many light years away, the emperor of the eastern cluster whirled around, kicked his bejeweled train out of the way and faced his chief adviser. "so they've opened up a new aid offensive?"

"and a most vital one." the adviser blew on his spectacles and burnished the lenses against his sleeve. "a place called mcworther. our intelligence got its coordinates from their consignment documents."

"never heard of it."

"that's what's so insidious about this whole capitalist plot. they've kept it under their hats."

"and why is it so vital?"

the adviser directed the emperor's attention to a space globe suspended from the ceiling. he pressed two buttons on the wall and twin beams of light intersected within the sphere. "that's mcworther's location."

"why—why—" the emperor stammered. "that outflanks us completely!"

"what concerns me is how many other undisclosed but settled worlds lie in that same general area."

"a whole raft of them, no doubt," the emperor said pessimistically.

"what are we going to do?"

"in this critical sector we've got to make friends—and fast! we'll begin with the mcworther place."

"how far do you want to go?"

"all the way. empty the surplus bins. clear out the warehouses. let mcworther have every available pound of material and equipment."

"terms?"

"terms be damned! we let the western cluster steal a march on us. we've got to recoup. everything goes as an outright gift—with all the cultural trimmings thrown in."

titus splashed into the cellar and struck out for the hypertransmitter.

it was a peculiar flood. suffusing the water was a thick scum that flashed iridescently as it caught the glint of light from the ceiling. he stuck his finger into the dross and applied it to the tip of his tongue.

syrup!

he thought of the thousands of barrels that had been dumped into the lake and surmised that the contaminated water was backing up through the drainage system.

he altered course for the pumps.

and, like ships in convoy, a score of virtuosos invaded the cellar, paddling in his wake.

the soprano's piercing voice assailed his ears. "in all my theatrical experience, i have never been subjected to such indignity! i insist—"

but a violinist pushed forward, wielding his bow like a stiff finger. "you, sir, are holding back on us. no doubt you know what our future instructions are."

"i've never seen such fascist highhandedness," complained a diminutive choreographer in the uniform of a palosov rocket dancer. "in the name of the ministry of culture of the eastern federation, i demand to see a representative of his imperial highness!"

ignoring them, titus trudged on to the pumps and set them for maximum drain-off.

the simalean ballerina did a series of rapid turns and watched the spray and the pattern of ripples that issued from her darting feet.

"exquisite!" she exuberated. "i shall have to speak with the ma?tre de ballet about a nymphal sequence!"

"come on, pop." one of the tumblers confronted titus. "what's the gimmick? why are they keeping us loafing around here?"

"why?" roared a dramatist, allowing his voice full rein in the acoustic inadequacy of the cellar. "i'll tell you: it's a capitalist scheme to abduct the top talent of the glorious workers' federation!"

hands clamped over his ears, titus finally made it to the hypertransmitter. he jiggled its dials, beat on the cabinet, lifted a foot from the water and gave it a couple of kicks broadside.

no results. it was obviously shorted out from the flood. and none of the pullman crafts was equipped with long-range communications gear.

titus waded from the cellar, plodded through the house, leaving pools of syrupy water in his wake, and stalked onto the veranda.

the scene was no less hectic than it had been. there were two orchestras now. and they were waging a war of decibels to determine whether the "east cluster blastoff march" or the "west cluster anthem" should prevail over mcworther's world.

two debating teams were holding forth on the comparative benefits of proletarian solidarity and the free enterprise system. beyond the caladium bed, edna, who seemed to have finally succumbed to frustrated abandon, had struck a face-to-the-sun and wind-in-her-hair posture for a portraitist who was drowning futility in artistic endeavor.

but there was neither wind nor sun to accommodate the pose, titus lamented. for, after yesterday's deliveries by the bright red cargo ships, which had obviously been from the eastern cluster, there was little left of mcworther's world that could be recognized.

the immediate area around the house had been spared in the deluge of material. but, beyond, great sloping expanses of grain and crates, barrels, boxes, machinery, bulging sacks and drums stretched up and away like the inner walls of a crater.

fortunately, disposal onto the surface of mcworther's world had stopped. but not delivery to the system. coruscating pinpoints of flame, far out in space, signified the presence of thousands upon thousands of cargo carriers that were dropping off their freight in solar orbit. the items of merchandise themselves were indistinguishable. but their composite existence was beginning to take on the appearance of a great ring of fragmented particles stretching around the sun.

and titus supposed that it was only the reliability of the mass-fending generators attached to each article that tentatively kept them all separate and prevented them from plunging like a devastating hailstorm onto the surface of his world.

he slumped to the ground and bracketed his cheeks between his palms. for some unaccountable reason, it seemed that the productivity of the entire universe was being showered down on his private planetoid in one vast gravy-train effect.

only he was drowning in the gravy.

"and that's my story." undersecretary of cosmic aid hoverly laid his hands on the conference table. "and we now have mcworther's world on a total aid schedule."

president roswell, an angular man with a troubled face, drummed his fingertips together. "gentlemen, this is most serious."

on his right, ambassador summerson's head bobbed in accord. the gesture spread next to the chief of intelligence, then to hoyerly, thus making the circuit back to roswell.

