“Sir Harold Spencer here,” the Commander said.
The bubbling air seemed to draw in on itself and take solid form. Dr. Leoh sat at a desk chair and looked up at the standing Commander.
“Harold, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Leoh said, getting up from the chair.
Spencer’s stem eyes softened and his beefy face broke into a well-creased smile. “Albert, you ancient sorcerer. What do you mean by interrupting my first visit home in fifteen years?”
“It won’t be a long interruption,” Leoh said. “I merely want to inform you of something….”
“You told my chief of staff that it was urgent,” Sir Harold groused.
“It is. But it’s not the sort of problem that requires much action on your part. Yet. Are you familiar with recent political developments on the Kerak Worlds?”
Spencer snorted. “I know that a barbarian named Kanus has taken over as dictator. He’s a troublemaker. I’ve been trying to get the Commonwealth Council to let us quash him before he causes grief, but you know the Council … first wait until the flames have sprung up, then wail at the Star Watch to do something!”
Grinning, Leoh said, “You’re as irascible as ever.”
“My personality is not the subject of this rather expensive discussion. What about Kanus? And what are you doing, getting yourself involved in politics? About to change your profession again?”
“No, not at all,” Leoh answered with a laugh. Then, more seriously, “It seems that Kanus has discovered a method of using the dueling machine to achieve political advantages over his neighbors.”