TULAN

By C. C. MacAPP

 _To disobey the orders of the Council of Four was unthinkable to a Space Admiral of the old school. But the trouble was, the school system had changed. A man, a fighter, an Admiral had to think for himself now, if his people were to live. _

While facing the Council of Four his restraint had not slipped; butafterward, shaking with fury, the Admiral of the Fleets of Sennechslammed halfway down the long flight of stone steps before he realizedsomeone was at his elbow. He slowed. "Forgive me, Jezef. They made me somad I forgot you were waiting. "

Jezef (adjutant through most of Tulan's career, and for some yearsbrother-in-law as well) was shorter and less harshly carved than hissuperior. "So they wouldn't listen to you. Not even Grefen?"

"Even Grefen. " That vote had stabbed deepest of all. 

Jezef took it with the detachment that still irritated Tulan. "The endof a hundred years of dreams; and we go back under the yoke. Well, they've always been soft masters. "

They reached the ground cars. Before getting into his own Tulan saidcoldly, "Since you're so philosophical about it, you'll be a good one tobear the sight of men saying good-bye to their families. We're to takefull crews to Coar and surrender them with the ships. Requisition whathelp you need and get everybody aboard by noon tomorrow. "

Jezef saluted with a hint of amused irony, and left. 

 * * * * *

Whipping through the dark icy streets, Tulan smiled sourly, thinking howSennech's scientists had reversed themselves on the theory of hyperspacenow that Coar had demonstrated its existence. Maybe the Council wasright in mistrusting their current notions. As for himself, he saw onlytwo things to consider: that with Coar swinging behind the sun, theaccuracy of her new weapon had gone to pot; and that before she wasclear again he could pound her into surrender. 

His swift campaigns had already smashed her flabby fleets and driven theremnants from space, but the Council, faced with the destruction andcasualties from just a few days of the weird surprise bombardment, wascowed. 

He'd spent the previous night at home, but wasn't going back now, havingdecided to make his farewell by visiphone. It was the thing he dreadedmost, or most immediately, so as soon as he reached the flagship he wentto his quarters to get it over with. 

Anatu's eyes--the same eyes as Jezef's--looked at him out of the screen, filling him with the familiar awkward worship. "You've heard?" he askedfinally. 

"Yes. You won't be home before you go?"

"No; I . .. " He abandoned the lie he'd prepared. "I just didn't feel upto it. "

She accepted that. "I'll wake the boys. "

"No! It's--" Something happened to his throat. 

She watched him for a moment. "You won't be back from Coar. You've _got_to speak to them. "

He nodded. This wasn't going according to plan; he'd intended it to bebrief and controlled. Damn it, he told himself, I'm Admiral of theFleets; I've no right to feelings like this. He straightened, and knewhe looked right when the two sleepy stares occupied the screen. 

Their hair was stiff and stubborn like his own, so that they wore itcropped in the same military cut. It could have stood a brush right now. They were quiet, knowing enough of what was wrong to be frightened. 

He spoke carefully. "I'm going to Coar to talk to them about stoppingthe war. I want you to look after things while I'm away. All right?"

"All right, Dad. " The older one was putting on a brave front for thebenefit of the younger and his mother, but the tears showed. 

As Tulan cut the connection he saw that Anatu's eyes were moist too, andrealized with surprise that he'd never before, in all the years, seenher cry. He watched the last faint images fade from the screen. 

 * * * * *

Sometime near dawn he gave up trying to sleep, dressed, and begancomposing orders. Presently Jezef came in with cups of steaming amberliquid. They sipped in silence for a while, then Jezef asked "You'veheard about Grefen?"

Tulan felt something knot inside him. He shook his head, dreading whathe knew was coming. 

"He killed himself last night, " Jezef said. 

Tulan remembered the agony in the old Minister of War's eyes when he'dvoted for surrender. Grefen had been Admiral in his day; the prototypeof integrity and a swift sledgehammer in a fight; and Tulan's firstcombat had been under him. A symbol of the Fleet, Tulan reflected; andhis death, yes, that too was a symbol--what was there but shame insurrender, for a man or a fleet or a world?

His hand clenched, crumpling the paper it was resting on. He smoothedthe paper and re-read the order he'd been writing. He visualized theproud ranks of his crewmen, reduced to ragged lines shuffling towardprison or execution. 

