During the double-ring ceremony, Beliakoff peered at his bride with cautious approval. Lanvi was indeed a pretty girl and she seemed to possess the Malan virtues of obedience, patience and fire. As soon as the final words were spoken, the war was declared officially over. Peace, an authentic Earth custom, was proclaimed. "Now the real work begins," Beliakoff said. "First, we'll need a list of the casualties." "The what?" Nob asked. "Casualties." "I'm not sure I understand," said the Prime Minister. "Casualties! The number of people killed in the warfare." "Now wait a moment," Nob said, his voice trembling. "Do I understand you correctly? Are you trying to tell me that civilized people kill people in their wars? _Do you mean that they leave people in the cities they bomb?_" Kelly looked at Beliakoff. Beliakoff looked at Kelly. "Lord, Lord," murmured Kelly. Beliakoff merely gulped. "Is it possible?" asked Nob. "Do civilized people really--" "Of course not," said Beliakoff. "Never," Kelly said. Nob pursed his lips. "I've been wanting to ask a real authority, a genuine Earthman, some questions on the subject. Our texts were by no means complete and some parts we couldn't understand at all. Like the matter of determining victories. That's something we couldn't figure out. We decided you must use a complicated system of umpires. It was too much for us, so we built a bunker in no man's land and put a man from each side in it. They tossed coins to determine whose turn it was. The winning side would bomb an enemy city. After the occupants had been evacuated, of course." "Of course," said Beliakoff. "It worked out rather well with the coins," Nob said. "Law of averages, in fact." "Substantially our system," said Kelly. "Just the way we do it," Beliakoff added. "A few more questions, if you please," Nob said. "Jusa, would you bring in the big _War Encyclopedia_?" * * * * * Jusa and Lanvi had been gossiping on the other side of the room. They hurried out and returned with the great book. "Now here," Nob said, opening the volume, "it seems to imply--" "Wait," Beliakoff broke in. He took the book from Nob's hands and flipped through it rapidly, then turned to Kelly. In a whisper, he said in Propendium, "It looks as though Kyne blotted out all references to killing." "Sure!" exclaimed Kelly, brightening. "I told you he was a hemophiliac--a bleeder. Naturally, he'd cut out every single mention of bloodshed!" "This point--" Nob began. "Later," Beliakoff said. "Right now, we'd like to get a few articles from our spaceship." He winked at Kelly, who winked back. "It won't take a moment and then we'll be only too happy to--" "Oh, dear," said Nob. "You mean you _wanted_ the spaceship?" "What?"