Manna

by Lee Correy

  “Or China,” Ali observed. “Or any of the other low-tech nations who’ve refused to knuckle under to the Tripartite’s economic or energy pressures.”

  “Or against space facilities. We’re sitting ducks,” Ursila observed.

  “That’s why The General believes the space segment of the Commonwealth is important. We’ve got to stop the potential use of those big hell beamers. And we’re going to. Not tomorrow, but right now. Peter, we’re coming down to see you, and we want to meet with Commandant Milan Otasek.” I told him.

  “Our hands are tied on this matter, old chap,” Rutledge reminded me. “We can’t engage in paramilitary police action under international treaty and agreement.”

  “Peter, this wouldn’t be the first time in history that international agreements have been bent because they were unworkable when the balloon went up,” I reminded him. “The three of us are coming to see you as quick as we can get there, whether the red carpet is out or not. Maybe you don’t know what a five-gig hell beam with only a few picoradian spread can do, but I know!”

  “But I do know, and I must say I don’t precisely like it,” Inspector Peter Rutledgeadmitted.

  Chapter 16

  A Change of Command

  “I say, you Commonwealth chaps at Ell-Five must have propellant to burn!”

  “That’s what it’s for,” I replied to Inspector Peter Rutledge as we stepped through the portlock at GEO Base Zero and relinquished our iklawas to the guard. We’d come in the Tomahok which wasn’t economical, but she was fast and time was short.

  Ursila remarked to the guard, “Don’t lose that iklawa; I have a sentimental attachment to it.”

  “I’ll get you another one if he does,” Ali promised.

  “Wouldn’t be the same, dear. That’s the one you taught me to kill with,” she reminded him.

  “You heard the news as you came over?” Peter said.

  Ali nodded. “We expected they’d cut power beams to Sri Lanka and Liberia, but not to Echebar, Selangor, and Sorat.”

  “As usual, telenews told the truth and nothing but the truth…but not the whole truth,” Rutledge told us as he escorted us through the weightless halls of RIO Headquarters. “Ten minutes ago, we broadcast on all warning frequencies that our resident inspection teams reported operating crews on ten more powersats belonging to PowerSat, InSolSat, and InPowSat redirecting power beams for reasons unknown.”

  “Is the military taking over the powersats?” Ursila wanted to know.

  “No, but every nation has some sort of emergency alert plan to be activated as a precautionary measure when it appears some sort of conflict is in the wind,” I explained.

  “Sandy, what do you think is behind this?” Rutledge asked.

  “I’ll tell you in Otasek’s office,” I promised.

  “I hope you understand the sort of bind we’re in,” Rutledge remarked. “The Commandant is under no small amount of pressure. This is the first alert broadcast RIO has ever had to make.”

  “It was bound to come sooner or later, Peter,” I said. “With the amount of military hardware tearing around this planet just waiting to be powered-up, peace couldn’t be maintained out here forever.”

  “I suspect not. But it’s causing a lot of soul-searching among my personnel. If the balloon does indeed go up, a lot of our chaps are going to be in the line of fire.”

  “That’s what we’ve got to settle,” Ali remarked.

  Commandant Milan Otasek of the Resident Inspection Organization was a large, full-faced, greying Moravian with the pudginess that’s part of the gene pool of Middle Europa. He wore his RIO non-uniform with a strange combination of pride and offhanded disarray.

  “Please, please, seat yourselves,” he remarked to us with nervous hesitation once his Chief Inspector introduced us. Otasek was obviously under stress. He spoke as though he were not totally familiar with English and carefully selected every word and phrase. As he did this, he had a tendency to pinch his lower lip between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. “Inspector Rutledge tells me you wish to speak privately about this problem we are having.”

  There was silence until I realized I was going to have to run the show.

  “Yes, Commandant, we do. Has Inspector Rutledge reported what he’s found and what I’ve told him?”

  “Yes, I have been told about Powersat One-Zero-Five-East and the United States gigawatt lasers. A very bad situation. But we can do nothing about them. We can report only what we observe on the powersats.”

  “I’m a former officer in the United States Aerospace Force,” I said, but there was no longer the the pride I used to feel when I said that. Knowing full well what I was doing, I went on, “I’ll confirm the stations are real. It’s classified information whose disclosure is a capital crime in the United States. There’s a price on my head for what I’m doing.”

  “Then why do you do it, Induno Baldwin?” Otasek asked, using my Commonwealth rank.

  This alerted me to the fact that he and Peter knew what was going on at L-5 and Vershatets.

  “The world needs to know, and you’ve got to tell it because it trusts RIO,” I explained to him.

  “The knowledge may make other nations react. It may start a war.”

  “Probably. But there’s going to be an armed conflict unless you do. And it also means RIO will have to change to meet the new conditions. Otherwise, RIO will cease to exist because the reasons for its existence will no longer be valid.”

  “Induno Baldwin,” Commandant Otasek told me with a sigh, “I have a great dislike for war. My homeland for many centuries has been a corridor for marching armies who made destruction as they went. We learned that if we were to survive, we must not resist but must trade freedom for survival.”

