Lablet is sure that they have a highly complex society, probably
advanced beyond Terran standards, and that their technical skills will
be of vast benefit to us. As it happens we have come at just the right
moment in their history, when they are striving to get back on their
feet after a disastrous series of wars. It is as if a group of
off-world explorers had allied themselves with us after the Burn-Off.
We can exchange information which will be of mutual benefit."
"If any off-world explorers had set down on Terra after the Burn-Off,"
observed Soriki softly, "they would have come up against Pax. And just
how long would they have lasted?"
Hobart had turned away. If he heard that half-whisper, he did not
choose to acknowledge it. But the truth in the com-tech's words made
an impression on Raf, a crew of aliens who had been misguided enough
to seek out and try to establish friendly relations with the officials
of Pax would have had a short and most unhappy shrift. If all the
accounts of that dark dictatorship were true, they would have vanished
from Terra, and not in their ships either.
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