After a moment when no one else addressed the gathering, the President spoke. “Our position is essentially the same as it was when Mars was still in the control of the pirates. Our strength does not lie in superior science or in superior numbers. Troy Putnam recently placed his trust in superior strength and technology; the unsoundness of such a hope is shown by his fall. David fought Goliath and won because his trust was in the right place. Zimbardo might have weapons and other technology of which we cannot even conceive and he might do great damage, but he is still in the wrong. Evil might have its day, but in the end it will always fall; the forces of light will overcome it as it decays from within. With that faith and that assurance, we can make our plans. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how we can meet this crisis?”
Allen Foster spoke again. “There are two issues here: finding and rescuing the Starmen and their companions, and defending our civilization from the pirates. For the first, well, we’re very hopeful that they are still alive because they were taken aboard the pirates’ ship before the base on Z25 was destroyed. They are resourceful young men—they are Starmen, after all.
“For the second, any solution I’m afraid will be long-term. We’ll have to develop a detector that uses a process other than radar—perhaps something based on gravity or light absorption. But you can appreciate the obvious fact, I’m sure, that inventing such machinery will probably take a very long time. No, I think that our course now must be entirely defensive. We are, at least, forewarned. But I’m sure that the pirates will be making the next move before we can do anything about it.”
7: Prisoners on the Pirates’ Asteroid
“WHAT’S the word for ‘walk’?” asked Mark.
“Gentrikian,” answered Zip automatically.
“That makes forty-seven points for you,” said Joe. “I need fifteen more just to catch up. C’mon Mark, give me an easy one—help me out.”
“Okay. Do you want English to Titanian or Titanian to English?”
“Titanian to English. That’s easier.”
“K’intrishian.”