This etext was prepared from a 1979 reprint of the 1958 original. There is noevidence that the copyright on this publication was renewed.
Obvious typesetting errors in the source text have been corrected
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
SF
ace books
A Division of Charter Communications Inc.
A GROSSET & DUNLAP COMPANY
360 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010
LONE STAR PLANET
Copyright © 1958 by Ace Books, Inc.
Originally published as A PLANET FOR TEXANS
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any formor by any means, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in areview, without permission in writing from the publisher.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actualpersons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This Ace Printing: April 1979
Printed in U.S.A.
They started giving me the business as soon as I came through the doorinto the Secretary's outer office.
There was Ethel K'wang-Li, the Secretary's receptionist, at her desk.There was Courtlant Staynes, the assistant secretary to theUndersecretary for Economic Penetration, and Norman Gazarin, fromProtocol, and Toby Lawder, from Humanoid Peoples' Affairs, and RaoulChavier, and Hans Mannteufel, and Olga Reznik.
It was a wonder there weren't more of them watching the condemned man'smarch to the gibbet: the word that the Secretary had called me in musthave gotten all over the Department since the offices had opened.
"Ah, Mr. Machiavelli, I presume," Ethel kicked off.
"Machiavelli, Junior." Olga picked up the ball. "At least, that's theway he signs it."
"God's gift to the Consular Service, and the Consular Service's gift toPolicy Planning," Gazarin added.
"Take it easy, folks. These Hooligan Diplomats would as soon shoot youas look at you," Mannteufel warned.
"Be sure and tell the Secretary that your friends all want importantposts in the Galactic Empire." Olga again.
"Well, I'm glad some of you could read it," I fired back. "Maybe even afew of you understood what it was all about."
"Don't worry, Silk," Gazarin told me. "Secretary Ghopal understands whatit was all about. All too well, you'll find."
A buzzer sounded gently on Ethel K'wang-Li's desk. She snatched up thehandphone and whispered into it. A deathly silence filled the room whileshe listened, whispered some more, then hung it up.
They were all staring at me.
"Secretary Ghopal is ready to see Mr. Stephen Silk," she said. "Thisway, please."
As I started across the room, Staynes began drumming on the top of thedesk with his fingers, the slow reiterated rhythm to which a man marchesto a military execution.
"A cigarette?" Lawder inquired tonelessly. "A glass of