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He studied the alien, trying to rake what he'd learned from the article out of his memory. But no record of subtlety or deceit had been listed there. The Sugfarth were supposed to be honest in fact, they'd been one of the rare races to declare their war in advance. Somehow, too, the words had a ring of truth in them. "For Cathay?" "Certainly, captain. For whom else?
My crew and I are on the way to the war about to begin between Kloomiria and Cathay." "Why tell me about it?" Duke asked roughly. Sugfarth the ship he'd seen diagrammed had come from there. If one of those titans was to be used against Cathay, Earth's colony was doomed. And the impertinent little monster ! The creature tried to imitate a shrug with his upper set of arms. "Why not, captain?
Then he swore as he saw it was part of an article on the progress of some alien world known as Sugfarth by the article, a world of former warriors, once dedicated to the complete elimination of humanoids! He saw Flannery coming along the deck at that moment, and he picked up the magazine, heading for his cabin. He'd ignored previous summons on the thin excuse of not feeling well.
The great vessel bored through the fleet with cannons spitting out hell. If countershots were fired, they had no effect. "Sugfarth!" the aide screamed in his ears. "A ship from Sugfarth!" Var remembered the pictures he had seen, and they matched, though none had suggested such a size. It was impossible. The race of Sugfarth were aliens warriors who had fought humanoids as few races had done.
Before Duke could answer, a small hand came out quickly to find his and begin shaking it, while the ears twittered on in excitement. "I'm honored to meet you, Captain O'Neill. I've been studying your work against Throm. Amazingly clever strategy! Permit me I'm Queeth, lately a prince of Sugfarth. Perhaps you noticed our ship? No, of course not. You must have landed at the government field.
Prince Queeth of Sugfarth had left the royal belt behind, and only a plain band encircled his round little body as he trotted along, his four legs making almost no sound. His double pair of thin arms and the bird-like head on his long neck bobbled excitedly in time to his steps.
Only the power of Earth could have sent the alien ship from Sugfarth, loaded with cannon and bombs, to fight against fellow aliens. Earth had declared neutrality, and then struck! For such a villainy, a million years was not too long to seek vengeance! Night had fallen in the park beyond the huge Foreign Office building and the air was damp and cool.
I heard men spouting about taming the aliens when I first learned to talk as if they were wild animals. I read articles on how the Clovisem and those things from Sugfarth needed kindness. It's the same guff I heard about how to handle lions. But the men doing the talking weren't in the ring; and I noticed the ringmaster carried a whip and gun. He knew the beasts. I know the aliens of Throm."
"What else?" Mess was a mild word. The Sugfarth ship had seemed to make victory for Cathay certain the first few days, but the war had entered a new phase now. Cathay couldn't maintain the big ship, and it was practically useless. It had simply served to reduce Kloomiria to a position where both sides were equal. The war showed signs of settling down to another prolonged, exhausting affair.
It was the record of all the wars since Earth's invention of the high-drive nearly two hundred of them. Gimsul, Hathor, Ptek, Sugfarth, Clovis, and even Meloa the part he hadn't seen, beyond Kordule where the real damage lay; Ronda had been wrong, and cannibalism had been discovered, along with much that was worse.
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