by C. C. Beck
one-woman office staff.
She looked up at him. "Hello, Ronny. Thought you'd be off on yourassignment by now. Got any clues on Tommy Paine?"
"No," he said. "That's why I'm here. I wanted to see the commissioner."
"About what?" She flicked a switch. When a light flickered on one of herorder boxes, she said into it, "No," emphatically, and turned back to him.
"He said he wanted to see me again before I took off."
She fiddled some more, finally said, "All right, Ronny. Tell him he's gottime for five minutes with you."
"Five minutes!"
"Then he's got an appointment with the Commissioner of InterplanetaryCulture," she said. "You'd better hurry along."
Ronny Bronston retraced the route of his first visit here. How long ago?It already seemed ages since his probationary appointment. Your lifechanged fast when you were in Section G.
Ross Metaxa's brown bottle, or its twin, was sitting on his desk and hewas staring at it glumly. He looked up and scowled.
"Ronald Bronston," Ronny said. "Irene Kasansky told me to say I could havefive minutes with you, then you have an appointment with the Commissionerof Interplanetary Culture."
"I remember you," Metaxa said. "Have a drink. Interplanetary Culture, ha!The Xanadu Folk Dance Troupe. They dance nude. They've been touring thewhole UP. Roaring success everywhere, obviously. Now they're assigned toVirtue, a planet settled by a bunch of Fundamentalists. They want thetroupe to wear Mother Hubbards. The Xanadu outfit is in a tizzy. They'vebeen insulted. They claim they're the most modest members of UP, thatnudity has nothing to do with modesty. The government of Virtue saidthat's fine but they wear Mother Hubbards or they don't dance. Xanadu saysit'll withdraw from United Planets."
Ronny Bronston said painfully, "Why not let them?"
Ross Metaxa poured himself a Denebian tequila, offered his subordinate adrink again with a motion of the bottle. Ronny shook his head.
Metaxa said, "If we didn't take steps to soothe these things over, therewouldn't be any United Planets. In any given century every member in theorganization threatens to resign at least once. Even Earth. And thenwhat'd happen? You'd have interplanetary war before you knew it. What'dyou want, Ronny?"
"I'm about set to take up my search for this Tommy Paine."
"Ah, yes, Tommy Paine. If you catch him, there are a dozen planets wherehe'd be eligible for the death sentence."
Ronny cleared his throat. "There must be. What I wanted was the file onhim, sir."
"File?"
"Yes, sir. I've got to the point where I want to cram up on everything wehave on him. So far, all I've got is verbal information from individualagents and from Supervisor Jakes."
"Don't be silly, Ronny. There isn't any file on Tommy Paine."
Ronny just looked at the other.
Ross Metaxa said impatiently, "The very knowledge of the existence of theman is top secret. Isn't that obvious? Suppose some reporter got the storyand printed it. If our member planets knew there was such a man and thatwe haven't been able to scotch him, why they'd drop out of UP so fast thecomputers couldn't keep up with it. There's not one planet in ten thatfeels secure enough to lay itself open to subversion. Why some of ourplanets are so far down the ladder of social evolution they live underprimitive tribal society; their leaders, their wise men and witch-doctors,whatever you call them, are scared someone will come along and establishchattel slavery. Those planets that have a system based on slavery arescared to death of developing feudalism, and those that have feudalism areafraid of _creeping capitalism_. Those with an anarchistic basis--and wehave several--are afraid of being subverted to statism, and those who havea highly developed government are afraid of anarchism. The socio-economicsystems based on private ownership of property hate the very idea ofsocialism or communism, and vice versa, and those planets with statecapitalism hate them both."
[Illustration.]
He glared at Ronny. "What do you think the purpose of this Section is,Bronston? Our job is to keep our member planets from being afraid of eachother. If they found that Tommy Paine and his group, if he's got a group,were buzzing through the system subverting everything they can foul up,they'd drop out of UP and set up quarantines that a space mite couldn'tget through. No sir, there is no file on Tommy Paine and there never willbe. And if any news of him spreads to the outside, this Section willemphatically deny he exists. I hope that's clear."
"Well, yes sir," Ronny said. The commissioner had been all but roaringtoward the end.
The order box clicked on Ross Metaxa's desk and he said loudly, "What?"
"Don't yell at me," Irene snapped back. "Ronny's five minutes are up.You've got an appointment. I'm getting tired of this job. It's amad-house. I'm going to quit and get a job with Interplanetary Finance."
"Oh, yeah." Ross snarled back. "That's what you think. I've takenmeasures. Top security. I've warned off every Commissioner in UP. Youcan't get away from me until you reach retirement age. Although I don'tknow why I care. I hate nasty tempered women."
"Huh!" she snorted and clicked off.
"There's a woman for you," Ross Metaxa growled at Ronny. "It's too badshe's indispensable. I'd love to fire her. Look, you go in and see SidJakes. Seems to me he said something about Tommy Paine this morning. Maybeit's a lead." He came to his feet. "So long and good luck, Ronny. I feeloptimistic about you. I think you'll get this Paine troublemaker."
Which was more than Ronny Bronston thought.
Sid Jakes already had a visitor in his office, which didn't prevent himfrom yelling, "It's open," when Ronny Bronston knocked.
He bounced from his chair, came around the desk and shook handsenthusiastically. "Ronny!" he said, his tone implying they were favoritebrothers for long years parted. "You're just in time."
Ronny took in the office's other occupant appreciatively. She was a smallgirl, almost tiny. He estimated her to be at least half Chinese, or maybeIndo-Chinese, the rest probably European or North American.
She evidently favored her Asiatic blood, her dress was traditionalChinese, slit almost to the thigh Shanghai style.
Sid Jakes said, "Tog Lee Chang Chu--Ronny Bronston. You'll be workingtogether. Bloodhounding old Tommy Paine. A neat trick if you can pull itoff. Well, are you all set to go?"
Ronny mumbled something to the girl in the way of amenity, then lookedback at the supervisor. "Working together?" he said.
"That's right. Lucky you, eh?"
Tog Lee Chang Chu said demurely, "Possibly Mr. Bronston objects to havinga female assistant."
Sid Jakes snorted, and hurried around his desk to resume his seat. "Doeshe look crazy? Who'd object to having a cutey like you around day in andday out? Call him Ronny. Might as well get used to it. Two of you'll becloser than man and wife."
"Assistant?" Ronny said, bewildered. "What do I need an assistant for?" Heturned his eyes to the girl. "No reflection on you, Miss ... ah, Tog."
Sid Jakes laughed easily. "Section G operatives always work in pairs,Ronny. Especially new agents. The advantages will come home to you as yougo along. Look on Tog Lee Chang Chu as a secretary, a man Friday. Thisisn't her first assignment, of course. You'll find her invaluable."
The supervisor plucked a card from an order box. "Now here's the dope. Canyou leave within four hours? There's a UP Space Forces cruiser going toMerlini, they can drop you off at New Delos. Fastest way you couldpossibly get there. The cruiser takes off from Neuve Albuquerque in, let'ssee, three hours and forty-five minutes."
"New Delos?" Ronny said, taking his eyes from the girl and trying to catchup with the grasshopper-like conversation of his superior.
"New Delos it is," Jakes said happily. "With luck, you might catch himbefore he can get off the planet." He chuckled at the other's expression."Look alive, Ronny! The quarry is flushed and on the run. Tommy Paine'sjust assassinated the Immortal God-King of New Delos. A neat trick, eh?"
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p; The following hours were chaotic. There was no indication of how long aperiod he'd be gone. For all he knew, it might be years. For that matter,he might never return to Earth. This Ronny Bronston had realized before heever applied for an interplanetary appointment. Mankind was explodingthrough this spiral arm of the galaxy. There was a racial enthusiasm aboutit all. Man's destiny lay out in the stars, only a laggard