There was something rotten in the
planet named Truth ... rotten enough
to call for the intervention of ...
A Tourist Named Death
By CHRISTOPHER ANVIL
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1960.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Dan Redman walked swiftly and quietly down the broad hallway toward adoor lettered:
A SECTION
J. KIELGAARD
DIRECTOR
As Dan opened the door, his trained glance caught the brief reflectionof a strange, strong-featured face, and a lithe, powerful, andunfamiliar physique. Dan accepted this unfamiliar reflection of himselfas an actor accepts makeup. What puzzled him was the peculiar silentsmoothness with which his hand turned the knob, while his shoulderbraced firmly and easily against the opening door. He stepped into theroom in one sudden quiet motion.
The receptionist inside gave a visible start.
What kind of a job, Dan asked himself, did Kielgaard have for him thistime?
The receptionist recovered her poise, to usher Dan into the inneroffice.
Kielgaard—big, stocky, and expensively dressed—glanced up from asheaf of glossy photographs. He said bluntly, "Sit down. We've got amess to straighten out."
"What's wrong?"
"A few years back, Galactic Enterprises discovered a totallyundeveloped planet with no inhabitants. They claimed development rightsand got to work to find an economical route to the planet, which iscalled Triax."
Kielgaard snapped a switch on the edge of his desk and the room lightsdimmed out. Three stellar maps seemed to hang in space in front of Dan,one map directly above the other.
Kielgaard's voice said, "Galactic found a route to Triax that promisedto be very economical. Watch."
On the lowest map, the word "Earth" lit up, and a silver line grew outfrom it along the stellar map, then jumped up in a vertical straightline to the second map, traveled along this map almost to a place wherethe word "Truth" lit up. The line then jumped straight up to the thirdmap and traveled along it to the word "Triax."
The room lighted and the maps vanished.
Kielgaard said, "In two subspace jumps and not too much normal-spacetraveling, Galactic can ship a cargo from Triax to Earth. That's agood, short route, but it comes too close to that planet called Truth."
Dan said, "Truth is the native name for the planet?"
"Exactly. Truth is inhabited. The inhabitants look much like us,and they're very highly developed technologically, though there isno sign that they use space travel in any form. The problem is thatGalactic's cargo ships will pass close enough to Truth so that theinhabitants—call them Truthians—will eventually detect them and mayor may not like the idea. Galactic's worry is that after sinking a lotof money into the development of Triax, and just as it's about to makea profit on the planet, these Truthians may blossom out with a fleet ofcommerce raiders, or else claim sovereignty over all contiguous spaceand land Galactic in a big court fight." Kielgaard glanced at Dan witha smile. "Suppose you were running Galactic and had this problem. Whatwould you do?"
"Try to vary the route. But subspace being what it is, a mild variation