"Mess?"
"Well, you must admit, I think, Captain Shaeffer, that you did—well—make negotiations extremely difficult, in view of the, ah, present temper of the populace.
"You see, Earth would like to have a stable and responsible government. A government, that is, which can see larger issues in perspective. Not one which must devote its full time to coping with a group of unpatriotic anarchists running loose in the streets."
"What's he saying?" Ge-Ge asked.
"As it is now," Gene Gibson continued, "we do have several rather difficult problems. I think we'll probably have to quarantine Itra for a few months until the Party Leader himself can form a stable organizational structure. Somehow news of our trade discussions have leaked out and for some reason has resulted in a general work stoppage. So you see? By God, I'll just come right out and say it: Shaeffer, you've left us one hell of a mess!"
With that, Gene Gibson departed.
"What did he say?" Ge-Ge asked meekly. But Shaeffer only shook his head.
The following day, the ship's captain came to pay a courtesy call.
"A very neat piece of work, Merle. Your new assignment just came in, by the way, on the space radio."
"New assignment? Ge-Ge and I are on our way back to Earth."