Broward walked away without answering. It was significant that Scone
did not know the source of the quotation. The Old and New Testaments
were allowed reading only for select scholars. Broward had read an
illegal copy, had put his freedom and life in jeopardy by reading it.
But that was not the point here. The thought that occurred to him was
that, nationality and race aside, the people on the Moon were a rather
homogeneous group. Three-fourths of them were engineers or scientists
of high standing, therefore, had high I.Q.'s. They were descended from
ancestors who had proved their toughness and good genes by surviving
through the last hundred years. They were all either agnostics or
atheists or supposed to be so. There would not be any religious
differences to split them. They were all in superb health, otherwise
they would not be here. No diseases among them, not even the common
cold. They would all make good breeding stock. Moreover, with recent
advances in genetic manipulation, defective genes could be eliminated
electrochemically. Such a manipulation had not been possible on Earth
with its vast population where babies were being born faster than
defective genes could be wiped out. But here where there were so few....
Perhaps, it would be better to allow the Soviet system to exist for
now. Later, use subtle means to bend it towards the desired goal.
No! The system was based on too many falsities, among which the
greatest was dialectical materialism. As long as the corrupt base
existed, the structure would be corrupt.
* * * * *
Broward sat down by Ingrid Nashdoi. She was a short dark and petite
woman of about thirty-three. Not very good-looking but, usually, witty
and vivacious. Now, she stared at the floor, her face frozen.
"I'm sorry about Jim," he said. "But we don't have time to grieve now.
Later, perhaps."
She did not look at him but replied in a low halting voice. "He may
have been dead before the war started. I never even got to say goodbye
to him. You know what that means. What it probably did mean."
"I don't think they got anything out of him. Otherwise, you and I would
have been arrested, too."
He jerked his head towards Scone and said, "He doesn't know you're one
of us. I want him to think you're a candidate for the Nationalists.
After this struggle with the Russ is over, we may need someone who can
report on him. Think you can do it?"
She nodded her head, and Broward returned to Scone. "She hates the
Russians," he said. "You know they took her husband away. She doesn't
know why. But she hates Ivan's guts."
"Good. Ah, here we go."
* * * * *
After the destroyer had berthed at Clavius, and the three entered the
base, events went swiftly if not smoothly. Scone talked to the entire
personnel over the IP, told them what had happened. Then he went to
his office and issued orders to have the arsenal cleaned out of all
portable weapons. These were transferred to the four destroyers the
Russians had assigned to Clavius as a token force.
Broward then called in his four Athenians and Scone, his five
Nationalists. The situation was explained to them, and they were
informed of what was expected of them. Even Broward was startled, but
didn't protest.
After the weapons had been placed in the destroyers, Scone ordered the
military into his office one at a time. And, one at a time, they were
disarmed and escorted by another door to the arsenal and locked in.
Three of the soldiers asked to join Scone, and he accepted two. Several
protested furiously and denounced Scone as a traitor.
Then, Scone had the civilians assembled in the large auditorium.
(Technically, all personnel were in the military, but the scientists
were only used in that capacity during emergencies.) Here, he
told them what he had done, what he planned to do--except for one
thing--and asked them if they wished to enlist. Again, he got a violent
demonstration from some and sullen silence from others. These were
locked up in the arsenal.
The others were sworn in, except for one man, Whiteside. Broward
pointed him out as an agent and informer for both the Russians and
Chinese. Scone admitted that he had not known about the triple-dealer,
but he took Broward's word and had Whiteside locked up, too.
Then, the radios of the two scout ships were smashed, and the prisoners
marched out and jammed into them. Scone told them they were free to fly
to the Russian base. Within a few minutes, the scouts hurtled away from
Clavius towards the north.
"But, Colonel," said Broward, "they can't give the identifying code to
the Russians. They'll be shot down."
"They are traitors; they prefer the Russky to us. Better for us if they
are shot down. They'll not fight for Ivan."
Broward did not have much appetite when he sat down to eat and to
listen to Scone's detailing of his plan.
"The _Zemlya_," he said, "has everything we need to sustain us here.
