Suppose, for instance, that Mars decided to assume domination of Terra. She notes, as do the Terran diplomats, that, at the Interplanetary Meet, the Martian gladiators wiped up on those from Terra. Obviously, if the same fighting would take place on a gigantic scale the same thing would result. So why fight the war? Terra simply accepts the domination. Of course, it's all done in very diplomatic language so that nobody loses face, but the results are the same.
As a matter of fact, I'm surprised that one of the other planets hasn't already taken over Terra. The most recent addition to the League of Solar System Planets, we're by far the weakest. Probably our strongest defense has been the fact that several different League members have had their eyes upon us and each has counteracted the other. It's certain that Venus, Saturn, and even Pluto would like to assimilate Terra. Actually, any one of them could do it.
As is customary, a beauty from the planet upon which the meet is being held, a Martian Princess in this case, opened the main event by throwing out the prize. It was a tremendous Venusian emerald, the largest ever discovered and the size of a man's hand. It doesn't really make much difference who catches the prize, except that it's considered to be a lucky sign; the gladiator who survives the contest is the one who finally takes it.
I could see Suzi in the press box, sitting next to Alger. She seemed pale. I thought I might as well show her that some of the stuff she'd given me to read had been remembered. So just before the Princess tossed out the emerald and while the others stood about nervously and impatient, I drew my sword, flourished it, and called out, "We who are about to die, salute you!"
The Martian Princess smiled down at me. "Good fortune to you, gladiator from Terra," she said, and deliberately threw the stone.
I'd just as well she hadn't. The man with the prize is always the center of conflict and to have a hundred or so of the most efficient killers in the system out after you is no way to live to a ripe old age.
But I caught the emerald and the battle was on. I'd hardly got it into my belt before I heard a swish and a Mercurian Bouncer, the steel knives on his heels flashing, missed me by a fraction of an inch. Before it could jump again, a four armed Martian pierced it with a javelin. The Martian went down in his turn under a crushing blow from a Slaber.
I ran backward quickly, knowing that where there's one Bouncer there's another. They fight in a group of twenty or thirty.
Sometimes I wonder about that rule. Each planet is represented in the final free-for-all, the climax of the Interplanetary Meet, by weight. The Mercurians, who are about the size of Terran chickens, have thirty gladiators in the battle. The group from Calypso numbers eight, and looks like a gang of human dwarfs. Jupiter and Saturn have only one representative each because of their gigantic size. Mars has four, Terra three. The others have varying numbers.