It seemed impossible, against the laws of nature, that men should strivemightily and win, then be awarded the loser's prize. His anger began toreturn. "I've a mind to defy the Government and only take skeletoncrews, " he said. "Leave the married men, at least. "

Jezef shrugged. "They'd only be bundled into transports and sent afterus. "

"Yes. Damn it, I won't be a party to it! All they did was carry outtheir orders, and superbly, at that!"

Jezef watched him with something like curiosity. "You'd disobey theCouncil? You?"

Tulan felt himself flush. "I've told you before, discipline's anecessity to me, not a religion!" Nevertheless, Jezef's question wasn'tunfair; up to now it really hadn't occurred to him that he mightdisobey. 

His inward struggle was brief. He grabbed the whole pad of orders andripped them across. "What's the Council, with Grefen gone, but threetrembling old men? Get some guns manned, in case they get suspicious andtry to interfere. "

Blood began to surge faster in his veins; he felt a vast relief. Howcould he have ever seen it differently? He jabbed at a button. "Allships' Duty Officers; scramble communication circuits. This is theAdmiral. Top Secret Orders. .. . "

 * * * * *

Shortly before noon the four-hundred-odd ships lifted out of Sennech'sfrosty atmosphere, still ignoring the furious demands from the radio. Fully armed, they couldn't be stopped. 

Tulan's viewer gave a vivid picture of the receding fifth planet. Thewhite mantle of ice and snow was a backdrop for blue artificial lakesand the dark green of forest-strips (hardy conifers from Teyr)alternated with the lighter shades of surface farms. The ice had beenalmost unbroken until men came, bringing more heat than Sennech had everreceived from a far-off sun. 

That had been before the First Solar War, when Teyr (the race of Aum hadoriginated there) ruled. That awful struggle had bludgeoned the homeplanet back to savagery, and left Coar and Sennech little better off. 

With recovery, Coar had taken over and prospered immensely. Teyr stayedwild except for small colonies planted there by the other two planets, and Sennech lagged for a while. 

Within Tulan's lifetime his world had found itself ready to rise againstthe lax but profit-taking rule of Coar, and that rebellion had growninto the present situation. 

Sennech's wounds were plainly visible in the viewscreen; great man-madecraters spewing incandescent destruction blindly over farm, city, orvirgin ice. The planet was in three-quarters phase from here, and Tulancould see the flecks of fire in the darkness beyond the twilight zone. Near the edge of that darkness he made out the dimmer, diffused glow ofCapitol City, where Anatu would be giving two small boys their supper. 

He checked altitude, found they were free of the atmosphere, and orderedan acceleration that would take them halfway to the sun in fifty hours. It was uncomfortable now, with Sennech's gravity added, but that wouldfall off fast. 

Jezef hauled himself in and dropped to a pad. "I wish I had your build, "he said. "Do you really think we can pull this off?"

Tulan, in a good mood, grinned at him. "Have I ever led you into defeatyet, pessimist?"

"No; and more than once I'd have bet ten to one against us. That's whythe Fleet fights so well for you; we have the feeling we're following ahalf-god. Gods, however, achieve defeats as terrible as theirvictories. "

Tulan laughed and sat down beside Jezef with some charts. "I think I'llappoint you Fleet Poet. Here's the plan. No one knows what I intend; wecould be on our way around the sun to overtake Coar and either fight orsurrender, or we might be diving into the sun in a mass suicide. That'swhy I broke off the siege and pulled all units away from Coar; the factthat they're coming back around to meet us will suggest something likethat. "

"Are they going to join up?"

"No; I want them on this side of the sun but behind us. I have a use forthem later that depends on their staying hidden. Incidentally, I'mdesignating them Group Three. 

"In a few hours we're going to turn hard, this side of the sun, andintercept Teyr. I want to evacuate our forces from the moon, then decoywhatever the enemy has there into space where we can get at them. That'stheir last fleet capable of a sortie, and with that gone we can combineour whole strength and go around to Coar. She'll probably give upimmediately, on the spot. "

 * * * * *

Jezef thought it over. "Will they be foolish enough to leave the moon?As long as they're safely grounded there, they constitute afleet-in-being and demand attention. "

"We'll give them a reason to move, then ambush them. Right now we've alot of reorganizing to do, and I want you to get it started. We'resplitting this Force into Groups One and Two. Here's what I want. "

 * * * * *

They cut drives and drifted in free fall while supplies were transferredbetween ships, then Tulan held an inspection and found crews andequipment proudly shipshape. Despite the proliferating rumors, moralewas excellent. 

