New Austin was a place, a good fifty miles the city. As we descended, I see that it was out like a wheel, with the and the blast-off around the hub, and high buildings—packing houses and plants—along the many spokes. It a level out of with the I had read, or the Hoddy had told, about the life of the planet. Might be there, and I a note to out whose.

On the other hand, Old Texas, on Terra, had been industrialized; so much so that the itself the project of to move almost the whole population into space.

Then the landing-field was up at us, with the nearer ends of the and close and the ends out away from us. The other was already down, and I see a around it.

There was a waiting for us when we got out and the to the ground, and as I had expected, a special group of men waiting for me. They were by a tall, in the black Eisenhower jacket, gray-striped and black that was the of the Diplomatic Service, the Cookie Pushers.

Over their at the other rocket-boat, I see the gold-gleaming of the girl I'd met on the ship.

I to push through the and to her. As I did, the Cookie Pusher got in my way.

"Mr. Silk! Mr. Ambassador! Here we are!" he was clamoring. "The car for the Embassy is right over here!" He my elbow. "You have no idea how we all are to see you, Mr. Ambassador!"

"Yes, yes; of course. Now, there's somebody over there I have to see, at once." I to myself from his grasp.

Across the the two lighters, I see the girl push out of the around her and a hand to me. I to to her; but just then another lighter, with freight, started to out at another stand, with the of a dozen Niagaras. The thin man in the added to the by into my ear and at me.

"We haven't time!" he managed to make himself heard. "We're late now, sir! You must come with us."

Hoddy, too, had of me by the other arm.

"Come on, boss. There's be some why he's got himself in an about it is. You'll see her again."

Then, the whole gang—Hoddy, the thin man with the black homburg, his in garb, and the chauffeur—all closed in on me and pushed me, me, half-carried me, fifty yards across the to where their air-car was parked. By this time, the tall had clear of the around her and was at me. I to back, but I was into the car and on the seat. At the same time, the was jumping in, the car's wings, up.

"Great God!" I bellowed. "This is the piece of I've had to from any in my whole State Department experience! I want an out of you, and it'd be a good one!"

There was a in the car for a moment. The thin man moved himself off my lap, then sat there looking at me with the of a dog that had just been for something which wasn't its fault.

"Mr. Ambassador, you can't how sorry we all are, but if we hadn't you away from the and to the Embassy at once, we would all have been much sorrier."

"Somebody here gunnin' for the Ambassador?" Hoddy sharply.

"Oh, no! I hadn't of that," the thin man almost gibbered. "But your presence at the Embassy is of and urgent necessity. You have no idea of the into which have gotten.... Oh, me, Mr. Ambassador. I am Gilbert W. Thrombley, your chargé d'affaires." I hands with him. "And Mr. Benito Gomez, the Secretary of the Embassy." I hands with him, too, and started to Mr. Hoddy Ringo.

Hoddy, however, had to look out the window; immediately, he gave a yelp.

"We got a tail, boss! Two of them! Look there!"

There were two black eight-passenger aircars, of the same model, after us, making an to overtake us. The and his jets, then his rocket-booster.

Immediately, black rocket-fuel away from the aircars.

Hoddy in his seat, open a porthole-slit in the window, and one of his eleven-mm's out, the whole go. Thrombley and Gomez onto the floor, and trying to me with them, me not to myself.

As as I see, there was nothing to myself to. The other coming, but neither of them were at us. There was also no that Hoddy's had had any on them. Our into a perfect of and dodging, at the same time using his to tell somebody to the gate open in a hurry. I saw the and green of New Texas one another above, under, in of and us. Then the car set on a of concrete, the were retracted, and we a city street.

We a number of streets. We cut on two wheels, and on one wheel, and, I was prepared to swear, on no wheels. A of times, with the retracted, we actually into the air and jumped over vehicles in of us, landing again with bone-shaking jolts. Then we an turn and in under a arch, and a big door us, and we stopped, in the middle of a wide patio, the of the car a of a fountain. Four or five people, in trousers, local dress and the of the Space Marines, came over.

Thrombley himself and half-climbed, half-fell, out of the car. Gomez got out on the other with Hoddy; I out after Thrombley.

A tall, sandy-haired man in the of the Space Navy came over.

