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Jubal
grinned
.
"
Once
,
when
I
was
a
kid
in
high
school
,
I
won
a
debate
on
shipping
subsidies
by
quoting
an
overwhelming
argument
from
the
files
of
the
British
Colonial
Shipping
Board
.
The
opposition
was
totally
unable
to
refute
me
–
because
there
never
was
a
‘
British
Colonial
Shipping
Board
.
’
I
had
made
it
up
,
whole
cloth
.
"
I
was
equally
shameless
this
morning
.
The
administration
wanted
Mike
’
s
‘
Larkin
rights
’
and
was
scared
silly
that
we
might
make
a
deal
with
Kung
or
somebody
.
So
I
used
their
greed
and
worry
to
wring
out
of
them
that
ultimate
logical
absurdity
of
their
fantastic
legal
theory
,
a
public
acknowledgment
in
unmistakable
diplomatic
protocol
that
Mike
was
a
sovereign
equal
of
the
Federation
itself
–
and
must
be
treated
accordingly
!
"
Jubal
looked
smug
.
"
Thereby
,
"
Ben
said
dryly
,
"
putting
yourself
up
the
well
-
known
creek
without
a
paddle
.
"
"
Ben
,
Ben
,
"
Jubal
said
chidingly
.
"
Wrong
metaphor
.
Not
a
canoe
,
but
a
tiger
.
Or
a
throne
.
By
their
own
logic
they
had
publicly
crowned
Mike
.
Need
I
point
out
that
,
despite
the
old
saw
about
uneasy
heads
and
crowns
,
it
is
nevertheless
safer
to
be
publicly
a
king
than
it
is
to
be
a
pretender
in
hiding
?
A
king
can
usually
abdicate
to
save
his
neck
;
a
pretender
may
renounce
his
pretensions
but
it
makes
his
neck
no
safer
–
less
so
,
in
fact
;
it
leaves
him
naked
to
his
enemies
.
No
,
Ben
,
Kung
saw
that
Mike
’
s
position
had
been
enormously
strengthened
by
a
few
bars
of
music
and
an
old
sheet
,
even
if
you
did
not
–
and
Kung
did
not
like
it
a
bit
.
"
But
I
acted
through
necessity
,
not
choice
,
and
,
while
Mike
’
s
position
was
improved
,
it
was
still
not
an
easy
one
.
Mike
was
,
for
the
nonce
,
the
acknowledged
sovereign
of
Mars
under
the
legalistic
malarky
of
the
Larkin
precedent
?
and
,
as
such
,
was
empowered
to
hand
out
concessions
,
trading
rights
,
enclaves
,
ad
nauseam
.
He
must
either
do
these
things
himself
?
and
thus
be
subjected
to
pressures
even
worse
than
those
attendant
on
great
wealth
and
for
which
he
is
even
less
fitted
–
or
he
must
abdicate
his
titular
position
and
allow
his
Larkin
rights
to
devolve
on
those
twenty
-
three
men
now
on
Mars
,
i
.
e
.
,
to
Douglas
.
"
Jubal
looked
pained
.
"
I
disliked
these
alternatives
almost
equally
,
since
each
was
based
on
the
detestable
doctrine
that
the
Larkin
Decision
could
apply
to
inhabited
planets
.
Gentlemen
,
I
have
never
met
any
Martians
,
I
have
no
vocation
to
be
their
champion
–
but
I
could
not
permit
a
client
of
mine
to
be
trapped
into
such
a
farce
.
The
Larkin
Decision
itself
had
to
be
rendered
void
,
and
all
‘
rights
’
under
it
,
with
respect
to
the
planet
Mars
–
while
the
matter
was
still
in
our
hands
and
without
giving
the
High
Court
a
chance
to
rule
.
"
Jubal
grinned
boyishly
.
"
So
I
appealed
to
a
higher
court
for
a
decision
that
would
nullify
the
Larkin
precedent
–
I
cited
a
mythical
‘
British
Colonial
Shipping
Board
.
’
I
lied
myself
blue
in
the
face
to
create
a
new
legal
theory
.
Sovereign
honors
had
been
rendered
Mike
;
that
was
fact
,
the
world
had
seen
it
.
But
sovereign
honors
may
be
rendered
to
a
sovereign
?
or
to
a
sovereign
’
s
alter
ego
,
his
viceroy
or
ambassador
.
So
I
asserted
that
Mike
was
no
cardboard
sovereign
under
a
silly
human
precedent
not
in
point
–
but
in
awful
fact
the
ambassador
of
the
great
Martian
nation
!
"
Jubal
sighed
.
"
Sheer
bluff
?
and
I
was
scared
silly
that
I
would
be
required
to
prove
my
claims
.
But
I
was
staking
my
bluff
on
my
hope
and
strong
belief
that
others
–
Douglas
,
and
in
particular
,
Kung
–
would
be
no
more
certain
of
the
facts
than
was
I
.
"
Jubal
looked
around
him
.
"
But
I
ventured
to
risk
that
bluff
because
you
three
were
sitting
with
us
,
were
Mike
’
s
water
brethren
.
If
you
three
sat
by
and
did
not
challenge
my
lies
,
then
Mike
must
be
accepted
as
the
Martian
equivalent
of
ambassador
–
and
the
Larkin
Decision
was
a
dead
issue
.
"
