He took a deep breath. "I know what I have to say now will not go over easily with you, because it contradicts your own convictions and your belief in the integrity and honesty of others, especially the Mongols."
He held up his left hand with two fingers extended. "Two things reveal to me, and perhaps others, what the Mongols and Tiger Men really are doing. I'm aware there is a so-called gentleman's agreement about terraforming Mars for the Mongols and Venus for our Federation and our allies. The agreement is a farce. The word of the Mongols is no better or worse today than it has been ever since they began destroying other cultures in their passion for conquest. They will do anything to achieve their goals.
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"So they have pretended to cooperate with you in a long-term agreement. In reahty, you have been snookered."
Logan and the other members of the council looked puzzled.
"Snookered?" Logan repeated. "I don't understand that term."
"It means," Dawn Noriega offered, "the Mongols have lied about every agreement they have made with us."
Murmuring began on the dais. Buck moved quickly to cut it off and drive home his point. "The Mongols and their Tiger Men allies have been conducting an enormous charade. We have helped them search for water resources on Mars, among other things. We even sent Takashi Inoyue, perhaps our world's leading authority on subterranean water sources, to assure Mars a plentiful water supply for many years to come."
"And they have agreed," broke in Vice-President Hasafi, "to assist us in accelerating the rotation of Venus. Brigadier Rogers, do you really think we have been unaware of the great power station the Mongols have placed on Venus? Remember, we helped design, build, and install it."
"May I ask," Buck spoke slowly, "how many power-drive generating installations were built by Amerigo and the Mongols on Venus?"
"Three, Brigadier."
"If you please. Madam. Buck turned to Dawn and Wilma. "Report."
Wilma stood tall before the council, joined by Dawn Noriega. "At Brigadier Rogers's orders, we spent considerable time while in the Venusian atmosphere attempting to pick up images, thought pictures, or any other information on Mongol activity on Venus. We confirmed the three stations."
"Then what is your point?" Hasafi asked, impatient.
"Madam Vice-President," Wilma intoned, an ominous note in her voice, "Dawn Noriega and I located sixteen such energy installations on the planet, thirteen of which are not on any of our charts, nor is there any record anywhere in our intelligence data banks of their existence."
Stunned silence followed her words. "Colonel Deering, we're talking here about hunches, aren't we? I mean, a psychic message, perhaps, but—"
Dawn Noriega stepped forward. Her voice was as icy as her
Buck Rogers
facial glare. "Madam, we are not psychics, we are not witches, and we are not magicians. We have been given an ability to receive extremely low-frequency radio waves generated both by planetary bodies and the human brain. There is nothing mysterious about what we can receive, no more than a great opera singer achieves her spectacular voice through being blessed physiologically rather than by means of magic."
"I meant no offense," Hasafi said quietly.
"None taken, Madam. May I also point out that in the sensor recordings of Nautilus as we traversed the Venusian atmosphere, there will be readings of power sources and other radiations not indigenous to the planet? They are artificial and unmistakable, and they may easily be confirmed as to their exact locations."
"Admiral Kane, will you stand for confirmation on what we have just been told?" asked President Logan.
"Done, sir," Kane boomed.
"Kane, damn it," Logan said in frustration, "how the devil did they lift that much mass on their own to Venus! We never picked up anything of that size departing Earth, and there's nothing on Mars—"
"But there is, sir," Buck interrupted.
"What? How?"
"For all the time the Tiger Men and the Golden People have been on Mars, they have concealed the ships that brought them here—spacecraft, gravity warps, and other systems that make our best equipment almost antiques. Those energy drives were taken piecemeal from Earth to Mars," Buck explained, "and there they were assembled. Then, cloaked in gravity warp, the Tiger Men transferred them to Venus and placed them deep beneath the surface in a position both to warp space-time and to accelerate the rotation."
"Wait," Hasafi said hurriedly. "What does space-time warp have to do with all this?"
