at control Societics, as postulated by ... you, are as exact
as any others in the unified-field theory universe."

"No they're not. And, if any man I taught believes that nonsense, I'm
retiring tomorrow and dropping dead the day after. My science--and it is
really not logical to call it a science--is based on observation,
experimentation, control groups and corrected observations. And though
we have made observations in the millions, we are dealing in units in
the billions, and the interactions of these units are multiples of that.
And let us never forget that our units are people who, when they operate
as individuals, do so in a completely different manner. So you cannot
truthfully call my theories exact. They fit the facts well enough and
produce results in practice, that has been empirically proven. So far.
Some day, I am sure, we will run across a culture that doesn't fit my
rules. At that time the rules will have to be revised. We may have that
situation now on Himmel. There's trouble cooking there."

"They have always had a high activity count, sir," Neel put in
hopefully.

"High yes, but _always_ negative. Until now. Now it is slightly positive
and nothing we can do seems to change it. That's why I've called you in.
I want you to run a new basic survey, ignoring the old one still in
operation, to re-examine the check points on our graphs. The trouble
may lie there."

Neel thought before he answered, picking his words carefully. "Wouldn't
that be a little ... unethical, sir? After all Hengly, who is operator
there now, is a friend of mine. Going behind his back, you know."

"I know nothing of the sort." Abravanel snorted. "We are not playing for
poker chips, or seeing who can get a paper published first. Have you
forgotten what Societics is?"

Neel answered by rote. "The applied study of the interaction of
individuals in a culture, the interaction of the group generated by
these individuals, the equations derived therefrom, and the application
of these equations to control one or more factors of this same culture."

"And what is the one factor that we have tried to control in order to
make all the other factors possible of existence?"

"War." Neel said, in a very small voice.

"Very good then, there is no doubt what it is we are talking about. You
are going to land quietly on Himmel, do a survey as quickly as possible
and transmit the data back here. There is no cause to think of it as
sneaking behind He