ut.

The tiger looked at the Ambassador. The Ambassador looked at the
tiger.

"Most ingenious," the Ambassador said.

At the sound of his voice, the tiger came unglued. He sprang like a
steel spring uncoiling, landing on the floor where the Ambassador had
been.

The door opened again. Another tiger was pushed in. He snarled angrily
and leaped at the first. They smashed together in midair.

The Ambassador appeared a few feet off, watching. He moved back when a
lion entered the door, head up and alert. The lion sprang at him,
almost going over on his head when he struck nothing. Not finding any
human, the lion leaped on one of the tigers.

The Ambassador reappeared in his chair, where he sat smoking and
watching the beasts kill each other.

In ten minutes the room looked like an abattoir.

But by then the Ambassador had tired of the spectacle, and was
reclining on his bed, reading.

* * * * *

"I give up," Malley said. "That was my last bright idea."

Cercy stared at the floor, not answering. Harrison was seated in the
corner, getting quietly drunk.

The telephone rang.

"Yeah?" Cercy said.

"I've got it!" Darrig's voice shouted over the line. "I really think
this is it. Look, I'm taking a cab right down. Tell Harrison to find
some helpers."

"What is it?" Cercy asked.

"The chaos underneath!" Darrig replied, and hung up.

They paced the floor, waiting for him to show up. Half an hour passed,
then an hour. Finally, three hours after he had called, Darrig
strolled in.

"Hello," he said casually.

"Hello, hell!" Cercy growled. "What kept you?"

"On the way over," Darrig said, "I read the Ambassador's philosophy.
It's quite a work."

"Is that what took you so long?"

"Yes. I had the driver take me around the park a few times, while I
was reading it."

"Skip it. How about--"

"I can't skip it," Darrig said, in a strange, tight voice. "I'm afraid
we were wrong. About the aliens, I mean. It's perfectly right and
proper that they should rule us. As a matter of fact, I wish they'd
hurry up and get here."

But Darrig didn't look certain. His voice shook and perspiration
poured from his face. He twisted his hands together, as though in
agony.

"It's hard to explain," he said. "Everything became clear as soon as I
started reading it. I saw how stupid we were, trying to be
independent in this interdependent Universe. I saw--oh, look, Cercy.
Let's stop all this fool