"--was something serious!" I finished. "That's what I told Heinz
Bergdorf when he came to me with this story. Now sober down and listen!
This _is_ serious!"
* * * * *
"It sounds pretty grim," Kron said after I had finished. "But how is it
that your people didn't foresee the danger? Something as viciously
reproductive as the oyster should be common knowledge."
"Not on our world. You see, the study of sea life is a specialized
science on Earth. It is one of the faults of our technological
civilization that almost everyone must specialize from the time he
enters secondary school. Unless one specializes in marine biology, one
generally knows little or nothing about it."
"Odd. Very odd. But then, you Earthmen always were a peculiar race. Now,
if I heard you right, I believe that you said there is an animal on your
world which preys upon these oysters. A starfish?"
"Yes."
"Won't this animal be as destructive as the oyster?"
"Bergdorf doesn't think so, and I trust his judgment."
"Won't this animal also kill our Komal? They are like these oysters of
yours in a way."
"But they burrow, and the starfish doesn't. They'll be safe enough."
Kron sighed. "I knew that association with you people would prove to be
a mixed blessing." He shrugged his shoulders and turned his chair to his
desk. A Niobian face appeared on the screen. "Call a Council meeting and
let me know when it is ready," Kron ordered.
"Yes, Councilor," the face replied.
"Well, that's that. Now we can relax until the Council manages to get
together."
"How long will that take?"
"I haven't the least idea," Kron said. "Several days--several weeks. It
all depends upon how soon we can get enough Council members together to
conduct business."
I said unhappily, "I'd like to have your outlook but we're fighting
against time!"
"You Earthmen pick the most impossible opponents. You should learn to
work with time rather than against it." He pulled at one ear
reflectively. "You know, it is strange that your race could produce
ethical philosophers like this one." He tapped the _Analects_ with a
webbed forefinger. "Such contrast of thought on a single world is almost
incredible!"
"You haven't seen the half of it!" I chuckled. "But I'm inclined to
agree with you. Earth is an incredible world."
* * * * *
Fortunately there was a battle cruiser in the Polar spaceport on a
goodwill mission. We had no trouble about getting the detectors Bergdorf
needed, plus a crew to run them. The Navy is co-operative about such
things, and every officer knows the importance of the BEE on a planetary
operation. We could have had the entire cruiser if we had wanted it.
A week later the four Marine Lab ships, each equipped with a detector,
started a search of Niobe's oceans. Their atomic powerplants could drive
them along at a respectable speed. Bergdorf and I expected a preliminary
report within a month.
We weren't disappointed.
The results were shocking, but not unexpected. Preliminary search
revealed no oysters in the other two major oceans, but the Baril Ocean
was badly infested. There were groups and islands of immature oysters
along the entire course of the Equatorial current and the tropical coast
of Alpha. Practically every island group in the central part of the
ocean showed traces of the bivalves. It was amazing how far they had
spread. Even the northern shallows had a number of thriving young
colonies.
Bergdorf was right. Another year and we'd have been swamped. As it was
it was nothing to laugh about.
The news reached Kron just before the Council meeting, which, like most
of Niobe's off-season politics, had been delayed time after time. Since
a Council meeting requires an attendance of ninety per cent of the
Council, it had been nearly impossible to schedule an assembly where a
quorum could be present. But our news broadcasts over the BEE radio
reached every corner of the planet, and the note of urgency in them
finally produced results.
The Niobians held the emergency session at Base Alpha, where our radio
could carry the proceedings to the entire planet. Whatever else they may
be, Niobian government sessions are open to the public. Since the advent
of radio, practically the entire public listens in.
Like the natives, I listened too. I wasn't surprised when Kron appeared
in my office, his eyes red and swollen from lack of sleep, but with a
big grin on his face that exposed his sharp sectorial teeth. "Well,
that's over, friend Lanceford. Now send us your starfish."
"That's easier said than done," I replied gloomily. "I've contacted the
Confederation. They won't ship twenty pounds of starfish--let alone the
twenty thousand tons Bergdorf says we'll need!"
"Why not? Are they crazy? Or do they want to destroy us?"
"Neither. This is just a sample of bureaucracy at work. You see, the
starfish is classed as a pest on Earth. Confederation regulations forbid
the exportation of pests to member planets."
"But we need them!"
"I realize that, but the fact hasn't penetrated to the highest brass." I
laughed humorlessly. "The big boys simply can't see it. By the time we
marshal enough evidence to convince them, it will be too late. Knowing
how Administration operates, I'd say that it'd take at least a year for
them to become convinced. And another two months for them to act."
