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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead World, by Jack Douglas

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Title: Dead World

Author: Jack Douglas

Illustrator: Barr

Release Date: December 26, 2008 [EBook #27631]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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DEAD WORLD

By JACK DOUGLAS

Illustrated by BARR

Out on the ice-buried planet, Commander Red Stone led his FreeCompanions to almost certain death. They died for a dangerousdream that had only one chance in a thousand trillion tocome true. Is there a better reason for dying?

... although the most recentstar to die, RNAC 89778 in thedistant Menelaus galaxy (commonname, Menelaus XII), hadeight inhabited planets, onlysome one thousand people of thefifth planet escaped and survivedas a result of a computer errorwhich miscalculated the exacttime by two years. Due to basicpsycho-philo maladjustments therefugees of Menelaus XII-5 areclassified as anti-social-types-B-6and must be considered unstable.All anti-social-types-B-6are barred from responsible positionsin United Galaxies by orderof the Inter-Galactic Council.

Short History of The United Galaxies

Yuan Saltario started it.He was serving in my Companyand he was one of them.A Menelaus XII-5 "unstable,"and don't ever call that damnedlittle planet by its number if youmeet one of them. They call itNova-Maurania. But you won'tmeet one of them. Or maybe youwill, maybe they did make it. Ilike to think they did.

There were a lot of them in theCompanies in 3078. Restless men.The Companies were the logicalplace for them. We're still classifiedanti-social-B-6, too. Everyyear it's harder to get recruits,but we still have to be carefulwho we take in. We took YuanSaltario. There was somethingabout him from the very start.

"Why do you want to join aFree Company?" He was a short,humanoid type with deep blackeyes and a thin, lipless mouththat never smiled.

"I'm an anti-social. I like tofight. I want to fight."

"A misfit joining the misfits?A grudge against the Council?It's not good enough, mister, welive on the Council. Try again."

Saltario's black eyes staredwithout a flicker. "You're RedStone, Commander of the RedCompany. You hate the Counciland I hate the Council. You'rethe ..." Saltario stopped.

I said, "The Traitor of theGlorious War of Survival. Youcan say it, Saltario."

The lipless mouth was rigid."I don't think of it that way.I think of a man with personalintegrity," Saltario said.

I suppose I should have seenit then, the rock he carried deepinside him. It might have savedthirty thousand good men. ButI was thinking of myself. CommanderRed Stone of the RedCompany, Earthmen. Only we'renot all Earthmen now, every yearthere are fewer recruits, and itwon't be long before we die outand the Council will have the lastlaugh. Old Red Stone, the Traitorof the War of Survival, the littlefinger of my left hand still missingand telling the Universe Iwas a very old soldier of the outlawedFree Companies hangingonto life on a rocky planet of thedistant Salaman galaxy. Back atthe old stand because UnitedGalaxies still need us. In a wayit's a big joke. Two years afterRajay-Ben and I had a bellyfullof the Glorious War of Survivaland they chased us all the wayout here, they turned rightaround and made the peace. Ajoke on me, but sometimes I liketo think that our runout was thething that made them think andmake peace. When you've been asoldier for thirty-five years youlike to win battles, but you like tofeel you helped bring peace, too.

I said, "Personal integrity.That sounds pretty good, doesn'tit? So you like personal integrity?All right, Saltario, are yousure you know what you're gettinginto? We're 60 million lightyears from Galaxy Center, 10million from the nearest UnitedGalaxy city. We've got no comforts,no future, nothing to dobut fight. A woman in her rightmind won't look at us, if they seeyou in uniform they'll spit onyou, if they catch you out of uniformthey'll kill you."

Saltario shrugged. "I like toeat. I've got nowhere to go. AllI've got is myself and a big pieceof ice I called home."

I nodded. "Okay. We fightsmall wars for good profits. It'snot Earth out here, but we've gotfour nice suns, plenty of Lukanianwhisky Rajay-Ben taught thelocals to make, and we're our ownmasters. The United Galaxiesleaves us pretty much alone unlessthey need us. You do yourjob, and your job is what I tellyou to do, period. You got thatstraight?"

