of the campus police was told to clear the stadium, and when he asked if
he was to use force, Chancellor Khane told him to use anything he wanted
to."
"I did not! I told him to get the students out of the stadium, but----"
"The chief of campus police carries a personal wire recorder," Handrosan
said, in his flat monotone. "He has a recording of the order, in
Chancellor Khane's own voice. I heard it myself. The police," he
continued, "first tried to use gas, but the wind was against them. They
then tried to use sono-stunners, but the students rushed them and
overwhelmed them. If Your Majesty will permit a personal opinion, while
I do not sympathize with their subsequent attack on the Administration
Center, they were entirely within their rights in defending themselves
in the stadium, and it's hard enough to stop trained and disciplined
troops when they are winning. After defeating the police, they simply
went on by what might be called the momentum of victory."
"Then you'd say that it's positively established that the students were
behaving in a peacable and orderly manner in the stadium when they were
attacked, and that Chancellor Khane ordered the attack personally?"
"I would, emphatically, Your Majesty."
"I think we've done enough here, gentlemen." He turned to Count Tammsan.
"This is, jointly, the affair of Education and Security. I would suggest
that you and Prince Travann join in a formal and public inquiry, and
until all the facts have been established and recorded and action
decided upon, the dismissal of Professor Faress be reversed and he be
restored to his position on the faculty."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Tammsan agreed. "And I think it would be a good
idea for Chancellor Khane to take a vacation till then, too."
"I would further suggest that, as this microposito experiment is crucial
to the whole question, it should be repeated. Under the personal
direction of Professor Faress."
"I agree with that, Your Majesty," Prince Travann said. "If it's as
important as I think it is, Professor Dandrik is greatly to be censured
for ordering it stopped and for failing to report this anticipation
effect."
"We'll consult about the inquiry, including the experiment, tomorrow,
Your Highness," Tammsan told Travann.
Paul rose, and everybody rose with him. "That being the case, you
gentlemen are all excused. The students' procession ought to be
arriving, now, and I want to tell them what's going to be done. Prince
Travann, Count Tammsan; do you care to accompany me?"
* * * * *
Going up to the central terrace in front of the Octagon Tower, he turned
to Count Tammsan.
"I notice you laughed at that remark of mine about Aditya," he said.
"Have you met the First Citizen?"
"Only on screen, sir. He was at me for about an hour, this morning. It
seems that they are reforming the educational system on Aditya. On
Aditya, everything gets reformed every ten years, whether it needs it or
not. He came here to find somebody to take charge of the reformation."
He stopped short, bringing the others to a halt beside him, and laughed
heartily.
"Well, we'll send First Citizen Yaggo away happy; we'll make him a
present of the most distinguished educator on Odin."
"Khane?" Tammsan asked.
"Khane. Isn't it wonderful; if you have a few problems, you have
trouble, but if you have a whole lot of problems, they start solving
each other. We get a chance to get rid of Khane and create a vacancy
that can be filled by somebody big enough to fill it; the Ministry of
Education gets out from under a nasty situation; First Citizen Yaggo
gets what he thinks he wants----"
"And if I know Khane and if I know the People's Commonwealth of Aditya,
it won't be a year before Yaggo has Khane shot or stuffs him into jail,
and then the Space Navy will have an excuse to visit Aditya, and
Aditya'll never be the same afterward," Prince Travann added.
The students massed on the front lawns were still cheering as they went
down after addressing them. The Security Guards were conspicuously
absent and it was a detail of red-kilted Thoran riflemen who met them as
they entered the hall to the Session Chamber. Prince Ganzay approached,
attended by two Household Guard officers, a human and a Thoran. Count
Tammsan looked from one to the other of his companions, bewildered. The
bewildering thing was that everything was as it should be.
"Well, gentlemen," Paul said, "I'm sure that both of you will want to
confer for a moment with your colleagues in the Rotunda before the
Session. Please don't feel obliged to attend me further."
Prince Ganzay approached as they went down the hall. "Your Majesty, what
_is_ going on here?" he demanded querulously. "Just who is in control of
the Palace--you or Prince Travann? And where is His Imperial Highness,
and where is General Dorflay?"
"I sent Dorflay to join Prince Rodrik's picnic party. If you're upset
about this, you can imagine what he might have done here."
