by Ian Miller
"Don't be silly," Elizabeth Garrett replied, withdrawing slightly from Halas. "There's nothing I could do to either of you without your being able to do the same back. That is the very nature of Balance. The problem is, Natasha Kotchetkova is not in balance with anybody. If the military follows her, and I can't see how we know they won't, we must take action."
"This presupposes Natasha does wish to take power," Kleppe pointed out. "We don't know that. All we know is that she shuns social mixing, but not just with us. With everybody!"
"That's true," Elizabeth replied, "but the problem is, if we wait until she does take power, we won't be able to do anything to stop her."
"I don't disagree with the analysis," Halas said, "but I disagree about the need for action."
"On what grounds?"
"Elizabeth! Your fabled intelligence is letting you down, I think. To put it simply, Natasha Kotchetkova is dying. I have good evidence that the tumours are back, and there is too little of her left for her to have any hope. No! I have a better plan. We should support Natasha, ensure she commands, and in victory, get her to graciously support the Balance, and all it implies. Let her bask in glory in her last days. That way, we shall ensure that no other military person can take power. When Natasha finally dies, she will be remembered more strongly than the actual battles, and her thoughts will be revered. If anything, Defence will grow in stature as an organization, but all inside it will diminish. Defence will be controllable." Imre Halas leaned back oozing with self-satisfaction, and took a long sip of wine.
"Imre, that's brilliant," Kleppe remarked, with admiration in his voice.
"Very clever indeed," Elizabeth nodded.
"We simply support Natasha. She will be sufficiently gracious to say mildly encouraging things about us. We record these, and later use them to maintain the balance. To put it simply, we are very lucky not to have a problem. Now, let's forget the grotesque Natasha and get down to more pleasurable things! This is an excellent desert wine. Anybody for one?"
Three glasses were filled, and three Commissioners sat back to enjoy it. Superficially, they were relaxed. Below the surface, Elizabeth Garrett had noted with concern the rapidity with which Halas had dissociated himself from any action against corporates. Halas was afraid, and despite his little speech, he knew that no matter what happened, there would be no return to the pre-existing days, and he also knew that as guardian of the environment he alone had no powerful friends. Meanwhile, Kleppe was far from convinced that an approach should not be made to Natasha Kotchetkova. He was still convinced there was no evidence that she wished for power, and he knew, through monitoring personal finances, which was strictly speaking illegal, that she was possibly the least corrupt on the planet.
Chapter 14
This was the very first closed meeting of the Federation Council for almost a century. For once, nobody would be playing to the media, and for once the media did not object. The future of the Earth was a rather serious subject, even for ComCorp.
Natasha Kotchetkova gave a very simple account of the situation to the Federation Council. She stated they had been extremely fortunate with Columbus, as this station had the best troops stationed on it at that particular time. She emphasized that the defence had been planned, and executed with particular bravery on the part of alpha squad, and she hoped that the Federation Council would make a specific acknowledgement to the men and women who had held the colony. Initially she made no mention of the final defence of the entire station, but when questioned, she simply replied that in terms of specifics, the information was classified.
She admitted that the Mars situation was more difficult to analyse. There had been a rebellion, and a large per centage of the settler population had retreated to a more defensible position. Those who remained in the original domes included the elderly and many food technicians who elected not to go, and she recommended that at no time in the future should settlers be considered traitors simply because of their decision to remain in their settlements. Additionally, she pointed out that Hellas was now agreed neutral by both sides in the dispute, and had voluntarily transferred administrative authority to Theppot, which was recognised as neutral by the M'starn. Hellas would supply food to both sides, on a cash and carry basis.
"Hold it!" the President interjected. "Does that mean that the rebels are being supplied with food?"
"If they turn up and pay for it."
"But . . . That's ridiculous."
"There's not a lot we can do about it," Natasha replied. "We have no forces on Mars."
"That," Munro growled, "has got to be the worst excuse I've ever heard."
"If I recall correctly," Natasha replied in an icy tone, her eyes boring into Munro, "it has been the policy of this Council to keep troops off Mars. I also seem to recall you were as strong an advocate for that as anybody."
"So he could get GenCorp men onto Mars and bully the Martians," an Independent remarked.
"That's a lie!" Munro spat back at the Independent, then realizing there was a greater agenda, he turned back toward the President. "Mr President, we have a large Defence force here sitting on its hands, and we have a military problem on Mars, where the opposition seems to be a bunch of criminals. We're not talking about advanced aliens here, we're talking about criminals."
"Your point?" the President asked.
"Mars is the general source of supply for the enemy, and there are very few aliens actually on Mars. If we sent a major force, we could overpower those aliens, capture some weapons, deny the enemy their source of supply, and –"
"And the aliens will come back destroy the domes, and kill all the settlers," the Commissioner for Mars said.
"Not if the settlers are in caves or underground," Munro said coldly.
"Not all are," the Commissioner for Mars pointed out, "and the food is grown in domes, to get at the sunlight."
"Then they can dig some, or move," Munro said in a more irritated voice. "We've got to do something, or they'll simply get their preparations for invasion done without hindrance, then we'll have a worse problem."