And to clothe the Earth with vegetation and replace her animal life in
the distant future when the radiation is low enough for us to return.
Her deepfreeze tanks contain seeds and plants of thousands of different
species of vegetation. They also hold, in suspended animation, the
bodies of cattle, sheep, horses, rabbits, dogs, cats, fowl, birds,
useful insects and worms. The original intention was to reanimate these
and use them on any Terrestrial-type planet the _Zemlya_ might find.
"Now, our bases here are self-sustaining. But, when the time comes to
return to Earth, we must have vegetation and animals. Otherwise, what's
the use?
"So, whoever holds the _Zemlya_ holds the key to the future. We must be
the ones who hold that key. With it, we can bargain; the Russians and
the Chinese will have to agree to independence if they want to share in
the seeds and livestock."
"What if the _Zemlya's_ commander chooses destruction of his vessel
rather than surrender?" said Broward. "Then, all of humanity will be
robbed. We'll have no future."
"I have a plan to get us aboard the _Zemlya_ without violence."
* * * * *
An hour later, the four USAF destroyers accelerated outwards towards
Earth. Their radar had picked up the _Zemlya_; it also had detected
five other Unidentified Space Objects. These were the size of their own
craft.
Abruptly, the _Zemlya_ radioed that it was being attacked. Then,
silence. No answer to the requests from Eratosthenes for more
information.
Scone had no doubt about the attackers' identity. "The Axis leaders
wouldn't have stayed on Earth to die," he said. "They'll be on their
way to their big base on Mars. Or, more likely, they have the same idea
as us. Capture the _Zemlya_."
"And if they do?" said Broward.
"We take it from them."
The four vessels continued to accelerate in the great curve which would
take them out away from the _Zemlya_ and then would bring them around
towards the Moon again. Their path was computed to swing them around so
they would come up behind the interstellar ship and overtake it. Though
the titanic globe was capable of eventually achieving far greater
speeds than the destroyers, it was proceeding at a comparatively slow
velocity. This speed was determined by the orbit around the Moon into
which the _Zemlya_ intended to slip.
In ten hours, the USAF complement had curved around and were about
10,000 kilometers from the _Zemlya_. Their speed was approximately
20,000 kilometers an hour at this point, but they were decelerating.
The Moon was bulking larger; ahead of them, visible by the eye, were
two steady gleams. The _Zemlya_ and the only Axis vessel which had not
been blown to bits or sliced to fragments. According to the _Zemlya_,
which was again in contact with the Russian base, the Axis ship had
been cut in two by a tongue from _Zemlya_.
But the interstellar ship was now defenseless. It had launched
every missile and anti-missile in its arsenal. And the fuel for the
tongue-generators was exhausted.
"Furthermore," said Shaposhnikov, commander of the _Zemlya_, "new USO
has been picked up on the radar. Four coming in from Earth. If these
are also Axis, then the _Zemlya_ has only two choices. Surrender. Or
destroy itself."
"There is nothing we can do," replied Eratosthenes. "But we do not
think those USO are Axis. We detected four destroyer-sized objects
leaving the vicinity of the USAF base, and we asked them for
identification. They did not answer, but we have reason to believe they
are North American."
"Perhaps they are coming to our rescue," suggested Shaposhnikov.
"They left before anyone knew you were being attacked. Besides, they
had no orders from us."
"What do I do?" said Shaposhnikov.
Scone, who had tapped into the tight laser beam, broke it up by sending
random pulses into it. The _Zemlya_ discontinued its beam, and Scone
then sent them a message through a pulsed tongue which the Russian
base could tap into only through a wild chance.
After transmitting the proper code identification, Scone said, "Don't
renew contact with Eratosthenes. It is held by the Axis. They're trying
to lure you close enough to grab you. We escaped the destruction of our
base. Let me aboard where we can confer about our next step. Perhaps,
we may have to go to Alpha Centaurus with you."
* * * * *
For several minutes, the _Zemlya_ did not answer. Shaposhnikov must
have been unnerved. Undoubtedly, he was in a quandary. In any case, he
could not prevent the strangers from approaching. If they were Axis,
they had him at their mercy.