +absolutely sure that he was. Admiral Geklar backed quickly away from the +question. + +"Prince Travann will not be the last Minister of Security," he said. + +"What I was about to say, Your Majesty, is that as matters stand, +Security has a virtual monopoly on armed power on this planet. When +these disorders in the city--which Prince Travann's men are now bringing +under control--broke out, there was, I am informed, an order sent out to +bring Regular Army and Planetary Militia into Asgard. It will be hours +before any of the former can arrive, and at least a day before the +latter can even be mobilized. By the time any of them get here, there +will be nothing for them to do. Is that not correct, Prince Ganzay?" + +The Prime Minister looked at him angrily, stung by the realization that +somebody else had a personal intelligence service as good as his own, +then swallowed his anger and assented. + +"Furthermore," Count Duklass continued, "the Ministry of Defense, +itself, is an anachronism, which no doubt accounts for the condition in +which we now find it. The Empire has no external enemies whatever; all +our defense problems are problems of internal security. Let us therefore +turn the facilities over to the Ministry responsible for the tasks." + +The debate went on and on; he paid less and less attention to it, and it +became increasingly obvious that opposition to the proposition was +dwindling. Cries of, "Vote! Vote!" began to be heard from its +supporters. Prince Ganzay rose from his desk and came to the throne. + +"Your Imperial Majesty," he said softly. "I am opposed to this +proposition, but I am convinced that enough favor it to pass it, even +over Your Majesty's veto. Before the vote is called, does Your Majesty +wish my resignation?" + +He rose and stepped down beside the Prime Minister, putting an arm over +Prince Ganzay's shoulder. + +"Far from it, old friend," he said, in a distinctly audible voice. "I +will have too much need for you. But, as for the proposal, I don't +oppose it. I think it an excellent one; it has my approval." He lowered +his voice. "As soon as it's passed, place General Dorflay's name in +nomination." + +The Prime Minister looked at him sadly for a moment, then nodded, +returning to his desk, where he rapped for order and called for the +vote. + +"Well, if you can't lick them, join them," Marris said as he sat down +beside her. "And if they start chasing you, just yell, 'There he goes; +follow me!'" + +The proposal carried, almost unanimously. Prince Ganzay then presented +the name of Captain-General Dorflay for elevation to the Bench of +Counselors, and the emperor decreed it. As soon as the Session was +adjourned and he could do so, he slipped out the little door behind the +throne, into an elevator. + + * * * * * + +In the room at the top of the Octagon Tower, he laid aside his belt and +dress dagger and unfastened his tunic, than sat down in his deep chair +and called a serving robot. It was the one which had brought him his +breakfast, and he greeted it as a friend; it lit a cigarette for him, +and poured a drink of brandy. For a long time he sat, smoking and +sipping and looking out the wide window to the west, where the orange +sun was firing the clouds behind the mountains, and he realized that he +was abominably tired. Well, no wonder; more Empire history had been made +today than in the years since he had come to the Throne. + +Then something behind him clicked. He turned his head, to see Yorn +Travann emerge from the concealed elevator. He grinned and lifted his +drink in greeting. + +"I thought you'd be a little late," he said. "Everybody trying to climb +onto the bandwagon?" + +Yorn Travann came forward, unbuckling his belt and laying it with +Paul's; he sank into the chair opposite, and the robot poured him a +drink. + +"Well, do you blame them? What would it have looked like to you, in +their place?" + +"A _coup d'etat_. For that matter, wasn't that what it was? Why didn't +you tell me you were springing it?" + +"I didn't spring it; it was sprung on me. I didn't know a thing about it +till Max Duklass buttonholed me down by the landing stage. I'd intended +fighting this proposal to partition Science and Technology, but this +riot blew up and scared Duklass and Tammsan and Guilfred and the rest of +them. They weren't too sure of their majority--that's why they had the +election postponed a couple of times--but they were sure that the riot +would turn some of the undecided Counselors against them. So they +offered to back me to take over Defense in exchange for my supporting +their proposal. It looked too good to pass up." + +"Even at the price of wrecking Science and Technology?" + +"It was wrecked, or left