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"Well, I've heard about the liquor they make here, and confess to being curious," he
said.
She shuddered a bit. "I don't recommend you investigate. What about a Scotch and
soda?" When he accepted, she rang for a servant, who appeared with churchwarden pipe
in hand and bare feet on which the hair had been combed upward. "We'll have the happy
hour usual, Gamgee," she said. "Scotch Scotch, mind you."
The humans began to talk in earnest. "What's happening?" Ormen inquired. "I mean,
well, isn't your staff acting rather oddly?"
Tanni sighed. "They've discovered The Lord of the Rings. I can only hope they get
over it before the fashion spreads further. Not that it would upset Alex my husband, that
is, the plenipotentiary to be hailed as the rightful King when he returns. He's used to
that sort of thing, after all our years in this post. But meanwhile oh, for example, we get
visitors from other worlds, nonhumans, and many of them are important officials of the
League, representatives of firms whose cooperation we need to modernize Toka, and so
on." She shuddered again. "I can just imagine the Hokas deciding some such party must
be orcs or trolls or Ring-Wraiths."
"I sympathize. You inhabit a powder keg, don't you?"
"M-m, not really. The Hokas do take on any role that strikes their fancy, and act it
out live it with an uncompromising literal-mindedness. But they're not insane.
They've never yet gotten violent, for instance; and they continue to work, meet their
responsibilities, even if it is in some fantasy style. In fact," said Tanni anxiously, "their
reputation for craziness is quite undeserved. it's going to handicap my husband on his
mission. I suppose you know he's gone to Earth to negotiate an upgrading in status for
Toka. If he doesn't succeed in convincing the authorities our wards are ready for that, we
may never in our lifetimes see them become full members of the Interbeing League; and
that is our dearest dream."
Leopold Ormen nodded. "I do know all this, Mrs. Jones, and I believe I can help."
He leaned forward, though he resisted the temptation to stroke her hand. "Not that I'm an
altruist. I have my own living to make, and I think there's a tremendous documentary to
be done about this planet. But if it conveys the truth, in depth, to civilized viewers
throughout the galaxy yes, and readers too, because I'd also like to write a book
public opinion should change. Wouldn't that be good for your cause?"
Tanni glowed. "It certainly would!"
Ormen leaned back. She was hooked, he knew; now he must play his line so
carefully that she remained unaware of the fact. "I can't do it unless I have complete
freedom," he stated. "I realize your husband's duty requires him to impose various
restrictions on outsiders, who might otherwise cause terrible trouble. But I hope you in
his absence, you are the acting plenipotentiary, aren't you? l hope you'll authorize me to
go anywhere, see anything and anybody, for as long as I'll need to get the whole story. I
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warn you, that may take quite a while, and I'll be setting my aircar down in places where
the Hokas aren't accustomed to such a sight."
As said, Tanni cannot be blamed. She did not rush into her decision. In the course of
the following week, she had several meetings with him, including a couple of dinners
where he was a fascinating, impeccably courteous guest. She inquired among the local
folk, who all spoke well of him. She studied recordings of his previous work from the
data file, and found it excellent. When at last she did give him carte blanche, she
expected to keep track of what he was doing, and call a halt if a blunder seemed
imminent. Besides, Alex should be back presently, to apply the sixth sense he had
perforce developed for problems abrew.
That none of these reasonable considerations worked out was simply in the nature of
Hoka things.
First she was kept busy distracting the natives, lest a Tolkien craze sweep through
thousands of them. That was less difficult than it might have been elsewhere on the
globe. Most of the human-derived societies were still rather isolated and naive. This was
a result of policy on Alex's part. Not only did he fear the unforeseeable consequences of
cross-fertilization suppose, for example, that the Vikings came into close contact with
the Bedouins but a set of ongoing, albeit uncontrolled psychohistorical experiments
gave him hints about what was best for the race as a whole. Nevertheless, it did leave
those cultures vulnerable to any new influence that happened by.
As the seat of the plenipotentiary and therefore, in effect, the capital city of the
planet, Mixumaxu was cosmopolitan. Its residents and those of its hinterland were, so to
speak, immunized. This did not mean that any individual stuck to any given role
throughout his life. On the contrary, he was prone to overnight changes. But by the same
token, these made no fundamental difference to him; and therefore the Jones household
continued to function well in a bewildering succession of guises.
Soon after she had headed off the War of the Rings, Tanni got caught up in the
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