to warp-line." There was a
pause, then the familiar shummer and they were on the warp-line drive.
As usual, the shummer had put out Garth's cigar. He re-lit it and went
on. "When we began using warp-line travel we hit Onzar in the first
fifty years of exploration. Practically had to. It's only a parsec
from the confluence of nine lines running between our part of the
Galaxy and the Darzent Empire. Right on the main road, right in the
middle of the next war." He stared in silence at Thane for a moment.
"That's one reason I've called you in on this."

For most of the rest of the trip to Liaison, Garth continued to
explain the strange orphan system of Onzar. In the religion, as Garth
described it, the whole priesthood was female, and gold had magical
value. All the men wore gold, the amount strictly in line with their
rank. They despised the women but were in superstitious dread of them
because only the church could sanctify and give power to their gold
symbols of rank. At first, the men had lived in warring tribes, the
women in religious groups. They came together each spring and fall for
the ceremonies of gold consecration.

Still, they did make considerable technical progress, partially
because of their interest in mining. By the time the first warp-line
ship reached them, the Onzarians had the internal combustion engine,
nation-states, mass production, planet-wide wars.

"Of course," Garth went on, "in the early days of warp-line
exploration we weren't as careful as we are now. The Onzarians picked
up enough to put on a real atomic war within fifty years. After that
they expanded through their own system, and even took over nearby
suns. They certainly had the motive for conquest, too. Gold was
running out on their own planet, and they'd go to any lengths to get
it."

Thane glanced at his watch and got back onto his couch. "About time
for deceleration," he said. Garth also began fastening his straps.
Thane glanced over, with curiosity. "Sounds like the usual story, with
some interesting variations. Where do I come in?"

"The thing that makes Onzar uniquely important," Garth said, "is its
position. Space fleets from Darzent or from the A.S. will have to pass
within a parsec of Onzar, because of the confluence of warp-lines in
that part of the system. Whoever controls Onzar can win the war for
the Galaxy when it comes."

Garth paused as they went through the shummer and the beginnings of
deceleration, and then wen