“The EAP is committed to a dogma of conquest,” he said. “They understand no language apart from force. You cannot hope to deal with them by any other means.”
“On the contrary, Mr. Sterm, they understand the same language that people everywhere speak,” Chester said. “We will deal with them in the same way that we have already dealt with you.”
“And exactly what is that supposed to mean?’ Sterm demanded.
Otto smiled humorlessly. “Take a look at the other lunatics around you,” he suggested. “What happened to all the people? Where did your army go? They’re all Chironians now. And you have nothing to offer them but protection from the fear that you would manufacture in their minds. But they have Chironian minds. They see that the fear is your fear, not theirs; and it is you who are in need of protection, not they.”
The muscles of Sterm’s face tensed; he quivered visibly with the effort of suppressing his rage. “1 was willing to bargain,” he grated. “Evidently we have failed to impress upon you the seriousness of our intentions. Very well, you leave me no further choice. Perhaps a demonstration will serve to convince you.” He turned to Stormbel. “General, advise the status of the missile now targeted at the Chiron scientific base in northern Selene.”
“Primed and ready for immediate launch,” Stormbel replied in a monotone. “Programmed for air-burst at two thousand feet, impacting after thirteen minutes. Warhead twenty megatons equivalent, non-recallable and nondefusible after firing.”
“Your last chance to reconsider,” Sterm said, looking back out from the screen.
“We have nothing to reconsider,” Otto replied calmly.
Sterm’s face darkened, and his mouth twisted into an ugly grimace. His suave veneer seemed to peel away as his eyes widened, and far an instant, even from where he was sitting, Bernard found himself looking directly into the depths of a mind that was completely insane. He shivered involuntarily. Beside him Celia gripped his arm. “General,” Sterm ordered. “Launch the missile in sixty seconds.”
Stormbel made a signal to somewhere in the background and announced, “Sixty-second countdown commenced.”
“The countdown can be halted at any time,” Sterm informed them.
Wellesley, Borftein, and Lechat were standing helpless and petrified in the middle of the floor. “He’ll do it,” Celia whispered, horrified, to Bernard.
Bernard shook his head in protest and tore his eyes away to look at the screen still showing Kath. “You can’t let this happen,” he implored. “Those are your own people up there in Selene. This will just be the first example. Then it’ II get worse.”
“We don’t intend to let it happen,” Kath said.
“But you are. What can you do to stop it?”
“You’ve already worked most of that out.”
Bernard shook his head again. “I don’t know what you ,.- mean. The Kuan-yin can’t fire effectively, It’ & eclipsed frowt< the Battle Module." "It couldn't fire anyway," Kath replied. "It's wiodiflcations aren't completed yet We've already toli~4ou that" Bernard frowned at her in bemusement. Nothing was making any sense. "But-its antimatter drive ... that's your weapon, isn't it?" "We never said it was," Kath replied. "You assumed it. So did Sterm." Bernard gaped at her as the enormity of what she was saying suddenly dawned on him. Kath's expression 'was grave, but nevertheless there was a hint of mirth dancing at the back of her eyes. "We could hardly disguise our scientific work," she said. "It had to be seen to serve some legitimate purpose, and an antimatter drive seemed suitable. But the Kuan-yin project has been low down on our list of priorities." Bernard's eyes widened incredulously. "But if the Kuan-yin isn't finished, then what made the crater in Remus?" "Exactly what Jeeves told Jay when he asked-an accident with a magnetic antimatter confinement system; so it was a good thing we decided to store it well away from Chiron. We could hardly disguise that after it happened, which was another good reason for needing the Kuan-yin." "We-we never believed that story," Bernard said weakly. "Well, that was up to you. We told you." Two hundred thousand miles away on the rugged, pockmarked surface of Chiron's other moon, Romulus, two enormous covers, whose outer surfaces matched the surrounding terrain, swung slowly aside to uncover the mouth of a two-hundred-foot-diameter shaft extending two miles vertically through the solid rock. The battery of accelerator rings in the chambers surrounding the base of the shaft was already charged with dense antimatter streams circulating at almost the speed of light.