A few hours later the realignment began. Space was full of thedisc-shapes; thin, delicate-looking Lights with their projectingexternal gear, and thicker, smoothly armored Mediums and Heavies. He hadtwenty-three of the latter in Group One, with twice as many Mediums anda swarm of smaller craft. 

Group Two, composed of the supply ships and a small escort, was alreadyformed and diverging away. That was a vital part of his plan. From adistance they'd look to telescope or radar like a full combat fleet. 

He was almost ready to swerve toward the third planet and its moon, butfirst he had a speech to make. It was time to squash all the rumors anddoubts with a dramatic fighting announcement. 

He checked his appearance, stepped before the scanner, and nodded toCommunications to turn it on. "All hands, " he said, then waited forattention. 

The small monitor screens showed a motley sampling of intent faces. Hepermitted himself a tight smile. "You know I have orders to surrenderthe Fleet. " He paused for effect. "Those are the orders of the Councilof Four, and to disobey the Council would be unthinkable. 

"Yet it is also unthinkable that a single ship of the Fleet shouldsurrender under any circumstances, at any time; therefore I am facedwith a dilemma in which tradition must be broken. 

"The Council of Four has lost courage, and so, perhaps, have many of thepeople of Sennech. We have ways of knowing that the people of Coar, farmore than our own, clamor at their government for any sort of peace. 

"Coar's fleets are smashed and the remnants have fled from space. 

"Clearly, courage has all but vanished from the Solar System; yet thereis one place where courage has not wavered. That place is in the Fleetof Sennech. 

"At this moment we are the only strength left in the Solar System. Wedominate the System!

"Would we have history record that the Fleet won its fight gloriously, then cravenly shrank back from the very brink of victory?

"We left Sennech fully armed, though our orders were directly opposite. I need not tell you that I have made the decision any man of the Fleetwould make. 

"This is our final campaign. Within a short time we shall orbit Coarherself and force her surrender. That is all. "

There was a moment so quiet that the hum of the circuits grew loud, thenthe monitors shook with a mighty cheer. 

Later, alone, Jezef congratulated him amusedly. "They are certainly withyou a hundred percent now, if there was any doubt before. Yet there wasone argument you didn't even hint at; the strongest argument of all. "

"What was that?"

"Why, you're offering them a chance at life and freedom, where theymight be going to imprisonment or execution. "

That irritated Tulan. "I'm sure you're not so cynical about Fleetloyalty and tradition as you pretend, " he said stiffly. "I wouldn'taffront the men by using that kind of an argument. "

Jezef grinned more widely. "Did it even occur to you to use it?"

Tulan flushed. "No, " he admitted. 

 * * * * *

Teyr and her moon Luhin, both in quarter-phase from here, moved steadilyapart in the viewers. 

Group One's screen of light craft probed ahead, jamming enemy radar, anddiscovering occasional roboscouts which were promptly vaporized. Farbehind, Group Two showed as a small luminescence. It would never bevisible to Luhin as anything else, and then only when Tulan was ready. 

They reversed drives, matched speeds neatly, and went into forced orbitaround Luhin. On the flagship's first pass over the beleaguered oval ofground held by Sennech's forces--unsupported and unreinforced since thehome planet's defection--Tulan sent a message squirting down. "Tulancommanding. Is Admiral Galu commanding there? Report situation. "

The next time around a long reply came up to them. "This is Captain Rhucommanding. Galu killed. Twenty percent personnel losses. Six Lightsdestroyed; moderate damage to several Mediums and one Heavy. Groundlines under heavy pressure. Ships' crews involved in fighting atperimeter. Food critical, other supplies low. Several thousand wounded. Combat data follows. " There was a good assessment of the struggle, withsome enemy positions that were known. 

The Fleet Force that had escorted nearly one hundred thousand groundtroops included five Heavies and other craft in proportion, besides thetransports and supply ships. Alone, they'd been pinned down by superiorenemy ground forces and by a sizable fleet holed up all around thesatellite. With Tulan's support they could be taken off. 