"to sum up, then," said the president, "you, hoverly, authorized aid for a mcworther's world in the 47-126 area."

the undersecretary glanced away uneasily.

"but you, summerson," roswell continued, "have no record of having signed aid agreements with such a place."

"that's right," the ambassador verified. "but deciding to accommodate mcworther's world was the most fantastic stroke of good luck imaginable."

hoverly squinted. "i don't follow you."

"when you sent aid to the potentate, not only did you pick what will undoubtedly develop into the most critical political area of the millennium, but you also beat the easties to the draw in a sector that they had staked out all for themselves."

"a stroke of sheer luck," president roswell concurred.

the roving ambassador leaned back smiling. "the chance timing was perfect too. we beat them by less than two weeks."

but the intelligence chief's face was rigid with dejection. "we got there 'firstest,' to use an ancient expression, but not with the 'mostest.' our agents in imperial city report that the amount of aid authorized for mcworther's world is unbelievable. the entire eastern cluster is going on a full austerity basis to support the program."

"that shows what value they place on mcworther's world and the sector it opens up," roswell offered. "when they found out we'd moved in ahead of them, their reaction was frantic."

summerson rose. "this, then, gentlemen, is it."

"it certainly is." roswell's voice was heavy with despondency. "the most god-awful aid war the cluster has ever seen."

"we can't back out," the ambassador warned. "we've got to get busy and face up to the task."

"with every resource at our disposal. to ignore the challenge would be to surrender this entire section of the galaxy to the easties."

the president was silent a moment. "gentlemen, i am herewith sounding a call to economic arms. cancel all other aid commitments and activity. throw everything we have got, everything we can ever hope to produce, at mcworther's world."

"i think you'd better call on the potentate personally," summerson proposed.

"that," said roswell, "is exactly what i intend to do."

adjusting the drape of his robe, the emperor sent his eyes flicking over the report. finally he lurched from his chair with a resounding "eureka!"

"so you see how it is, your imperial highness," his chief adviser offered. "by cutting in on their mcworther world operation, we have indeed touched a sensitive western spot."

"there's no question about that," the emperor said lustily. he was a portly man whose sartorial excesses made him seem even more imposing. his eyes, recessed under thickset brows, flared with triumph as he said, "mcworther's world must figure prominently in their planning. from the way they cut loose with everything they had when they found out we were stepping in too, damned if i'm not convinced this new system will be the pivotal point of their entire future strategy."

"then we'd better order double production quotas on every world that flies the eastern flag."

"triple quotas. and have my space yacht refitted by tomorrow."

"you're going somewhere, highness?" asked the adviser.

"this potentate mcworther is likely to be the third most important political figure in the galaxy. i'm not going to lose any time getting over there and pumping his hand."

his face flushed with rage, ogarm netath tossed the space-o-gram at his foreign minister, then snatched it back out of bataul's hands before he had a chance to read it.

"it's a bill!" netath's voice quivered. "they sent us a bill for that damned bather monstrosity!"

bataul's brow, to all appearances, was ready for spring planting. "let me have another look at it."

netath stood there trembling while the foreign minister sent his eyes darting over the paper.

"it's from rear-sobucks!" bataul exclaimed. "a retail concern that obviously handles automatic bathers!"

"but it was our aid shipment, wasn't it?"

"apparently not. it says here, '... for merchandise previously extended in behalf of the western cluster....'"

"i don't understand."

bataul's features struggled through a gamut of expressions. "i think i'm just beginning to. do you remember last year when we had that communications survey made? between here and the nearest western relay station, there was that single system. i think some crackpot had laid claim—of course. mcworther's his name. calls himself a potentate."

netath stiffened. "and you think—?"

"i think both we and mcworther are victims of message interfusion," bataul said flatly.

"and our aid shipments—?"

"i'd bet mcworther must be wringing his hands over more loot than he'll ever be able to count."

netath started punching buttons on his desk. "we've got work to do."

"what kind?"

"first you're going to get off a message to this rear-sobucks bunch and tell them what they can do with their bill and their automatic bather—if it'll fit. you can also explain what's happened."

"this time we'll send the message around the right leg of the cluster," bataul assured.

"then we're hopping over to this mcworther system and laying down the law to that character. that i want to do personally."

"this," said twenty-seventh vice-president wheeler of rear-sobucks, "explains it all."

"communications interfusion?" the twenty-sixth vice-president asked.

"absolutely, v.r. just like premier netath says."

"then there's a rear-sobucks customer who has been unnecessarily inconvenienced and still hasn't been satisfied?"

with a curt nod, wheeler confirmed the other's fear.

v.r. rose from his desk and wagged a finger at the other. "i still don't understand it all, wheeler. but i can't avoid the impression that you're somehow responsible for the mess."

wheeler cowered.

"you're going to take a trip—now!" v.r. went on, gathering steam. "you're going to deliver a bather personally to this potentate mcworther. you're going to extend the apologies of the entire rear-sobucks organization!"