Heinlein, Robert A – Expanded Universe

remaining lawless elements in our continental soci

, ,,

ety.

Dad cocked a brow at Morgan. “How many does that make since they took over?”

“Let’s see. . . Salinas . . . Colorado Springs . . . uh, six, including St.

Joe.”

“Son, there weren’t more than sixty million Americans left after Final

Sunday. If they keep up, we’ll be kind of thinned out in a few years.”

“I know.” Morgan looked troubled. “We’ve got to work out ways to operate

without calling attention to the towns. Too many hostages.”

Page 89

A short, dark man dressed in dirty dungarees entered from a side tunnel,

followed by Margie. “You wanted me, boss?”

“Yes, Jerry. I want to get word to McCracken to come in for a meeting. Two

hours from now, if he can get here.”

“Boss, you’re using radio too much. You’ll get him shot and us, too.”

“I thought that business of bouncing it off the cliff face was foolproof?”

“Well . . . a dodge I can work up, somebody else can figure out. Besides,

I’ve got the chassis unshipped. I was working on it.”

“How long to rig it?”

“Oh, half an hour-twenty minutes.”

“Do it. This may be the last time we’ll use radio, except as utter last

resort.”

“Okay, boss.”

The meeting was in the common room. Morgan called it to order once all were

present or accounted for. McCracken arrived just as he had decided to proceed

without him. McCracken had a pass for the countryside, being a veterinarian, and

held proxy for the colony’s underground associates in Barclay.

“The Barclay Free Company, a provisional unit of the United States of

America, is now in session.” Morgan announced formally. “Does any member have any

item to lay before the Company?”

He looked around; there was no response. “How about you?” he challenged Joe

Benz. “I heard that you had some things you thought the Company ought to hear.

Benz started to speak, shook his head. “I’ll wait.”

“Don’t wait too long,” Morgan said mildly. “Well, I have two points to bring

up for discussion-”

“Three,” corrected Dr. McCracken. “I’m glad you sent for me.” He stepped up

to Morgan and handed him a large, much folded piece of paper. Morgan looked it over,

refolded it, and put it in his pocket.

“It fits in,” he said to McCracken. “What do the folks in town say?”

“They are waiting to hear from you. They’ll back you up-so far, anyway.”

“All right.” Morgan turned back to the group. “First item-we got a message

today, passed by hand and about three weeks old, setting up another provisional

government. The courier was grabbed right under our noses. Maybe he was a stooge;

maybe he was careless-that’s neither here nor there at the moment. The message was

that the Honorable Albert M. Brockman proclaimed himself provisional President of

these United States, under derived authority, and appointed Brigadier General Dewey

Fenton commander of armed forces including irregular militia-meaning us-and called

on all citizens to unite to throw the Invader out. All formal and proper. So what do

we do about it?”

“And who the devil is the Honorable Albert M. Brockman?” asked someone in

the rear.

“I’ve been trying to remember. The message listed government jobs he’s held,

including some assistant secretary job-I suppose that’s the ‘derived authority’

angle. But I can’t place him.”

“I recall him,” Dr. McCracken said suddenly. “I met him when I was in the

Bureau of Animal Husbandry. A career civil servant. . . and a stuffed shirt.”

There was a gloomy silence. Ted spoke up. “Then why bother with him?”

The Leader shook his head. “It’s not that simple, Ted. We can’t assume that

he’s no good. Napoleon might have been a minor clerk under different circumstances.

And the Honorable Mr. Brockman may be a revolutionary genius disguised as a

bureaucrat. But that’s not the point. We need nationwide unification

more than anything. It doesn’t matter right now who the titular leader is. The

theory of derived authority may be shaky but it may be the only way to get everybody

to accept one leadership. Little bands like ours can never win back the country.