"What the devil's the matter, Thrombley?" he demanded. Then, me, he gave me as much of a as a officer will on in clothes.

"Mr. Silk?" He looked at my and the pistols on my in well-bred of surprise. "I'm your attaché, Stonehenge; Space-Commander, Space Navy."

I noticed that Hoddy's ears had up, but he wasn't making any to Stonehenge's attention. I hands with him, Hoddy, and offered my cigarette case around.

"You to have had a from the spaceport, Mr. Ambassador. What happened?"

Thrombley our driver of trying to the of us. Hoddy him and explained:

"Just after we'd took off, two other took off after us. We up, and they up, too. Then your fly-boy, here, got fancy. That 'em off. Time we got into the city, we'd them. Nice job of driving. Probably saved our lives."

"Shucks, that wasn't nothin'," the driver disclaimed. "When you drive for politicians, you're either good or you're good and dead."

"I'm they started so soon," Stonehenge said. Then he looked around at my fellow-passengers, who to have realized, by now, that they were no longer by their over the of the grave. "But gentlemen, let's not keep the Ambassador out here in the sun."

So we over the at the of the patio, and were about to when one of the Embassy came up, by a man in a and Levis and a big hat. He had a pair of in his belt, too.

"I'm Captain Nelson; New Texas Rangers," he himself. "Which one of you-all is Mr. Stephen Silk?"

I it.

The Ranger pushed his wide and at me.

"I just can't this out," he said. "You're in the right place and the right company, but we got a report, from a good source, that you'd been at the by a of thugs!"

"A source?" I with my hands. "I don't her. My and chargé d'affaires, Mr. Thrombley, that I should the Embassy, here, as soon as possible, and from where she was standing, it must have looked like a kidnapping. Fact is, it looked like one from where I was standing, too. Was that you and your people who were us? Then I must for opening fire on you ... I nobody was hurt."

"No, our are well armored. You scored a of times on one of them, but no done. I after what to Silas Cumshaw, you had a right to be suspicious."

I noticed that refreshments, bottles, had been on a big table under the veranda.

"Can I offer you a drink, Captain, in of amity?" I asked.

"Well, now, I'd like to, Mr. Ambassador, but I'm on ..." he began.

"You can't be. You're an officer of the Planetary Government of New Texas, and in this Embassy, you're in the of the Solar League."

"That's right, now, Mr. Ambassador," he grinned. "Extraterritoriality. Wonderful thing, extraterritoriality." He looked at Hoddy, who, for the time since I had met him, was trying to into the background. "And immunity, too. Ain't it, Hoddy?"

After he had had his drink and departed, we all sat down. Thrombley speaking almost at once.

"Mr. Ambassador, you must, you must, issue a public statement, immediately, sir. Only a public statement, promptly, will the into which we have all been thrust."

"Oh, come, Mr. Thrombley," I objected. "Captain Nelson'll take of all that in his report to his superiors."

Thrombley looked at me for a moment as though I had been speaking to him in Hottentot, then his hands in exasperation.

"Oh, no, no! I don't that, sir. I a public to the that you have full for the Embassy. Where is that thing? Mr. Gomez!"

Gomez gave him four or five sheets, together. He them on the table, to the last sheet, and out a pen.

"Here, sir; just here."

"Are you crazy?" I demanded. "I'll be if I'll that. Not till I've taken an of the physical property of the Embassy, and myself with all its commitments, and had the books by some of public accountants."

Thrombley and Gomez looked at one another. They groaned.

"But we must have a of of ..." Gomez dithered.

"... or the of the Embassy will be at a stop, and we can't do anything," Thrombley finished.

"Wait a moment, Thrombley," Stonehenge cut in. "I Mr. Silk's attitude. I've taken of a good many ships and installations, at one time or another, and I've for anything I couldn't see and and count. I know men who retired as or vice-admirals, but they retired with as second or they that rule."

He to me. "Without any to the chargé d'affaires, Mr. Silk, this Embassy has been since Mr. Cumshaw's death. No one authorized, or, to put it more accurately, no one dared, to himself acting of the Embassy—"

"Because that would make him the next target?" I interrupted. "Well, that's what I was sent here for. Mr. Gomez, as Secretary of the Embassy, will you please, at once, prepare a for the press and to the that I am now the of this Embassy, from this hour for all its and all its present as they the government of the Solar League. Get that out at once. Tomorrow, I will present my to the Secretary of State here. Thereafter, Mr. Thrombley, you can in the that I'll be the one they'll be at."

