The K-Factor | Page 3

smile. "To put it in the simplest language, they hate our guts.
They wish I had never formulated Societics, and at the same time they
are very glad I did. They are in the position of the man who caught the
tiger by the tail. The man enjoys watching the tiger eat all of his
enemies, but as each one is consumed his worry grows greater. What
will happen when the last one is gone? Will the tiger then turn and eat
him?
"Well--we are the UN's tiger. Societics came along just at the time it
was sorely needed. Earth had settled a number of planets, and governed
them. First as outposts, then as colonies. The most advanced planets
very quickly outgrew the colony stage and flexed their independent
muscles. The UN had no particular desire to rule an empire, but at the
same time they had to insure Earth's safety. I imagine they were
considering all sorts of schemes--including outright military
control--when they came to me.
"Even in its early, crude form, Societics provided a stopgap that would

give them some breathing time. They saw to it that my work was well
endowed and aided me--unofficially of course--in setting up the first
control experiments on different planets. We had results, some very
good, and the others not so bad that the local police couldn't get things
back under control after a while. I was, of course, happy to perfect my
theories in practice. After a hundred years I had all the rough spots
evened down and we were in business. The UN has never come up with
a workable alternative plan, so they have settled down to the
uncomfortable business of holding the tiger's tail. They worry and
spend vast sums of money keeping an eye on our work."
"But why?" Neel broke in.
"Why?" Abravanel gave a quick smile. "Thank you for fine character
rating. I imagine it is inconceivable to you that I might want to be
Emperor of the Universe. I could be, you know. The same forces that
hold the lids on the planets could just as easily blow them off."
Neel was speechless at the awful enormity of the thought. Abravanel
rose from behind his desk with an effort, and shambled over to lay a
thin and feather-light arm on the younger man's shoulders. "Those are
the facts of life my boy. And since we cannot escape them, we must
live with them. Costa is just a man doing his duty. So try and put up
with him. For my sake if not for your own."
"Of course," Neel agreed quickly. "The whole thing takes a bit of
getting used to, but I think I can manage. We'll do as good a job on
Himmel as it is possible to do. Don't worry about me, sir."
* * * * *
Costa was waiting in the next room, puffing quietly on a long cigarette.
They left together, walking down the hall in silence. Neel glanced
sideways at the wiry, dark-skinned Brazilian and wondered what he
could say to smooth things out. He still had his reservations about
Costa, but he'd keep them to himself now. Abravanel had ordered peace
between them, and what the old man said was the law.

It was Costa who spoke first. "Can you brief me on Himmel--what we'll
find there, and be expected to do?"
"Run the basic survey first, of course," Neel told him. "Chances are that
that will be enough to straighten things out. Since the completion last
year of the refining equations of Debir's Postulate, all sigma-110 and
alpha-142 graph points are suspect--"
"Just stop there please, and run the flag back down the pole." Costa
interrupted. "I had a six-months survey of Societics seven years ago, to
give me a general idea of the field. I've worked with survey teams since
then, but I have only the vaguest idea of the application of the
information we got. Could you cover the ground again--only a bit
slower?"
Neel controlled his anger successfully and started again, in his best
classroom manner.
"Well, I'm sure you realize that a good survey is half the problem. It
must be impartial and exact. If it is accurately done, application of the
k-factor equations is almost mechanical."
"You've lost me again. Everyone always talks about the k-factor, but no
one has ever explained just what it is."
Neel was warming to his topic now. "It's a term borrowed from
nucleonics, and best understood in that context. Look, you know how
an atomic pile works--essentially just like an atomic bomb. The
difference is just a matter of degree and control. In both of them you
have neutrons tearing around, some of them hitting nuclei and starting
new neutrons going. These in turn hit and