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diff --git a/old/51184-8.txt b/old/51184-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9741223..0000000 --- a/old/51184-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2494 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Inside Earth, by Poul Anderson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Inside Earth - -Author: Poul Anderson - -Release Date: February 11, 2016 [EBook #51184] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INSIDE EARTH *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - INSIDE EARTH - - By POUL ANDERSON - - Illustrated by DAVID STONE - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Galaxy Science Fiction April 1951. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - Obviously, no conqueror wants his subjects to - revolt against his rule. Obviously? This one - would go to any lengths to start a rebellion! - - -I - -The biotechnicians had been very thorough. I was already a little -undersized, which meant that my height and build were suitable--I -could pass for a big Earthling. And of course my face and hands and so -on were all right, the Earthlings being a remarkably humanoid race. -But the technicians had had to remodel my ears, blunting the tips and -grafting on lobes and cutting the muscles that move them. My crest had -to go and a scalp covered with revolting hair was now on the top of my -skull. - -Finally, and most difficult, there had been the matter of skin color. -It just wasn't possible to eliminate my natural coppery pigmentation. -So they had injected a substance akin to melanin, together with a virus -which would manufacture it in my body, the result being a leathery -brown. I could pass for a member of the so-called "white" subspecies, -one who had spent most of his life in the open. - -The mimicry was perfect. I hardly recognized the creature that looked -out of the mirror. My lean, square, blunt-nosed face, gray eyes, -and big hands were the same or nearly so. But my black crest had -been replaced with a shock of blond hair, my ears were small and -immobile, my skin a dull bronze, and several of Earth's languages were -hypnotically implanted in my brain--together with a set of habits and -reflexes making up a pseudo-personality which should be immune to any -tests that the rebels could think of. - -I _was_ Earthling! And the disguise was self-perpetuating: the hair -grew and the skin color was kept permanent by the artificial "disease." -The biotechnicians had told me that if I kept the disguise long enough, -till I began to age--say, in a century or so--the hair would actually -thin and turn white as it did with the natives. - -It was reassuring to think that once my job was over, I could be -restored to normal. It would need another series of operations and as -much time as the original transformation, but it would be as complete -and scarless. I'd be human again. - -I put on the clothes they had furnished me, typical Earthly -garments--rough trousers and shirt of bleached plant fibers, jacket and -heavy shoes of animal skin, a battered old hat of matted fur known as -felt. There were objects in my pockets, the usual money and papers, a -claspknife, the pipe and tobacco I had trained myself to smoke and even -to like. It all fitted into my character of a wandering, outdoors sort -of man, an educated atavist. - -I went out of the hospital with the long swinging stride of one -accustomed to walking great distances. - - * * * * * - -The Center was busy around me. Behind me, the hospital and laboratories -occupied a fairly small building, some eighty stories of stone and -steel and plastic. On either side loomed the great warehouses, military -barracks, officers' apartments, civilian concessions, filled with the -vigorous life of the starways. Behind the monstrous wall, a mile to my -right, was the spaceport, and I knew that a troopship had just lately -dropped gravs from Valgolia herself. - -The Center swarmed with young recruits off duty, gaping at the sights, -swaggering in their new uniforms. Their skins shone like polished -copper in the blistering sunlight, and their crests were beginning to -wilt a little. All Earth is not the tropical jungle most Valgolians -think it is--northern Europe is very pleasant, and Greenland is even a -little on the cold side--but it gets hot enough at North America Center -in midsummer to fry a shilast. - -A cosmopolitan throng filled the walkways. Soldiers predominated--huge, -shy Dacors, little slant-eyed Yangtusans, brawling Gorrads, all the -manhood of Valgolia. Then there were other races, blue-skinned Vegans, -furry Proximans, completely non-humanoid Sirians and Antarians. -They were here as traders, observers, tourists, whatever else of a -non-military nature one can imagine. - -I made an absent-minded way through the crowds. A sudden crack on the -side of my head, nearly bowling me over, brought me to awareness. I -looked up into the arrogant face of one of the new recruits and heard -him rasp, "Watch where you're going, Terrie!" - -The young blood in the Valgolian military is deliberately trained -to harshness, even brutality, for our militarism must impress such -backward colonies as Earth. It goes against our grain, but it is -necessary. At another time this might have annoyed me. I could have -pulled rank on him. Not only was I an officer, but such treatment must -be used with intellectual deliberation. The occasional young garrison -trooper who comes here with the idea that the natives are an inferior -breed to be kicked around misses the whole point of Empire. If, indeed, -Earth's millions were an inferior breed, I wouldn't have been here at -all. Valgol needs an economic empire, but if all we had in mind was -serfdom we'd be perfectly content with the plodding animal life of -Deneb VII or a hundred other worlds. - -I cringed appropriately, as if I didn't understand Valgolian Universal, -and slunk past him. But it griped me to be taken for a Terrie. If I was -to become an Earthling, I would at least be a self-respecting one. - - * * * * * - -There were plenty of Terries--Terrestrials--around, of course, moving -with their odd combination of slavish deference toward Valgolians and -arrogant superiority toward mere Earthlings. They have adopted the -habits and customs of civilization, entered the Imperial service, speak -Valgolian even with their families. Many of them shave their heads save -for a scalp lock, in imitation of the crest, and wear white robes -suggesting those of civil functionaries at home. - -I've always felt a little sorry for the class. They work, and study, -and toady to us, and try so hard to be like us. It's frustrating, -because that's exactly what we don't want. Valgolians are Valgolians -and Earthlings are men of Earth. Well, Terries are important to the -ultimate aims of the Empire, but not in the way they think they are. -They serve as another symbol of Valgolian conquest for Earth to hate. - -I entered the Administration Building. They expected me there and took -me at once to the office of General Vorka, who's a general only as -far as this solar system is concerned. Had there been any Earthlings -around, I would have saluted to conform to the show of militarism, but -General Vorka sat alone behind his desk, and I merely said, "Hello, -Coordinator." - -The sleeves of his tunic rolled up, the heat of North America beading -his forehead with sweat, the big man looked up at me. "Ah, yes. I'm -glad you're finally prepared. The sooner we get this thing started--" -He extended a silver galla-dust box. "Sniff? Have a seat, Conru." - -I inhaled gratefully and relaxed. The Coordinator picked up a sheaf of -papers on his desk and leafed through them. "Umm-mm, only fifty-two -years old and a captain already. Remarkably able, a young man -like you. And your work hitherto has been outstanding. That Vegan -business...." - -I said yes, I knew, but could he please get down to business. You -couldn't blame me for being a bit anxious to begin. Disguised as I was -as an Earthman, I felt uncomfortable, embarrassed, almost, at being -with my ex-countrymen. - -The Coordinator shrugged. "Well, if you can carry this business -off--fine. If you fail, you may die quite unpleasantly. That's their -trouble, Conru: you wouldn't be regarded as an individual, but as a -Valgolian. Did you know that they even make such distinctions among -themselves? I mean races and sub-races and social castes and the like; -it's keeping them divided and impotent, Conru. It's also keeping them -out of the Empire. A shame." - - * * * * * - -I knew all that, of course, but I merely nodded. Coordinator Vorka was -a wonderful man in his field, and if he tended to be on the garrulous -side, what could I do? I said, "I know that, sir. I also know I was -picked for a dangerous job because you thought I could fill the role. -But I still don't know exactly what the job is." - -Coordinator Vorka smiled. "I'm afraid I can't tell you much more -than you must already have guessed," he said. "The anarch movement -here--the rebels, that is--is getting no place, primarily because of -internal difficulties. When members of the same group spit epithets -at each other referring to what they consider racial or national -distinctions which determine superiority or inferiority, the group is -bound to be an insecure one. Such insecurity just does not make for a -strong rebellion, Conru. They try, and we goad them--but dissention -splits them constantly and their revolutions fizzle out. - -"They just can't unite against us, can't unite at all. Conru, you know -how we've tried to educate them. It's worked, too, to some extent. -But you can't educate three billion people who have a whole cultural -pattern behind them." - -I winced. "Three billion?" - -"Certainly. Earth is a rich planet, Conru, and a fairly crowded one at -the same time. Bickering is inevitable. It's a part of their culture, -as much as cooperation has been a part of ours." - -I nodded. "We learned the hard way. The old Valgol was a poor planet -and we had to unite to conquer space or we could not have survived." - -The Coordinator sniffed again at his silver box. "Of course. And we're -trying to help these people unite. They don't have to make the same -mistakes we did, long ago. They don't have to at all. Get them to hate -us enough, get them to hate us until all their own clannish hatreds -don't count at all.... Well, you know what happened on Samtrak." - -I knew. The Samtraks are now the entrepreneurs of the Empire, really -ingenious traders, but within the memory of some of our older men they -were a sore-spot. They didn't understand the meaning of Empire any more -than Earth does, and they never did understand it until we goaded them -into open rebellion. The very reverse of divide and rule, you might -say, and it worked. We withdrew trading privileges one by one, until -they revolted successfully, thus educating themselves sociologically in -only a few generations. - - * * * * * - -Vorka said, "The problem of Earth is not quite that simple." He leaned -back, made a bridge of his fingers, and peered across them at me. "Do -you know precisely what a provocateur job is, Conru?" - -I said that I did, but only in a hazy way, because until now my work -had been pretty much restricted to social relations on the more -advanced Empire planets. However, I told him that I did know the idea -was to provoke discontent and, ultimately, rebellion. - -The Coordinator smiled. "Well, that's just the starter, Conru. It's a -lot more complex than that. Each planet has its own special problems. -The Samtraks, for example, had a whole background of cutthroat -competition. That was easy: we eliminated that by showing them what -_real_ cutthroat competition could be like. But Earth is different. -Look at it this way. They fight among themselves. Because of their -mythical distinctions, not realizing that there are no inferior races, -only more or less advanced ones, and that individuals must be judged as -individuals, not as members of groups, nations or races. A planet like -Earth can be immensely valuable to the Empire, but not if it has to be -garrisoned. Its contribution must be voluntary and whole-hearted." - -"A difficult problem," I said. "My opinion is that we should treat all -exactly alike--_force_ them to abandon their unrealistic differences." - -"Exactly!" The Coordinator seemed pleased, but, actually, this was -pretty elementary