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So prevalent was this new product, that even Welles, notorious for her resistance to everything the Aliens brought with them, could not long hold out. And of course, the Association, led by Barrow, threw its entire weight behind its success. It is not unlikely that Barrow felt teeping was some sort of interstellar apotheosis of aerial advertising.

‘This is my real concern,’ Welles admitted. ‘If we lose one link in this chain of who we are, another and another might be lost, till our very nature should vanish by piecemeal.’¹

‘That’s just semantics,’ said Barrow. ‘We will still be us; we’ll simply be something different. Even should you hold your line on this count, do you really believe that any other nation will do the same?’

‘I can’t control what other nations choose to do. My duty is to the people of this nation.’

‘But the others will be able to control you! Mark my words: to refrain from these gifts offered by the Aliens will make us into a people so backward, it would be little short of an act of national suicide!’²

‘I didn’t know you were a patriot, Barrow.’

In the end, Welles had no choice. Half of her government was operating by teeping before she could even issue an order against it. As I may have said before, Welles was not a politician, but a demagogue; she may have wielded a mighty sword, but hers was not the only hand on the hilt.

‘It’s no more than a pinprick,’ said Barrow.³

‘Like, get some bedside manner!’ said Welles when they stuck the hoopajoop in her.⁴