  “You’re no longer a citizen of your homeland, Commandant. You can’t think in those terms now. As the leader of RIO, you’re a citizen of the world,” I told him bluntly.

  “You do not need to remind me of the oath I took twenty-five years ago. I have seen to it that the duties and responsibilities of RIO have been properly carried out. I have reported to the world that our teams have discovered that powersat beams are being redirected. That is the full extent of my responsibilities.”

  “That may be, based on the original agreement which established RIO,” I tried to point out, “but those were simpler times when an independent international inspection organization was needed to assure national leaders, military commanders, and businessinvestors that powersats were not being used for military purposes. Times have changed. RIO’s original task is finished, completed. Powersats exist. All of the world’s powersat companies and powersat-subsidizing nations have recovered their original investments.”

  I paused, then emphasized, “Commandant, I’m surprised you don’t see and accept your new responsibility to keep powersats from being used to energize weapons.”

  “How would we do such a thing?” Otasek wanted to know.

  “Take physical control of any powersat known to be redirecting its output to any space weapon device, then insure that its power output is beamed to its assigned rectennas.”

  Otasek shook his head sadly. “I cannot do that. It is an act of piracy. It is beyond the scope of authority and outside the tradition of RIO.”

  “Have you thought about what will happen if you don’t?”

  “Commandant Otasek,” Ursila spoke up for the first time, “Induno Baldwin’s a professional military officer, but conflict’s the last thing a professional warrior wants because he’s the first to be involved and probably killed. I, too, come from a nation that doesn’t like armed conflict but has fought for principle when necessary. The battlefields of Earth have seen far too much Canadian blood, but it was shed not only for Canada but for the principles of freedom we hold dear along with our friends on our southern border.”

  “I know the fine history of Canada,” Otasek put in. “I also know Induno Baldwin’s background. And I know that you have a different
view of these affairs.”

  “Then please listen to it,” Ursila pleaded. “This situation happened because others couldn’t compete against the Commonwealth. Our free market policy threatened them because they want all of a pie they think is finite, but isn’t. They’ve tried everything short of armed conflict, and they’ve tried to instigate that and failed. Now the situation has escalated to the point where a general war could begin. You may have the last opportunity to stop it. If you act, it will be not only in the highest tradition of RIO, but also of the decent human principles of civilization.”

  Otasek pinched his lower lip between his right thumb and forefinger and looked at Ursila. “Doctor Peri, you know something of high energy lasers, but on the other hand I am no expert. I have a question for you.”

  “I’ll answer it if I can, Commandant,” she replied levelly, the emotion of her last statement now gone from her voice and facial expression.

  “I have been told that high energy lasers based in geosynchronous orbit pose no threat to targets on Earth. If this is so, why is there so much fear of a five gigawatt laser station in GEO?”

  “I’ll try to explain it in non-scientific terms, Commandant,” Ursila began. “Part of a beam’s energy is absorbed and part is diffracted and scattered by the atmosphere. But a beam with very high energy density will self-focus and overcome diffraction and scatter. If it has high energy and narrow focus to start with, it can burn ground targets. But high energy hell beamers of the power required to do this can’t be placed in LEO; they’d be so big because of their energy supplies that they’d be extremely vulnerable. So the greater protection of GEO is necessary. However, a several hundred megawatt beam that works from LEO won’t work from GEO because even a few picoradians of beam spread prevents it from self-focusing. A beam energy of more than a gigawatt is required. However, the lackof suitable materials has rendered gigawatt hell beamers infeasible until recently.

  “With the optics that can be built from space materials, it becomes possible now to generate a five billion watt beam with such pencil-thin dispersion that it will get through with enough energy to be a weapon against a ground target.

  “Such a self-contained GEO-based laser would still be an extremely large and vulnerable target because of its energy supply. But, remove the need for an integral energy source, and it becomes very small. There’s only one source in space that can deliver the energy to power a small GEO hell-beamer: a powersat.

  “I don’t know where in inclined GEO the big hell-burners are, but they’re technologically feasible. The redirection of the power beam from Powersat One-Zero-Five-East appears to confirm this. Now for the first time, the space laser is a threat to innocent people on the ground. The military use of powersats must be stopped! Otherwise, we’ll be involved in Space War Two within days. That’s why you must take control of any powersat whose beam is redirected from its known and assigned earth rectenna.”

  Ursila concluded her explanatory lecture and sat back. I think I was the only one who noticed that the color had drained from her face.

  Commandant Milan Otasek seemed to be mulling over in his mind what he’d heard.

  Finally he said, “Alichin, Commonwealth Glaser powersats don’t seem to be involved. Why do you feel threatened?”

  “Because we or our customers may become the targets of these weapons,” Ali admitted. “If we’re not the prime target, we wouldn’t be treating our friends and customers properly if we didn’t attempt to protect them for dealing with us rather than with those who cut off their trade in retaliation for trading with us.”

  Again, Otasek didn’t speak for a long moment. “This is a very complicated matter.”

  “All big problems seem that way,” I told him. “The solution’s simple. The alternatives aren’t. Do what you must do, rules or no rules, or none of us will survive the first few minutes of Space War Two out here where we’re vulnerable to even the common beam weapons all around us. Think what a five giga-watt hell beam would do in space!”

