LITMIR.BIZ

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I would remind you that there is a difference between boldness and blindness. There is a place for a decisive gamble when you know your enemy and can calculate the risks at least roughly; but to move at all against an unknown enemy is boldness in itself. You might as well ask why the same man sprints safely across an obstacle course in the day, and falls over the furniture in his room at night.’

      Brodrig swept away the other’s words with a neat flirt of the fingers. ‘Dramatic, but not satisfactory. You have been to this barbarian world yourself. You have in addition this enemy prisoner you coddle, this trader. Between yourself and the prisoner you are not in a night fog.’

      ‘No? I pray you to remember that a world which had developed in isolation for two centuries can not be interpreted to the point of intelligent attack by a month’s visit. I am a soldier, not a cleft-chinned, barrel-chested hero of a subetheric trimensional thriller. Nor can a single prisoner, and one who is an obscure member of an economic group which has no close connection with the enemy world introduce me to all the inner secrets of enemy strategy.’

      ‘You have questioned him?’

      ‘I have.’

      ‘Well?’

      ‘It has been useful, but not vitally so. His ship is tiny, of no account. He sells little toys which are amusing if nothing else. I have a few of the cleverest which I intend sending to the Emperor as curiosities. Naturally, there is a good deal about the ship and its workings which I do not understand, but then I am not a tech-man.’

      ‘But you have among you those who are,’ pointed out Brodrig.

      ‘I, too, am aware of that,’ replied the general in faintly caustic tones. ‘But the fools have far to go before they could meet my needs. I have already sent for clever men who can understand the workings of the odd atomic field-circuits the ship contains. I have received no answer.’

      ‘Men of that type can not be spared, general. Surely, there must be one man of your vast province who understands atomics.’

      ‘Were there such a one, I would have him heal the limping, invalid motors that power two of my small fleet of ships. Two ships of my meagre ten that can not fight a major battle for lack of sufficient power supply. One fifth of my force condemned to the carrion activity of consolidating positions behind the lines.’

      The secretary’s fingers fluttered impatiently. ‘Your position is not unique in that respect, general. The Emperor has similar troubles.’

      The general threw away his shredded, never-lit cigarette, lit another, and shrugged. ‘Well, it is beside the immediate point, this lack of first-class tech-men. Except that I might have made more progress with my prisoner were my Psychic Probe in proper order.’

      The secretary’s eyebrows lifted. ‘You have a Probe?’

      ‘An old one. A superannuated one which fails me the one time I needed it. I set it up during the prisoner’s sleep, and received nothing. So much for the Probe. I have tried it on my own men and the reaction is quite proper, but again there is not one among my staff of tech-men who can tell me why it fails upon the prisoner. Ducem Barr, who is a theoretician of parts, though no mechanic, says the psychic structure of the prisoner may be unaffected by the Probe since from childhood he has been subjected to alien environments and neural stimuli. I don’t know. But he may yet be useful. I save him in that hope.’

      Brodrig leaned on his staff. ‘I shall see if a specialist is available in the capital. In the meanwhile, what of this other man you just mentioned, this Siwennian? You keep too many enemies in your good graces.’

      ‘He knows the enemy. He, too, I keep for future reference and the help he may afford me.’

      ‘But he is a Siwennian and the son of a proscribed rebel.’

      ‘He is old and powerless, and his family acts as hostage.’

      ‘I see. Yet I think that I should speak to this trader myself.’

      ‘Certainly.’

      ‘Alone,’ the secretary added coldly, making his point.

      ‘Certainly,’ repeated Riose, blandly. ‘As a loyal subject of the Emperor, I accept his personal representative as my superior. However, since the trader is at the permanent base, you will have to leave the front areas at an interesting moment.’

      ‘Yes? Interesting in what way?’

      ‘Interesting in that the Inclosure is complete today. Interesting in that within the week, the Twentieth Fleet of the Border advances inward towards the core of resistance.’ Riose smiled and turned away.

      In a vague way, Brodrig felt punctured.

       7

       Bribery

      Sergeant Mori Luk made an ideal soldier of the ranks. He came from the huge agricultural planets of the Pleiades where only army life could break the bond to the soil and the unavailing life of drudgery; and he was typical of that background. Unimaginative enough to face danger without fear, he was strong and agile enough to face it successfully. He accepted orders instantly, drove the men under him unbendingly and adored his general unswervingly.

      And yet with that, he was of a sunny nature. If he killed a man in the line of duty without a scrap of hesitation, it was also without a scrap of animosity.

      That Sergeant Luk should signal at the door before entering was further a sign of tact, for he would have been perfectly within his rights to enter without signalling.

      The two within looked up from their evening meal and one reached out with his foot to cut off the cracked voice which rattled out of the battered pocket-transmitter with bright liveliness.

      ‘More books?’ asked Lathan Devers.

      The sergeant held out the tightly-wound cylinder of film and scratched his neck. ‘It belongs to Engineer Orre, but he’ll have to have it back. He’s going to send it to his kids, you know, like what you might call a souvenir, you know.’

      Ducem Barr turned the cylinder in his hands with interest. ‘And where did the engineer get it? He hasn’t a transmitter also, has he?’

      The sergeant shook his head emphatically. He pointed to the knocked-about remnant at the foot of the bed. ‘That’s the only one in the place. This fellow, Orre, now, he got that book from one of these pig-pen worlds out here we captured. They had it in a big building by itself and he had to kill a few of the natives that tried to stop him from taking it.’

      He looked at it appraisingly. ‘It makes a good souvenir – for kids.’

      He paused, then said stealthily, ‘There’s big news floating about, by the way. It’s only scuttlebutt, but even so, it’s too good to keep. The general did it again.’ And he nodded slowly, gravely.

      ‘That so?’ said Devers. ‘And what did he do?’

      ‘Finished the Inclosure, that’s all.’ The sergeant chuckled with a fatherly pride. ‘Isn’t he the corker, though? Didn’t he work it fine? One of the fellows who’s strong on fancy talk, says it went as smooth and even as the music of the spheres, whatever they are.’

      ‘The big offensive starts now?’ asked Barr, mildly.

      ‘Hope so,’ was the boisterous response. ‘I want to get back on my ship now that my arm is in one piece again. I’m tired of sitting on my scupper out here.’

      ‘So am I,’ muttered Devers, suddenly and savagely. There was a bit of underlip caught in his teeth, and he worried it.

      The sergeant looked at him doubtfully, and said, ‘I’d better go now. The captain’s round is due and I’d just as soon he didn’t catch me in here.’

      He

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