The blaze in the heavens that had signalled the end of the _Goddard_
was less than twelve hours old. It had been a magnificent funeral pyre
to an epoch, but it had not yet ended the methods of diplomacy. It had
merely forced faster action.
The Premier of Russia and the President of the United States sat
together, trying to keep their voices down and yet hear each other over
the noise and confusion of the assembly hall in the UN building. They
were surrounded by guards, as usual, and the television cameras were
focused on them. But they had so far been unable either to agree or
disagree. They could only wait until the time announced had arrived, as
most of the world was now waiting.
Then the great system of amplifiers and speakers went into operation,
and quiet began to descend over the hall.
There must have been a greeting of some formal kind, but few heard
it. Jerry Blane's tired voice was already setting forth his written
statement of demands when the quiet was sufficient for him to be heard.
He read with the voice of a man not used to making a written speech
sound natural, but nobody noticed.
The announcement of the facts was obvious, but it took on added power
from the brevity that compressed everything into a single focus.
America had lost a station and Russia had no supply ships. There was a
supply base on Johnston Island, but the ships were all in space. Earth
was completely cut off from contact with space for months to come.
And Earth could no longer exist without that contact. Her next weather
reports were needed within the week, and without them the damage to
crops grown dependent on them might result in famine for much of Earth.
Certain drugs had to be made in space. There were hundreds of needs,
without which the economy of Earth would collapse. Today, in a real
sense, Earth could exist only by the use of a station in space.
But the station could exist for a longer time without Earth. There was
food and supplies for more than a year. They were prepared to wait, if
need be.
* * * * *
"You cannot use force," Blane's voice stated flatly. "For the first
time, the governments of Earth cannot fall back on destruction when
everything else fails. To destroy us would make your economic collapse
inevitable now. You cannot go back to your past or the savage rules of
your past. You can only meet us honestly and concede the just demands
we propose."
Many were surprised at the proposals--the joint work of two years
of thought on the _Tsiolkovsky_ and a final flash of insight on the
part of Blane. They wanted recognition from the UN that they were an
independent territory. They wanted to incorporate as an independent
stock company on Earth, under direct UN charter. For that, they were
willing to pay reasonable taxes on operations done within any country.
They were willing to pay a reasonable price, to be settled by a
committee of neutral nations, for the two stations, for the ships--and
even for the Russian ships that were destroyed--and for complete
sovereignty over Johnston Island, which would now be worthless to
Earth. They would pay for this by the issuing of stock, which could be
redeemed in time through the profits that were easily provable as more
than adequate to meet their debts. And they were to have full control
of further ventures and services to be transacted on the station.
Weather predictions would be on a subscription basis, research on the
station would be by lease, and other services could be adjusted to a
fair market value.
There was more, but much of it was only repetition to make sure all was
understood. It finished with a simple request for a quick decision,
since no more business could be done with Earth until the agreements
had been reached.
The President nodded. "You'll agree?" he asked.
"What else can we do?" the Premier asked in return. "He's right. We
can't continue today without the services we're used to from space. A
series of accidents has left us no choice."
The President settled back, apparently satisfied. But he was less sure.
Had there been accidents involved? Some man must have hated war in
space enough to sabotage a fleet of ships. Other men had hated that
same war enough to break all discipline and strike out against a whole
planet. And men and women on two separate stations had so detested
the thought of being crushed in a surface struggle that they had
independently schemed for this proposal.
He let his eyes rest on the delegate from Israel who was yielding
to the delegate from Saudi Arabia. It didn't matter who made the
resolution to accept the proposal of Blane on a tentative basis. There
would be no veto possible now.
And on Earth, the tension was relaxing already. Perhaps now, even the
surface enmities could be settled in time.
The Fifteenth Space Disarmament Conference was ending.