Aurora nodded. “Yes, that is the basic idea. We will use both the natural techniques I have employed up to now, as well as various enhanced
methods enabled by Anthropo technology. But all observations will be
conducted in the outer mind only. The First Commandment will be
respected. Youmay be sure of that. And,” she added, “you may also rest
assured that the work we will do will be top-notch research, suitable for
publication in the galaxy’s leading peer-reviewed scientific journals.” “I’m so glad.”
Aurora did not misshis stinging sarcasm. “Look,” she said. “What’s
so bad about it really? You would be safe and comfortable, and we would
be together, doing important work advancing the frontiers of scientific
psychology and anthropology. Why can’t you just accept it?” “I want my freedom,” Hamilton said.
“Why?” Aurora asked forcefully. “Why is that so important to you?” “Because I am a human being.”
“You haven’t proven that.”
Hamilton looked the priestess in the eye. “But you know that it is
true.”
Aurora said nothing.
Hamilton pressed the point. “You do, don’t you?”
Aurora turned and left the cell.
Junea looked down at the ugly little Earthling known as the President. “I don’t think you understand,” she explained. “I have not come this time in my usual capacity as a roving Imperial Ambassador. Princess Minaphera has made me her special representative. The squadron cur
rently investing this solar system is at my command.”
“Good,” said the President. “Then wipe out the Minervans and we’ll
all be friends.”
“I’m afraid it is not so simple. The Princess has placed these warships
at my disposal in order to help convince you to accept a diplomatic solution to the Earthling-Minervan conflict. She has accepted my recommendation for a partition of Kennewick. Now, so shouldyou.”
“Have the Minervans agreed?”
“I have spoken with the Minervan High Council. They are willing to
cede ten percent of the land under their control in order to allow for the
establishment of a Kennewickian state.”
“Ninety percent for them, ten percent for us. Oh, that is very generous of them. Madame Ambassador, has it ever occurred to you that before
the Minervan invasion, one hundred percent of Kennewick was American
territory? We could never agree to such an unfairsplit.”
“Why not? Accept it, andwe’ll help you take overMexico.” She gestured at the large map of the North American continent that adorned the
meeting room wall. Mexico was one of the three largest tribal territories
shown. Kennewick was too small to see. “That’s much bigger than all of
Kennewick.”
“That is not the point. This is not about territory, it is about principles. The Minervan presence in Kennewick is a defilement. We cannot have
pagans polluting sacred Christian land with their unholy presence. We have a God-given duty to exterminate them. Being a pagan yourself, no
offense, Ican’t expect you to understand that. Butthat’s the way wefeel.” “So you are not willing to compromise at all?” Junea let some of her
frustration with the little chieftain show.
“Did I say that? By no means.” The President smiled genially, show-
ing his disgusting mutilated teeth. “It’s just that any compromise must be one that reduces Minervan territory to a small enough size where it
becomes possible for us to wipe them out. So I tell you what. We’ll agree to split Kennewick, but we get ninety percent, and they get ten percent.” Junea shook her head. “I’m sorry, but that is not good enough.
Princess Minaphera has specifically said that the most you can be given
is fifty percent. You will have to settle for that.”
“No way. We want more.”
Junea saw that it was time to apply some pressure. She looked at the
map, where the President’s domain, colored yellow, was divided by dot-
ted lines into subdistricts. She indicated one of these with her finger.
“What is that place called?”
The President looked where she was pointing. “Iowa,” he said. “Very well. If you do not accept our generous terms, I will order an
immediate psiorayreduction of the inhabitants of Iowa.”
At this remark, a number of the President’s advisors who had been
hanging in the background appeared to grow concerned. They
approached their chief and consulted with him in urgent whispers.
However after a few moments of this, the President said loudly,“Don’t
worry, guys.She’s bluffing.” He turned and looked at Junea with as much
dignity and threatening aspect as such a pathetic little creature could be
expected to muster, then added, “She remembers what happened to them
when they attacked Peru. I’m sure she knows that whatever Peru had,
we’ve got one hundred times as much. So I’m sure she’ll want to be a bit
more careful before she takes uson.”
Junea smiled grimly to herself. She had indeed remembered the battle with Peru, and had taken precautions accordingly. A special light cruiser had been fitted out with the Empire’s most advanced cloaked-heledo
detection gear and placed under the command of the Princess’s own pro-
tégé, the daring young Commander Danatus. Moving quietly through
subspace, Danatus had brought his own hyper-stealthed vessel into position directly above the American boss’s little despotism. Interestingly,
Danatus had reported a complete absence of Earthling cloaked-heledos or
any other orbital defenses. Perhaps they were out of ammunition, or more
likely, had withdrawn their limited space-defense assets into ground shelters to avoid Western Galactic Imperial Navy minesweepers. No matter.
The Earthlings were under Danatus’ guns right now. She opened a telepsych channel to his bridge.
She spoke, as if to the air in the room.“Commander Danatus. Do you
have targeting coordinates for the Earthling satrap known asIowa?” The room’s air spoke with Danatus’ voice. “Yes, Reverend
Ambassador.”