Tulan composed orders. "Withdraw ships' crews from lines and prepare tolift. Get wounded aboard transports and prepare to evacuate troops. Setup fire control network to direct our ground support. "

The tedious job of shrinking the perimeter, a short stretch at a time, began, harassed by the quickly adapting enemy. 

During the first twenty hours the hostile fire was all from groundprojectors, the enemy ships not risking detection by joining in. By thattime one section of the front had pulled back to where several ships, sheltered in a crater, would have to lift. 

Lines of men and equipment converged on the ships and jammed aboard. Theactual lift was preceded by a diversion a few miles away, whichsucceeded in pulling considerable enemy fire. The ships got off inunison, slanting back across friendly territory and drawing only lightmissiles which the defenses handled easily. 

 * * * * *

Then, suddenly, a salvo of heavy stuff came crashing in, too unexpectedand too well planned to stop. One of the lifting ships, a transport, vanished in a great flash. 

Tulan yelled into his communicator. "Plot! Where did that come from?"

"I'm sorting, sir. Here! A roboscout got a straight five-second plotbefore they downed it!"

"Intelligence!" Tulan snapped. "Get the co-ordinates and bring mephotos!"

There were already pictures of the area where the salvo must haveoriginated, and one of them showed a cave-like opening in a craterwall. "That's it!" Tulan jabbed a pencil at it. "You could hide a dozenships in there. Let's get a strike organized!"

 * * * * *

The strike group included four Heavies besides the flagship, with twelveMediums and twenty Lights. They slanted down in a jerky evasive coursewhile pictures flashed on screens to be compared with the actualterrain. 

Ground fire, chemically propelled missiles, erupted ahead of them andthe small craft went to work intercepting it. They were down to ahundred miles, then fifty, streaking along the jagged surface so closethey seemed to scrape it. This was point-blank range; as the computersraced with the chaos of fire and counter-fire, human senses could onlyregister a few impressions--the bruising jerks, the shudder ofconcussions, white streaks of rocket-trails, gushers of dirt from thesurface, winking flashes of mid-air interception. 

Then the Heavies were on target. The flagship jumped as the massivesalvo leaped away--not chemical missiles, but huge space torpedoespropelled by Pulsor units like the ships' drives, directing their ownflocks of smaller defensive missiles by an intricate network ofcontrols. The small stuff, augmented by fire from the lighter ships, formed momentarily a visible tube down which the big stuff streakeduntouched. 

The whole crater seemed to burst upward, reaching out angry fingers ofshattered rock as they ripped by, rocking and bucking with the blasts. Tulan's viewer swivelled aft to hold the scene. Secondary blasts wentoff like strings of giant firecrackers. Great black-and-orangefungi-like clouds swirled upward, dissipating fast in the thinatmosphere. Then Tulan spotted what he was looking for: three smallships flashing over the area, to get damage-assessment pictures. Therewas still a lot of ground-fire from farther out, and it caught one ofthe three, which wobbled crazily then disappeared in a flash whichblanked out the viewscreen. 

"Intelligence!" Tulan shouted. "Casualties?"

Intelligence was listening to his earphones and punching buttons. "TwoLights lost, sir. Slight damage to seven more and to one Medium. "

"All right. Get a telecopy of those pictures as soon as you can; wecertainly hit something. Maybe a Heavy or two. " He relaxed, aching, andreflected that he was getting a little mature for actual combat. 

The pull-back went on, drawing only the local ground-fire now that theenemy had been taught his lesson. Groups of ships lifted almostconstantly. The final position was an oval forty by sixty miles, heldalmost entirely from the sky. The last evacuees straggled in like wearyants, and when the radio reported no more of them the last fifty shipslifted together and ran the gauntlet with slight losses. 

Tulan pulled the Force away for rest and repair. Group Two was idling atextreme radar range, making a convincing blip, and he designed somefalse messages to be beamed toward it with the expectation ofinterception. The impression he wanted to give was that Group Two wasthe Force that had been bombarding Coar, coming in now to join him. Actually, the latter fleet was farther away, hidden in the sun and, hehoped, unsuspected. 

 * * * * *

Things were going according to plan except for one puzzling item: therewas no message from Sennech's small garrison on Teyr. All he could getfrom the planet was a steady radar scan, which might mean that Sennech'scolony had been conquered by Coar's. 

He'd been hoping to get certain supplies from Teyr, and now he took astrong detachment in close to the planet to find out what was wrong. Thethreat finally raised an answer. "This is the Chief of Council. What isit that you want?"

