“No,” Junea replied coolly.“Of course not. The United States gov- ernment regularly organizes such demonstrations in order to allow its subjects to peacefully vent their rage against the perceived allies of the Minervans, without any negative consequences. Far from being directed against us, the purpose of the CCC rallies is to protectus.”
The Princess seemed skeptical. “Ambassador, I have been doing a lit- tle research on my own. Does not the Earthling term‘crusade’ mean holy war whose objective is to kill non-believers? And does not therefore a cosmic Christian crusade imply a holy war to kill all non-Christians throughout thecosmos?”
Junea smiled.“Your Divine Majesty to Be is well-read. However the sources you have been supplied with suffer from a common misconception. It is true that in the distant past the term ‘crusade’ sometimes referred to military combat in the name of good. However, on the modern Earth,‘crusade’is generally taken to mean inner struggle on behalf of the good that is within oneself. The term Christian may have once referred to members of a particular local cult, but today it simply means one who loves. Cosmos means universal. So far from being anything menacing, a cosmic Christian crusade is simply the joining together of many people in a shared inner struggle to love everyoneeverywhere.”
Aurora gagged.
The Admiral looked sternly at Junea. “You claim the US government wishes to help us fight the planet assassins. Yet all I am hearing are excuses to try to get themselves off the hook. If they are really our allies, where is theirhelp?”
“Right here,” Junea said. “Lisa, would you be so kind?”
The pink-faced recentlywashed Earthling woman stood up. “Your Divine Majesty to Be, I am Lisa White, Director of Public Communications for the United States Government.”
Junea said, “The Divine Princess will note that Mrs. White is wear- ing an original Felgorgious gown.”
A murmur of admiration rippled through the female courtiers. The Princess said, “Yes, I can see that. My sisters and I frequently buy from Felgorgious ourselves.”
“Hardly the sort of place where a planet assassin would shop,” Junea observed.
The Earthling drew a package of physical images from her carrying case. As she did so, Junea took several steps away, apparently because the images were covered with mild chemical toxins. Aurora wrinkled her nose. The things smelled bad, even for Earthling artifacts.
“These,” Lisa White said, “are reconnaissance photographs that United States military aircraft have recently taken over Peru.”
“What’s an aircraft?” the Princess interrupted.
“It’s like a spacecraft,” the Admiral explained, “only it is limited to subluminal speeds and travel within the atmosphere of a singleplanet.”
The Princess seemed amused. “Really? How quaint!” She turned back to Lisa White. “Do go on.”
Lisa White pointed to her images. “As you can see, these are training camps for planetassassins.”
Aurora willed her eyes into high magnification to pick out details from the crude images. As she did so, she was aware that nearly everyone else in the courtroom was doing the same. Yes, there was no doubt about it, the images represented common electromagnetic light reflected off of physical structures which were consistent with a training camp for planet assassins.
“Now,” Lisa White continued. “These are images of the same camps taken one month ago.”
Aurora zoomed in again on the images, and recoiled in shock. There was no doubt about it, three of the four planet assassins were clearly there. “Holy Minerva!” she said involuntarily.
Junea turned to her with a scowl. “Holy Minerva, indeed. You knew it all along. Yet you tried to frame my client for your own, evil, unjust purposes.” She faced the throne. “Your Divine Majesty to Be, I ask that the lying Minervan witness receive her punishment!”
Aurora fell to he knees and looked up at the Princess with tears in her eyes. “Divine Princess, I didn’t know,I couldn’t have!” Then she picked up a fleeting involuntary thought from Hamilton, and paused, turning to face Junea. “In fact,” Aurora said, “I still don’t.”
“What do you mean,Minervan?” Junea said spitefully.“The evidence is right there for all tosee.”
Aurora faced the Princess again, and spoke as calmly as she could. “Divine Princess, the evidence may be there but it doesn’t make any sense. Why would the Peruvians, on their own accord, launch an attack on the Western Galactic Empire?”
