“All right, all right, you’ve convinced me that you have a wise head on you. I. can’t take a blind chance with the lives of five billion people any more than you can. Want me to crawl?”
“No, sir. But I am much relieved. Thank you.”
“You’re relieved? How about me? Now tell me how you intend to play this. I’m still in the dark.”
“Very well, Mr. Secretary. In the first place I have sent for the Stuart boy’..”
“The Stuart boy? Why?”
“To persuade him to go. I want his consent.”
The Secretary looked as if he could not believe his ears. “Do I understand, Mr. Kiku, that after rejecting their ultimatum your only plan is to capitulate?”
“That is not how I would describe it.”
“I don’t care what diplomatese you phrase it in. We will not surrender the boy. I was not willing to take a risk blindly, but this is another matter. I will not surrender one human being no matter what the pressure is. . . and I can assure you that the Council will agree. There is such a thing as human dignity. I must add that I am astonished. . . and disgusted.”
“May I continue, sir?”
“Well. . . go ahead. Speak your piece.”
“No thought of surrendering the boy was ever in my mind. In the science of diplomacy appeasement has long been an exploded theory. Had I even considered sacrificing the boy, I would applaud your disgust. As it is, it missed me.”
“But you said. . .”
“Please, sir. I know what I said. I sent for the boy to explore his own wishes. From what I know of him it is possible that he will be willing, even eager.”
MacClure shook his head. “It’s not something we could permit, even if the lad were crazy enough to do it. Nine hundred light-years from other human beings? I would as soon offer poison to a baby.”
“That’s not the picture at all, sir. . . If I have his consent, I can keep the fact to myself during negotiations play from a concealed ace. There is much to negotiate.”
“Such as?”
“Their science. Their trade. A whole new volume of space. The possibilities can be only dimly seen.”
MacClure stirred restlessly. “I’m not sure but what that attack is still the thing to do. If men are men, some risks must be taken. Snuggling up to vermin who threaten us. . . I. don’t like it.”
“Mr. Secretary, if my plans do not work. . . or fail to meet your approval, then I will join you in shouting defiance at the sky. We should bargain. . . but bargain as men.”
“Well. . . go on. Tell me the rest.”
XIII. “No, Mr. Secretary”
Mr. Kiku’s wife let him sleep late the next morning. She did this occasionally, reasoning that no crisis was important enough to wake him when he needed rest. When he got to his office he found Wesley Robbins, Special Assistant Secretary for public relations, asleep in his chair. Robbins was not a diplomat, did not want to be one, and made a point of showing it.
“Good morning, Wes,” Mr. Kiku said mildly.
“What’s good about it?” Robbins chucked a copy of the CAPITAL TIMES at the Under Secretary. “Seen this?”
“No.” Mr. Kiku unfolded it.
“Twenty-three years in the newspaper business . . to be scooped on my own beat.”
Mr. Kiku read:
ALIEN INVADERS
THREATEN WAR! ! !
Demand Hostages
Capital Enclave, Sep. 12 (GP). . . Space Secretary MacClure revealed today that the xenic visitors dubbed “Hroshii” now landed at Capital port have demanded, under threats of war, that the Federation. . .
Kiku scanned down, saw that a distortion of his answer to the Hroshii had been credited to Secretary MacClure, with no mention of the possibility of peaceful settlement. A trailer story reported the Chief of the General Staff as assuring Earth and all the federated planets that there was nothing to fear from the insolent aliens. A South Asian senator demanded to know what steps were being taken. . . Kiku glanced at it all but discarded the meaningless 90%, including a blast from the Keep Earth Human League and a “We Stand at the Crossroads” editorial. There was an interview with Mrs. Murgatroyd but he did not take time to find out which side Pidgie-Widgie was on.