"Chief of Council? What are you talking about? I want the GarrisonCommander. "

"I suppose you're Admiral Tulan. There's been a change here, Tulan; Teyris now an independent planet. Your garrison, with Coar's, comprise ourdefense forces. "

Tulan stared at the planet's image. "You're at war with Coar!"

"Not any more, we aren't. " There was a chuckle. "Don't sound so shocked, Admiral; we understand you're in mutiny yourself. "

Tulan slapped the microphone onto its hangar. He sat, angry andbewildered, until he remembered something, then buzzed Communications. "Get me that connection again. Hello? Listen. I have sixty thousandtroops in transports, with almost no food. I intend to land them. "

"They're welcome as noncombatants, Admiral. They'll have to landdisarmed, in areas we designate, and live off the country. We've alreadygot more refugees than we can handle. "

"Refugees from where?"

"Haven't you been in contact with Sennech at all?"

"No. "

"Oh. " There was a thoughtful pause. "Then you don't know. There's badradiation in the atmosphere and we're hauling as many away as we can. Wecan use your ships if you're finished playing soldier. "

Tulan broke the connection again and turned, fuming, to Jezef. "We'llblast our way in and take over!"

Jezef raised his eyebrows. "What good would that do?" he asked. 

"Why; they--for one thing, we've got to think of those troops! We can'tland them unarmed and let them be slaughtered by the savages!"

Jezef grinned. "I doubt if they'll refuse to let them have enough smallarms to defend themselves. They can't stay where they are. "

"But they're military men, and loyal!"

"Are they? The war's over for them, anyway. Why not let them vote onit?"

Tulan jumped up and strode around the command room, while Jezef and thestaff watched him silently. Gradually, the logic of it forced itselfupon him. "All right, " he said wearily, "We'll let them vote. "

 * * * * *

A few hours later he studied the results gloomily. "Well, after all, they're not Fleet. They don't have the tradition. "

Jezef smiled, then lingered, embarrassed. 

"Well?" Tulan asked. 

"Sir, " (that hadn't come out, in private, for years) "I'd like to berelieved. "

It was a blow, but Tulan found he wasn't really surprised. He stared athis brother-in-law, feeling as if he faced an amputation. "You think I'mwrong about this whole thing, don't you?"

"I'm not going to judge that, but Sennech's in trouble far worse thanany question of politics, including your own family. "

"But if we turn back now Coar will recover! It's only going to take us afew more hours!"

"How long does it take people to die?"

Tulan looked at the deck for a while. "All right. I'll detach everyship I can spare, and put you in charge. You'll have the transports too, as soon as they're unloaded. " He stared after Jezef, wanting to call outto him to be sure to send word about Anatu and the boys, but somehowfeeling he didn't have the right. 

 * * * * *

He took the fighting ships away from Teyr, to where Group Two could joinup without being unmasked, then started sunward as if he were crossingto intercept Coar. A few miles in, where they'd be hidden in the sun, heleft a few scouts. 

As he saw it, the enemy commander on the satellite, noting the armada'scourse and finding himself apparently clear, would have no choice but tolift his ships and start around the sun by some other path to help hisplanet. 

That other path to Coar could be intercepted, and as soon as Tulan waslost near the sun he went into heavy drive to change direction. Hedrifted across the sun, waiting for word from his scouts. At about thetime he'd expected, they reported ships leaving the satellite. 

He looked across the room toward Plot. "Plot! Feed that data toCommunications as it comes in, will you?" And to Communications: "Can webeam Group Three from here?"

"Not quite, sir; but I can relay through the scouts. "

"All right; but make sure it's not intercepted. I want Group Three undermaximum acceleration for Luhin, and I want them to get running reportson the enemy. "

"Right, sir. "

Tulan was in the position he wanted, not needing to use his own radar, but able to pick up that of Coar's fleet at extreme range, too far togive them a bounce. He'd know their course, speed, and accelerationfairly well, without even being suspected himself. 

He held that position until the enemy was close enough to get a bounce, then went into drive on an intercepting course. 

One of the basic tenets of space maneuver was this: if two fleets weredrawing together, with radar contact, neither (barring interference fromfactors such as the sun or planets) could escape the other; for if oneapplied acceleration in any direction the other could simply match it(human endurance being the limitation) and maintain the originalrelative closing speed. 

