“They should give medals for this, Martinez.” “By the time the paperwork goes through, we’ll both be dead and gone.” “Too true.” - Larry Niven

When you trade among the stars, there is no repeat business.

Government over large areas needs emotional ties. It also needs stability. Government by 50%-plus-one hasn’t enjoyed particularly stable politics—and it lasts only so long as the 50%-minus-one minority is willing to submit. Is heredity a rational way to choose leaders? It has this in its favor: the leader is known from an early age to be destined to rule, and can be educated to the job. Is that preferable to education based on how to get the job? Are elected officials better at governing, or at winning elections?

Engineers. You had to love them. (The alternative was strangling them, and he didn’t want that catching on.) There