"But you can't wait that long, Mr. Ambassador," Thrombley almost wailed. "We must go to the Statehouse. The for you is already going on."

I looked at my watch, which had been ship for Capella IV time. It was just 1315.

"What time do they on this planet, Mr. Thrombley?" I asked.

"Oh, any time at all, sir. This one started about 0900 when the news that the ship was in off-planet got in. It'll be a barbecue, of course, and—"

"Barbecued supercow! Yipeee!" Hoddy yelled. "What I been waitin' for for five years!"

It would be the not to take him along, I thought. And it would also keep him and Stonehenge for a while.

"But we must hurry, Mr. Ambassador," Thrombley was saying. "If you will change, now, to dress ..."

And he was looking at me, gasping. I think it was the time he had actually what I was wearing.

"In native dress, Mr. Ambassador!"

Thrombley's and were again those of an in the middle of a argument.

Then his to my and his saucers. "Oh, dear! And armed!"

My chargé d'affaires was and he not look directly at me.

"Mr. Ambassador, I that you were from the Consular Service. I that you will not take it if I point out, here in private, that—"

"Mr. Thrombley, I am this and these pistols on the direct order of Secretary of State Ghopal Singh."

That set him on his heels.

"I ... I can't it!" he exclaimed. "An is armed."

"Not when he's with a government which respects the of nations and the of practice, no," I replied. "But the of Mr. Cumshaw that the government of New Texas is not such a government. These pistols are in the nature of a not-too-subtle hint of the manner in which this government, here, is being by the government of the Solar League." I to Stonehenge. "Commander, what of an Embassy have we?" I asked.

"Space Marines, and five men. I as officer, sir."

"Very well. Mr. Thrombley that it is necessary for me to go to this fish-fry or it is immediately. I want two men, a driver and an auto-rifleman, for my car. And from now on, I would suggest, Commander, that you wear your at all times the Embassy."

"Yes, sir!" and this time, Stonehenge gave me a salute.

"Well, I must phone the Statehouse, then," Thrombley said. "We will have to call on Secretary of State Palme, and then on President Hutchinson."

With that, he got up, himself, Gomez to follow, and away.

I got up, too, and Stonehenge aside.

"Aboard ship, in, I was told that there's a of the Space Navy on about five light-years from here," I said.

"Yes, sir. Task Force Red-Blue-Green, Fifth Space Fleet. Fleet Admiral Sir Rodney Tregaskis."

"Can we of a fast space-boat, with engines, in a hurry?"

"Eight or ten of them always around New Austin spaceport, available for charter."

"All right; one and out to that fleet. Tell Admiral Tregaskis that the Ambassador at New Austin in need of protection; possibility of z'Srauff invasion. I'll give you orders. I want the Fleet radio call. How out would that be, with our facilities?"

"The Embassy radio isn't about sixty light-minutes, sir."

"Then tell Sir Rodney to his in that close. The invasion, if it comes, will not come from the direction of the z'Srauff star-cluster; they'll jump past us and move in from the other side. I you don't think I'm having nightmares, Commander. Danger of a z'Srauff was pointed out to me by on the very level, on Luna."

Stonehenge nodded. "I'm always having the same of nightmares, sir. Especially since this special here, to a meteor-mining treaty." He for a moment. "We don't want the New Texans to know, of course, that you've sent for the fleet?"

"Naturally not."

"Well, if I can wait till about midnight I leave, I can a owned, and by Solar League people. The boat's a dreadful-looking old tub, but she's and fast. The who own her are characters—suspected of smuggling, piracy, and what not—but they'll keep their mouths if well paid."

"Then pay them well," I said. "And it's just as well you're not at once. When I from this clambake, I'll want to have a council, and I want you in on it."

On the way to the Statehouse in the aircar, I just how I had been.

I was sure that the z'Srauff was for a attack on New Texas, and, as Solar League Ambassador, I of had the right to call on the Space Navy for any amount of protection.

Sending Stonehenge off on what couldn't be less than an eighteen-hour would anything he and Hoddy might be cooking up, too.

On the other hand, with the so near, they might decide to have me out in a hurry, to the ahead of the z'Srauff.

