With his wife, Edna, he had planned well for retirement1. His idyllic2 estate consisted of a second-hand3 planetoid, thirty miles in circumference4, which was the only habitable piece of matter in its system. Complete with supplementary5 gravity generator6, a compact atmosphere, a mantle7 of lush topsoil and a carefully selected biota8, McWorther's World was both his delight and his pride.
Well away from the mainstream10 of galactic civilization, McWorther's Star was smugly hidden behind a dark nebula11, through which he and Edna plunged12 twice a year to the fringe of the cluster—just to observe and mock convention, if for nothing else.
It was an ideal setup.
But, after two sedentary years, Titus realized he still needed one item to make his retirement complete. So he dispatched this tight-beamed message to the packet order department of Rear-Sobucks and Company in the West Cluster Federation's Hub City:
Dear Sir:
Please send one automatic bather with back-scrubbing attachment13 and toy boat docks, as listed in your videolog under order No. 4678-25C. Charge same to credit account No. W414754-B24D.
Sincerely yours,
McWorther's World
He listed the coordinates15 of the star and the orbital factor of his planetoid.
Unfortunately, the hyper-spatial line between McWorther's World and the nearest relay center was partly coincident with the link to the politically noncommitted world of Gauyuth-VI.
This condition, together with the fact that components16 of a communication are sent by separate pulse, sometimes leads to the embarrassing phenomenon known as "message interfusion," which is retransmission of the right text with the wrong signature.
And it so happened that as Titus McWorther's order was en route, the system was also being burdened with this intelligence to the Ganymede Extension of the Western Cluster's State Department:
Dear Sir:
This will verify our agreement and authorize17 implementation18 of interstellar aid arrangements as set forth19 in conferences with your ambassador. If such arrangements produce mutual20 satisfaction, we will quite readily declare concurrence21, in principle at least, with the political aims of the Western Cluster.
Respectfully yours,
Ogarm Netath,
Prime Minister
Gauyuth-VI
Appended to the signature were the coordinates of Gauyuth and the orbital factor of its Number Six planet.
Wharton Hoverly, undersecretary of cosmic aid for the Western Cluster, plucked at his thick, gray mustache as he reread the space-o-gram.
He punched the videobox stud. "Mallston!"
The younger and more composed face of his assistant stared from the screen. "Yes, sir?"
"Anything yet?"
"Not a thing. We have no record of a—McWorther's World."
"What do you suppose?"
"Well, it seems authentic22 enough. We do know Ambassador Summerson has been working in that general area."
"And you think Summerson signed an aid agreement with this potentate?"
"I'd say the message speaks for itself."
Again, Hoverly worried his mustache. "Did you check with Summerson?"
"He's on extended leave."
"What do you think we ought to do?"
"McWorther's World must be a critical area. And evidently we're going to get what we want out of the deal, since the Potentate speaks of concurrence with Western Cluster aims."
Impatiently, the undersecretary glanced out the window. Ganymede was well out of the Jovian umbra now. If he didn't leave soon, he'd be late for his conference with the commerce department on Farside Luna.
"All right, Mallston," he said. "Put McWorther's World on a Class A aid schedule. That ought to hold the Potentate until Summerson gets back."
In the commercial section of Hub City, Rear-Sobucks and Company occupied a monstrous23 building whose emblematic24 tip pierced the clouds.
On the two hundredth floor, the twenty-seventh vice-president strode through the rail gate, tossed the secretary a "don't-bother-to-announce-me" glance and went on into the inner office of the twenty-sixth vice-president.
"Got something I thought you'd be interested in, V.R.," he told the limp-faced man behind the desk. "There may be a promotion25 angle."
"What is it?" V.R. asked, not exactly gripping his chair with anticipation26.
The other placed the space-o-gram on the desk. "It's from an Ogarm Netath, prime minister of a place called Gauyuth-Six. He wants an automatic bather."
V.R. extended a "so what?" glare.
"Don't you see? Big shots like that don't place personal orders. But here's one who thinks so much of a Rear-Sobucks item that he forgets all about convention."
"And so, Wheeler, you want to capitalize on his good name in some sort of promotion gimmick," V.R. said through taut27 lips.
Wheeler shrank. "But I thought—"
"Never mind what you thought. Fill his order. Send it compliments of—let's see, Gauyuth-Six is uncommitted—compliments of the Western Cluster."
It was a fine morning on McWorther's World. Cotton-candy clouds floated over the fields. Dreaming herons, balanced on slender legs, gave the shallows of the lake a tufted appearance. A delightful28 breeze, artificially generated at the equator, wafted29 flowering stalks and rocked the air car and spaceabout at their moorings.
Titus snorted on the veranda30 and reached for his julep. He was a chunky little man, with the ruddiness of good health tinting31 his face and overflowing32 onto his partly bald pate33.
"Where are you, Titus?" an anxious voice disturbed the quiet of the house.
"Out here, Love."
Edna appeared in the doorway34. Despite her age, there was still the fascination35 in her timeless eyes that had snared36 Titus more than ninety years ago.
"The chef burned the beans again," she said, frowning.
"Guess I'll have to fix it."
"You know it's not the cooker. It's that darned gravity."
He realized now it was a weight fluctuation37 that had nudged him from his nap.
"I've got it set that way, Love," he explained. "We did not get clouds in the contract. But by varying the gravity control we can have them for nothing. It all has to do with atmospheric38 pressure."
Edna cast a resigned glance skyward. "If that's the way you want it—fleecy clouds and burnt beans—"
The guttural scream of braking jets rattled39 the windows and sent the herons winging for the safety of the other hemisphere. Hesitating on the fringe of the atmosphere, the freighter altered its approach and landed beside the house.
