Keep looking at the ring. Anybody would appreciate it. Stone from Charta, platinum from Octula. Former engraving has been completely removed.

December 3, 2146, 1800 hours, on Clarkl appointment with Tata tomorrow, after the Monarchs clear out of the clinic.

Very excited. How thrilled she will be!

Not like Louise. Almost a demand from her, with a threat that her father would make sure my career was hampered if there was no marriage the week after graduation.

The Colonel was a good instructor at the academy, and his daughters were popular with the cadets. No reason to single me out. Plenty of suitors, some with family money.

Seemed like a good idea, though. A pretty wife, a rich mother-in-law, a father-in-law at the academy. All that, plus graduating in the top ten percent. Couldn't be anything but successful.

December 7, 2146, 2300 hours, on Clarkl still can't shake this nasty cough.

Tata received me in the large hall where the Monarchs waited for their doctor and their whirlpool treatments.

"Gene, I'm anxious to hear what you have to say," she began.

"Was too hasty all those years ago in the s.p.a.cecraft. Didn't spend the proper time getting to know you. All my fault. Want to make up for it now," I stuttered.

"Dr. Edwards and I have signed partnership papers," she told me. "Just last week, in the lawyer's office."

"It's not too late," I said. "What is the buyout? I'll pay it."

"I need to be loyal to my partner," she said, starting to cry. "He has certainly been kind to me, to not make a fuss when we found out we were grounded here for a little while."

I snorted. "He's just an old man, Tata. Washed out in America, probably, and now here to start over. You don't love him, and you don't need him."

Tears continued to run down her face. "I have agreed to live with him, Gene. We have worked together and have made a success of this clinic."

"Offer him $2,000,000 in Universal Gold, right now, to tear up the contract. You'll see how much he cares for you."

Tata shook her head. "He gave me $25,000,000 in Universal Gold when we signed the contract. He doesn't want money. He wants a relationship."

"Well, I want a relationship, too, Tata. You love me. You told me so. Have you changed your mind?" I stormed.

"I can't leave him. I have agreed. His money is running this clinic, and we are partners in its success. This is what is true now," she said.

"You are telling me you no longer love me?" I demanded.

"No, I cannot say that. I can only say I have made a lifetime commitment, and I need to remain faithful to that commitment."

How beautiful she looked, with a wistful smile and a white handkerchief to dab at her eyes.

I handed her the box with the ring. Somehow, it seemed so insignificant.

"Bought this for you, from Tiffany's. Hope you will take it and keep it to remember me. Maybe you will need it some day. I thought it would be a symbol of our love," I told her.

She put the ring on her finger and allowed Clarkl's yellow light to shine on it, creating a brilliant rainbow of colors on the wall.

"Yes, I'll keep it. I'll take it out from time to time when I remember you."

I quickly left. I didn't want her to see the tears welling up in my eyes.

December 16, 2146, 1100 hours, on Clarkl back to work today after six days in sick bay. First days I have taken off in the over ten years I have been on Clarkl.

Dr. Edwards came over to the cabin, gave me some pills. Each day I felt better. Still have a little cough, but back on duty.

Another appointment with the lawyer today.

January 4, 2147, 2530 hours, on Clarkl picked up a copy of the papers Genuvusa signed. Original is in New Washington, with the Secretary of State, to be handed over to me when I return.

Asked the lawyer to find an address for Louise. The general ought to be easy to locate.

Feeling almost good as new after that long sickness. Need to be prepared for illnesses to take longer to shake, now that I'm over sixty-three.

Another s.p.a.cecraft arrived, filled with flour, sugar, rice, and wild rice. Still not authorized to take Americans off the planet.

January 20, 2147, 0800 hours, on Clarkl the lawyer sent Louise's address, and I will write to her today.

Back on my tub maintenance job now. Welcomed by several Batwigs and one Monarch yesterday. Tubs are in terrible condition. How can they live like that?

More bad weather due tonight. Filled all the hoppers for staples up to the brim. Dining room manager lives adjacent to the kitchen, and she can fill them if I can't get out tomorrow.

January 31, 2147, 0900 hours, on Clarkl most of the snow is gone, and business is back to normal. Drones and Wolpters were very hungry those first days after the storm.

Louise has answered my message. Says she will be pleased to receive any friend of Colonel Hallorin's.

Hard to write in Gene's style, so flowing and descriptive. Have a couple of good samples and have borrowed extensively.

Louise is living in Columbus, Georgia, where she and the general moved after he retired in 2138. He pa.s.sed away last year, and she has many friends there.

Probably has at least thirty years as a widow, all on the general's retirement allowance. Close to the commissary and the Officers' Club. Certainly quite comfortable.

