racy."

"But--But, Your Majesty----!"

"You aren't to be blamed for suspecting him, general. His agents were
working in the very innermost councils of the conspirators. Every one of
the people whom you suspected--with excellent reason--was actually
working to defeat the plot. Think back, general; the scheme to put the
gun in the viewscreen, the scheme to sabotage the elevator, the scheme
to introduce assassins into the orchestra with guns built into their
trumpets--every one came to your notice because of what seemed to be
some indiscretion of the plotters, didn't it?"

"Why ... why, yes, Your Majesty!" By this time tomorrow, he would have a
complete set of memories for each one of them. "You mean, the
indiscretions were deliberate?"

"Your vigilance and loyalty made it necessary for them to resort to
these fantastic expedients, and your vigilance defeated them as fast as
they came to your notice. Well, today, Prince Travann and I struck back.
I may tell you, in confidence, that every one of the conspirators is
dead. Killed in this afternoon's rioting--which was incited for that
purpose by Prince Travann."

"Then---- Then there will be no more plots against your life?" There was
a note of regret in the old man's voice.

"No more, Your Venerable Highness."

"But---- What did Your Majesty call me?" he asked incredulously.

"I took the honor of being the first to address you by your new title,
Prince-Counselor Dorflay."

He left the old man overcome, and blubbering happily on the shoulder of
the Crown Prince, who winked at his father out of the screen. Prince
Travann had gotten a couple of fresh drinks from the robot and handed
one to him when he returned to his chair.

"He'll be finding the Bench of Counselors riddled with treason inside a
week," Travann said. "You handled that just right, though. Another case
of making problems solve each other."

"You were telling me about a plot you'd discovered."

"Oh, yes: this is one to top Dorflay's best efforts. All the voting-bloc
bosses on Odin are in a conspiracy to start a civil war to give them a
chance to loot the planet. There isn't a word of truth in it, of course,
but it'll do to arrest and hold them for a few days, and by that time
some of my undercovers will be in control of every nonworker vote on the
planet. After all, the Cartels put an end to competition in every other
business; why not a Voting Cartel, too? Then, whenever there's an
election, we just