Titus went out to meet the skipper and his three assistants whose arms were filled with printed forms.
"You Potentate McWorther?" the skipper asked.
Titus smiled in embarrassment40. "It's a gag. I just call myself that."
"We got your order," the other snapped. "Where do you want it?"
Titus' small eyes widened with an inner vision of the automatic bather—a vision which went on in speculation41 to dispose of the crude shower-masseur, for which he and Edna were getting a bit too old.
"If you'll put it on the veranda—" He paused and shouted back toward the house. "Edna, get out the grapplers. We're in business."
"Fun-ny," the skipper observed with dry derision. Then he signaled to his waiting assistants.
They came forward and, one by one, thrust their stacks of printed forms against Titus' chest. His arms came up in a reflex to accept the offerings. But, as the third assistant's contribution sent the stack soaring in front of his face, he went down under the weight.
When he had extricated42 himself from the mound43 of paper, the men had returned to their ship. And now its sides were folding down and scores of huge crates45 were drifting out on repulsor beams and fluttering to the ground.
Soon the freighter was gone and Edna was at his side.
"What have you gotten us into now, Titus?"
"Honest, Love—I don't know."
Suddenly his ears were splitting with the thunderous roar of a thousand ships plunging46 down to the surface as far as he could see around the perimeter47 of his small world. Each pulled to a halt a few feet from the ground, opened its sides and disgorged vast mounds48 of crates and sacks, boxes and barrels, naked hills of coarse material that hissed49 like gravel50 as it spewed from chutes, gleaming masses of machinery51.
Confounded, Titus seized one of the slips of paper. It was an invoice52 listing two hundred earth movers, seventy-five instant pavers, five hundred concrete mixers.
Matching his frown, Edna read a second sheet and demanded, "What on earth do you expect to do with a hundred thousand barrels of wheat germ oil? Four thousand kegs of eight-penny nails? Forty-five hundred tons of soybeans?"
At his secluded53 villa54, Prime Minister Netath was entertaining his foreign minister, Ugaza Bataul.
Netath leaned against the terrace bar and proposed a toast. "To an era of plenty."
Bataul smiled. "At the expense of the Western Cluster."
They gulped55 the drinks and Netath stared down into his empty glass. "We're quite fortunate that the Western Cluster's aspirations56 are extending to this sector57."
"As long as we can be sure that there won't be any military advances." Bataul added the qualification with misgiving58.
"Oh, there's no danger of that. Actually, we're lucky we didn't try to get on the Eastern Cluster's gravy59 train. We'd have had to make a lot of concessions60."
Heralding61 its own approach with a sputtering62 rumble63, the station 'copter came in low over the trees and dropped down on the lawn. Netath walked over as his chauffeur64 climbed out of the cab and used antigrav grapples to float a large crate44 out of the freight compartment65.
"Just picked it up at the space terminal," the man explained. "Must be that aid shipment."
"What is it?" Netath drew back, surveying the ivory, tanklike thing with its sparkling fixtures68 and flexible appendages69.
By then, Netath had found the torn, soiled delivery tag. He read the part of the writing that was still legible:
"... sincerely hope this expression of Western amity73 meets with your satisfaction. If we can serve you again, please don't hesitate...."
"It's an insult against our racial character!" the foreign minister said severely78. "They know we have no use for a bather, shedding our skin as we do once a day."
Netath forced restraint into his features. "We will not lose our diplomatic poise79. There is always the chance a mistake has been made."
"Yes, sir?" came the instant answer.
"Take a space-o-gram to Solaria."
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1
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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idyllic
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| adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的 | |
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second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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supplementary
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| adj.补充的，附加的 | |
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generator
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| n.发电机，发生器 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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biota
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| n.生物区 | |
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isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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mainstream
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| n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的 | |
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nebula
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| n.星云，喷雾剂 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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13
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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15
coordinates
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| n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等 | |
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16
components
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| （机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分 | |
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17
authorize
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| v.授权，委任；批准，认可 | |
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implementation
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| n.实施，贯彻 | |
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19
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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20
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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21
concurrence
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| n.同意；并发 | |
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22
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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23
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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24
emblematic
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| adj.象征的，可当标志的；象征性 | |
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25
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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26
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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27
taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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28
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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29
wafted
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| v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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31
tinting
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| 着色，染色（的阶段或过程） | |
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32
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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33
pate
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| n.头顶；光顶 | |
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34
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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35
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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36
snared
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| v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
fluctuation
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| n.(物价的)波动，涨落；周期性变动；脉动 | |
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38
atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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39
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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40
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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41
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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42
extricated
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| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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44
crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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45
crates
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| n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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46
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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47
perimeter
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| n.周边，周长，周界 | |
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48
mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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49
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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50
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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51
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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52
invoice
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| vt.开发票；n.发票，装货清单 | |
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53
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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54
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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55
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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56
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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57
sector
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| n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形 | |
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58
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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59
gravy
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| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
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60
concessions
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| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
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61
heralding
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| v.预示( herald的现在分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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62
sputtering
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| n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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63
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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64
chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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65
compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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66
batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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67
unpack
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| vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货 | |
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68
fixtures
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| （房屋等的）固定装置( fixture的名词复数 )； 如（浴盆、抽水马桶）； 固定在某位置的人或物； （定期定点举行的）体育活动 | |
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69
appendages
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| n.附属物( appendage的名词复数 )；依附的人；附属器官；附属肢体（如臂、腿、尾等） | |
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70
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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71
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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72
deluxe
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| adj.华美的，豪华的，高级的 | |
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73
amity
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| n.友好关系 | |
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74
vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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75
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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76
sputtered
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| v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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77
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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78
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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79
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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80
grid
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| n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅 | |
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