stuff. "We're never too rough on the eager lads -who come here from Valgol and kick the natives around a bit. We even -encourage it when the spirit of rebelliousness dies down." - -I told him I had met one. - -"Irritating, wasn't it, Conru? Humiliating. Of course, these lads -will be reconditioned to civilization when they finish their military -service and prepare for more specialized work. Yes, treating all -Earthlings alike is the solution. We put restrictions on these -colonials; they can't hold top jobs, and so on. And we encourage wild -stories about brutality on our part. Not enough to make everybody mad -at us, or even a majority--the rumored tyranny has always happened to -someone else. But there's a certain class of beings who'll get fighting -mad, and that's the class we want." - -"The leaders," I chimed in. "The idealists. Brave, intelligent, -patriotic. The kind who probably wouldn't be a part of this racial -bickering, anyway." - -"Right," said the Coordinator. "We'll give them the ammunition for -their propaganda. We've _been_ doing it. Result: the leaders get mad. -Races, religions, nationalities, they hate us worse than they hate each -other." - - * * * * * - -The way he painted it, I was hardly needed at all. I told him that. - -"Ideally, that would be the situation, Conru. Only it doesn't work -that way." He took out a soft cloth and wiped his forehead. "Even the -leaders are too involved in this myth of differences and they can't -concentrate all their efforts. Luron, of course, would be the other -alternative--" - -That was a very logical statement, but sometimes logic has a way of -making you laugh, and I was laughing now. Luron considered itself our -arch-enemy. With a few dozen allies on a path of conquest, Luron -thought it could wrest Empire from our hands. Well, we let them play. -And each time Luron swooped down on one of the more primitive planets, -we let them, for Luron would serve as well as ourselves in goading -backward peoples to unite and advance. Perhaps Luron, as a social -entity, grew wiser each time. Certainly the primitive colonials did. -Luron had started a chain reaction which threatened to overthrow the -tyranny of superstition on a hundred planets. Good old Luron, our -arch-enemy, would see the light itself some day. - -The Coordinator shook his head. "Can't use Luron here. Technologies are -entirely too similar. It might shatter both planets, and we wouldn't -want that." - -"So what do we use?" - -"You, Conru. You get in with the revolutionaries, you make sure that -they want to fight, you--" - -"I see," I told him. "Then I try to stop it at the last minute. Not so -soon that the rebellion doesn't help at all--" - -The Coordinator put his hand down flat. "Nothing of the sort. They -_must_ fight. And they must be defeated, again and again, if necessary, -until they are ready to succeed. That will be, of course, when they are -_totally_ against us." - -I stood up. "I understand." - -He waved me back into the chair. "You'll be lucky to understand it -by the time you're finished with this assignment and transferred to -another ... that is, if you come out of this one alive." - -I smiled a bit sheepishly and told him to go ahead. - -"We have some influence in the underground movement, as you might -logically expect. The leader is a man we worked very hard to have -elected." - -"A member of one of the despised races?" I guessed. - -"The best we could do at this point was to help elect someone from a -minority sub-group of the dominant white race. The leader's name is -Levinsohn. He is of the white sub-group known as Jews." - - * * * * * - -"How well is this Levinsohn accepted by the movement?" - -"Considerable resistance and hostility," the Coordinator said. "That's -to be expected. However, we've made sure that there is no other -organization the minority-haters can join, so they have to follow -him or quit. He's able, all right; one of the most able men they -have, which helps our aims. Even those who discriminate against Jews -reluctantly admire him. He's moved the headquarters of the movement -out into space, and the man's so brilliant that we don't even know -where. We'll find out, mainly through you, I hope, but that isn't the -important thing." - -"What is?" I asked, baffled. - -"To report on the unification of Earth. It's possible that the anarch -movement can achieve it under Levinsohn. In that case, we'll make sure -they win, or think they win, and will gladly sign a treaty giving Earth -equal planetary status in the Empire." - -"And if unity hasn't been achieved?" - -"We simply crush this rebellion and make them start all over again. -They'll have learned some degree of unity from this revolt and so the -next one will be more successful." He stood up and I got out of my -chair to face him. "That's for the future, though. We'll work out our -plans from the results of this campaign." - -"But isn't there a lot of danger in the policy of fomenting rebellion -against us?" I asked. - -He lifted his shoulders. "Evolution is always painful, forced evolution -even more so. Yes, there are great dangers, but advance information -from you and other agents can reduce the risk. It's a chance we must -take, Conru." - -"Conrad," I corrected him, smiling. "Plain Mr. Conrad Haugen ... of -Earth." - - -II - -A few days later, I left North America Center, and in spite of the -ominous need to hurry, my eastward journey was a ramble. The anarchs -would be sure to check my movements as far back as they could, and my -story had better ring true. For the present, I must _be_ my role, a -vagabond. - -The city was soon behind me. It was far from other settlement--it is -good policy to keep the Centers rather isolated, and we could always -contact our garrisons in native towns quickly enough. Before long I was -alone in the mountains. - -I liked that part of the trip. The Rockies are huge and serene, a fresh -cold wind blows from their peaks and roars in the pines, brawling -rivers foam through their dales and canyons--it is a big landscape, -clean and strong and lonely. It speaks with silence. - -I hitched a ride for some hundreds of miles with one of the great -truck-trains that dominate the western highways. The driver was -Earthling, and though he complained much about the Valgolian tyranny he -looked well-fed, healthy, secure. I thought of the wars which had been -laying the planet waste, the social ruin and economic collapse which -the Empire had mended, and wondered if Terra would ever be fit to rule -itself. - -I came out of the enormous mountainlands into the sage plains of -Nevada. For a few days I worked at a native ranch, listening to the -talk and keeping my mouth shut. Yes, there was discontent! - -"Their taxes are killing me," said the owner. "What the hell incentive -do I have to produce if they take it away from me?" I nodded, but -thought: _Your kind was paying more taxes in the old days, and had -less to show for it. Here you get your money back in public works and -universal security. No one on Earth is cold or hungry. Can you only -produce for your own private gain, Earthling?_ - -"The labor draft got my kid the other day," said the foreman. "He'll -spend two good years of his life working for them, and prob'ly come -back hopheaded about the good o' the Empire." - -_There was a time_, I thought, _when millions of Earthlings clamored -for work, or spent years fighting their wars, gave their youth to a -god of battle who only clamored for more blood. And how can we have a -stable society without educating its members to respect it?_ - -"I _want_ another kid," said the female cook. "Two ain't really enough. -They're good boys, but I want a girl too. Only the Eridanian law says -if I go over my quota, if I have one more, they'll sterilize me! And -they'd do it, the meddling devils." - -_A billion Earthlings are all the Solar System can hold under decent -standards of living without exhausting what natural resources their own -culture left us_, I thought. _We aren't ready to permit emigration; our -own people must come first. But these beings can live well here. Only -now that we've eliminated famine, plague, and war, they'd breed beyond -reason, breed till all the old evils came back to throttle them, if we -didn't have strict population control._ - - * * * * * - -"Yeah," said her husband bitterly. "They never even let my cousin have -kids. Sterilized him damn near right after he was born." - -_Then he's a moron, or carries hemophilia, or has some other hereditary -taint_, I thought. _Can't they see we're doing it for their own good? -It costs us fantastically in money and trouble, but the goal is a level -of health and sanity such as this race never in its history dreamed -possible._ - -"They're stranglin' faith," muttered someone else. - -_Anyone in the Empire may worship as he chooses, but should permission -be granted to preach demonstrable falsehoods, archaic superstitions, or -antisocial nonsense? The old "free" Earth was not noted for liberalism._ - -"We want to be free." - -_Free? Free for what? To loose the thousand Earthly races and creeds -and nationalisms on each other--and on the Galaxy--to wallow in -barbarism and slaughter and misery as before we came? To let our -works and culture be thrown in the dust, the labor of a century be -demolished, not because it is good or bad but simply because it is -Valgolian? Epsilon Eridanian!_ - -"We'll be free. Not too long to wait, either--" - -_That's up to nobody else but you!_ - -I couldn't get much specific information, but then I hadn't expected -to. I collected my pay and drifted on eastward, talking to people of -all classes--farmers, mechanics, shopowners, tramps, and such data as I -gathered tallied with those of Intelligence. - -About twenty-five per cent of the population, in North America at -least--it was higher in the Orient and Africa--was satisfied with the -Imperium, felt they were better off than they would have been in the -old days. "The Eridanians are pretty decent, on the whole. Some of 'em -come in here and act nice and human as you please." - -Some fifty per cent was vaguely dissatisfied, wanted "freedom" without -troubling to define the term, didn't like the taxes or the labor draft -or the enforced disarmament or the legal and social superiority of -Valgolians or some such thing, had perhaps suffered in the reconquest. -But this group constituted no real threat. It would tend to be passive -whatever happened. Its greatest contribution would be sporadic rioting. - -The remaining twenty-five per cent was bitter, waiting its chance, -muttering of a day of revenge--and some portion of this segment was -spreading propaganda, secretly manufacturing and distributing weapons, -engaging in clandestine military drill, and maintaining contact with -the shadowy Legion of Freedom. - -Childish, melodramatic name! But it had been well chosen to appeal to a -certain type of mind. The real, organized core of the anarch movement -was highly efficient. In those months I spent wandering and waiting, -its activities mounted almost daily. - - * * * * * - -The illegal radio carried unending programs, propaganda, fabricated -stories of Valgolian brutality. I knew from personal experience that -some were false, and I knew the whole Imperial system well enough to -spot most of the rest at least partly invented. I realized we couldn't -trace such a well-organized setup of mobile and coordinated units, and -jamming would have been poor tactics, but even so-- - -_The day is coming.... Earthmen, free men, be ready to throw off your -shackles.... Stand by for freedom!