icial, who gives such an order, will find a bomb in his first Sunday soup even though Ashinik will assure that the bomb was planted by provocateurs." "All right," Kissur said and he slammed the door and took off. X X X Kissur returned in six hours, after dark. Eight skyers with large load capacity landed at the spacefield and delivered about five hundred fighters with blackened teeth wearing soft ox leather Alom boots. The fighters were armed right up to their blackened teeth. Two beetle-shaped amphibian tanks dropped out of the skyers' bellies; the tanks were equipped with unusually short guns and they stuck upwards at the rear resembling beetle's forewings folded at its back. The tanks were covered with a non-metallic dully gleaming skin. Astonished, Giles whispered into Bemish's ear that these were the latest generation BCC-29 tanks designed to be dropped off a plane with a parachute onto any surface no less than six minutes after a thermonuclear explosion. Presenting his blackened teeth to flashing cameras, Kissur explained that he came here to help his friend Bemish out and that his people couldn't be taken for foreigners by any stretch of imagination and that only his friend Bemish's squeals stopped him from burning this zealot muck one meter deep into the ground. He said that Bemish was a pansy, that the government was a flock of horny dumb goats and that Ashinik was a dog that he, Kissur, would hang right at that loading crane if they found one more bomb in the spaceport. Kissur's people took over almost all spaceport security. A half of all regular spaceport security employees went to sleep. Frankly, they were mostly peaceful people who had never seen anything more dangerous than a drug trafficker trying to hide hundred grams of barnithole or good old LSD in his stomach; their familiarity with electric shockers was only theoretical. The passengers arriving at the spaceport glanced with frightened admiration at the huge, almost two meter tall, wild looking men who seemingly napped at the terminals having folded their hands on stubby assault rifles. The ladies felt quite a specific curiosity towards these lads, comparing them with their civilized husbands who contemplated morning meetings even in bed. The journalists waited breathlessly. It seemed absolutely certain that any careless action of the crowd besieging the spaceport would lead to the crowd's bloody demise. It was five pm when Kissur entered Bemish's office; Ronald Trevis, the head of LSV bank, had just arrived from Earth and he sat in the room reclining in an armchair. "Hello," Kissur said, "What are you doing here?" "We are discussing the spaceport's future," Trevis replied. "Oh, yes. These...eh stocks of yours plummeted." "The spaceport's stocks," Trevis spoke, "belong to me, Bemish and Nan. We are discussing the future of bonds." "What's wrong with those?" "They cost twenty cents a dinar." "So what?" "It would not be a problem if they were regular bonds. They are, however, bonds with adjustable rate." "What kind of beast is that?" "It was my suggestion. The interest payments on the bonds are set up in such a way that a bond's value is hundred cents for a dinar," Bemish entered the conversation. "I don't understand." "The interest on the bonds is fourteen and a half percent," Bemish said. "It's quite a bit. I hoped that I would be able to lower it. The Assalah bonds cost hundred and three cents a dinar before the crisis. They cost twenty cents now." "It's crazy. I never knew about these clever securities." "Unlike you, Ashinik knew it perfectly well," Bemish said, "I walked him through our financial structure myself." "Are you going to adjust yield?" "No. There is not a single company that could handle it, even if it had a large cash flow. Our cash flow dropped by thirty percent this month." "What are you going to do?" "I offered new securities to the investors instead of this crap." "What did they do?" "They sent me to hell. Ronald just delivered their responses." "I see. Is this company bankrupt?" Bemish didn't answer. "If we flatten all this shit into the ground, will your bonds cost more?" "We should flatten this shit into the ground anyway," Trevis muttered, "even if it doesn't save the company." X X X Later, they reconstructed the events the following way. At 18:00, Kissur accompanied by Khanadar the Dried Date and by ten fighters walked into the main office where all the upper company management had already gathered; Trevis was also there with two aides. Bemish and Giles came in slightly later. They were both armed. Bemish took a note that Kissur was dressed very carefully - he wore a perfect white shirt, a proper black suit and an unassuming tie of correct width - the clothing item that Kissur loathed the most. On the other hand, a gun under Kissur's