“On my order, please proceed with a three-second psioray bombardment.” She turned to the President and smiled. “Last chance.” The President’s advisors seemed alarmed, and tried to get his atten-
tion. But the President ignored them. Instead he looked her in the eye and
said, “Go ahead. Make my day.”
“Fire three,” Junea said. A moment later the air in the room was shattered by an ear-splitting whine as the tele-psych link relayed the sound of
a psioray battery firing at full power. Then the noise stopped. The advisor the President called Fred ran to a console and picked up
one of the hydrocarbon plastic-encased electromagnetic devices that the
Earthlings used for voice communication. Junea waited patiently while he
pushed various buttons and shouted into it. Finally he put it down and
walked back to where the President was standing. Junea noted with satis - faction that most of the blood appeared to have been drawn from Fred’s face.
“Mr. President,” Fred said. “They’ve done it. Everyone in Iowa has been shrunk to the size of insects. They’re being eaten by birds even as we speak.”
“Are you ready to compromise now?” Junea asked.
“Don’t make me laugh,” the President said haughtily.
Junea walked over to the map and made a show of shopping for a
second target.
“Mr. President,” Fred said urgently.“I really think this may be a goo
d
time tonegotiate.”
“Keep your shirt on, Fred,” the President replied. “So they reduced
Iowa. Who cares? It’s far away, and no one there ever voted for me any-
way.”
“What’s this one?” Junea said, pointing to a curiously shaped
province further to the east.
The short, fat Earthling with transparent solid lenses in front of his
eyes and the worst smell of the lot spoke up. “Oh, that would be
Virginia.”
The President snapped at the fat humanoid.“Beasley, would you shut
up.”
“I was just trying to be helpful, sir,” Beasley said apologetically. Junea spoke to the air. “Commander Danatus, please lay in targeting
coordinates for Virginia.”
Danatus’ voice spoke back. “With pleasure, Reverend Ambassador.
However it’s Captain Junior-Grade Danatus now. In recognition for our
victory over Iowa, I’ve been promoted again.”
“Congratulations, Captain Junior-Grade Danatus,” Junea said.
“Please prepare another three-second bombardment.”
Fred said, “Mr. President, they are about to reduce Virginia. We need
to do something.”
“Relax Fred,” the President said. “Even if they do, we still have 48
more states.”
Junea said, “Captain Junior-Grade Danatus, are you ready?” The voice replied, “Yes, Reverend Ambassador.”
Junea licked her lips. “Very well. Let’s do a little countdown. Fire in
ten, nine, eight, seven…”
Fred interrupted, quite rudely, Junea thought. “Excuse me, Madame
Ambassador. How accurate are your psioray bombardment systems?” “Generally speaking, the beam-width variation can be kept to within
one tenth of one percent of the range. Why?”
“Well,” Fred said, “I was just wondering. How far away is your war-
ship?”
“About two of your planet’s diameters.”
Fred turned to the fat Earthling. “Beasley, what would be one-tenth
of one percent of that?”
“Well,” said Beasely. “The Earth has a radius of about six-thousand
four hundred kilometers, so two diameters would be around twenty-five
thousand kilometers, making one-tenth of one percent of that twenty five
kilometers.”
“Madame Ambassador,” Fred said. “Do you realize that Virginia is
just across the river? If your beams have potential targeting errors of up
to 25 kilometers, we could easily be hit here. You’re putting yourself in
the line of fire this time.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Junea said brightly. “The beams are tuned to only
affect Earthlings. I’m in no danger at all. Now where were we? Oh yes,
six, five, four…”
Fred turned to his leader and screamed. “Mr. President!” “Okay, Okay, I get the point,” the President said. “Stop the count.” Junea had just reached “two” and was vaguely disappointed. Still, if
the savages were coming to heel, her purposes could be accomplished.
“So,” she said. “I take it you have decided to be reasonable.” “Sure,” the President said. “If fifty percent is non-negotiable, we’ll
go along with that. But in view of how much we are giving up, you really ought to sweeten the deal a little bit.”
“Well, as I said, if you agree to serve as enforcers of order on this
planet, we are willing to give you some technology that will improve your
military capabilitiesdramatically.”
“But not as good as what you give the Minervans,” the President
frowned.
“No, of coursenot,” Junea said.“The Princess has ruled out any technology transfers that would give you qualitative equality. However, given
your superior numbers, and the increased vulnerability an appropriate
border revision can create for the Minervan settlement, it may be enough
to tip things in yourfavor.”
“But it may not,” the President sulked. “You know you’re getting a
lot out of this deal, Junea. We’re not only conceding half of Kennewick,
we’re ending the helicity embargo, and giving you the full services of the
United States of America in the war against planet assassins.We’re going
way out on a limb doing all this for you, risking the displeasure of religious Christians everywhere. Youreally shouldn’t be short-changing us
like this.”
“You’re getting Mexico,” Junea said cheerfully.
