on, my new adjutant; Hid O'Leary's on
duty in the north.... Them, this was a perfectly splendid piece of
work here; you can take this not only as a personal congratulation,
but as a sort of unit citation for the whole crowd. You've all behaved
simply above praise." He turned to King Kankad, who was wearing a pair
of automatics in shoulder-holsters for his upper hands and another
pair in cross-body belt holsters for his lower. "And what I've said
for anybody else goes double for you, Kankad," he added, clapping the
Kragan on the shoulder.

"All he did was save the lot of us!" M'zangwe said. "We were hanging
on by our fingernails here till his people started coming in. And
then, after you sent the _Aldebaran_...."

"Where is the _Aldebaran_, by the way? I didn't see her when I came
in."

"Based on Kankad's, flying bombardment against Keegark, and keeping
an eye out for those ships. Prinsloo caught the _De Wett_ in the docks
there and smashed her, but the _Jan Smuts_ got away, and we haven't
been able to locate the _Oom Paul Kruger_, either. They're probably
both on the Eastern Shore, gathering up reenforcements for Orgzild,"
M'zangwe said.

"Our ability to move troops rapidly is what's kept us on top this
long, and Orgzild's had plenty of time to realize it," von Schlichten
said. "When we get _Procyon_ down here, I'm going to send her out,
with a screen of light scout-vehicles, to find those ships and get rid
of them.... How's Hid been making out, at Grank, by the way? I didn't
have my car-radio on, coming down."

That touched off another hubbub: "Haven't you heard, general?" ...
"Oh, my God, this is simply out of this continuum!" ... "Well, tell
him, somebody!" ... "No, get Hid on the screen; it's his story!"

Somebody busied himself at the switchboard. The rest of them sat down
at the long conference-table. Laviola and Meyerstein and Buhrmann were
especially obsequious in seating von Schlichten in Sid Harrington's
old chair, and in getting a chair for Paula Quinton. After a while,
the jumbled colors on the big screen resolved themselves into an image
of Hideyoshi O'Leary, grinning like a pussy-cat beside an empty
goldfish-bowl.

"Well, what happened?" von Schlichten asked, after they had exchanged
greetings. "How did Yoorkerk like the movies? And did you get the
_Procyon_ and the _Northern Lights_ loose?"

"Yoorkerk was deeply impressed," O'Leary replied. "His story is that
he is and always was the true and e