beenfighting, lately, on the Europo-American Sector have been, at least inpart, motivated by rivalry for oil fields. But now that theEuropo-Americans have begun to release nuclear energy, fissionables havebecome more important than oil. In less than a century, it's predictedthat atomic energy will replace all other forms of power. MineralProducts Syndicate wanted to get a good source of supply for uranium,and your Proto-Aryan Sector franchise was worth grabbing.
"I had considered something like this as a possibility when Stranor,here, mentioned that tularemia was normally unknown in Eurasia on thissector. That epidemic must have been started by imported germs. And Iknew that Mineral Products has agents at the court of the Chuldunemperor, Chombrog: they have to, to protect their oil wells on hiseastern frontiers. I spent most of last night checking up on somestuff by video-transcription from the Paratime Commission's microfilmlibrary at Dhergabar. I found out, for one thing, that while there isa King Kurchuk of Zurb on every time-line for a hundred para-years oneither side of this one, this is the only time-line on which hemarried a Princess Darith of Chuldun, and it's the only time-line onwhich there is any trace of a Chuldun scribe named Labdurg.
"That's why I went to all the trouble of having that Yat-Zar platedwith collapsed nickel. If there were disguised paratimers among theMuz-Azin party at Kurchuk's court, I expected one of them to try toblast our idol when we brought it into the palace. I was watchingGhromdur and Labdurg in particular; as soon as Ghromdur used hisblaster, I needled him. After that, it was easy."
"Was that why you insisted on sending that automatic viewer onahead?"
"Yes. There was a chance that they might have planted a bomb in theHouse of Yat-Zar, here. I knew they'd either do that or let the placeentirely alone. I suppose they were so confident of getting away withthis that they didn't want to damage the conveyer or the conveyerchamber. They expected to use them, themselves, after they took overyour company's franchise."
"Well, what's going to be done about it by the Commission?" BrannadKlav wanted to know.
"Plenty. The syndicate will probably lose their paratime license; anyof its officials who had guilty knowledge of this will be dealt withaccording to law. You know, this was a pretty nasty business."
"You're telling me!" Stranor Sleth exclaimed. "Did you get a look atthose whips they were going to use on our people? Pointed iron barbs aquarter-inch long braided into them, all over the lash-ends!"
"Yes. Any punitive action you're thinking about taking on thesepriests of Muz-Azin--the natives, I mean--will be ignored on the FirstLevel. And that reminds me: you'd better work out a line of policy,pretty soon."
"Well, as for the priests and the torturers, I think I'll tell Yorzukto have them sold to the Bhunguns, to the east. They're always in themarket for galley slaves," Stranor Sleth said. He turned to BrannadKlav. "And I'll want six gold crowns made up, as soon as possible.Strictly Hulgun design, with Yat-Zar religious symbolism, very richand ornate, all slightly different. When I give Kurchuk absolution,I'll crown him at the altar in the name of Yat-Zar. Then I'll invitein the other five Hulgun kings, lecture them on their religiousduties, make them confess their secret doubts, forgive them, and crownthem, too. From then on, they can all style themselves as ruling bythe will of Yat-Zar."
"And from then on, you'll have all of them eating out of your hand,"Verkan Vall concluded. "You know, this will probably go down in Hulgunhistory as the Reformation of Ghullam the Holy. I've always wonderedwhether the theory of the divine right of kings was invented by thekings, to establish their authority over the people, or by thepriests, to establish _their_ authority over the kings. It works aboutas well one way as the other."
"What I can't understand is this," Brannad Klav said. "It was entirelybecause of my respect for the Paratime Code that I kept Stranor Slethfrom using Fourth Level weapons and other techniques to control thesepeople with a show of apparent miraculous powers. But this FourthLevel Mineral Products Syndicate was operating in violation of theParatime Code by invading our franchise area. Why didn't they fake upa supernatural reign of terror to intimidate these natives?"
"Ha, exactly because they _were_ operating illegally," Verkan Vallreplied. "Suppose they had started using needlers and blasters andantigravity and nuclear-energy around here. The natives would havethought it was the power of Muz-Azin, of course, but what would youhave thought? You'd have known, as soon as they tried it, that FirstLevel paratimers were working against you, and you'd have laid thefacts before the Commission, and this time-line would have beenflooded with Paratime Police. They had to conceal their operations notonly from the natives, as you do, but also from us. So they didn'tdare make public use of First Level techniques.
"Of course, when we came marching into the palace with that idol onantigravity, they knew, at once, what was happening. I have an ideathat they only tried to blast that idol to create a diversion whichwould permit them to escape--if they could have got out of the palace,they'd have made their way, in disguise, to the nearest MineralProducts Syndicate conveyer and transposed out of here. I realizedthat they could best delay us by blasting our idol, and that's why Ihad it plated with collapsed nickel. I think that where they madetheir mistake was in allowing Kurchuk to have those priests arrested,and insisting on sacrificing them to Muz-Azin. If it hadn't been forthat, the Paratime Police wouldn't have been brought into this, atall.
"Well, Stranor, you'll want to get back to your temple, and Brannadand I want to get back to the First Level. I'm supposed to take mywife to a banquet in Dhergabar, tonight, and with the fasteststrato-rocket, I'll just barely make it."
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