of some kind—probably pieces of metal strung on wire—around their necks. Some of
them were carrying banners that bore Taloid inscriptions, and others were
beating on or blowing into what looked like musical instruments while the rest
swayed rhythmically as they marched. Flanking both sides of the procession were
uniformed cavalrymen that Massey recognized as Genoese, moving at a slow walk
and leading pack animals loaded with bundles of Terran rifles and submachine
guns, ammunition boxes, and grenade packs. Behind the files of cavalry, other
Taloids were gathered along the roadside to watch. “Is this a view from Karl’s
flyer?” Massey asked.
Thelma nodded. “Uh-huh. It’s coming in live.”
“What’s happening? Where’s it from?”
“The road to Genoa,” Thelma told him. “It’s all over with the Druids. They’re on
their way to Genoa Base to give all the hardware back. Moses went over real
big.”
Massey shook his head slowly as he watched, and found that he was smiling. “I
don’t know . . . I’ve never heard of anything so crazy,” he muttered. “I
wouldn’t have given it a snowball’s chance in hell.”
“Arthur and Galileo called a little while ago,” Thelma said. “They seem pretty
pleased with it all too.”
“Have you got a line to the flyer?” Massey asked her.
Thelma nodded and touched a button below the screen. “Hello, Hornet. Anybody
down there?” she said.
“What’s new?” Clarissa’s voice replied.
“Oh, Gerry Massey’s just arrived. I think he wants to offer his
congratulations,” Thelma said.
“I wouldn’t have believed it,” Massey called over her shoulder.
“That’s why we’ve always given you problems,” Clarissa answered. “You
underestimate your opposition.”
“Maybe I do. Anyhow, is Karl there?”
“Hang on.”
A few seconds of silence went by. Then Zambendorf’s voice said, “Hello, Gerry.
Well, what do you think of our little show down here?”
“I’m impressed. I gather Arthur and Galileo are more than satisfied with the
service they’re getting too.”
“We always try to give our customers their money’s worth,” Zambendorf replied.
“How did things go with Leaherney?”
“No good—pretty much the way you predicted.”
“Mmm . . . a pity,” Zambendorf murmured. Then his voice perked up. “Anyway,
never mind. I think we’ve proved our secret weapon sufficiently to move on to
the next phase.”
“What next phase? I thought this was it. The Druids won’t be causing any more
trouble, and Arthur’s happy with the outcome. What else do you want?”
“All very satisfying, I agree, but I still have a large personal score to settle
with friend Caspar, Dan Leaherney, and the good people back on Earth who thought
I was just another puppet they could buy,” Zambendorf said. “What you’ve seen
has been just the dress rehearsal, Gerry. The real performance is about to
begin.”
“Karl.” A note of suspicious dread crept into Massey’s voice. “What are you
talking about?”
“This is the most devastating thing since the H-bomb,” Zambendorf’s voice said,
sounding exuberant. “First Moses, then a squadron of Paduan cavalry, after that
an entire Taloid village . . . and now a whole tribe. It’s snowballing down here
like nothing you’ve ever seen.”
“So? . . .”
“Next we bag the whole Paduan army, which is on the march toward Genoa right
now, and then we import the complete operation right into Padua and dump it in
Henry’s backyard!” Zambendorf exclaimed, chortling. “Imagine if the whole Paduan
nation told Leaherney where to stuff his military aid … and later on, maybe,
the whole of Titan. What a way to screw GSEC, Ramelson, the politicians—all of
them!”
“But … but you don’t have enough people to do something like that,” Massey
objected.
“What do you mean, not enough people? We’ve got Moses, and Lord Nelson with his
cavaliers down here, plus a lot more from the village . . . and now I don’t know
how many thousand Druids from this latest addition. I told you, Gerry—the whole
thing’s snowballing.”
“Yes, I know, but what I meant is you’ve only got a twelve-man Hornet flyer down
here. You don’t have the transportation capacity to move enough bodies into
Padua fast enough to trigger a real revolution. See what I mean? You need the
right critical mass. Otherwise it’ll all just fizzle out.”