I was in that spot called, "Damned if you do and if you don't...."

IV

The Statehouse appeared to about a square mile of ground and it was an of and on top of one another, as though it had been in since the was colonized, eighty-odd years before.

At what looked like one of the main entrances, the car stopped. I told our Marine driver and auto-rifleman to park the car and take in the barbecue, but to word with the where they be found. Hoddy, Thrombley and I then in, to be met by a of New Texas Rangers, one of them the officer who had called at the Embassy. They us to the office of the Secretary of State.

"We're late," Thrombley was fretting. "I do we haven't the Secretary waiting too long."

From the looks of him, I was we had. He jumped up from his and across the room as soon as the opened the door for us, his hand extended.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Thrombley," he nervously. "And this is the new Ambassador, I suppose. And this—" He of Hoddy Ringo, up the and stopped short, hand to open mouth. "Oh, dear me!"

So far, I had been myself a New Texas from Hoddy Ringo and the Ranger officer who had us to the Embassy. But this little of a didn't fit it. An would be in him to an different species.

Thrombley me. I Hoddy as my and advisor. We all hands, and Thrombley my out of his and them to me, and I them to the Secretary of State, Mr. William A. Palme. He at them, then my hand again and something about "inexpressible pleasure" and "entirely to my government."

That me the and Ambassador to New Texas.

Mr. Palme hoped, or said he hoped, that my in New Texas would be long and pleasant. He less than that it would be. His returning in to my belt. Each time they would focus on the of my Krupp-Tattas, he would them away again.

"And now, we must take you to President Hutchinson; he is most to meet you, Mr. Silk. If you will come with me ..."

Four or five Rangers who had been the moved to us as we toward the elevator. Although we had come into the onto a only a above street-level, we three from the the Secretary of State's office, into a room, the of which was oil-stained, as though vehicles were being in and out. It was about a hundred wide, and two or three hundred in length. Daylight was visible through open doors at the end. As we approached them, the Rangers out on either and in of us, I a perfect of noise outside—shouting, singing, dance-band music, with the of shots.

When we the doors at the end, we into one end of a big plaza, at least five hundred yards in length. Most of the was at the opposite end, where thousand people, in through the whole spectrum, were about. There to be at least two square-dances going on, to the music of bands. At the end of the plaza, over the of the crowd, I see the and of an overhead crane, above what looked like an open-hearth furnace. Between us and the of the crowd, in a space, two medium tanks, with mats, were and trying to each other, the of as close to them as they dared. The was positively deafening, though we were at least two hundred yards from the center of the crowd.

"Oh, dear, I always these things!" Palme was saying.

"Yes, anything happen," Thrombley twittered.

"Man, this is a barbecue!" Hoddy gloated. "Now I at home!"

"Over this way, Mr. Silk," Palme said, me toward the end of the plaza, on our left. "We will see the President and then ..."

He gulped.

"... then we will all go to the barbecue."

In the center of the end of the plaza, by the of and and around it, a little old of warm-tinted adobe. I had it before, but somehow it was familiar-looking. And then I remembered. Although I had it before, I had it pictured many times; pictured under attack, with from and parapets.

I Thrombley's sleeve.

"Isn't that a of the Alamo?"

He was shocked. "Oh, dear, Mr. Ambassador, don't let you ask that. That's no replica. It is the Alamo. The Alamo."

I there a moment, looking at it. I was remembering, and understanding, what my psycho-history lessons about the "Romantic Freeze" had meant.

They had taken this little mission-fort down, by brick, it into a spaceship, it here, two light-years away from Terra, and set it up again. Then they had a whole world and a whole social around it.

It had been the dissatisfied, of course, the discontented, the dreamers, who had the of man's into space the of the hyperspace-drive. They had gone from Terra of that had been into the of history, with them pictures of of life that had passed away, or that had been. Then, in their new life, on new planets, they had set to work making those and those pictures live.

And, many times, they had come close to succeeding.

These Texans, now: they had left the cold that it had been their state's great that had their possible. They the that their life here on Capella IV was possible only by of modern technology. That the plaza—tank-tilting of bronco-busting. Here they were, in a dream, a world of and kingdoms.

No wonder Hoddy hadn't liked the books I had been reading on the ship. They the of that dream.