Prince Ganzay looked at him curiously for a moment. "I thought I
understood what was happening," he said. "Now I---- This business about
the students, sir; how did it come out?"
Paul told him. They talked for a while, and then the Prime Minister
looked at his watch, and suggested that the Session ought to be getting
started. Paul nodded, and they went down the hall and into the Rotunda.
The big semicircular lobby was empty, now, except for a platoon of
Household Guards, and the Empress Marris and her ladies-in-waiting. She
advanced as quickly as her sheath gown would permit, and took his arm;
the ladies-in-waiting fell in behind her, and Prince Ganzay went ahead,
crying: "My Lords, Your Venerable Highnesses, gentlemen; His Imperial
Majesty!"
Marris tightened her grip on his arm as they started forward. "Paul!"
she hissed into his ear. "What is this silly story about Yorn Travann
trying to seize the Throne?"
"Isn't it? Yorn's been too close the Throne for too long not to know
what sort of a seat it is. He'd commit any crime up to and including
genocide to keep off it."
She gave a quick skip to get into step with him. "Then why's he filled
the Palace with these blackcoats? Is Rod all right?"
"Perfectly all right; he's somewhere out in the mountains, keeping Harv
Dorflay out of mischief."
* * * * *
They crossed the Session Hall and took their seats on the double throne;
everybody sat down, and the Prime Minister, after some formalities,
declared the Plenary Session in being. Almost at once, one of the
Prince-Counselors was on his feet begging His Majesty's leave to
interrogate the Government.
"I wish to ask His Highness the Minister of Security the meaning of all
this unprecedented disturbance, both here in the Palace and in the
city," he said.
Prince Travann rose at once. "Your Majesty, in reply to the question of
His Venerable Highness," he began, and then launched himself into an
account of the student riot, the march to petition the emperor, and the
clash with the nonworking class hooligans. "As to the affair at the
University, I hesitate to speak on what is really the concern of His
Lordship the Minister of Education, but as to the fighting in the city,
if it is still going on, I can assure His Venerable Highness that the
Gendarmes and Security Guards have it well in hand; the persons
responsible are being rounded up, and, if the Minister of Justice
concurs, an inquiry will be started tomorrow."
The Minister of Justice assured the Minister of Security that his
Ministry would be quite ready to co-operate in the inquiry. Count
Tammsan then got up and began talking about the riot at the University.
"What did happen, Paul?" Marris whispered.
"Chancellor Khane sacked a science professor for being too interested in
science. The students didn't like it. I think Khane's successor will
rectify that. Have a good time at the Flower Festivals?"
She raised her fan to hide a grimace. "I made my schedule," she said.
"Tomorrow, I have fifty more booked."
"Your Imperial Majesty!" The Counselor who had risen paused, to make
sure that he had the Imperial attention, before continuing: "Inasmuch as
this question also seems to involve a scientific experiment, I would
suggest that the Ministry of Science and Technology is also interested
and since there is at present no Minister holding that portfolio, I
would suggest that the discussion be continued after a Minister has been
elected."
The Minister of Health and Sanity jumped to his feet.
"Your Imperial Majesty; permit me to concur with the proposal of His
Venerable Highness, and to extend it with the subproposal that the
Ministry of Science and Technology be abolished, and its functions and
personnel divided among the other Ministries, specifically those of
Education and of Economics."
The Minister of Fine Arts was up before he was fully seated.
"Your Imperial Majesty; permit me to concur with the proposal of Count
Guilfred, and to extend it further with the proposal that the Ministry
of Defense, now also vacant, be likewise abolished, and its functions
and personnel added to the Ministry of Security under His Highness
Prince Travann."
So that was it! Marris, beside him, said, "Well!" He had long ago
discovered that she could pack more meaning into that monosyllable than
the average counselor could into a half-hour's speech. Prince Ganzay was
thunderstruck, and from the Bench of Counselors six or eight voices were
babbling loudly at once. Four Ministers were on their feet clamoring for
recognition; Count Duklass of Economics was yelling the loudest, so he
got it.
