Heinlein, Robert A – Expanded Universe

satisfied with it. But it has never been out of print, has appeared in fourteen

languages, and has earned a preposterous amount in book royalties alone; I should

not kick. Nevertheless I cringe whenever I consider its shortcomings.

My next fiction (here following) was FREE MEN. Offhand it appears to be a

routine post-Holocaust story, and the details-idioms, place names, etc.-justify that

assumption. In fact it is any conquered nation in any century-

FREE MEN

“That makes three provisional presidents so far,” the Leader said. “I wonder

how many more there are?” He handed the flimsy sheet back to the runner, who placed

it in his mouth and chewed it up like gum.

The third man shrugged. “No telling. What worries me-” A mockingbird

interrupted. “Doity, doity, doity,” he sang. “Terloo, terloo, terloo,

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purty-purtypurty-purty.”

The clearing was suddenly empty.

“As I was saying,” came the voice of the third man in a whisper in the

Leader’s ear, “it ain’t how many worries me, but how you tell a de Gaulle from a

Laval. See anything?”

“Convoy. Stopped below us.” The Leader peered through bushes and down the

side of a bluff. The high ground pushed out toward the river here, squeezing the

river road between it and the water. The road stretched away to the left, where the

valley widened out into farmland, and ran into the outskirts of Barclay ten miles

away.

The convoy was directly below them, eight trucks preceded and followed by

halftracks. The following halftrack was backing, vortex gun cast loose and ready for

trouble. Its commander apparently wanted elbow room against a possible trap.

At the second truck helmeted figures gathered

around its rear end, which was jacked up. As the Leader watched he saw one wheel

temoved.

“Trouble?”

“I think not. Just a breakdown. They’ll be gone soon.” He wondered what was

in the trucks. Food, probably. His mouth watered. A few weeks ago an opportunity

like this would have meant generous rations for all, but the conquerors had

smartened up.

He put useless thoughts away. “It’s not that that worries me, Dad,” he

added, returning to the subject. “We’ll be able to tell quislings from loyal

Americans. But how do you tell men from boys?”

“Thinking of Joe Benz?”

“Maybe. I’d give a lot to know how far we can trust Joe. But I could have

been thinking of young Morrie.”

“You can trust him.”

“Certainly. At thirteen he doesn’t drink-and he wouldn’t crack if they

burned his feet off. Same with Cathleen. It’s not age or sex-but how can you tell?

And you’ve got to be able to tell.”

There was a flurry below. Guards had slipped down from the trucks and

withdrawn from the road when the convoy had stopped, in accordance with an orderly

plan for such emergencies. Now two of them returned to the convoy, hustling between

them a figure not in uniform.

The mockingbird set up a frenetic whistling.

“It’s the messenger,” said the Leader. “The dumb fool! Why didn’t he lie

quiet? Tell Ted we’ve seen it.”

Dad pursed his lips and whistled: “Keewah, keewah, keewah, terloo.”

The other “mockingbird” answered, “Terloo,” and shut up.

“We’ll need a new post office now,” said the Leader. “Take care of it, Dad.”

“Okay.”

“There’s no real answer to the problem,” the Leader said. “You can limit

size of units, so that one person can’t give away too many-but take a colony like

ours.

It needs to be a dozen or more to work. That means they all have to be dependable,

or they all go down together. So each one has a loaded gun at the head of each other

one.”

Dad grinned, wryly. “Sounds like the United Nations before the Blow Off.

Cheer up, Ed. Don’t burn your bridges before you cross them.”

“I won’t. The convoy is ready to roll.”

When the convoy had disappeared in the distance, Ed Morgan, the Leader, and

his deputy Dad Carter stood up and stretched. The “mockingbird” had announced safety

loudly and cheerfully. “Tell Ted to cover us into camp,” Morgan ordered.

Dad wheepled and chirruped and received acknowledgement. They started back

into the hills. Their route was roundabout and included check points from which they