There were people moving about, at this end of the plaza, mostly in the direction of the barbecue. Ten or twelve Rangers at the of the Alamo, and with them I saw the dress of my two Marines. There was a little three-wheeled among them, from which they were helping themselves to food and drink. When they saw us coming, the two Marines their sandwiches into the hands of a of Rangers and to come to attention.

"At ease, at ease," I told them. "Have a good time, boys. Hoddy, you in on some of this grub; I may be for a while."

As soon as the Rangers saw Hoddy, they got out of their right hands. Hoddy at them.

"Take it easy, boys," he said. "I'm protected by the game laws. I'm a diplomat, I am."

There were a of Rangers the door of the President's office and of them autorifles, I didn't like.

I had the President of the Solar League around the dome-city of Artemis unattended, looking for all the world like a in his halls. Since then, maybe then, I had always had a healthy of governments had to themselves with bodyguards.

But the President of New Texas, John Hutchinson, was alone in his office when we were in. He got up and came around his to us, a slender, stoop-shouldered man in a black-and-gold jacket. He had a narrow mouth and that to be every of the room at once. He a pair of small pistols in cross-body under his coat, and he always one hand or the other close to his abdomen.

He was like, and yet unlike, the Secretary of State. Both had the look of animals; but where Palme was a rabbit, to take at the of danger, Hutchinson was a cat who baying—ready to if he could, or if he must.

"Good day, Mr. Silk," he said, hands with me after the introductions. "I see you're heeled; you're smart. You wouldn't be here today if Silas Cumshaw'd been as as you are. Great man, though; a wise and statesman. He and I were friends."

"You know who Mr. Silk with him as bodyguard?" Palme asked. "Hoddy Ringo!"

"Oh, my God! I this was of him!" The President to me. "You got a good trigger-man, though, Mr. Ambassador. Good man to watch your for you. But of here won't thank you for him to New Texas."

He looked at his watch. "We have time for a little drink, we go outside, Mr. Silk," he said. "Care to join me?"

I and he got a bottle of out of his desk, with four glasses. Palme got some water and the of ice-water from the cooler.

I noticed that the New Texas Secretary of State his three-ounce to the top and it at once. He might act as though he were from a long line of aunts, but he took his in that would have a labor-boss.

We had another drink, a little slower, and for a while, and then Hutchinson said, that we'd have to go and meet the folks. Outside, our guards—Hoddy, the two Marines, the Rangers who had us from Palme's office, and Hutchinson's retinue—surrounded us, and we our way the plaza, through the crowd. The din—ear-piercing yells, whistles, cowbells, pistol shots, the of the two dance-bands, and the chorus-singing, of which I only the words: The of are above you!—was as as New Year's Eve in Manhattan or Nairobi or New Moscow, on Terra.

"Don't take all this as a personal tribute, Mr. Silk!" Hutchinson into my ear. "On this planet, to Nietzsche, a good any cause!"

That me, at the moment. Later I out that John Hutchinson was one of the leading on New Texas and had once been president of one of their universities. New Texas Christian, I believe.

As we got up onto the platform, close to the to the from them, somebody let off what like a fifty-mm anti-tank gun five or six times. Hutchinson a and into it: "Ladies and gentlemen! Your attention, please!"

The noise to diminish, slowly, until I one voice, in the below:

"Shut up, you fools! We can't eat till this is over!"

Hutchinson me, in very words. I that speeches at were not popular on New Texas.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" I into the microphone. "Appreciative as I am of this honor, there is one here who is more of your notice than I; one to I, also, pay homage. He's over there on the fire, and I want a slice of him as soon as possible!"

That got a big ovation. There was, the water pitcher, a bottle of superbourbon. I the water out of the glass, a big of the stuff, and it.

"For God's sake, let's eat!" I finished. Then I to Thrombley, who was looking like a who has just the in the holy-water font. "Stick close to me," I whispered. "Cue me in on the local notables, and the other members of the Diplomatic Corps." Then we all got off the platform, and a up and playing one of those "cowboy ballads" which had in Manhattan about the middle of the Twentieth Century.

"The sandwiches'll be here in a moment, Mr. Ambassador," Hutchinson screamed—in effect, whispered—in my ear. "Don't any about hands with a sandwich in your other hand; that's practice, here. You just the right note, up there. That with the was positively inspired!"

