ate stunning or tear-gassing or shooting;
all sorts of people can have sons and daughters mixed up in a student
riot."

"Yes. I seem to recall student riots in which the sons of his late
Highness Prince Travann and his late Majesty Rodrik XXI were involved."
He deliberated the point for a moment, and added: "This scarcely sounds
like a frat-fight or a panty-raid, though. What seems to have triggered
it?"

"The story I got--a rather hysterical call for help from Khane
himself--is that they're protesting an action of his in dismissing a
faculty member. I have a couple of undercovers at the University, and
I'm trying to contact them. I sent more undercovers, who could pass for
students, ahead of the Gendarmes to get the student side of it and the
names of the ring-leaders." He glanced down at the indicator in front of
him, which had begun to glow. "If you'll pardon me, sir, Count Tammsan's
trying to get me. He may have particulars. I'll call Your Majesty back
when I learn anything more."

* * * * *

There hadn't been anything like that at the University within the memory
of the oldest old grad. Chancellor Khane, he knew, was a stupid and
arrogant old windbag with a swollen sense of his own importance. He made
a small bet with himself that the whole thing was Khane's fault, but he
wondered what lay behind it, and what would come out of it. Great
plagues from little microbes start. Great and frightening changes----

The screen got itself into an uproar, and he flipped the switch. It was
Viktor Ganzay again. He looked as though his permanent toothache had
deserted him for the moment.

"Sorry to bother Your Majesty, but it's all fixed up," he reported.
"First Citizen Yaggo agreed to alternate in precedence with King Ranulf,
and Lord Koreff has withdrawn all his objections. As far as I can see,
at present, there should be no trouble."

"Fine. I suppose you heard about the excitement at the University?"

"Oh, yes, Your Majesty. Disgraceful affair!"

"Simply shocking. What seems to have started it, have you heard?" he
asked. "All I know is that the students were protesting the dismissal of
a faculty member. He must have been exceptionally popular, or else he
got a more than ordinary raw deal from Khane."

"Well, as to that, sir, I can't say. All I learned was that it was the
result of some faculty squabble in one of the science departments; the
grounds for the dismissal were insubordinat