"This morning, his Highness was chased for three or four itikron by a herd of makutos ... Thanks to his ancestral spirits, his car stood the test, and the makutos at last gave up the pursuit ...
"His Highness has ordered investigation of this untoward event ... His faithful retainer, the onnifa Fetutsi, informed him that the zuta watchers became unruly at the sight of makutos ... Several, against orders, insisted on going closer than the permitted distance, thus arousing the creatures' hostility ...
"His Highness says this is an example of the erratic, irresponsible conduct that, he believes, characterizes Terrans. Their mere presence on Sunga poses a threat to public order ... Since his Highness is not a physician skilled in treating the human brain, he is inclined to solve the problem by removing the cause, namely, the members of the Patel Society, who from Fetutsi's account appear the most irresponsible of your lawless species."
"His Highness is misinformed," said Tchitchagov. "I do not know what Fetutsi has told you, but our difficulties were caused by one Terran only, who is not a society member. I mean Mr. George Cantemir. You may ask the Doctors Ritter or Mr. Salazar, who saw the whole thing."
Tchitchagov plunged into an account of the arousal of the makutos, pausing for Yaamo's Sungarin interpreter to render his speech into Sungao. When he had finished, there was fast, low-voiced talk between the chief and the onnifa. Then Yaamo, fingering his disk of office, spoke through the interpreter again:
"Then let the Doctors Ritter and Mr. Salazar give their stories."
The Ritters told their tale, and Salazar told his, essentially the same as Tchitchagov's. Yaamo's human interpreter announced:
"His Highness says that unlike you aliens, real human beings lack your ability to utter lies with straight faces. He suspects that you four Terrans got together before this meeting and cooked this story up."
"Let him ask other Terrans who were there," said Salazar.
Yaamo spoke to his Terran interpreter, who went out and soon returned with six zuta watchers whom he had rounded up. In turn, they told their stories, differing only in trivial details from Tchitchagov's. When all tales had been told, the interpreter said:
"His Highness says he has heard that Terrans can transfer thoughts from brain to brain by mental power alone. I think he means what is called telepathy. If you had it, he says, your leader, Mr. Tchitchagov, could easily give you all the stories to tell."
Tchitchagov replied: "Terrans have speculated for centuries about telepathy but have not found conclusive evidence that it exists."
"His Highness says, ah, but that is just what you would claim, is it not? He knows you have those devices for communicating by electricity, which most human authorities forbid as dangerous to their ancestral spirits. It seems plain to his Highness either that you are carrying electrical devices concealed or that you do in fact have the rumored telepathic powers."
Tchitchagov said: "Mr. Cantemir has said nothing yet. If I may question him, perhaps we can clear up this matter."
Receiving permission, Tchitchagov asked for Cantemir's version of the event. It proved the same as Fetutsi's, fleshed out with more colorful details: "... and every time I got ready to shoot with my little old camera, one of the others would crowd up in front of me, gettin' in the field of my picture. Well, I didn't come out for shots of the backs of these other folks' heads. So at last I stepped a couple of paces out in front of the rest, took my shot, and came right back."
Attempts by Tchitchagov to cross-question Cantemir failed to dent his story. "Kroklyatiye!" exclaimed Tchitchagov. "How can one prove that he is not telepathic?"
"What about crocodiles?" asked the interpreter.
"Nothing; just a Russian swear word."
"His Highness," said the interpreter, "says that is your problem, not his ... The mere possibility of such powers is enough reason to take the action he deems important to safeguard his people. In this case, that means the removal of the disorderly aliens."
"Excuse me," said Salazar. "I think I know how to prove that Mr. Cantemir went closer to the makutos than he admits."
"His Highness would be glad to know."
"Mr. Cantemir took photographs. We know the approximate size of the largest makutos. If his Highness will take that camera into custody and have the film developed and printed, we can estimate how far away the makutos were from the size of their images."
"That don't prove a thing!" said Cantemir loudly. "With a zoom lens I can make the critters look as close or as far as I like."
"But you weren't using a camera with a zoom lens today. It's a pocket model, the Hayashi Z-706, which has a simple setting for three distances: face, group, and distant. I know because I owned one a few years ago."
"I'll fetch my camera and show you—" began Cantemir, rising.
"Stop him before he gets his hands on his cameras and switches things!" said Salazar.
When this had been translated, the interpreter said: "His Highness says come back and sit down! He will send someone else to fetch your camera."
Cantemir was already out the door, but one of the chief's bodyguards bounded after him and soon returned, gripping Cantemir's arm. Cantemir kept muttering in Sungao: "Take your hands off me!" But he came nevertheless.
"Is there a camera shop in Sungecho?" asked Salazar. The interpreter, walking towards the door, turned to say: "Yes, McGloin's. He sells knickknacks and also does photographic work." The interpreter closed the door behind him; Cantemir, fuming, resumed his seat.
Half an hour later the camera had been brought, examined, and found to be as Salazar had said. The chief ordered it taken to McGloin's shop for processing.
"Until that is done," said the interpreter, "His Highness will suspend judgment. Until this matter is settled, Mr. Cantemir must suspend his timber-cutting operation."
"Now wait just a minute!" rumbled Dumfries, who had not yet spoken. "The Adriana Company cannot afford to pay our lumberjacks to sit around waiting for His Highness to make up his mind."
"His Highness," replied the interpreter, "says that, as in the case of proving telepathy, that is your company's problem, not his. He asks: Were you on this animal-watching expedition?"
"No, I was not. My business is with human souls, not the lower beasts. If his Highness expects the usufruct of our operations—"
"Excuse me, expects the what?"
"The gain, the profit."
"His Highness says he will not be dictated to by an alien monster; so his order stands."
"But—"
"His Highness says the subject is closed."
Tchitchagov said: "Meanwhile, may the Patel Society proceed with our travel plans? We have a car reserved on the Unriu Express for the day after tomorrow, to Amoen."
Chief Yaamo took his time. At last the interpreter said: "His Highness does not see how you can do much harm up on the mountain ... He wishes you to understand that you do so at your own risk ... That is wild country. If you perish as a result of your foolishness or other forms of Terranism, that is no concern of his."
"We thank the honorable chief," said Tchitchagov.
Going back to the private rooms with the Ritters, Salazar said: "Sounds to me as if Dumfries and Cantemir want to flood the area with Terran settlers and kick out the Kooks, the way our ancestors did with the Native Americans."
"Sure," said Hilbert Ritter. "There's a party in the Settlements, small but growing, that wants to do that to the whole planet. But on Kukulcan, Terrans don't have the advantage that Europeans did in the Americas."
"What's that? Iron metallurgy?"
"That, too, but I had in mind that they brought in smallpox, measles, and other Old World diseases that the Native Americans had no resistance to; so they died off by millions. Nobody has yet found a disease that a Kook can catch from a Terran."