"We are defeated--but we need take no insult! What have you in mind?"
"At the present time, the carriers of your fleets are being packed
with your men. Some of them will remain, of course. But I like the
size of your fleet, gentlemen. I'm keeping most of it for my own. I
have prepared a little proclamation which you may take back to your
respective governments. I, gentlemen, proclaim myself the Emperor of
Sol!"
"Megalomaniac!"
"As Emperor of Sol, I will tell you," continued Guy, indifferent to the
snarl, "how and when to collect the yearly tribute from each and every
Terran, Martian, and Ertinian. You may suit yourselves to any other
arrangements. Mephisto is mine, and will stay mine. But I shall require
money, merchandise, and supplies to stock the planet.
"And if you think differently, you may try to defeat me! _And I hope
you try!_"
"We'll pay nothing--"
"I hope you try that, too," snapped Maynard. "You have no idea of how
tough a real tyrant can get! A single lesson might convince you. A
super-toroid hurled into the Manhattan area--?"
"You're a fiend!"
Guy nodded. "Never make me prove it," he said quietly. "Now, gentlemen,
you will receive your instructions as you leave, if you prefer to
leave. I offer you the chance to join me--but remember that I can read
your mind and find out how true you intend to be. I intend to be very
harsh with spies."
"I'm leaving--but I'll be back!" promised Mantley. He tried to sound
ominous, but his position was not firm to carry it away. He knew that
he sounded flat and it enraged him.
"We'll both be back, together!" snapped Ilinoran.
"Ertene will be back, too!" added Thomakein. "You wouldn't permit us to
leave, and I know it!"
Guy nodded. "I'll be waiting. But don't forget that I am still master
of you all. And I'm going to stay master. I've spent ten years being
pushed around, and now I'm going to do some pushing myself! I have very
little affection for any of you; Terra disowned me, Ertene did not want
my offer of fidelity; Mars wanted to torture me and did, partly. Had
any one of you taken me for what I had to offer, this would never have
happened."
Mantley and Ilinoran left. But Thomakein came forward and put out a
hand.
Guy looked at the hand and then at Thomakein. "Why?" he said sharply.
"You did it!"
"I did it, all right. But look at me. And what have you to offer?"
"You still do not know. Guy, forgive me. I tried, myself, and failed.
Your plan is superior to mine--yours works."
"Plan? Know?"
"I forced you into this."
"Yes, but you had no plan except a sort of self-aggrandizement."
Thomakein shook his head. "You didn't read my mind deep enough, Guy.
The instrument you carried was never perfect and deep-seated concepts
are often hidden because of the more powerful surface thoughts. I
thought of conquest--and realized that sleepy, lazy Ertene couldn't
conquer the Solar System and keep it conquered. What Sol needed was a
man with drive and ability. No one wanted you, Guy, because you were
continually torn between your own promises. I was responsible for that,
I fear. I took you because of your latent ability, those long years
ago, and planned well."
"And so you forced me into this place?"
"Yes," smiled Thomakein. "But the only way that you'll hold this sun
full of cross-purposes together is to provide a common menace. Terra
hates you more than she hates Mars, and Mars will co-operate with
Ertene to get you. Ertene, burning mad because her desire to wander is
curtailed by you, will throw in with both of them. Perhaps they will
get used to co-operation after a bit, but never forget that competition
will make advances far quicker than complete co-operation.
"Yes," said Thomakein, "I tried. I plotted and tried, and then knew
that Ertene did not have the drive, the ambition. You, Guy, had the
ambition, and all you needed was to get the killer-instinct, so to
speak. You had to be driven to it. You did it. Can you hold it once
someone finds the key to the mental-gadget?"
Guy grinned. "They never will. Mephisto is the only world with normal
temperatures low enough to make key more than a feeble-order effect.
Upon Mephisto, it becomes evident in the third decimal place; on any
other world it is several decimal places beyond the experimental error.
Besides," Guy said with a hardening of the jaw muscles, "I've got the
whole System under coverage. I'll permit no experiments along those
lines!"
"I see what you mean. Well, Guy, you're the Emperor. For the love
of God, stay that way! The first time you abdicate, hell will break
loose all over the System. You are the common menace that will hold us
together."
Guy smiled wryly. "So you drove me to it. It was necessary. I know. But
it was a dirty trick to play on any man. It goes deeper than that. Joan
and I can't see raising a kid in this mess."
"Your children must be raised absolutely incognito. I owe you more than
life, Guy. May I help, please?"
Maynard took Thomakein's outstretched hand.
"Finished," said Thomakein, shaking the hand hard.
"Not finished--nor will it be. I have a lifetime job of making myself
more hated than any traditional enemy."
Thomakein nodded. He stepped back and saluted.
"Farewell, Guy Maynard--Ruler of The Solar Worlds!"