The first day was quiet and uneventful. The second was marred by a long, loud theological argument between David and Thaddeus; David maintained that all men were damned unless they served the Lord's Anointed, while Thaddeus insisted that, quite aside from any spurious claims to divine authority made by mere mortals, God was sufficiently merciful to allow a second chance for any who lived out their lives without ever hearing the Word of God-such would be reborn to live new lives, again and again, until they got it right.

Neither side sounded exactly right to John; Thaddeus’ version was not quite in accord with his own understanding of True Worder doctrine. He declined to intervene, however; since the defeat of the People of the True Word and Flesh John was no longer certain that he considered their doctrines to be absolute truth, and furthermore, for a commander to take sides in such a dispute between two of his men would be extremely foolish. He ignored the entire discussion and simply refused to hear questions or demands for intercession directed at him.

Other arguments sprang up, but none developed into anything worse than a moment's shouting, and the three men reached Spiritus Sancti without coming to blows, either amongst themselves or with the four soldiers who formed their escort for the last leg of the journey.

Once in the Chosen capital, however, events did not proceed as smoothly as John had hoped. Unlike his previous visits, he was kept waiting in the courtyard for virtually an entire afternoon; his men were not permitted to accompany him. Finally, only a few minutes before sundown, the great nearwood doors swung open and four men surrounded him.

He had the distinct impression that had he not stepped eagerly forward he would have been dragged, willing or not, into the audience chamber. One of the men kept a spear levelled at him the entire time he was in the chamber, and another had a hand on his sword-hilt; this was obviously no ceremonial honor guard.

He walked up the center aisle, as before, but upon seeing the Anointed's expression of extreme displeasure he stopped a few paces further back than he had previously.

Before he could decide what to say, the Anointed himself spoke.

“So, John Mercy-of-Christ, you're back-what do you want this time?"

John decided against any preliminary rigmarole. “J'sevyu, sir; I have only a small favor to ask,” he said, “requiring simply the use of your name on an invitation and a few acres of barren land…"

“Oh? No more men to be killed or to desert their loyalties?"

“No, Reverend Sir…"

“Has it occurred to you that your schemes have not been very successful, Mercy-of-Christ? You've lost two entire armies now, one in the field and one of guerrillas."

“No, sir, I have not; I did not lose my guerrillas! They're in hiding in the protectorate!"

“Oh? Of the eighty-five men I gave you, ten are known dead and twenty-eight have returned here after leaving your service."

“I admit I've lost men-that happens in any war! And desertions have been a problem because we're facing a powerful enemy, and with little support!"

The Anointed glared at him for a few seconds of tense silence, then calmed somewhat, waved a hand in dismissal, and said, “All right, then, what's this new idea of yours?"

John spoke slowly, trying to choose his words carefully. “I have discovered that the People of Heaven are more powerful than I had thought. I don't think that any army on Godsworld can succeed against them-I don't think all of Godsworld put together could defeat them. However, that doesn't mean that they can't be stopped. I propose to invite one of their enemies to come in and oppose them, with our help. They're known back on Earth as a ‘corporation', the New Bechtel-Rand Corporation-it's something like a tribe or congregation. Theirs is the second largest, second most powerful of all the corporations that ‘develop’ worlds like Godsworld. I want to invite the largest, ITD Corporation, to come to Godsworld and compete against them, destroy them if possible."

There was absolute silence for a long moment. Finally, the Anointed asked, “Are you crazy?"

John did not answer.

“Isn't one of these what-do-you-call-its bad enough? You want to invite another one?"

“That's right; the two of them should slow each other down, maybe destroy each other."

“That's crazy!” The Anointed stared at him for several seconds; John stared back.

At last, the Anointed sighed. “All right, then, why do you need us? If you have some way of inviting in this other ‘corporation', why don't you just do it?"

“I can't,” John said. “These people are bound by a sort of covenant-only one is permitted onto each world unless others are invited. The invitation has to come from someone in a position of authority, who controls a piece of land big enough for their ships to land on-my informant said that thirty acres of reasonably flat country would be about right. I need your name on the invitation, and the use of thirty acres for the landing field."

“I see. And if I agree to this, what happens next?"

“Well, in a few weeks their first ship would arrive, and they would negotiate a trade agreement, just as the Bechtel-Rand people did with the old People of Heaven. They would sell you weapons, I assume, and set up a base here, and whenever the People of Heaven or any of their client states gave you any trouble after that you could ask for help."

“Why shouldn't I just join the protectorate, then, if I'm to give up my freedom?"

“You wouldn't be giving up your freedom! ITD would be here at your invitation; you would have complete say over what they do here on Godsworld!"

“Oh? Why would they do that? What's to stop them from simply taking over the entire Realm of the Chosen?"

“They have laws…"

“Laws! What good are laws, when these people aren't even true Christians? What can bind men who don't honor the word of God? Do you know what happened to Stephen Christ-is-Risen, the Shepherd of the People of Heaven, when the Earthers arrived in the Citadel?"

“Uh…"

“It was one of your own men that told me, Mercy-of-Christ-one who deserted your camp to return home to his wife and children. He heard it from one of your spies in the Citadel, who never told you because you never bothered to ask about what happened to the rightful rulers of the place!"

It was true that John had never troubled himself with learning the details of the Earther takeover of the People of Heaven; he had simply accepted it as an accomplished fact. It had not even occurred to him that there might have been resistance, and he had never before heard either the name or title of Stephen Christ-is-Risen, Shepherd of the People of Heaven.

“Well?” the Anointed demanded.

“I don't know,” John admitted, imagining assorted horrors-involuntary painwiring, perhaps, or some other even more perverse punishment.

“He agreed to let them trade, allowed them to build their headquarters and their airport-and then disappeared! He went into their headquarters one day and never came out, and all the Earthers would tell anybody was that he'd gone off somewhere! By then the Heaveners were too far gone to care, though-they never argued, just took orders from the Earthers as if their Shepherd had told them to. They didn't care!"

John was startled by the Anointed's vehemence.

“Do you think that I'm going to let some ship land here and entice my people to sin, so that when these invaders get tired of me I could simply vanish without anyone even paying any attention?"

John suddenly understood. The Anointed had not brought up Stephen Christ-is-Risen as another example of the untrustworthiness or evil of the Earthers, but because he feared the same fate-whatever it was-himself. He was jealous of his own power and prestige.

“Oh,” John said. “No, I reckon you won't.” Further argument was obviously not going to accomplish much.