armpit was large enough that even a perfectly designed suit failed to conceal it. Giles slapped Kissur on the shoulder and said, "Damn it, Kissur! You are the man! Without you we would be in shit up to our necks!" "This way we will be in blood up to our necks," Bemish spoke quietly. Giles spun. "Be silent, Terence, when other people have to do your laundry." And he turned back to Kissur. "What are you going to do to the zealots?" "What should I do to them to be accepted to the military academy?" Giles was dumb-founded for a moment and then he answered, "Shoot them." Bemish swallowed. He was certain that Kissur would agree to this proposal. Doesn't he understand, however, that no public opinion would tolerate him in the academy after such a bloodbath? Kissur laughed out, slapped, in his turn, Giles on his shoulder and declared, "Better late than never. You, Earthmen, get bold only when the stocks of your companies plummet! Listen, Dick, let's exchange!" And Kissur pulled his 9mm Star out of the gun holder and handed it over to Giles handle first. The gun's barrel was in its original state while its handle was covered by beautiful engraving over attached silver plates. Giles hesitated for a moment, pulled his gun out and handled it over to Kissur. He took the gun, checked if it was loaded and declared loudly, "And now, monkeys, stick your faces in the floor and your asses in the air! You are under arrest!" The fighters behind Kissur raised their assault rifles. "Are you joking, Kissur?" "It's not a joke, dog! Get down! Down!" Giles was lost; he looked at the Star in his hands and pulled the trigger. The gun only clicked - it was not loaded. Several employees started slowly rising out of the table with the hands up. The next moment, Bemish whipped his gun out of the holder but, before he was able to pull the trigger, fighter kicked the gun out of his hand with his rifle's butt. Bemish turned and, with a dull thud, his fist collided with the fighter's solar plexus. The latter moaned and sagged to the floor. Two Alom fighters rushed at Giles. The security service head dropped the useless gun and the guys started twisting his elbows back. Giles butted one of them with his head in the stomach and threw the other one over. The fighter dropped his rifle and Giles snatched the falling weapon. The next moment a rifle burst sounded - Kissur was firing. One after another, heavy bullets with zinc outer layer were making holes in the clothing and the body of the security service chief. Giles swayed. His face showed astonishment. He looked at his jacket stained with blood, muttered, "Why?" and crashed to the floor letting the gun go. Meanwhile, two more fighters rushed at Bemish. Having cried out, one of them smashed into the table with his face. The papers prepared for the meeting flittered and flew around the room like white geese. The other one sailed ass forward into a flat, built in terminal, crashed to the floor and stayed there. Bemish leaped over the table and charged at Kissur. A rifle burst formed a series of holes in the floor in front of Bemish and he froze. Kissur and the company director stood surrounded by the fighters. "Don't be dumb, Terence," Kissur said, waving the gun, "Put your hands behind your head or you will enter the other world together with Giles." Bemish stood with his tie askew and his perfect shirt's collar torn. The shirt had been absolutely fresh. Bemish took a shower half an hour ago and changed it and he felt now how the cloth under his armpits and behind his back was getting wet and sticky with his sweat. "Raise your hands, Terence," Trevis muttered lying on the floor, "Don't you see - they are nuts." The next moment Bemish dove forward and his hand locked on Kissur's wrist. In a moment the gun flew to the side and Kissur and Bemish rolled over the floor in a tight embrace. The fighters didn't dare shoot - they were afraid of hitting their master and they also believed that to kill one of the enemies locked in personal combat was not cool. Kissur's steel hands locked at his foe's neck. Bemish's ears rung, the room's ceiling spun and started floating upwards. Bemish hit Kissur in the groin with his knee. The latter hissed but didn't let go. Twisting, Bemish rolled onto his side and drove his heel into Kissur's kneecap. Kissur roared. A lock and a snatch followed and, having thrown the barbarian over, Bemish leapt on his feet. Time froze as a sentinel at a gate. Bemish was watching Kissur falling vertically, head down to the floor and he could already hear the crunching sound that vertebrae would make breaking over hard wood. For a moment he wanted to rush to his friend and spot him but he realized that he would be late. He also realized that he would die a second after this sound came. At the last