our defenses ... could not work." Ludovick had to bend lowto hear the creature's last words: "There is ... Earth proverb ...should have warned me ... 'I can protect myself ... against my enemies... but who will protect me ... from my friends'...?"
The Belphin of Belphins died in Ludovick's arms. He was the last of hisrace, so far as Earth was concerned, for no more came. If, as they hadsaid themselves, some outside power had sent them to take care of thehuman race, then that power had given up the race as a bad job. If theywere merely exploiting Earth, as the malcontents had kept suggesting,apparently it had proven too dangerous or too costly a venture.
* * * * *
Shortly after The Belphin's demise, the Flockharts arrived en masse."We won't need your secret weapons now," Ludovick told them dully. "TheBelphin of Belphins is dead."
Corisande gave one of the rippling laughs he was to grow to hate somuch. "Darling, _you_ were my secret weapon all along!" She beamed ather "relatives," and it was then he noticed the faint lines of herforehead. "I told you I could use the power of love to destroy theBelphins!" And then she added gently: "I think there is no doubt whois head of 'this family' now."
The uncle gave a strained laugh. "You're going to have a great littlefirst lady there, boy," he said to Ludovick.
"First lady?" Ludovick repeated, still absorbed in his grief.
"Yes, I imagine the people will want to make you our first President bypopular acclaim."
Ludovick looked at him through a haze of tears. "But I killed TheBelphin. I didn't mean to, but ... they must hate me!"
"Nonsense, my boy; they'll adore you. You'll be a hero!"
Events proved him right. Even those people who had lived in apparentcontent under the Belphins, accepting what they were given andseemingly enjoying their carefree lives, now declared themselves tohave been suffering in silent resentment all along. They hurled flowersand adulatory speeches at Ludovick and composed extremely flatteringsongs about him.
Shortly after he was universally acclaimed President, he marriedCorisande. He couldn't escape.
"Why doesn't she become President herself?" he wailed, when the relativescame and found him hiding in the ruins of the Blue Tower. The people hadtorn the Tower down as soon as they were sure The Belphin was dead andthe others thereby rendered inoperant. "It would spare her a lot ofbother."
"Because she is not The Belphin-slayer," the uncle said, dragging himout. "Besides, she loves you. Come on, Ludovick, be a man." So theyhauled him off to the wedding and, amid much feasting, he was marriedto Corisande.
* * * * *
He never drew another happy breath. In the first place, now that TheBelphin was dead, all the machinery that had been operated by himstopped and no one knew how to fix it. The sidewalks stopped moving,the air conditioners stopped conditioning, the food synthesizersstopped synthesizing, and so on. And, of course, everybody blamed itall on Ludovick--even that year's run of bad weather.
There were famines, riots, plagues, and, after the waves of mob hostilityhad coalesced into national groupings, wars. It was like the old daysagain, precisely as described in the textbooks.
In the second place, Ludovick could never forget that, when Corisandehad sent him to the Blue Tower, she could not have been sure that hersecret weapon would work. Love might _not_ have conquered all--in fact,it was the more likely hypothesis that it wouldn't--and he would havebeen killed by the first barrier. And no husband likes to think thathis wife thinks he's expendable; it makes him feel she doesn't reallylove him.
So, in thirtieth year of his reign as Dictator of Earth, Ludovickpoisoned Corisande--that is, had her poisoned, for by now he had aMinister of Assassination to handle such little matters--and marrieda very pretty, very young, very affectionate blonde. He wasn'tparticularly happy with her, either, but at least it was a change.
--EVELYN E. SMITH
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends