Spinneret

And whether it actually was or not was almost incidental. That much, at least, every politician knew.

Secretary of State Joshua Purvis looked about as surprised as Allerton had ever seen him. "What Rooshrike treaties?" he asked.

Allerton shrugged helplessly. "I gather it's something Meredith has initiated on his own, for whatever reasons. We won't know for sure for at least another week, until the Pathfinder comes in. Possibly not even then."

"So what'd you tell the Lord High Secretary-General?"

"I tried to stall, of course—told him that I couldn't take any action or make any statements until I had Astra's own report on what was going on out there."

"He buy it?"

"Not really. He offered to fly a U.S. representative out in one of their new Ctencri ships to assess the situation and give any appropriate orders." Allerton paused, then picked up a piece of paper from in front of him and handed it across the desk.

"Complicating matters, I'm sure, a Ctencri ship arrived only half an hour ago and delivered this to Saleh's people. I don't suppose it improved his patience any."

Purvis sca

"Check the footnote—that's a minimum tensile strength. Apparently even the Rooshrike weren't able to break it."

"But a billion pounds per square inch?" Purvis fumbled with his calculator. "That means … one of those cables could lift over two million tons. That's half a fully loaded supertanker."

"And don't forget it's less dense even than water, let alone normal metals,"

Allerton pointed out. "Now remember that superglue coating and its unique superconducting properties, and consider that Saleh thinks we're trying to keep all of it for ourselves."

Purvis studied the paper for another few seconds, then put it back on the President's desk. "I think," he said quietly, "that we'd better figure out right away exactly what our policy position here is—and then make sure Meredith is operating in line with it." He hesitated. "Whether we're willing to go on being unpopular with the rest of the world because of Astra is your decision, of course.

But I think that stand could use a little reevaluation."

"In other words, you think we should knuckle under to Saleh and just hand over Astra and the Spi

"I didn't say that." Purvis shrugged. "But an embargo of food to Astra would be hard if not disastrous for them, and it's only the tip of the iceberg as far as Saleh's options go. Legally, we may have some mandate rights to the Spi

Allerton grimaced. "You think the Ctencri would give the UN armed ships?"

"Before the Spi

"Yeah." Allerton sighed. "Well, then, I suppose we'd better take Saleh up on his offer of a lift out to Astra. Try to straighten things out as quickly as possible."

"You want me to go?"

"No … no, I think I might just go myself." He smiled lopsidedly at Purvis's expression. "Come on, Josh—space travel's supposed to be as easy as crossing the Delaware these days. And a lot safer."

"Unless Saleh decides he'd like you put on indefinite hold," the other said bluntly.

"In which case you could hardly give him a better opportunity."

Allerton waved the objection aside. "Saleh's neither strong enough nor desperate enough to kidnap a head of state. Not yet, anyway."

"Maybe," Purvis said. "Maybe not."

"It's so nice to be invited here, for a change," Perez commented as he sank into the chair across from Meredith. "Usually I have to bully your secretary to let me in."

Meredith's expression remained studiously neutral, and Perez mentally crossed off the possibility that the colonel had a social chat in mind. "I understand," Meredith said, "that you're thinking about the possibilities of making some spending money off the Spi

"That's right," Perez nodded. "And I understand you're actually going to do so."

The colonel's eyebrows rose fractionally. "Miss Olivero told you?"

"She confirmed what I'd already guessed. Was it supposed to be a secret?"

Meredith smiled sardonically. "Don't you wish. Secret deals by the corrupt military dictator—it would have been made to order for you."

"That's a little unfair. Colonel," Perez said, feeling his face warming."I don't deliberately distort the truth—I just try and keep others from doing so."

"Of course." Meredith tapped computer keys and swiveled the screen toward his visitor. "Well, here's a little bit of truth for you—see what you think."

Perez leaned forward. Preliminary Analysis of Alien Cable, he read … and suddenly he knew what this was. "It's the Rooshrike test results, isn't it? Is this why you're keeping the trade deal quiet?"

"We've been keeping the negotiations quiet; no deals have been made yet. After all, we needed to know more about the cable in order to fix a fair price for it."

"You're going to use the Rooshrike's own numbers for that purpose?"

Meredith shrugged. "I know what you're thinking, but there's no real way around it. The Rooshrike have both better testing equipment and a better feel for what the cable would bring on the open market."

"Mm." Perez thought for a moment. "Perhaps if we offered them a small percentage of what we get from sales to other races … that might deter them from suggesting too low a price."

"As a matter of fact, Miss Olivero had already put that idea to the Rooshrike representatives. They seem agreeable to it."

"I see." A woman of many talents, Perez thought with mild surprise. He'd done a little trade negotiation himself some years back; just enough to know that he didn't care for it. Of course, Carmen had the distinct advantage of a seller's market to work with here. "What price range are you talking about?"

"Our current thought is to charge about forty million dollars per kilometer plus the two and a quarter tons of metal that go into a cable that long."

Perez whistled softly. "That seems rather expensive."

"It's less than twice the current price of gold," Meredith pointed out. "And a lot more valuable."

"For study, perhaps. But aside from building long suspension bridges I would think its uses limited."

"You would, would you?" Meredith leaned back in his chair and started ticking off fingers. "One: loop it back and forth—it's flexible enough—so that each segment lies next to the one before. The glue sticks the whole thing into what is essentially a flat plate; coat it on all sides to take up the rest of the glue and you have sixty square meters of impenetrable material. Put another cable on each corner and get yourself a strong crane and you've got a sling you could carry small mountains around with. Two: wind the cable into a helix and you have a superconducting solenoid—a million applications right there. Three: link some of the cables end to end and make a giant circle out in deep space. Attach a few of these in parallel and you've got the backbone for a wheel-shaped space station.

Four wrap it around a thin metal shell—hell; make it cardboard or sausage skin, for that matter—and you've got a spaceship hull. Do I need to go on?"

"No, I get the idea," Perez said, impressed in spite of himself. Clearly, the colonel had done a lot of thinking about this—much more than Perez himself had. "I capitulate; buyers will soon be breaking the door down. So why did you ask me here today, since you've apparently got all the details worked out? To rubberstamp your decision?"