moment, Kissur threw his arms forward and his hands rustled touching the hardwood floor. Kissur somersaulted over his head and having pushed himself off the floor with his hands, kicked Bemish horribly with both legs in his chest. Bemish flew away to the wall. Kissur's fist missed his jaw by a millimeter. Bemish dove and landed a short jab in Kissur's solar plexus. Kissur swayed. Bemish drove his heel into Kissur's groin. The latter roared. The next moment, he jumped at his opponent and he jammed Bemish in the ribs with his knee. The company director was thrown to the floor. He barely had time to turn aside and then Kissur's heavy boot kicked him in the chin once and again. Bemish tucked his knees in and, right at this moment, he saw in the ceiling's light Kissur's contorted face far above him and his blackened fist right next to his eyes. Then something exploded and flashed in Bemish's head. The world sank and fell like a flower petal and Bemish lolled on the floor like a man who had his skeleton extracted so that only the meat was left. Two fighters locked handcuffs on his wrists and dragged him by his legs out of the room. The Assalah director's head trailed down the office's freshly waxed hardwood floor, blood seeped out of his light hair. "If anybody moves," Kissur said, "he will get nine grams heavier." And he pointed at dead Giles. "What does it mean?" Ronald Trevis asked from the floor. "The spaceport is taken over." "Who took over it?" "It is the party of people's freedom." Then, dressed in Earth clothing, Kissur smiled and took a broad marine knife from a warrior standing next to him. Slowly and enjoying himself, he wrapped his dark red bordeaux colored tie around his left hand and, grinning broadly, he cut it off at the top. X X X Afterwards, everybody admitted that, on the technical side, the operation had been performed brilliantly. At 18.05, an announcement sounded out of the Assalah spaceport loudspeakers. A slightly hoarse voice with a trace of Alom accent said, "Ladies and gentlemen! The Assalah spaceport is controlled by me, Kissur, and the party of people's freedom. All the spaceport guards have been disarmed. Nobody should move from where they are. Anybody resisting my troops will be shot dead on the spot. Any panic will be considered a resistance attempt. The Earthmen will soon be allowed to leave the spaceport. Before that, however, they are considered to be hostages and they will be killed if they take any hostile actions towards us. Ladies and gentlemen, have a good day. Goodbye." Immediately after the announcement, Kissur's fighters, present in practically every lounge, custom corridor, restaurant and shop jerked their assault rifles up at the ready position and screamed, "Everybody down on the floor! Ass up, hands behind your head! Go! The majority of people submitted obediently, dropping in the process the souvenirs they just bought - Inis lacquered figurines and flat wooden bottles with Chakhar vodka. This order effectively stopped panic (that was to be treated as resistance). Occasional gun bursts above the heads took place; five spaceport security service employees attempted to escape - four were shot dead and the fifth died two hours later at a surgery table. In the air traffic control room, assault rifles were aimed at the workers and the latter unquestioningly obeyed Khanadar's directions - to announce Assalah, without getting into any extra details, to be a closed-off zone. Therefore, the ships that were not on the landing trajectory yet, should go land anywhere the hell they want but not in Assalah; the ships that were already moving on the landing trajectory should continue landing. The pilots are a well trained crowd and they were accustomed to landing the way they were told to. The last two ships had time to figure out that they were landing in a spaceport taken over by terrorists. Attesting to the professional level of their crews, the ships didn't vacillate in the air - that could've been very dangerous - and landed in the spaceport. After the landing, they immediately required a permission to launch; the permission was refused. At least, not a single ship crashed missing the launching chutes; it would've been very probable if the air traffic controllers had panicked. The flight schedule board in the main lounge blinked and went dead. Then, an announcement appeared on it, "Long live the party of people's freedom!" The announcement was written in Weian and English. The English variation contained a grammatical mistake. There were total of eight thousand people in the spaceport, five hundred volunteer and regular security service employees, twenty three hundred of regular personnel and fifty two hundred passengers. About four dozens passengers, mostly journalists, recognizable thanks to their