[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Two days later Velda's Council acted. They were going to give the Humans no more time to organize
counteraction. I went in the same spaceship that carried Trobt. I intended to give him any advice he
needed about the Worlds. I asked only that his first stop be at the Jason's Fleece fringe.
Beside us sailed a mighty armada of warships, spaced in a long line that would encompass the entire
portion of the galaxy occupied by the Ten Thousand Worlds. For an hour we moved ponderously
forward, then the stars about us winked out for an instant. The next moment a group of Worlds became
visible on the ship's vision screen. I recognized them as Jason's Fleece.
One World expanded until it appeared the size of a baseball. "Quagman," Trobt said.
Quagman, the trouble spot of the Ten Thousand Worlds. Dominated by an unscrupulous clique that
ruled by vendetta, it had been the source of much trouble and vexation to the other Worlds. Its leaders
were considered little better than brigands. They had received me with much apparent courtesy. In the
end they had even agreed to surrender to the Veldians when and if they appeared. I had accepted their
easy concurrence with askance, but they were my main hope.
Two Veldians left our ship in a scooter. We waited ten long, tense hours. When word finally came back
it was from the Quagmans themselves. The Veldian envoys were being held captive. They would be
released upon the delivery of two billion dollars in the currency of any recognized World and the
promise of immunity.
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20krui...g%20&%20Mark%20Tier%20-%20Give%20Me%20Liberty.html (138 of 203)22-2-2006 0:37:27
Give Me Liberty
The fools!
Trobt's face remained impassive as he received the message.
We waited several more hours. Both Trobt and I watched the green mottled baseball on the vision
screen. It was Trobt who first pointed out a small, barely discernible, black spot on the upper lefthand
corner of Quagman.
As the hours passed, and the black spot swung slowly to the right as the planet revolved, it grew almost
imperceptibly larger. When it disappeared over the edge of the world we slept.
In the morning the spot appeared again, and now it covered half the face of the planet. Another ten hours
and the entire planet became a blackened cinder.
Quagman was dead.
* * *
The ship moved next to Mican.
Mican was a sparsely populated prison planet. Criminals were usually sent to newly discovered Worlds
on the edge of the Human expansion circle, and allowed to make their own adjustments toward
achieving a stable government. Men with the restless natures that made them criminals on their own
highly civilized Worlds, made the best pioneers. However, it always took them several generations to
work their way up from anarchy to a co-operative government. Mican had not yet had that time. I had
done my best in the week I spent with them to convince them to organize, and to be prepared to accept
any terms the Veldians might offer. The gesture, I feared, was useless but I had given all the arguments I
knew.
A second scooter left with two Veldian representatives. When it returned Trobt left the control room to
speak with them.
He returned, and shook his head. I knew it was useless to argue.
Mican died.
At my request Trobt agreed to give the remaining Jason's Fleece Worlds a week to consider on the
condition that they made no offensive forays. I wanted them to have time to fully assess what had
happened to the other two Worlds to realize that that same stubbornness would result in the same
disaster for them.
At the end of the third twenty-four-hour period the Jason's Fleece Worlds surrendered unconditionally.
They had tasted blood; and recognized futility when faced with it. That had been the best I had been able
to hope for, earlier.
* * *
Each sector held off surrendering until the one immediately ahead had given in. But the capitulation was
complete at the finish. No more blood had had to be shed.
The Veldians' terms left the Worlds definitely subservient, but they were neither unnecessarily harsh,
nor humiliating. Velda demanded specific limitations on Weapons and war-making potentials; the
obligation of reporting all technological and scientific progress; and colonial expansion only by prior
consent.
There was little actual occupation of the Federation Worlds, but the Veldians retained the right to inspect
any and all functions of the various governments. Other aspects of social and economic methods would
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]