We all sat down--with me congratulating myself that Suzi didn't
object--and Suzi, her eyes shining, gushed, "Oh Jak, isn't it
wonderful?"
I said, "I guess so. What?" I looked around the room in irritation.
"What's all the noise about? I can hardly hear ourselves talk."
Alger Wilde said stiffly, "It's the new anthem, _The Solar System
Forever_. Very patriotic. It was just completed by a staff of more
than three hundred of the System's outstanding musicians. I understand
that it's being played on every viziscreen on nine planets and twenty
satellites. On order of the governments of all Solar System League
members, the musicians rushed it through."
"It sounds like it," I growled. At least everybody had sat down again
and were eating their lunch.
The stars were still in Suzi's eyes. She said softly, "It's dedicated
to you, Jak."
"Huh?"
Alger Wilde bit out, "Why'd you think everybody was clapping? You're
the hero of the System." He added, barely audibly, "They know not what
they do."
It was beginning to dawn on me. My mind had been so full of Suzi that
I'd almost forgotten about the Centaurian fight.
Suzi cast her eyes down to the table and said softly, "I'm sorry about
yesterday, Jak. When I heard about your heroic challenge I realized how
wrong I was."
I scowled and said, "I didn't exactly challenge them, just suggested
that the whole thing ought to be settled in the arena. Maybe a _Slaber_
or a Saturnian gladiator, or--"