"But we simply can't wait that long! Your man Bergdorf has convinced me.
We're in deadly danger!"
"You're going to have to wait," I said grimly. "Unless you can find some
way to jar them out of their rut."
Kron looked thoughtful. "I think that can be done, friend Lanceford. As
I recall, your bureaus are timid things. Furthermore, we have something
they want pretty bad. I think we can apply pressure."
"But won't your people object? Doesn't that deny your basic philosophy
of non-interference with others?"
Kron grinned ferociously. "Not at all. Like others of your race, you
have never understood the real significance of our social philosophy.
What it actually boils down to is simply this--we respect the customs
and desires of others but require in turn that they respect ours."
"You mean that you will use force against the rest of the Confederation?
But you can't do that! You wouldn't stand a chance against the Navy."
"We will first try a method we have used with our own tribes who get out
of line. I don't think anything more will be necessary." Kron's voice
was flat. "It goes against the grain to do this, but we are left no
choice." He turned and left the room without a farewell, which was a
measure of his agitation.
I sat there behind my desk wondering what the Niobians could do. Like my
ex-boss Alvord Sims, I had a healthy respect for them. It just could be
that they could do plenty.
They could.
* * * * *
Organization! Man, you've never seen anything like what the Niobians
tossed at our startled heads! We always thought the Planetary Council
was a loose and ineffective sort of thing, but what happened within the
next twenty hours had to be seen to be believed. I saw it. But it was
days before I believed it.
Within a day the natives had whipped up an organization, agreed on a
plan of action and put it into effect. By noon of the next day Niobe was
a closed planet. A message was sent to the Confederation informing them
that Niobe was withdrawing until the emergency was over. An embargo was
placed on all movement of shipping.
And everything stopped.
No factories operated. The big starfreighters stood idle and empty at
the polar bases. Not one ounce of gerontin or its concentrate precursor
left Niobe. Smiling groups of Niobians, using subsonics to enforce their
demands, paralyzed everything the Confederation had operated on the
planet. No one was hurt. The natives were still polite and friendly. But
Confederation business came to an abrupt halt, and stayed halted.
It was utterly amazing! I had never heard of a planet-wide boycott
before. But Niobe was entirely within her rights. The Confederation had
to accept it.
And, of course, the Confederation capitulated. If the Niobians were
fools enough to want pests as a condition of resuming viscaya
shipments--well, it was their affair. The Confederation needed viscaya.
It was willing to do almost anything to assure its continued supply.
With the full power of the Confederation turned to giving Niobe what she
wanted, it wasn't long before the oysters were under control. We
established a systematic seeding procedure for the starfish that kept
arriving by the freighter load. In a few months Bergdorf reported that
an ecological balance had been achieved.
* * * * *
"But didn't the starfish create another pest problem?" Perkins asked.
"Not at all," Lanceford said. "I told you that the Niobians had an odd
sense of taste. Starfish proved to be quite acceptable to the Niobian
palate. They merely added another item to Niobe's food supply."
Perkins shuddered delicately. "I wouldn't eat one of those things in a
million years."
"You're going to have to eat vorkum if you expect to survive on this
world. Compared to vorkum, a starfish is sheer pleasure! But that wasn't
the end of it," Lanceford added with a smile. "You see, shortly after
things had simmered down to normal Kron dropped into my office.
"'I think, friend Lanceford,' he said, 'that we are going to have to
create a permanent organization to keep unwanted visitors out. This
little affair has been a needed lesson. I have been reading about your
planetary organization, and I think a thing like your Customs Service is
vitally needed on our world to prevent future undesirable biological
importations.'
"'I agree,' I replied. 'Anything that would prevent a repetition of this
business would be advisable.'
"So that was how the Customs Service started. The insigne you will
recognize as a starfish opening an oyster. Unfortunately the Niobians
are quite literal minded. When they say any biological importation will
be quarantined and examined, they mean Confederation citizens too!
"And that, of course, was the entering wedge. You'll find things quite
homelike once you get out of here. The natives have developed an
organization that's a virtual copy of our Administrative Branch.
Customs, as you know, is a triumph of the bureaucratic system, and
naturally the idea spread. Once the natives got used to a permanent
government organization that was available at all times, it was only a
question of time before the haphazard tribal organization became
replaced by a planetary union. You could almost say that it was an
inevitable consequence."
Lanceford grinned. "The Niobians didn't realize that the importation of
foreign Customs was almost as bad as the importation of foreign
animals!" He chuckled at the unconscious pun.