"Yes, Wendy. How imaginative ... a random inspacing into unexplored vastness.... Wendy, I salute your courage!"
"We weren't really so brave. The tender was a last resort, to force Captain Kravitz to settle us on another Carina planet. But when he reacted so violently—oh, Stevie, you should have heard the language he used to me—we knew we must go. We really had no choice, now did we?"
The ambassador coughed and licked his lips. "No, I suppose not, Wendy. Captain Kravitz is unimaginative ... aging...."
"Stevie, did we do wrong? Do you think we did?"
"No, Wendy. Not you, whoever else may have. You were magnificent. I will use all my influence to see that your settlement lives."
"I'm so happy, Stevie. I feel safe now. Tomorrow Linda can work out a treaty with you. Shall we join the others?"
The smooth white legs stood up.
The ambassador could not sleep. His own copy of Patrol Regulations was lost, but providentially he found a copy in the Fishdollar National Library beside his bed. He thumbed it.
He was, indeed, still captain and therefore ambassador while his crew was intact. But that other article ... here it was: