Absent-mindedly, Antyok had removed the fluoro-globe from the window seat, and spun it on its base. Its gaudy surface reflected light as it spun, and its three-foot-high bulk floated with incongruous grace and lightness in the air.

Antyok said, 'Is that your only solution? Sterility?'

'We might escape still,' whispered the Cepheid, 'but where in the Galaxy is there place for us? It is all yours.'

'Yes, there is no place for you nearer than the Magellame Clouds if you wished independence. The Magellanic Clouds -'

'And you would not let us go of yourselves. You mean kindly, I know.'

'Yes, we mean kindly - but we could not let you go.'

'It is a mistaken kindness.'

'Perhaps, but could you not reconcile yourselves? You have a world.'

'It is something past complete explanations. Your mind is different. We could not reconcile ourselves. I believe, administrator, that you have thought of all this before. The concept of the blind alley we find ourselves trapped in is not new to you.'

Antyok looked up, startled, and one hand steadied the fluoro-globe, 'Can you read my mind?'

'It is just a guess. A good one, I think.'

'Yes - but can you read my mind? The minds of humans in general, I mean. It is an interesting point. The scientists say you cannot, but sometimes I wonder if it is that you simply will not. Could you answer that? I am detaining you, unduly, perhaps.'

'No… no -' But the little Cepheid drew his enveloping robe closer, and buried his face in the electrically-heated pad at the collar for a moment. 'You other-worldlings speak of reading minds. It is not so at all, but it is assuredly hopeless to explain.'

Antyok mumbled the old proverb, 'One cannot explain sight to a man blind from birth.'

'Yes, just so. This sense which you call "mind reading," quite erroneously, cannot be applied to us. It is not that we cannot receive the proper sensations, it is that your people do not transmit them, and we have no way of explaining to you how to go about it.'

'Hm-m-m.'

'There are times, of course, of great concentration or emotional tension on the part of an other-worldling when some of us who are more expert in this sense; more sharp-eyed, so to speak; detect vaguely something. It is uncertain; yet I myself have at times wondered -'

Carefully, Antyok began spinning the fluoro-globe once more. His pink face was set in thought, and his eyes were fixed upon the Cepheid. Gustiv Bannerd stretched his fingers and reread his notes, his lips moving silently.

The fluoro-globe spun, and slowly the Cepheid seemed to grow tense as well, as his eyes shifted to the colorful sheen of the globe's fragile surface.

The Cepheid said, 'What is that?'

Antyok started, and his face smoothed into an almost chuckling placidity, 'This? A Galactic fad of three years ago; which means that it is a hopelessly old-fashioned relic this year. It is a useless device but it looks pretty. Bannerd, could you adjust the windows to non-transmission?'

There was the soft click of a contact, and the windows became curved regions of darkness, while in the center of the room, the fluoro-globe was suddenly the focus of a rosy effulgence that seemed to leap outward in streamers. Antyok, a scarlet figure in a scarlet room, placed it upon the table and spun it with a hand that dripped red. As it spun, the colors changed with a slowly increasing rapidity, blended and fell apart into more extreme contrasts.

Antyok was speaking in an eerie atmosphere of molten, shifting rainbow, 'The surface is of a material that exhibits variable fluorescence. It is almost weightless, extremely fragile, but gyroscopically balanced so that it rarely falls, with ordinary care. It is rather pretty, don't you think?'

From somewhere the Cepheid's voice came, 'Extremely pretty.'

'But it has outworn its welcome; outlived its fashionable existence.'

The Cepheid's voice was abstracted, 'It is very pretty.'

Bannerd restored the light at a gesture, and the colors faded.

The Cepheid said, 'That is something my people would enjoy.' He stared at the globe with fascination.

And now Antyok rose. 'You had better go. If you stay longer, the atmosphere may have bad effects. I thank you humbly for your kindness.'

'I thank you humbly for yours.' The Cepheid had also risen.

Antyok said, 'Most of your people, by the way, have accepted our offers to them to study the make-up of our modern spaceships. You understand, I suppose, that the purpose was to study the reactions of your people to our technology. I trust that conforms with your sense of propriety.'

'You need not apologize. I, myself, have now the makings of a human pilot. It was most interesting. It recalls our own efforts - and reminds us of how nearly on the right track we were.'

The Cepheid left, and Antyok sat, frowning.

'Well,' he said to Bannerd, a little sharply. 'You remember our agreement, I hope. This interview can't be published.'

Bannerd shrugged, 'Very well.'

Antyok was at his seat, and his fingers fumbled with the small metal figurine upon his desk, 'What do you think of all this, Bannerd?'

'I am sorry for them. I think I understand how they feel. We must educate them out of it. The Philosophy can do it.'

'You think so?'

'Yes.'

'We can't let them go, of course.'

