Between the Stars by John Maddox Roberts, Eric Kotani Page B

may foil, but not Vladyka. I've also given him orders to kill the Kornfeld woman. She was our most dangerous adversary in the last war. I do not want her on the other side in the next."
    Larsen stopped and faced Shevket. "You didn't consult with me about that."
    "It isn't your department," said the Turk. "You are forbidden by law to order an assassination unless you have assumed your wartime powers, and that must be voted upon by the Security Council, remember? It's an old custom among military men to save their superiors embarrassment by acting unilaterally. Deniability is a wonderful thing. "
    Larsen was still fuming as they entered the dining room. It was not one of the State dining rooms, where the scale was as lavish as the decor, but one of the more intimate chambers, with small tables and few distractions, as befitted a room where serious discussions and decisions took place.
    Still, this was a facility for the Party elite, so a complete absence of luxury was unthinkable. The waiters were human rather than the cheaper robots, and these were all Caucasian North Europeans. This was flattering to people from the former Third World and earned the Party cheap points for respecting the sensitivity of the poorer brethren. Even in a world with an enormous and idle surplus population, human domestics were hard to find. The Party solved the servant problem by the simple expedient of using military recruits.
    Four men already sat at the table, waiting for Larsen and Shevket. As two of the most highly placed Party members, it was their privilege to be late. Three of the others were also important Party members: Hua, a deputy welfare minister; Chalmers, Chairman of the Council for Military Affairs; and Ghose, secretary to the Minister for Finance. The fourth man was a nonentity—the President of Tanzania, one of the beggar nations that made up the majority of the U.N. Such persons were included at luncheons where no significant business was to be discussed in order to stifle complaints that the leaders of small nations were denied access to the inner sanctums of the mighty.
    Larsen greeted the others with professional warmth, Shevket with barely concealed contempt. The waiters began bringing drinks and hors d'oeuvres and the men talked of inconsequentialities. Larsen was relaxed and charming in the familiar milieu. Shevket was bored and restless, and he drank heavily.
    The Tanzanian fidgeted and sweated for the better part of an hour, then worked up his courage to break into a conversation about the upcoming Party convention.
    "Sirs," said the African, "I have come here to Geneva to discuss matters of great importance, but I can find no one who will listen!"
    The others were startled at this rudeness, but Hua smiled broadly. "Mr. President, you are among friends here. Speak freely. How may we be of assistance?"
    "Sirs, my people are starving! I do not exaggerate here. There is real starvation in the cities and the countryside. This year, the rice harvest in China has been exceptionally abundant. The wheat harvest in North America has also been excellent. Why has there been no distribution of this grain to my nation?"
    "Ah, Mr. President," Hua said, spreading his hands in an appeal to reason, "there are many needy people among whom this largesse must be divided. Some are suffering far more hardship than your people."
    "Dead is dead," the president insisted. "You cannot suffer more. If you will not aid us, then you must let me open the Serengeti to farming and grazing."
    "That is out of the question, Mr. President," Ghose said. "The Serengeti is an irreplaceable natural resource. It belongs to all humanity." In truth, environmentalism was a dead issue. The Serengeti was a game park available only to party VIPs and their favored guests.
    "My people must have food or I shall not be able to control them!"
    "Then perhaps," said Shevket, leaning over the table, "it is time your people felt the whip! Do not be so sure they have reached the