Mr. Yardo utters a sharp "Ha! Ha!" but it is not seconded; the colonel having been expressionless all along becomes more so; Eru says, "Thank you, Lizzie." He looks across at Cray who is opposite me; Cray says there are many points on which he might comment; to take only one, two weeks from Tuesday leaves little time for 'ganging up', and what happens when the BEMs fail to come?
We are suddenly back in the atmosphere of a seminar; Eru's glance moves to P. Zapotec sitting next to Cray, and he says, "These BEMs who lost their home planet in a nova, how many ships have they? Without a base they cannot be very dangerous unless their fleet is very large."
It goes round the table.
Pavel: "How would BEMs learn to write?"
Nick: "How are they supposed to know that Incognita is inhabited? How do they address the letter?"
The Crow: "Huh. Why write letters? Invaders just invade."
Kirsty: "We don't want to inflame these people against alien races. We might find one some day. It seems to me this idea might have all sorts of undesirable by-products. Suppose each side regards it as a ruse on the part of the other. We might touch off a war instead of preventing it. Suppose they turn over to preparations for repelling the invaders, to an extent that cripples their economy? Suppose a panic starts?"
Dilly: "Say, Mr. Chairman, is there any of this idea left at all? How about an interim summary?"
Eru coughs to get a moment for thought, then says:
"In brief, the problem is to provide a menace against which the two groups will be forced to unite. It must have certain characteristics.