In Case of Fire Read online

low-intelligenceanimals. The Karna considered this to be fully neutral territory, andEarth couldn't argue the point very well. In addition, they demandedthat the conference begin in three days, Terrestrial time.

  The trouble was that interstellar communication beams travel a devil ofa lot faster than ships. It would take more than a week for the Earthgovernment to get a vessel to Saarkkad V. Earth had been caughtunprepared for an armistice. They objected.

  The Karna pointed out that the Saarkkad sun was just as far from Karn asit was from Earth, that it was only a few million miles from a planetwhich was allied with Earth, and that it was unfair for Earth to take somuch time in preparing for an armistice. Why hadn't Earth been prepared?Did they intend to fight to the utter destruction of Karn?

  It wouldn't have been a problem at all if Earth and Karn had fosteredthe only two intelligent races in the galaxy. The sort of grandstandingthe Karna were putting on had to be played to an audience. But therewere other intelligent races throughout the galaxy, most of whom hadremained as neutral as possible during the Earth-Karn war. They had nointention of sticking their figurative noses into a battle between thetwo most powerful races in the galaxy.

  But whoever won the armistice would find that some of the now-neutralraces would come in on their side if war broke out again. If the Karnaplayed their cards right, their side would be strong enough next time towin.

  So Earth had to get a delegation to meet with the Karna representativeswithin the three-day limit or lose what might be a vital point in thenegotiations.

  And that was where Bertrand Malloy came in.

  He had been appointed Minister and Plenipotentiary Extraordinary to theEarth-Karn peace conference.

  He looked up at the ceiling again. "What _can_ I do?" he said softly.

  * * * * *

  On the second day after the arrival of the communique, Malloy made hisdecision. He flipped on his intercom and said: "Miss Drayson, get holdof James Nordon and Kylen Braynek. I want to see them both immediately.Send Nordon in first, and tell Braynek to wait."

  "Yes, sir."

  "And keep the recorder on. You can file the tape later."

  "Yes, sir."

  Malloy knew the woman would listen in on the intercom anyway, and it wasbetter to give her permission to do so.

  James Nordon was tall, broad-shouldered, and thirty-eight. His hair wasgraying at the temples, and his handsome face looked cool and efficient.

  Malloy waved him to a seat.

  "Nordon, I have a job for you. It's probably one of the most importantjobs you'll ever have in your life. It can mean big things foryou--promotion and prestige if you do it well."

  Nordon nodded slowly. "Yes, sir."

  Malloy explained the problem of the Karna peace talks.

  "We need a man who can outthink them," Malloy finished, "and judgingfrom your record, I think you're that man. It involves risk, of course.If you make the wrong decisions, your name will be mud back on Earth.But I don't think there's much chance of that, really. Do you want tohandle small-time operations all your life? Of course not.

  "You'll be leaving within an hour for Saarkkad V."

  Nordon nodded again. "Yes, sir; certainly. Am I to go alone?"

  "No," said Malloy, "I'm sending an assistant with you--a man named KylenBraynek. Ever heard of him?"

  Nordon shook his head. "Not that I recall, Mr. Malloy. Should I have?"

  "Not necessarily. He's a pretty shrewd operator, though. He knows a lotabout interstellar law, and he's capable of spotting a trap a mile away.You'll be in charge, of course, but I want you to pay special attentionto his advice."

  "I will, sir," Nordon said gratefully. "A man like that can be useful."

  "Right. Now, you go into the anteroom over there. I've prepared asummary of the situation, and you'll have to study it and get it intoyour head before the ship leaves. That isn't much time, but it's theKarna who are doing the pushing, not us."

  As soon as Nordon had left, Malloy said softly: "Send in Braynek, MissDrayson."

  Kylen Braynek was a smallish man with mouse-brown hair that lay flatagainst his skull, and hard, penetrating, dark eyes that were shadowedby heavy, protruding brows. Malloy asked him to sit down.

  Again Malloy went through the explanation of the peace conference.

