Federation World (39 page)

"You will be surrounded only by friends," Martin said dryly, "since you have already arranged that potential enemies l>e directed away from your center. But they will be unarmed friends, and I suggest that your people discard their weapons now rather than carry them to be left outside the center."

Angrily, the First shouted, "So you would exclude my family and friends, and sentence to a lingering death the Keidi who love and wish only to protect me?"

"Your armed friends exclude themselves," Martin said quietly, and broke the connection.

Beth's attention was divided between her console and the big sensor screen, but there was enough of it free to tell Martin what she thought of him.

"I don't understand you," she said vehemently. "You should have split up the First's guards, destroyed his organization before it could take shape. Disarming them won't do any permanent good because, to adapt the old Earth expression, there are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous Keidi. Now you're putting ail the bad eggs into one stinking basket, and the smell will eventually cover the whole planet as it was beginning to do before we arrived, except that it will be one of the First's heirs setting up a military dictatorship instead of him. You should have split them up, dammit, in the hope that the other, more normal Keidi would have absorbed and perhaps had a civilizing influence on them. Instead you've gone for a sick compromise!"

"Have you finished?" Martin asked.

"No," Beth replied angrily, "but the doctor is waking up."

The Keidi medic wakened complaining of hunger. Beth ordered a large helping of synthesized and nutritionally balanced food tailored to the Keidi metabolism, which drew high praise from the doctor. He asked her if it could be supplied in bulk to some of the refugee groups who were being forced to sacrifice the weight of food supplies for speed of movement.

It could and it was.

By the end of the second day the majority of the groups within and beyond the borders of the Estate were safe or looked as though they would reach safety in time, barring accidents. The First's convoy, closely followed by two more groups of his special followers, reached their induction center but milled about outside the entrance for more than an hour before disarming themselves and going inside. Subsequent groups disarmed themselves and entered without delay.

For the first time since the escape from Camp Eleven, Martin and the Keidi leader were able to see as well as hear each other.

"I have urgent questions," the First said angrily. "As you can see we have entered one of your white houses but, far from finding it a place of shelter, we find ourselves in a large, rooftop area apparently open to the sky. We cannot find an exit much less a way down to the entrance. Many of us feel that we have been tricked, captured, and are to be left to die from radiation sickness in this unprotected place. Before I signal the other Keidi to turn back and avoid entering all white houses, and to ignore and refuse anything you may say or offer to do for them, I must have answers. Is this an isolated act of vengeance against my Family and myself for my earlier capture of your life-mate and yourself, or do you intend to treat all Keidi refugees in this utterly ruthless fashion? I would hear your words, off-worlder, even though I am unlikely to believe them."

Martin was silent for a moment. The threat to turn his own and perhaps some of the non-Estate refugees away from the induction centers was a development he had not foreseen, and it worried him. He could blank the other's radio signals easily enough and allow the doctor or themselves to do all the talking, but at this stage a sudden silence from their leader would be suspicious and would probably have the same disruptive effect. He desperately needed the First's active cooperation.

"This is not the time for vengeance or misdirection," he said finally. "The entrance to the induction center is a short-range matter transmitter which immediately transports candidates to the uppermost floor."

"Scientific tricks," the First broke in, "do not impress me."

Martin recalled his first visit to the local induction center on Earth, and remembered that it had impressed him out of about five year's growth.

"... Which is the only level within the building not occupied by interview compartments or equipment," he went on. "The roof and three walls of the reception area are transparent but completely impervious to radiation, and will enable you to watch the approach of the rest of your people. Around the three walls are pictures, more than two hundred of them, showing all the different species who make up the Federation of Galactic Sentients. By pressing the sensor plate that is under each picture you will be given a brief summary of the physiology, environment, and culture of the species concerned. Your people might find this material instructive..."

"I have no wish to learn anything about Galactics," the First said.

"... Or an amusing means of occupying your waiting time," Martin went on. "But there is an area which you should avoid, the desks lining the fourth wall and the doors behind them. These doors must not be forced open. They form part of the Citizen examination and matter transmission network which would move the person entering to a compartment in a different part of this or another building, and time would be wasted finding and getting them back again."

"My people are not barbarians, off-worlder," the First said angrily. "They will not damage your equipment. In any case, none of them would be passed by your examination machines, they are warriors."

"Don't be too sure," Martin said quietly. "It depends on their reasons for becoming warriors. Did they feel an obligation to protect their friends and families from harm, to provide them with food and shelter? Or did they simply enjoy the power of killing, hurting, or frightening others? A warrior does not necessarily make a bad Citizen."

"Off-worlder," the First said coldly, "we are surrounded by pictures of the horrifying creatures which you say are Federation Citizens. We cannot sit at a table without three-dimensional displays appearing on it, and literature printed in the principal written languages of Keidi is everywhere. Are you trying to influence, seduce, and divide my family?"