* * * * *
"Your Imperial Majesty; it would have been most unseemly in me to have
spoken in favor of the proposal of Count Guilfred, being an interested
party, but I feel no such hesitation in concurring with the proposal of
Baron Garatt, the Minister of Fine Arts. Indeed, I consider it a most
excellent proposal----"
"And I consider it the most diabolically dangerous proposal to be made
in this Hall in the last six centuries!" old Admiral Gaklar shouted.
"This is a proposal to concentrate all the armed force of the Empire in
the hands of one man. Who can say what unscrupulous use might be made of
such power?"
"Are you intimating, Prince-Counselor, that Prince Travann is
contemplating some tyrannical or subversive use of such power?" Count
Tammsan, of all people, demanded.
There was a concerted gasp at that; about half the Plenary Session were
absolutely sure that he was. Admiral Geklar backed quickly away from the
question.
"Prince Travann will not be the last Minister of Security," he said.
"What I was about to say, Your Majesty, is that as matters stand,
Security has a virtual monopoly on armed power on this planet. When
these disorders in the city--which Prince Travann's men are now bringing
under control--broke out, there was, I am informed, an order sent out to
bring Regular Army and Planetary Militia into Asgard. It will be hours
before any of the former can arrive, and at least a day before the
latter can even be mobilized. By the time any of them get here, there
will be nothing for them to do. Is that not correct, Prince Ganzay?"
The Prime Minister looked at him angrily, stung by the realization that
somebody else had a personal intelligence service as good as his own,
then swallowed his anger and assented.
"Furthermore," Count Duklass continued, "the Ministry of Defense,
itself, is an anachronism, which no doubt accounts for the condition in
which we now find it. The Empire has no external enemies whatever; all
our defense problems are problems of internal security. Let us therefore
turn the facilities over to the Ministry responsible for the tasks."
The debate went on and on; he paid less and less attention to it, and it
became increasingly obvious that opposition to the proposition was
dwindling. Cries of, "Vote! Vote!" began to be heard from its
supporters. Prince Ganzay rose from his desk and came to the throne.
"Your Imperial Majesty," he said softly. "I am opposed to this
proposition, but I am convinced that enough favor it to pass it, even
over Your Majesty's veto. Before the vote is called, does Your Majesty
wish my resignation?"
He rose and stepped down beside the Prime Minister, putting an arm over
Prince Ganzay's shoulder.
"Far from it, old friend," he said, in a distinctly audible voice. "I
will have too much need for you. But, as for the proposal, I don't
oppose it. I think it an excellent one; it has my approval." He lowered
his voice. "As soon as it's passed, place General Dorflay's name in
nomination."
The Prime Minister looked at him sadly for a moment, then nodded,
returning to his desk, where he rapped for order and called for the
vote.
"Well, if you can't lick them, join them," Marris said as he sat down
beside her. "And if they start chasing you, just yell, 'There he goes;
follow me!'"
The proposal carried, almost unanimously. Prince Ganzay then presented
the name of Captain-General Dorflay for elevation to the Bench of
Counselors, and the emperor decreed it. As soon as the Session was
adjourned and he could do so, he slipped out the little door behind the
throne, into an elevator.
* * * * *
In the room at the top of the Octagon Tower, he laid aside his belt and
dress dagger and unfastened his tunic, than sat down in his deep chair
and called a serving robot. It was the one which had brought him his
breakfast, and he greeted it as a friend; it lit a cigarette for him,
and poured a drink of brandy. For a long time he sat, smoking and
sipping and looking out the wide window to the west, where the orange
sun was firing the clouds behind the mountains, and he realized that he
was abominably tired. Well, no wonder; more Empire history had been made
today than in the years since he had come to the Throne.
Then something behind him clicked. He turned his head, to see Yorn
Travann emerge from the concealed elevator. He grinned and lifted his
drink in greeting.
"I thought you'd be a little late," he said. "Everybody trying to climb
onto the bandwagon?"
Yorn Travann came forward, unbuckling his belt and laying it with
Paul's; he sank into the chair opposite, and the robot poured him a
drink.
"Well, do you blame them? What would it have looked like to you, in
their place?"
"A _coup d'etat_. For that matter, wasn't that what it was? Why didn't
you tell me you were springing it?"