Saltario very nearly smiled."It sounds good to me, sir."

"I hope it'll sound good ina year, Saltario, because onceyou're in you don't get out exceptfeet first. Is that clear? I havelife and death rights over you.You owe allegiance to the RedCompany and me and to no oneelse. Got that? Today your bestfriends are the men of Rajay-Ben'sLukanian Fourth Free Patrol,and your worst enemies arethe men of Mandasiva's Sirian OCompany. Tomorrow Rajay-Ben'sboys may be your worstenemies, and Mandasiva's troopsyour best friends. It all dependson the contract. A Company onthe same contract is a friend, aCompany against the contract isan enemy. You'll drink with aman today, and kill him tomorrow.Got it? If you kill a FreeCompanion without a contractyou go to court-martial. If youkill a citizen of the United Galaxiesexcept in a battle under contractI throw you to the wolvesand that means you're finished.That's the way it is."

"Yes, sir." Saltario nevermoved a muscle. He was rigid.

"Right," I said, "get your gear,see the Adjutant and sign theagreement. I think you'll do."

Saltario left. I sat back in mychair and thought about howmany non-Earthmen I was takinginto the Company. Maybe Ishould have been thinking aboutthis one single non-Earthmanand the something he was carryinginside him, but I didn't, andit cost the Companies thirtythousand men we couldn't affordto lose. We can't afford to loseone man. There are only a hundredCompanies now, twentythousand men each, give or takea few thousand depending onhow the last contract went. Lifeis good in the United Galaxiesnow that they've disarmed andoutlawed all war again, and ourbreed is dying out faster than itdid in the 500 years of peace beforethe War of Survival. Toomany of the old Companions likeme went west in the War of Survival.The Galactic Council knowthey need us, know that you can'tchange all living creatures intogood Galactic citizens overnight,so they let us go on fighting foranyone in the Universe whowants to take something fromsomeone else, or who thinkssomeone else wants to take somethingfrom him. And even themighty United Galaxies needsguards for expeditions to the unexploredgalaxies. But they don'tlike us and they don't want us.They don't cut off our little fingersanymore, but we have towear our special black uniformswhen we go into United territoryunder penalty of a quick death.Humane, of course, they just putus to sleep gently and for keeps.And they've got a stockpile ofionic bombs ready at all times incase we get out of hand. We don'thave ionic weapons, that's partof the agreement and they watchus. They came close to usingthem down there in the frozenwaste of Menelaus XII, but thirtythousand of us died withoutionics. We killed each other. Theyliked that, even if they didn't likewhat happened.

Do you know what it means tobe lost? Really lost? I'm lost,if that means I know I'll nevergo back to live on Earth. But Iknow that Earth is still there togo back to, and I can dream ofgoing home. Yuan Saltario andthe other refugees have no hometo go back to. They can't evendream. They sat in that one shipthat escaped and watched theirplanet turn into a lifeless ball ofice that would circle dead andfrozen forever around its burned-outstar. A giant tomb that carriedunder its thick ice theirhomes and their fields and theirloves. And they could not evenhope and dream. Or I did notthink they could.

Saltario had been with us ayear when we got the contract toescort the survey mission toNova-Maurania. A private Earthcommercial mining firm lookingfor minerals under the frozenwastes of the dead planet. Rajay-Benwas in on the contract. Wetook two battalions, one frommy Red Company, and one fromRajay-Ben's Lukanian Patrol. MySub-Commander was Pete Colenso,old Mike Colenso's boy. Itall went fine for a week or so,routine guard and patrol. Thesurvey team wouldn't associatewith us, of course, but we wereused to that. We kept our eyesopen and our mouths shut.That's our job, and we give valuefor money received. So we werealert and ready. But it wasn't theattack that nearly got us thistime. It was the cold of the deadplanet lost in absolute zero andabsolute darkness.