That was exactly what Martin was trying to do, but this was not the time to say so. Instead, he went on, en overcrowding or other factors make it necessary to move your Family, or when we have accurately charted the future progress of the contamination, you will be told which doors to use so that you can be transported to induction centers in safe areas. These will probably be on the north or south continents, where you will be given supplies, shelters, and assistance to resettle.

"When we are not using it to communicate," Martin continued, "this projection will be enlarged to reproduce the master display of the hypership, so that you will be able to watch and give advice on the overall progress of die evacuation. Have you other questions?"

The Keidi leader was silent for a moment, then he said, "I have many questions which concern the ultimate fate of my people, but I cannot ask them until I have a clearer idea of what is happening. If I were to study your master display for a time, I might learn enough to ask the right questions."

Whatever else the First was, Martin thought as he broke contact, he was not stupid.

ANOTHER day of frenetic activity passed. Beyond the borders of the Estate, in spite of the urgings, pleadings, and repeated descriptions of the effects of radiation poisoning, there were areas where the evacuations were not going smoothly. Instead of the First there were many Firsts who, while possessing the authority, were more used to government by committee.

There was little that the doctor could do about this. He had been obeyed without question by his own people. In the towns and settlements where he was known and respected, they obeyed him, reluctantly and with much argument. But in the outlying districts he was just a Keidi voice warning of dreadful things to come-a voice which inspired fear but not always belief.

When Martin tried to intervene in support of the doctor, that caused even more arguments, dissension, and delays. The dislike and distrust felt for Galactics all over Keidi came close to being a planet-wide psychosis. And the dissension was beginning to spread to the hypership.

"Group Eighty-eight has wasted too much time," said Martin impatiently. "That cloud, as you can see from the figures, is a particularly dirty one. It will cross their path half a day before they are able to reach shelter, enough time to give the very young Keidi a lethal dose and render the adults sterile. They must be redirected to Center Twelve-twenty-seven, now. Even then it will be a very close thing."

The doctor's speaking horn swung round angrily. "Off-worlder, I have only just succeeded in getting that group moving, and now you want me to tell them to move in what is nearly the opposite direction! There will be disorganization, argument, and more delay. Twelve-twenty-seven is being threatened by fallout from Burst Five, and the delay will mean that they face the same danger going there."

"Not if they decide quickly and turn back at once," Martin said. "I think another nonmaterial show of force is indicated, to help concentrate their thinking."

"No!" the doctor said. "Give me credit for understanding my people's thinking better than a meddling off-worlder. Sudden terror could just as easily cause them to scatter in all directions, or not move at all."

Trying hard to control his anger and impatience, Martin said, "There are five other groups in much the same position as Eighty-eight, but for different reasons. We could lift them out, if the transports are ready."

He looked at Beth, but before she could reply the doctor said, "Off-worlder, the First tried to explain it to you and now I will try. We do not want, but we are forced to accept, your help. But we must also be allowed to help ourselves. Since the Exodus took away our population and skimmed oft the finest layers of our culture, the Keidi who remained have become a backward, angry, and very proud people. Any attempt, however well meant, to force all but the minimum of assistance on them, or to impress them with the scientific marvels of the Federation, will have negative results. This, the First's dreams of conquest and unification, the premature detonation of his nuclear devices, and everything that has occurred as a result, is our problem. Do you understand that, off-worlder?"

The Keidi sat within arms reach, but he seemed suddenly to be miles away.

Beth looked worriedly from the doctor to Martin and said, "The first transport is ready to launch. It is untested, but testing is a formality because the fabrication module's self-inspection system is..."

"But you are a healer," Martin said, ignoring her. "Surely it is your duty to save lives?"

"Yes," said the Doctor, "that is why I wanted to help you. But I have found that a patient who wants to survive will aid the healing process, and live longer, than one who has no incentive for continued survival. The loss of pride and self-respect destroys the will to benefit from the healing."

"I don't accept that," Martin said, "especially in the present situation. Pride is no protection against radiation poisoning, and what about your people who are too young to have learned about pride?"

"Don't be stupid, off-worlder," the Keidi said. "There are exceptions, naturally. I was simply making the point that too much help can be worse than..."

Beth pointed at the attention light blinking unnoticed on Martin's console and said, "The First is calling you." The Keidi leader was staring out of the screen at him, his speaking horn twitching with impatience. The First began speaking without giving Martin time to talk. "Off-worlder, we must negotiate. We have duties and obligations which must be exchanged without delay or misdirection on either side. I shall bind myself, by the continuing respect of my people and by the parental duty of a First Father to his Family, to discharge my obligations fully, without omission or deliberate misunderstanding, to your satisfaction. You must bind yourself and the members of your organization by whatever personal, legal, or nonmaterial authority that you honor, to do likewise."

"What-" began Martin. "This is not the time for complex negotiations. We're very busy here right now, as you can see from your repeater screen. If you're worried about something, don't be. You are in no danger and the remaining groups of your special family are making good progress toward your center. Please, let's discuss this later."