cameras, were pulled out of the crowd and brought to an office. Kissur and his younger brother Ashidan sat there and young Ashinik with the old man Yadan represented the zealots. Kissur offered the guests to take part in the inspection of the spaceport and he added that he would rely completely upon their honest reports. Afterwards, the whole Galaxy saw the pictures made by these journalists. X X X The following is an excerpt from the testimony given by Francis F. Carr, an employee of a large auditing firm Coupere, Lir and Gambacher; he had been among the forty selected hostages. Mr. Carr gave this testimony to a senate committee during an investigation concerning the spaceport's takeover a month and a half later. "Why did they pick you?" "I don't know. Two fighters approached me, one of them stuck his finger at me and they took me away. They didn't speak English. I thought that they were going to shoot me." "Did they beat you?" "Frankly, I got a good kick in the butt and, when we were passing the peasants, somebody threw a rotten tomato at me." "What did they fighters do?" "They screamed something at the crowd and they cleaned the tomato off me." "What happened next?" "They took me to a large room, there were already about thirty people there. A lot of journalists were there and nobody obstructed from taking pictures. Kissur and his brother sat at a table together with the leaders of the party of people's freedom. Kissur told the journalists to save their film - he was going to take them on a trip through the spaceport and they would get good shots there." "What happened next?" "Kissur said that he demanded that everything photographed was shown on Galactic channels. He said that the films should be sent to a place that had broadcasting equipment and that the broadcast should be shown on all channels. He said that they had agents on different planets and that if the broadcast started later than 9am of the next day, he would shoot five hostages for every minute of delay. Somebody asked what would happen to the hostages if his demands were complied with. Kissur said that he was not enough of a scoundrel to make eight thousand Earthmen hostages in his future fight with Gera. Then, they asked him why he had seized the spaceport and he said that it was the only way to expose all its secret depositaries. He said that it was impossible to pick a moment when no passengers were present in the spaceport and that he didn't know any way to prevent panic spreading among civilians but to make them drop on their bellies and to shoot a dozen or two as an example. They asked him what he was going to do with the passengers and he said that after the broadcast was shown, he would free the hostages." "What about the personnel?" "He said that he had to detain the employees that were necessary for the proper operation of the spaceport." "Have you witnessed any abuse of the passengers?" "Yes. I saw a terrorist hitting a man with his rifle's butt only because the man rose without obtaining permission. Also a guy, sitting on the floor, stretched his legs; a terrorist thought that the guy was trying to trip him and the fighter hit him with his knee in the temple." "What else has Kissur said?" "He said that he had arrived at the spaceport to defend his friend Bemish. Then, he obtained reliable information that the military had been transporting toxic gas in a ship and that they were going to use it against the protesters. He had tried to persuade Bemish's deputy, an Intelligence Service employee Giles, not to utilize the gas. The latter said, "Shut up, Weian monkey." Kissur shot Giles." "Have you seen the gas?" "Yes. In a ship that was one of the latest to arrive, neurotoxin containers made up half the cargo. The containers were marked as a military cargo accordingly to the standard rules of the Federation Space Force. We were the first ones to enter the ship and the journalists photographed everything." "Are you aware of the fact that the Federation defense department claims that it does not own these containers?" "Yes, your honor." "In your opinion, could Kissur load the containers before showing them to you?" "That would be impossible. When we stood at the loading dock, the after landing warning lights were still lit on the board and they were just dragging the crew outside." "What happened next?" "They took us down a lot of storage areas. Quite often, the goods that were stored there had nothing to do with custom department's documentation describing them. More precisely, it was practically never the case. Cars were called medical equipment, computers were called canned food. I saw boxes of Lamass lace that were exported as glass." "Were you offered any explanation?" "Yes. The goods that were not duty free were documented as goods that were. Most