'Oh, no. Out of the question. We have too much to learn from them. This feeling of theirs is only a passing stage. They'll think differently, especially when we allow them the completest independence.'

'Maybe. What do you think of the fluoro-globes, Bannerd? He liked them. It might be a gesture of the right sort to order several thousand of them. The Galaxy knows, they're a drug on the market right now, and cheap enough.'

'Sounds like a good idea,' said Bannerd.

'The Bureau would never agree, though. I know them.'

The newsman's eyes narrowed, 'But it might be just the thing. They need new interests.'

'Yes? Well, we could do something. I could include your transcript of the interview as part of a report and just emphasize the matter of the globes a bit. After all, you're a member of the Philosophy and might have influence with important people, whose word with the Bureau might carry much more weight than mine. You understand-?' 'Yes,' mused Bannerd. 'Yes.'

 From:,AdHQ-Cephl8

 To: BuOuProv

 Subject: OuProv Project 2910, Part II; Birth rate of non-Humans on Cepheus 18, Investigation of.

Reference:

(a) BuOuProv letr. Cep-N-CM/car, 115097, dated 223/977 G.E.

Enclosure:

1. Transcript of conversation between L. Antyok of AdHQ-Ceph18, and Ni-San, High Judge of the non-Humans on Cepheus 18.

1. Enclosure 1 is forwarded herewith for the information of the BuOuProv.

2. The investigation of the subject undertaken in response to the authorization of reference (a) is being pursued along the new lines indicated in Enclosure 1. The BuOuProv is assured that every means will be used to combat the harmful psycho logical attitude at present prevalent among the non-Humans.

3. It is to be noted that the High Judge of the non-Humans on Cepheus 18 expressed interest in fluoro-globes. A prelimin ary investigation into this fact of non-Human psychology has been initiated.

 L. Antyok, Superv.

 AdHQ-Cephl8, 272/977 G.E.

 

 From: BuOuProv

 To: AdHQ-Cephl8

 Subject: OuProv Project 2910; Birth rate of non-Humans on Cepheus 18, Investigation of. Reference: (a) AdHQ-Ceph 18 letr. AA-LA/mn, dated 272/977 G.E.

1. With reference to Enclosure 1 of reference (a), five thou sand fluoro-globes have been allocated for shipment to Ceph eus 18, by the Department of Trade.

2. It is instructed that AdHQ-Ceph 18 make use of all meth ods of appeasing non-Humans' dissatisfaction, consistent with the necessities of obedience to Imperial proclamations.

 C. Morily, Chief,

 BuOuProv, 283/977 G.E.

The dinner was over, the wine had been brought in and the cigars were out. The groups of talkers had formed, and the captain of the merchant fleet was the center of the largest. His brilliant white uniform quite outsparkled his listeners.

He was almost complacent in his speech: The trip was nothing. I've had more than three hundred ships under me before this. Still, I've never had a cargo quite like this. What do you want with five thousand fluoro-globes on this desert, by the Galaxy!'

Loodun Antyok laughed gently. He shrugged, 'For the non-Humans. It wasn't a difficult cargo, I hope.'

'No, not difficult. But bulky. They're fragile, and I couldn't carry more than twenty to a ship, with all the government regulations concerning packing and precautions against breakage. But it's the government's money, I suppose.'

Zammo smiled grimly. 'Is this your first experience with government methods, captain?'

'Galaxy, no,' exploded the spaceman. 'I try to avoid it, of course, but you can't help getting entangled on occasion. And it's an abhorrent thing when you are, and that's the truth. The red tape! The paper work! It's enough to stunt your growth and curdle your circulation. It's a tumor, a cancerous growth on the Galaxy. I'd wipe out the whole mess.'

Antyok said, 'You're unfair, captain. You don't understand.'

'Yes? Well, now, as one of these bureaucrats,' and he smiled amiably at the word, 'suppose you explain your side of the situation, administrator.'

'Well, now,' Antyok seemed confused, 'government is a serious and complicated business. We've got thousands of planets to worry about in this Empire of ours and billions of people. It's almost past human ability to supervise the business of governing without the tightest sort of organization. I think there are something like four hundred million men today in the Imperial Administrative Service alone, and in order to coordinate their efforts and to pool their knowledge, you must have what you call red tape and paper work. Every bit of it, senseless though it may seem, annoying though it may be, has its uses. Every piece of paper is a thread binding the labors of four hundred million humans. Abolish the Administrative Service and you abolish the Empire; and with it, interstellar peace, order and civilization.'

'Come -' said the captain.

'No. I mean it.' Antyok was earnestly breathless. 'The rules and system of the Administrative set-up must be sufficiently all-embracing and rigid so that in case of incompetent officials, and sometimes one is appointed - you may laugh, but there are incompetent scientists, and newsmen, and captains, too - in case of incompetent officials, I say, little harm will be done. For, at the worst, the system can move by itself.'