"I didn't spring it; it was sprung on me. I didn't know a thing about it
till Max Duklass buttonholed me down by the landing stage. I'd intended
fighting this proposal to partition Science and Technology, but this
riot blew up and scared Duklass and Tammsan and Guilfred and the rest of
them. They weren't too sure of their majority--that's why they had the
election postponed a couple of times--but they were sure that the riot
would turn some of the undecided Counselors against them. So they
offered to back me to take over Defense in exchange for my supporting
their proposal. It looked too good to pass up."
"Even at the price of wrecking Science and Technology?"
"It was wrecked, or left to rust into uselessness, long ago. The main
function of Technology has been to suppress anything that might threaten
this state of economic _rigor mortis_ that Duklass calls stability, and
the function of Science has been to let muttonheads like Khane and
Dandrik dominate the teaching of science. Well, Defense has its own
scientific and technical sections, and when we come to carving the bird,
Duklass and Tammsan are going to see a lot of slices going onto my
plate."
"And when it's all cut up, it will be discovered that there is no
provision for original research. So it will please My Majesty to
institute an Imperial Office of Scientific Research, independent of any
Ministry, and guess who'll be named to head it."
"Faress. And, by the way, we're all set on Khane, too. First Citizen
Yaggo is as delighted to have him as we are to get rid of him. Why don't
we get Vann Evaratt back, and give him the job?"
"Good. If he takes charge there at the opening of the next academic
year, in ten years we'll have a thousand young men, maybe ten times that
many, who won't be afraid of new things and new ideas. But the main
thing is that now you have Defense, and now the plan can really start
firing all jets."
"Yes." Yorn Travann got out his cigarettes and lit one. Paul glanced at
the robot, hoping that its feelings hadn't been hurt. "All these native
uprisings I've been blowing up out of inter-tribal knife fights, and all
these civil wars my people have been manufacturing; there'll be more of
them, and I'll start yelling my head off for an adequate Space Navy, and
after we get it, these local troubles will all stop, and then what'll we
be expected to do? Scrap the ships?"
They both knew what would be done with some of them. It would have to be
done stealthily, while nobody was looking, but some of those ships would
go far beyond the boundaries of the Empire, and new things would happen.
New worlds, new problems. Great and frightening changes.
"Paul, we agreed upon this long ago, when we were still boys at the
University. The Empire stopped growing, and when things stop growing,
they start dying, the death of petrifaction. And when petrifaction is
complete, the cracking and the crumbling starts, and there's no way of
stopping it. But if we can get people out onto new planets, the Empire
won't die; it'll start growing again."
"You didn't start that thing at the University, this morning, yourself,
did you?"
"Not the student riot, no. But the hooligan attack, yes. That was some
of my own men. The real hooligans began looting after Handrosan had
gotten the students out of the district. We collared all of them,
including their boss, Nutchy the Knife, right away, and as soon as we
did that, Big Moogie and Zikko the Nose tried to move in. We're cleaning
them up now. By tomorrow morning there won't be one of these nonworkers'
voting blocks left in Asgard, and by the end of the week they'll be
cleaned up all over Odin. I have discovered a plot, and they're all
involved in it."
"Wait a moment." Paul got to his feet. "That reminds me; Harv Dorflay's
hiding Rod and Olva out in the mountains. I wanted him out of here while
things were happening. I'll have to call him and tell him it's safe to
come in, now."
"Well, zip up your tunic and put your dagger on; you look as though
you'd been arrested, disarmed and searched."
"That's right." He hastily repaired his appearance and went to the
screen across the room, punching out the combination of the screen with
Rodrik's picnic party.
* * * * *
A young lieutenant of the Household Troops appeared in it, and had to be
reassured. He got General Dorflay.
"Your Majesty! You are all right?"
"Perfectly all right, general, and it's quite safe to bring His Imperial
Highness in. The conspiracy against the Throne has been crushed."
"Oh, thank the gods! Is Prince Travann a prisoner?"
"Quite the contrary, general. It was our loyal and devoted subject,
Prince Travann, who crushed the conspiracy."
"But--But, Your Majesty----!"