export-import companies had a life expectation of less than two months. I don't know how corruption in customs looks on other planets but I was shocked by what I saw there. They didn't steal by containers, they stole by whole cargo loads." "What happened next?" "Finally, they took us to an area of space field that was almost never used for the civil flights. The chutes there looked slightly different from the civil ones. They showed us papers demonstrating that these chutes were intended for military ships. There were certain differences in construction between military and civil chutes, for instance ceramics deposition on the support columns allowed a ship to have a launching acceleration of five to six times higher than a civilian spaceship would require. They also..." "We are not discussing technical parameters of military chutes at this hearing. Did you only see chutes?" "No. There were several storage areas there - 17A, 17B and 17C - that had walls and locks designed in a different way. In particular, the storages had radiation shielding. Mr. Bemish was brought in and he opened the storage." "How was Bemish treated?" "They dragged him on a leash." "How did he look?" "He looked horrible. His suit was torn, there was blood on his shirt and he had a huge wale under his right eye. On the other hand, Kissur had the same size wale under his left eye and, as far as I know, Bemish got it all while fighting. Nobody beat him when his hands were tied." "What was in the storage?" "Some imported apparel was stored in 17A though, accordingly to the documentation, it was supposed to be empty. 17B was also supposed to be empty accordingly to the documentation. However, containers with medical markings were stored there. Right in front of us, they extracted constructions out of the containers that were later identified as partially functional Cassiopeia missiles." "Why was Bemish needed there?" "The storage areas were computer controlled and the computer had eye retina recognition lock system. There were only two retina images loaded into the computer memory, the spaceport director's and his deputy's - Terence Bemish and Richard Giles." "Therefore, the missiles could be stored there only if the above named persons were involved. Is it correct?" "Yes, your honor." X X X Bemish lay on a leather sofa in his own office and his hands were tied tightly behind his back. If he moved his eyes to the side strenuously enough, he could see out of an office's window a small section of the landing field and an arching asphalt ramp. Peasants wandered around in the landing field. A beetle shaped passenger bus crawled down the ramp. The door squeaked and Kissur entered the office. Bemish turned pointedly to the wall; the pain in his twisted hand made him hiss sharply. "Hello to a TV star," Kissur said, "They will show you tomorrow on all the channels - together with 17B storage area." Bemish turned and hissed again. "How did those damned missiles get here?" Bemish asked. "My dear," Kissur said, "that's a question for you." "Don't clown around! I sent them there on Shavash's request..." "And Shavash thought that he was importing cute little cars," Kissur finished for him. "You know, Shavash can goof up sometimes too... I don't have my own dummy fronts so I had to use one of vice minister's." "What are you striving for, Kissur?" Bemish asked. "Have you forgotten how you shouted with joy when they told you that they would build a military base here? And I was almost killed when I refused to do it!" Kissur was smiling and nursing an assault rifle on his knees. "All right. You abased Shavash. You filmed him being a thief. You filmed me being a thief. You buried our military in unforgettable shit though, for my death's sake, I can't figure out how you got these damned missiles. What do you want?" "What do I want? I want this spaceport to be nationalized. I want all this crap that the foreigners have built here to be nationalized. I want to change the government that steals just like our little brother Shavash. The foreigners station armaments, which are forbidden across the whole Galaxy, on our land and without our knowledge. Do you think that it's enough of a reason to expropriate the goods that the rich had stolen from us and return them to the people?" Bemish jerked. "Idiot! You will fail completely!" "Why?" "Why?! Are you asking me, why? Just look at the people you allied yourself with! You will ruin your country and lose your head! Can you name a single official allied with you, can you name just one man who knows what a budget is and what a balance is?! Your allies are idiots who think that Earthmen are demons! Look, Ashinik can only discourse on the eradication of protectionism and setting the same rules for everybody till the moment when he gets to