"So," said Bordman, "it just happened—just happened, mind you—that a ship with you and the bears and the eagle on board picked up the distress-call. So you landed to help the colonists. That's the story. Therefore it isn't illegal for you to be here. It was only illegal for you to be here when you were needed. But we'll pretend you weren't."
Huyghens glanced over his shoulder in the deepening night. He said:
"I wouldn't believe that if I told it myself. Do you think the Survey will?"
"They're not fools," said Bordman tartly. "Of course they won't! But when my report says that because of this unlikely series of events it is practical to colonize the planet, whereas before it wasn't, and when my report proves that a robot-colony alone is stark nonsense, but that with bears and men from your world added, so many thousand colonists can be received per year.... And when that much is true, anyhow...."
Huyghens seemed to shake a little as a dark silhouette against the flames.
"My reports carry weight," insisted Bordman. "The deal will be offered, anyhow! The robot-colony organizers will have to agree or they'll have to fold up. And your people can hold them up for nearly what terms they choose."
Huyghens' shaking became understandable. It was laughter.
"You're a lousy liar, Bordman," he said. "Isn't it unintelligent and unreasonable to throw away a life-time of honesty just to get me out of a jam? You're not acting like a rational animal, Bordman. But I thought you wouldn't, when it came to the point."
Bordman squirmed.
"That's the only solution I can think of," he said. "But it'll work."