r the fist
of a ruthless despot.

"I will govern well, and we shall prosper,"
President Narval glibly promised the Plutonian
citizenry. "I have studied and practiced
interplanetary law for many years. I shall demand
justice for our planet and for all our people. We
will not be slaves to the imperialists of the Inner
Region."

The new President organized a brotherhood with like
morals, and bestowed on them ministries of great
personal influence and profit. A bureaucracy rose
and flourished; the spoils systems and corruption
matched those of ancient Earth.

Reen Narval, President of Planet Pluto, was caught
in a dilemma.

Slingshot construction was approaching completion.
The Terminals and Planet Pluto would come to a
parting of the ways before the end of the century.
Employment and extortionate profits from Slingshot
services and industries would plummet as Planet
Pluto continued outbound along its eccentric orbit
into interstellar space. The economy would wither,
and the inhabitants move elsewhere.

Narval had to provide for himself. For the moment,
he held a good hand, and the stakes made the game
worthwhile, providing it was himself that shuffled
the deck and dealt the cards.

Leaning back in his chair, Narval scanned the faces
at the table.

"I have dispatched a message to the President
of the United Inner Planetary System," he
announced solemnly. "It will open a new and better
relationship between INOR and the UIPS."

The Ambassadors stared at him, aghast. Several
rose partially out of their seats, looked at others
at the table, reconsidered, sat, and glared grimly
straight ahead rather than toward the head of the
table. Narval smirked. A bombshell, indeed.

"Until now we have played children's games with the
UIPS," he continued, raising his voice to the level
and tone of a despot's traditional bellow to repel
an imagined enemy. "That time is past. We must
move on to a strategy that is more aggressive
than petty raids on UIPS shipping or to merely
destroy a few of their insignificant patrols.

"The build-up of INOR's military forces has
reached the level at which, together, we have the
strength to influence the final stages of Slingshot
construction. That includes the launch schedule of
the Extractor station to Alpha Centauri. We must
use this new power to benefit all nations in the
Outer Region. In short, the warships and weapons
in Planet Pluto's military fleet, along with those of
your