power. When he gets to power, however, either he will do what his party wants or they will devour him whole. Do you think that with such allies you will be able to produce anything but a circuit performance? Do you think that anybody will talk to you? What about the hostages and the victims?" "I will release the hostages," Kissur said. "You mean the passengers. What about the personnel? Damn it, if you let the personnel go, the whole place will collapse. Are you going to stick a Weian zealot behind a VIS operating terminal?" "I will release all the Earthmen hostages," Kissur repeated, "The personnel staying here are citizens of the Empire. I assure you that all Earth journalists will say that I released the hostages since they consider only Earthmen to be the hostages. The Empire's officials don't care - hostages or no hostages - we have never considered it to be a crime to begin with." Bemish shut his eyes and groaned. It was correct. If Kissur was saying the truth, it was the end of it. The party of people's freedom had in its power five thousand foreigners and it immediately released them. The whole thing would look pretty good compared to the thievery and missiles that had been discovered after the party's desperate actions. And it was not just that; all the rumors that the government had been spreading about the party such as the zealots considering Earthmen to be demons... The party's honorable actions would prove the rumors to be a bunch of lies. It was smart. It was smart and... unlike Kissur. At that point, another man showed up at the office's entrance. "So, we've met again, master." Bemish turned his head. "Should I thank you, Ashinik," he asked, "for PR strategy and tactics?" The young man smiled. His hands nursed an assault rifle nervously. "You are probably cursing the day when you didn't allow Kissur to kill me, aren't you, master?" Bemish ground his teeth. "Just a bit," he muttered, "At least, Inis would have been alive." "Don't touch her name, murderer!" Ashinik leaped. "What's this crap?" "You would've killed me too if I hadn't escaped!" "That's bullshit. She was killed on Yadan's command in order to cause a quarrel between us! Yadan acted exactly the same way as he had done earlier with his predecessor! Why would I've killed her?" "You did it out of jealousy." "What jealousy are you talking about, idiot? I had given her away to you. And she asked me that day to take her back!" "Gave her away, take her back," Ashinik paled and whispered, "Are Weian women property to take and give away?" "How long are you going to carp for?" Kissur inquired. Ashinik regained his senses. "Ashinik hasn't told us the most important thing yet," Bemish noted sarcastically. "What tree is he going to use to hang the murderer of an unfaithful concubine? This is not, by the way, a crime accordingly to the ancient laws that he holds so dear." "Mr. Bemish," Ashinik said, "the new Weian revolutionary government is not going to detain you. We would like you to convey our demands, the demands of the people. They are very simple and they are in the best interest of both the Emperor and the people. Only corrupted officials and gluttonous foreigners would resist them. We demand that the current government resign and that the corrupted officials are persecuted by the court. We demand that Kissur the White Falcon leads the Empire as he did ten years ago. We demand that the foreign concept of elections is crossed out from the government's edicts - this concept is not fitting for the Weian people's spirit. Since our party won your stupid elections, we are clearly acting in the majority's interests. We demand all the companies that belong to the foreigners to be unconditionally nationalized. We demand all the other private property holders submit themselves to an investigation. We are not against businessmen, we are against the bad and the gluttonous businessmen that suck on the people's marrow and don't think about the people's interests! We will eradicate the bad businessmen and we will support the good ones!" "In your opinion, the bad businessmen," Bemish couldn't hold it back, "are the ones that don't bribe you and the good businessmen are the ones that do!" "Shut up!" Ashinik screamed. "It's not for you to talk about bribery, Mr. Bemish! Not after they took a walk down your storage areas with cameras!" The Fourteenth Chapter Or the first minister as an international terrorist. At 19.54 they crammed Bemish into his own Mercedes and an unsmiling Khanadar drove him to the last post located in front of the old village. The village seemed to be dead. Dust hovered above the field - a flock of military skyers had just passed by. About two hundred meters away from the post, a roadblock gate had been installed in a hurry. Antennas, resembling overgrown