_ - -I stuck to my role. When autumn came, I drifted into one of the native -cities, New Chicago, a warren of buildings near the remains of the old -settlement, the same gigantic slum that its predecessor had been. I got -a room in a cheap hotel and a job in a steel mill. - -I was Conrad Haugen, Norwegian-American, assigned to a spaceship by the -labor draft and liking it well enough to re-enlist when my term was -up. I had wandered through much of the Empire and had had a great deal -of contact with Eridanians, but was most emphatically not a Terrie. In -fact, I thought it would be well if the redskin yoke could be thrown -off, both because of liberty and the good pickings to be had in the -Galaxy if the Empire should collapse. I had risen to second mate on an -interstellar tramp, but could get no further because of the law that -the two highest officers must be Valgolian. That had embittered me and -I returned to Earth, foot-loose and looking for trouble. - - * * * * * - -I found it. With officer's training and the strength due to a home -planet with a gravity half again that of Earth, I had no difficulty at -all becoming a foreman. There was a big fellow named Mike Riley who -thought he was entitled to the job. We settled it behind a shed, with -the workmen looking on, and I beat him unconscious as fast as possible. -The raw, sweating savagery of it made me feel ill inside. _They'd let_ -this _loose among the stars_! - -After that I was one of the boys and Riley was my best friend. We went -out together, wenching and drinking, raising hell in the cold dirty -canyons of steel and stone which the natives called streets. _Valgolia, -Valgolia, the clean bare windswept heights of your mountains, soughing -trees and thunderous waters and Maara waiting for me to come home!_ -Riley often proposed that we find an Eridanian and beat him to death, -and I would agree, hiccupping, because I knew they didn't go alone -into native quarters any more. I sat in the smoky reek of the bars, -half deafened by the clatter and raucousness called music, trying not -to think of a certain low-ceilinged, quiet tavern amid the gardens of -Kalariho, and sobbed the bitterness of Conrad Haugen into my beer. - -"Dirty redskins," I muttered. "Dirty, stinking, bald-headed, sons of -bitches. Them and their god-damn Empire. Why, y'know, if 't hadn' been -f' their laws I'd be skipper o' my own ship now. I knew more'n that -slob o' a captain. But he was born Eridanian--God, to get my hands on -his throat!" - -Riley nodded. Through the haze of smoke I saw that his eyes were -narrowed. He wasn't drunk when he didn't want to be, and at times like -this he was suddenly as sober as I was, and that in spite of not having -a Valgolian liver. - -I bided my time, not too obviously anxious to contact the Legion. I -just thought they were swell fellows, the only brave men left in the -rotten, stinking Empire; I'd sure be on their side when the day came. I -worked in the mill, and when out with the boys lamented the fact that -we were really producing for the damned Eridanians, we couldn't even -keep the products of our own sweat. I wasn't obtrusive about it, of -course. Most of the time we were just boozing. But when the talk came -to the Empire, I made it clear just where I stood. - - * * * * * - -The winter went. I continued the dreary round of days, wondering how -long it would take, wondering how much time was left. If the Legion -was at all interested, they would be checking my background right now. -Let them. There wouldn't be much to check, but what there was had been -carefully manufactured by the experts of the Intelligence Service. - -Riley came into my room one evening. His face was tight, and he plunged -to business. "Con, do you really mean all you've said about the Empire?" - -"Why, of course. I--" I glanced out the window, as if expecting to -see a spy. If there were any, I knew he would be native. The Empire -just doesn't have enough men for a secret police, even if we wanted to -indulge in that sort of historically ineffective control. - -"You'd like to fight them? Like really to help the Legion of Freedom -when they strike?" - -"You bet your obscenity life!" I snarled. "When they land on Earth, -I'll get a gun somewhere and be right there in the middle of the battle -with them!" - -"Yeah." Riley puffed a cigaret for a while. Then he said, "Look, I -can't tell you much. I'm taking a chance just telling you this. It -could mean my life if you passed it on to the Eridanians." - -"I won't." - -His eyes were bleak. "You damn well better not. If you're caught at -that--" - -He drew a finger sharply across his throat. - -"Quit talking like a B-class stereo," I bristled. "If you've got -something to tell me, let's have it. Otherwise get out." - -"Yeah, sure. We checked up on you, Con, and we think you're as good a -prospect as we ever came across. If you want to fight the Eridanians -now--_join the Legion_ now--here's your chance." - -"My God, you know I do! But who--" - -"I can't tell you a thing. But if you really want to join, memorize -this." Riley gave me a small card on which was written a name and -address. "Destroy it, thoroughly. Then quit at the mill and drift to -this other place, as if you'd gotten tired of your work and wanted to -hit the road again. Take your time, don't make a beeline for it. When -you do arrive, they'll take care of you." - -I nodded, grimly. "I'll do it, Mike. And thanks!" - -"Just my job." He smiled, relaxing, and pulled a flask from his -overcoat. "Okay, Con, that's that. We'd better not go out to drink, -after this, but nothing's to stop us from getting stinko here." - - -III - -Spring had come and almost gone when I wandered into the little Maine -town which was my destination. It lay out of the way, with forested -hills behind it and the sea at its foot. Most of the houses were old, -solidly built, almost like parts of the land, and the inhabitants were -slow-spoken, steady folk, fishermen and artisans and the like, settled -here and at home with the darkling woods and the restless sea and the -high windy sky. I walked down a narrow street with a cool salt breeze -ruffling my hair and decided that I liked Portsboro. It reminded me of -my own home, twenty light-years away on the wide beaches of Kealvigh. - -I made my way to Nat Hawkins' store and asked for work like any -drifter. But when we were alone in the back room, I told him, "I'm -Conrad Haugen. Mike Riley said you'd be looking for me." - -He nodded calmly. "I've been expecting you. You can work here a few -days, sleep at my house, and we'll run the tests after dark." - -He was old for an Earthling, well over sixty, with white hair and lined -leathery face. But his blue eyes were as keen and steady, his gnarled -hands as strong and sure as those of any young man. He spoke softly -and steadily, around the pipe which rarely left his mouth, and there -was a serenity in him which I could hardly associate with anarch -fanaticism. But the first night he led me into his cellar, and through -a well-hidden trapdoor to a room below, and there he had a complete -psychological laboratory. - -I gaped at the gleaming apparatus. "How off Earth--" - -"It came piece by piece, much of it from Epsilon Eridani itself," he -smiled. "There is, after all, no ban on humans owning such material. -But to play safe, we spread the purchases over several years, and made -them in the names of many people." - -"But you--" - -"I took a degree in psychiatry once. I can handle this." - -He could. He put me through the mill in the next few -nights--intelligence tests, psychometry, encephalography, narcosis, -psycho-probing, everything his machines and his skill could cover. He -did not find out anything we hadn't meant to be found out. The Service -had ways of guarding its agents with counter-blocks. But he got a very -thorough picture of Conrad Haugen. - -In the end he said, still calmly, "This is amazing. You have an -IQ well over the borderline of genius, an astonishing variety of -assorted knowledge about the Empire and about technical subjects, and -an implacable hatred of Eridanian rule--based on personal pique and -containing self-seeking elements, but no less firm for that. You're out -for yourself, but you'll stand by your comrades and your cause. We'd -never hoped for more recruits of your caliber." - -"When do I start?" I asked impatiently. - -"Easy, easy," he smiled. "There's time. We've waited fifty years; we -can wait a while longer." He riffled through the dossier. "Actually, -the difficulty is where to assign you. A man who knows astrogation, the -use of weapons and machines, and the Empire, who is physically strong -as a bull, can lead men, and has a dozen other accomplishments, really -seems wasted on any single job. I'm not sure, but I think you'll do -best as a roving agent, operating between Main Base and the planets -where we have cells, and helping with the work at the base when you're -there." - - * * * * * - -My heart fairly leaped into my throat. This was more than _I_ had dared -hope for! - -"I think," said Nat Hawkins, "you'd better just drop out of sight now. -Go to Hood Island and stay there till the spaceship comes next time. -You can spend the interval profitably, resting and getting a little -fattened up; you look half starved. And Barbara can tell you about the -Legion." His leather face smiled itself into a mesh of fine wrinkles. -"I think you deserve that, Conrad. And so does Barbara." - -Mentally, I shrugged. My stay in New Chicago had pretty well convinced -me that all Earthling females were sluts. And what of it? - -The following night, Hawkins and I rowed out to Hood Island. It lay -about a mile offshore, a wooded, rocky piece of land on which a -moon-whitened surf boomed and rattled. The place had belonged to the -Hood family since the first settlements here, but Barbara was the last -of them. - -Hawkins' voice came softly to me above the crash of surf, the surge -of waves and windy roar of trees as we neared the dock. "She has more -reason than most to hate the Eridanians. The Hoods used to be great -people around here. They were just about ruined when the redskins first -came a-conquering, space bombardment wiped out their holdings, but they -made a new start. Then her grandfather and all his brothers were killed -in the revolt. Ten years ago, her father was caught while trying to -hijack a jetload of guns, and her mother didn't live long after that. -Then her brother was drafted into a road crew and reported killed in an -accident. Since then she hasn't lived for much except the Legion." - -"I don't blame her," I said. My voice was a little tight, for indeed I -didn't. But somebody has to suffer; civilization has a heavy price. I -couldn't help adding, "But the Empire's lately begun paying pensions to -cases like that." - -"I know. She draws hers, too, and uses it for the Legion." - -_That, of course, was the reason for the pensions._ - -The boat bumped against the dock. Hawkins threw the painter up to -the man who suddenly emerged from the shadow. I saw the cold silver -moonlight gleam off the rifle in his hand. "You know me, Eb," said -Hawkins. "This here's Con Haugen. I slipped you the word about him." - -"Glad to know you, Con." Eb's horny palm clasped mine. I liked his -looks, as I did those of most of the higher-up Legionnaires. They were -altogether different from the low-caste barbarians who were all the -rebels I'd seen before. They had a great load of ignorance to drag with -them. - -We went up a garden path to a rambling stone house. Inside, it was long -and low and filled with the memoirs of more gracious days, art and fine -furniture, books lining the walls, a fire crackling ruddily in the -living room. - -"Barbara Hood--Conrad Haugen." - - * * * * * - -Almost, I gaped at her. I had expected some gaunt, dowdy fanatic, a -little mad perhaps. But she was--well, she was tall and supple and clad -in a long dark-blue evening gown that shimmered against her white skin. -She was not conventionally pretty, her face was too strong for all of -its fine lines, but she had huge blue eyes and a wide soft mouth and a -stubborn chin. The light glowed gold on the hair that tumbled to her -shoulders. - -I blurted something out and she smiled, with a curious little twist -that somehow caught in me, and said merely, "Hello, Conrad." - -"Glad to be here," I mumbled. - -"The spaceship should arrive in a month or so," she went on. "I'll -teach you as much as I can in that time. And you'd better get your own -special knowledge onto a record wire, just in case. I understand you've -been in the Vegan System, for instance, which nobody else in the Legion -knows very much about." - -Her tone was cool and business-like, but with an underlying warmth. It -was like the sea wind which blew over the islands, and as reviving. I -recovered myself and helped mix some drinks. The rest of the evening -passed very pleasantly. - -Later a servant showed me to my room, a big one overlooking the water. -I lay for a while listening to the waves, thinking drowsily how -rebellion, when its motives were honest, drew in the best natives of -any world, and presently I fell asleep. - -The month passed all too quickly and agreeably. I learned things which -Intelligence had spent the last three years trying to find out, and -dared not attempt to