“We should put it to a vote,” said the Consul. He was thinking about Meina Gladstone’s contention that one of the group was an Ouster agent. Would hearing the stories be a way of revealing the spy? The Consul smiled at the thought of an agent so stupid. “Who decided that we are a happy little democracy?” Colonel Kassad asked dryly. “We had better be,” said the Consul. “To reach our individual goals, this group needs to reach the Shrike regions together. We require some means of making decisions.” “We could appoint a leader,” said Kassad. “Piss on that,” the poet said in a pleasant tone.
