Anderson & Dickson Hokas Pokas

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He had mentioned that the plenipotentiary was aboard, but forgotten to say anything
about himself; and nobody on Toka had heard about his race, whose trade lanes did not
bring them into this sector. Thus the ground crew who had brought the ramp, and Tanni
who had sped from her home, were treated to the sight of their man feebly asprawl in the
grip of a leering, blue-furred ogre.
A native security guard whipped out a pistol. "Hold still, sir!" he squeaked. "I'll kill
that monster for you."
"No, no, don't shoot," Alex managed to croak.
"Why not?"
"Well, in the first place," said Alex, making his tone as reasonable as possible under
the circumstances, "he wouldn't notice. But mainly, he's a good person, and and Hi,
there, honey."
The ramp, which had not been constructed for the likes of Brob, shivered and
buckled as he descended, but somehow he made it safely. Meanwhile Alex thought the
poison must have spread far and deep, if a Hoka in sophisticated Mixumaxu, at that
was so quick to resort to a lethal weapon.
Tanni's passionate embrace proved remarkably restorative. He wished they could go
home, just the two of them, at once, before the children got back from school. However,
politeness required that they invite Brob to come along, and when they were at the house,
Alex's fears resurged and he demanded an account of the latest developments.
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Woe clouded Tanni's loveliness. "Worse every day," she answered. "Especially in
Europe our Europe, I mean," she added to Brob, "though don't confuse it with that
Europe that the ex-cowboys in what used to be Montana have Never mind." She drew
breath and started over:
"Napoleon's filled the French Hokas with dreams of la gloire, and the German
Hokas are flocking to become his grenadiers except in Prussia, where I've heard about a
General Bl�cher and three days ago, the Grand Army invaded Spain. You see,
Napoleon wants to give the Spanish throne to his cousin Claud. That's caused the British
Hokas the British circa 1800 A.D., that is thank God, so far the Victorian British on
their own island have kept their senses, maybe because of Sherlock Holmes anyway,
yesterday they declared war, and are raising a fleet and an army of their own for a
Peninsular campaign. And we won't even be able to handle the matter discreetly. I got
hold of Leopold Ormen by phone and begged him to clear his stories with me, but he
refused insisted on his right of a free press, and in such a gloating way, too. . . . I'd
taken him for a nice man, but " Her voice broke. She huddled down in her chair and
covered her face.
"Leopold Ormen? The journalist?" inquired Alex. "What's this?"
Tanni explained, adding that the man had since gone elsewhere, quite out of contact.
Alex cursed. "As if we didn't have troubles enough!" Suspicion struck fangs into his
spirit. "Could his presence here be simple coincidence? I wonder. I wonder very much."
"Do you imply that Mr. Ormen may have stirred up this imbroglio?" asked Brob,
appalled. "If so, and if you are correct, I fear he is no gentlebeing."
Alex sprang from his seat and paced. "Well, he can scarcely have accomplished
everything alone," he thought aloud. "But he can sure have helped a lot to get it started,
flitting freely around with the prestige of being a human, and that glib manner I recall
from his broadcasts. . . . Don't cry, darling."
"I shan't," Brob said. "My species does not produce tears. However, I am deeply
moved by your expression of affection."
Tanni had not begun sobbing. That was not her way. Grimly, she raised her glance
and said, "Okay, he tricked me. At least, we've sufficient grounds for suspicion to order
his arrest. Though he has his own flyer and could be anywhere on the planet."
Alex continued to prowl the carpet. "I doubt that that would be any use at this stage,"
he responded. "Arresting him, I mean. Unless we had absolute proof that he was engaged
in subversion, which we don't, we'd lay ourselves open to countercharges of suppression.
Besides, our first duty is not to save our reputations, but to prevent bloodshed."
He struck fist in palm, again and again. "How could matters have gotten so out of
hand, so fast?" he wondered. "Even for Hokas, this is extreme, and it's happened damn
near overnight. Around the globe, too, you tell me, the Napoleon business is just the most
immediate danger. Somebody, some group, must be at work, propagandizing, offering
evil advice. They wouldn't have to be humans, either. Hokas would be ready to believe
whatever they heard from members of any technologically advanced society. In fact,
humans have gotten to be rather old hat. Somebody different, exotic, would have more
glamour, and find it easier to mislead them."
"Yes, I've thought along the same lines, dear," Tanni said. "Naturally, I forbade the
French to mobilize, but the only reply I got was something about the Old Guard dies, it
does not surrender. The British well, they ignored my countermanding of their
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