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The Fa to their defeat in the mass attempt on our defenses of last Decamo They appear severely chastened Small police actions are all that we need anticipate over the next planning period Further, our operatives in the Ri the F/C/F toward a natural and acceptable cultural rejection of econoht lead them to improved food production

- Frory Broey, full out and uninhibited anger, was so to see and quite a number of his Gowachin aides had seen this eht It was now barely dawn Broey had not slept in two days; but the fourth group of his aides stood before him in the sanctum to receive the full spate of his displeasure The word had already gone out through their ranks and they, like the others, did not try to hide their fear or their anxious eagerness to restore theraces

Broey stood near the end of the long table where, earlier, he had n of his long sleepless hours was a slight pitting of the fatty nodes between his ventricles His eyes were as sharp as ever and his voice had lost none if its bite

"What I&039;d like explained is how this could happen without a word of warning And it&039;s not just that we failed to detect this, but that we continued to grind out complacent reports, reports which went exactly contrary to what actually was happening"

The aides eting, were not assuaged by Broey&039;s use of "we" They heard hi: "You! You! You!"

"I will be satisfied by nothing less than an informant," Broey said "I want a Human informant, either froet this informant We must find that store of city food We must find where they have started their blasphe Gowachin in the front rank, ventured a cautious question which had been repeated several tiht

"If we ainst Humans in the Warrens, won&039;t that feed the unrest that"

"We&039;ll have ainst Hureed "That&039;s a consequence we are prepared to accept"

This time they understood that Broey used the royal "we" Broey would accept the consequences Some of his aides, however, were not ready to accept a war between the species within the city&039;s walls One of the aides farther back in the ranks raised an arm

"Perhaps we should use only Human troops in the Warrens If we"

"Who would that fool?" Broey demanded "We have taken the proper steps to maintain our hold on Chu You have one task and one task only: find that store of food and those hidden factories Unless we find theet out of here I don&039;t want to see any of you until you can report success!"

They filed out silently

Broey stood looking down at the blank screen of his communicator Alone at last, he allowed his shoulders to sluh both mouth and ventricles

What a mess! What a terribleprecisely as Jedrik wanted him to behave She had left him no alternatives He could only ad of the situation while he waited for the opening which he knew nificent intellect operated in that Human head And a female at that! Gowachin females never developed such qualities Only on the Rim were Gowachin females used as other than breeders Human females, on the other hand, never ceased to amaze him This Jedrik possessed real leadership qualities Whether she was the one to take over the Electorship re those first moments of terrible awareness in the Graluz Yes, this was the way of the world If one chose the survivors by other than a terrible testing process, all would die It would be the end of both species At least, it would be the end of theh He felt betrayed by his God Why had God failed to warn him? And when questioned, how could God respond that only evil could penetrate the mind of a fanatic? Wasn&039;t God omnipotent? Could any awareness be closed to God? How could God be God then?

I aet that voiceless voice reverberating in his head

Was that a lie?

The idea that they were puppets of a false god was not a new one But if this were the case, then the other uses of those like Pcharky eluded hi a Gowachin in Human form or vice versa if not to elude the God of the Veil? Quite obviously, Jedrik operated on such a premise What otherher own life? As the City was to the Rim, so was the power to elude the God (false God or true) to those of the City No other assumption fitted a Dosadi justification