His hook had remained pointing aft throughout his remarks.

He hurried on then, no dramatic pauses, words tumbling out of his mouth in an effort to somehow put distance between himself and his own pronouncement.

“Would anyone else care to make a statement?” he said. Synapo was proud of Axonius. Almost ready to forgive him. Axonius had stuck courageously to the position he had taken earlier that morning and yet had denied Neuronius that afternoon.

Synapo, like everyone else, was expecting any further remarks to come from the Cerebron elite before Axonius called upon him for a final statement, giving him the traditional privilege of last remarks before the vote.

So they were all surprised when Sarco spoke up, standing on the crag to Axonius's right.

“Honorable chairman, under ordinary circumstances any remarks that I might make to a Cerebron caucus would be off the record unless I were called as an official witness, which I have not been this day. In fact, quite the contrary. The Myostrians are here because of Leader Privilege which I exercised, recognizing this meeting to be of vital concern to the Myostria. This is our world as well as yours, Cerebrons, and ordinarily decisions affecting our mutual welfare are jointly arrived at by friendly discussion between the leaders of the two tribes.

“Today, a matter of vital concern to both tribes is unavoidably going to be decided by the exclusive vote of a Cerebron truncated caucus, without our leader being able to participate in the decision.

“You can understand my concern, then, and the reason I ask to be considered an official witness in your proceedings. How say you, Mr. Chairman?”

“So noted and recorded, Honorable Leader,” Axonius confirmed.

“My remarks will not be brief, yet neither am I given to excessive rhetoric. I am fortunately not constrained by the extraordinary position Axonius finds himself in. Quite the contrary. I feel compelled to dwell at length on Neuronius's position this morning and his remarks this afternoon.”

As he was concluding those words, without pausing, Sarco slued his hook around until it pointed forward.

“Taking the last first, his final statements this afternoon confirm what I have long suspected: he is a paranoid psychopath with a cunning way of hiding his affliction by artful words and soothing flattery until the hook needs be set.

“Then his pent-up fears and irrational solutions come bursting forth, as we witnessed in stunned silence this afternoon. If you were not stunned, Myocerons, then you need to examine your own state of mind.

“Axonius obviously was, and his introspection guided him accordingly. Neuronius had him deluded with the promise of honorable ascension until this afternoon, when all the honor evaporated in the course of an irrational grab for power.

“I can understand Axonius's reasoning at this morning's meeting with the aliens, but a true leader has to look deeper than Axonius did and reason rationally-as Neuronius did not-to find the ultimate solution to problems: that solution which looks beyond immediate and easy resolution.

“Typically, Synapo summed it all up quite concisely in his opening remarks this afternoon-somehow we can always count on him. Neuronius could have spared us all a lot of grief, if he had just been listening and taken heed, if he had just been listening to Synapo's daily reports these past few days and taken heed.

“Setting honor aside-and the honor is quite as compelling to Synapo as the logic-to strike blindly as Neuronius recommends is to possibly kick the toe of a giant who then, as Synapo suggests, may not be so willing to cohabit, and might even shuffle all Myocerons into their own version of a space-time partitioner or, perish the thought, some even more malevolent and painful form of annihilation.

“To not strike blindly, but instead, to try to understand the aliens-and I am already impressed by their small leader and think I understand their intentions-is to soothe the giant under the worst of circumstances or to help and minister to a lesser species under the best of circumstances. Both are honorable directions for the Myoceria.

“Neuronius has sorely misguided you, Cerebrons.

“Synapo has already shown you the way. I have merely reiterated what he so concisely and clearly pointed out.

“Please do not fail him.”

A silence as keen as that which followed Neuronius's last statement now fell upon the assembly.

Axonius seemed in no hurry to break the silence; instead he seemed to be providing a space for the Cerebrons to ponder Sarco's remarks.

Finally he said, “Are there any others who would like to make a statement?”

But now he waited not at all before he said, “If not, our Honorable Leader is here provided the traditional last words before the Vote on Superior Competence.”

“I have nothing further to add to my colleagues' remarks,” Synapo said and turned his hook until it pointed aft to accept humbly whatever the Cerebron elite might decide.

Axonius took the vote by radio ballot: secret and unanimous.

Chapter 14. Bearer Of Glad Tifings

When he heard Axonius announce the favorable results of the unanimous vote, Synapo immediately took flight, circling up and up into the calm sky, matching that calmness with the cold detachment he had induced in himself as Sarco was speaking.

He was not surprised when Sarco joined him, and he was grateful to Sarco for the power of his oratory, but he wanted to be alone, and he had been on the point of ensuring himself that solitude when he detected Sarco close behind.

With Sarco close at hand, expecting some kind of dialogue, he could not balloon himself into isolation as he had intended; that would show neither tact nor the genuine gratitude he felt.

So he merely climbed to a safe ballooning altitude and then started circling in position, waiting for Sarco to catch up.

“I know you want to be alone,” Sarco said, “and I'll not intrude on your time but for a brief moment, just long enough for a word of warning.”

“You're not intruding, old friend,” Synapo said, “and rushing off as I did may have made me appear ungrateful for the service you rendered at the gathering. But I am truly grateful and might not have won the endorsement of the elite if you hadn't made that impassioned speech. You deserve to be where you are, Sarco, the very antithesis of Petero's Principle.”

“I didn't come up here to be praised, you old jet, but to warn you about Neuronius.”

“You and the elite have taken care of him, Sarco. “

“For the moment, perhaps, but maybe not even for the moment. He's dangerous, Synapo.”

“Neuronius? Dangerous? To himself maybe. He certainly confirmed that today.”

“No, to you, Synapo.”

“I think not. He's devious, and a liar, and not to be trusted, but hardly dangerous otherwise.”

“He was standing in back of you,” Sarco said. “You couldn't see his body language, his undisguisable reaction to that last bit of terse, indirect language Axonius used to describe his competence to guide the caucus.

“But I was watching him intently, Synapo, then and again when I gave my harsh assessment of him. He may even be dangerous to Axonius and to me, but he's going to hold you responsible for his downfall, and you're the target he'll be focusing on.”

“Perhaps, but there's little you or I can do about that,” Synapo said. “His danger to the future of the tribes, at least, has been eliminated by his departure from the elite. That was my primary concern.”

“He's still a danger to the tribes so long as he can get at you and me. And what about Axonius? Where does he stand in the elite now? He helped save your hide.”

“I'm not sure at this point. This has been a rather full day. I'm too exhausted to think clearly now.”