end. Or so everyone thought….
“Thought?” I asked.
“We have ambitious men for our military leaders,”
Harry explained. His tone was none too pleasant.
“Go on.”
“We made a mistake with the voluntary, reformed
military service laws,” he said.
“How so?”
“Try to envision these men, Sim. They’re well-paid
professionals. There hasn’t been a draft within the Al-
liance for twenty-four years. They enlist because they like
to be a part of a protective Big Brother sort of organization
—and because combat and planning for combat excites
them. We turned ourselves over to those who enjoy war,
and we gave them the machines to wage it. Now, with all
this hardware and all this education in the ways of dealing
death, they had had to sit through fourteen years of cold
war where guns were never fired. And before that, there
were two decades of total peace, where nations hardly even
exchanged angry words. They’ve never had the chance to
prove themselves, and since they are basically the sort of
men who need to prove themselves for their own benefit,
they’ve been driven up the wall by brinksmanship and
peace.”
I felt ill, without exactly understanding why. The night
seemed darker and colder, and I had a sudden and furious
need for Melinda, for the touch of her and the warmth,
the seeking together and the final closeness. It was such an
intense desire that I grew dizzy with it.
“So?” I managed to ask.
“So, they didn’t want to stop. They were moving, living
their dreams, and loving it. They were on the edge of the
thing they’d all fantasized about—conquering the world.
They could incorporate every nation into the Alliance, and
then it would be over. All the plans and subplans, plots
and counterplots and counter-counterplots came together
in a marvelous mosaic, and they just couldn’t resist. China
was occupied, but the artillery was turned, next, on South
America.”
“They’re neutral!”
“Mostly,” he agreed. “But the Alliance generals were
bothered by South America’s autonomy, especially sines
Brazil had been making that space effort of theirs pay or!
with the mineral ships from Titan. The continent fell in
slightly less than a week—yesterday, to be exact. They
were either badly prepared militarily, or had oriented their
armies toward the exploration of space. They’ve come
under the banner of the Alliance—angrily, reluctantly, but
under it.”
“And all the countries already in the Alliance—they all
went along with this?”
“Not all. But in Russia, the military had taken control
of the government years before. France and Italy
knuckled under to the popular sentiment of their people,
of the common man. Spain is a military nation to start
with—no problem there.”
“But Britain and the U.S. wouldn’t stand for it!” It
sounded false.
“Britain did refuse, said she wouldn’t supply her own
men for the Alliance endeavor. But she gave tacit approv-
al by continuing trade and diplomatic relationships with
all her allies. She’s too small to really buck them, and she
could only maintain her military’s integrity, nothing more.
Canada did the same, though Quebec declared indepen-
dence and won it—or at least had the last time I heard—
and joined the militant ranks of the other Alliance na-
tions. As for us, the U.S., we were in it from the moment
the Soviet generals made the suggestion. The peace criers
were right all along: a volunteer army can become a
secondary government and can threaten the elected one if
the time is ripe. The coup came two mornings after the
Soviet proposal when it became obvious that the elected
government was not going to agree to a world-wide cam-
paign. We are now ruled by a police-army coalition, by a
council of eighteen generals and admirals, and the war—
meantime—goes on.”
“Who now?”
“Australia,” he said. “She has become self-sufficient,
which the Alliance military advisors never have appreci-
ated. Sydney was obliterated this afternoon and an ultima-
tum was delivered to the Australian government shortly
thereafter.”
Neither of us spoke for a while.
The snow continued to fall, faster than ever.
“Dictatorship then?” I asked.
“They won’t call it that.”
“Nazism?”
“It’s a mistake to apply the terms of other eras. The