transmit the information. That was maddening, -though I knew there was time. But otherwise-- - -I puttered about the place. There were only three servants, old family -retainers who had also joined the anarchs. They had little modern -machinery, and of course Earthlings weren't allowed robots, so there -was need for an extra man or two. I cut wood and repaired the roof and -painted the boathouse, spaded the garden and cleared out brush and set -up a new picket fence. It was good to use my hands and muscles again. - -And then Barbara was around to help with most of what I did. In jeans -and jersey, the sun ablaze on her hair, laughing at my clumsy jokes or -frowning over some tough bit of work, she was another being than the -cool, lovely woman who talked books and music and history with me in -the evenings, or the crisp bitter anarch who spat facts and figures at -me like an angry machine. And yet they were all her. I remembered Ydis, -who was dead, and the old pain stirred again. But Barbara was alive. - -She was more alive to me than most of Valgolia. - -I make no apologies for my feelings. I had been away from anything -resembling home for some two years now. But I was careful to remain -merely friendly with Barbara. - - * * * * * - -She didn't know a great deal about the rebel movement--no one agent -on Earth did--but her knowledge was still considerable. There was a -fortified base somewhere out in space, built up over a period of four -years with the help of certain unnamed elements or planets outside the -Empire. I suspected several rival states of that! - -Weapons of all kinds were manufactured there in quantities sufficient -to arm the million or so rebels of the "regular" force, the twenty -million or so in the Solar System and elsewhere who held secret drills -and conducted terrorist activities, and the many millions more who were -expected to rise spontaneously when the rebel fleet struck. - -There was close coordination and a central command at Main Base for the -undergrounds of all dissatisfied planets--a new and formidable feature -which had not been present in the earlier uprisings. There were rumors -of a new and terrible weapon being developed. - -In any case, the plan was to assault Epsilon Eridani itself -simultaneously with the uprisings in the colonies, so that the Imperial -fleet would be recalled to defend the mother world. The anarchs hoped -to blast Valgolia to ruin in a few swift blows, and expected that the -Empire's jealous neighbors would sweep in to complete the wreckage. - -This gentle girl spoke of the smashing of worlds, the blasting of -helpless humans, and the destruction of a culture as if it were a -matter of insect extermination. - -"Have you ever thought," I asked casually once, "that the Juranians -and the Slighs and our other hypothetical allies may not respect the -integrity of Sol any more than the Eridanians do?" - -"We can handle them," she answered confidently. "Oh, it won't be easy, -that time of transition. But we'll be free." - -"And what then?" I went on. "I don't want to be defeatist, Barbara, but -you know as well as I do that the Eridanians didn't conquer all mankind -at a single swoop. When they invented the interstellar engine and -arrived here, man was tearing the Solar System apart in a war between -super-nations that was rapidly reducing him to barbarism. The redskins -traded for a while, sold arms, some of their adventurers took sides in -the conflict, the government stepped in to protect Eridanian citizens -and investments--the side which the Eridanians helped won the war, -then found its allies were running things and tried to revolt against -the protectorate--and without really meaning to, the strangers were -conquering and ruling Earth. - -"But the different factions of man still hate each other's guts. There -are still capitalists and communists, blacks, whites and Browns, -Hindus and Moslems, Germans and Frenchmen, city people and country -people--a million petty divisions. There'll be civil war as soon as the -Eridanians are gone." - -"Some, perhaps," she agreed. "But I think it can be handled. If we have -to have civil wars, well, let's get them over with and live as free -men." - -Personally, I could see nothing in the sort of military dictatorship -that would inevitably arise which was preferable to an alien, firm, but -just rule that insured stability and a reasonable degree of individual -liberty. - -But I didn't say that aloud. - - * * * * * - -Another time we talked of the de-industrialization of Earth. Barbara -was, of course, venomous about it. "We were rich once," she said. -"All Earth was. We have one of the richest planets in the Galaxy. But -because their own world is poor, the redskins have to take the natural -resources of their conquests. Earth is a granary and a lumberyard for -Valgolia, and the iron of Mars and the petrolite of Venus go back to -their industry. What few factories they allow us, they take their fat -percentage of the product." - -"Certainly they've made us economically dependent," I said, "and -their standard of living is undoubtedly higher than ours. But ours -has, on the whole, gone up since the conquest. We eat better, we're -healthier, we aren't burdened with the cost of past and present and -future wars. Our natural resources aren't being squandered. The forests -and watersheds and farmlands we ruined are coming back under Eridanian -supervision." - -She gave me an odd look. "I thought you didn't like the Empire." - -"I don't," I growled. "I don't want to be held back just because I'm -white-skinned. But I've known enough reddies personally so that I try -to be fair." - -"It's all right with me," she said. "I can see your point, -intellectually, though I can't really _feel_ it. But not many of the -people will out at Main Base." - -"Free men," I muttered sardonically. - -We went fishing, and swam in the tumbling surf, and stretched -lazily on the beach with the sun pouring over us. Or we might go -tramping off into the woods on a picnic, to run laughing back when -a sudden rain rushed out of the sky, and afterward sit with beer -and cheese sandwiches listening to a wire of Beethoven or Mozart -or Tchaikovsky--the old Earthlings could write music, if they did -nothing else!--and to the rain shouting on the roof. We might have a -little highly illegal target practice, or a game of chess, or long -conversations which wandered off every which way. I began to have a -sneaking hope that the spaceship would be delayed. - -We went out one day in Barbara's little catboat. The waves danced -around us, chuckling against the hull, glittering with sunlight, and -the sail was like a snow mountain against the sky. For a while we -chatted dreamily, ate our lunch, threw the scraps to the hovering -gulls. Then Barbara fell silent. - -"What's the matter?" I asked. - -"Oh, nothing. Touch of _Weltschmerz_, maybe." She smiled at me. "You -know, Con, you don't really belong in the Legion." - -"How so?" I raised my eyebrows. - -"You--well, you're so darned honest, so really decent under that -carefully rough surface, so--reasonable. You'll never make a good -fanatic." - -_Honest!_ I looked away from her. The bright day seemed suddenly to -darken. - - -IV - -Spaceships from Main Base had little trouble coming to Earth with their -cargoes of guns, propaganda, instructors, and whatever else the rebels -on the planet needed. They would take up an orbit just beyond the -atmosphere and send boats to the surface after dark. There was little -danger of their being detected if they took the usual precautions; a -world is simply too big to blockade completely. - -Ours dropped on noiseless gravitic beams into the nighted island -woods. We had been watching for it the last few days, and now Eb came -running to tell us it was here. The pilot followed after him. - -"Harry Kane, Conrad Haugen," Barbara introduced us. - -I shook hands, sizing him up. He was tall for an Earthling, almost as -big as I, dark-haired, with good-looking young features. He wore some -approximation of a uniform, dark-blue tunic and breeches, peaked cap, -captain's insignia, which gave him a rather dashing look. It shouldn't -have made any difference to me, of course, but I didn't like the way he -smiled at Barbara. - -She explained my presence, and he nodded eagerly. "Glad to have you, -Haugen. We need good men, and badly." Then to her: "Get Hawkins. You -and he are recalled to Main Base." - -"What? But--" - -A dark exultation lit his face. "The time for action is near--very -near! We're pulling all our best agents off the planets. They can work -more effectively with the fleet now." - -I tried to look as savagely gleeful as they, but inwardly I groaned. -How in all the hells was I going to contact Vorka? If I were stranded -out in space when the fleet got under way--no, they must have an -ultrabeam. I'd manage somehow to call on that even if they caught me at -it. - -We sent Eb in a boat to get Hawkins while Barbara and I packed a few -necessities. Kane paced back and forth, spilling out the news from Main -Base, word of mighty forces gathering, rumors of help promised from -outside, it was like the thunder which mutters just before a gale. - -Presently Hawkins arrived. The old man's calm was undisturbed: he -puffed his pipe and said quietly, "I called up my housekeeper, -told her my sister in California was suddenly taken sick and I was -leaving at once for the transcontinental jetport. Just to account -for disappearing, you know. There aren't any Eridanians or Terries -hereabouts, but we desperate characters--" he grinned, briefly--"can't -be too careful. Brought my equipment along, of course. I suppose they -want me to do psychometry on fleet personnel?" - -"Something on that order. I don't know." - -We made our way through a fine drizzle of rain to the little torpedo of -the spaceboat. I looked around into the misty dark and breathed a deep -lungful of the cool wet wind. And I saw that Barbara was doing the same. - - * * * * * - -She smiled up at me through the night and the thin sad rain. "Earth is -a beautiful world, Con," she whispered. "I wonder if we'll ever see it -again." - -I squeezed her hand, silently, and we crowded into the boat. - -Kane made a smooth takeoff. In minutes we were beyond the atmosphere, -Earth was a great glowing shield of cloudy blue behind us, and the -stars were bitter bright against darkness. We sent a coded call -signal and got a directional beam from the ship. Before long we were -approaching it. - -I studied the lean black cruiser. She seemed to be of about the same -design as the old Solarian interplanetary ships, modified somewhat to -accommodate the star drive. Apparently, she was one of those built -at Main Base. Her bow guns were dark shadows against the clotted -cold silver of the Milky Way. I thought of the death and the ruin -which could flame from them, I thought of the hell she and her kind -bore--atomic bombs, radiodust bombs, chemical bombs, disease bombs, -gravity snatchers, needle beams, disintegrative shells, darkness and -doom and the new barbarism--and felt a stiffening within me. Fostering -this murderousness was a frightful risk. The main defense against it -was Intelligence, and that depended on agents like myself. Perhaps -_only_ myself. - -The crew was rather small, no battles being anticipated. But they were -well disciplined, uniformed and trained, a new Solarian army built up -from the fragments of the old. The captain was a stiff gray German who -had been a leader in the earlier revolt and since fled to space, but -most of the officers, such as Kane, were young and violent in their -eagerness. - -We orbited around the planet for another day or so till all the boats -had returned. There was tension in the ship--if the Imperial navy -should happen to spot us, we were done. Off duty, we would sit around -talking, smoking, playing games with little concentration. - -Kane spent most of his free hours with Barbara. They had much to talk -about. I swallowed a certain irrational jealousy and wandered around -cautiously pumping as many men as I could. - -We got under way at last. By this time I had learned that Main Base was -a planet, but no more. Only the highest leadership of the Legion knew -its location, and they were pledged to swallow the poison they always -carried if there seemed to be any danger of capture. - -For several days by the clocks we ran outward, roughly toward Draco. -Our velocity was not revealed, and