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"Your spies have reported accurately"

He expected her to get sidetracked on whether her informants were spies or not, since they were ordinary citizens who freely attended public events and then talked about them afterward But apparently she was as weary of that topic as he was And besides, she clearly had an urgent agenda

"A starship is arriving here in about a month," said Virlo us several of their highly successful hybrids and genetic alterations to augricultural resources A very important visit"

"I'm not a farmer," said Achilles

"When starships come here," said Virloo"

Now Achilles understood exactly what she was offering him If it was an offer, and not an involuntary exile "Go where?" he asked

"In this case, I a his starship back to Earth--well, near to Earth--so that the sas, can be exaated, studied, and shared with all the colonies Soh yields and climatic adaptations are so favorable"

"Are they na one of the species after you?" asked Achilles

"I' orld and see it for yourself Indians are only about a quarter of Earth's population at the o where you'll almost never see an Indian"

"It's not Indians that I don't like," said Achilles blandly

"Oh?"

"It's s to be democratic"

"Indians are in the ," said Virlomi

"Earth is ruled by an evil dictatorship"

"Earth is ruled by an elected Congress, and presided over by an elected hegemon"