Чужак в чужой стране

           "I’mafraidthat’sthewayitmustbe.I’msorry."

           "SoamI–foryou.BecauseifhalfthemaintableisnotreservedfortheMarsdelegation,weareleavingrightnow.JusttelltheSecretaryGeneralthatyoubusteduphisconferencebybeingrudetotheManfromMars."

           "Surelyyoudon’tmeanthat?"

           "Didn’tyougetmymessage?"

           "Uh?well,Itookitasajest.Arathercleverone,Iadmit."

           "Son,Ican’taffordtojokeattheseprices.Smithiseithertopmanfromanotherplanetpayinganofficialvisittothetopmanofthisplanet–inwhichcaseheisentitledtoallthesideboysanddancinggirlsyoucandigup–orheisjustasimpletouristandgetsnoofficialcourtesiesofanysort.Youcan’thaveitbothways.ButIsuggestthatyoulookaroundyou,countthe‘officialsoffirstrank’asyoucalledthem,andmakeaquickguessastowhethertheywouldhavebotheredtoshowupif,intheirminds,Smithisjustatourist."

           LaRuesaidslowly,"There’snoprecedent."

           Jubalsnorted."IsawtheChiefofDelegationfromtheLunarRepubliccomeinamomentago–gotellhimthere’snoprecedent.Thenduck!–Ihearhe’sgotaquicktemper."Hesighed."But,son,I’manoldmanandIhadashortnightandit’snoneofmybusinesstoteachyouyourjob.JusttellMr.Douglasthatwe’llseehimanotherday?whenhe’sreadytoreceiveusproperly.Comeon,Mike."Hestartedtorousthimselfpainfullyoutofhischair.

           LaRuesaidhastily,"No,no,Dr.