Junea interrupted. “Why? I’ll tell you why. Because they were so upset with the way you Minervans are treating the Kennewickians that they felt they had to do something about it. And since Peru is an impoverished country, they didn’t have the benefit of the CCC rallies to deflect the anger of their people, which my client has wisely and fortunately been able to provide, and the inevitable result wasviolence.”
Aurora crossed her arms. “I don’t buy it. By Earthling standards of travel, Peru is far away from Kennewick, and the Earthlings there are poor beyond belief. I doubt if anyone in Peru would give half a cup of raffa rinds for Kennewick. I’ll tell you what I think. I think that the American government sent their planet assassins down to Peru for training, so if they were caught, they could deflect theblame.”
Junea huffed, “You have no proof for such outrageous accusations!”
“No, but I have Reason,” Aurora glared.
The Princess appeared confused. “Reason without evidence verses evidence without reason. What arewe to do?”
“We could eliminate both the United States government and Peru,” the Admiral offered helpfully. “That would be the safest course.”
The Princess nodded thoughtfully. “It might appear to be so.”
A man in the uniform of a high-ranking member of Western Imperial Commercial Consular Service stood up. “Your Divine Majesty to Be shows great wisdom in applying the words ‘might appear’ to the purported safety of the course of action that the Admiral has suggested to you. His proposed course of action is indeedmisconceived.”
The Princess steepled her hands. “Continue,” she said.
The man bowed. “Divine Princess, I am Fedris, Senior Imperial Commercial Consul for the Procyon Sector. As such, I was responsible for arranging the WGE monopoly concession onthe Earth’s helicity.”
An elderly man in an even higher-ranking WG Imperial Consular uniform standing behind the Princess leaned over and whispered something into her ear. The Princess said,“Excellent work, Fedris. You should know that Cepheus Sector Chief Commercial Consul Frondrippus is very impressed withyou.”
“Indeed, I am,” Frondrippus said. “The Empire owes a great deal to this man. I suggest we take his policy advice very seriously.”
“Then by all means,” the Princess said. “Let him proceed.”
Fedris bowed again. “Thank you, Divine Princess. Following the Admiral’s advice would be an enormous mistake. The Earth is one of the largest reserves of helicity in the entire Southern Sector, and the United States is the leading helicity source on the Earth. Were we to retaliate against the US government without definitive evidence that they were the ones behind the planet assassinations—a notion which I, based on my extensive contact with the highly sophisticated shoppers who comprise the American leadership, find extremely unlikely—it would be seen by all the helicity exporters of the Southern Sector as an attack on them. The result would be to open up hundreds of important helicity source planets to theEGE.”
Frondrippus nodded sagely.“That is very true. Strategic helicity supplies would be endangered. Quadrillions of bluebacks worth of trade concessions could belost.”
The Princess waved her hand dismissively. “Those are secondary considerations. Our primary concern must be to ensure the security of Her Divine Majesty’s subjects.”
“But,” continued Frondrippus in the gravest of tones, “with the loss of the trade concessions, huge amounts of Cepheus Sector and Imperial court tax revenues based on the Southern helicity commerce would
also disappear.”
The Princess sat silently for several seconds, as several suddenly agitated courtiers in rapid succession came up and whispered urgent advice to her.Then she said, “I see.” She looked down from her throne. “Priestess Aurora, I believe you are sincere. The US government has, without question, been involved in organizing assassins against your settlement. But the evidence in this case is clear. The attack on the Western Galactic Empire came from Peru, and it against Peru that we shall retaliate. My judgment isfinal.”
She extended her feet into her shoes, and everyone in the courtroom leaped to attention. “For Reason, Love, and Justice, Everywhere and Forever!” all chanted in unison.
The Princess stood up and favored the attendees with a radiant smile. “Thank you, loyal subjects.” She turned to face the Admiral. “Admiral Phillipus, prepare the fleet foraction.”
