ls charge--think of the backing we'd get from the women's
clubs, P.T.A., all the pressure groups determined to dictate to the rest
of the world how it should behave. It's worked for hundreds of years,
sir. Never fails."

"Hm-m," Gunderson mused. "You may be right."

"Shall I land, sir, make the arrest?"

"You've got plenty of photographic evidence?"

"All we'd need, sir, at least for the lewd, public indecent exposure
charge."

"Wait a minute. How about the colonists? Got pictures of them?"

"The three men, sir. No others."

"Let's don't rush into this," Gunderson said slowly. "Without a ship
they're not going to get far. Hold off, and keep taking pictures. Maybe
we can get something stronger on Gray than just an indecent exposure, or
at least get some pictures that could be interpreted as more than just
that. Get pictures of as many colonists as possible, too, in case
they've gone nudist."

"You'd want to prosecute the colonists, too?"

"Might be a smart idea. That way, nobody could claim we'd been gunning
for the Junior E. Make it impartial, play no favorites. Hm-m, even if we
decided not to prosecute, we'd have the pictures in their dossiers, so
that anytime in the future, for the rest of their lives, if any of them
gave us any trouble, we could quietly let them know what we've got, and
they'll just fold up and quit. That's worked for hundreds of years,
too."

"Yes, sir. Smart thinking, sir." The assistant knew that already
Gunderson had adopted the idea as his own, and to hold his job he'd
better let Gunderson go on thinking so. Of course, if the idea should
backfire, then Gunderson would remember quickly enough where it had
originated.

"Hm-m, you know," Gunderson was saying. "This could work out all right.
If their ship's gone they're not communicating with E.H.Q. And if
they're not communicating, E.H.Q. will send out another ship to see why.
Maybe there'll be an E on it. I hear the only one available is
McGinnis--that guy who's planning to fight us on that injunction.

"Now suppose he landed. Suppose he went nudist, or we could make
pictures look like he did. The guy would have to undress sometime, take
a bath. Slap a morals charge on him. Nobody with a public reputation
ever fights a charge like that, guilty or innocent. They pay up or
knuckle under to keep it quiet. Have, for hundreds of years; always
will, as long as a bunch of fat, old, ugly biddies, male and female, who
nobody wants that way