Maklin snarled, “I’ve run into three separate reports here on how to overthrow governments. It looks to me as if they’ve had practice.”
Roffis massaged his chin. “There must be some way to put the Council on guard—”
There was a rap on the door, and Maklin called, “Come in!”
Half a dozen armed guards came in, escorting an officer and a sergeant. The officer saluted, and put an envelope and receipt form on Horsip’s desk.
Horsip signed, and officer and escort went out.
Horsip broke the heavy wax seal, and took out a sheet of thick paper, to read:
By CommandThe High Council
Distribution:
One (1) copy to Chairman, the Supreme Staff.
One (1) copy to Earth Surveillance
Subcommittee of the Supreme Staff, through
General Klide Horsip.
One (1) copy to the Commanding Officer, Special Group “B.”
Circulation:
All members present of the Supreme Staff;
C.O. and C. of S., Special Group “B.”
Disposition:
Read and return, within the day of receipt.
A. Effective immediately, the Integral Union is divided into two zones:
(1) Open Zone—That portion marked in red on the enclosed section charts.
This zone will be open to penetration by the inhabitants of the planet Earth.
(2) Sealed Zone—That portion left unmarked on the enclosed section charts. Earthmen will be discouraged from entering this zone. Any Earthman who enters this zone will be killed and his body and effects destroyed.
B. Effective immediately, all personnel of Information Facilities in the Open Zone will be withdrawn to the Sealed Zone, and replaced by new personnel.
C. Effective immediately, all Official Charts of the Integral Union in localities within the Open Zone will be delivered to representatives of the High Council, to be replaced by new charts issued by the High Council.
D. Effective immediately, Special Group “B,” under the direct control of the High Council, will put in effect all measures necessary to detect and destroy any inhabitants of the planet Earth who penetrate the Sealed Zone.
E. Effective immediately no member of the Supreme Staff will volunteer to any Earthman any information regarding the Sealed Zone, nor acknowledge its existence as an inhabited region.
The punishment for disobedience to any of the above commands will be death, preceded or not preceded at the discretion of the High Council by whatever degree of torture may be deemed to suit the offense.
The purpose of these commands is to restrict the influence of the inhabitants of the planet Earth to a limited, although vast, region, so that the nature of that influence may be determined before permitting it to extend over the whole of the Integral Union.
Any failure to obey the spirit as well as the substance of these commands will be dealt with summarily, as the existence of the race is at stake.
By command of the High Council,
J. Roggil
Vice-Chairman
Horsip whistled.
Maklin, reading over Horsip’s shoulder, grunted. Roffis said approvingly, “They aren’t asleep.”
“But,” said Maklin, “just how do we keep the Earthmen from getting information that’s so widespread?”
Horsip looked inside the envelope, and fished out a set of charts on fine paper. As he leafed through the charts, gradually a picture began to form in his mind. The Council, in dividing the Integral Union, had made use of every hazard and particularly large distance separating one part of the Union from another, to pass a border between two regions in such a way that passage from one region to another not only would appear difficult and unattractive to one not used to space travel, but also that the loss of a ship on such a route would seem understandable.
Roffis straightened. “Maybe it is possible.”
Maklin nodded. “This is a masterpiece. This Open Zone even has roughly the shape of the whole territory. It’s only the scale that’s off.”
Roffis reread the orders.
“If they’ve prepared everything this carefully, a trip to an information center would probably convince an Earthman that he had the facts. But what do we do about scholars who know differently?”
Maklin said, “They must have thought of that. What we have to do is to make sure our own arrangements don’t give us away. For instance, we’ve already got this Earthman, Towers, on the Staff with us. He has a perfect right to see our documents and charts.”
Roffis said, “We’ll have to split the Staff, one part for the Open Zone, and one for the Sealed Zone. The Records Section will have to be split too.”
“This could make trouble.”
“These Earthmen could make more.”
“Well, if Towers should fail, we’ll dump him.”
* * *
Some weeks later, Horsip, methodically working through new reports, pulled out one titled:
Rebellion on Centralis IIHandy Methods and Devicesby Able Hunter.
Able Hunter, of course, was John Towers’ code name. Horsip flipped pages, and nodded approval. The report gave the facts plainly and then stopped.
Horsip cleared his throat.
“Towers hasn’t fallen on his face yet.”
He handed the report to Roffis and Maklin.
As they read, Horsip had a vision of what cooperation with the Earthmen could mean.
While gripped with this enthusiasm, his gaze happened to fall on the upturned title of an unread report:
Entrapment Into Communist Cells—A Serious and Growing ProblemWhat is Communism?
The headache that had disappeared with Towers’ report came back as Horsip looked over this document. Then there came a sharp rap at the door.
Maklin barked, “Come in!”
Armed guards entered to present Horsip with a sealed envelope.
Horsip drew out a crisp slip of paper reading:
By CommandThe High Council
The High Council requires the presence of General Klide Horsip, at once, to report his experiences on the planet Earth, and recent relations between the Integral Union and the inhabitants of the planet Earth.
J. Roggil
Vice-Chairman
The High Council
* * *
The High Council was on board a massive warship designed for their use, accompanied by a formidable fleet. Horsip walked down a corridor lined with guards, passed through a door emblazoned with the emblem of Centra in gold, and found himself suddenly in a small room in which sixteen men sat around an H-shaped table, hard at work. One of the men glanced up.
“Ah, General Horsip. Pull up a chair.”
In a daze, Horsip heard himself introduced, replied to the brief comments, smiles, and intent glances, then he was seated at an end of the H, explaining Earth to the man who had greeted him, and whose name Horsip in his confusion had already forgotten.
“Then,” the member of the High Council was saying, “you believe the Earthmen, on the average, are more intelligent than our own men?”
“No question of that, sir.”
“You have no doubt of it?”
“None, sir.”
“Now in what way are they more intelligent?”
Horsip sat blankly, aware of his questioner’s keen gaze, but unable to grasp the question. Then his experiences on Earth came back to him.
“You mean, sir, is it a question of some special skill—”
“Exactly. Intelligence is not an undifferentiated quality, any more than physical strength. If you feel that the Earthmen are the same as we are mentally, but stronger in every respect, why say so. I want your impression of the strong and weak points mentally.”
“They seem to have two strong points—but it may be that they boil down to one—their ability to make clever devices, and their ability with words. Their weak point . . .” Horsip groped around, and shook his head. “I can’t think of any weak point.”
“You feel that their strong point is a technical skill in handling words, and in handling tools and materials?”
“Yes, sir.”
His questioner was intently still for a moment, then sat back.
“Now, Horsip, let’s hear your experiences on their planet. I am familiar with your reports, but I’d like to hear it firsthand. Please be frank, and complete. I want your feelings, as well as what happened, and I don’t care how long it takes. I want the full account.”
Horsip, faltering at first, then gathering confidence as the memories came back, told of his first sight of the planet, and of his irritation with Moffis’ description of the difficulties. He described the confident arrival of the Planetary Integration staff, their brisk plans for integrating the planet, and their troubles later on. He described the recovery of the Earthmen’s military power, their revolt, and the struggle it took to put that down. At last he described the most recent reports, which fit in with past experience.
Now and then during the long account, Horsip was vaguely aware of continuing activity around him. But his listener, silent and intent, seemed to miss not a word as people came and went, as notes passed around the table, as at a far end of the H a huge map was unrolled and intently examined. A sense of harmony and singleness of purpose was gradually borne in on Horsip. Through the seeming confusion, there seemed to loom underlying order. Then at last he came to the end of his account.