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Three minutes later, the ground-car pulled up in front of the hut. Anketam watched silently as one of the men got out. The other three stayed in the car, their handguns ready.

The officer, very tall and straight in his blue uniform, strode up to the door of the hut. He stopped and addressed Anketam. “I understand Lady Samas is living here.”

“That’s right,” Anketam said.

“Would you tell her that Colonel Fayder would like to speak to her.”

Before Anketam could say anything, Lady Samas spoke. “Tell the colonel to come in, Anketam.”

Anketam stepped aside to let the officer enter.

“Lady Samas?” he asked.

She nodded. “I am.”

The colonel removed his hat. “Madam, I am Colonel Jamik Fayder, of the Union army. You are the owner of this land?”

“Until my son returns, yes,” said Lady Samas evenly.

“I understand.” The colonel licked his lips nervously. He was obviously ill at ease in the presence of the Lady Samas. “Madam,” he said, “it would be useless for me to apologize for the destructions of war. Apologies are mere words.”

“They are,” said Lady Samas. “None the less, I accept them.”

“Thank you. I have come to inform you that the Xedii armies formally surrendered near Chromdin early this morning. The war is over.”

“I’m glad,” said Lady Samas.

“So am I,” said the colonel. “It has not been a pleasant war. Xedii was–and still is–the most backward planet in the galaxy. Your Council of Chiefs steadfastly refused to allow the”–he glanced at Anketam–“workers of Xedii to govern their own lives. They have lived and died without proper education, without the medical care that would save and lengthen their lives, and without the comforts of life that any human being deserves. That situation will be changed now, but I am heartily sorry it took a war to do it.”

Anketam looked at the man. What was he talking about? He and his kind had burned and dusted cities and villages, and had smashed the lives of millions of human beings on the pretense that they were trying to help. What sort of insanity was that?

The colonel took a sheaf of papers from his pocket.

“I have been ordered to read to you the proclamation of the Union President.”

He looked down at the papers and began to read:

“Henceforth, all the peoples of Xedii shall be free and equal. They shall have the right to change their work at will, to be paid in lawful money instead of–“

Anketam just stood there, his mind glazed. He had worked hard all his life for the security of retirement, and now all that was gone. What was he to do? Where was he to go? If he had to be paid in money, who would do it? Lady Samas? She had nothing. Besides, Anketam knew nothing about the handling of money. He knew nothing about how to get along in a society like that.

He stood there in silence as his world dissolved around him. He could hear, dimly, the voice of the blue-clad Union officer as he read off the death warrant for Xedii. And for Anketam.