 Why are the Belderkans shooting if they might hit Umlauna?
If Umluana noticed Read's gun, he didn't show it. Umluana turned back to Rashid a second too soon. Two men with rifles plunged into the gas; sighing, they fell to the floor in a catatonic trance. A grenade arced from the bushes and the pursuers recoiled from the cloud that rose before them. In a few minutes Miaka Station will know we're coming. Two types of recruits are accepted by the UN Inspector Corps: those with a fanatic loyalty to the ideals of peace and world order, and those who are loyal to nothing but themselves. Trained to use small arms and gas weapons, they guarded certain borders, bodyguarded diplomats and UN officials, even put down riots that threatened international peace. One power implied in the UN Charter no Secretary General or Inspector General had ever tried to use. The power to arrest any head of state whose country violated international law. Could the World Court try and imprison a politician who had conspired to attack another nation? Men planted bases on the moon and in four years, 1978-82, ringed the world with matter transmitters; but the black population of Africa still struggled toward political equality. Umluana took control of Belderkan in 1979. The very day he took control the new dictator and his African party began to build up the Belderkan Army. He began a propaganda war against neighboring South Africa, promising the liberation of that strife-torn land. Early in 1982, South Africa claimed the Belderkan Army exceeded the size agreed to in the Disarmament Treaty. China called the uproar a vicious slur on a new African nation. The United States and Russia, trying not to get entangled, asked for more investigation by the UN. Umluana was defying world law. If he got away with it, some larger and more dangerous nation might follow his precedent. They would enter Belderkan, arrest Umluana and try him by due process before the World Court. If the plan succeeded, mankind would be a long step farther from nuclear war. But then they would have spent hours flying over Africa, with Belderkan fighters in hot pursuit, other nations joining the chase and the world uproar gaining volume. By transmitter, if all went well, they could have Umluana in Geneva in an hour. From Miaka they would transmit to the Belderkan Preserve, a famous tourist attraction whose station could transmit to any point on the globe. They planned to get there before it could be defended. "There's no military base near Miaka," Rashid said.
 If they shoot Umlauna, he'll be a martyr for their cause. That is okay.
 The Belderkans don't like Umlauna. He tried to invade their country.  The Belderkans want Umlauna dead. That's why Read and Rashid are rescuing him.  If they shoot Umlauna, he'll be a martyr for their cause. That is okay.  The Belderkans don't realize that Umlauna is with Read and Rashid.