For a long moment Kinsman did not know what to say. "That . . . that's quite an undertaking."
"Of course," said De Paolo. "And we cannot hope even to begin working toward this goal unless you join us. Your satellites are the key to everything."
"But.. ."
'T know," the old man said. "You fear that I am a megalomaniac, intent on world domination."
"Well . . ."
"But I am!" He smiled again, and this time the sadness was lessened. "I want to see a world dominated by law. By justice. By cooperation among peoples. Not by force and terror, as it is now."
De Paolo spread his hands expressively. "We know how to build an effective world government, a government in which each nation would participate and no nation would be held as a pawn or a slave. We can substitute the rule of sanity 537 and law for the present rule of power and armaments."
"The nations of the world can't solve the problem of nationalism," Kinsman mused. "They need an outside force . . ."
"And together we can be that outside force," De Paolo answered. "I know that it sounds dangerous. I know how tempting it would be to strike for a world dictatorship and force the recalcitrant nations to do as we wish. It would have been easy for your George Washington to have himself proclaimed king, also."
"But he didn't."
"And neither will we."
Kinsman closed his eyes. "That's a lot to swallow in one sitting."
"I understand. But I intend to give you even more to chew on. This afternoon you are scheduled to address the General Assembly. However, the American delegation has requested that your address be put off until Monday—after the weekend and the holiday."
"I can't!" Kinsman snapped. "I can't stay here that long."
De Paolo nodded. "Yes, of course. This is a move by the Americans to prevent you from getting your message across to the peoples of the world. Unfortunately, the Russians are in agreement with the Americans on this, and between them and their blocs in the General Assembly they have enough votes to force a postponement of our special session. Actual- ly, most of the delegates are away at home for this week, and a postponement suits them very agreeably."
"But . . ."
"Fear not," De Paolo said, with an upraised hand. "You can address the General Assembly next week from the Moon or one of your satellite stations. Your public address was not the real reason I wanted you here. There are a few dozen key people that you must meet, and we will take every advantage of your time here to bring them to you. They are officials from many different nation-states. Most of them are from very small and weak nations, but a few might surprise you."
"If they think you're okay," Marrett broke in, "then they'll get their governments to go along with us—to revamp the UN and move toward a real world government." 538
"Wait a minute," said Kinsman. "I'm not sure that / want to go that far!"
De Paolo smiled, and once again there were generations of human suffering on his face. "Your discussions with these men and women will help you to make up your mind, in that case. Obviously, none of us can move in any direction until we are all agreed."