burdocks, stuck out behind the gate and a herd of military Jeeps hang out nearby. Another kilometer further, Bemish's own villa stood out, a gift from the terrorists' chief and the Empire's ex-first minister... It was two hundred meters. Two hundred meters separated an ex-spaceport taken over by the terrorists from the normal world populated with corrupted officials and stupid Earthmen. It was two hundred meters for the ex-director of Assalah Company, Mr. Bemish. On his neck, he carried a suitcase containing the terrorists' demands to nationalize his company and a key from the handcuffs - his hands were still locked behind his back. For two hundred meters sun rays and the red lights of laser sights danced on his face. Bemish stepped behind the gate. The red lights went out and people in military uniforms rushed towards him. There were some civilians present; Bemish recognized Michael Severin, the Federation envoy. There were absolutely no journalists present. They crammed Bemish into a car and the car rushed towards the villa. "How did the missiles got there?" a man in a colonel's uniform screamed at Bemish. "You should ask Shavash about it," Bemish bit back, "He asked me to take care of this cargo." "We will ask him," the colonel uttered. "We know how the missiles got there," the second guy said. "They got there from NordWest base. It's a base located on Agaia's moon. An old acquaintance of Kissur's -an anarchist - used to work in one of Agaia's spaceports. He visited Weia six months ago and Kissur went Agaia last month. A week after his arrival, an accident occurred. This anarchist Lore and his five friends missed a sharp turn on a road and fell into a chasm. It was just an accident. The same day, another accident occured a light year and a half away from Agaia; a mechanic at the base, Denny Hill, simply drowned next to a crowded beach - he was on a vacation. It's quite clear where Kissur got the missiles. On the other hand, how did you get them, Mr. Bemish?" "Why don't you start with yourselves?" Bemish bit back. "They steal your missiles like they would steal wheat out of a kitchen cabinet. Do you know their demands?" "We do. They have already reported them on SV. Do you think that he can really kill the hostages if we don't transmit the news over TV?" "Kill them?" Bemish got angry. "He is capable of eating them, marinated or fried! Do you know that nine years ago he hanged three thousand city dwellers that rebelled in the capital? During the civil war, he hanged three hundred people on the Orch's left shore and three hundred people on the right one! Have you forgotten about the Khanalai's camp?" The car stopped in the villa's yard and Bemish was the first to jump out of it on the sand. "Where are the journalists, by the way?" he asked. "That's just what we are missing," the colonel snorted. "You are wrong," Bemish said. "Kissur is running a show for the journalists while you kicked them out. They lack minds of their own and they repeat whatever you tell them. You will see that they will praise Kissur and shit on you." "They will praise Kissur, won't they?!" the colonel was enraged. "Will they praise a scoundrel who took eight thousand people hostage?!" X X X Shavash rushed towards Bemish right from the villa staircase. He hadn't come to meet him - he was scared! The small official was deathly pale and a sleeve of his velvet coat was dirty - it looked out of place on usually tidy Shavash. "What is he doing?!" Shavash cried out. "Has he demanded anything of me, Terence?" "He demanded exactly the same," Bemish replied, "as he did when you suggested swapping wives." Shavash grabbed his head. "Terence Bemish claims," The colonel said, "that the cargo belonging to Dassa Company was placed into 17B storage area accordingly to your orders. Is it true?" Shavash raised his crazy eyes. "How does it matter?!" he shouted exasperated. "Were those your orders or not?" "Oh my God, I probably ordered it," the official screamed in fury, "Big deal! They gave me two hundred thousand for a phone call and I called. It was not my cargo!" "It's clearly not yours!" the colonel spoke with unconcealed contempt looking at the small official. "Are you any better?!" Shavash screamed. "They go around shoplifting your missiles in your base like chocolate bars in a supermarket, why do you point your finger at me?" X X X Ten minutes later, in the main villa's hall - it was a charming hall decorated with blue and pale yellow silk - the Assalah emergency committee opened a session. The following people took place in the meeting: six high Weian officials, Terence Bemish as the director of the company where this whole disgrace was taking place, the Earth envoy, three military advisors, also from Earth, and two colleagues of deceased Giles from the Intelligence