A general's widow is taken care of, always. Hens clucking around, making sure she gets to the medical clinic and the Sunday buffets at the Club. A dance or two each year. High school kids sent from the headquarters to see to the lawn and the garden. Give them just a few dollars.

February 27, 2147, 1300 hours, on Clarkl two tubs today, after receiving orders from the Bishop. She says Monarchs are getting used to the service, and Batwigs are calling her.

Not much trouble, and always an interesting trip to each castle. Except in the snow, of course.

Bishop has a.s.signed a farmhand to accompany me to learn the procedure. Not much to it except when the mechanics fail. Nice young man from somewhere in Ohio.

Louise wrote again. Says she is having trouble paying all the general's death expenses, including some money still due the funeral director. Wrote back, telling her Harv left everything to his niece and nephew. Wilson's children. Could spare $5,000, if that would help, I wrote.

April 17, 2147, 1800 hours, on Clarkl sent Louise the $5,000, and included another $2,000 as a gift. She a.s.sures me it is a loan, until the insurance is settled.

Never could handle money. Couldn't balance her bank account, even with the daily messages giving debits and credits. No surprise she has no luck with closing the general's estate. Too tight to pay somebody who knows what he's doing.

Where's all the money she saves not hiring a cook and a housekeeper?

May 3, 2147, 2000 hours, on Clarkl another message from Louise, saying she needs $3,000 to pay the mason for the stone. Sent $5,000 so she could pay the cemetery bill.

Helping Tata with another addition to the clinic. The Batwigs want their own waiting room.

JAMESTOWN.

INVESTIGATIVE AGENCY.

Colin C. Rodriguez.

Senior Interplanetary Investigator.

November 4, 2410.

Dear Professor Jernigan:.

This letter represents our final account into the disappearance of over two thousand Americans in the years 2144 through 2147 on the planet of Clarkl, a minor satellite of the great star known to astronomers as Pantula.

Background.

The first mention of Clarkl in the English language appears in a message in 2034 to the n.o.bel Laureate John J. Olsen from his primary contact on the planet of V Eta Bootes. Clarkl is described in that message as a place with few comforts and extensive famine. Its natives were also described as "absolutely frightful" in appearance, but that attribute does not have any bearing on this report.

By 2060, the American government was trading with V Eta Bootes on a very regular basis, providing food in exchange for various minerals, especially silver and platinum. The elders on V Eta Bootes told their correspondents on Clarkl about the food available in America, and those elders facilitated discussions in 2065 between the rulers on Clarkl and the American government.

In 2065, America needed various types of uranium. The several sources of uranium on Earth had either been exhausted or had been determined as too impractical for extraction. Clarkl had and still has uranium in abundance.

The discussions between the two governments originally proposed the shipment of food to Clarkl and the shipment of uranium to America. After several years of Clarkl s.p.a.cecrafts going back and forth, the Clarklians realized they were no better off than before. Food was acc.u.mulating in warehouses because n.o.body on Clarkl knew how to use flour, sugar, or dry rice. Furthermore, the Clarklians most interested in food, the Drones, were the ones least interested in engaging in any real work to prepare food.

By 2070, the governments started to renegotiate the contract. The Clarklians, rich as Crsus but hungry, wanted Americans to come to Clarkl to prepare and serve the food. They also wanted the Americans to grow vegetables on Clarkl soil from American plants and seeds.

The American government was stupefied. Whoever would want to go to Clarkl, where the temperature was too low and the living was too hard?

The American government turned to its favorite, and perhaps only, source of goodwill, the organized religious groups. Here were groups willing to send workers to strange lands in service to others. Perhaps several of these organizations would be willing to manage the Clarkl relationship.

In 2071, the American government issued a Request for Proposals to find suitable vendors. Five proposals were received: one from organized crime, two from impoverished colleges anxious to build up their endowments, and two from Christian organizations.

When the selection committee met to a.s.sign weights to its requirements, it quickly decided to value most heavily the likelihood that any Clarklians would be fed. The committee decided organized crime would figure out how to divert the food to a more profitable use, the two colleges would spend all their resources debating the best way to feed the Clarklians, and the Christians would get busy and feed the poor, as faith-based organizations had been doing for millennia.

By 2075, the two Christian organizations were running dining rooms on Clarkl. The New Christian Congregation, backed by considerable American funding, was the primary vendor, and the Fundamentalists of Christ, staffed by people interested in spreading the Christian faith, was the secondary vendor.

