Decision at Doona

Soldiers from each race were interspersed at parade rest around the Common, brilliant with flags and ba

Centered on the rich pale blue rug which covered the metallic mesh was a magnificently carved table of a gleaming silvery wood. In equally ornate chairs sat seven male Hrrubans, dark-furred and heavily maned with age, their face hair grizzled. On their shoulders were clasped jeweled neckpieces holding colored capes in place. From the waist down they were clad in the long kilts of the Stripes, each man wearing a different shade. Regal they were as they appeared enthroned on their side of the gleaming table. Seven empty chairs faced them, each one as beautifully contrived as those occupied.

“God, you guys set quite a scene,” Ken whispered to Hrrula. “The natives are awed.”

“Which ones?” retorted Hrrula in a soft purr.

“Who's Third?” Sumitral whispered as he glanced down the row of Speakers.

“Second from left, by Hrruna, and he's scared. See his tail?” Hrrula replied.

Ken grimaced because he couldn't see from where he stood without bending, which he couldn't do. Todd's hand twitched in his and Ken suppressed the inclination to squeeze it admonitorily. The kid would have enough to contend with today.

At that moment the Hrruban herald called the meeting to order and, as rehearsed, the Terran delegates took their places in front of their chairs: Lawrence, Landreau, Shih, Chaminade, Sumitral, Todd and Ken. Hrrula stood beside Todd, Hrrestan by Shih, for they would act as auxiliary interpreters. Todd, however, was the only one who could address the Hrruban Speakers. He seemed to know the Hrruban directly opposite him at the table, and even to Ken the man looked slightly familiar. Todd tried not to fidget during the long peroration in Hrruban a

Ken began to relax a little as he realized Todd was handling the narrative beautifully, including a polite but boyish preface of his own, begging pardon in advance for any mistakes. Several of the Hrruban Speakers smiled at that. The Third Speaker stared expressionlessly ahead of him during both summations.

Hates the whole bit, Ken thought, and he isn't even listening; afraid he'll hear something good.

Hrruna then proposed that the meeting consider a joint tenure of Rrala, and the hassling began.

It went on and on, particularly because the Third Speaker now roused himself to join battle, complaining, protesting, objecting to every constructive thought uttered. Despite his obstructionism, a framework emerged, with Sumitral obviously bearing Hrrula's words in mind, and suggesting waiting periods, tentative arrangements, options on everything except the coexistence of the two races on Rrala. Each time, Sumitral took the sting out of the Third's violent restrictions.

Time and again it was Todd, growing more and more weary, stumbling occasionally on complicated phrases, who cha

«You aren't saying what you mean, and I wish you would – sir,» Todd said once to Sumitral «We'd get through faster.»

Although Sumitral's patience was strained as compromise and concession were whittled or discarded, he also realized that Todd was performing the same curious veto with the Hrrabans and that the Third Speaker's designs suffered far more than his. As it became obvious to the other Hrrubans that the Terrans were acting with great candor and understanding compared with the fierce suspicions and covert aggressiveness constantly underlying Third's objections, Third began to lose control of his supporters.

At that point, Todd helped Sumitral win a very important concession. The admiral particularly wanted a transmitter station from Terra to Rrala to facilitate communications. He had specifically stated the grid need be no larger than would accommodate six men, that it ought to be ma

“Noble gracious sir,” Todd had replied with a deep bow, “I will tell Admiral that you are afraid that we shall send big weapons to Rrala and forbidden things and all that. But it's silly. And I guess you think our scientists are smart enough to look at those grid posts and figure out the whole idea of transmission from them. But that's silly too. I'll just tell him you don't like the idea at all and see what he says.”

Ken caught the sight of Hrrula s tail standing straight out in shock, but when he was about to reprimand Todd, Hrruma leaned across to Third.

“Third, the boy is right, you know. It is impossible to extrapolate the mechanics of the matter transmission from grid posts and mesh. A small grid is therefore no danger and certainly an easier way to transport the hrrses and other interesting animals of the Terrans from there to Rrala.”

Third glared around but he found no support from his previous adherents and had to withdraw his objections.

By midafternoon the basic points of the Decision had been formulated. The Treaty would remain in effect for no more than fifty Rralan years, no less than twenty-five; during which interval sufficient mutual understanding was to be achieved so that a more lasting agreement could be drawn for matters beyond Rrala.

Both races agreed to uphold scrupulously the Principle of Non-Cohabitation with an intelligent species on its native planet, while pursuing their independent explorations of space. Both space arms were to be provided with recognition signals and orbiting buoys which were to broadcast warnings of posted systems. There was to be no differentiation between systems posted for inimical life, conditions, or previous and present colonization. In that way, neither race, assuming they abided by the restrictions (and there would be telltales to record violations, the penalty for which would be tantamount to war), could penetrate systems of interest to each other. Or their home systems. Rrala would be the only contact point. No Hrruban was to visit Terra in any circumstances; no Terran could go to Hrruba.

A large land mass situation in Rrala's southern hemisphere was to be set aside for the neutral control force which would record and broadcast all posted systems. Exploration teams were to file all projected journeys with this central agency to prevent overlapping. A trade organization would be admitted at a later date once it had been established which commodities might interest the other race, but the Rralan colony was to be separate from the commercial interests even though they contributed Rralan products to it for sale.

The autonomy of the colony was the hardest problem, but here Sumitral remained adamant: only the colonists directly involved could ascertain what regulations would be required for the smooth functioning of this joint colony. Third insisted the colony must be self-sufficient of either planet. Sumitral agreed wholeheartedly; that had always been a fundamental premise for Terran colonies. Third pounced on that by saying that an agricultural community was always a drain on its home world. Sumitral pointed out that the mineral and metal deposits of Rrala, slight though they were, should be the colonists' to control and that the profits would be more than adequate for their off-world requirements. Third replied that if this world was to be agricultural, there would be no need for sophisticated machinery. Sumitral smiled and permitted Third to limit all heavy machinery, all automated equipment – except medical supplies of any kind – because Third forgot that hand shovels and incentive were used long before mining machines and printed circuits.