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nodding. "Too bad; a process like that would be useful. Is the equipment
massive?"
"Enormous. The area it occupies is twelve city blocks on a side."
"Leave it there," Amalfi decided at once. "Obviously this outfit was bragging
from desperation when it offered the technique for the Acolyte woman's job. If
she'd taken them up on it, they wouldn't have been able to deliver- and I
don't care to lead us into any such temptation."
"In this case the knowledge is as good as the equipment," Hazleton said.
"Their City Fathers will have all the
information we coyld possibly worry out of the apparatus itself."
"Would somebody give me the pitch on this exodus of cities from the jungle,?"
Carrel put in. "I wasn't along on your trip to the King's city, and I still
think the whole idea of a March on Earth is crazy."
Amalfl remained silent. After a moment, Hazleton said, "It is and it isn't.
The jungle doesn't dare stand up to a real Earth force and slug it out, and
everybody knows now that there's an Earth force on its way here. The cities
want to be somewhere else in a hurry. But they still have some hope of getting
Earth protection from the Acolyte cops and similar local organizations if they
can put their case before the authorities outside of a trouble area."
"That," Carrel said, "is just what I don't see. What hope do they have of
getting a fair shuffle? And why don't they just contact Earth on the Dirac, as
Lerner did, instead of making this long trip? It's sixty-three hundred or so
light years from here to Earth, and they aren't organized well enough to make
such a long haul without a lot of hardship."
"And they'll do all their talking with Earth over the Dirac even after they
get there," Amalfi added. "Partly, of course, this march is sheer
theatricalism. The King hopes that such a big display of cities will make an
impression on the people he'll be talking to. Don't forget that Earth is a
quiet, rather idyllic world these days-a skyful of ragged cities will create a
lot of alarm there.
"As for getting a square shuffle: the King is relying on a tradition of at
least moderately fair dealing that goes back many centuries. Don't forget,
Carrel, that for the last thousand years the Okie cities have been the major
unifying force in our entire galactic culture."
"That's news to me," Carrel said, a little dubiously.
"But it's quite true. Do you know what a bee is? Well, it's a little Earth
insect that sucks nectar from flowers. While it's about it, it picks up pollen
and carries it about; it's a prime factor in cross-fertilization of plants.
Most habitable planets have similar insects. The bee doesn't know that he's
essential to the ecology of his world-all he's out to do is collect as much
honey as he can-but that doesn't make him any less essential.
"The cities have been like the bee for a long time. The governments of the
advanced planets, Earth in particular,
know it, even if the cities generally don't. The planets distrust the cities,
but they also know that they're vital and must be protected. The planets are
tough on bindlestiffs for the same reason. The bindlestiffs are diseased bees;
the taint that they carry gets fastened upon innocent cities, cities that are
needed to keep new techniques and other essential information on the move from
planet to planet. Obviously, cities and planets alike have to protect
themselves from criminal outfits, but there's the culture as a whole to be
considered, as well as the safety of an individual unit; and to maintain that
culture, the free passage of legitimate Okies throughout the galaxy has to be
maintained."
"The King knows this?" Carrel said. "Of course he does. He's eight hundred
years old; how could he help but know it? He wouldn't put it like this, but
all the same, it's the essence of what he's depending upon to carry through
his March on Earth."
"It still sounds risky to me," Carrel said dubiously. "We've all been
cdnditioned almost from birth to distrust Earth, and Earth cops especially--"
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