Free First Command by A. Bertram Chandler Page A

how is that deformity an indication of character?”
    “It is written in her face, sire.”
    “In her face? Have you suddenly learned a new language, Doctor?”
    “Sire, it was a slip of the tongue. His face.”
    “So . . . Face us, Margaret Lazenby. Look at us.” The King’s right hand went up to and stroked his short beard. “We read no treachery in your countenance. There is a softness, better suited to a children’s nurse than to a warrior, but there is courage, and there is honesty.”
    “Sire!” Pausanius was becoming desperate. “Do not forget that sh—that he is an alien being. Do not forget that in these cases expression is meaningless. A woods boar, for example, will smile, but not from amiability. He smiles when at his most ferocious.”
    “And so do men at times.” The King grinned, his teeth very white in his dark, bearded face. “We become ferocious, and we smile, when councilmen presume to tell us our business.” He raised his voice. “Guards! Remove this man.”
    “But, sire . . .”
    “Enough.”
    There was a scuffle at the back of the chamber as the doctor was hustled out by four hoplites. Brasidus noticed, with grim satisfaction, that none of the man’s scarlet-robed colleagues made any move to defend him. He thought, Cresphontes knows where his real strength lies. With us, the military.
    “Lieutenant Commander Grimes!”
    “Your Majesty?”
    “We have decided that you may carry out your survey. You and your officers and men, both human and Arcadian, may leave your ship—but only as arranged with our Captain Diomedes, and only under escort. Is that quite clear?”
    “Quite clear, Your Majesty. We shall see only what we are allowed to see.”
    “You have made a correct assessment of the situation. And now, as we have matters of import to discuss with our Council, you are dismissed.”
    Grimes saluted and then, slowly, he and Margaret Lazenby backed from the royal presence. Brasidus accompanied them. Beyond the door to the throne room the escort fell in about them.
    As they marched out of the palace to the waiting car, Grimes asked, “Brasidus, what will happen to that doctor? The one who was dragged out of the chamber?”
    “He will he beheaded, probably. But he is lucky.”
    “Lucky?”
    “Yes. If he were not a doctor and a councilman, he could have his arms and legs lopped off before being exposed on the hillside with the defective children.”
    “You’re joking, Brasidus!” exclaimed Margaret Lazenby.
    “Joking? Of course not.”
    The Arcadian turned to Grimes. “John, can’t we do something?”
    Grimes shook his head. “Anything that we could do would mean the death of more than one man. Besides, our strict orders are not to interfere.”
    “It is expedient,” said Margaret Lazenby bitterly, “that one man should die for the good of the people.”
    “Careful, Peggy. This place may be bugged. Remember that we aren’t members of the Council.”
    “Spoken like a true naval officer of these decadent days. I often think that the era of gunboat diplomacy had much to recommend it.”

Chapter 12

    THEY RODE BACK to the spaceport almost in silence. Brasidus realized that the two foreigners had been shocked when told of the probable fate of Pausanius. But why should they be? He could not understand it. Surely on their world, on any world, insolence toward the King himself must result in swift and drastic punishment. To make their reaction even stranger, the doctor had spoken against them, not for them.
    They sped through the streets of the city, one chariot rattling ahead of the hovercar, the second astern of it. There were more people abroad now, more sightseers; word must have gotten around that aliens from the ship were at large. Citizen and helot, every man stared with avid curiosity at the Arcadian.
    Margaret Lazenby shuddered. He muttered, “John, I don’t like this planet at all, at all. I’d have said once that to be one woman in a world of men would be