A captain reported that Kleomenes, the leader of Kleomenujo, had been found dead near the Riveredge, where a piece of rock shrapnel had entered his skull. So ended the half-brother of the great Spartan, Leonidas, who defended the pass of Thermopylae. Or so he ended in this area, at least.
Sam appointed some men to leave by boat immediately for the two countries. They were to inform them that Parolando did not intend to take vengeance if the new leaders would guarantee friendship to Parolando. John complained that he should have been consulted, and there was a short but savage argument. Sam finally agreed that John was right in principle, but there was no time to discuss certain matters. John informed him that, under the law, Sam had to take the time. Any decision had to be agreed upon by both of them.
Sam hated to agree, but John was right. They couldn’t be giving contradictory orders.
They went together to inspect the factories. These were not badly damaged. The invaders had not, of course, wanted to wreck them since they had intended to use them. The amphibian, the Firedragon 1, was untouched. Sam shuddered when he thought of what might have happened if it had been completed and had fallen into the hands of the enemy. With it, they could have crushed the Parolandoj in the center and dug in to fight on the perimeter until reinforcements came. He would set up a large special guard around the vehicle.
He fell asleep after lunch in a Councilman’s hut. It seemed that he had just closed his eyes when he was shaken awake. Joe was standing over him, breathing bourbon fumes from his tremendous proboscis. “The delegathyon from Thou! Thity jutht landed.”
“Firebrass!” Sam said, standing up from the chair. “I forgot all about him! What a time for him to show up!”
He walked down to The River, where a catamaran was beached near the grailstone. John was already there, greeting the delegation, which consisted of six blacks, two Arabs, and two Asiatic Indians. Firebrass was a short, bronze-skinned, curly-haired man with big brown eyes flecked with green. His huge forehead and shoulders and thickly muscled arms contrasted with his skinny legs, making him look all top. He spoke in Esperanto at first but later used English. It was a very strange English, full of terms and slang that Sam did not understand. But there was a warmth and openness about Firebrass that made Sam feel good just to have him around.
“We better go back to Esperanto,” Sam said, smiling and pouring three more slugs of scotch into Firebrass’ cup. “Is that spaceman’s lingo or Soul City dialect?”
“Marsman’s,” Firebrass said. “Soul City English is pretty wild, but the official language, of course, is Esperanto, though Hacking was considering Arabic. But he isn’t too happy about his Arabs anymore,” he added in a lower voice, looking at Abd ar-Rahman and AM Fazghuli, the Arab members of his delegation.
“As you can see,” Sam said, “we are in no condition to have a long, leisurely conference. Not now. We have to clean up, get information about what’s going on outside Parolando and set up our defenses. But you are welcome, of course, and we’ll get around to business within a few days.”
“I don’t mind,” Firebrass said. “I’d like to look around, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t, but my co-Consul has to give his consent, too.”
John, smiling as if it hurt his teeth to be exposed to the air—and it probably did this time—said that Firebrass was welcome. But he would have to be accompanied by a guard of honor every time he left the quarters that would be assigned to him. Firebrass thanked him, but another delegate, Abdullah X, protested loudly and occasionally obscenely. Firebrass said nothing for a minute and then told Abdullah to be polite, since they were guests. Sam was grateful, though he wondered if the speech and Fire-brass’ command had not been prearranged.
It had not been easy to sit there and listen, though the vitriolics had been hurled at the white race in general and no one in particular. It troubled him, but Sam had to agree with Abdullah. He was right about conditions as they had been. But old Earth was dead; they were living in a new world.