Qui Dor offered State a forgiving smile. "You see how you Earthmen can
jump to conclusions?" he asked. "What is so nefarious about the woman
ordering a twin of her husband?"
"Plenty," Mrs. Delacourt snapped at him. "You're wrecking our
social institutions. Of course, I wouldn't put anything past the
Channings--all three of them."
"That's beside the point," the Denebian Ambassador spoke for the first
time. "In all fairness to the man from Targoff, we ought to think of
first things first. If you want my opinion as an objective observer--"
"That's a laugh," Channing shouted. "You know damn well you're not
objective and never were."
"--I would say this man Channing is a trouble maker. I think I told you
he assaulted me not long ago."
"Yes," State admitted, "you did. I do wish, Mr. Ambassador, that
whatever happens here never goes beyond this office."
"I understand," Sarchix assured him.
* * * * *
Frustration mounted in Channing and exploded. "You're all a bunch of
gullible fools!" he cried. "Letting them pull the wool over your eyes
like that. The only one with any sense is Mrs. Delacourt."
State crimsoned. "That's enough, Channing. If I were your wife, I would
choose the copy."
Ellen shook her head firmly.
"In that case," Qui Dor said, "we might as well eliminate the second
Bryan Channing. You are quite sure, Mrs. Channing?"
"Oh, yes."
"I don't believe my wife had anything to do with it," Channing blurted.
"Maybe this isn't Ellen at all. Maybe she's a copy." Prove it, he told
himself wearily. Go ahead and try to prove it.
Qui Dor ignored him. "Let me tell you in advance," he said, "that
the elimination of a copy extends beyond the merely physical. When
the second Channing disappears, so will your memory of him. You will
remember that any individual, any object--created by me or not--is
merely a collocation of qualities perceived by you, the people aware
of the object. To destroy the object is to destroy the collocation of
qualities within your minds--past, present, and future."
In spite of himself, Channing was interested. "But according to the
British Empiricists, God's awareness was the constant conserver...."
"We of Targoff are atheists. We have no God-memory, no constant
conserver. But why debate it _a priori_. Watch."
"Wait, please ..." wailed Channing's copy. It was his own voice and it
was unnerving.
The copy wasn't. Not gradually, but all at once. The copy vanished.
"Well," said State, gazing about in a brief moment of confusion, "you
haven't been able to prove your point, Channing. I see no evidence of
collusion here. What were you trying to tell me, anyway?"
Channing shook his head. "I don't remember." It was as if he had just
awakened from a dream and the more he tried to remember it, the vaguer
his memory of it became.
"I suppose you know you're through, Channing."
"I--I was fired, wasn't I?"
"You were. I can't remember why, though ... wait a minute." The
Secretary had seen Mrs. Delacourt.
"Certainly," she said, dragging herself up from the same un-remembered
dream. "I insisted on it."
"You'll get decent references," said State.
"Thank you."
"Mr. Ambassador--both of you--I'm terribly sorry about all this. If
I can use my good offices in any manner whatever to help you, feel
perfectly free to--"
"One more thing," Channing said. "One thing before I go."
"Yes?"
"In a moment." He frowned. He scratched his head. He sensed that some
vital cog had been slipped from his memory and all the little pieces
which remained had fallen apart chaotically. "I guess I'll go," he said
slowly. "I don't remember." He edged toward the door, Ellen following
him.
"I don't care who's fired," Mrs. Delacourt told anyone who would
listen. "Something has got to be done about the Targoffians."
Nick was going to Targoff to do something about it, Channing thought
dreamily. No, he was going to Deneb, via Targoff. Channing was supposed
to call him.
"Oh, yes," he said. "I've got to make a call to Deneb."
"Deneb?" Sarchix thumped his tail.
"The Earth Embassy there. Our explorer, Nicholson." While State
protested and Mrs. Delacourt went on complaining, Channing placed the
call on their sub-space tie-line. If anyone could get rid of Qui Dor
and his copies, it was Nick. But strangely, Channing had thought he had
something concrete to go on. Well, Nick might help.
* * * * *
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...."
"I see, I see," Mrs. Delacourt beamed on Channing for the first time
since they had met. "Everyone can save face if Earth and Deneb break
off relations with Targoff at the same time."
"Right. Only poor Targoff gets left out in the cold."
"I assure you, it is far worse than that," said Qui Dor.
Sarchix had finished on the tie-line and turned to face Channing with
a beaten look on his face--if you could call it a face and the slight
change of feature-orientation a beaten look. Channing thought you could.
"Then we both break relations with Targoff?" he said.
"No." Sarchix shook his head sadly. Qui Dor paced about the room as if
he were cornered. He seemed to know it and Sarchix did, although no one
else seemed to notice.
At one and the same instant, Qui Dor and Ellen disappeared. A flitting
realization barely made itself felt in Channing's mind. Two of them,
but with no chance to take root. This was not Ellen. This was a copy
created by Qui Dor to convince them Ellen had wanted ... wanted
something, he couldn't remember what, created. Targoff and Qui Dor had
not been discovered by Sarchix of Deneb--the Denebians had created
them. The original power resided in the Denebians!
White hot and searing, it entered his mind--and vanished. He watched
the Denebian Ambassador shaking hands with the Secretary of State
before leaving the room. Somehow, the Denebian Ambassador looked glum,
as if he had lost something important.
"Am I fired or something?" Channing wanted to know.
"I seem to remember some talk about it," State said vaguely. "But it
doesn't make sense. There's no reason to fire you."
"I should be angry at this young man," Mrs. Delacourt mused. "Can't
remember why. Well, good day, Mr. Secretary."
She left.
"What did she want?" State asked Channing.
"Beats me."
"I'm tired, Channing. Going to take the afternoon off. You look bushed
yourself. Why don't you do the same?"
"Thanks," said Channing.
"I'll keep in touch with the office and call you if you're needed."
"Much obliged," said Channing, and headed for home.
* * * * *
Ellen didn't let him go into the kitchen, but he could smell the
chicken cacciatore, anyway. Dinner was interrupted, however, when he
received a call from State.
"This will interest your man Nicholson, Channing," the Secretary
said, "although it isn't actually in our field. If he's ever in the
neighborhood, he might investigate, though."
"What will interest him? Say, where is Nicholson, anyway? Seems to me I
sent him someplace. Well, he'll turn up."
"Nothing much, really. It seems a star six hundred light years
galactic north of Deneb disappeared. Since it didn't have any planets,
I suppose it really doesn't matter."
"I'll try to remember and tell Nick," said Channing. "Did the star
have a name or just a catalogue number?"
"They named it after the man who discovered it with the new Luna
telescope. Professor Targoff. It's called Targoff's Star."