"How do you know they're preparing for invasion?" Imre Halas asked, with an emphasis on the word "you".
"I don't," Munro replied with a shrug, "but I do know they're shipping lots of materials and labour from Mars. They might be making goods for Santa's sleigh for all I know, but we've got to assume, since they've adopted a warlike stance towards Mars, whatever they're doing can't be good for us."
"And what do you recommend?" the President asked.
"We should send sixty thousand troops to Mars," Munro said simply.
"Commissioner Kotchetkova?" the President turned towards her for comment.
"I believe that is a very bad idea," she said simply. "That represents over eighty per cent of our Defence force –"
"Which are otherwise sitting on their arses doing nothing," Munro said coldly. "The enemy are there, not here, and in any case, the bulk of our forces are infantry, correct?"
"That is true," Natasha replied.
"And the only place where we can currently deploy infantry usefully is on Mars, correct?"
"Correct, as long as the emphasis is on 'currently'."
"Then we send them," Munro said.
"The problem is, they could be intercepted by the enemy," Natasha countered, while giving Munro a despising stare, "then we'd have no forces for our own defence."
"I thought we defeated these M'starn on the space station with trainees?" the President frowned.
"That is correct," Natasha began, "but –"
"From which we conclude we can deal with them in terms of ground fighting," Munro interjected, "which in turn means we don't have to keep so many troops here."
"We don't actually know that," Natasha cautioned. "On the Space Station the M'starn had no armour or mechanized troops, and they did not expect to meet organized resistance. We have to assume that they could be manufacturing suitable equipment –"
"Which is all the more reason to
stop them right now," Munro persisted.
"The problem," Natasha said quietly, "is that while there is doubt about our ability to defeat enemy ground forces, there is no doubt about their total superiority in space technology. The enemy would presumably cut us to pieces."
"If we sent all the vehicles on different flight paths," Chu from ChinaCorp offered, "a reasonable per centage might get through."
"You don't know that," Natasha said, "and I have no intention of ordering fifty thousand to go away and die."
"No, but you don't know that they won't get through," Munro emphasised. "If they set off in secret, on different courses, they could be there before the enemy even finds out about them."
"We have no idea what the enemy are monitoring," Natasha protested.
"No, we don't," Munro countered, "but we've got to do something. We can't win by sitting back doing nothing."
"I tend to agree," the President said, a trifle pompously. It had suddenly occurred to him that he could make history as being the first President in the Federation to order the deployment of armed forces.
"If they were coasting through space, they'd be very difficult to locate," protested the Mars Commissioner. "You could make the ship robot controlled."
"It'd boost the spirits of the Moon colonists," the Moon Commissioner added. "They'd really like to believe Earth actually cares."
Thus the debate proceeded. The colonists needed support, and the corporations wanted the additional sales. To her slight surprise, Natasha noted that the Commissioners for Justice, Environment and Finance gave her mild support. In the end, however, she had to concede that provided the Federation paid for the ship, a robot ship full of supplies rather than troops did not risk lives, and would not impede the war effort, as long as the ship could be launched out of Earth's range of easy visibility.
"It would not help morale at all if the M'starn were to destroy this ship within easy observational distance from Earth," she cautioned.
This possibility did not seem likely to the Council, so the vote was taken. Along with this vote, Defence was requested to protect the robot ship for as long as was reasonable. The Council then was pleased to pass a vote of confidence in Defence, and wished it well in the defence of Earth.
* * *
The rest of the meeting was more like the pre-alien meetings. The mindlessly boring minor wrangles resumed, and Natasha sat back and quietly watched the interplay. She knew better than to say anything. These were wrangles for position and fiscal votes. Defence had virtually everything it could ask for at this time, and any action on her part could only make enemies. But at the very end, she stirred from her near comatose state. The President had brought an issue from the General Assembly.
". . . and I really would like to know what Justice intends to do about this infamous escapee!"
"Excuse me," Natasha intervened, "but what seems to be the problem?"
"None of your business," muttered a Corporate.
"Simply this," the President said. "Italy has protested. There's a man claiming to be a faith healer, and he charges up to 100,000 fecus for a cure. He has the rich and famous all over him like a rash."
"And they're complaining?"
"No! It's MediCorp that's complaining. And also LandCorp. They've been trying to take this house, but this healer's taken it over and he refuses to leave, and –"
"Does LandCorp own the house?" Natasha asked curiously.
"Everybody knows that the refusal to transfer such property to LandCorp is merely antisocial and definitely provocative, and –"
"Which means LandCorp does not own it, and has probably engaged in illegal activities to get it," Elizabeth Garrett remarked angrily.
"The corporation has a moral right to take what action it deems necessary to –"
"Citizens have rights to –" an Independent started.
"Only in zones designated for Independents," Munro growled. "I suggest you –"
"Order!" the President yelled. "The point is that this healer's been arrested twice, imprisoned, and each time he's just walked free. Justice simply isn't doing its job, and we suspect Justice has been bribed. I need –"
"That's a lie," Elizabeth Garrett shouted furiously. "There've been absolutely no bribes at all. I find that accusation insulting to the extreme, and I demand an immediate withdrawal and apology."
