ports on the whole
parley, as relayed to him through the ship that had taken Nordon and
Braynek to Saarkkad V.

Secretary of State Blendwell stopped off at Saarkkad IV before going on
to V to take charge of the conference. He was a tallish, lean man with a
few strands of gray hair on the top of his otherwise bald scalp, and he
wore a hearty, professional smile that didn't quite make it to his
calculating eyes.

He took Malloy's hand and shook it warmly. "How are you, Mr.
Ambassador?"

"Fine, Mr. Secretary. How's everything on Earth?"

"Tense. They're waiting to see what is going to happen on Five. So am I,
for that matter." His eyes were curious. "You decided not to go
yourself, eh?"

"I thought it better not to. I sent a good team, instead. Would you like
to see the reports?"

"I certainly would."

Malloy handed them to the secretary, and as he read, Malloy watched him.
Blendwell was a political appointee--a good man, Malloy had to admit,
but he didn't know all the ins and outs of the Diplomatic Corps.

When Blendwell looked up from the reports at last, he said: "Amazing!
They've held off the Karna at every point! They've beaten them back!
They've managed to cope with and outdo the finest team of negotiators
the Karna could send."

"I thought they would," said Malloy, trying to appear modest.

The secretary's eyes narrowed. "I've heard of the work you've been doing
here with ... ah ... sick men. Is this one of your ... ah ...
successes?"

Malloy nodded. "I think so. The Karna put us in a dilemma, so I threw a
dilemma right back at them."

"How do you mean?"

"Nordon had a mental block against making decisions. If he took a girl
out on a date, he'd have trouble making up his mind whether to kiss her
or not until she made up his mind for him, one way or the other. He's
that kind of guy. Until he's presented with one, single, clear decision
which admits of no alternatives, he can't move at all.

"As you can see, the Karna tried to give us several choices on each
point, and they were all rigged. Until they backed down to a single
point and proved that it _wasn't_ rigged, Nordon couldn't possibly make
up his mind. I drummed into him how important this was, and the more
importance there is attached to his decisions, the more incapable he
becomes of making them."

The Secretary nodded slowly. "What about Braynek?"

"Paranoid," said Malloy. "He thinks everyone is plotting against him. In
this case, that'