Nova-Maurania was nearly 40percent uranium, and who couldresist that? A Centaurian tradingunit did not resist the lure.The attack was quick and hard.A typical Lukanian Patrol attack.My Company was pinneddown at the first volley fromthose damned smoky blasters ofthe Lukanians. All I could seewas the same shimmering lightsI had learned to know so well inthe War of Survival against Lukania.Someday maybe I'll findout how to see a Lukan, Rajay-Benhas worked with me a longtime to help, but when the attackcame this time all I could do waseat ice and beam a help call toRajay-Ben. That Centauriantrading unit was a cheap outfit,they had hired only one battalionof Arjay-Ben's Ninth LukanianFree Patrol, and Rajay-Benflanked them right off that planet.I got my boys on their feetand we chased Arjay's men halfway back to Salaman with Rajay-Benlaughing like a hyena thewhole way.

"Dip me in mud, Red boy, I'dgive a prime contract for onegander at old Arjay-Ben's face.He's blowing a gasket!"

I said, "Nice flank job."

Rajay-Ben laughed so hard Icould see his pattern of coloredlight shaking like a dancing rainbow."I took two Sub-Commanders,wait'll I hit that bullet-headfor ransom!"

Then we stopped laughing. Wehad won the battle, but Arjay-Benwas a crafty old soldier andhis sabotage squad had wreckedour engines and our heatingunits. We were stuck on a frozenplanet without heat.

Young Colenso turned white."What do we do?"

I said, "Beam for help and praywe don't freeze first."

They had missed our smallcommunications reactor unit.We sent out our call, and we allhuddled around the small reactor.There might be enough heatout of it to let us live five hours.If we were lucky. It was the thirdhour when Yuan Saltario beganto talk. Maybe it was the nearnessof death.

"I was twenty-two. Portariowas the leader on our planet. Hefound the error when we had oneship ready. We had three days.No time to get the other shipsready. He said we were lucky, theother planets didn't have evenone ship ready. Not even time forUnited Galaxies to help. Portariochose a thousand of us to go. Iwas one. At first I felt very good,you know? I was really happy.Until I found out that my wifecouldn't go. Not fit enough. UnitedGalaxies had beamed thestandards to us. Funny how youdon't think about other peopleuntil something hurts you. I'dbeen married a year. I told them itwas both of us or neither of us.I told Portario to tell United Galaxiesthey couldn't break up afamily and to hell with theirstandards. They laughed at me.Not Portario, the Council. Whatdid they care, they would justtake another man. My wife beggedme to go. She cried so muchI had to agree to go. I loved hertoo much to be able to stay and seethe look on her face as we bothdied when she knew I could havegone. On the ship before we tookoff I stood at a port and lookeddown at her. A small girl tryingto smile at me. She waved once beforethey led her away from therocket. All hell was shaking theplanet already, had been formonths, but all I saw was a smallgirl waving once, just once. She'sstill here, somewhere down thereunder the ice."

The cold was slowly creepinginto us. It was hard to move mymouth, but I said, "She lovedyou, she wanted you to live."

"Without her, without myhome, I'm as dead as the planet.I feel frozen. She's like thatdead sun out there, and I'll circlearound her until someone getsme and ends it." Saltario seemedto be seeing something. "I'm beginningto forget what shelooked like. I don't want to forget!I can't forget her on thisplanet. The way it was! It was abeautiful place, perfect! I don'twant to forget her!"

Colenso said, "You won't havelong to remember."

But Colenso was wrong. MyThird Battalion showed up whenwe had just less than an hour tolive. They took us off. The Earthmining outfit haggled over thecontract because the job had notbeen finished and I had to settlefor two-third contract price.Rajay-Ben did better when heransomed Arjay-Ben's two Sub-Commanders.It wasn't a baddeal and I would have been satisfied,except that something hadhappened to Yuan Saltario.

