“Dependable, I assure you,” murmured an approaching voice.

Dar stiffened. “Company.”

“… Oh, I have no doubt of that,” Bhelabher was saying hurriedly. “But the situation is not. I am concerned that our courier might be delayed.”

Dar and Sam turned around slowly as Bhelabher and Shacklar came toward them. “I suggest you have a word with him yourself, and warn him of the pitfalls of the journey.” Shacklar looked up. “Well, Ardnam! This will be ‘bon voyage,’ then.” He clasped Dar’s hand tightly and gave it a shake. “You’ve been a credit to my command here, young man. I’ll be sorry to lose you—but do remember how great a service you’ll be performing, for all of us who remain here on Wolmar.”

“It’s a pleasure to do my duty, sir.” Dar took Shacklar’s commendation with a grain of salt, since “Ardnam” had only been under Shacklar’s command for a week.

Shacklar released his hand and stepped back. “I believe the Honorable has a word for you, too.” Bhelabher pressed in, and Shacklar turned away to Sam.

“Be careful, young man, do be careful,” Bhelabher said loudly, drawing Dar further away from Shacklar and Sam. He dropped his voice to a low rumble. “Now, I hadn’t wanted to mention this to the general; after all, there’s no need to worry him with something over which he has no control.”

Dar instantly felt a need to worry. “Uh … such as?”

“When I was back on Terra, and in an office of some influence, some members of the LORDS party approached me—you know of them?”

“Uh, yeah.” Dar wet his lips. “They’re the arch-conservatives in the assembly, aren’t they?”

“I wouldn’t have used the ‘arch’ a week ago. I do now, though.” Bhelabher shook his head in wonder. “What an amazing planet this is!”

“About the LORDS,” Dar prompted.

“Indeed. They approached me, to see if I would be interested in joining in a scheme to overthrow the Secretary-General and establish a temporary LORDS junta, to govern while the I.D.E. government could be restructured along more efficient lines.”

Dar stood rigid, feeling like a resistor in a high-voltage circuit. “You’re … talking about a dictatorship.”

“Certainly; it’s the most efficient form of government there is!”

“Oh, sure.” Dar passed a dry tongue over drier lips. “Of course it’s efficient. It just wipes out all those silly time-wasters—you know, parliamentary debate, public input, elections, trial by jury. All those silly, inefficient boondoggles.”

“Indeed it does. And as an administrator, I can assure you—they do take a great deal of time. They also encumber an amazing number of people, keeping them from tasks in production.”

Dar nodded sardonically. “And all you get for all that time and trouble are little, unnecessary luxuries, such as liberty and justice.”

“Make no mistake; they are luxuries.” Bhelabher smiled with sudden, amazing warmth. “But they seem much more important out here, where they help people to actually do something!”

“Kind of makes up for the cost?”

“Well worth it, well worth it! In fact, I’ve a suspicion liberty is actually cost-efficient, in a growing society.”

“But you couldn’t prove it, to the LORDS?”

Bhelabher smiled sadly. “Would they even listen?”

“I’d think so.” Dar frowned. “Even a conservative can have an open mind.”

“Not if he’s in power. Efficiency matters far more to those who give orders than to those who take them.” Bhelabher held up a forefinger. “Take the Minister of the Exchequer, now—his purpose is to keep the economy of the whole I.D.E. family of planets as high as possible.”

“Uh, with respect. Honorable—isn’t the correct word ‘profitable’?”

“No, it certainly isn’t—but the Minister very quickly comes to believe that it is. Consequently, he tends to frown on anything that costs more than it makes.”

Dar frowned. “Such as?”

“Such as trade to the outlying planets—for example, Wolmar.”

“Now, hold on!” Dar was amazed to realize he was getting angry; he fought down his temper, and went on. “We always ship out a lot of pipe weed.”

“Indeed you do—but I’ve seen the trade reports, and the goods I.D.E. sends to you cost far more than your pipe weed brings—not even counting the shipping cost. No, I.D.E. shows a definite loss on you.”

“Well, you’ll pardon me if I think we’re worth it!”

“Of course—more than worth it. But how do you explain that to the Minister of the Exchequer?”

“Hm.” Dar frowned. “I see the problem. And there’re a lot of planets like ours, aren’t there?”

“Upwards of thirty.” Bhelabher nodded. “Thirty frontier worlds, and the Minister shows a loss for each of them—thirty or forty billion BTUs apiece. It adds up to a very substantial drain on the economy.”

“It’ll pay off, though—someday!” Dar’s temper kindled again. “Give us time, and we’ll be sending out more than we bring in!” A sudden thought nudged Dar’s brain. He cocked his head to the side, gazing at Bhelabher through slitted eyes. “It’s no accident that you mentioned the Minister of the Exchequer, is it?”

Bhelabher stared at him in surprise. Then he smiled sheepishly. “Indeed it’s not. Yes, the Exchequer was the LORD who came to call on me. And his argument was very persuasive—very persuasive, indeed! And once he had me believing that the outlying planets should be cut off and left to their own devices, he arranged my appointment as governor.”

“So … that’s … why!” Then another sudden hunch hit, and Dar frowned. “You wouldn’t be telling me this if you didn’t think I could do something about it.”

“I don’t know if you can or not,” Bhelabher said earnestly, “but you must try. It isn’t easy to gain an appointment with the Secretary-General, young man, but if you can, you must tell him that Electors Boundbridge and Satrap are leaguing with General Forcemain to attempt a coup d’etat. Can you remember those names?”

“Boundbridge, Satrap, and Forcemain.” Dar nodded, repeating them silently in his head, getting the meter down. “Boundbridge, Satrap, and Forcemain … yeah, I’ll remember. But this is the top man in all of human civilization we’re talking about, Honorable. He’s not going to believe the ordinary young punk off the street without some pretty powerful evidence!”

“He shall have it.” Bhelabher pressed a slip of paper into Dar’s hand. “Memorize that set of numbers, young man, and when you’ve done so, burn the paper. The Secretary-General has only to put them into the nearest computer terminal, and the screen will display an excellent little collection of documents, complete with signatures.”

Dar stared at the slip of paper. “But … but how did you …?”

“Find them?” Bhelabher smiled. “I do give myself some credit, young man; and I know that I am an expert on data storage and retrieval. When I’d spoken with Minister Boundbridge, I was thoroughly convinced; but my bureaucrat’s instincts still functioned, almost by themselves. I was determined to aid the LORDS’ coup; but I was also determined that I would not be made a scapegoat if anything went wrong.”

Dar’s eyes widened. “My lord! Is human trust that far gone on Terra?”

Bhelabher waved the objection away, irritated. “It has been for centuries, young man—probably ever since the Chinese invented bureaucracy. One of the first rules you learn in an office is, ‘Get the directive in writing—and keep a copy.’ And if I knew that, certainly Satrap and Forcemain did, too, plus whomever else was involved in the conspiracy. I knew they’d each have saved their own bits of evidence.”

“But how could you find it?”

Bhelabher smiled, preening. “People don’t hide things in chests with false bottoms, or secret rooms, anymore, young man. They hide them in computers, with secret activation codes. But whatever code one man can think up, another can deduce—especially if he has his own computer to do the donkey-work of searching. I am an expert, after all—and I did have some time.”