When the enemy commander discovered Tulan's armada loafing ahead ofhim, he'd been accelerating for about ten hours and had a velocity of amillion miles per hour, while Tulan was going the same direction but athalf the speed. The quarry began decelerating immediately, knowing itcould get back to Luhin with time enough to land. 

Tulan didn't quite match the deceleration, preferring to waste a fewhours and lessen the strain on his crews. He let the gap close slowly. 

He could tell almost the precise instant when the other jaw of his trapwas discovered, for Plot, Communications, and Intelligence all jerked uptheir heads and looked at him. He grinned at them. What they'd picked upwould be an enemy beam from Luhin, recklessly sweeping space to find theCoar fleet and warn it of the onrushing Group Three. 

The enemy commander reacted fast. It was obvious he'd never beat GroupThree to Luhin, and he made no futile attempts at dodging, but reverseddrives and accelerated toward the nearest enemy, which was Tulan. Tulanwas not surprised at that either, for though Coar's fleets had bungledthe war miserably, when cornered they'd always fought and died like men. 

He matched their acceleration to hold down the relative speeds. Theswift passing clash would be brief at best. He formed his forces into anarrangement he'd schemed up long ago but never used: a flat disc oflighter ships out in front, masking a doughnut-shaped mass behind. Hemaneuvered laterally to keep the doughnut centered on the line ofapproach. 

 * * * * *

Roboscouts appeared and blossomed briefly as they died. The fuzzy patchof light on the screens swelled, then began to resolve into individualpoints. The first missiles arrived. Intricate patterns of incandescenceformed and vanished as fire-control systems locked wits. 

A sudden, brilliantly planned salvo came streaking in, saturating thedefenses along its path. Ships in Tulan's secondary formation swervedfrantically, but one darting, corkscrewing missile homed on a Heavy, andfor an instant there were two suns. 

Tulan, missing Jezef's smooth help, was caught up in the daze and strainof battle now. He punched buttons and shouted orders as he played thefleet to match the enemy's subtle swerving. Another heavy salvo camein, but the computers had its sources pinpointed now, and it wascontained. These first few seconds favored the enemy, who was onlyfighting the light shield in front of Tulan's formation. 

Now the swelling mass of blips streaked apart in the viewers and spacelit up with the fire and interception. Two ships met head on; at suchvelocities it was like a nuclear blast. 

Then Coar's ships crashed through the shield and into the center of thedoughnut. Ringed, outgunned, outpredicted, they hit such a concentrationof missiles that it might as well have been a solid wall. Shipsdisintegrated as if on a common fuse; the ones that didn't take directhits needed none, in that debris-filled stretch of hell. 

Tulan's flagship rocked in the wave of expanding hot gasses. There was ajolt as some piece of junk hit her; if she hadn't already been undercrushing acceleration away from the inferno she'd have been holed. 

From a safer distance the path of destruction was a bright slash acrossspace, growing into the distance with its momentum. It was annihilation, too awful for triumph; there was only horror in it. Tulan knew that withthis overwhelming tactic he'd written a new text-book for action againstan inferior fleet. He hoped it would never be printed. Sweating andweak, he slumped in his straps and was ill. 

 * * * * *

While brief repairs and re-arming were under way, he sent scoutsspiraling out to pick up any radio beams from Sennech or Teyr. Therewere none. The telescopes showed Sennech's albedo down to a fraction ofnormal; that, he supposed, would indicate smoke in the atmosphere. Hewavered, wondering whether he should detach more ships to send outthere. Reason and training told him to stick to the key objective, whichwas Coar's surrender. He waited only for Group Three to achieve aconverging course, then started around the sun again. 

They didn't encounter even a roboscout. He crossed the sun, curved intoCoar's orbit, matched speeds, and coasted along a million miles ahead ofthe planet, sending light sorties in to feel out any ambushes. Stillthere was no sign of fight, so he went in closer where the enemy couldget a good look at his strength. Finally he took a small group in boldlyover the fourth planet's Capitol and sent a challenge. 

The answer was odd. "This is Acting President Kliu. What are yourintentions?"

