"Earth." The bronzed exile spoke the word quietly, but with a world of contempt.
"Well, then, the entire System! Even Perlac. I believe it will strike first at Earth, in fact may already have done so."
"And this danger. Danger from what?"
"Ketrik, you'll probably think me a fool—but I don't know! It's so damned vague it's terrifying. I do have an accumulation of data that points to Mars. I want you to go there."
"Mars? A second-rate power. Their race is dying out, and their science goes with it."
Mark shook his head. "Don't underrate Dar Vaajo! He's an old man now, but cunning. An opportunist. He's never forgotten how Princess Aladdian of Venus, through her treaty with Earth, put an end to his dreams of conquest."[2]
"Yes, I remember it well." Ketrik was thoughtful. "But how could Dar Vaajo make a play now against the power of Earth, or for that matter Perlac?"
Mark permitted himself a smile. He didn't miss the implication that Perlac, too, was fast becoming a power to be reckoned with.
"I'll give you the facts," he said quietly, "and you can judge. About two years ago, Dar Vaajo stopped all Uranium shipments from Mars. That in itself is comparatively unimportant. What is important, is the Earth Council. Now consider, Ketrik—I've been close to these men for four years. Very often it has seemed to me that where rudimentary logic should dictate a course of action, they incomprehensibly choose to follow another. So it was with this Uranium embargo. They might easily have forced a showdown, but instead, they seemed satisfied with Dar Vaajo's peculiar evasions.
"Of course, about this time Earth's quarrel with Perlac was reaching a crisis. But even there, I noticed definite trends of irrational thinking on the part of the Members. At our frequent sessions to discuss the Perlac question, they seemed to appreciate all the factors involved—even that we were fast losing our best scientific talent to Perlac. Yet their damned egotisms crept through, dictating to their reason. Ketrik, I swear to you that when they voted sending a fleet of Patrollers out to Jupiter to prevent your men from landing there, I did everything in my power to prevent it. But again my voice was one against eleven. And believe me, the majority vote of Council is final—irrevocable."