"You're out of order!" the President shouted back. "How else did he get out of prison?"
"I have no idea," Elizabeth muttered. "It's a complete mystery to me."
"Some junior must have been bribed," the corporate said. "It's your job to root this fake out and keep him in prison."
"Excuse me," Natasha intervened. "Perhaps I can help. If I understand it, there's no crime in actually being a faith healer, is there?"
"For God's sake!" the corporate said as he shook his head in disbelief. "Do you think this man can do what MediCorp can't?"
"That's where I can help," Natasha smiled. She took off a glove and held her hand up for the horrified Councillors to see. "In my opinion, if he can heal that, I say he is innocent. If he can't, then Defence will arrest him on behalf of Justice," and she turned and nodded to Elizabeth. "After that, he can be delivered to Justice at any prison you care to nominate."
"That's most irregular," protested the Corporate. "The Commissioner should be made to do her job."
"My hand is most irregular," Natasha replied coldly. "If he really can cure this hand, it may not be within Commissioner Garrett's power to hold him."
"We're not having a bout of religion here are we?"
"That's –"
"Order!" called the President. "I see no reason to reject Commissioner Kotchetkova's offer. When will you do this?"
"Exactly the same day as the launch of the robot ship," Natasha replied grimly. "As I remarked, I don't think that's much of an idea. I'll see it's done, but I'd really appreciate an excuse for not being present if it turns into a debacle."
There was a minor uproar over this, but an affirmative vote was finally taken, and the meeting was declared closed. Natasha Kotchetkova immediately rose, and walked out of the meeting room, before anybody realized that the Commission itself was not supposed to get directly involved with fieldwork. The remaining members, she knew, would remain for some while, as minor deals would be made for the next meeting. As she left the outer hall, she noted two guards chuckling to themselves.
"Care to tell me the joke?" she asked.
"Commissioner, you'd never believe this. There's this silly woman here a few minutes ago demanding to see you in private. She didn't want anyone else to see her, because she reckoned that one of the Councillors was a spy for the M'starn. Have you ever heard anything so stupid?"
"No, I haven't" Natasha said evenly. "Where is she now?"
"We sent her away," laughed the guard.
"Is that so," Natasha mused. She drew a communicator from her pocket and signalled. Within half a minute, five Defence soldiers burst into the room.
"These two guards are to be placed under arrest," Natasha ordered. "They may speak to nobody. I want the surveillance tapes from this entire building for the last four hours confiscated. All computer entrance data for this building is to be copied for Defence then erased. Under no circumstances are any of the other Councillors to know about this. Do it quickly, do it quietly." She turned to the guards, who were looking quite ashen. "You will identify the woman from the tapes. Until that woman has our full protection, you will not be given another chance to bungle with her life. I hope you enjoy Uzbek prison food, because that's all you're getting for a while."
With that, she stormed off, shaking her head slowly. She just had to hope the woman could be found by Defence before the traitor could find her and that her precautions kept the traitor from learning of this incident. Not for one second did she even consider that there was no traitor. She was prepared to believe that almost anyone in that room would be prepared to commit treason.
Chapter 15
"Look
ing forward to a white Christmas?" Harry asked. "Look down there! There's snow all over central Asia."
"My preference for Christmas is definitely focussed on the beach," Marisa shrugged. "I'd never seen snow before, and I can't say it thrills me."
"There's not a lot of snow around Sydney at Christmas either," Harry agreed. "I guess with only twelve days to go, there won't be time for you to go home?"
"I'm afraid not," Marisa said, "but I'm really pleased you brought me with you." They were in one of the most heavily armed, fastest space vehicles Defence had. With four other craft, flown by members of gamma squad, their duty was to guard the robot ship until it was clear of the simple observational range of Earth. It had been regarded as an exercise for the trainees because if the robot ship was to be intercepted, the M'starn had to learn about it, then they had to get to it from Miranda. Even if there were an enemy spy, the radio waves still had to get to Miranda, and the decision of exactly when to launch had only been made by Commissioner Kotchetkova hours before. The common theory was that the ship would probably be intercepted close to Mars, to discourage the Martian settlers.
"You're the best navigator around," Harry said. "I wouldn't want to get lost!"
"See that there," Marisa pointed. "That's the robot ship."
"I know that!"
"That blue-white globe, that's Earth, and the yellow-white one's the moon."
"I sort of worked that out too."
"So you're hardly likely to get lost!"
"Well," Harry said in his broadest accent, "perhaps I like your company."
"Not even a bit more than like?"
"Of course," Harry said, then, changing the subject, "Look over there. There's Mercury. Bet you haven't seen that before."
"My life's obviously been on the wrong track," Marisa observed dryly. "Beautiful full moon, though, isn't it?"
"It's certainly clear from up here."
"Drives some people mad!"
"Not us, I hope," Harry said, avoiding the point of Marisa's comment. "Look over there."
"I don't see anything in particular," Marisa said doubtfully.