Buck couldn't help but smile. "They will warp space and create a gravity well directly in the path of the revolution of Venus about the sun. Venus will follow natural law and begin to fall into that gravitational well. As fast as it does so, the attractor will continue to move ahead of Venus. It's just like falling down a deep well—there's always more room to keep falling."
A Life in the Future
"The why of all this," Logan complained, "still eludes me."
"Sir," Buck said slowly, "it's simple. The Mongols have made their pact with the Tiger Men to terraform Mars. When that world once again flourishes, with a spacegrav warp to retain atmosphere and water vapor, then the Mongols will be at the mercy of the Tiger Men, who are desperate for foodstuffs to meet their needs. When Mars reflects their home world, the Mongols will be turned into slaves. Mental pressure alone will accomplish what physical force could never do to the Mongols, who would rather die than be enslaved. But they will be, from a distance, lobotomized and made helpless slaves."
"But not until Mars is ready?" Logan persisted.
"Yes, sir."
"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions in rapid order, Rogers?"
"At your service, Mr. President."
"I'm trying to fit all the pieces together, so bear with me." Buck nodded.
"Why have the Mongols assisted us in planning an increase in Venus's rotation?"
"To render the planet uninhabitable for Earthmen."
"That sounds . . . forgive me, Rogers, but it sounds crazy, insane!"
"Yes, sir, it does."
"How does helping us accomplish that?"
"Doctor Huer is, among other things, a mathematical genius and what we used to call a computer whiz. Working with Admiral Kane, they computed the increase in rotational speed of Venus from the mass energy drivers as well as that space-time gravity warp, the deep well I detailed a few moments ago.
"We need a Venusian rotational speed close to that of Earth to begin the terraforming process, Mr. President. But when full power is applied to the gravity warp and the mass drivers, Venus will act like a planet gone mad, with a rotational speed of approximately two hundred and forty rotations per Earth day, or ten times faster than we have on Earth. The result will be quakes, slides, and explosive volcanic action, with no hope of achieving Earthlike conditions."
"And they believe we would simply stand by and let this hap-
Buck Rogers
pen?"
"Hardly, sir. That's where MongoHum enters in."
"The asteroid?"
"Yes, sir. MongoKum is in a state of orbital change. It will go out another twenty or thirty thousand miles, and when the Mongols are fully established on Mars, they'll be ready to destroy Earth—and us. They are quite willing to wipe out this planet if they can become the masters with the Tiger Men of Mars."
"How will they use—"
"Mongolium will be turned in its path, then accelerated rapidly until it is on a direct collision course with Earth. Most of the Mongols—the rulers, anyway—will be gone from Earth by then, along with perhaps a half-million Japanese specialists and scientists. At that time, they will hurl the asteroid, which has a mass of billions of tons, into Earth with a collision speed of ninety thousand miles an hour. The impact will fracture Earth like a piece of clay dropped on a tile floor from great height. The planet will be shattered. Presto—no more competition from Amerigo or anyone else. Earth will be gone forever."
"That's pure
madness!"
"That it is, sir."
"Admiral Kane, this seems to be in your line. In the absence of Admiral Bemis, I ask you what we can do about that asteroid?"
"Blowing it up, where it is now, won't help," Kane said brusquely.
"Why not?" asked Hasafi.
"We'd need an enormous quantity of thermonuclear bombs to even try to break it up. Since the asteroid is still populated, and the Mongols haven't started it back yet, we'd simply be inviting another thermonuclear war. And even if we did break it up, there would be a lethal rain of huge meteorites on Earth that might be just as devastating as a war."
"If we had the Martian gravity warp—I mean, the Tiger Men and their means of creating a gravity well—we could keep it accelerating away from Earth," Logan said.
"But we don't have that, Mr. President," Kane reminded him. "And I doubt if we have much influence with the Tiger Men. They've been in the Mongol camp a long time. But first things
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first. What can we do about the asteroid?"
