of late.

He had a plan in mind, vague, tentative, and subject to constant
revision to suit events as they might begin to occur. He kept the plan's
goal to himself, knowing that the Stand-ins would call it insane,
dangerous, impossible.

"John! We're picking up their station!" a Stand-in called. "It's a
minute before time!"

He left the window and walked calmly to the couch before the
televiewphone, whose screen had come alive with the kaleidoscope
patterns of the interference-station which sprang to life as soon as an
enemy station tried to broadcast.

"Have the fools cut that scatter-station!" he barked angrily.

A Stand-in grabbed at a microphone, but before he made the call the
interference stopped--a few seconds before the appointed time. The
screen revealed an empty desk and a wall behind, with a flag of the
Asian League. No one was in the picture, which was slightly blurred by
several relay stations, which had been set up on short notice for this
one broadcast.

A wall-clock peeped the hour in a childish voice: "Sixteen o'clock,
Thirdday, Smithweek, also Accident-Prevention Week and Probe-Subversives
Week; Happy 2073! Peep!"

A man walked into the picture and sat down, facing John Smith XVI. A
heavy-set man, clad in coveralls, and wearing a red rubber or plastic
helmet-mask. The mask was the face of the first Soviet dictator, dead
over a century ago. John's scalp bristled slightly beneath his own
golden headdress. He tried to relax. The room was hushed. The opposing
leaders stared at each other without speaking. Historic moment!

Ivan Ivanovitch slowly lifted his hand and waved it in greeting. John
Smith returned the gesture, then summoned courage to speak first.

"You have translators at hand?"

"I need none," the red mask growled in the Western tongue. "You are
unable to speak my tongue. We shall speak yours."

The President started. How could the Red know that he did not speak the
Russo-Asian dialect?

"Very well." The President reached for a prepared text and began to
read. "I requested this conference in the hope of establishing some form
of contact between our peoples, through their duly constituted executive
authorities. I hope that we can agree on a series of conferences, aimed
eventually at a lessening of the tension between us. I do not propose
that we alter our respective positions, nor to change our physical
isolation from one another, except in the field of high-level diplomacy
and..