"Oh, yes. I could squeeze funds for that much."

"Where are they? Still in the 'Homing Pigeon'?"

I suppose I looked startled. The Senior said, "Come, come! They were important to you-do you expect me to think that you left them light-years away?"

"Mr. Chairman, the cubes are in my baggage...still in Colony Leader Weatheral's office."

"Pallas Athene?"

"Back of the visitors' couch, Mr. Chairman. The Colony Leader told me to remind him to fetch home Mr. Foote's luggage."

"Perhaps we can do better. Chief Archivist if you will permit Pallas Athene to have the code to your bags, she has extensionals in Ira's office to copy those cubes at once. Then you can quit worrying; Pallas Athene already has the Archives in her, up to the day I let Arabelle have the gavel back."

I know my face showed it. The Senior chuckled and said, "Why and how? 'Why' because you aren't the only one who feels that the Families' records should be safeguarded. 'How?' We stole them, Son, we stole them. I had control of the executive computer and used it to copy the whole works-genealogies, history, minutes of the Families' Meetings, everything- with an override program to keep your boss computer from knowing what I was doing.

"Right under your nose, Chief Archivist-but I kept it from you for your protection; I did not want Arabelle to get wind of it and quiz you. It would have given her ideas, and she had too many already. The only problem was to scrounge enough Welton cubes. But you are sitting on them right now, about twenty meters under your arse-and when Pallas Athene reads the ones in your luggage, the duplicate Archives will be complete to the date you left Secundus. Feel better?"

I sighed. "Much better, Mr. Chairman. I can stay with a clear conscience. I now feel free to resign."

"Don't."

"Sir?"

"Stay here, yes. But don't resign. Your deputy is carrying on and you trust her. Arabelle can't legally put in her own boy by ad-interim appointment unless you do resign, since your appointment comes from the Trustees. Not that legality would bother her-but again let's not put ideas into her head. How many Trustees on Secundus?"

"'On' Secundus, sir? Or resident on Secundus?"

"Don't quibble Son."

"Mr. Chairman, I am not quibbling. There are two hundred eighty-two Senior Trustees. Of that number one hundred ninety-five are resident on Secundus, the other eighty-seven representing Howards on other planets. I put it as I did because it requires a two-thirds majority to pass a policy motion-two-thirds of a quorum at a decennial meeting, or two-thirds of the total number, or one hundred eighty-eight, at an emergency meeting unless every trustee everywhere has been notified-which can take years. I mention this because, were you to call an emergency meeting, it might be impossible to muster one hundred eighty-eight votes necessary to recall Madam Chairman Pro Tem."

The Senior blinked at me. "Mr. Archivist, what in Ned gave you the notion that I would call a Trustees' meeting? Or would attempt to recall our dear Sister Arabelle?"

"Your question seemed to be leading toward that, sir-and I remember an occasion on which you took back the gavel."

"Entirely different. My motives then were selfish. The old biddy was about to spoil my plans by grabbing Ira. The circumstances were quite different-meaning I could get away with it-which I can't today. Son, despite what the records show, Arabelle didn't give up that gavel willingly; I grabbed it from her. Then the short time it took us to finish up and leave, I kept her prisoner."

"Really, Mr. Chairman? She doesn't seem to harbor resentment. She speaks of you in the highest terms."

The Senior grinned his lazy, cynical grin. "That's because we're both pragmatists. I was careful to save her face and made sure she knew it, and now she has nothing to gain by running me down-and something to lose, because I've acquired a semisacred status. Her status depends in part on mine and she knows it. Just the same- Well, if I ever find myself on the same planet with her-unlikely, I'm no fool-I shall be very careful going through doors and such.

"I'll tell you how it worked, and you'll see why I can't do it twice. Once Ira handed her the gavel he moved out of the Palace-proper. But until we left I continued to live in the penthouse on top of the Palace-also proper; the Palace is my official residence. Because I was still there, Minerva was-still hooked in. In consequence she was able to warn me when Arabelle's busies grabbed Ira. I came out of a sound sleep and grabbed the gavel."

Lazarus frowned. "A planetwide executive computer is a menace, Justin. When it was Minerva with Ira giving orders, it worked fine. But see what I did with it and extrapolate what someone else might do with one. Arabelle, for instance. Uh- Teena, give Justin a sample of Arabelle's voice."

"Yes, Mr. Chairman. 'Chief Archivist Foote, this is the Chairwoman Pro Tem. I have the honor to announce that I have been able to persuade our distinguished Ancestor, Lazarus Long, Permanent Chairman of the Howard Families, to assume for us the titular leadership of the Families during the regrettably short period remaining until he again embarks for a new world. Please give this announcement full distribution among your subordinates. I will continue to handle routine details but the Chairman wants you to feel free to consult him at any time. Speaking for the Trustees and for the Chairman, this is Arabelle Foote-Hedrick, Chairwoman Pro Tempore of the Howard Families.'"

"Why that s exactly what she said to me."

"Yup. Minerva did a good job. She got just the right pomposity into the phrasing, as well as getting Arabelle's voice down pat, even to that sniff she uses for punctuation."

"That wasn't Arabeile? I had no slightest suspicion."

"Justin, when that message went to you-and one like it to everyone important enough to rate it-Arabelle was in the biggest, fanciest apartment in the Palace-and very annoyed that doors wouldn't open and transport wouldn't come and none of the communication arrangements would work-except when I wanted to talk to her. Shucks, I didn't even let her have a cup of coffee until she got her feathers down and conceded that I was Chairman and running things.

"After that we got along pretty well, even became somewhat chummy. I did everything for her but turn her loose. She took over the routine-I didn't want to be bothered-which was safe as Minerva would have chopped her off if she got out of line and she knew it. She and I even appeared together on a newscast the morning I left, and Arabelle spoke her piece like a lady, and my public thanks to her were just as sincerely insincere."

Lazarus Long continued, "But now she has the executive computer and if I went back, I'd throw my hat in first. No, Justin, I was not asking about the Trustees on Secundus with any intention of calling a meeting; instead I was thinking that any twenty Trustees can call an emergency meeting and hoping that they would see it as you do-futile-and not try. She might grab them and ship them to Felicity. Or, if she has the nerve-I think she has-she might let them hold their meeting, then if it went against her, ship all the Trustees who show up off to Felicity. But I guarantee she won't quit without a fight. I caught her with her pants down; she won't be caught twice."

"Then it means a bloodbath."

"That may be the only way out. But you and I can't help the situation. In all matters of government the correct answer is usually: Do nothing. This is such a time-a time to exercise creative inaction. Sit tight. Wait"

"Even when you know things are going wrong?"

"Even when you know it, Justin. The itch to be a world saver should not be scratched; it rarely does any good and can drastically shorten your life. I see three major possibilities: Arabelle may be assassinated. The Trustees will then elect another Chairman Pro Tern, hopefully one with sense. Or she may last till the next ten-year meeting, whereupon the Trustees may exercise some sense. Or she may get smart, not expose herself to assassination while consolidating her power so strongly that it will take a revolution to get rid of her.