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Toward the end of his indoctrination studies, Ronny appeared one morning
at the Octagon Section G offices and before Irene Kasansky. Watching her
fingers fly, listening to her voice rapping and snapping, O.K.-ing and
rejecting, he came to the conclusion that automation could go just so far
in office work and then you were thrown back on the hands of the efficient
secretary. Irene was a one-woman office staff.

She looked up at him. "Hello, Ronny. Thought you'd be off on your
assignment by now. Got any clues on Tommy Paine?"

"No," he said. "That's why I'm here. I wanted to see the commissioner."

"About what?" She flicked a switch. When a light flickered on one of her
order boxes, she said into it, "No," emphatically, and turned back to him.

"He said he wanted to see me again before I took off."

She fiddled some more, finally said, "All right, Ronny. Tell him he's got
time for five minutes with you."

"Five minutes!"

"Then he's got an appointment with the Commissioner of Interplanetary
Culture," she said. "You'd better hurry along."

Ronny Bronston retraced the route of his first visit here. How long ago?
It already seemed ages since his probationary appointment. Your life
changed fast when you were in Section G.

Ross Metaxa's brown bottle, or its twin, was sitting on his desk and he
was staring at it glumly. He looked up and scowled.

"Ronald Bronston," Ronny said. "Irene Kasansky told me to say I could have
five minutes with you, then you have an appointment with the Commissioner
of Interplanetary Culture."

"I remember you," Metaxa said. "Have a drink. Interplanetary Culture, ha!
The Xanadu Folk Dance Troupe. They dance nude. They've been touring the
whole UP. Roaring success everywhere, obviously. Now they're assigned to
Virtue, a planet settled by a bunch of Fundamentalists. They want the
troupe to wear Mother Hubbards. The Xanadu outfit is in a tizzy. They've
been insulted. They claim they're the most modest members of UP, that
nudity has nothing to do with modesty. The government of Virtue said
that's fine but they wear Mother Hubbards or they don't dance. Xanadu says
it'll withdraw from United Planets."

Ronny Bronston said painfully, "Why not let them?"

Ross Metaxa poured himself a Denebian tequila, offered his subordinate a
drink again with a motion of the bottle. Ronny shook his head.

Metaxa said, "If we didn't take steps to soothe these things over, there
wouldn't be any United Plan