Chapter 17
Hamilton looked across the plaza of his palace-cell to the altar, where Aurora had just finished praying to the statue of the Goddess Minerva. It had been three days since the trial, and nothing much had happened. The two of them had been kept confined to the junior-officers-quarters palace until today, when word had come that they would be taken out for dinner by Danatus. Upon receiving the invitation, Aurora had stopped their chachostrat game and told him to wash while she spent some time communing with her deity. Now they were both ready, and just in time. One of their Space Marine “attendants” entered and announced that Lieutenant Danatus and his company were awaiting them on the exterior plaza. They got up to leave. Perhaps now they would get some news.
When they reached the main entrance they looked down the grand stairway and could see that Danatus was not alone. With him was a party of half a dozen Weegee junior officers as well as several young Fleet Chaplains. As Hamilton and Aurora began to descend the long stairway, Hamilton could not help observing again how tall all the Weegees were. The men were all at least 6’6” and the women at least 6’2”. On Earth, among his own kind,Hamilton’s slightly above-average5’ 11” height and excellent physique had never left him feeling at a physical disadvantage in any company, and even among the Minervans he was close to normal. But here he was dwarfed, and somehow the fact that they now were going to mix socially with the Weegees made the physical disparity even more intimidating.
“Aurora,” Hamilton asked, “why are the Weegees so tall? Is it genetic? Or nutritional?”
“No,” replied the priestess. “It’s a cumulative relativistic effect, resulting from extensive space travel.”
Hamilton was confused. While not a scientist, he had read popular books on physics and astronomy. No height growth was predicted by Einstein’s theories. “I don’t get it. According to the theory of relativity that I’ve heard about, going fast makes your length contract, but only while you are doing it and only as observed by someone who is not moving with you. It certainly doesn’t make you grow bigger.”
Aurora smiled. “Your scientists have not thought through the impli- cations of their own theories. It’s really quite simple.”
Hamilton stopped on a landing halfway down the staircase and faced the priestess. “How so? Please explain.”
“Well,” Aurora said, “as every child knows, the theory of relativity predicts that time slows down as you approach the speed of light. You do understand that much, don’t you?”
Hamilton nodded. He didn’t understand exactly why that was sup- posed to happen, but it concurred with what he had read. If one twin set out on a trip at a speed close to the speed of light, he would be younger than his brother when he returned home. Time went by slower for the fast traveler.“Yes. That’s what our scientists say,too.”
“And ofcourse,” Aurora continued,“we also know that everything in the universe isshrinking.”
Hamilton was startled. He had never heard that before. “What? You say everything is shrinking? There’s no evidence for that!”
Aurora looked amused. “Of course there is. What do you think caus- es the Red Shift?”
Hamilton did another double-take. He had heard of the Red Shift. It was discovered by the astronomer Edwin Hubble in the 1920s. Light from far away galaxies shifted towards the red, or long wavelength, end of the spectrum.“Now wait a second, I know all about the Red Shift.It’s caused by the Doppler Effect. Far-away galaxies are moving away from us at great speed, and it stretches out the light from them into longer wavelengths, which makes them look redder. It’s the proof that the universe is expanding.”
Aurora laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. The universe isn’t expanding. That’s obviously physically impossible. It only appears to be expanding because everything in it is shrinking. What silly ideas you Earthlings have.” She started walking down the staircase again.
“But wait,” Hamilton said, hurrying after her.“How does the idea that everything is shrinking explain the Red Shift?”
Aurora looked at the Ranger with pity in her eyes. “Hamilton, really, even you should be able to think this through. You do understand, don’t you, that the light we see today from far away objects was actually emitted in the distant past, and that we only see it today because it has been traveling at finite speed?”
“Yes.” Far away light was old light. That was one of the few parts of modern astronomy that Hamilton actually did understand.
“Well,” continued Aurora, “since the light from distant galaxies was emitted in ancient times when everything was bigger, naturally it has longer wavelengths than contemporary light, and therefore appears redder.”