Maybe it made him realize thathe did not want to die after all.Or maybe it turned him space-happyand he began to dream.A dream of his own born upthere in the cold of his deadplanet. A dream that nearly costme my Company.

I did not know what thatdream was until Saltario cameinto my office a year later. He hada job for the Company.

"How many men?" I asked.

"Our Company and Rajay-Ben'sPatrol," Saltario said.

"Full strength?"

"Yes, sir."

"Price?"

"Standard, sir," Saltario said."The party will pay."

"Just a trip to your old planet?"

"That's all," Saltario said. "Aguard contract. The hiring partyjust don't want any interferencewith their project."

"Two full Companies? Fortythousand men? They must expectto need a lot of protecting."

"United Galaxies opposes theproject. Or they will if they getwind of it."

I said, "United opposes a lot ofthings, what's special about thisscheme?"

Saltario hesitated, then lookedat me with those flat black eyes."Ionics."

It's not a word you say, orhear, without a chill somewheredeep inside. Not even me and Iknow a man can survive ionicweapons. I know because I didonce. Weapons so powerful I'mone of the last men alive who sawthem in action. Mathematicallythe big ones could wipe out aGalaxy. I saw a small one destroya star in ten seconds. I watchedSaltario for a long time. Itseemed a long time, anyway. Itwas probably twenty seconds. Iwas wondering if he had gonespace-crazy for keeps. And I wasthinking of how I could find outwhat it was all about in time tostop it.

I said, "A hundred Companieswon't be enough. Saltario, haveyou ever seen or heard what anionic bomb can ..."

Saltario said, "Not weapons,peaceful power."

"Even that's out and you knowit," I said. "United Galaxieswon't even touch peaceful ionics,too dangerous to even use."

"You can take a look first."

"A good look," I said.

I alerted Rajay-Ben and wetook two squads and a small shipand Saltario directed us to a tallmountain that jutted a hundredfeet above the ice of Nova-Maurania.I was not surprised. In away I think I knew from the momentSaltario walked into myoffice. Whatever it was Saltariowas part of it. And I had a prettygood idea what it was. The onlyquestion was how. But I didn'thave time to think it out anyfarther. In the Companies youlearn to feel danger.

The first fire caught four ofmy men. Then I was down on theice. They were easy to see. Blackuniforms with white wedges.Pete O'Hara's White WedgeCompany, Earthmen. I don't likefighting other Earthmen, but ajob's a job and you don't askquestions in the Companies. Itlooked like a full battalionagainst our two squads. On thesmooth ice surface there was nocover except the jutting mountaintop off to the right. And nolight in the absolute darkness ofa dead star. But we could seethrough our viewers, and so couldthey. They outnumbered us ten toone. Rajay-Ben's voice camethrough the closed circuit.

"Bad show, Red, they got ourpants down!"

"You call it," I answered.

"Break silence!"

Surrender. When a Companybreaks silence in a battle itmeans surrender. There was noother way. And I had a prettygood idea that the Council itselfwas behind O'Hara on this job.If it was ionics involved, theywouldn't ransom us. The Councilhad waited a long time to catchRed Stone in an execution offense.They wouldn't miss.

But forty of our men weredown already.

"Okay," I beamed over the circuit,"break silence. We've had itRajay."

"Council offense, Red."

"Yeah."

Well, I'd had a lot of goodyears. Maybe I'd been a soldiertoo long. I was thinking just likethat when the sudden flank attackstarted. From the right.Heavy fire from the cover of thesolitary mountain top. O'Hara'smen were dropping. I staredthrough my viewer. On thatmountain I counted the uniformsof twenty-two different Companies.That was very wrong. WhoeverSaltario was fronting forcould not have the power or thegold to hire twenty-four Companiesincluding mine and Rajay-Ben's.And the fire was heavy butnot that heavy. But whoever theywere they were very welcome.We had a chance now. And I wasmaking my plans when the tallold man stood up on the small,jutting top of that mountain.The tall old man stood up and atranslating machine boomed out.

