‘What a hell of a logic – excuse me, please. Skip it.’
‘Oh, you really meant it when you said you weren’t going to fight with me any more?’
‘I’m going to try not to. Now remembering that I don’t consider your premise valid, just suppose that when we visit some planet some day, you get your mind burned out and I don’t -solely because I had something I could have given you and wouldn’t. What then?’
‘Oh. I thought that was what you … but suppose that I can’t…’
‘We won’t suppose anything of the kind. But that wasn’t all that was on your mind. Nor most.’ ‘How true. Those Primes – the women. Honestly, Clee, I
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never imagined such a bunch of exhibitionistic, obnoxious, swell-headed, spoiled-rotten bitches in my whole life. And every day it was borne in on me more and more that I’m exactly like the rest of them.’
Garlock was wise enough to say nothing, and Belle went on:
‘I’ve been talking a good game of licking myself, but this time I’m going to do it.’
She jumped up and doubled her fists. ‘If you can do it, I can,’ she declared. ‘Like the ancient song – “Anything you can do I can do better; I can do anything better than you.”‘ She tried to be jaunty, but the jauntiness did not ring quite true.
‘That’s an unfortunate quotation, I’m afraid. The trouble is, I haven’t.’
‘Huh? Don’t be an idiot, Clee. You certainly have – what else do you suppose put me so far down in the dumps?’
‘In that case, you certainly will. So come on up out of the dumps.’
‘Okay – I certainly will. But for a woman who’s been talking so big, I feel low in my mind. A goodnight kiss, Clee darling? Just one; and just a little one, at that?’
There were more than one, and none of them was very little. Eventually, however, the two stood, arms still around each other, in the corridor between their doors.
‘But kissing’s as far as it goes, isn’t it,’ Belle said. The remark was not a question; nor was it quite a statement.
That’s right.’
‘So goodnight, darling.’
‘Goodnight.’
And when they next saw each other, at the breakfast table, Belle was apparently her usual dauntless self.
‘Hi, darling; sit down,’ she said gaily. ‘Your breakfast is on the table.’
They ate in silence for a few minutes; then her hand crept tentatively across the table. He pressed it warmly. ‘You look great, Belle. Out of the dumps?’
‘Pretty much – in most ways. One way, though, I’m in deeper than ever. You see, I know exactly what you did to Fao Talaho – and why neither you nor anybody else could do it to me. Or if they could, what would happen if they did.’
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‘I was hoping you would. I couldn’t very well tell you, before, but…”
‘Of course not. I see that.’
‘… the fact is that Fao, and all the others we’ve met, are young enough, unformed enough – yes, damn it, weak enough – to bend. But you are tremendously strong, and twelve numbers Rockwell harder than a diamond. You wouldn’t bend. If enough stress could be applied – and that’s decidedly questionable – you’d break. I can’t figure it. You’re a little older, of course, but certainly not enough to …’
‘How about the fact that I’ve been banging myself for eight years again Cleander Garlock, the top Prime of the universe? That might have something to do with it, don’t you think?’
‘Indefensible conclusions drawn from insufficient data,’ Garlock countered. ‘That’s just what I’ve been talking about. No matter how we got the way we are, though, the fact is that you and I have got to fight our own battles and bury our own dead.’
‘Check. Like having a baby, but worse. There’s nothing anybody else can do – even you – except maybe hold my hand, like now.’
‘That’s about it. But speaking of holding hands, would it help if we paired again?’
Belle studied the question for two full minutes; her fine eyes clouded. Then she shook her head. ‘No. I’d enjoy it too much, and you’d … well, it would…’
‘What?’
‘Oh, physically, of course; but that isn’t enough, or good enough, now. You see, I know what your personal code is. It’s unbelievable, almost – I never heard of one like it, except maybe a priest or two – but I admire you tremendously for it. You would never, willingly, pair with a woman you really loved. That was why you were so glad to break ours off. You can’t deny it.’
