Victory Page 4

  IV

  Prince Queeth of Sugfarth had left the royal belt behind, and only aplain band encircled his round little body as he trotted along, hisfour legs making almost no sound. His double pair of thin arms and thebird-like head on his long neck bobbled excitedly in time to his steps.Once he stopped to glance across the black stone buildings of the cityas they shone in the dull red of the sun, toward the hill where hisfather's palace was lighted brightly for the benefit of his Earthguests. Queeth touched his ears together ceremoniously and then trottedon, until he came to the back door of his group's gymnasium. Hewhistled the code word and the door opened automatically.

  The whole group was assembled, though it was past sleep week for mostof them. Their ears clicked together, but they waited silently as hecurled himself up in the official box. Then Krhal, the merchantviscount, whistled questioningly. "This will have to be important,Queeth."

  The prince bobbed his ears emphatically. "It is. My father's guestshave all the news, and I learned everything. It won't be as long as wethought." He paused, before delivering the big news. "The bipeds ofKloomiria are going to attack Cathay. There'll be official war therewithin two weeks!"

  He saw them exchanging hasty signals, but again it was Krhal who voicedtheir question. "And you think that is important, Queeth? What does itoffer us? Cathay is a human colony. Earth will have to declare war withher. And with Earth's wealth, it will be over before we could arrive."

  "Earth has already passed a resolution that neutrality will apply tocolonies as well as to other planets!"

  This time the whistles were sharper. Krhal had difficulty believing itat first. "So Earth really is afraid to fight? That must mean thoserumors that she has no fleet are true. Our ancestors thought so, andeven planned to attack her, before the humanoids defeated us. Theancestor king believed that even a single ship fully armed mightconquer her."

  "It could be," Queeth admitted. "But do you agree that this is the newsfor which we've waited so long?"

  There was a quick flutter of cars. "It's our duty," Krhal agreed. "In awar between Cathay and Kloomiria, we can't remain neutral if we're everto serve our friends. Well, the ship is ready!"

  That came as a surprise to Queeth. He knew the plans were well along,but not that they were completed. As merchant viscount, andsecond-degree adult, Krhal was entitled to a tenth of his father'sinterests. He'd chosen the biggest freighter and the balance in fluidassets, to the pleasure of his father--who believed he was planning anhonorable career of exploring.

  "The conversion completed?" Queeth asked. "But the planet bombs--!"

  "Earth supplied them on the last shipment. I explained on the orderthat I was going to search uninhabited planets for minerals."

  Queeth counted the group again, and was satisfied. There were enough.With a ship of that size, fully staffed and armed, they would be awelcome addition to any fleet. They might be enough to tip the balancefor victory, in fact. And while Cathay and Kloomiria lay a long way onthe other side of Earth's system, the drives were fast enough to coverit in two weeks.

  "Does your father know?" Krhal asked.

  Queeth smirked. "Would you tell him? He still believes along with theEarth ambassador that the warrior strain was ruined among our peoplewhen we lost the war with the humanoids."

  "Maybe it was," Krhal said doubtfully. "In four generations, it couldevolve again. And there are the books and traditions from which wetrained. If even a timid race such as those of Earth can producewarriors like O'Neill--a mere poet--why can't the Sugfarth do better?Particularly when Earth rebuilt factories for us to start ourshipbuilding anew."

  "Then we join the war," the prince decided.

  There was a series of assent signals from the group.

  "Tonight," he suggested, and again there was only assent.

  Krhal stood up, setting the course for the others. When the last hadrisen, Queeth uncurled himself and rose from the box. "We'll have topass near Earth," he suggested as they filed out toward the hangarswhere Krhal kept his ship. "Maybe we should show our intentions there!"

  There was a sudden whistle of surprise. Then the assent was mountingwildly. Queeth trotted ahead toward the warship, making his attackplans over again as he realized he was a born leader who could commandsuch enthusiasm. He had been doubtful before, in spite of his study ofelementary statistical treatment of relationships.

  The lights in the palace showed that the Earth guests were stillcelebrating as the great, heavily-laden warship blasted up and headedtoward Earth.