They spoke at length and Channing told the explorer to hold on. He turned to Sarchix. "Mr. Ambassador," he said, "I thought you'd like to know that we've done Deneb a great favor."
"What's that? What did you do?"
"We established diplomatic relations between Targoff and Deneb."
"You're joking."
"No. Honest."
"Why in the world did you do that? I mean, it would seem that we're capable of making our own decisions when it comes to—"
"Uh-uh," Channing shook his head. "You just refused to accept a good thing when you saw it. Good old Targoff and its magic. Now that relations are established, of course, if for any reason you decide to break them, that won't look so good as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned—unless Earth and Deneb should decide to break relations with Targoff simultaneously."
"Let me at that telio!" Sarchix cried, and was soon busy talking with Nick in English and someone else in Denebian.
"Will someone please tell me what's happening?" State demanded.
"I'm not sure," Channing said. "Somehow, Deneb discovered Targoff and hid the fact, then got us to discover it. It was a way to wreck Earth's position in the galaxy, and to weaken Earth over a long period of time to such an extent that Deneb would be top dog. But now, as the Ambassador is beginning to find out, Deneb will also be confronted with a lower standard of living, a high divorce rate, a low birth rate, food which doesn't prevent malnutrition, medicine which cures symptoms but not disease...."