Miranda's Demons

by Ian Miller

  "If you have political ambition, then I will not contest," Gaius promised, "although I may try to dissuade you. But right now, the first task is to win, and believe me, it is not preordained. But if we do win, and its glory you want, my name need not be mentioned."

  "It's not just political ambition," Natasha started. "I don't even know if I have any. There's also how I feel about it, and . . ."

  "You will feel proud of a job well done," Gaius assured her, "provided you don't let these other problems get in the road of doing it."

  "I suppose so," came the doubtful reply.

  Chapter 3

  "To summarize the position," Commissioner Kotchetkova paused, cleared her throat, and took a sip of water before continuing to the Federation Council, "Mars is now essentially in the hands of two groups; the M'starn collaborators who are based at Syrtis Major, while the settlers control most of the terrain west of the meridian, and are based in underground facilities. I do not intend to give you their location; there is no need for you to know. This situation is only temporary. With no disrespect to the Martian settlers, their problems are relatively minor, and we believe they can solve them themselves, as long as we solve ours.

  "From the enemy point of view, they have had to repair their battle fleet, which is what we assume they have been doing. When they have finished they have two options: attack us or leave. If they attack, they must do so as quickly as they can, because without manufacturing capacity they cannot improve their strength, in which case their relative position can only deteriorate. Accordingly, we have to assume they will attack, and we must build up the biggest most powerful defence force we can, as quickly as we can, to meet this attack."

  "Suppose the assumption is wrong?" the President asked. "Suppose they just leave?"

  "Then our defence build-up has been something of a waste," Natasha conceded, then she stared back at the President and added, "If, on the other hand, we assume they'll leave and they don't, thousands of millions of people will die."

  "Surely that's an exaggeration," the President said, with a look of disapproval.

  "They would appear to have two options. They can leave and find another planetary system, or they can settle in this one. The Ulsian view is that they may see this planet as desirable. There is a full infrastructure here."

  "Suppose they want to rule us, so what? They won't kill billions." someone interposed.

  "I for one wouldn't go along with the 'so what?'," Commissioner Garrett said irritably.

  "Lose your perks, would you?" This from the inscrutable Chu, head of ChinaCorp, the largest corporation on Earth. ChinaCorp owned virtually every manufacturing facility in South East Asia, but its overall economic impact was restrained through the agreement with other corporations that it would not sell more than one per cent of its overall production outside the region.

  "Order!" called the President. A silence descended.

  "They don't intend to rule us," Commissioner Kotchetkova explained. "Their biochemistry's too alien to live amongst us. They can take what they need and leave, they could live separately on another planet, like Mars, or they can exterminate us."

  "What!" came the aghast cries. Reiner looked angrily at Munro. Munro looked stunned.

  "Think of the logic," Natasha replied. "Their biochemistry is such that life here is toxic to them, and they are toxic to us. Accordingly, we have to defend. To do this, as you will see from the notes I gave you, I propose that the Council appoint Marshall Claudius as commander of the space defence."

  "Can we trust this Claudius?" Commissioner Garrett asked.

  "Can we even speak to him?" Commissioner Kleppe asked.

  "Yes to both," Natasha replied. "He is waiting outside, and he is willing to speak to the meeting, if you wish, Mr President. He also has a message for you from the Government of Ulse, should you wish to receive it."

  "They know about this Council?" someone asked in amazement.

  "No, but they assumed there would be a government of some description, and apparently they sent a whole number of different messages, the one to be delivered depending on what was here. If there were no suitable governments," she shrugged, "the messages would be discarded."

  "I see," the President said. "I'm not sure about this. Our standing orders don't really permit anyone to just walk in . . ."

  "Mr President," the Commissioner for Mars interposed. "They don't actually prevent it either."

  "I'm not so sure," the President said. "All Government officials have to have Assembly permission, with a clear statement of approval from their own Government representative on the Assembly, and a –"

  "Mr President," Commissioner Halas interposed, "this man does not represent a Government on the Assembly."

  "Which means there's no precedent."

  "With due respect, Mr President, there could hardly be a precedent," Natasha went on. "You're hardly likely to –"

  "Commissioner! Standing orders clearly state that once our meeting starts, that door must remain closed until the meeting ends, except for any special visitor approved by the Assembly, and for whom the appropriate notice of motion has been tabled previously."