The President made a rude sound, mimicking a rectal gas release by
blowing air through his lips. Junea looked at the map. She pointed to a large pink-colored territory located vertically above that of the President. “Very well,” she said. “What if we throw in this one?”
Fred’s eyes seemed to brighten. “Canada? You’ll give us Canada too?”
Junea smiled. “Why not? As I said, cooperation will be rewarded.” Then she hardened her expression. “But you have to settle now.”
Fred looked sharply at the President, who shrugged in response. “Sure,” the despot said. “What the hell.” He advanced to Junea and held out his vermin-infested hand in the Earthling sign of agreement.
Junea took two hasty steps backward and made the sign of theTriune blessing.
It was a deal.
Chapter 33
Aurora sat in the café in the main plaza area of New Minervapolis, sipping raffa with Freya and Danae.
“So,” Freya said cheerfully, looking at Aurora’s bright new two-owl insignia with admiration. “I suppose we shall have to call you ‘Your Eminence’ now.”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Aurora said. “We’re all old friends…” Danae cut her off. “Would Your Eminence care for another cup of raffa?” She snatched a drink off the tray of an Earthling servant boy who was walking by.
“Please Danae!” Freya said. “Her Eminence requires raffa that is freshly squeezed! I’ll take this one.” She called out. “Boy, another cup of raffa here!”
The boy turned and set a drink down. Aurora reached for it, but before she could touch the cup, Danae’s long arm got it first. “Let me taste this for Your Eminence,” she said, then tossed it all down. She tilt- ed her head thoughtfully. “Definitely not suitable for an Eminence. But I’ll have another.” She snapped her fingers to get the attention of a tray- boy.
Aurora fumed. “Will you two cut it out!”
“Certainly, Your Eminence,” Danae and Freya said in unison, then burst out laughing.
Freya said,“This is all so wonderful, Aurora. Your promotion, and the two of us getting out of this dump to return to civilization together. And it can’t be too much longer here for Danae, from what I hear.”
Danae smiled. “I take it you are referring to the likely consequences of my little brother’s rather spectacular career success. I can’t say for sure, but…”
Freya cut her off. “Let me guess. You are being transferred to the Princess’s court in Cepheus.”
Danae blushed.
“When?” Freya asked breathlessly.
“I expect in about two months,” Danae admitted. But something in her tone suggested there was more to say.
Freya forced it out. “And?”
“I am informed that our family is to be ennobled,” Danae said sim- ply.
Freya’s eyes lit up. “Goddesses alive! A countess!”
At this moment, the tray arrived with the second drink Danae had requested. But Freya grabbed it first and handed it to Aurora. “Here you go, Eminence. You better taste this for the countess-tobe.”
Aurora tossed it down, then said, “Definitely not fit for a countess. But I’ll have another.”
&
nbsp; All three women burst into laughter.
Freya turned to Aurora. “You must be so excited about finally being able to examine your study specimen with proper equipment. The mindimaging facilities at the Anthropo Institute are the most advanced in the galaxy. And as the Institute’s newly appointed Associate Director of the Primitive Subhuman Department, I intend to keep them that way.”
“AnAssociateDirector!” Danae and Aurora said in unison. They both eyed Freya’s raffa cup, but before either of them could make a move, Freya snatched it up herself. “Don’t even think of it,” she said gaily.
Her announcement made, and her raffa safe, Freya turned her attention back to Aurora.“Yes, it is the opinion of the Northern Confederation authorities that the hard work that I’ve put in here as Acting Director of the local UL Humanitarian Commission merits a promotion. Soit’s off to Anthropo!” She smiled. “That poor little Earthling of yours will not be able to have a single thought without it being imaged, measured, scanned, and analyzed with absoluteprecision.”
“All in the outer mind, of course,” Aurora said, seeking reassurance. “Of course,” Freya said. “At Anthropo, we scrupulously observe all
regulations for proper laboratory ethics. So there certainly will be no inner mind violations. However, our equipment is of such high quality that, given sufficient time and expertise, a group of researchers using it can draw almost as much information about a subject’s mental construction in an outer mind survey as would be possible with a direct examination of the inner mind using traditional methods.”
“Is that possible?” Aurora said, somewhat staggered by the thought. “Certainly,” Freya said. “Aurora, you’ve been living behind the times. Everyone is amazed at what you have been able to accomplish
using old-fashioned natural telepathy techniques. But once we combine your scientific skill with our technology, believe me, there will be nothing significant about your specimen’s mind that you won’t know. Especially since, with our involvement, it will be possible to stimulate portions of his mental architecture that you have been reluctant to engage.”
“What do you mean by that?” Aurora asked. “Well,” Freya explained, “as you know, those who embrace Minerva attain certain mental abilities denied to those who do not.”
“Of course,” Aurora said, somewhat puzzled by Freya’s oblique method of explanation.
The Holy Land: Fanatical Earthling planet assassins are spreading chaos through the galaxy. Is there any nice way to stop them? Page 31