"All of you! O'Hara's men!Look at this!"

I saw it. In a beam of light onthe top of that mountain itlooked like a small neutron-sourcemachine. But it wasn't. Itwas an ionic beam projector.

The old man said, "Go home."

They went. They went fast andsilent. And I knew where theywere going. Not to Salaman.O'Hara would have taken onelook at that machine and be halfway to United Galaxy Center beforehe had stopped seeing it. Ifelt like taking that trip myself.But I had agreed to look and Iwould look. If we were lucky wewould have forty-eight hours tolook and run.

I fell in what was left of myCompany behind the men thathad saved us. More Companyuniforms than I had ever seenin one place. They said nothing.Just walked into a hole in thatmountain. Into a cave. And inthe cave, at the far end, a dooropened. An elevator. We followedthe tall old man into the elevatorand it began to descend. The elevatorcar went down for a longtime. At last I could see a faintglow far below. The glow grewbrighter and the car stopped. Farbelow the glow was still brighter.We all stepped out into a longcorridor cut from solid rock. Iestimated that we were at leasttwo hundred miles down and theglow was hundreds of miles deeper.We went through three sealeddoors and emerged into a vastroom. A room bright with lightand filled with more men in Companyuniforms, civilians, evenwomen. At least a thousand. AndI saw it. The thousand refugees,all of them. Gathered from all theCompanies, from wherever theyhad been in the Galaxies. Gatheredhere in a room two hundredmiles into the heart of their deadplanet. A room filled with giantmachines. Ionic machines. Highlyadvanced ionic power reactors.

The old man stood in front ofhis people and spoke. "I am JasonPortario, I thank you for coming."

I broke in, "Ionic power is anexecution offense. You knowthat. How the hell did you get allthis ..."

"I know the offense, Commander,"Portario said, "and Iknow you. You're a fair man.You're a brave man. It doesn'tmatter where we got the power,many men are dead to get it, butwe have it, and we will keep it.We have a job to do."

I said, "After that stunt outthere you've about as muchchance as a snowball in hell.O'Hara's half way to Galaxy Center.Look, with a little luck weget you out to Salaman. If youleave all this equipment I mightbe able to hide you until it blowsover."

The old man shrugged. "Iwould have preferred not to showour hand, but we had to save you.I was aware that the Councilwould find us out sooner or later,they missed the ionic material amonth ago. But that is unimportant.The important matter iswill you take our job? All weneed is another two days, perhapsthree. Can you hold off anattack for that long?"

"Why?" I asked.

Portario smiled. "All right,Commander, you should know allwe plan. Sit down, and let mefinish before you speak."

I sat. Rajay-Ben sat. The agitationof his colored lightsshowed that he was as disturbedas I was. The thousand Nova-Mauraniansstood there in theroom and watched us. Yuan Saltariostood with his friends. Icould feel his eyes on me. Hoteyes. As if something inside thatlost man was burning again.Portario lighted a pipe. I had notseen a pipe since I was a child.The habit was classified as ancientusage in the United Galaxies.Portario saw me staring. Heheld his pipe and looked at it.

"In a way, Commander," theold man said, "this pipe is mystory. On Nova-Maurania weliked a pipe. We liked a lot of theold habits. Maybe we should havedied with all the others. Youknow, I was the one who foundthe error. Sometimes I'm not atall sure my friends here thankme for it. Our planet is dead,Commander, and so are we. We'redead inside. But we have a dream.We want to live again. And tolive again our planet must liveagain." The old man paused as iftrying to be sure of telling itright. "We mean no harm to anyone.All we want is our life back.We don't want to live forever likelumps of ice circling around adead heart. What we plan maykill us all, but we feel it is worththe risk. We have thousands ofionic power reactors. We haveblasted out Venturi tubes. Wefound life still deep in the centerof this planet. It is all ready now.With all the power we have wewill break the hold of our deadsun and send this planet off intospace! We ..."

I said, "You're insane! Itcan't ..."

"But it can, Commander. It's agreat risk, yes, but it can bedone, my calculations are perfect!We want to leave this deadsystem, go off into space and finda new star that will bring lifeback to our planet! A green, live,warm Nova-Maurania onceagain!"

Rajay-Ben was laughing."That's the craziest damneddream I ever sat still for. Youknow what your chances of beingpicked up by another starare? Picked up just right? Why ..."

Portario said, "We have calculatedthe exact initial thrust, theexact tangential velocity, the preciseorbital path we need. If allgoes exactly, I emphasize, exactly,to the last detail as we haveplanned it we can do it! Ourchances of being caught by thecorrect star in the absolutely correctposition are one in a thousandtrillion, but we can do it!"

It was so impossible I beganto believe he was right. "If youaren't caught just right?"

Portario's black eyes watchedme. "We could burn up or stayfrozen and lifeless. We coulddrift in space forever as cold anddead as we are now and our ionicpower won't last forever. Theforces we will use could blow theplanet apart. But we are goingto try. We would rather die thanlive as walking dead men in thisperfect United Galaxies we donot want."

The silence in the room waslike a Salaman fog. Thick silencebroken only by the steadyhum of the machines deep beneathus in the dead planet. Awild, impossible dream of onethousand lost souls. A dreamthat would destroy them, andthey did not care. There wassomething about it all that Iliked.

I said, "Why not get Councilapproval?"

Portario smiled. "Council haslittle liking for wild dreams,Commander. It would not be consideredas advancing the futureof United Galaxies' destiny. Thenthere are the ionics." And Portariohesitated. "And there is thedanger of imbalance, Galacticimbalance. I have calculated carefully,the danger is remote, butCouncil is not going to take evena remote chance."

Yuan Saltario broke in. "Allthey care about is their damnedsterile destiny! They don't careabout people. Well we do! Wecare about something to live for.The hell with the destiny of theGalaxies! They don't know, andwe'll be gone before they doknow."

"They know plenty now.O'Hara's beamed them in."

"So we must hurry," Portariosaid. "Three days, Commander,will you protect us for threedays?"

A Council offense punishableby instant destruction with UnitedGalaxies reserve ionic weaponsin the hands of the super-secretpolice and disaster teams.And three days is a long time. Iwould be risking my whole Company.I heard Rajay-Ben laugh.

"Blast me, Red, it's so damnedcrazy I'm for it. Let's give it ashot."

I did not know then how muchit would really cost us. If I hadI might not have agreed. Or maybeI would have, it was good toknow people could still have suchdreams in our computer age.

"Okay," I said, "beam the fullCompanies and try to get onemore. Mandasiva's Sirian boyswould be good. We'll split the feethree ways."

Yuan Saltario said, "Thanks,Red."

I said, "Thank me later, ifwe're still around."

We beamed the Companies andin twenty minutes they were ontheir way. Straight into the biggesttrouble we had had since theWar of Survival. I expected trouble,but I didn't know how much.Pete Colenso tipped me off.

Pete spoke across the lightyears on our beam. "Mandasivasays okay if we guarantee thepayment. I've deposited the bondwith him and we're on our way.But, Red, something's funny."

"What?"

"This place is empty. Thewhole damned galaxy out here islike a desert. Every Company hasmoved out somewhere."

"Okay," I beamed, "get rollingfast."

There was only one client whocould hire all the Companies atone time. United Galaxies itself.We were in for it. I had expectedperhaps ten Companies, notthree against 97, give or take afew out on other jobs. It gave mea chill. Not the odds, but ifCouncil was that worried maybethere was bad danger. But I'dgiven my word and a Companionkeeps his word. We had one acein the hole, a small one. If theother Companies were not herein Menelaus yet, they must haverendezvoused at Galaxy Center.It was the kind of "follow-the-book"mistake United wouldmake. It gave us a day and a half.We would need it.