Hamilton stopped in his tracks. Aurora’s theory seemed to hold together,yet he thought he detected a flaw in her logic. “But wait,” he said.“If everything in the universe is shrinking, then so should the waves of old light. Their wavelengths should shrink with time just like everything else, and thus appear normal to us today.”
Aurora frowned. “I thought you said you understood relativity, Hamilton. Time goes slower as you approach the speed of light. At the speed of light, time stops altogether. Now what speed does light travel at?” She looked at him as she would at a very dull child. “Well?”
“At the speed of light, I suppose” Hamilton managed to say.
“Right.And therefore how much time does the light experience while it is traveling?” Aurora looked at Hamilton with a penetrating gaze.
“None? So the lightwaves stay bigger because they experience no time?”
Aurora patted Hamilton on the head. “Very good,” she smiled. “Perhaps there is hope for youyet.” She resumed her walk down the staircase. “And as you can see,” she said, pointing towards Danatus and his friends, “the same effect is evident with the Weegees. They do so much near-luminal, luminal, and super-luminal travel that their net time experience is much less than that of more stationary people. Therefore they have not shrunk as much, and accordingly appearlarger to the rest of us.”
“But you’ve spent a lot of your life in starships. How come you are not as tall as they are?”
“Hamilton, really. The shrinkage retardation that can occur within the lifetime of a single interstellar traveling human is minute. It is the cumulative effect that has developed over many generations that we can observe among the Weegees today.”
It seemed incredible, but as they approached Danatus’ group, there was no denying the facts. The thought crossed Hamilton’s mind that it was good that Earthlings had finally gotten involved with the starfaring races of the galaxy. If they had remained an isolated immobile race for much longer, Earth’s inhabitants would have been doomed to become midgets by comparison with everyone else. Perhaps now they had a chance to catch up, or at least hold their own.
Danatus extended his hand in warm greeting to the priestess. “Good to see you again, Aurrie. Allow me to introduce you to my friends.”
Hamilton stood by while Aurora was introduced to each of Danatus’ companions. Then he fell in walking with the group towards the restaurant district. They chatted with each other rapidly in Wee
gee as they strolled, making Hamilton feel very alone, as without Aurora’s simulta- neous telepathic translation the conversation was totally incomprehensible.
The restaurant district was as festive as it had been when Aurora and Hamilton had walked through it the first time, with music playing and people skate-dancing around the fountains that adorned the larger plazas. The only apparent difference was that glowing blue triangular pennants bearing the portrait of the Empress Minaphera were now flying in abundance from every building. As they passed through one of the fountain squares, the party was joined by a man and a woman with red hair wearing the green attire of the Northern Confederation. The man joined in the conversation with Aurora and the Weegees, but after a brief interaction with that group, the woman fell back to walk beside Hamilton.
The woman turned her intense green eyes on the Ranger and said something incomprehensible. Hamilton looked at her miserably. The woman was very attractive, and emanated a kind of carefree, friendly warmth, but he couldn’t make out a word she was saying.
The woman’s face took on an expression of concern. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realize you needed mental assistance to understand human speech.”
Relieved to have someone to talk with, Hamilton decided to take no offense at the implied insult.“Ordinarily, I don’t,” he said ruefully.
The woman smiled. “Now, now,” she admonished gently.“There is no reason for you to be ashamed. You are what you are. It’s not yourfault that you can’t think like a human. The Goddess loves you for what you are. Youdon’t need to try to be something you are not.”
Hamilton didn’t know what to say.
She stuck out her hand.“Allow me to introduce myself.I’m Priestess 3rd Class Urania, of the Anthropo Institute, currently detailed to serve as Science Officer aboard the Northern Confederation Frigate Bold Rescue.”
Hamilton took her hand. “Sergeant Andrew Hamilton, United States Army.”
The Holy Land: Fanatical Earthling planet assassins are spreading chaos through the galaxy. Is there any nice way to stop them? Page 17