"You aren't to be blamed for suspecting him, general. His agents were
working in the very innermost councils of the conspirators. Every one of
the people whom you suspected--with excellent reason--was actually
working to defeat the plot. Think back, general; the scheme to put the
gun in the viewscreen, the scheme to sabotage the elevator, the scheme
to introduce assassins into the orchestra with guns built into their
trumpets--every one came to your notice because of what seemed to be
some indiscretion of the plotters, didn't it?"
"Why ... why, yes, Your Majesty!" By this time tomorrow, he would have a
complete set of memories for each one of them. "You mean, the
indiscretions were deliberate?"
"Your vigilance and loyalty made it necessary for them to resort to
these fantastic expedients, and your vigilance defeated them as fast as
they came to your notice. Well, today, Prince Travann and I struck back.
I may tell you, in confidence, that every one of the conspirators is
dead. Killed in this afternoon's rioting--which was incited for that
purpose by Prince Travann."
"Then---- Then there will be no more plots against your life?" There was
a note of regret in the old man's voice.
"No more, Your Venerable Highness."
"But---- What did Your Majesty call me?" he asked incredulously.
"I took the honor of being the first to address you by your new title,
Prince-Counselor Dorflay."
He left the old man overcome, and blubbering happily on the shoulder of
the Crown Prince, who winked at his father out of the screen. Prince
Travann had gotten a couple of fresh drinks from the robot and handed
one to him when he returned to his chair.
"He'll be finding the Bench of Counselors riddled with treason inside a
week," Travann said. "You handled that just right, though. Another case
of making problems solve each other."
"You were telling me about a plot you'd discovered."
"Oh, yes: this is one to top Dorflay's best efforts. All the voting-bloc
bosses on Odin are in a conspiracy to start a civil war to give them a
chance to loot the planet. There isn't a word of truth in it, of course,
but it'll do to arrest and hold them for a few days, and by that time
some of my undercovers will be in control of every nonworker vote on the
planet. After all, the Cartels put an end to competition in every other
business; why not a Voting Cartel, too? Then, whenever there's an
election, we just advertise for bids."
"Why, that would mean absolute control----"
"Of the nonworking vote, yes. And I'll guarantee, personally, that in
five years the politics of Odin will have become so unbearably corrupt
and abusive that the intellectuals, the technicians, the business
people, even the nobility, will be flocking to the polls to vote, and if
only half of them turn out, they'll snow the nonworkers under. And
that'll mean, eventually, an end to vote-selling, and the nonworkers'll
have to find work. We'll find it for them."
"Great and frightening changes." Yorn Travann laughed; he recognized the
phrase. Probably started it himself. Paul lifted his glass. "To the
Minister of Disturbance!"
"Your Majesty!" They drank to each other, and then Yorn Travann said,
"We had a lot of wild dreams, when we were boys; it looks as though
we're starting to make some of them come true. You know, when we were in
the University, the students would never have done what they did today.
They didn't even do it ten years ago, when Vann Evaratt was dismissed."
"And Van Evaratt's pupil came back to Odin and touched this whole thing
off." He thought for a moment. "I wonder what Faress has, in that
anticipation effect."
"I think I can see what can come out of it. If he can propagate a wave
that behaves like those micropositos, we may not have to depend on ships
for communication. We may be able, some day, to screen Baldur or Vishnu
or Aton or Thor as easily as you screened Dorflay, up in the mountains."
He thought silently for a moment. "I don't know whether that would be
good or bad. But it would be new, and that's what matters. That's the
only thing that matters."
"Flower Festivals," Paul said, and, when Yorn Travann wanted to know
what he meant, he told him. "When Princess Olva's Empress, she's going
to curse the name of Klenn Faress. Flower Festivals, all around the
galaxy, without end."
THE END
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Transcriber's Note & Errata |
| |
| There were 2 instances of 'cooking-robot' and one of |
| 'cooking robot' |
| |
| There was one instance of 'patriarchial' which was not |
| corrected. |
| |
| The following typographical errors were corrected: |
| |
| Page Error Correction |
| |
| 15 attion attention |
| 19 Ranuf's Ranulf's |
| 25 Tammsen Tammsan |
| 29 rerespectable respectable |
| 33 student's students |
| 34 Geklar Gaklar |
| 34 tyranical tyrannical |
| 36 Duklas Duklass |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
End of Project Gutenberg's Ministry of Disturbance, by Henry Beam Piper