The story is published in the author's collection "Emissary to the Stars", 1993 . Manyan met Retif at the spaceport and invited him to an urgent meeting with Ambassador Grossblander. Along the way, he asked the native driver to wrap up and drive past the theater, which is due to grandly open tomorrow. But instead of the theater in its place was a shapeless structure, covered with a huge tent on top, or rather - a monstrous hole yawned, at the bottom of which in dimly shimmering puddles there were scraps of electrical and plumbing communications. Did the Earthlings' competitors grouse scoop up an entire theater building, the Earthlings' Cultural Gift to local authorities, to win with their stadium project?! Smells like an intergalactic scandal. Retif came just by the way...