Heinlein, Robert A – Expanded Universe

There were only three powers to be seriously wo ned about, England, Japan,

and the Eurasian Unio:

England had been forewarned, we had pulled her oi of a war she was losing, and

she-or rather her men i power-knew accurately what we could and wou] do.

Japan was another matter. They had not seen Berli and they did not really

believe it. Besides, they ha been telling each other for so many years that th were

unbeatable, they believed it. It does not do to gi too tough with a Japanese too

quickly, for they will d rather than lose face. The negotiations were coi ducted

very quietly indeed, but our fleet was halfw~ from Pearl Harbor to Kobe, loaded with

enough du to sterilize their six biggest cities, before they we~ concluded. Do you

know what did it? This never h the newspapers but it was the wording of the par

phlets we proposed to scatter before dusting.

The Emperor was pleased to declare a New Order Peace. The official version,

built up for home co sumption, made the whole matter one of collaboratic between two

great and friendly powers, with Japa taking the initiative.

The Eurasian Union was a puzzle. After Stalin’s ui expected death in 1941, no

western nation knew vei much about what went on in there. Our own dipl matic

relations had atrophied through failure to r place men called home nearly four years

befor Everybody knew, of course, that the new group power called themselves Fifth

Internationalists, bi what that meant, aside from ceasing to display ti pictures of

Lenin and Stalin, nobody knew.

But they agreed to our terms and offered to cooperate in every way. They

pointed out that the Union had never been warlike and had kept out of the recent

world struggle. It was fitting that the two remaining great powers should use their

greatness to insure a lasting peace.

I was delighted; I had been worried about the E. U. They commenced delivery

of some of their smaller planes to the receiving station near Shanghai at once. The

reports on the number and quality of the planes seemed to indicate that they had

stayed out of the war through necessity; the planes were mostly of German make and

in poor condition, types that Germany had abandoned early in the war.

Manning went west to supervise certain details in connection with

immobilizing the big planes, the transoceanic planes, which were to gather near Fort

Riley. We planned to spray them with oil, then dust from a low altitude, as in crop

dusting, with a low concentration of one-year dust. Then we could turn our backs on

them and forget them, while attending to other matters.

But there were hazards. The dust must not be allowed to reach Kansas City,

Lincoln, Wichita-any of the nearby cities. The smaller towns roundabout had been

temporarily evacuated. Testing stations needed to be set up in all directions in

order that accurate tab on the dust might be kept. Manning felt personally

responsible to make sure that no bystander was poisoned.

We circled the receiving station before landing at Fort Riley. I could pick

out the three landing fields which had hurriedly been graded. Their runways were

white in the sun, the twenty-four-hour cement as yet undirtied. Around each of the

landing fields were crowded dozens of parking fields, less perfectly graded.

Tractors and bulldozers were still at work on some of them. In the eastemnmost

fields, the German and British ships were already in place, jammed wing to body as

tightly as planes on the flight deck of a carrier-save for a few that were still

being towed mt position, the tiny tractors looking from the air lil~ ants dragging

pieces of leaf many times larger tha themselves.

Only three flying fortresses had arrived from tli Eurasian Union. Their

representatives had asked for short delay in order that a supply of high-test

aviatio gasoline might be delivered to them. They claimed shortage of fuel necessary

to make the long flight ov the Arctic safe. There was no way to check the claii and

the delay was granted while a shipment wa routed from England.

We were about to leave, Manning having satisfie himself as to safety