The Instant of Now

by Irving E. Cox

we--"

  Sorgel interrupted him. "I've made one or two changes in Glenna'soriginal plan. It was too impractical. A handful of men can't takeover half a galaxy."

  "Glenna and Hurd weren't after the entire Planetary Union,Paul--that's out of the question. We meant to liberate Agron first.The capital is here and for awhile the government would be disrupted.When the people on the other planets saw how much better our socialorganization had become, modeled on the Vininese system, they wouldstage their own revolutions just like ourselves."

  Sorgel laughed scornfully. "And in the meantime, of course, none ofthem would think of attacking you and throwing your people out?"

  "Not if we seized the Nuclear Beam Transmitters," said Dirrul, "nospace-fleet could come near us then."

  "Eddie, you've lived in Agron too long. You're not thinking straightwhen you try to build the Plan around a single weapon."

  "Why not, Paul? It's a perfect defense. In less than thirty secondsthe Beam Transmitters can charge the entire stratospheric envelope ofAgron. Nothing can move through it without disintegrating, yet life onthe surface of the planet would go on quite normally because theatmosphere serves as an insulation."

  "Technically it's a change in the form of energy, not adisintegration," Sorgel reminded him. "The beamed electrons unite withthe atoms of visible material substances and alter them. I quiteunderstand the process, Eddie--Vinin has the Beam too, you know."

  "Because the Agronian scientists gave you the specifications!"

  "That always has rankled, hasn't it?" said Sorgel.

  "Yes," Dirrul admitted. "If the Vininese scientists had discovered theBeam-reaction first they would have conquered the galaxy."

  "Conquer is a nasty word, Eddie," Sorgel said softly. "Vinin makes noconquests. Let's put it differently and say we would have used theBeam to bring peace to the galaxy instead of splitting it in two as itis now."

  "Glenna's Plan can change all that, at least here on Agron."

  "Face the facts, Eddie! A few conscientious people with ideals can'ttake over a planet. The Movement has its crews trained to capture theBeam Transmitters. You'll isolate Agron and seize the governmentoffices simultaneously. What happens then?"

  "Our people will rise and join us," said Eddie. "We'll create a newgovernment modeled on Vinin's and we'll have young leaders instead ofmurky thinkers like Dr. Kramer."

  "That's effective propaganda for speechmaking, but--"

  "Glenna pounded away at it too, Paul," said Eddie. "It was the mosttelling line in winning our new crop of recruits."

  "Which is precisely why the police disposed of her. But it won't work.The people won't rise. A mob is lethargic, too willing to keep thingsas they are. Here on Agron you've been coddled too long with luxuriesand easy living. You have to prod the mob awake with a shock-force, aforce coming from the outside."

  "How, Paul? We haven't enough people in the Movement to put on anyreal show of strength. We can't even get outside."

  "Now you understand the changes I've made in Glenna's Plan. You peoplein the Movement will seize the Beam Transmitters as originallyplanned. Then you'll simply hold them and keep them decommissionedlong enough for a Vininese space-fleet to land. We'll set up your newgovernment for you."

  "And the rest of the Planetary Union will go to war!"

  "It hardly matters," said Paul. "Once we're here the Beams willprotect us against counterattack and every planet in the VinineseConfederacy has the same defense. One by one we can liberate theplanets of the Union in the same way. But the timing is vital, ofcourse--that's why you have to go to Vinin."

  "I had a vacation leave only three months ago. I can't get touristpassage now without--"

  "I've considered that. You'll have to have your own space-ship."

  "Now wait a minute, Paul! It's one thing to borrow a surface jet but aspace-cruiser...!"

  "A cruiser, yes--not an old cargo ship. And you can handle thatwithout a crew."

  "It can't be done, Paul." Dirrul held his Glo-Wave nervously to theend of a cigarette. "Besides, I want to think this through carefullybefore I make up my mind."