Problems developed between the personnel of these two vendors, but these problems never affected the quality or the quant.i.ty of the food served to the Clarklians. The problems started in the s.p.a.cecrafts that took Americans to Clarkl. People will talk, of course, and the workers compared the monthly stipends they would be receiving. The New Christians were being paid, on average, about three or four times the amount the Fundamentalists were being paid. By the time the Fundamentalists heard this news, they were on the s.p.a.cecrafts and all their papers had been signed. This significant difference in remuneration caused the Fundamentalists to consider the New Christians as profiteers and to dismiss their p.r.o.nouncements of their adherence to the Christian beliefs. The Fundamentalists remained disgruntled throughout their tenure on Clarkl.

During the sixty years after 2075, the dining rooms increased in numbers and in popularity on Clarkl. In 2080, a farming unit started to grow produce using the enormous energy resources available on Clarkl to heat and cool the cultivated areas.

Problems Develop.

By 2130, the Clarklian rulers knew they had a problem. Their least productive subjects, the lazy Drones, were living much longer. In 2075, the average lifespan of a Drone was 30 years. By 2130, this average lifespan had climbed to 45 years, giving the rulers an additional 15 years per Drone to provide food, clothing, and shelter for these useless ent.i.ties.

Furthermore, Wolpters were living longer, too. These ent.i.ties were almost as lazy as their friends the Drones, but, unlike the sterile Drones, the Wolpters spent their extra years producing more Wolpters and, sometimes, when the Wolpters mated with either Slinkers or Carriers, more Drones!

The last straw for the rulers was when a well-meaning churchwoman from America used her own money and money from her friends to open a health facility where Drones and others could be cured of those very maladies the rulers were counting on to kill the Drones off.

Taking Action.

In 2144, the rulers sent a delegation to a service at the chapel run by the Fundamentalists of Christ. Here they heard, between parts of a very implausible tale of death and resurrection, glorious music unlike anything ever heard on Clarkl before. The Drones and the Wolpters clapped their hands in time with the music and appeared even more determined to avoid so much as a lick of work.

Within a few months, the rulers ordered the Slinkers to move these music makers and the longwinded storyteller to a castle near the capital. From there, the Slinkers transported the captured Americans to a more secluded home in the north where the rulers could vacation in small groups and listen to the music.

About the time when the delegation of rulers went to the service at the chapel, another group of rulers visited a dining room. Here the rulers saw many Drones and Wolpters eating food much more varied than the bowls of mush that made up the royal diet. When they tried some of this food, the royals realized the Drones and the Wolpters were enjoying a veritable feast three or four times each day while they, the rulers, were nearly starving on badly prepared gruel.

Dealing with this problem took much more time. Within three years, housing for all the Americans was built near the farms and a large dining room, suitable for royalty, was constructed. Smaller units of housing were built adjacent to each castle. Finally, in one concerted action, the Americans were moved to the new housing and forced to leave everything behind but the clothes on their backs.

On that day, all electronic communications with America stopped. The s.p.a.cecrafts still took uranium to America and brought back food, but the American government was told nothing about the fate of its citizens. The American government, by 2147 critically dependent upon the uranium from Clarkl, continued to supply flour, sugar, rice, and seeds.

The Slinkers set up barricades around all the old dining rooms and their cabins so that no Clarklian could enter. When I arrived in 2410, the compounds had remained untouched for the 263 years since the capture of the Americans.

Life after the Enslavement.

The Seekers worked with the Americans to automate nearly all the kitchen and dining room tasks. Together the Seekers and the Americans set up elaborate automatic food dispensing networks that allowed the Drones, the Wolpters, and other Clarklians to get hot meals at any hour of the day. By 2153, most Americans on Clarkl were working no more than four hours each day.

The rulers expected the Americans to reproduce so they could keep these slaves into perpetuity. This expectation was the major flaw in the Clarklians' plan. Very few of the American women were of childbearing age, and, in total, only five American children were born, all males.

The doctors and Mrs. Edwards trained Seekers and Carriers to attend the sick, and their clinic is still in operation today.

The Seekers recorded everything the choir sang at the Monarchs' home in the north, and copies of these recordings were sent to every Monarch and every Batwig. Clarklians can still buy these recordings today.

The last American died in 2207. The Carriers were charged with conducting the funerals, and they buried the Americans on Clarkl in beautiful platinum caskets brought from Noowal.

The lifespan of the Drones has been reduced to 43 years. The cheerful Drones remain useless, but the Monarchs have resigned themselves to feeding and caring for them.

The s.p.a.cecrafts continue to take minerals to America and bring food to Clarkl.

Finally, a Personal Note.

The Batwigs have invited me to build a house near the Capital, and I have accepted.

Over my life, I have acc.u.mulated sufficient resources to allow me to retire here in comfort, and I plan to spend the rest of my days with these curious creatures.

I have wired my extra funds to my children.

This will be my last report.

Cordially, Colin C. Rodriquez.