rstruck, and from the Bench of Counselors six or eight voices were
babbling loudly at once. Four Ministers were on their feet clamoring for
recognition; Count Duklass of Economics was yelling the loudest, so he
got it.

* * * * *

"Your Imperial Majesty; it would have been most unseemly in me to have
spoken in favor of the proposal of Count Guilfred, being an interested
party, but I feel no such hesitation in concurring with the proposal of
Baron Garatt, the Minister of Fine Arts. Indeed, I consider it a most
excellent proposal----"

"And I consider it the most diabolically dangerous proposal to be made
in this Hall in the last six centuries!" old Admiral Gaklar shouted.
"This is a proposal to concentrate all the armed force of the Empire in
the hands of one man. Who can say what unscrupulous use might be made of
such power?"

"Are you intimating, Prince-Counselor, that Prince Travann is
contemplating some tyrannical or subversive use of such power?" Count
Tammsan, of all people, demanded.

There was a concerted gasp at that; about half the Plenary Session were
absolutely sure that he was. Admiral Geklar backed quickly away from the
question.

"Prince Travann will not be the last Minister of Security," he said.

"What I was about to say, Your Majesty, is that as matters stand,
Security has a virtual monopoly on armed power on this planet. When
these disorders in the city--which Prince Travann's men are now bringing
under control--broke out, there was, I am informed, an order sent out to
bring Regular Army and Planetary Militia into Asgard. It will be hours
before any of the former can arrive, and at least a day before the
latter can even be mobilized. By the time any of them get here, there
will be nothing for them to do. Is that not correct, Prince Ganzay?"

The Prime Minister looked at him angrily, stung by the realization that
somebody else had a personal intelligence service as good as his own,
then swallowed his anger and assented.

"Furthermore," Count Duklass continued, "the Ministry of Defense,
itself, is an anachronism, which no doubt accounts for the condition in
which we now find it. The Empire has no external enemies whatever; all
our defense problems are problems of internal security. Let us therefore
turn the facilities over to the Ministry responsible for the tasks."

The debate went on and on; he paid less and less attention to it, and it
became increasingly obv