  "Naturally, they'll be trying to trick you every step of the way,"Malloy went on. "They're shrewd and underhanded; we'll simply have to bemore shrewd and more underhanded. Nordon's job is to sit quietly andevaluate the data; yours will be to find the loopholes they're layingout for themselves and plug them. Don't antagonize them, but don't babythem, either. If you see anything underhanded going on, let Nordon knowimmediately."

  "They won't get anything by me, Mr. Malloy."

  * * * * *

  By the time the ship from Earth got there, the peace conference had beengoing on for four days. Bertrand Malloy had full reports on the wholeparley, as relayed to him through the ship that had taken Nordon andBraynek to Saarkkad V.

  Secretary of State Blendwell stopped off at Saarkkad IV before going onto V to take charge of the conference. He was a tallish, lean man with afew strands of gray hair on the top of his otherwise bald scalp, and hewore a hearty, professional smile that didn't quite make it to hiscalculating eyes.

  He took Malloy's hand and shook it warmly. "How are you, Mr.Ambassador?"

  "Fine, Mr. Secretary. How's everything on Earth?"

  "Tense. They're waiting to see what is going to happen on Five. So am I,for that matter." His eyes were curious. "You decided not to goyourself, eh?"

  "I thought it better not to. I sent a good team, instead. Would you liketo see the reports?"

  "I certainly would."

  Malloy handed them to the secretary, and as he read, Malloy watched him.Blendwell was a political appointee--a good man, Malloy had to admit,but he didn't know all the ins and outs of the Diplomatic Corps.

  When Blendwell looked up from the reports at last, he said: "Amazing!They've held off the Karna at every point! They've beaten them back!They've managed to cope with and outdo the finest team of negotiatorsthe Karna could send."

  "I thought they would," said Malloy, trying to appear modest.

  The secretary's eyes narrowed. "I've heard of the work you've been doinghere with ... ah ... sick men. Is this one of your ... ah ...successes?"

  Malloy nodded. "I think so. The Karna put us in a dilemma, so I threw adilemma right back at them."

  "How do you mean?"

  "Nordon had a mental block against making decisions. If he took a girlout on a date, he'd have trouble making up his mind whether to kiss heror not until she made up his mind for him, one way or the other. He'sthat kind of guy. Until he's presented with one, single, clear decisionwhich admits of no alternatives, he can't move at all.

  "As you can see, the Karna tried to give us several choices on eachpoint, and they were all rigged. Until they backed down to a singlepoint and proved that it _wasn't_ rigged, Nordon couldn't possibly makeup his mind. I drummed into him how important this was, and the moreimportance there is attached to his decisions, the more incapable hebecomes of making them."

  The Secretary nodded slowly. "What about Braynek?"

  "Paranoid," said Malloy. "He thinks everyone is plotting against him. Inthis case, that's all to the good because the Karna _are_ plottingagainst him. No matter what they put forth, Braynek is convinced thatthere's a trap in it somewhere, and he digs to find out what the trapis. Even if there isn't a trap, the Karna can't satisfy Braynek, becausehe's convinced that there _has_ to be--somewhere. As a result, all hisadvice to Nordon, and all his questioning on the wildest possibilities,just serves to keep Nordon from getting unconfused.

  "These two men are honestly doing their best to win at the peaceconference, and they've got the Karna reeling. The Karna can see thatwe're not trying to stall; our men are actually working at trying toreach a decision. But what the Karna don't see is that
those men, as ateam, are unbeatable because, in this situation, they're psychologicallyincapable of losing."

  Again the Secretary of State nodded his approval, but there was still aquestion in his mind. "Since you know all that, couldn't you havehandled it yourself?"

  "Maybe, but I doubt it. They might have gotten around me someway bysneaking up on a blind spot. Nordon and Braynek have blind spots, butthey're covered with armor. No, I'm glad I couldn't go; it's better thisway."

  The Secretary of State raised an eyebrow. "_Couldn't_ go, Mr.Ambassador?"

  Malloy