colossal

That is why I was so late today. “What were you doing there?” ” she hesitated, uncertainly. “It's been building up. I was getting so I couldn't stand it at the factory. Morale just doesn't exist. The girls go on crying jags for no particular reason. Those who don't get sick become sullen. Even the little mousie types pout. In my particular section, production isn't a quarter what it was when I came, and there isn't a day that we have a full roster of workers. “All right,” said Toran, “tie in the B. What did you do there?” “Asked a few questions. And it's so, Torie, it's so all over Haven. Dropping production, increasing sedition and disaffection.

And withal he wasted no money, killed no man needlessly, and meant extremely well. If Captain Pritcher's gloomy thoughts ran along these lines as he remained respectfully in place before the large desk, the wooden arrangement of his features yielded no insight into the fact. He neither coughed, shifted weight, nor shuffled his feet until the thin face of the mayor lifted slowly as the busy stylus ceased in its task of marginal notations, and a sheet of close-printed paper was lifted from one neat stack and placed upon another neat stack. Mayor Indbur clasped his hands carefully before him, deliberately refraining from disturbing the careful arrangement of desk accessories. He said, in acknowledgment, “Captain Han Pritcher of Information. And Captain Pritcher in strict obedience to protocol bent one knee nearly to the ground and bowed his head until he heard the words of release. “Arise, Captain Pritcher!” The mayor said with an air of warm sympathy, “You are here, Captain Pritcher, because of certain disciplinary action taken against yourself by your superior officer. The papers concerning such action have come, in the ordinary course of events, to my notice, and since no event in the Foundation is of disinterest to me, I took the trouble to ask for further information on your case. You are not, I hope, surprised. Captain Pritcher said unemotionally, “Excellence, no. Your justice is proverbial. “Is it? Is it?” His tone was pleased, and the tinted contact lenses he wore caught the light in a manner that imparted a hard, dry gleam to his eyes. Meticulously, he fanned out a series of metal-bound folders before him. The parchment sheets within crackled sharply as he turned them, his long finger following down the line as he spoke.

My deeds on behalf of the State, and my wounds in that cause bear witness that what seems fight to me is also in the interest of the State. “A soldierly statement, captain, but a dangerous doctrine. More of that, later. Specifically, you are charged with refusing an assignment three times in the face of orders signed by my legal delegates. What have you to say to that?” “Excellence, the assignment lacks significance in a critical time, where matters of first importance are being ignored. “Ah, and who tells you these matters you speak of are of the first importance at all, and if they are, who tells you further that they are ignored?” “Excellence, these things are quite evident to me. My experience and my knowledge of events—the value of neither of which my superiors deny—make it plain. “But, my good captain, are you blind that you do not see that by arrogating to yourself the right to determine Intelligence policy, you usurp the duties of your superior?” “Excellence, my duty is primarily to the State, and not to my superior. “Fallacious, for your superior has his superior, and that superior is myself, and I am the State. But come, you shall have no cause to complain of this justice of mine that you say is proverbial. State in your own words the nature of the breach in discipline that has brought all this on. “Excellence, my duty is primarily to the State, and not to my living the life of a retired merchant mariner upon the world of Kalgan.