the slow shift in the outside view -didn't help much. I guess that we had come perhaps ten parsecs, but -that was only a guess. - -"_Approaching Main Base. Stand by._" - - * * * * * - -When the call rang hollowly down the ship's passageways, I could feel -the weariness and tautness easing, I could see homecoming in the faces -around me. I stole a glance at Barbara. Her eyes were wide and her lips -parted, she looked ahead as if to stare through the metal walls. She -had never been here either, here where all her dreams came home. - -So we landed, we slipped down out of the dark and the cold and the -void, and I heard the rattle and groan of metal easing into place. -When the ship's interior grav-field was turned off, I felt a sudden -heaviness; this world had almost a quarter again the pull of Earth. But -people got used to that quickly enough. It was the landscape which was -hard to bear. - -They had told us that even though Boreas had a breathable atmosphere -and a temperature not always fatally low, it was a bleak place. But to -one who had never been far from the lovely lands of Earth, its impact -was like a blow in the face. Barbara shuddered close to me as we came -out of the airlock, and I put an arm about her waist, knowing the -sudden feeling of loneliness which rose in her. - - * * * * * - -Save for the spaceport and other installations, Main Base was -underground. There was no city to relieve the grimness of the scene. -We were in a narrow valley between sheer, ragged cliffs that soared -crazily into a murky sky. The sun was low, a smouldering disc of dull -red like curdling blood; its sullen light glimmered on the undying snow -and ice and seemed only to make the land darker. Stars glittered here -and there in the dusky heavens, hard and bright and cruel, almost, as -in space. - -Dark sky, dark land, dark world, with the sheer terrible mountains -climbing gauntly for the upper gloom, crags and glaciers like fangs -against the dizzy cliffs, with the great shadows marching across the -bloody snow toward us, with a crazed wind muttering and whining and -chewing at our flesh. It was cold. The cold was like a knife. Pain -stung with every breath and eyes watered with tears that froze on -suddenly numb cheeks. A great shudder ripped through us and we ran -toward the entrance to the city. The snow crunched dry and old under -our boots, the cold ate up through the soles, and the wind whistled its -scorn. - -Even when an elevator had taken us a mile down into the warmth and -light of the base, we could not forget. It was a city for a million -men and other beings and more than a few women and children, a city -of long streets and small neat apartments, hydroponic farms and food -synthesizers, schools, shops and amusement places, factories, military -barracks and arsenals, even an occasional little flower garden. Its -people could live here almost indefinitely, working and waiting for -their day of rising. - -There was little formality in the civilian areas. Everyone who had come -this far was trusted. A man came up to us new arrivals from Earth, -asked about conditions there, and then said he would show us to our -quarters. Later we would be told to whom we should report for duty. - -"Let's go, then, Con," said Barbara, and slipped a cool little hand -into mine. I could not refrain from casting a smug backward glance at -the somewhat chapfallen Kane. - - -V - -We slipped quickly into the routine of the place. It was a -taut-nerved, hard-working daily round. I could feel the savage -expectancy building up like a physical force, but intelligent life is -adaptable and we got used to it. There was work to do. - -Hawkins was second in command of the psychological service, testing -and screening and treating personnel, working on training and -indoctrination, and with a voice in the general staff where problems -of unit coordination and psychological warfare were concerned. -Barbara worked under him, secretary and records keeper and general -trouble-shooter. Those were high posts, but both were allowed to retain -the nominally civilian status which they preferred. - -Their influence and my own test scores got me appointed assistant -supervisor of the shipyards. That suited me very well--I was reasonably -free from direct orders and discipline, with authority to come and go -pretty much as I pleased. They kept me busy; sometimes I worked the -clock around, and I did my best to further production of the weapons -which might destroy my planet. For whatever I did would make little -difference at this late date. - -A good deal of my time also went to drill with the armed forces of -which, like every able-bodied younger man, I was a reserve member. -They put me in an engineer unit and I soon had command of it. I did -my best here too, whipping my grim young charges into a sapper group -comparable to the Empire's, for I had to be above all suspicion, even -of incompetence. - -We worked at our learning. We went topside and shivered and manned -our guns, set our mines and threw up our bridges, in the racking cold -of Boreas. Over ancient snow and ice we trotted, lost in the jumbled -wilderness of cruel peaks and railing wind, peeling the skin from our -fingers when we touched metal, camped under scornful stars and a lash -of drifting ice-dust--but we learned! - -My own, more private education went on apace. I found where we were. -It was a forgotten red dwarf star out near the shadowy border of the -Empire, listed in the catalogues as having one Class III planet of no -interest or value. That was a good choice; no spaceship would ever -happen into this system by accident or exploration. The anarchs had -built their hopes on the one lonely planet, and had named it Boreas -after the god of the north wind in one of their mythologies. My company -called it less complimentary things. - -The base, including the attached city, was under military command -which ultimately led up to the general staff of the Legion. This -was a council of officers from half a score of rebellious planets, -though Earthlings predominated and, of course, Simon Levinsohn held -the supreme authority. I met him a few times, a gaunt, lonely man, -enormously able, ridden by his cause as by a nightmare, but not -unkindly on a personal level. With just that indomitable heart, -the Maccabees had faced Rome's iron legions--Valgolia was greatly -interested in the ancient history of a conquered province, knowing how -often it held the key to current problems. - -There was also a liaison officer from Luron sitting at staff meetings. -Luron! - - * * * * * - -When I first saw him, this Colonel Wergil, I stood stiff and cold and -felt the bristling along my spine. He looked as humanoid as most of -the races at the base. Hairless, faintly scaled greenish-yellow skin, -six fingers to a hand, and flat chinless face don't make that breed -hideous to me; I have reckoned Ganolons and Mergri among my friends. -But Luron--the old and deadly rival, the lesser empire watching its -chance to pounce on us, hating us for the check we are on the ambitions -of their militarists, Luron. - -I have no race prejudices and am willing to take the word of our -comparative psychologists that there is no more inherent evil in the -Luronians than in any other stock, that the peculiar cold viciousness -of their civilization is a matter of unfortunate cultural rather than -biological evolution and could be changed in time. But none of this -alters the fact that at present they are what they are, brilliant, -greedy, heartless, and a menace to the peace of the Galaxy. I have been -too long engaged in the struggle between my nation and theirs to think -otherwise. - -Other states had sent some clandestine help to the Legion, weapons and -money and vague promises. Luron, I soon found, had said it would attack -us in full strength if the uprising showed a good chance of success, -and meanwhile, they gave assistance, credits and materiel and the still -more important machine tools, and Wergil's military advice was useful. - -I know now, as I suspected even then, that Levinsohn and his associates -were not fooled as to Luron's ultimate intentions. Indeed, they -planned to make common cause with what remained of Valgolia, as well -as certain other traditional foes of their present ally, as soon as -they had gained their objectives of independence, and stop any threat -of aggression from Luron. It was shrewdly planned, but such a shaky -coalition, still bleeding with the hurts and hatreds of a struggle just -ended, would be weaker than the Empire, and Luron almost certainly -would have sowed further dissension in it and waited for its decay -before striking. - -The Earthlings have a proverb to the effect that he who sups with the -Devil must use a long spoon. But they seemed to have forgotten it now. - -The attack, I learned, was scheduled for about four months from -the time the agents were recalled. The rebels were counting on the -Valgolian power being spread too thinly over the Empire to stand off -their massed assault on a few key points. Then, with the home planet -a radioactive ruin, with revolt in a score of planetary systems and -the ensuing chaos and communications breakdown, and with the Luronians -invading, the Imperial fleet and military would have to make terms with -the anarchs. - - * * * * * - -It would work. I knew with a dark chill that it would work. Unless -somehow I could get a warning out. That had to be done for more than -the protection of Epsilon Eridani, which, even in a surprise attack -could defend itself better than these conspirators realized. But all -bloodshed should be spared, if possible--and the rebellion did not yet -deserve to succeed, for the unity achieved thus far had been the unity -of a snake pit against a temporary enemy. - -Did it all rest on me? God of space, had the whole burden of history -suddenly fallen on _my_ shoulders? - -I didn't dare think about it. I forced the consequences of failure out -of my forebrain, back down into the unconscious, the breeding ground of -nightmares, and lived from one day to the next. I worked, and waited, -learned what I could and watched for my chance. - -But it was not all grimness and concentration. It couldn't be; -intelligent life just isn't built that way. We had our social -activities, small gatherings or big parties, we relaxed and played. -At first I found that gratifying, for it gave me a chance to pump the -others. Then I found it maddening, because it kept me from snooping -and laying plans. Finally it began to hurt--I was coming to know the -anarchs. - -They lived and laughed and loved even as humans do. They were basically -as decent and reasonable as any similar group of Valgolians. Many were -as tormented as I by the thought of the slaughter they readied. There -were embittered ones, who had lost all they held dear, and I realized -that, while civilization has its price, you can't be objective about it -when you are the one who must pay. There were others who had been well -off and had chucked all their hopes to join a desperate cause in which -they happened to believe. There were children--and what had they done -to deserve having their parents gambling away life? - -In spite of their appearance, to which I was now accustomed, they were -_human_. When I had laughed and talked and sung and drunk beer and -danced and arranged entertainments with them, they were my friends. - -Moodily, I began to see that I would be one of the price-payers. - -I saw most of Hawkins and Barbara, and after them--because of -her--Kane. The old psychologist and I got along famously. He would drop -into my room for a smoke and a cup of coffee and a drawled conversation -whenever he had the chance. His slow gentle voice, his trenchancy, -the way the little crinkles appeared around his eyes when he smiled, -reminded me of my father. I often wish those two could have met. They -would have enjoyed each other. - -Then Barbara would stop by on her way from work, or, better yet, she -would ask me over to her apartment for a home-cooked dinner. Yes, she -could cook too. We would sometimes take long walks down the corridors -of the city, we even went up once in a while to the surface for a -breath of cold air and loneliness, and it was the most natural thing in -the world for us to go hand in hand. - -There was no sunlight underground. But when the fluorotube glow shone -on her hair, I thought of sunlight on Earth, the high keen light of the -Colorado plateaus, the morning light stealing through the trees of Hood -Island. - -_Ydis, Ydis, I said, once your violet eyes were like the skies over -Kalariho, over Kealvigh, our home, pasture land of winds. But it has -been so long. It has been ten years since you died--_ - -I fought. May all the gods bear witness that I fought myself. And I -thought I was winning. - - -VI - -I will never forget one certain evening. - -Hawkins and I had come over to Barbara's for supper, and the three of -us were sitting now, talking. Wieniawski's Violin Concerto cried its -sorrow, muted in the background, and the serene home she had made of -the bare little functional apartment folded itself around us. Then Kane -dropped in as he often did, with a casualness that fooled nobody, and -sat with all his soul in his eyes, looking at Barbara. He was a nice -kid. I didn't know why he should annoy me so. - -The talk shifted to Valgolia. I found myself taking the side of my -race. It wasn't that I hoped to convert anyone, but--well, it was wrong -that we should be monsters in the sight of these friends. - -"Brutes," said Kane. "Two-legged animals. Damned bald-headed, -copper-skinned giants. Wouldn't be quite so bad if they were octopi or -insects, but they're just enough different from us to be a caricature. -It's obscene." - -"Sartons look like a dirty joke on mankind," I said. "Why don't you -object to them?" - -"They're in the same boat as us." - -"Then why mix political and esthetic prejudices? And have you ever -thought that you look just as funny to an Eridanian?" - -"No race should look odd to another," said Nat Hawkins. He puffed blue -clouds. "Even by our standards, the redskins are handsome, in a more -spectacular way than humans, maybe." - -"And Barbara," I smiled, with a curious little pang inside me, "would -look good to any humanoid." - -"I should think so," said Kane sulkily. "The redskins took enough of -our women." - -"Well," I said, "their original conquistadores were young and healthy, -very far from home, and had just finished a hard campaign where they -lost many friends. At least there were no half-breeds afterward. And -since the reconquest none of their soldiers has been permitted to have -anything to do with an Earthwoman against her consent. It's not their -fault if the consent is forthcoming oftener than you idealists think." - -"That sort of thing was more or less standard procedure at home with -them, wasn't it?" asked Hawkins. - - * * * * * - -I nodded. "The harshness of their native world forced them to develop -their technology faster than on Earth, so they kept a lot of barbarian -customs well into the industrial age. For instance, the rulers of the -state that finally conquered all the others and unified the planet took -the title _Waelsing_, Emperor, and it's still a monarchy in theory. -But a limited monarchy these days, with parliamentary democracy and -even local self-government of the town-meeting sort. They're highly -civilized now." - -"I wouldn't call that spree of conquest they went on exactly civilized." - -"Well, just for argument's sake, let's try to look at it from their -side," I answered. "Here their explorers arrived at Sol, found a system -richer than they could well imagine--and all the wealth being burned up -in fratricidal war. Their technical power was sufficiently beyond ours -so that any band of adventurers could do pretty much as it wanted in -the Solar System, and all native states were begging for their help. It -was inevitable that they'd mix in. - -"Sure, the Eridanians have been exploiting Solarian resources, though -perhaps more wisely than we did. Sure, they garrison unwilling -planets. But from their point of view, they're slowly civilizing a race -of atomic-powered savages, and taking no more than their just reward -for it. Sure, they've done hideous things, or were supposed to have, -but there've been plenty of reforms in their policy since our last -revolt. They've adopted the--the red man's burden." - -"Could be. But Sol wasn't their only conquest." - -"Oh, well, of course they had their time of all-out imperialism. There -are still plenty of the old school around, starward the course of -empire, keep the lesser breeds in their place, and so on. That's one -reason why the highest posts are still reserved for members of their -own race, another being that even the liberal ones don't trust us that -far, yet. - -"Their first fifty years or so saw plenty of aggression. But then they -stabilized. They had as much as they could manage. To put it baldly, -the Empire is glutted. And now, without actually admitting they ever -did wrong, they're trying to make up what they did to many of their -victims." - -"They could do that easily enough. Just let us go free." - - * * * * * - -"I've already told you why they don't dare. Apart from fearing us, -they're economically and militarily dependent on their colonies. You're -an American, Nat. Why didn't our nation let the South go its own way -when it wanted to secede? Why don't we all go back to Europe and let -the Indians have our country? - -"And, of course, Epsilon Eridani honestly thinks it has a great -civilizing mission, and is much better for the natives than any lesser -independence could ever be. In some cases, you've got to admit they're -right. Have you ever seen a real simon-pure native king in action? Or -read the history of nations like Germany and Russia? And why do we -have to segregate races and minorities even in our own organization to -prevent clashes?" - -"We're getting there," said Nat Hawkins. "It's not easy, but we'll make -it." - -_Only you're not there yet_, I thought, _and for that reason you must -be stopped_. - -"You claim they're sated," said Barbara. "But they've kept on -conquering here and there, to this very day." - -"Believe it or not, but with rare exceptions that's been done -reluctantly. Peripheral systems have learned how to build star ships, -become nuisances or outright menaces, and the Empire has had to swallow -them. Modern technology is simply too deadly for anarchy. A full-scale -war can sterilize whole planets. That's another function of empire, so -the Eridanians claim--just to keep civilization going till something -better can be worked out." - -"Such as what?" - -"Well, several worlds already have _donagangor_ status--self-government -under the Emperor, representatives in the Imperial Council, and no -restrictions on personal advancement of their citizens. Virtual -equality with the Valgolians. And their policy is to grant such status -to any colony they think is ready for it." - -Hawkins shook his head. "Won't do, Con. It sounds nice, but old Tom -Jefferson had the right idea. 'If men must wait in slavery until they -are ready for freedom, they will wait long indeed.'" - -"Who said we were slaves--" I began. - -"You talk like a damned reddie yourself," said Kane. "You seem to think -pretty highly of the Empire." - - * * * * * - -I gave him a cold look. "What do you think I'm doing here?" I snapped. - -"Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I'm kind of tired. Maybe I'd better go now." Before -long Kane made some rather moody good nights and went out. - -Nat Hawkins twinkled at me. "I'm a little bushed myself," he said. -"Guess I'll hit the bunk too." - -When he was gone, I sat smoking and trying to gather up the will to -leave. There was a darkness in me. What, after all, _was_ I doing -here? Gods, I believed I was in the right, but why is right so pitiless? - -On Earth they represent the goddess of justice as blind. On Valgolia -she has fangs. - -Barbara came over and sat on the arm of my chair. "What's the matter, -Con?" she asked. "You look pretty grim these days." - -"My work's developing some complications," I said tonelessly. My -mind added: _It sure is. No way to call headquarters, the rebellion -gathering enormous momentum, and on a basis of treachery and racial -hatred._ - -Barbara's fingers rumpled my hair, the grafted hair which by now felt -more a part of me than my own lost crest. "You're an odd fellow," she -said quietly. "On the surface so frank and friendly and cheerful, and -down underneath you're hiding yourself and your private unhappiness." - -"Why," I looked up at her, astonished, "even the psychologists--" - -"They're limited, Con. They can measure, but they can't feel. Not the -way--" - -She stopped, and the light glowed in her hair and her eyes were wide -and serious on mine and one small hand stole over to touch my fingers. -Blindly, I wrenched my face away. - -Her voice was low. "It's some other woman, isn't it?" - -"Other--? Well, no. There was one, but she's dead now. She died ten -years ago." - -_Ydis, Ydis!_ - -"Your wife?" - -I nodded. "We were only married for three years. My daughter is still -alive; she's going on twelve now. But I haven't seen her for over two -years. She's not on Earth. I wonder if she even thinks of me." - -"Con," said Barbara, very softly and gravely, "you can't go on mourning -a woman forever." - -"I'm not. Forget it. I shouldn't have spoken about it." - -"You needed to. That's all right." - -"My girl ought to have a mother--" The words came of themselves. What -followed thereafter seemed also to happen without my willing it. - -Presently Barbara stood back from me. She was laughing, low and sweet -and joyous. "Con, you old sourpuss, cheer up! It isn't that bad, you -know!" - -I managed a wry grin, though it seemed to need all the energies left in -me. "You look so happy your fool self that I have to counter-balance -it." - -"Con, if you knew how I'd been hoping!" - -We talked for a long time, but she did most of it--the plans, the -hopes, the trip we were going to take and the house we were going to -build down by the seashore--"Mary," my daughter, was going to have -a home, along with the dozen brothers and sisters she'd have in due -course--after the war. - -After the war. - -I left, finally, stumbling like a blind man toward my quarters. Oh, -yes, I loved her and she loved me and we were going to have a home and -a sailboat and a dozen children, after the war, when Earth was free. -What more could a man ask for? - -It had been many years since I'd needed autohypnosis to put myself to -sleep, but I used it now. - - -VII - -A month passed. - -The delay was partly due to the slowness with which I had to work, -even after a plan had been laid. I could only do a little at a time, -and the times had to be well separated. Each day brought the moment of -onslaught closer, but I dared not hurry myself. If they caught me at my -work, there would be an end of all things. - -But I cannot swear that my own mind did not prompt me to an unnatural -slowness and caution. I was only human, and every day was one more -memory. - -They had all been very good to us; our friends had a party to celebrate -our engagement and we were universally congratulated and all the rest -of it. Yes, Kane was there too, shaking my hand and wishing me all the -luck in the world. Afterward he went back to his work and his pilot's -practice with a strange fierceness. - -If at times I fell into glum abstraction, well, I had always been a -little moody and Barbara could tease me out of it. Most of the times I -was with her, I didn't think about the future at all. - -There had been a certain deep inward coldness to her. She had carried -the old wound of her losses with bitter dignity. But as the days went -on, I saw less and less of it. She would even admit that individual -Valgolians might be fine fellows and that the Empire had done a few -constructive things for Earth. But it was more than a change of -attitude. She was thawing after a long winter, she laughed more, she -was wholly human now. - -_Human_-- - -We sat one evening, she and I, in one of the big lounges the base had -for its personnel. There were only one or two muted lights in the long -quiet room, a breathing of music, snatches of whispering like our own. -She sat close against me, and my lips kept straying down to brush her -hair and her cheek. - -"When we're married--" she said dreamily. Then all at once: "Con, what -are we waiting for?" - - * * * * * - -I looked at her in some surprise. - -"Con, why do we assume we can't get married before the war's over?" Her -voice was low and hurried, shaking just a little. "The base here has -chaplains. It's less than a month now till the business starts. God -knows what'll happen then. Either of us might be killed." I heard her -gulp. "Con, if they killed you--" - -"They won't," I said. "I'm kill-proof." - -"No, no. We have so little time, and it may be all we'll ever have. -Marry me now, darling, dearest, and at least there'll be something to -remember. Whatever comes, we'll have had that while." - -"I tell you," I insisted, with a sudden hideous dismay, "there's -nothing to worry about. Forget it." - -"Oh, I'm not asking for pity. I've more happiness now than is right. -Maybe that's why I'm afraid. But, Con, they killed my father and they -killed my mother and they killed Jimmy, and if they take you too, it'll -be more than I can stand." - -The savage woe of an old Earthly poet lanced through my brain: - - The time is out of joint - O cursèd spite, - That ever I was born - To set it right! - -And then, for just a moment, there came the notion of yielding. _You -love the girl, Conru. You love her so much it's a pain in you. Well, -take her! Marry her!