very Empire planet shall be
self-governed as to its own affairs, in the manner of its own choice,
and without interference._"

"But slavery.... Section Two, Article Six," Erskyll objected. "_There
shall be no chattel slavery or serfdom anywhere in the Empire; no
sapient being of any race whatsoever shall be the property of any being
but himself._"

"That's correct," he agreed. "If this Mastership intends to remain the
planetary government under the Empire, they will be obliged to abolish
slavery, but they will have to do it by their own act. We cannot do it
for them."

"You know what I'd do, Prince Trevannion?" Shatrak said. "I'd just heave
this Mastership thing out, and set up a nice tight military
dictatorship. We have the planet under martial rule now; let's just keep
it that way for about five years, till we can train a new government."

That suggestion seemed to pain Count Erskyll almost as much as the
existing situation.

* * * * *

They dined late, in Commodore Shatrak's private dining room. Beside
Shatrak, Erskyll and himself, there were Lanze Degbrend, and Count
Erskyll's charge-d'affaires, Sharll Ernanday, and Patrique Morvill and
Pyairr Ravney and the naval intelligence officer, Commander Andrey
Douvrin. Ordinarily, he deplored serious discussion at meals, but under
the circumstances it was unavoidable; nobody could think or talk of
anything else. The discussion which he had hoped would follow the meal
began before the soup-course.

"We have a total population of about twenty million," Lanze Degbrend
reported. "A trifle over ten thousand Masters, all ages and both sexes.
The remainder are all slaves."

"I find that incredible," Erskyll declared promptly. "Twenty million
people, held in slavery by ten thousand! Why do they stand for it? Why
don't they rebel?"

"Well, I can think of three good reasons," Douvrin said. "Three square
meals a day."

[Illustration]

"And no responsibilities; no need to make decisions," Degbrend added.
"They've been slaves for seven and a half centuries. They don't even
know the meaning of freedom, and it would frighten them if they did."

"Chain of command," Shatrak said. When that seemed not to convey any
meaning to Erskyll, he elaborated: "We have a lot of dirty-necked
working slaves. Over every dozen of them is an overseer with a big whip
and a stungun. Over every couple of overseers there is a guard with a
submachine gun. Over them