nomic prerequisites had all been taken care of. It didn’t quite work as planned, but it came frighteningly close.”
A new wave of mutterings broke out among the Thuriens. lidler waited for it to subside and then concluded in a quieter voice, “The tensions continued for over half a century, but despite the continuing Jevienese efforts, the global catastrophe that they sought never quite took place.” The next part was pure guesswork, but she continued without any change of tone. “They concluded that one day they would have to confront their rival themselves, and so embarked on a program of exaggerating Earth’s wars and armament developments to justify to the Thuriens their creation of a ‘protective’ strength of their own. At the same time they reversed their policy on Earth and used their network to defuse tensions, promote disarmament, and permit its people to develop their talents and resources creatively in the ways they had always wanted to. The object of this, of course, was to turn Earth into a defenseless target. To maintain the justification for increasing their own armed forces, they supplied the Thuriens with what gradually became a total fantasy manufactured inside JEVEX.”
Heller paused again, but this time there was no sound. She wheeled around to point at the Jevlenese, and her voice rose to an accusing shout. “They accuse us of killing each other, when all the time they know full well that their agents have orchestrated the worst episodes of havoc and bloodshed in Earth’s history. They have murdered more people than all the leaders of planet Earth put together.” Her voice fell to an ominous whisper. “But the unexpected arrival of the Shapieron threw all those plans into confusion. Here was a group of Ganymeans who would expose the lie if they were allowed to make contact with Thurien. Now we see the real reason why its existence was never disclosed.” The color was draining from Broghuilio’s face. Wylott had turned scarlet and seemed to be having difficulty breathing, while on Broghuilio’s other side Estordu was dripping with perspiration and shaking visibly. Across the room Garuth, Shilohin, and Monchar were sitting forward tensely as they sensed the moment approaching for them to reveal themselves.
“And now we come to the question of the Shapieron,~ Heller said. Her tone was almost soft, but menace was glittering in her eyes as she fixed them upon the Jevlenese. “We heard earlier a suggestion that Earth had sabotaged it. The suggestion is based on
what we have seen to be lies. The Shapieron was never in any jeopardy at any time during the six months it was on Earth. On the contrary, our relationship with the Ganymeans was very friendly. We have ample records to prove that.” She paused for a second. “But we do not have to rely on those records to prove that Earth did nothing to harm that ship or its occupants. We have far more convincing evidence than that.” Across the room Garuth and his companions stiffened. Calazar was about to give the instruction to VISAR.
And the Jevlenese vanished.
The floor where they had been standing was suddenly empty. Surprised murmurs broke out on all sides. After a few seconds VISAR announced, “JEVEX is cutting all its links. I have no access to it at all. It is ignoring requests to reconnect.”
“What do you mean?” Calazar asked. “You have no communications to Jevlen at all?”
“The whole planet is isolating itself,” VISAR replied. “All the Jevlenese worlds are disconnecting. JEVEX has detached and become an independent system. No further conununications or visits within its operating zone are possible.”
The consternation breaking out among the Thuriens meant that something very unusual was happening. Hunt turned to meet an inquiring look from Danchekker and shrugged. “It looks as if JEVEX has broken off diplomatic relations,” he said.
“What do you suppose it means?” Danchekker asked.
“Who knows? It sounds like a siege. They’re inside their own zone controlled by JEVEX, and JEVEX isn’t talking to anyone. So I guess that short of sending ships in there’s no way anyone can get at them now.”
“It might not be that easy,” Lyn said from Hunt’s other side. “If they’ve been setting themselves up as a Galactic police force, there could be a problem there.”