"I have an idea," Buck offered.
"By all means, let's have it!" the president said, nearly shouting.
"There's one science Amerigo has that exceeds anything else," Buck noted. "That's your mastery of cryogenics, on either a small or mass scale."
"Are you proposing we freeze them out. Buck?" Kane asked sarcastically. "What bloody good would that do?"
"It's a better idea than you think. Admiral, especially if we tie it in with some other powerful threats. We're a long way from helpless."
"What kind of threats, Brigadier?" asked Hasafi.
"First, Mongolium is occupied. It still must be controlled as to direction and velocity, and finally starting back to Earth. That means a working crew, enormous machinery. Complex machinery. I've studied the orbital mechanics of that thing—with a lot of help from Doc Huer, let me add. In a few days, it will have enough velocity, if it's not decelerated, to leave the orbital planes of Earth and our moon. It will fly north of the plane of the ecliptic and go into an orbit that won't come closer to Earth than a few million miles—the kind of orbit that will be stable for a few million years, anyway."
"How do we put them into deep-freeze?" asked Logan.
"With your lifting systems—antigrav and beamed power—we could send a few million tons of ice into the asteroid. Even a few big comets would tear them up. As fast as water struck that chunk of rock, impact friction would shower it out across the surface and into any ports or openings. It would also sublimate instantly into ice. It would be a deep freeze that would knock out their machinery."
"There's a problem," Logan said.
They turned to the president. "The Mongols won't just stand by and do nothing. We'll have a fight on our hands."
"Use thermonuclear weapons," Buck said.
They stared at him in disbelief
"Are you mad?" Hasafi said icily. "Hasn't the history of this planet gotten through to you? Thermonukes have poisoned our world. They—"
"Madam, I never said to explode them. I said to use them."
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"You have an ingenious way about you, Rogers. Please don't stop now. Obviously you have thought this through."
"Yes, Ma'm, I have. The Mongols are failures as diplomats. Force is the only thing they understand. They know what thermos can do. But there's one group that is absolutely terrified of hydrogen bombs, especially those in the gigaton range. A few of them exploded on Mars will wreck its future completely."
"Are you proposing we bombard Mars with hydrogen bombs?"
"Never," Buck said emphatically.
"Then what are you proposing?"
"We place several huge bombs in orbit about Mars. We land ships in all critical areas of Mars—ravines, underground chasms with water, in the polar icecaps. We let the Tiger Men know that unless they change their tune, we'll set off the bombs, and it's good-bye Mars, Tiger Men, and the Golden People."
"You're talking about risking everything on a bluff?" exclaimed Logan.
"Sir, are you familiar with the name von Clausewitz?"
"I am not, Rogers."
"He was one of the greatest political and military thinkers of all time. Von Clausewitz specialized in simple answers to complex questions. Let me ask you one, sir. What is war?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"What is war?"
"Why, war is an attempt to destroy your enemy and—"
"Let me save you time, sir. War is an expression of political failure, nothing more, nothing less. When you cannot function politically, your failure—at least in our history—is war."
"You are not through making your point?"
"No, sir. One more question. What is the ultimate goal of war?"
"To destroy the enemy's ability to fight, obviously."
"No, sir. That's utterly wasteful. It is to make the enemy change his mind. No more, no less. If he is convinced he cannot win, then he will stop fighting in order to survive. If he is convinced of that before he starts to fight, you have won your war without a single shot fired. That is why, I must add, you need not have a single actual bomb placed on Mars. If we act boldly, the threat will be perceived as real. The Tiger Men know our history and know we are perfectly capable of acting like mad-
A Life in the Future
men, lobbing hydrogen bombs about and all. And the natural consequence to follow is that they must strip the Mongols of power, or they will bring down upon them the wrath of our bombs."
"And if they find out it's a bluff?"
