imes of many worlds will meet in person on Tellus. Arrange your
affairs so that on ten minutes' notice you both can leave Lizoria for
Tellus aboard our starship, the _Pleiades_. That is all."

"He'll come, too," Belle chortled. "He'll writhe and scream, but he'll
come."

"You couldn't keep him away," Garlock agreed.

On the next planet, Falne, the procedure was a little different. The
information was the same, but--"One word of warning," Garlock added. "It
is to be a meeting of minds; not a contest to set up a pecking-order. If
you try any such business you will be disciplined; sharply and in
public."

"Suppose that, under such conditions, we refuse to attend the meeting?"

"That is your right. There is no coercion whatever. Whether or not you
come will depend upon whether or not you two are in reality Seekers
after Truth. Until a day."

And so it went. Planet after planet. On not one of those worlds had any
Prime changed his thinking. Not one was really interested in the
Galactic Service as an instrument for the good of all mankind. There
were almost as many attitudes as there were Primes; but all were
essentially self-centered and selfish.

"That tears it, Belle--busts it wide open. I can--I mean we together can
do either job. That is, either be top boss and run the thing or put in
full time beating some sense into those hard skulls. We can't do both."

"On paper, we should," Belle said, thoughtfully. "You're Galactic
Admiral; I'm your Vice. One job apiece. But we're _not_ going to be
separated. Besides...."

"Two (minds) (brains) are much better than one," both said, except for
one word, in unison.

Belle laughed. "That settles that. The Garlock-Bellamy fusion is
Galactic Admiral--so we need a good Vice. Who? Deggi and Fao? They're
cooperative and idealistic enough, but.... Oh, I don't know exactly what
it is they lack. Do you?"

"No; I can't put it into words or thoughts. Probably the concept is too
new for pigeon-holing. It isn't exactly strength or hardness or
toughness or resilience or brisance--maybe a combination of all five.
What we need is a pair like us but better."

"There _aren't_ any."

"Don't be too sure." Belle glanced at him in surprise and he went on:
"Not that we've seen, no. But each of those worlds centers a volume of
space containing thousands of planets. Including the Tellurian and the
Margonian, we now have forty-eight regions defined. Let's run a very
fast search-pattern of Reg