“Time isn’t on your side,” Keene said.
“Don’t you believe it.”
“Really? Why not?” What did Zeigler think was going to happen to change things?
But Zeigler showed no inclination to elaborate. “In fact, time could be something you might profitably put to use yourself while you have it,” he said. “Eventually, a new state will take root here. A state based on realistic understanding of the forces that must inevitably emerge and then clash in the running of a complex society. We have a world rich with resources. Kronia has a few balls of ice. Don’t be caught on the wrong side when the real test comes.” Zeigler paused pointedly. “Ours could be very generous in its rewards for those who worked with us from an early stage.”
Keene’s fists snapped shut, and he almost sprang from the chair, but checked himself as he remembered the guards behind. “I already told you, you’re out of your mind,” he said tightly.
“I wasn’t asking for an answer now, or expecting one,” Zeigler said. “But something for you to think over, nevertheless. As I suggested to you before, things would be considerably eased for all if a single spokesman were appointed for the others. Perhaps we can resume this conversation when the time is more opportune.” He nodded to the guards. Keene started to say something but Zeigler cut him off. “That will be all for now.”
One of the guards came forward. Keene stood. The other opened the door, and they ushered him out.
* * *
Shayle was still numbed when Keene joined her in the power distribution house, next to where Agni was sited, behind the workshop domes. She and two technicians were running power factor and frequency tests, watched by a couple of Zeigler’s guards. Keene told her that it would better serve the interests of everyone if they carried on as normal for the time being. The decision didn’t seem to come as any great surprise to her. As a Kronian, she would have been hard put to conceive in any concrete form exactly what else they were supposed to do. Just at the moment, Keene was far from having much of an idea himself. They moved through a switchroom annex behind the control room and went outside via a door at the far end, where they could talk away from unwelcome ears.
“What else did he say?” Shayle asked. She stood in the pose of women gripped by anxiety, pulling her jacket tighter around her as if she were cold. In fact the wind had shifted to the south and did have a chilly nip to it.
“The proposition about being a spokesman and making it easier for everyone, again,” Keene answered. “Only this time laced with a dash of promise of being well looked after when they run their Brave New World.”
“You didn’t agree, did you?”
Keene shook his head. “No . . .” He let it hang for a moment. “But things could reach the point where something like that might be the best course. The strategy of people like that is always to divide the opposition among themselves. That’s how tyrants stay in power. Speaking through one person could keep us united and make it more difficult.”
“You mean you’d cooperate with them?”
Keene sighed. “See how they get you? They’ve got you doubting me already.”
“I’m sorry, Lan.” Shayle put a hand to her brow and shook her head. “I’ve just got no instinct for dealing with this. . . . None of us have.”
“I know.”
Shayle stared out past the domes and structures of the base at the hills outlined against a dark, angry sky. “So how bad could it get? How does a minority like this keep control over a whole community?”
“You’ve already seen how,” Keene said grimly.
“But they can’t shoot everybody. There’s got to be a line. Push people beyond it and they’ll simply revolt en masse because they’ve nothing to lose. I do know something about Earth’s history, even if I never lived it.”
Keene shrugged. “It’s like I said. You divide them against each other. Single out individuals and make examples of them. Take hostages. And if you’ve got the guns, you can do things like control the food”—he gestured at the wall shielding Agni—”or the energy supply. When you have power over people’s ability to make a living and survive, they’ll do what you want.” As an afterthought, he added, “Controlling the distribution of wealth created by others was how the elites who ran Earth operated for centuries. If ‘slavery’ means being coerced to work for the benefit of others, maybe it never really was abolished. They just replaced the blatant physical kind with things that were more subtle.” He looked at Shayle curiously. “I never thought about that before. Maybe there are more reasons for Kronia’s determination to stay away from introducing a monetary system than I realized.”