T won’t try to deny it. But you can’t bluff me, Belle, so please quit trying. Basically, your code is the same as mine. Why else did you initiate our break?’
Her block went on solid, and Garlock said hastily, aloud, ‘Excuse it, please. Cancel. I’ve just said, and know as an im-pirical fact, that you’ve got to do the job alone – but I can’t
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seem to help putting my foot in it by blundering in anyway. Let’s get to work, shall we?’
‘What at? Interview the Primes, I’d say – tell them to hold themselves in readiness to attend…’
‘On very short notice…’
‘Yes. To attend the big meeting on Tellus. We’ll have to make a schedule. It shouldn’t be held until after Fao and Deg get their ship built – it can’t be held, of course, until after you and Jim are out of SSE. Have you got that figured out yet?’
‘Pretty much.’ He told her his plan.
Belle listened, then burst into laughter. ‘So I’m in it, too? Wonderful!’
‘You have to be. If we make him mad enough he’ll fire you, too.’
‘Without hiring me first? He couldn’t.’
‘He could – very easily. He doesn’t know one-tenth of one percent of his people. If we work it right he’ll assume that you’re one of us wage-slaves, too. Lola, too, for that matter.’
‘Careful, Clee. You and I think this is funny, but Lola wouldn’t. She’d be shocked to her sweet little core, and she’d louse up the whole idea. So be very sure she doesn’t get in on it.’
‘I guess you’re right… Well, shall we go out and insult our touchy young friend Semolo? Ready … go?’
‘Oh it’s you again. I tell you…’ the Lizorian began.
‘You will tell me nothing. You will listen. Link your mind to Mitala’s.” The fused Tellurian minds enforced the order. ‘In about two weeks the Primes of many worlds will meet in person on Tellus. Arrange your affairs so that on ten minutes’ notice you can both leave Lizoria for Tellus aboard our star-ship, the Pleiades. That is all.’
‘He’ll come, too,’ Belle chortled.
‘You couldn’t keep him away,” Garlock agreed.
On the next planet, Falne, the procedure was a little different. The information was the same, but – ‘One word of warning,’ Garlock added. ‘It is to be a meeting of minds, not a contest to set up a pecking-order. If you try any such business you will be disciplined – sharply and in public.’
‘Suppose that, under such conditions, we refuse to attend the meeting?’
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‘That is your right. There is no coercion whatever. Whether or not you come will depend upon whether or not you two are in reality Seekers after Truth. Until a day.’
And so it went. Planet after planet. On not one of those worlds had any Prime changed his thinking. Not one was really interested in the Galactic Service as an instrument for the good of all mankind. There were almost as many attitudes as there were Primes; but all were essentially self-centered and selfish.
‘That tears it, Belle – busts it wide open. The two of us together can do either job – that is, either be top boss and run the thing or put in full time beating some sense into those hard, thick skulls. We can’t do both.’
‘On paper, we should,’ Belle said, thoughtfully. ‘You’re Galactic Admiral; I’m your Vice. One job apiece. But we’re not going to be separated. Besides…’
Two minds are much better than one,’ he said.
Belle laughed. That settles that. The Garlock-Bellamy fusion is Galactic Admiral – so we need a good Vice. Who? Deggi and Fao? They’re cooperative and idealistic enough, but… Oh, I don’t know exactly what it is they lack. Do you?’
‘No; I can’t put it into words, or thoughts. Probably the concept is too new for pigeonholing. It isn’t exactly strength or hardness or toughness or resilience or brisance – maybe a combination of all five. What we need is a pair like us but better.’
‘There aren’t any.’
‘Don’t be too sure.’ Belle glanced at him in surprise and he went on: ‘Not that we’ve seen, no. But each of those worlds centers a volume of space containing thousands of planets. Including the Tellurian and the Margonian, we now have forty-eight regions defined. Let’s run a very fast search-pattern of Region Forty-Nine and see what we come up with.’