“But didn’t you say all that to them?”

“Me say it? Who am I? According to the Alliance Council, I’m a nobody, from a nowhere little region called the Phemus Circle, not big or important enough to have clout with either the human or the interspecies Council. They took less notice of me than they did of E.C. Tally. I began to describe the Zardalu’s physical strength, and their phenomenal breeding rate. Do you know what they said? They explained to me that the Zardalu are long-extinct, because if that were not the case, then certainly their presence would have been reported somewhere, in the Fourth Alliance, or the Cecropian Federation, or the Zardalu Communion. Then they mentioned that the Fourth Alliance has evolved techniques unknown in the Phemus Circle ‘for dealing with mental disorders,’ and if I behaved myself they might be able to arrange for some kind of treatment. That’s when Graves lost his temper.”

“I can’t believe it. He never loses his temper — he doesn’t know how to.”

“He does now. Julian Graves is different from Julius or Steven. He told the Council that they are a bunch of irresponsible apes — Senior Councilor Knudsen does look just like a gorilla, I noticed that myself — who are too closed-minded to recognize a danger to the spiral arm when it’s staring them in the face. And then he quit.”

“He left the Chamber?”

“No. He resigned from the Council — something no one has ever done before. He told them that the next time they saw him, he would make them all eat their words. And then he left the Chamber, and took E.C. Tally with him.”