to rust into uselessness, long ago. The main +function of Technology has been to suppress anything that might threaten +this state of economic _rigor mortis_ that Duklass calls stability, and +the function of Science has been to let muttonheads like Khane and +Dandrik dominate the teaching of science. Well, Defense has its own +scientific and technical sections, and when we come to carving the bird, +Duklass and Tammsan are going to see a lot of slices going onto my +plate." + +"And when it's all cut up, it will be discovered that there is no +provision for original research. So it will please My Majesty to +institute an Imperial Office of Scientific Research, independent of any +Ministry, and guess who'll be named to head it." + +"Faress. And, by the way, we're all set on Khane, too. First Citizen +Yaggo is as delighted to have him as we are to get rid of him. Why don't +we get Vann Evaratt back, and give him the job?" + +"Good. If he takes charge there at the opening of the next academic +year, in ten years we'll have a thousand young men, maybe ten times that +many, who won't be afraid of new things and new ideas. But the main +thing is that now you have Defense, and now the plan can really start +firing all jets." + +"Yes." Yorn Travann got out his cigarettes and lit one. Paul glanced at +the robot, hoping that its feelings hadn't been hurt. "All these native +uprisings I've been blowing up out of inter-tribal knife fights, and all +these civil wars my people have been manufacturing; there'll be more of +them, and I'll start yelling my head off for an adequate Space Navy, and +after we get it, these local troubles will all stop, and then what'll we +be expected to do? Scrap the ships?" + +They both knew what would be done with some of them. It would have to be +done stealthily, while nobody was looking, but some of those ships would +go far beyond the boundaries of the Empire, and new things would happen. +New worlds, new problems. Great and frightening changes. + +"Paul, we agreed upon this long ago, when we were still boys at the +University. The Empire stopped growing, and when things stop growing, +they start dying, the death of petrifaction. And when petrifaction is +complete, the cracking and the crumbling starts, and there's no way of +stopping it. But if we can get people out onto new planets, the Empire +won't die; it'll start growing again." + +"You didn't start that thing at the University, this morning, yourself, +did you?" + +"Not the student riot, no. But the hooligan attack, yes. That was some +of my own men. The real hooligans began looting after Handrosan had +gotten the students out of the district. We collared all of them, +including their boss, Nutchy the Knife, right away, and as soon as we +did that, Big Moogie and Zikko the Nose tried to move in. We're cleaning +them up now. By tomorrow morning there won't be one of these nonworkers' +voting blocks left in Asgard, and by the end of the week they'll be +cleaned up all over Odin. I have discovered a plot, and they're all +involved in it." + +"Wait a moment." Paul got to his feet. "That reminds me; Harv Dorflay's +hiding Rod and Olva out in the mountains. I wanted him out of here while +things were happening. I'll have to call him and tell him it's safe to +come in, now." + +"Well, zip up your tunic and put your dagger on; you look as though +you'd been arrested, disarmed and searched." + +"That's right." He hastily repaired his appearance and went to the +screen across the room, punching out the combination of the screen with +Rodrik's picnic party. + + * * * * * + +A young lieutenant of the Household Troops appeared in it, and had to be +reassured. He got General Dorflay. + +"Your Majesty! You are all right?" + +"Perfectly all right, general, and it's quite safe to bring His Imperial +Highness in. The conspiracy against the Throne has been crushed." + +"Oh, thank the gods! Is Prince Travann a prisoner?" + +"Quite the contrary, general. It was our loyal and devoted subject, +Prince Travann, who crushed the conspiracy." + +"But--But, Your Majesty----!" + +"You aren't to be blamed for suspecting him, general. His agents were +working in the very innermost councils of the conspirators. Every one of +the people whom you suspected--with excellent reason--was actually +working to defeat the plot. Think back, general; the scheme to put the +gun in the viewscreen, the scheme to sabotage the elevator, the scheme +to introduce assassins into the orchestra with guns built into their +trumpets--every one came to your notice because of what seemed to be +some indiscretion of the plotters, didn't it?" + +"Why ... why, yes, Your Majesty!" By this time tomorrow, he would have a +complete set of