Birthright

two.”

“Oh?”

“She wants our jobs.”

“Both of them?”

“Yours, for saying what you did; and mine, for not firing you on the spot.” “She's just a trivial old lady,” said Ngana. “A rich, politically potent, trivial old lady,” corrected Renyan. “How serious is the problem?”

“It depends who she knows. She could—”

“I don't mean the irritant,” said Ngana bluntly. “I mean the problem. How serious are the outworlds about enfranchisement?”

“As I told you, I just learned of it a few hours ago but there does seem to be considerable open sentiment for it, as far as we can tell.” “And the Republic is against it, of course?” “Of course.”

“How close is the association among the worlds? Can they act as a unified body?” “Not yet,” said Renyan. “But give them twenty years or so and there'll be no doubt of it. We have no trading, immigration, or traveling restrictions. If they want to get together, they'll have ample opportunity to do so.”

“All right,” said Ngana. “I imagine we ought to begin by having Psychology eliminate all those worlds that won't have the gumption or the temperament to stand up to us. That should knock about half of them out. As for the others, we'll start squeezing them so hard they can't quit.” “You're looking at it all wrong,” said Renyan. “They don't want to quit. They want more powerwithin the Republic, not total independence from it.” “I know,” said Ngana. “But first we have to weaken their bargaining position.” “And we have to do it without cutting the Republic's financial throat,'’ pointed out Renyan. “I don't know how to put this diplomatically,” began Ngana, “but...” “But what?” asked Renyan.

“But you've got a remarkable facility for pointing out the obvious. I don't mean to hurt your pride. You were chosen for your post because you're a fantastic administrator. But solving this problem is simply