General Roos laughed savagely. "I've a handful of police with paralyzers. Paralyzers, mind you! Don't you understand? There hasn't been a war in a thousand years! There are no weapons! No factories to make them. No officers with even the most rudimentary knowledge of tactics."
"But the Unfit haven't weapons either...."
"That's where you're mistaken! Our spies have reported a ray type projector that destroys the red blood corpuscles! They've been manufacturing them in hidden laboratories in the jungle!"
Silence fell over the conference table—a breathless anxious silence. Joel could feel their eyes on him and he shifted uncomfortably.
"But what do you expect me to do?" he asked defensively.
Governor Cameron stared at Joel with his penetrating green eyes. "Hakkyt, we want to treat with the Ganelons. There's room for both our races. You're in communication with their Thinkers. You're our only contact with them."
Joel said suspiciously, "If you were anxious to treat with the Thinkers, why did you murder their spies?"
"Murder their spies?" Priscilla echoed. Half a dozen voices burst out in protest.
Joel stared pointedly at General Fredrik Roos. The dark, handsome general smiled, shrugged.
"But no one's killed any Ganelons!" the governor said. "You're mistaken, Hakkyt."