probably visual as well, and continuous. He faced the screen and watched the
vid.
Time was what they wanted, time gained by this means or gained by negotiations.
The stress was thus far bearable. They daily argued with Union, a changing
parade of officials. Union agreed to their proposals in principle, professed
interest, talked and discussed, sent them to this and that committee, quibbled
on points of protocol. On protocol, when materials were stolen from their
luggage! It was all stalling, on both sides, and he wished he knew why, on
theirs.
Military action was surely proceeding, something which might not benefit their
side in negotiation. They would get the outcome dropped in their laps at some
properly critical phase, would be expected to cede something further.
Pell, of course. Pell was the most likely cession to ask; and that could not be
allowed. The surrender of Company officers to Union’s revolutionary justice was
another likely item. Not feasible in fact, although some meaningless document
could be arranged in compromise: outlawry, perhaps. He had no intention of
signing Fleet personnel lives away if he could help it, but a yielding of
objection on prosection of some station officials classed as state enemies… that
might have to be. Union would do as it wished anyway. And what happened this far
remote would have little political impact on Earth. What the visual media could
not carry into living rooms, the general public could not long remain exercised
about. Statistically, a majority of the electorate could not or did not read
complicated issues; no pictures, no news; no news, no event; no great sympathy
on the part of the public nor sustained interest from the media: safe politics
for the Company. Above all they could not jeopardize the majority they had won
on other issues, the half century of careful maneuvering, the discrediting of
Isolationist leaders… the sacrifices already made. Others were inevitable.
He listened to the idiot vid, searched the propaganda for evidence to clarify
the situation, listened to the reports of Union’s alleged benefits to its
citizens, its vast programs of internal improvement. Of other things he would
wish to know, the extent of Union territory in directions other than Earthward,
the number of bases in their possession, what had happened at the fallen
stations, whether they were actively developing further territories or whether
the war had effectively engaged their resources to the utmost… these pieces of
information were not available. Nor was there information to indicate just how
extensive the rumored birth-labs were, what proportion of the citizenry they
produced, or what treatment those individuals received. A thousand times he
cursed the recalcitrance of the Fleet, of Signy Mallory in particular. No
knowing ultimately whether his course had been the right one, to exclude the
Fleet from his operation. No knowing what would have happened had the Fleet
fallen in line. They were now where they must be, even if it was this white set
of rooms like all the other white sets of rooms they had experienced; they were
doing what they had to—without the Fleet, which could have given them
negotiating strength (minor), or proven a frighteningly random third side in the
negotiations. The stubbornness of Pell had not helped; Pell, which chose to
placate the Fleet. With support from the station they might have had some impact
on the mentality of such as Mallory.
Which still returned to the question whether a Fleet which considered its own
interests paramount could be persuaded to anything. Mazian and his like could
never be controlled for the length of time it would take Earth to prepare
defense. They were not, he reminded himself, not Earthborn; not
regulation-followers, to judge by his sight of them. Like the scientific
personnel who had reacted to Earth’s emigration bans and summons homeward back
in the old days… by deserting further Beyond. To Union, ultimately. Or to be
like the Konstantins, who had been tyrants so long in their own little empire
that they felt precious little responsibility toward Earth.
And… this terrified him, when he let himself think about it… he had not expected
the difference out there, had not expected the Union mentality, which seemed to