Lone Star Planet

en or twenty. They were all waiting in happy ant

u, Silk?" Courtlant S

off the Hooligan Dipl

ular Service?" Staynes ask

the Cookie Pushers. Cle

ng what sort of noises they'd make, the next m

en got aboard the Space Navy cutter that was waiting to take me to the ship. It was a four-hour trip and I put in the ti

t sort of secretary they had given me; and, in pas

Ring

find all sorts of names and all sorts of peopl

foun

ig, spherical space-liner. A tubby little man, with shoulders and arms he had never de

n, he doesn't give

t he wasn't a moron. He just looked like one. Natalenko

ge under his left armpit the siz

hat he had been away from his home planet for over five years, was glad to be going back, and e

that, without such protection, he w

couldn't read stenotype. I found that out when I gave him th

ff," he confessed, looking at the combination shor

a player and transcribe

o realize that t

my secretary, if you can't do se

a book of papers and began rol

s kinda work," he said. "I was just sent along to show you th

his back and looped under his right arm. "A guy that don't know the way around

radio message back to Luna, and I could keep track of any other messages he sent, in letters or on tape, by ships.

in a few hours. The rest of what I had was duplication,

United States. They had a lengthy history-independent republic, admission to the United States, secession from the United States, reconquest by the United States, and general intransigence under the United States, the United Nations

f evolutionary development approximately that of Terra during the late Pliocene. They also found supercow, a big mammal looking like the unsuccessful attempt of a hippopotamus to impersonate a dachshund

w Texas and such as it was, it was very scornful. There were such expression

e boarding the cutter from Luna, in a package labeled TOP SECRET: TO BE OPENED ONLY IN SPACE, AFTER THE FIRST H

ad passed out of the normal space-time continuum,

ue and Department seals, both adorned with the customary bloodthirsty threat

our pages. On t

L ME

SOLAR LEAGU

TE

JACKSON

harming. Their dress is graceful and practical, not grotesque; their soft speech is pleasing to the ear. Their flag is the original flag of the Republic of Texas; it is definitely not a barbaric travesty of our own emblem. And the underlyin

MENT A

hter of a local rancher and became a naturalized citizen of that planet. He is

ement for the planet. I was even feeling c

L ME

ECOND SO

SSAD

TE

GODW

; I agree with everything you say. Yes and no;

MENT A

Ambassador Godwinson was recal

th

L ME

HIRD SOL

DOR TO

. GU

nform you that when you are

MENT A

e after six mont

e last page ca

L ME

OURTH SO

DOR TO

S CU

ere by becoming an inoffensive nonentity. If I continue in this course, it will be only at the cost of my self-respect. Beg

MENT A

me of Andrew J. Hi

st notebook. Nice, cheerful rea

t cautiously at first, saw that it contained only about as many pages

eek, read the wo

ealed trunk which has been

dragged out the sealed trun

e than to find the tru

x or eight shirts, their colors running the entire spectrum in the most violent shades. There were a couple of vests. T

leather belt, practic

ering if I was really seei

s were seven-mm Krupp-Tatta Ultraspeed automatics, and the holsters were the spring-ejec

ht. I'm an Ambassador now and A

ecessary, so that an armed Ambassador was a contradiction of diplomatic terms, b

ison-taster to a

give the belt and the ho

nd off the second noteb

; even in the Hooligan Diplomats, we leaned over backward in wearing Ter

was informed, were traditional. They had served a useful purpose, in the early days on Terran Texas, when all travel had

bscure reason were known as Levis. And I was informed, as an order, that I

of the seco

on with Ghopal, Klüng and Natalenko,

ly I had been tapped for this job as soon as word of Silas Cumshaw's death had re

I had any objection to carrying weapons, per se: I had been born and raised on Theta Virgo IV,

customs, on a mission where I was ordered to commit deliberate provocation of t

f provocation to justify conquest. If the New Texans murdered two Solar League Ambassador

Guillotin must have felt while his neck

marked in red: Familiarize yourself

ot of non-League people aboard this ship. I couldn't let any of the

. I told him that I had some secret diplomatic matter to be destroyed and he took me to the engine room. I shoved the packa

I stopped in at

rating her marital emancipation. They were so entangled with each other that they didn't notice me. When they left the bar, I slipped after them until I saw them enter the lady's stateroom. Tha

y he was planning to re-outfit himself on New Texas. There were a few odds and

lworks, mate to the one he was carrying in a shoulder-holster, and

te Department Special Services type. That meant that Hoddy was just one of Natalenko's

enge, Aggression Department Attaché, New Austin Embassy. I didn't have either the time or the equipment to open it. But, knowing our various

the murder of Ambassador Stephen Silk in such a

ening aboard a ship in hyperspace-Hoddy and

. On the ship, in fact, Hoddy would definitely have given his life to save mine.

me to ignore, that I might be able to get Hoddy drunk enough to

omething he called superbourbon-a New Texan drink that Bourbon County, Kentucky, would never have

own the national drink without batting an eye. Second, I learned to control my ex

nt Hoddy poking around those secret holsters. And I remember telling the captain to radio New Austin as soon as

ound was the one thing I couldn't remember. What was the name of that girl-a big, beautiful blond

d I could rem

e cataclysmic-colored shirt, and the loose vest, tucked my big hat under my arm, and went to the purser's office for my guns, buckling them on. When I

lled for sure, with that rig,

ke bigger holes than that pair of mus

all day to get your guns outa them! You better let m

he knew what I was using and wanted

ke them microfilm-books you was readin'. I try to tell you what things is

heck on the luggage. I was hoping I'd be able to see that blond ... what was her name; Gail something-or-othe

y way toward her. As I did, the airlock opened, the crowd surged toward it, and she was carried along. Then the airloc

t grow into a huge ball that filled the lower half of the viewscreen and then lose it