  Again, a long pause. Otasek put his hands flatly on his desk. “I cannot do as you suggest.”

  “Why?” I wanted to know.

  “I am the person who must maintain half a century of RIO tradition that has worked well.

  It has kept the world’s major space energy source from being considered a military threat.

  Our unique existence has required everyone in RIO to take an oath relinquishing national ties and to abstain from physical involvement in the powersat system. The entire RIO structure of trust and believability rests on this. RIO cannot carry out its functions otherwise.

  We cannot become involved. I am truly sorry.”

  “Otasek, if you don’t act, there won’t be any functions left for RIO to carry out!” I warned.

  “That is not in the jurisdiction or the responsibility of RIO.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that RIO’s responsibility now is the welfare of the people of the entire planet?”

  “I am bound by international agreements and treaties that established RIO in the first place.” Obviously, Otasek could not conceive of permitting his organization to act beyond its original charter.

  Chief Inspector Peter Rutledge moved over to the office door and threw the privacy latch. Then he turned to his commander. “Milan, old chap, excuse me for discussing internal affairs in front of outsiders. But they’re involved and they do indeed have a point. Several, in fact. And they’re friends, not adversaries. Milan, we’ve been through some sticky times together as RIO inspectors, so I don’t feel out of line being rather frank at this juncture. It seems we’re rather in somewhat of a bloody bind here. I’m compelled to remind you of Operational Rule Twelve.”

  “I am aware of the requirement to protect our people. I intend to evacuate RIO crews from powersats whose beams are being redirected. Their job in those facilities is finished.”

  “Would you be kind enough to let me know how you intend to do this, Milan?”

  “There is something wrong with our RIO transport system?”

  Peter Rutledge shook his red head. “No, but in short order I think it unlikely our vehicles will be able approach any powersat. The RIO broadcast of the military utilization of Powersat One-Zero-Five-East has brought everyone to a state of pre-conflict alert. Not only will military forces move to protect the powersats of their national interests, but the powersat companies themselves will bring in commercial security firms previously contracted for. We’ve been monitoring the communications, and it seems Brinks’ have chartered space transport. There’s bloody little space here in GEO that won’t be considered part of engagement zones. So I have a bit of trouble understanding how we’ll get our people off the powersats before the balloon goes up. That’s why I suggest you may be neglecting Operational Rule Twelve. Our people are in a sticky spot at the moment, Milan. If you don’t act, RIO will take losses. Are you quite prepared to answer to the RIO Steering Committee for those casualties?” Rutledge spoke in the clipped, emotionless British manner with the usual British penchant for understatement.

  Commandant Milan Otasek thought, then pinched his lower lip again and replied, “Hmm…If our RIO ships cannot approach powersats to take our people off, the responsibility for their welfare no longer rests with RIO. Those who prevented us from removing them will be responsible.”

  “I say, Milan, that may be somewhat of a moot point if and when those of us who survive have the chance to tot-up casualties and damages. And don’t you think we’d have a bit of a problem collecting reparations from the winner?”

  Commandant Milan Otasek replied slowly and carefully, “RIO is an unarmed inspection organization. Once we have carried out our responsibility to notify the world of the military utilization of powersats, we have no authority to do anything else. If we are not permitted to take our people off the endangered powersats, we shall have to appeal to world opinion.”

  “That stands a bloody slim chance of protecting our people, Milan.”

 
“I will ask the International Red Cross for assistance.”

  Rutledge shook his head. “Where are they going to get the ships?”

  “I believe you are not correct in your assessment of the danger our people are in,” Otasek said, taking another tack. “They are noncombatants. They are under the protectiveprovisions of the various Hague and Geneva conventions.”

  “If the powersats on which they’re based become military targets, our people will become ‘regrettable noncombatant casualties.’ You’ve run out of rationales, Milan.”

  “We cannot fight, Peter.”

  “We have to. We must be more than expendable sentries now. Too much depends on it.” Inspector Rutledge straightened and moved over to Otasek’s desk.

  “The RIO teams are unarmed,” Otasek reminded him.

  “Really? Milan, weapons can be made from anything. It takes the will to use one’s faculties or objects around him that turns a harmless and peaceful device into a deadly weapon. How do you propose to keep RIO people from defending themselves?”

  “They have taken the same oath as we have.”

  “I rather think the instinct for self-preservation may be a stronger imperative. How long do you think their RIO oaths will prevail against their instincts for self-defense and survival? We may lose some crews by mutiny. If the pieces ever get put back together again, it will be an entirely new game. RIO can become the key to stability following this crisis…if RIO acts.”

  “I have no authority to act.”

  “Then, Commandant, as your Chief Inspector and therefore the second in command of RIO, I respectfully request you voluntarily relinquish your command authority to me because of personal inability to carry out Operational Rule Twelve and protect RIO personnel in a hazardous and dangerous situation.”

  “I cannot…”

  “Then it seems I’ll have to take it under Operational Rule Three. I hereby relieve you of command, sir!”