You have no
authority to make promises like that; that is a matter for the
Governor-General, at least!"

"Well, as of now, and until a successor to Sid Harrington can be sent
here from Terra, I'm Governor-General," von Schlichten told him,
mentally thanking Keaveney for reminding him of the necessity for such
a step. "Captain Malavez! You will send out an all-station telecast,
immediately: Military Commander-in-Chief Carlos von Schlichten, being
informed of the deaths of both Governor-General Harrington and
Lieutenant-Governor Blount, assumes the duties of Governor-General, as
of 0001 today." He turned to Keaveney. "Does that satisfy you?" he
asked.

"No, it doesn't. You have no authority to assume a civil position of
any sort, let alone the very highest position...."

Von Schlichten unbuttoned his holster and took out his authority,
letting Keaveney look in to the muzzle of it.

"Here it is," he said. "If you're wise, don't make me appeal to it."

Keaveney shrugged. "I can't argue with that," he said. "But I don't
fancy the Ullr Company is going to be impressed by it."

"The Ullr Company," von Schlichten replied, "is six and a half parsecs
away. It takes a ship six months to get from here to Terra, and
another six months to get back. A radio message takes a little over
twenty-one years, each way." He holstered the pistol again.

"That brings up another question, general," one of Keaveney's
subordinates said. "Can we hold out long enough for help to get here
from Terra?"

"By the time help could reach us from Terra," von Schlichten replied,
"we'll either have this revolt crushed, or there won't be a live
Terran left on Ullr." He felt a brief sadistic pleasure as he watched
Keaveney's face sag in horror. "On this planet, there's not more than
a three months' supply of any sort of food a human can eat. And the
ships that'll be coming in until word of our plight can get to Terra
won't bring enough to keep us going. We need the farms and livestock
and the animal-tissue culture plant at Konkrook, and the farms at
Krink and on the plateau back of Skilk, and we need peace and native
labor to work them."

* * * * *

Nobody seemed to have anything to say after that, for awhile. Then
Keaveney suggested that the next ship was due in from Niflheim in
three months, and that it could be used to evacuate all the Terrans on
Ullr.

"And I'll personally shoot any able-bodied Terran who tries