Book 2, Chapter 17 Summary

The collapse "under grilling" makes good headlines, but editorialists generally oppose Luna. India is shrill in demanding larger grain deliveries, and a New York paper demands lash and gallows once Luna is retaken. Prof and Davis are invited back politely, but admonished for "breaking security" by talking to the press. Prof bluffs leaving. The Chairman cares nothing about abstract "sovereignty," just the honoring of commitments to grain shipments. Prof blandly notes Free Luna is not bound by any promises made by the former Authority. Loonies do not "play politics with hunger," but could increase grain shipments by ten- or a hundredfold. One does not get milk by beating the cow. The Chairman refuses to "buy a pig in a poke," but Prof offers to talk only when seated in the Grand Assembly. Otherwise, the barges stop.

That night, at a press...