The sandwiches—huge of meat and relish, in of some sort—arrived and I into one.

I'd been all my life, or electron-beamed for transportation, and now I was that I had before. I the sandwich in order and was starting on my second when the coming.

First, the Diplomatic Corps, the of weirdies, and otherwise....

There was the Ambassador from Tara, in a of what his produced as a for Irish homespuns. His Embassy, if it was like the others I had elsewhere, would be an with and a roof, with a bowl of milk the door for the Little People ...

The Ambassador from Alpheratz II, the South African Nationalist planet, with a full beard, and old and tail-coat. They were a lot. They had gone into space to and had settled on a where there was no other to be to....

The Mormon Ambassador from Deseret—Delta Camelopardalis V....

The Ambassador from Spica VII, a jolly-looking little fellow, with a like a seal's, long arms, and a like a kangaroo's....

The Ambassador from Beta Cephus VI, who have passed for if he hadn't had blood with a copper of iron. His skin was a dark green and his was a blue....

I was to my that Thrombley was a complete fool. He at my left elbow, the names and governments and home of the Ambassadors as they came up, me little of paper on which he had of the I would give them in their own language. I was still a reply to the of Nanadabadian, from Beta Cephus VI, when he to me:

"Here it comes, sir. The z'Srauff!"

The z'Srauff were close to and appearance, for the that their had been of simian. They had, of course, longer and than we have, and definitely teeth.

There were around that they Terran than they did and relish.

This one advanced, his three-fingered hand.

"I am most happy to make with Solar League representative," he said. "I am named Gglafrr Ddespttann Vuvuvu."

No wonder Thrombley let him himself. I answered in the Basic English that was all he'd admit to understanding:

"The name of your great nation has gone you to me. The we tell to our of you are at the top of our books. I have to make great in you and me to be friends."

Gglafrr Vuvuvu's a little at the to the of our Space Navy had to z'Srauff ships in the past. "We will be in the same place again times with no number," the replied. "I have for you that time you are in this place will be long and will put in your heart."

Then the pressure of the line him pushed him on. Cabinet Members; Senators and Representatives; citizens, mostly Judge so-and-so, or Colonel this-or-that. It was all a blur, so much so that it was an I the and the figure.

"Thank you! I have met the Ambassador." The voice was with anger.

"Gail!" I exclaimed.

"Your father to the barbecue, Gail?" President Hutchinson was asking.

"He ought to be here any minute. He sent me on ahead from the hotel. He wants to meet the Ambassador. That's why I joined the line."

"Well, I Mr. Silk in your hands for a while," Hutchinson said. "I ought to around a little."

"Yes. Just him in my hands!" she said vindictively.

"What's wrong, Gail?" I wanted to know. "I know, I was to meet you at the spaceport, but—"

"You a of me at the spaceport!"

"Look, I can everything. My Embassy staff on me off—"

Somebody gave a high-pitched directly me and the of a pistol. I couldn't what else I said. I couldn't what she said, either, but it was something angry.

"You have to to me!" I in her ear. "I can everything!"

"Any can anything!" she back.

"Look, Gail, you're an man!" I at her. "I'm to a trial!"

Somebody on the his pistol of the loud-speakers and it like an H-bomb going off. She my and me toward a door under the platform.

"Down here!" she yelled. "And this be good, Mr. Silk!"

We a ramp, by widely-scattered overhead lights.

"Space-attack shelter," she explained. "And look: what goes on in space-ships is one thing, but it's as much as a girl's is to come here a barbecue."

There to be girls at that who didn't what to their reputations. We that after looking into a of that off the entrance.

"Over this way," Gail said, "Confederate Courts Building. There won't be anything going on over here, now."

I told her, with as much detail as possible, about how Thrombley had me to the Embassy, and about the by the Rangers. Before I was through, she was laughing heartily, all of her anger gone. Finally, we came to a stairway, and at the of it to a small door.

"It's been four years that I've been away from here," she said. "I think there's a reading room of the Law Library up here. Let's go in and the for a while."

But when we opened the door, there was a Ranger inside.

"Come to see a trial, Mr. Silk? Oh, hello, Gail. Just in time; they're going to prepare for the next trial."

As he spoke, something at the door. Gail looked at me in consternation.

"Now we're locked in," she said. "We can't out till the trial's over."