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They presented a coreatest sereatest reality
Thus the High Minister was the nized ruler of the planet by direct and definite decree of the Emperor of all the Galaxy-subject, of course, to the orders of the Emperor&039;s Procurator His Secretary seemed no one at all, really-merely a member of the Society of Ancients, appointed, theoretically, by the High Minister to take care of certain unspecified details, and dish Minister was known to all the Earth and was looked up to as the supreme arbiter on matters of Custom It was he who announced the exeed the breakers of ritual, the defiers of rationing and of production schedules, the invaders of restricted territory and so on The Secretary, on the other hand, was known to nobody, not even by name, except to the Society of Ancients and, of course, to the High Minister hie and h emotional content and copious flow of senti, and a delicate and patrician countenance The Secretary, snub-nosed and wry-faced, preferred a short word to a long one, a grunt to a word, and silence to a grunt-at least in public
It was the High Minister, of course, who had the semblance of power; the Secretary who had the reality And in the privacy of the High Minister&039;s office that circuh Minister was pettishly puzzled and the Secretary coolly indifferent
"What I don&039;t see," said the High Minister, "is the connection of all these reports you bring me Reports, reports!" He lifted an arinary heap of paper "I don&039;t have the time for them"
"Exactly," said the Secretary coldly "It is why you hire est theood Balkis, about your business, then And quickly, since these are minor reat deal soment is not sharpenedLet us see what these reports mean, and I shall then ask you if you still consider theinal report, now seven days old, fro, and it is that which first put me on the trail"
"What trail?"
Balkis&039;s smile was faintly bitter "May I recall to Your Excellency certain important projects which have been nurtured here on Earth for several years"
"Ssh!" the High Minister, in sudden loss of dignity, could not forbear looking about hastily
"Your Excellency, it is not nervousness but confidence that in for usYou know further that the success of this project has depended upon the judicious use of Shekt&039;s little toy, the Synapsifier Until now, at least as far as we know, it has been utilized under our direction only, and for definite purposes And noithout warning, Shekt has Synapsified an unknown man, in complete violation of our orders"
"This," said the High Minister, "is a simple matter Discipline Shekt, take the treated man into custody, and end the htforward, Your Excellency You miss the point It is not what Shekt has done, but why he has done so Note that there exists a coincidence about the matter, one of a considerable series of subsequent coincidences The Procurator of Earth had visited Shekt that same day, and Shekt himself reported to us, in loyal and trustworthy fashion, all that had passed between them Ennius had wanted the Synapsifier for Iracious assistance froh Minister
"You are intrigued? A coers attending our present course?Do you re the fao? Do you? Shipments were refused because we lacked Imperial credits, and Earth- radioactively contaift of food as promised? Was there even a loan? A hundred thousand died of starvation Don&039;t put your trust in Outsider promises
"But that does not reat display of loyalty Surely we could never doubt hiain With compounded certainty, we could not suspect him of treason that very day" Yet so it came to pass"
"You mean in this unauthorized experiment, Balkis?"
"I do, Your Excellency Who was the raphs of him and, with the help of Shekt&039;s technician, retinal patterns A check with the Planetary Registry shows no record of him The conclusion must therefore be reached that he is no Earthman, but an Outsider Furtheristration card cannot be forged or transferred, if checked with retinal patterns So, in simple fashion, the unalterable facts lead us to the conclusion that Shekt has Synapsified, knowingly, an Outsider And why?
"The answer to that ly simple Shekt is not an ideal instrument for our purposes In his youth he was an Assimilationist; he even once stood for election to the Washenn Council on a platform of conciliation with the Eh Minister interrupted "I didn&039;t know that"
"That he was defeated?"
"No, that he ran Why wasn&039;t I inforerous man in the position he now holds"
Balkis smiled softly and tolerantly "Shekt invented the Synapsifier and still represents the one man truly experienced in its operation He has always been watched, and will noatched et that a traitor within our ranks, known to us, can do ood to us
"Now, let us continue to deal with the facts Shekt has Synapsified an Outsider Why? There is only one reason why a Synapsifier can possibly be used-to improve a mind And why that? Because only so can the minds of our scientists, already improved by Synapsification, be overtaken Eh? This means that the E on upon Earth Is that minor, Your Excellency?"
There was a scattered dew on the High Minister&039;s forehead "Do you really think so?"
"The facts are a jigsaw puzzle that can fit only one way The Outsider so treated was a ood stroke, too, since a bald and fat old ent Oh yes Yes Who else could be trusted on a er, whose alias, by the way, is Schwartz, as far as we can Let us take this second file of reports"
The High Minister cast an eye upon the Bel Arvardan?"
"Dr Bel Arvardan," assented Balkis, "eallant Sirian Sector, those worlds of brave and chivalrous bigots," He spat the last out Then, "Well, never e to Schwartz, an almost poetic contrast He is not unknown, but, instead, a faure He is not a secret intruder, but one who co on a tidal wave of publicity We are warned of him not by an obscure technician, but by the Procurator of Earth himself"
"Do you think there is a connection, Balkis?"
"Your Excellency ned to distract our attention fro classes of the Eue, we have an exae In the case of Schwartz, the lights are put out In the case of Arvardan, the lights are flashed in our eyes In neither case are we intended to see anything?Co Arvardan?"
The High Minister rubbed his nose thoughtfullyArvardan, he said, was on an archaeological expedition under Imperial sponsorship and wished to enter the Forbidden Areas for scientific purposes No sacrilege, he said, was intended, and if we could stop hientle fashion, he would back our action to the I like that "
"So then atch Arvardan closely, but for what purpose? Why, to see that he makes no unauthorized entry into the Forbidden Areas Here&039;s the head of an archaeological expedition without men, ships, or equipment Here&039;s an Outsider who does not res, but wanders about Earth; for sooes to Chica first And how is our attention distracted from all theseus to watch carefully so that is of no importance