Tulan realized he was holding his breath. He let it out and lookedaround the silent command room, meeting the intent eyes of his staff. Hehad an unreal feeling; this couldn't be the climax, theconsummation--this simple exchange over the radio. He lifted themicrophone slowly. "This is Admiral Tulan, commanding the Fleets ofSennech. I demand your immediate and unconditional surrender. "

There was something in the reply that might have been dry amusement:"Oh; by all means; but I hope you're not going to insist upon anelaborate ceremony. Right now we don't give a damn about the war; we'reworried about the race. "

There was more silence, and Tulan turned, uncertainly, looking at thebare spot where Jezef ought to be standing. He buzzed forCommunications. "Connect me with Captain Rhu. Rhu; I'm advancing you inrank and leaving you in charge here. I'm going down to accept thesurrender and find out what this man's talking about. "

 * * * * *

Kliu was gaunt and middle-aged, wearing, to Tulan's surprise, the grayof Coar's First Level of Science. He was neither abject nor hostile, agreeing impatiently to turn over the secret of Coar's weapon and toassist with a token occupation of the planet. Again Tulan had theunreal, let-down feeling, and judging by Kliu's amused expression, itshowed. 

Tulan sent couriers to get things started, then turned back to thescientist. "So you have had a change of government. What did you mean, about the race?"

Kliu watched him for a moment. "How much do you know about the weapon?"

"Very little. That it projects matter through hyperspace andmaterializes it where you want it. "

"Not exactly; the materialization is spontaneous. Mass somehow distortshyperspace, and when the projected matter has penetrated a certaindistance into such distortion, it pops back into normal space. Thepenetration depends mainly upon a sort of internal energy in themissile; you might think of it more as a voltage than as velocity. You've made it very hard for us to get reports, but I understand wesuccessfully placed stuff in Sennech's crust. "

"Yes; causing volcanoes. Our scientists speculated that any kind ofmatter would do it. "

"That's right. Actually, we were projecting weighed chunks of rock. Whenone bit of matter, even a single atom, finds itself materializing whereanother already is, unnatural elements may be formed, most of themunstable. That's what blew holes in your crust and let the magma out. "

Tulan considered the military implications of the weapon for a fewmoments, then pulled his mind back. "I see; but what about theradiation? It wasn't more than a trace when I left. "

Kliu looked away for a while before answering. "When we learned you'ddefied your government, our own military got out of hand. They had acouple of days before the sun cut us off completely, and they beganthrowing stuff as soon as it could be dug and hauled to the projectors. They used high energies to get it past the sun. As we realize now, a lotof it hit the planet deeper than at first, below the crust. Under suchpressure a different set of fissionables was formed. Some of them burstout and poisoned the atmosphere, but most of them are still there. " Heleaned forward and eyed Tulan hard. "We've got to get an expedition outthere to study things. Will you help?"

There was another of the palpable silences, and when he spoke Tulan'svoice sounded unnatural. "I--yes; we'll help. Whatever you want. Is . .. Sennech finished?"

Kliu smiled tightly. "Sennech, for sure; and she may take the rest of uswith her. Nobody conceived what this might come to. A lot of those deepmaterializations produced pockets of dense fissionables, and they'reconverging toward the center under their own weight. When they get to acertain point, we'll have a fine monument to Man's ingenuity. Aplanet-size nova. " He stood up. "I'll start organizing. "

 * * * * *

Tulan existed someway through the preparations, and when they were inspace again the solid familiarity of his ship helped. His staff wascarrying on wonderfully; shielding him, he suspected, from considerablehostility. Discipline held up. 

A technology that had spanned five orbits and probed beyond was at bay, and the expedition was tremendous. Hardly an art or science wasunrepresented. If need be, whole ships could be built in space. 

A beam from Teyr as they passed told of refugees by the hundreds ofthousands, dumped in the wilderness with a few ships still trickling in. Tulan would have traded everything he could command to hear a word ofJezef or the family, but Teyr wasn't concerned with individuals and hedidn't ask. 

Sennech was dull gray in the telescopes, showing, as they neared, flecksof fire. They went in fast, using her gravity to help them curve into aforced orbit as they strained to decelerate. Thermocouples gave readingsclose to the boiling point of water; that, probably, was the temperatureof the lower air. 

Roboscouts went down first, then, as conditions were ascertained, mannedships. Tulan took the flagship down once. Her coolers labored and hersearchlights were swallowed in murk within a few feet. Sounds carriedthrough the hull; the howl of great winds and the thumps of explosions. Once a geyser of glowing lava spattered the ship. 