_ - -No. I was not excessively tender of heart or conscience, but neither -was I that kind of scoundrel. - -I kissed her words away. Afterward, alone in the darkness of my room, -I realized that Conrad Haugen had no good reason to hang back. It was -true, all she said was true, and no other couple was waiting for an -uncertain future. - -It was the time for action. - - * * * * * - -I had been ready for days now, postponing the moment. And those days -were marching to the time of war, the rebels were quivering to go, a -scant few weeks at most lay between me and the ruin of Valgolian plans -and work and hope. - -In my steadily expanding official capacity, I could go anywhere and do -almost anything in an engineering line. So, bit by bit, I had tinkered -with the base's general alarm system. - -We had scoutships posted, of course, but by the very nature of things -they had to be close to the planet or an approaching enemy would slip -between them without detection. And the substantial vibrations of -a ship traveling faster than light do not arrive much ahead of the -ship itself. Whatever warning we had of a hypothetical assault would -be very short. It would be signaled to all of us by a siren on the -intercommunications system, and after that it would be battle stations, -naval units to their ships and all others to such ground defenses as we -had. - -But modern warfare is all to the offense. There is no way of stopping -an attack from space except by meeting it and annihilating it before -it gets to its destination. The rebels were counting on that fact to -aid them when they struck, but it would, of course, work against them -if their enemy should happen to hit first. Everyone was understandably -nervous about the chance of our being discovered and assailed. - -Working a little at a time, I had put a special switch in the general -alarm circuit. It showed up merely as one of many on a sector call -board near my room; no one was likely to notice it. And my quarters -were not those originally given me. I had moved to a smaller place -farther from Barbara, ostensibly to be near my work at the shipyards, -actually to be near the base's ultrabeam shack. - -Now it was time to act. - -I needed an excuse for not going to the gun turret where I was -assigned. That involved faking a serious fever, but like all -Intelligence men, I had been trained to full psychosomatic integration. -The same neural forces that in hysteria produce paralysis, stigmata, -and other real symptoms were under my conscious control. I thought -myself sick. By morning I was half delirious and my veins were on fire. - -The surgeon general came to see me. "What the hell's the trouble?" he -wondered. "This place is supposed to be sterile." - -"Maybe it's too damn sterile," I murmured with a perfectly genuine -weakness. Then, fighting the light-headedness that hummed and buzzed -in me: "_Tsitbu_ fever, Doc. I'm sure that's what it is." - -"Can't say I've ever heard of it." - -"You'll find it in your medical books." He would, too. "It's found -on the planet Sirius V, where I once visited. Filter-passing virus, -transmitted by airborne spores. Not contagious here. In humans it -becomes chronic; no ill effects except a few days' fever like this -every few years. Now go 'way and lemme die in peace." I closed my eyes -on the distorted and unreal world of sickness. - - * * * * * - -Later Barbara came in, pale and with her hair like a rumpled halo. I -had to assure her many times that I was all right and would be on my -feet in two or three days. Then she smiled and sat down on the bunk and -passed a cool palm over my forehead. - -"Poor Con," she said. "Poor squarehead." - -"I feel fine as long as you're here," I whispered. - -"Don't talk," she said. "Just go to sleep." She kissed me and sat -quiet. Hers was the rare gift of being a definite personality even when -silent and motionless. I clasped her hand and pretended to fall into -uneasy sleep. After a while she kissed me again, very softly, and went -out. - -I told my body to recover. It took time, hours of time, while the -stubborn cells retreated to a normal level of activity. I lay there -thinking of many things, most of them unpleasant. - -It was well into the night, the logical time to act even if the -factories did go on a twenty-four hour basis. - -I got up, still swaying a little with weakness, the dregs of the fever -ringing in my head. After I had vomited and swallowed a stimulant -tablet, I felt better. I put on my uniform, but substituted a plain -service jacket without insignia of rank for the tunic. That should make -me fairly inconspicuous in the confusion. - -Strength came. I glanced cautiously along the dim-lit corridor, and -it was empty and silent. I stole out and hurried toward the ultrabeam -shack. My hidden switch was on the way; I threw it and ran on with -lowered head. - -The siren screamed behind me, before me, around me, the howling of -all the devils in hell--_Hoo! hoo! Battle stations! Strange ships -approaching! Battle stations! All hands to battle stations! Hoo-oo!_ - -I could imagine the pandemonium that erupted, men boiling out of -factories and rooms, cursing and yelling and dashing frantically for -their posts--children screaming in terror, women white-faced with -sudden numbness--weapons manned, instruments sweeping the skies, -spaceships roaring heavenward, incoherent yelling on the intercoms to -find out who had given that signal. With luck, I would have fifteen -minutes or half an hour of safe insanity. - -A few men raced by me, on their way to the nearest missile rack. They -paid me no heed, and I hurried along my own path. - -The winding stair leading up to the ultrabeam shack loomed before me. -I went its length, three steps at a time, bounding and gasping with my -haste, up to the transmitter. - -It was the tenuous link binding together a score of rebel planets, the -only communication with the stars that glittered so coldly overhead. -The ultrabeam does not have an infinite velocity, but it does have -an unlimited speed, one depending solely on the frequency of the -generating equipment, and since it only goes to such receivers as are -tuned to its pattern--there must be at least one such tuned unit for -the generator to work--it has a virtually infinite range. So men can -talk between the stars, but are their words the wiser for that? - - * * * * * - -Up and up and up, round and round, up and up, metal clanging underfoot -and always the demon screech of the siren--up! - -I sprang from the head of the stairs and crossed the areaway in one -leap to the open door of the shack. There was only one operator on -duty, a slim boyish figure before the glittering panel. He didn't hear -me as I came behind him. I knocked him out with a calculated blow -to the base of the skull. He'd be unconscious for at least fifteen -minutes and that was time enough. I heaved his body out of the chair -and sat down. - -The unit was set for the complicated secret scrambler pattern of the -Legion, one which was changed periodically just in case. I twirled the -dials, adjusting for the pattern of the set I knew was kept tuned for -me at Vorka's headquarters. - -The set hummed, warming up. I lifted my eyes and stared into the naked -face of Boreas. The shack was above ground, itself dominated by the -skeletal tower of the transmitter, and a broad port revealed land and -sky. - -Overhead the stars were glittering, bright and hard and cruel, flashing -and flashing out of the crystal dark. The peaks rose on every side, -soaring dizziness of cliffs and ragged snarl of crags, hemming us in -with our tiny works and struggles. It was bitterly, ringingly cold out -there; the snow screamed when you walked on it; the snapping thunder of -frost-split rock woke the dull roar of avalanches, and there was the -wind, the old immortal wind, moaning and blowing and wandering under -the stars. I saw them running, little antlike men spilling from their -nest and racing across the snow before they froze. I saw the ships rise -one after the other and rush darkly skyward. The base had come alive -and was reaching up to defy the haughty stars. - -The set buzzed and whistled, warming up, muttering with the cosmic -interference whose source nobody knows. I began to speak into the -microphone, softly and urgently: "Calling Intelligence HQ, Sol III, -North America Center. Captain Halgan Conru calling North America -Center. Come in, Center, come in." - - * * * * * - -The receiver rustled with the thin dry voice of the stars. Dimly, I -could hear the wind outside, snarling around the walls. - -"Come in, Center. Come in, Center." - -"Captain Halgan!" The voice rattled into the waiting stillness of the -shack. "Captain Halgan, is it really you?" - -"Get General Vorka at once," I said. "Meanwhile, are you recording? All -right, be sure you get this." - -I told them everything I knew. I told them what planet this was, and -where we were on its surface, and what our strength and plans were. I -gave them the disposition of the scoutship pickets, as far as those -were known to me, and the standard Legion recognition signals. I -finished with an account of the savage differences still existing -between Earthman and Earthman, and Earth and its treacherous allies. -And all the time I was talking to a recording machine. Nobody was -listening. - -When I was through, I waited a minute, not feeling any particular -emotion. I was too tired. I sat there, listening to the wind and the -interstellar whistling, till Vorka spoke to me. - -"Halgan! Halgan, you've done it!" - -"Shut up," I said. "What's coming now?" - -"I checked the Fleet units. We have a Supernova with escort at Bramgar, -about fifteen light-years from where you are. You are at their base, -aren't you? Can you hold out for two days more?" - -"I think so." - -"Better get into the hills. We may have to bombard." - -"Go to hell." I turned off the set. - -Now to get back. They must already know it was a trick; they must be -scouring the base for the saboteur. As soon as all loyal men were back, -the hunt would really be on. - -I had, of course, worn gloves. There would be no fingerprints. And the -operator wouldn't know who had attacked him. - -I changed the scrambler setting to one picked at random. And in a -corner, as if it had fallen there by accident, I dropped a handkerchief -stolen from Wergil of Luron. The tiny fragments of tissue which -adhere to such a thing could easily be proven to be from him or one -of his associates, for the basic Luronian life-molecules are all -levo-rotatory. It might help. - -I slipped back down the stairs, quickly and quietly. It was over. -The base was as good as taken. But there was more to be done. Apart -from the saving of my own life, there was still a desperate need for -secrecy. For if the rebels knew what was coming, they might choose to -stand and fight, or they might flee into the roadless wildernesses of -space. Whichever it was, all our work and sacrifice would have gone for -little. - - * * * * * - -The provocateur policy is the boldest and most farsighted enterprise -ever undertaken. It is the first attempt to make history as we choose, -to control the great social forces we are only dimly beginning to -understand, so that intelligence may ultimately be its own master. - -Sure. Very fine and idealistic, and no doubt fairly true as well. But -there is death and treachery in it, loneliness and heartbreak, and the -bitterness of the betrayed. Have we the right to set ourselves up as -God? Can we really say, in our omniscience, that everyone