memories for each one of them. "You mean, the +indiscretions were deliberate?" + +"Your vigilance and loyalty made it necessary for them to resort to +these fantastic expedients, and your vigilance defeated them as fast as +they came to your notice. Well, today, Prince Travann and I struck back. +I may tell you, in confidence, that every one of the conspirators is +dead. Killed in this afternoon's rioting--which was incited for that +purpose by Prince Travann." + +"Then---- Then there will be no more plots against your life?" There was +a note of regret in the old man's voice. + +"No more, Your Venerable Highness." + +"But---- What did Your Majesty call me?" he asked incredulously. + +"I took the honor of being the first to address you by your new title, +Prince-Counselor Dorflay." + +He left the old man overcome, and blubbering happily on the shoulder of +the Crown Prince, who winked at his father out of the screen. Prince +Travann had gotten a couple of fresh drinks from the robot and handed +one to him when he returned to his chair. + +"He'll be finding the Bench of Counselors riddled with treason inside a +week," Travann said. "You handled that just right, though. Another case +of making problems solve each other." + +"You were telling me about a plot you'd discovered." + +"Oh, yes: this is one to top Dorflay's best efforts. All the voting-bloc +bosses on Odin are in a conspiracy to start a civil war to give them a +chance to loot the planet. There isn't a word of truth in it, of course, +but it'll do to arrest and hold them for a few days, and by that time +some of my undercovers will be in control of every nonworker vote on the +planet. After all, the Cartels put an end to competition in every other +business; why not a Voting Cartel, too? Then, whenever there's an +election, we just advertise for bids." + +"Why, that would mean absolute control----" + +"Of the nonworking vote, yes. And I'll guarantee, personally, that in +five years the politics of Odin will have become so unbearably corrupt +and abusive that the intellectuals, the technicians, the business +people, even the nobility, will be flocking to the polls to vote, and if +only half of them turn out, they'll snow the nonworkers under. And +that'll mean, eventually, an end to vote-selling, and the nonworkers'll +have to find work. We'll find it for them." + +"Great and frightening changes." Yorn Travann laughed; he recognized the +phrase. Probably started it himself. Paul lifted his glass. "To the +Minister of Disturbance!" + +"Your Majesty!" They drank to each other, and then Yorn Travann said, +"We had a lot of wild dreams, when we were boys; it looks as though +we're starting to make some of them come true. You know, when we were in +the University, the students would never have done what they did today. +They didn't even do it ten years ago, when Vann Evaratt was dismissed." + +"And Van Evaratt's pupil came back to Odin and touched this whole thing +off." He thought for a moment. "I wonder what Faress has, in that +anticipation effect." + +"I think I can see what can come out of it. If he can propagate a wave +that behaves like those micropositos, we may not have to depend on ships +for communication. We may be able, some day, to screen Baldur or Vishnu +or Aton or Thor as easily as you screened Dorflay, up in the mountains." +He thought silently for a moment. "I don't know whether that would be +good or bad. But it would be new, and that's what matters. That's the +only thing that matters." + +"Flower Festivals," Paul said, and, when Yorn Travann wanted to know +what he meant, he told him. "When Princess Olva's Empress, she's going +to curse the name of Klenn Faress. Flower Festivals, all around the +galaxy, without end." + + +THE END + + ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | +| Transcriber's Note & Errata | +| | +| There were 2 instances of 'cooking-robot' and one of | +| 'cooking robot' | +| | +| There was one instance of 'patriarchial' which was not | +| corrected. | +| | +| The following typographical errors were corrected: | +| | +| Page Error Correction | +| | +| 15 attion attention | +| 19 Ranuf's Ranulf's | +| 25 Tammsen Tammsan | +| 29 rerespectable respectable | +| 33 student's students | +| 34 Geklar Gaklar | +| 34 tyranical tyrannical | +| 36 Duklas Duklass | ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ministry of Disturbance, by Henry Beam Piper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINISTRY OF DISTURBANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 20659.txt or 20659.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/6/5/20659/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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