"It would've destroyed a living, breathing primitive culture," Sil-Chan explained.

"These people?" Sil-Chan waved at the Dornbakers. "Primitive?"

"In their lifestyle," Tchung said. "They really are hunter-gatherers. Ohhh, they do use pretty good weapons, but not as sophisticated as they might."

"There's still the matter of all that dirt under us," the PN said.

Sil-Chan faced him. "That dirt is probably the largest untapped lodge of nickel-iron in this sector of the universe -- enough to fuel Archives ships for thousands of years. I tried to tell you earlier. The magma was just cooled down and solidified."

"Pretty valuable, eh?" the PN asked. He nodded. "Well, we haven't settled that matter of the rest of our debt, either. Perhaps we . . ."

"Right now I think the Assembly would cede it to Archives directly," Sil-Chan said.

"Steal it from us?" the PN was outraged.

"We have provided increasingly costly services over all these centuries," Sil-Chan said.

"By contract!" the PN snapped.

"Perhaps," Sil-Chan said. "I think some good legal heads could tie the whole issue up for several centuries at least. There would be quite a bit of research to do, of course -- right here. And we . . ."

The image of the Naos Regent appeared before the rhomboids and he said: "I beg to interrupt."

Sil-Chan and the others turned to face the image. The Regent was an elderly, thin-faced man with suspiciously dark hair. Melanin tampering was indicated there . . . and a bit of masculine vanity, at least.

"I have the honor to be Jerem of Naos," he said, "the new Imperator of the Union. The Jeremiam Enclave renews the Archives charter under directorship of Patterson Tchung."

Tchung bowed. "We are honored."

"Formal investiture and official investigation of this unfortunate incident will take place soon," the new Imperator said.

Again, Tchung bowed.

The image vanished.

"We return to the uneasy truce between ignorance and knowledge," Tchung murmured. He smiled. "And I suspect we will gain a sudden influx of students doing special research."

The PN scowled. "What about the debt and all that . . . fuel under my island?"

Tchung shrugged: "Ohhhh, I think that can wait for a PN more favorably inclined toward Archives." He looked at Sil-Chan and Hepzebah. "It worked out rather well, don't you think? Much better than we expected."

"A put-up," Hepzebah muttered.

"Is he saying that our son could be PN?" Sil-Chan asked. "Our son would have that right?"

"By direct descent," she said. "We'll have to train him well."