Some time around 2100. The settlers had come from a place in North America called Texas, one of the old United States. They had a lengthy history--independent republic, admission to the United States, secession from the United States, reconquest by the United States, and general intransigence under the United States, the United Nations and the Solar League. When the laws of non-Einsteinian physics were discovered and the hypers.p.a.ce-drive was developed, practically the entire population of Texas had taken to s.p.a.ce to find a new home and independence from everybody.

They had found Capella IV, a Terra-type planet, with a slightly higher mean temperature, a lower ma.s.s and lower gravitational field, about one-quarter water and three-quarters land-surface, at a stage of evolutionary development approximately that of Terra during the late Pliocene. They also found supercow, a big mammal looking like the unsuccessful attempt of a hippopotamus to impersonate a dachshund and about the size of a nuclear-steam locomotive. On New Texas" plains, there were billions of them; their meat was fit for the G.o.ds of Olympus.

So New Texas had become the meat-supplier to the galaxy.

There was very little in any of the microfilm-books about the politics of New Texas and such as it was, it was very scornful. There were such expressions as "anarchy tempered by a.s.sa.s.sination," and "grotesque parody of democracy."

There would, I a.s.sumed, be more exact information in the material which had been shoved into my hand just before boarding the cutter from Luna, in a package labeled _TOP SECRET: TO BE OPENED ONLY IN s.p.a.cE, AFTER THE FIRST HYPERJUMP._ There was also a big trunk that had been placed in my suite, sealed and bearing the same instructions.

I got Hoddy out of the suite as soon as the ship had pa.s.sed out of the normal s.p.a.ce-time continuum, locked the door of my cabin and opened the parcel.

It contained only two loose-leaf notebooks, both labeled with the Solar League and Department seals, both adorned with the customary bloodthirsty threats against the unauthorized and the indiscreet. They were numbered _ONE_ and _TWO_.

_ONE_ contained four pages. On the first, I read:

_FINAL MESSAGE OF THE FIRST SOLAR LEAGUE AMBa.s.sADOR TO NEW TEXAS ANDREW JACKSON HICk.o.c.k_

_I agree with none of the so-called information about this planet on file with the State Department on Luna. The people of New Texas are certainly not uncouth barbarians. Their manners and customs, while lively and unconventional, are most charming. Their dress is graceful and practical, not grotesque; their soft speech is pleasing to the ear.

Their flag is the original flag of the Republic of Texas; it is definitely not a barbaric travesty of our own emblem. And the underlying premises of their political system should, as far as possible, be incorporated into the organization of the Solar League. Here politics is an exciting and exacting game, in which only the true representative of all the people can survive._

_DEPARTMENT ADDENDUM_

_After five years on New Texas, Andrew Jackson Hick.o.c.k resigned, married a daughter of a local rancher and became a naturalized citizen of that planet. He is still active in politics there, often in opposition to Solar League policies._

That didn"t sound like too bad an advertis.e.m.e.nt for the planet. I was even feeling cheerful when I turned to the next page, and:

_FINAL MESSAGE OF THE SECOND SOLAR LEAGUE AMBa.s.sADOR TO NEW TEXAS CYRIL G.o.dWINSON_

_Yes and no; perhaps and perhaps not; pardon me; I agree with everything you say. Yes and no; perhaps and perhaps not; pardon me; I agree..._

_DEPARTMENT ADDENDUM_

_After seven years on New Texas, Amba.s.sador G.o.dwinson was recalled; adjudged hopelessly insane._

And then:

_FINAL MESSAGE OF THE THIRD SOLAR LEAGUE AMBa.s.sADOR TO NEW TEXAS R. F. GULLIS_

_I find it very pleasant to inform you that when you are reading this, I will be dead._

_DEPARTMENT ADDENDUM_

_Committed suicide after six months on New Texas._

I turned to the last page cautiously, found:

_FINAL MESSAGE OF THE FOURTH SOLAR LEAGUE AMBa.s.sADOR TO NEW TEXAS SILAS c.u.mSHAW_

_I came to this planet ten years ago as a man of p.r.o.nounced and outspoken convictions. I have managed to keep myself alive here by becoming an inoffensive nonent.i.ty. If I continue in this course, it will be only at the cost of my self-respect. Beginning tonight, I am going to state and maintain positive opinions on the relation between this planet and the Solar League._

_DEPARTMENT ADDENDUM_

_Murdered at the home of Andrew J. Hickc.o.c.k. (see p. 1.)_

And that was the end of the first notebook. Nice, cheerful reading; complete, solid briefing.

I was, frankly, almost afraid to open the second notebook. I hefted it cautiously at first, saw that it contained only about as many pages as the first and that those pages were sealed with a band around them.

I took a quick peek, read the words on the band:

_Before reading, open the sealed trunk which has been included with your luggage._

So I laid aside the book and dragged out the sealed trunk, hesitated, then opened it.

Nothing shocked me more than to find the trunk ... full of clothes.

There were four pairs of trousers, light blue, dark blue, gray and black, with wide cuffs at the bottoms. There were six or eight shirts, their colors running the entire spectrum in the most violent shades.

There were a couple of vests. There were two pairs of short boots with high heels and fancy leather-working, and a couple of hats with four-inch brims.

And there was a wide leather belt, practically a leather corset.

I stared at the belt, wondering if I was really seeing what was in front of me.

Attached to the belt were a pair of pistols in right- and left-hand holsters. The pistols were seven-mm Krupp-Tatta Ultraspeed automatics, and the holsters were the spring-ejection, quick-draw holsters which were the secret of the State Department Special Services.

_This must be a mistake_, I thought. _I"m an Amba.s.sador now and Amba.s.sadors never carry weapons._

The sanct.i.ty of an Amba.s.sador"s person not only made the carrying of weapons unnecessary, so that an armed Amba.s.sador was a contradiction of diplomatic terms, but it would be an outrageous insult to the nation to which he had been accredited.

Like taking a poison-taster to a friendly dinner.

Maybe I was supposed to give the belt and the holsters to Hoddy Ringo....

So I tore the sealed band off the second notebook and read through it.

I was to wear the local costume on New Texas. That was something unusual; even in the Hooligan Diplomats, we leaned over backward in wearing Terran costume to distinguish ourselves from the people among whom we worked.

I was further advised to start wearing the high boots immediately, on shipboard, to accustom myself to the heels. These, I was informed, were traditional. They had served a useful purpose, in the early days on Terran Texas, when all travel had been on horseback. On horseless and mechanized New Texas, they were a useless but venerated part of the cultural heritage.