"Why?"

Watson looked at his fingers, nibbled at a hangnail. "It just seems to
me it wouldn't hurt any."

Chessman snorted.

Dick Hawkins said, "I think Barry's right. They can bear watching.
Besides in another decade or so they'll realize we're going to beat
them. Mayer's ego isn't going to take that. He'd go to just about any
extreme to keep from losing face back on Earth."

Natt Roberts said worriedly, "I think they're right, Joe. Certainly it
wouldn't hurt to have a few Security men over there. My department could
train them and we'd ferry them over in this space boat."

"I'll make the decisions," Chessman growled at them. "I'll think about
this. It's just possible that you're right though."

Behind them, Reif looked thoughtfully at his teen-age son.

IX.

Down the long palace corridor strode Barry Watson, Dick Hawkins, Natt
Roberts, the aging Reif and his son Taller, now in the prime of manhood.
Their faces were equally wan from long hours without sleep. Half a dozen
Tulan infantrymen brought up their rear.

As they passed Security Police guards, to left and right, eyes took in
their weapons, openly carried. But such eyes shifted and the guards
remained at their posts. Only one sergeant opened his mouth in protest.
"Sir," he said to Watson, hesitantly, "you are entering Number One's
presence armed."

"Shut up," Natt Roberts rapped at him.

Reif said, "That will be all, sergeant."

The Security Police sergeant looked emptily after them as they
progressed down the corridor.

Together, Watson and Reif motioned aside the two Tulan soldiers who
stood before the door of their destination, and pushed inward without
knocking.

Joe Chessman looked up wearily from his map and dispatch laden desk. For
a moment his hand went to the heavy military revolver at his right but
when he realized the identity of his callers, it fell away.

"What's up now?" he said, his voice on the verge of cracking.

Watson acted as spokesman. "It's everywhere the same. The communes are
on the fine edge of revolt. They've been pushed too far; they've got to
the point where they just don't give a damn. A spark and all Texcoco
goes up in flames."

Reif said coldly, "We need immediate reforms. They've got to be
pacified. An immediate announcement of more consumer goods, fewer State
taxes, above all a relaxation of Security Police pressures. Given
immediate promise of these, we might maintain ourselves."

Joe Chessman's s