"Oh?" said Harkway. After a moment: "Political differences?" "Yes. The young man joined the activists. The father is a conservative." "That's very interesting," said Harkway. After a moment he asked, "Do you have many of those here?" "Activists or conservatives? Or pretty girls?" "I meant conservatives," said Harkway, coloring slightly. "I know the activist movement is strong here--that's why I was sent. We consider them dangerous in the extreme." "So do I," said Cudyk. "No, there aren't many conservatives. Burgess is the only real fanatic. If you meet him, by the way, you must make certain allowances." Harkway nodded thoughtfully. "Cracked on the subject?" "You could put it that way," Cudyk told him. "He has convinced himself, in his conscious mind at least, that we are the dominant species on this planet; that the Niori are our social and economic inferiors. He won't tolerate any suggestion that it isn't so." Harkway nodded again, looking very solemn. "A tragedy," he said. "But understandable, of course. Some of the older people simply can't adjust to the reality of our position in the galaxy." "Not many people actually like it," said Cudyk. Harkway looked at him thoughtfully. He said, "Mr. Cudyk, I don't want you to take this as a complaint, but I've gathered the impression that you're not in sympathy with the Minority People's League." "No," said Cudyk. "May I ask what your political viewpoint is?" "I'm neutral," said Cudyk. "Apolitical." Harkway said politely, "I hope you won't take offense if I ask why? It's evident, even to me, that you're a man of intelligence and ability." Everything is evident to you, Cudyk thought wearily, except what you don't want to see. He said, "I don't believe our particular Humpty Dumpty can be put back together again, Mr. Harkway." Harkway looked at him intently, but said nothing. He glanced at the signboard over the lighted windows they were approaching. "Is this the place?" "Yes." Harkway continued to look at the sign. Above the English "CHONG YIN'S TEA ROOM", and the Chinese characters, was a legend that read: [Illustration: sign in other language] "That's a curious alphabet," he said. "It's a very efficient one," Cudyk told him. "It's based on the design of an X in a rectangle--like this." He traced it with his finger on the wall. "Counting each arm of the cross as one stroke, there are eight strokes in the figure. Using only two strokes to a letter, there are twenty-eight possible combinations. They use the sixteen most graceful ones, and add twenty-seven three-stroke letters to bring it up to forty-three, one for each sound in their language. The written language is completely phonetic, therefore. But there are only eight keys on a Niori typewriter."