"Sir, no one plays that kind of chicken. One mistake and you lose the game. The Tiger Men are anything but stupid. The risk is too great for them to take." Buck laughed. "Besides, they consider the Mongols little better than savage brutes, utterly without redeeming value."
"You are certain of their attitude?"
"Absolutely. They have had a spy in our midst for years. He travels back and forth between Earth and Mars. He plans for his country eventually to rule Mars. His people are utterly ruthless in eliminating all competition."
"We have a spy in our camp?"
"More a traitor than a spy, but, yes."
"Who?" Barney shouted, his face a mask of rage.
"Takashi Inoyue."
Icy silence met his statement. Then Kane spoke in a cold, measured tone. ''Mister Rogers, you're talking about a man whose courage is unquestionable, a man who fought alongside me for years. For Amerigo."
"Admiral, every word you say is true. But all this time, he has served another master—the old samurai warrior clan of Japan. Many years ago, he was planted in our midst, serving faithfully, but always doing what he could to reestablish Japan as a major power. Now they have yielded Earth to us, just so long as they become a dominant power on Mars. Inoyue is there to increase the power of the Mongolians, to use everything he could to keep track of our ships in space and on Mars and Venus. Did it ever strike you as unusual that, even with full cloaking and all the ruses we could think of, the Mongols were always present in force to engage us? They always knew we were coming and what our plans were."
"Good God, man, how can you ignore what the Mongols did to his wife? Beating, rape, torture, and slow death!"
"He set up his own wife to convince you of his und3dng loyalty to us."
"He set her up?"
Buck Rogers
"Perfectly acceptable behavior for a samurai. What is good for the empire is always acceptable. All will be evened out in heaven."
"Start giving me facts, Buck. And I want proof"
"Inoyue made a mistake on the mission aboard lo. I didn't catch it at first. Until the lo mission, he had spent all his time with you. Is that correct?"
"Yes, it is."
"And when he wasn't with you?"
"He was on missions we sent him to fulfill."
"Especially in South America?"
"Why—why, yes," Barney faltered. "What of it?"
"While he was following your orders,
Admiral, he was also cozying up with the Chileans and the Mongols."
"How do you know that?"
"Without anyone on our team saying anything to him, he knew too much about Dawn Noriega, her telepathic powers, how she could communicate with sea life, and how she'd struck up such an extraordinary relationship with the Atlanteans.
"He also told us he was returning sub rosa to Japan to help develop new systems to be used against the Han and the Mongols. What he was really doing was passing on to the Mongols our communications codes and other data, which helped them to always be one leg up on us. Then miraculously, just before we left for Mars, who shows up to accompany us but Takashi Inoyue? How could he have known the exact time and date, without being in touch with us, unless he was using Mongol equipment to monitor our frequencies? There was no other way.
"Then he made one very big mistake—a slip of the tongue, perhaps. As we were ready to shove off for Mars, he told us that he had been back to Chile to learn more about the aliens. Dawn Noriega had queried the Chileans from our base in Amerigo. She didn't have to leave to find out, and you can't tap a telepathic line.
"We knew he'd been back in Japan, but he was always hush-hush about exactly what he was doing there. For someone as sharp as Inoyue, that sent up a red flag. If he remained in Japan, we might never have suspected him. But we found his name in a Mongol code message we intercepted, and it was from Vladivos-
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tok. Unless he was working with the Mongols, he could never have gotten through one of the most heavily defended ports in the world.
"I spoke of this to Dawn, and she began to come up with some disturbing images from Inoyue. He was supposed to have been lost in searching out underground rivers on Mars, but one of the images Dawn picked up was of Japanese lettering carved into a wall of an underground lake. It was a marker, a guide. Inoyue had it all mapped out already, and he'd never been lost. But it explained his long absences from us. Even you didn't see that. Admiral. Yet when we were moving across Mars and ready to lift off from the planet, we got bushwhacked, right in the middle of a dust storm covering the whole planet! They were monitoring our frequencies the whole time, courtesy of Inoyue.
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