The Columbians now again replied to Horsip, this time stating their sympathy with certain standards of the Integral Union, but again stating that they preferred to remain independent, and would not join the Integral Union under the present circumstances; but they would join no one else, either, under the present circumstances.
Moffis looked impressed. “They are more friendly than they were.”
Horsip nodded, and looked confident.
Moffis said, “But the Fleet still isn’t here . . . Whatever there may be of it.”
Horsip looked quietly cheerful.
“It will be, Moffis. Don’t worry. Remember, the High Council itself is behind us.”
Moffis said uneasily, “But I wonder if—”
Horsip cleared his throat.
“No need to be concerned, Moffis. After all—”
From the corridor came a muffled tramp of feet, then a heavy rap on the door. As Horsip and Moffis looked up, a scared junior officer reported, “Sir, there’s a . . . a bunch of officers and Earthmen, and some guards in strange uniforms. They want to see you right away. They’re from Snard, sir!”
Horsip told himself this could not be an invasion; it could be the local Snard ambassador, who had a guard like a small army.
“How many guards?” said Horsip.
“A lot of them, sir. The corridor is full of them.”
Horsip turned to Moffis, but Moffis already had the phone marked “Provost” off its hook. ” . . . every guard you can lay your hands on down here on the run, and bring them in through the Master Control Center. Shut the automatic doors between here and the corridors, and be ready to flood the corridors with dead-gas. But don’t sound any alarm—notify the sections by phone.”
Horsip loosened his service pistol in its holster, and turned to his frightened junior officer.
“Tell them to leave the guards outside—but the officers can come in.”
The officers of Snard came in like a conquering host, thrust Horsip’s people out of the way, brushed the papers off the desks as they passed, and reached out to shove over a cooler of mineral water, which smashed to bits on the floor. Right behind them came the armed guards. Horsip, watching them stream in the door, felt a wave of relief as the last one came in.
Horsip eyed them alertly. They all had a well-drilled look.
Horsip adjusted his uniform, stood up behind his desk, and looked directly into the eyes of the leading Snard officer, a broad-chested general whose muscles stretched the cloth of his bemedaled jacket as he strode down the aisle. This general’s eyes were fixed in contempt on Horsip, and looked Horsip over like some peculiar form of insect.
Moffis, bent over back of his desk, was getting something out of a crate, but Horsip had no time for that. He watched the Snard officers approach, waited until they were almost at the end of the aisle, then abruptly inflated his chest to the limit, and intoned at the top of his lungs:
“Detaaiil HALT!!!”
The entire Snard military contingent, generals, officers, and guards, looked blank and came to an abrupt stop. Half a dozen civilians, trailing along behind, slammed into the backs of the soldiers and were knocked off their feet.
Horsip, unhesitating, stepped in front of the burly Snard general, and bellowed:
“Abouut FACE!!!”
“Forwaaard MARCH!!!”
Knocking the civilians out of the way, the Snard armed guards leading, the whole outfit, with the exception of three or four Earthmen, who looked around blankly, started for the door.
Horsip judged the moment, sucked in a deep breath, and intoned:
“Column riiight MARCH!!!”
The Snard guards, feet striking in unison, trailed out into the hall, turned the corner with precision, and disappeared.
The Earthmen from Snard looked incredulously at them, grabbed at the glassy-eyed Snard officers going past, and got them headed back toward Horsip.
Horsip drew his gun and aimed it at the officers.
The officers stopped, and glanced in confusion at the Earthmen, themselves speechless.
Horsip, listening for the arrival of his own guards, had yet to hear anything. The door to the hall was still open, and there was nothing to prevent anyone from coming in.
Horsip spotted a young Snard lieutenant, who looked more confused than anyone else in sight. Horsip snapped, “Lieutenant!”
The lieutenant swallowed at the tone of command and snapped to attention.
“Sir?”
“What the devil are you standing there for? Get out in that hall, and get those guards turned around. Lead them back this way, and halt them outside the door. They aren’t to come in. They are to halt outside. Now, get out there, turn them around and halt them outside that door! Move!”
The lieutenant saluted, and ran out. His bawled orders echoed down the hall.
The Earthmen looked at Horsip, then at the Snard officers as if they had never seen them before.
Horsip ignored the Earthmen, and focused on the burly general in front of him. From the stupefied expression on the general’s face, it was clear to Horsip that the general’s assurance had been momentarily pulverized. Horsip spoke in kindly tones.
“Stand at attention, General. I am the Supreme Commander of the Integral Union, and you are inside my staff headquarters. I have only to say one word. and you and all your party will be struck dead where you stand. Protocol requires that you salute.”
The burly general glanced around, looked toward Moffis, and beads of sweat took form on his forehead. He glanced back at Horsip, stood straighter, and his hand came up in salute.
A quick glance showed Moffis behind a well-oiled stitching-gun, the snout aimed at the general’s stomach.
Horsip returned the general’s salute.
From somewhere came the sound of running feet, and the snap of safeties clicking off on a considerable number of guns.
The Snard general shook his head, and appeared to come out of some kind of trance. His jaw set.
“All right. You’re the Supreme Head of the Integral Union, but the Integral Union amounts to nothing. Your so-called fleet, hidden in the asteroid belt, has been checked by these Earth experts, with the latest equipment, and we know it’s no fleet at all. It’s a set of dummies, with just a few real ships mixed in. We aren’t certain what you used in this latest attack, but we’ve checked all the likely routes, and no such fleet passed any of them. We formally checked with Earth itself, and they acknowledge no alliance with you at all. Your whole position is hollow. I doubt that you have over a thousand armed men of your own on this planet, which is your capital. Our fleet is on the way. Nothing will stop us. We’ll wipe you up, and after you the whole Integral Union, which is nothing but a memory propped up with cardboard. I call on you to surrender!”
From the corridor came the low rumble of automatic doors sliding shut. Horsip, in a quick glance, saw that where the open door to the room had been, there was now a solid sheet of polished steel, which reflected the room like a slightly wavy mirror. That was a relief, but he still had the general to contend with.
Horsip said, still gently, “If what you say were true, General, would I ever have taken a planet belonging to Snard?”
“You had to, to pull your own people together.”
“To pull your people off-balance.”
“What does that mean?”
“Think it over,” said Horsip, with quiet confidence. “You are sending a fleet here, where in your own words I don’t have a thousand men committed.”
Horsip looked at the general quietly, as, inside his own mind, Horsip called up charts of space.
The Snard general was staring at him. “You mean this is bait?”
“What do you suppose will happen to Snard while it throws its weight against shadows?”
The general stared at the corner of the room, then shook his head. “We aren’t that weak. Yes, if you cut in behind—if you had the strength—but we can shift the reserve fleets to block you. You could never get all the way in.”
Horsip looked disappointed. “Think.”
The general looked baffled.
Horsip nodded. “It’s as I thought. You don’t have the information.”
“What information?”
“It’s a question of timing, General. The Integral Union has long experience with timing. We have had to let Snard and Ganfre become large, because of the difficulty with—but you don’t know about that. Well, I certainly won’t explain it. But we don’t need you or Ganfre any longer to defend this region. One or the other of you is bound to attack first, and make the necessary opening. It’s immaterial to us which one we clean up. It’s only reasonable that we ally ourselves with one side to finish the other . . . You see, General, you still don’t realize who is with us, do you?”
The Snard’s general’s eyes darted this way and that, as if trying to follow elusive objects that flitted just out of his range of vision. He swallowed, and took a hard look at Horsip, who looked back at him with quiet confidence. For an instant, the general looked shocked, and said, “Ganfre wouldn’t . . .” then stared at Horsip in horror.