Within hours the picture began to form. The surface was a boiling seabroken only by transient mountain peaks which tumbled down in quakes orwere washed away by the incessant hot rain. It would have been hard tofind a single trace of the civilization that had flourished scant hoursbefore. 

 * * * * *

The slower job was learning, by countless readings and painfuldeduction, what was going on inside the planet. Tulan occupied himselfwith organizational tasks and clung to what dignity he could. After aneternity Kliu had time for him. 

"She'll blow, all right, " the scientist said, sinking tiredly into aseat. "Within half a year. Her year. "

"Twenty thousand hours, " Tulan said automatically. "How about the otherplanets?"

"Coar has one chance in a hundred, Teyr possibly one in ten. "

Tulan had to keep talking. "The outer satellites. We can do a lot inthat time. "

Kliu shrugged. "A few thousand people, and who knows what will happen tothem afterward? It's going to be a long time before the System'sinhabitable again, if ever. "

"Ships . .. People can live a long time in ships. "

"Not that long. "

"There must be something! The power we've got, and this hyperspacething. "

Kliu shook his head. "I can guess what you're thinking; we've been allover it. There's no way to get to the stars, and no way to move a planetout of its orbit. Don't think we haven't been pounding our skulls, butthe figures are hopeless. "

Tulan stared at the ulcerous image on the screen, built up by infra-redprobing through the opaque atmosphere. "She looks ready to fall apartright now. How much of her could you blast off?"

Kliu smiled wearily and without humor. "We've worked that idea to thebone, too. If you could build a big enough projector, and mount it on aninfinitely solid base, you could push something deep enough andaccurately enough to throw off stuff at escape velocity, but it's amatter of energy and we can't handle one percent of what we'd need. Evenif you could generate it fast enough, your conduits would melt under thecurrent. " He got up and walked a few steps, then sat down again. "Ironic, isn't it? All we can do is destroy ourselves. "

Tulan's mind couldn't accept it; he was used to thinking that any amountof energy could be handled some way. "There must be something, " herepeated, feeling foolish as he said it. 

He went over the figures he knew so well; the acceleration and the totalenergy necessary to drive a ship to the nearest stars. Even a ship'sPulsors, pouring energy out steadily, were pitiful compared to that job. Schoolboys knew the figures; mankind had dreamed for generations . .. 

He sat up abruptly. "This hyperspace; didn't you tell me there were suchthings as velocity and momentum in it?"

Kliu's eyes focussed. "Yes; why?"

"And that a projector could be built to put an entire ship intohyperspace?"

Kliu stared at him for a second. "Kinetic energy! Built up gradually!"He jumped to his feet. "Come on! Let's get to the computers!"

 * * * * *

Several hundred hours later Tulan lay watching the pinpoint on hisviewscreen that represented Sennech. He'd been building up speed for along time; he ached from the steady double-gravity. The ship, vastlybeefed up, was moving at a good fraction of the speed of light. Itwouldn't be much longer. 

The cargo of carefully chosen matter, shifting into hyperspace at theright instant, would be taken deep into Sennech by the momentum he'daccumulated in normal space. If the calculations were right, theresulting blast would knock a chunk completely out of the planet. Eachof the thousands of other ships tied to him by robot controls would takeits own bite at the right time and place. Providing the plan worked. 

The Solar System would have a few hot moments, and would be full of junkfor a long time, but the threatening fissionables inside Sennech wouldbe hurled far apart, to dribble away their potence gradually. Kliuadmitted no one could calculate for sure even how much, if any, ofSennech would remain as a planet, but Teyr, at least, with her thickatmosphere, should withstand the rain of debris. 

He wondered about his family, and Jezef. Kliu had tried to get word, butthe tragically few refugees were scattered. 

He smiled, recalling how severely he'd had to order his staff to abandonhim. He was proud to remember that much of the fleet would have comealong, if he'd let them; but live men were going to be at more of apremium on Teyr than heroic atoms drifting in space. Machines couldhandle this assault. He himself had not had to touch a single control. 

The indicators began to flash, and, sweating with the effort, he hauledhimself erect to attention. It was good to be winding up here in his owncommand room, where he'd lived his moments of triumph. Still, as the redlight winked on, he couldn't help thinking how very quiet and lonely itwas without Jezef and the staff. 

THE END

Transcriber's Note:

 This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ June 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S. Copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.