n
response, they were instructed to attend, make no
commitments, and report back immediately on the
proceedings.

As the appointed time neared, the Presidential
Security Guard, augmented by a detachment of
heavily armed police, moved into the conference
area. They took up positions at doors leading
from the President's Suite, along the connecting
corridors, and inside the Conference Room. All
rooms, corridors and exterior approaches leading to
the meeting site were physically and electronically
searched, and the identity disks of all individuals
passing through the area scrutinized and verified.

Shortly before the meeting, the President's Council
entered and took seats along the wall, leaving the
chairs around the table for the guests. A lackey
scampered about, lifted the lids of beakers, peered
in, made minute changes in the alignment of goblets,
and scuttled out.

A view tank rose from a well at the front of the
room, glowed, and cleared to show the Special
Zone. Charon and its background of stars had been
dimmed to reduce the clutter. In the foreground,
the Slingshot Logistics Depot and its maze of ships,
tugs, articulated cranes and flex-conveyers were
portrayed busily engaged in loading and unloading
the moored vessels, and the new arrivals that
waited for their turn.

A flurry rippled through the room as a door panel
slid back into its slot and the Ambassadors strode
in from an anteroom. They were men and women
of varying appearance: tall and short, slender
and rotund, and cadaverous and fleshy. More than
half wore the military uniforms and ranks of their
nation, and the rest were in the colorful robes of
their offices and governments.

Mostly in their middle years, they had the hard,
arrogant look of ruthless power, survivors of craft
and intrigue. Faces suspicious and wary, they took
places around the table. None spoke.

A brusque announcement cut the silence. "The
President of Planet Pluto."

President Narval, haughty in appearance and adorned
in red-black robes of office, entered to the sound
of sliding chairs and rustling garments as all
present rose to their feet. Narval's massive
body, pear-shaped and tapering into short legs and
diminutive feet, shuffled forward in top-heavy gait.

Drummer entered behind Narval and moved to stand
silently beside a lectern adjacent the view tank.

Sunken between ponderous shoulders, Narval's
hairless head was small and neckless, his face
smooth-pal