"I _didn't_ know," Jusa said. "But I'm willing to learn. What should I
have--"
"Excuse me," Beliakoff broke in sourly. "Your Majesty, we've come to
ask you to stop the war."
"You don't mean it!" Jusa turned bewilderedly to Kelly.
"Have to do it, honey," Kelly said softly. "You folks just aren't ready
for a war yet."
Jusa's eyes flashed and she began to regain a little of her imperial
pose. "But of course we are! Look at what we've done. Go over our
battlefields, look at our cities, interrogate our refugees. You'll find
that everything has been done in strict accordance with the rules.
We're as ready for war as anyone!"
"I'm sorry, you'll have to stop it," Beliakoff said, and Kelly nodded
his agreement.
Jusa gave Nob a beseeching look, but the Prime Minister averted
his eyes. The dilemma was there again, enormous, insurmountable,
and squarely on Jusa's shoulders. To stop the war now would be
Unearthlike; to refuse the Earthmen was unthinkable.
"I just don't know," Jusa said. She looked at Kelly, who wore the
guilty expression of a man caught murdering a fawn. Then she burst into
tears and collapsed on a couch.
* * * * *
Nob and the Earthmen looked at each other, made several helpless
gestures, and left.
"What now?" Beliakoff asked, in the corridor. "Do you think she'll stop
the war?"
Nob shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? It's a problem without a
solution."
"But she has to make up her mind," Kelly said. "That's one of the
duties of authority."
"The Empress is aware of that. And she _will_ make up her mind, though
it could take a year or more. Unless she fails completely under the
strain."
"Poor kid," Kelly said. "She needs a man to help her out."
"Indeed she does," Nob agreed hastily. "A strong man, a wise man, a man
who could guide her and be as adviser and husband to her."
Kelly blinked, then laughed nervously. "Don't look at me! I mean she's
a cute kid, nice girl, make some man a wonderful wife, but I'm not the
marrying kind, you know what I mean?"
"Johnny," said Beliakoff, "I'd like to have a serious talk with you."
Nob led them to a vacant room and left discreetly.
"I won't do it!" Kelly declared bluntly.
"You have to," Beliakoff said. "You got us into this mess. Now you can
marry us out."
"No!"
"She'd make a wonderful wife," Beliakoff quoted Kelly's words back at
him. "Docile, pretty, but spirited. What more could you ask?"
"Freedom of choice," Kelly said grimly.
"That's for adolescents."
"Speaking."
"She'll never be able to make up her mind to stop the war unless you
marry her. Until the war ends, that interdictory ship is going to sit
in orbit, waiting for us. You haven't anything to lose," Beliakoff
added.
"I haven't?"
"Not a thing. It's a big galaxy and our freighter is always waiting."
"That's true...." Kelly admitted.
Ten minutes later, Beliakoff dragged him into the corridor. They were
joined by Nob, who ushered them back to the Empress's chambers.
"It's okay by me if it's okay by you, kid," Kelly blurted out, in
a tone that made Beliakoff shudder and made Nob smile in outright
hero-worship.
"What is all right?" Jusa asked.
"Marriage," Kelly said. "What d'ya say?"