But across the glistening, empty floor there ran an ominous crack. They went down a corridor. Voices sounded, and Bordman tracked them, with the paws of the dog clicking on the floor behind him. He led the way into a spacious, comfortably non-descript room with high windows--doors, really--that opened on green lawns outside. The Sector Chief, Sandringham, leaned back in a chair, smoking. Werner, the other summoned Senior Officer, sat bolt upright in a chair facing him. Sandringham waved a hand to Bordman. "Back so soon? You're ahead of schedule on all counts! Here's Werner, back from looking at the fuel-store situation." Bordman suddenly looked as if he'd been jolted. But he nodded, and Werner tried to smile and failed. He was completely white. "My pilot from the ship, who's kept aground," said Bordman. "Lieutenant Barnes. Very promising young officer. Cut my landing-time by hours. Lieutenant, this is Sector Chief Sandringham and Mr. Werner." "Have a seat, Bordman," grunted the Chief. "You too, Lieutenant. How does it look up on the cliff, Bordman?" "I suspect you know as well as I do," said Bordman. "I think I saw a vision-camera planted up there." "True enough. But there's nothing like on-the-spot inspection. Now you're back, how does it look to you?" "Inadequate," said Bordman. "Inadequate to explain some things I've noticed. But it's a very bad situation. Its degree of badness depends on the viscosity of the mud at bed-rock all over the island. The left-behind mud's like pea soup. It looks really bad! But what's the viscosity at bed-rock with soil pressing down, and I hope drier soil than at the bottom?" Sandringham grunted. "Good question. I sent for you, Bordman, when it began to look bad, before the ground really started sliding. When I thought it might begin any time. The viscosity averages pretty closely at three times ten to the sixth. Which still gives us some leeway. But not enough." "Not nearly enough!" said Bordman impatiently. "Irrigation should have been stopped a long while back!" The Sector Chief grimaced. "I've no authority over civilians. They've their own planetary government. And do you remember?" He quoted: "'Civilian establishments and governments may be advised by Colonial Survey officials, and may make requests of them, but in each case such advice or request is to be considered on its own merits only, and in no case may it be the subject of a _quid-pro-quo_ agreement.'" He added grimly: "That means you can't threaten. It's been thrown at my head every time I've asked them to cut down their irrigation in the past fifteen years! I advised them not to irrigate at all, and they couldn't see it. It would increase the food supply, and they needed more food. So they went ahead. They built two new sea-water freshening plants only last year!" Werner licked his lips. He said in a voice that was higher-pitched than Bordman remembered: "What's happening serves them right! It serves them right!" Bordman waited.