but us is -wrong? There were sane, decent, intelligent folk here on Boreas, the -ones we needed so desperately for all civilization. Did we have to make -them our enemies, so that their grandchildren might be our friends? - -I didn't know. Wherever I turned, there were treason and injustice. -However hard I tried to do right, I had to wrong somebody. - -I ran on, back to my cabin. I peeled off my clothes and dived into -bed, and by the time they looked in on me I had worked back most of my -fever. - -Don't think, Conru. Don't think of this new victory and the safety of -the Empire. And, perhaps, a step closer to the harshly won unity of -Earth. Don't think of the way the light catches in Barbara's hair and -gets turned into molten gold. You've got a fever to create, man. You've -got to think yourself sick again. That ought to be easy. - - -VIII - -Barbara came in. She was white and still, and presently she leaned her -head against my breast and cried quietly, for a long time. - -"There is a spy here," she told me. - -"I heard about it." I stroked her hair and held her to me, clumsily. -"Do you know who it was?" - -"I don't know. Somehow, they seem to think the Luronians may be -guilty, but they aren't sure. They arrested them, and two were killed -resisting. Colonel Wergil is in the brig now, while they decide if -Luron can still be trusted." - -"It can't," I said. "Earth must win alone." - -"We'll win," she said dauntlessly. "With Luron or without it, we'll -win." Then, like a little frightened girl, creeping close to me: "But -we needed that help so much." - -I kissed her and remained silent. - -The next day I got on my feet again, weak but recovered. I wandered -aimlessly around the base, waiting for Barbara to get through work, -listening to people talk. It was ugly, the fear and tension and wolfish -watchfulness. _Whom can we trust? Who is the enemy?_ - -Mostly, they thought the Luronians were guilty. After all, those were -the only beings on the planet who had not had to pass a rigorous -investigation and psychological examination. But nobody was sure. - -Levinsohn spoke over the televisor. His gaunt, lined face had grown -very tired, yet there was metal in his voice. The new situation -necessitated a change of plans, but the time of assault would, if -anything, be moved ahead. "Be of good heart. Stand by your comrades. -We'll still be free!" - -I went to Barbara's apartment and we sat up very late. But even in this -private record I do not wish to say what we talked about. - - * * * * * - -And the next day the Empire came. - -There was one Supernova ship with light escort, but that was enough. -Such vessels have the mass of a large asteroid, and one of them can -sterilize a planet; two or three can take it apart. Theoretically, a -task force comprising twenty Nova-class battleships with escorts can -reduce one of those monsters if it is willing to lose most of its -units. But nothing less can even do significant damage, and the rebel -base did not have that much. Nor could they get even what they had into -full action. - -The ships rushed out of interstellar space, flashing the recognition -signals I had given. Before the picket vessels suspected what was -wrong, the Valgolians were on them. One managed to bleat a call to base -and the alarm screamed again, men rushed to battle stations. Then the -Imperials blanketed all communications with a snarl of interference -through which nothing the rebels had could drive. - -So naturally they were thought to have been annihilated in a few swift -blazes of fire and steel, a quick clean death and forgetfulness of -defeat. But only the drivers were crippled, and then the Supernova -yanked the vessels to its titan flanks and held them in unbreakable -gravity beams. The crews would be taken later, with narcotic gas or -paralyzer beams--alive. - -For the Empire needs its rebels. - -I knew the uselessness of going to battle stations, so I hung behind, -seeking out Barbara, whose place was with the missile computer bank. I -met her and Kane in the hallway. The boy's face was white, and there -were tears running down his cheeks. - -"This is the end," he said. "They've found us out, and there's nothing -left but to die. Good by, Barbara." He kissed her, wildly, and ran for -his ship. Moodily, I watched him go. He expected death, and he would -get only capture, and afterward-- - -"What are you doing here, Con?" asked Barbara. - -"I'm too shaky to be any good in the artillery. Let me go with you, I -can punch a computer." - -She nodded silently, and we went off together. - - * * * * * - -The floor shook under us, and a crash of rock roared down the halls. -The heavy weapons on the Supernova were bloodlessly reducing our ground -installations and our ships not yet in action to smashed rubble. They -would kill not a single one of us, except by uncontrollable accident, -and save many Valgolian and Earth lives that way, but it wasn't -pleasant to be slugged. The girl and I staggered ahead. When the lights -went out, I stopped and held her. - -"It's no use," I said. "They've got us." - -"Let me go!" she cried. - -I hung on, and suddenly she collapsed against me, crying and shaking. -We stood there with the city rumbling and shivering around us, waiting. - -Presently the Valgolian commander released the interference and -contacted Levinsohn, offering terms of surrender. It seemed to -Levinsohn, and it was meant to seem, that further resistance would be -useless butchery. His ships were gone and his foes need only bombard -him to ruin. He capitulated, and one by one we laid down our arms and -filed to meet the victors. - -The terms, as announced by messengers--the intercom was out of -action--were generous. Leading rebels and those judged potentially -"dangerous" would go to penal colonies on various Earthlike planets. -Except that they weren't penal colonies at all, but, of course, the -Earthlings wouldn't know this. They were indoctrination centers, and, -with all my bitterness, I still longed to observe a man like Levinsohn -after five years in one of the centers. He'd see things in a different -perspective. He'd see the Empire for what it was--even if I sometimes -had a little trouble seeing that now--and he'd be a better rebel for it. - -Someday Levinsohn and his kind would be back on Earth, the new leaders -ready to lead the way to a new tomorrow. And I would be with them. - -I'd be back with Levinsohn and the rest, and with Barbara, too, and -we'd try to pave the way to the peace and friendship. But meanwhile -there'd be other revolutions--striving and hoping and breaking their -hearts daring what they thought would be death to win what they called -freedom and what we hoped would be evolution. - -It was the fire to temper a new civilization. - -We walked down the hall, Barbara and I, hand in hand, alone in spite -of all the people who were shuffling the same way. Most of them were -weeping. But Barbara's head was high now. - -"What will happen to us?" she asked. - -"I don't know," I said. "But, Barbara, whatever happens after this, -remember that I love you. Remember that I'll always love you." - -"I love you too," she smiled, and kissed me. "We'll be together, Con. -That's all that matters. We'll be together." - -That was important--and it made me feel good. Yes, we'd be together; -I'd see to that. But for a while Barbara would hate me through all -the long years of the indoctrination. Someday, perhaps, she would -understand ... the indoctrination could do it, and I could help. But by -the gods of space, how would it be to take that hate all that while? - - * * * * * - -We came out into the central chamber where the prisoners were gathering -to be herded up to the ships. Armed Valgolian guards stood under the -glare of improvised lights. Other Imperials were going through the -city, flushing out those who might be hiding and removing whatever our -armed forces could use. The equipment would do no one any good here, -and Boreas would be left to its darkness. - -It was cold in the vast shadowy room. The heating plant had broken down -and the ancient cold of Boreas was seeping in. Barbara shivered and I -held her close to me. Nat Hawkins moved over to join us, wordlessly. - -I was questioned in a locked room by one of the big Valgolian officers. -He looked at a stereograph in his hand and he took me aside, but it was -not unusual. Many of the starbound prisoners were being questioned by -their guards, and I was merely one of them. - -"Colonel Halgan?" the officer asked with an eagerness close to -hero-worship. He was obviously fresh from school and military -terminology came from his lips as if it really meant something to a -Valgolian. The colonel, of course, meant that in a titular sense I had -been elevated for my work. Funny, if you use the language enough, you -get to believe it yourself. - -"Sir," the young officer continued, "this is one of the greatest pieces -of work I've ever seen. I am to extend the official congratulations -of--" - -I let him talk for a while and then I raised my hand peremptorily and I -told him that the girl with the Earthling Hawkins was to go along for -indoctrination, despite the fact that her name did not appear on his -lists. He nodded, and I went back to Barbara, but half a dozen men had -come between us. - -Levinsohn and five guards. The man's carriage was still erect, the old -unbreakable pride and courage were still in him. Someone among the -prisoners broke loose and rushed at him, cursing, till the Valgolians -thrust him back into line. - -"Levinsohn!" screamed the man. "Levinsohn, you dirty Jew, you sold us -out!" - -There you see why this rebellion had to be crushed. Earth still had a -long way to go. The Levinsohns, the Barbaras, the more promising of -the anarchs would be educated and returned and the civilizing process -would go on. Earth's best and bravest would unite and fight us, and -with each defeat they would learn something of what we had to teach -them, that all races, however divergent, must respect each other and -work together, learn it with an intensity which the merely intellectual -teaching of schools and propaganda could not achieve alone--or, at any -rate, soon enough. - -Valgolia is the great and lonely enemy, the self-appointed Devil since -none of us can be angels. It is the source of challenge and adversity -such as has always driven intelligence onward and upward, in spite of -itself. - -Sooner or later, generations hence, perhaps, all the subject worlds -will have attained internal unity, forgetting their very species in -a common bond of intelligence. And on that day Valgolia's work will -be done. She and her few friends, her _donagangors_, will seemingly -capitulate without a fight and become simply part of a union of free -and truly civilized planets. - -And such a union will be firmer and more enduring than all the -tyrant empires of the past. It will have the strength of a thousand -or more races, working together in the harmony which they achieved in -struggling against us. - - * * * * * - -That is the goal, but it is a long way ahead; there may be centuries -needed, and meanwhile Valgolia is alone. - -Barbara would understand. In time she would understand what she as yet -did not even know. But first would be the hatred, the cold stark hatred -that must come of knowing who and what I really am. I could only wait -for that hatred to come after she learned, and then wait for it to go, -slowly, slowly.... - -Lines of the Earthlings were filing forward, and, with Nat Hawkins, -Barbara waited for me. I walked to her and took her hand. Her head was -high, as high as Levinsohn's. She expected all of us to die, but she'd -meet the relatives and friends she thought were dead. - -It would be a great, a crushing humiliation, to know one's martyrs were -alive and being well treated and intensively educated by the foe, who -was supporting and encouraging one's supposedly dangerous revolution. - -"It won't be so bad as long as we're together, darling," I said. - -She smiled, misunderstanding, and kissed me defiantly before our -Valgolian guards. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Inside Earth, by Poul Anderson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INSIDE EARTH *** - -***** This file should be named 51184-8.txt or 51184-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/1/8/51184/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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