  "A merchant ship made a crash landing at Barney's emergency fieldyesterday," said Paul. "The damage was slight, but the pilot--unfortunatelythe pilot is dead." Sorgel smiled enigmatically. "Barney's one of our bestmen. He's been on the lookout for a chance like this for weeks.

  "You'll leave tonight. Avoid the regular space lanes. I'm guessingyou'll be on Vinin in a hundred days at the outside. On the fiftiethday after that--exactly one hundred and fifty days from now--ourVininese space-fleet must make a landing on Agron."

  "I'll be missed, Paul--they'll make inquiries."

  "And get no satisfactory answers."

  Pacing the floor, Dirrul asked tensely, "Does everyone in the Movementknow about this?"

  "The vote was made unanimously yesterday."

  "One of the others must have a vacation leave coming up. Send him.We're not at war with Vinin. He could take one of the regular spaceexcursions."

  "I can't send a message in writing. It would be picked up by thecustoms police. And you're the only one who can carry it verbally,Eddie. You know the whole background because you worked with Glennaand Hurd. You've been in the Movement longer than any of the others."

  "Why not go yourself, Paul?"

  "I can do more for the liberation if I stay here."

  "I wish I'd been at the meeting yesterday when the vote was taken. I'dhave liked to discuss it with the others before--"

  "Why so many questions, Eddie? Why so many doubts all of a sudden?"Sorgel stood and faced Dirrul, holding his shoulders in a grip thathurt. "Are you trying to back out? Maybe it wasn't a good thing to letyou play around with the science boys after all. Be honest with me,Eddie. If you're not sure where you stand, say so. There's no room inthe Movement for traitors."

  When Dirrul said nothing Sorgel added in a voice that rang withfervor, "You're the only man in the Movement who has had any trainingas a space-pilot. It depends on you now--everything you've everdreamed of, everything Glenna and Hurd wanted. Can you forget what theAgronian police did to Glenna? Is your courage any less than hers?"Again Sorgel paused but still Dirrul said nothing. "The future of yourworld depends on you, Eddie--don't let it down."

  "I'll go," Dirrul whispered.

  As Eddie made up his mind his internal tension relaxed and he wasfilled with a sense of well-being. When he thought about it hecouldn't understand why he had hesitated--unless perhaps what Sorgelsuggested was true--that his contact with the Ad-Air faculty hadblunted and nearly perverted his established sense of values.

  An hour later Dirrul boarded the battered antiquated space cargocarrier on the launching rack at Barney's emergency field. At the lastminute Sorgel pressed a curious disk into his hand. Made of a verylight metal and suspended from a short chain it was two inches indiameter and covered with a complex grid design.

  "Put it around your neck before you land, Eddie. Don't remove underany circumstances until you report. Give it to the Chief then. He'llknow I sent you because it's my own identification activator." Sorgelclasped Dirrul's hand warmly. "When you land on Vinin take the NorthField below the capital. It's the HQ operational center. Use Wave-codethree-seven-three and they'll know you're friendly."

  IV

  After the launching space-flight was normally a monotonous routine.The course was charted by automatic navigators and the vast pattern ofinterlocking machinery and safety devices was electronicallycontrolled by robot relays from the pilot master-panel. The chieffunction of a trained space-pilot, aside from his services as adiplomat, was to handle emergency situations for which automaticresponses could not be built into the machinery.

  Dirrul, however, could not depend a great deal upon the robot devices.He had to avoid the well-traveled and well-charted commercialspace-lanes. He had to be constantly on the alert for the telltalewhite of a police cruiser. A cargo carrier was the slowest ship in theuniverse--Dirrul could outrun nothing, not even a playboy's sportja
lopy, and inspection by the customs police would have beendisastrous.

  He followed a roundabout route, keeping as far from inhabited planetsas he could, and he made good time. In ninety-five days he had reachedthe mythical border in space, which divided the territory of thePlanetary Union and the Vininese Confederacy.

  He was almost at midpoint in the galaxy. On the glazed screen of