Service. Mr. Shavash headed the committee which was quite unusual. The small official generally preferred to stay in the shadow during storms but this time he didn't have enough patience for it. He presided over the meeting looking like a corpse. "Generally speaking, it's quite a surprising alliance," envoy Severin said. "There is practically nothing in common between Kissur and the zealots. Kissur didn't take part in the elections, the zealots won them. Kissur is an ex-first minister of Weia; his political views are those of a strong armed state supporter if not of an outright fascist. He hates everything that weakens state's power. It's natural for him to hate sects and heresies. Ignoring the liberal media's views, the zealots, even the ones that studied at Hevishem - here the Envoy glanced at Bemish reproachfully - consider Earthmen to be demons. Kissur doesn't think so. The demands of the nationalization of the foreign companies clearly come from the zealots. However extravagant Kissur's views are, the presence of Mr. Bemish here demonstrates that Kissur is capable of a very good attitude towards a foreign swindler... I think that it would be enough just to stall it for a while and this coalition will fall apart on its own - they just don't have anything in common..." "Can't you see what they have in common?!" Shavash cried out in desperation. "They want my head separated from my body!" Everybody was somewhat shocked by this cowardice. The colonel, having leaned towards Bemish, whispered at his ear, "If this is the case, I will soon join the coalition." "Are you trying to say, Mr. Shavash," the envoy inquired in an icy voice, "that it was only the desire to hang you that made them organize the massacre at the spaceport, take eight thousand people hostage, discredit our military forces and demand the changeover of the Empire's government?" "Gentlemen, let's stop bickering," Bemish said, "You should figure out your response to Kissur's demands. And I would like to note that since these demands concern the Weian government and its internal politics, it's quite astonishing that half of our committee are Earthmen." "Have you forgotten that Earthmen have been taken hostages at the spaceport?" the colonel asked. "The Earthmen are a minority of the hostages," Bemish replied. "As the Assalah director, I should inform you that 80% of the passengers and 93% of the personnel are Weian. Go ahead and calculate how many Earthmen are currently at the spaceport." "I can tell you, Terence, why the Earthmen are sitting here," Shavash intervened. "Our government decided to request the Federation of Nineteen's military assistance to quench the rebellion and free the hostages." "So, you are not going to accept their demands, are you?" Bemish inquired. "It's simply impossible," the foreign affairs minister Khasha claimed. "Aren't you of the same opinion, Mr. Bemish?" "I would succumb to their demands," Bemish said. Everybody went still for a moment. "Oh," the minister spoke smirking. "Haven't you forgotten that one of their demands is gratis nationalization of foreign companies? Do you have another spaceport with one and a half billion isheviks annual profit stashed somewhere, director?" Bemish paused. "I would prefer to get the spaceport back in two years," Bemish replied, "after Kissur's policy crashes completely, rather than be a murderer of eight thousand people." "You have it easy, Earthman," the minister said. "You will lose the spaceport while others will lose their heads." "Don't you understand, Terence," Shavash cried, "he's a psycho, a maniac! This man will grind you flat. What do you think will happen to the country when they start sorting good businessmen from bad ones?! We should annihilate him! We should call the Federation troops in and squash him like a bug!" "As the chairman of the Assalah Company's board of directors," Bemish said, "I protest fully against allowing the Federation troops on its territory. And I would like to remind the people present here that if they start using Federation troops to solve their internal problems..." "Don't teach us, Earthman," an enraged Shainna screamed - he was the deputy chairman of Weia Central Bank and a buddy of Shavash's. "I will teach you!" Bemish screamed just as loudly, "You don't give a damn about Kissur's industry nationalization demands! You have been living for two thousand years with nationalized industry! What you care about is that Kissur demands to hang you personally, Shainna, and you, Shavash for corruption! Here, a lot of people would agree with Kissur..." Shavash stood. "As the official inspector having full authority to deal with the Assalah emergency situation, I request the assistance of the Federation of Nineteen troops." Bemish rose. "Gentlemen, I refuse to take p