They came at dawn on the secondday. We were deployedacross five of the dead planets ofMenelaus XII in a ring aroundNova-Maurania. They came fastand hard, and Portario and hismen had at least ten hours workleft before they could fire theirreactors and pray. Until then wedid the praying. It didn't help.

Mandasiva's command shipwent at the third hour. A Lukanblaster got it. By the fourth hourI had watched three of my sub-commandships go. A Sirianforce beam got one, an Earth fusiongun got another, and thethird went out of action andrammed O'Hara's command shipthat had been leading their attackagainst us. That third shipof mine was Pete Colenso's. OldMike would have been proud ofhis boy. I was sick. Pete had beena good boy. So had O'Hara. Nota boy, O'Hara, but the next tothe last of old Free Companionfrom Earth. I'm the last, and Isaid a silent good-bye to O'Hara.By the sixth hour Rajay-Ben hadonly ten ships left. I had twelve.Five thousand of my men weregone. Eight thousand of Rajay-Ben'sLukans. The Sirians ofMandasiva's O Company weregetting the worst of it, and in theeighth hour Mandasiva's secondin command surrendered. Itwould be over soon, too soon.And the dream would be overwith the battle. I broke silence.

"Red Stone calling. Do youread me? Commander Stone calling.Request conference. Repeat,request conference."

A face appeared on the inter-Companybeam screen. The cold,blank, hard-bitten face of theonly Free Company Commandersenior to me now that O'Harawas gone, Jake Campesino of theCygne Black Company. "Are yousurrendering, Stone?"

"No. I want to speak to myfellow Companions."

Campesino's voice was like ice."Violation! You know the rules,Stone. Silence cannot be brokenin battle. I will bring charges.You're through, Stone."

I said, "Okay, crucify me later.But hear me now."

Campesino said, "Close silenceor surrender."

It was no good. We'd had it.And across the distance of battleRajay-Ben's face appeared on thescreen. The colored lights thatwere a Lukan's face and I knewenough to know that the shimmeringlights were mad. "Thehell with them, Red, let's go allthe damned way!"

And a new face appeared onthe screen. A face I knew toowell. First Councillor Roark."Stone! You've done a lot in yourday but this is the end, you hearme? You're defending a madmanin a Council crime. Do you realizethe risk? Universal imbalance!The whole pattern of galaxiescould be destroyed! We'lldestroy you for this, Stone. Anionic project without Council authorization."

I said to Campesino, "Five minutes,Commander. That's all."

There was a long blank on thescreen, then Campesino's coldface appeared. "Okay, Red, talk.I don't like civilian threats.You've got your five minutes,make it good."

I made it good. I told them ofa handful of people who had adream. A handful of people whowanted their home back. A fewlost souls who would rather dietrying to live the way they wantedto live than go on living in aworld they did not want. And Itold them of the great UnitedGalaxies, that had been createdto protect the dreams of everyonein it and had forgotten whyit had been created. I told themthat it did not matter who wasright or wrong, because when aman can no longer dream somethinghas gone wrong in theUniverse. When I finished, Campesino'sface was impassive.

Campesino said, "You heardCommander Stone, men. Closeoff, Stone, give me a minute toget the vote."

I waited. It was the longestminute of my life.

"You win, Red," Campesinosaid. He was smiling at me. "Gohome, Councillor, battle's over."

The Councillor went. He saidthere would be hell to pay, andmaybe there will be, but I don'tthink so, they still need us.We lost thirty thousand goodmen in all the Companies. Butwhen the next dawn came Nova-Mauraniawas gone. I don't knowwhere they went, or what happenedto them. Here in mystronghold I sometimes imaginethem safe and rebuilding a greenworld where they can smokepipes and live their own lives.And sometimes I imagine themall dead and drifting out there inthe infinity of space. I don'tthink they would mind too much,either way.

THE END

Transcriber's Note:This etext was first published in Amazing Stories May 1961.Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling andtypographical errors have been corrected without note.

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