  "We could vote an exception," the Commissioner for Mars tried.

  "You cannot," the President said irritably. "You should know that in the matter of the doors, standing orders do not allow any exceptions without formal constitutional change, and that requires –"

  "I don't believe this," the Commissioner for Mars said grimly. "The fate of the world is at stake, and we're arguing over who has the right to open a door?"

  "Unfortunately the President is correct," Commissioner Garrett said. "As the Justice representative, I have to confirm that the Federation Constitution places a number of procedural restraints on access to the Council, including what was thought to be the largely ceremonial matter of the door." She paused, then began fiddling with a mobile computer.

  "Commissioner, would you please sit down and stop using that equipment!"

  "Mr President," Elizabeth Garrett continued, "I have to inform you that procedural standing orders permit a pause of twenty seconds. Provided I say something every nineteen seconds I am entitled to remain speaking."

  "That is ridiculous!" the President snorted. "Those rules were established so that a person could pause for water, not to say three words per minute!"

  "And the question of the doors was so that Ambassadors to the Assembly could not be bypassed by their own nationals," the Justice Commissioner countered. "This cannot happen . . ." She paused, glanced at her watch, and after nineteen seconds, added, "here . . ." then with a further formal look at her watch, continued to use the computer. After a further nineteen seconds she added, "because . . ."

  "I think we get the point," the President said sourly, "however we must proceed. We have an alien invasion on hand, and . . ."

  "And we seem to be unable to open a door," Commissioner Garrett interrupted, "or, for that matter, follow standing rules. All of which, in the sense of natural justice, as well as the problem of solving our immediate difficulty, does little credit on this meeting." She paused, frowned, then smiled. "Here, I have it. As I suspected, the rule you quoted applies only to representatives of countries with formal ambassadors. There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution relating to representatives of alien governments."

  "That," the President huffed, "is because there weren't any."

  "Exactly!" the Commissioner for Justice continued, "which means resort to the default conditions of Clause 127 b of Section 2 of the Federation Constitution, which states that on constitutional procedures for issues not covered by the Federation Constitution, then older constitutions may apply. Accordingly, as a citizen of England, which is a stated member of the Federation, I shall fall back on the Magna Carta."

  "What?" came a bemused President.

  "The point I call upon is that unless specifically banned by law, an act shall be permitted. I hereby formally move, citing the Magna Carta to apply pursuant to Clau
se 127 b of Section 2 of the Federation Constitution, somebody gets up and opens that door."

  "Second!" Natasha muttered.

  There was a stunned silence as the President clearly had no idea what to do next. However, one glance at the expressions before him persuaded him to put the motion. After several minutes, Marshall Claudius, in formal Ulsian uniform together with Roman decorations, and wearing a crown of grass, entered. He was carrying a strange pyramidal object and a glistening sphere. He strode up to the table, and laid the pyramidal object on the table. As the Councillors stared in something approaching disbelief, he stepped back, came to attention, and gave the Roman salute.

  "Welcome to this meeting," the President said, then, for almost the first time in his political life he seemed to be uncertain as to what to say.

  "Greetings!" Gaius responded, and turned to each of the Councillors and nodded directly to them. "I bring greetings from the planet Ulse, I am hereby initiating 'first formal contact' between the two worlds, and I bring a declaration from Ulse of their absolute commitment to support the independent development of Earth. I have a pre-recorded message from their equivalent body, and with your permission, I shall play it."

  There were murmurs of assent, then Gaius took a power cable from Natasha that had a strange fitting on one end, and a standard plug on the other. This was plugged into the wall, and the switch turned on.

  "How'd they know the voltage would be correct?" someone muttered.

  "This sorts voltage and frequency out itself," Gaius explained, "by converting to direct current. It needs a little more power than a small computer, so it would be unusual for electrical mains to have insufficient power." He carefully placed the sphere on top of the pyramid where, to everyone's surprise, it sat, then he stepped back. "If a civilization did not have electricity, it would not receive the message," he added.

  The sphere began to rise, and suddenly an image formed around the sphere. The image was of a creature dressed in a radiant blue robe. It was apparently seated cross-legged, although the image gave no clue as to what it had been sitting on, and the legs were enveloped with the robe. It had two distinct arms, although these were also covered loosely in the blue material, and on the end of the arms there were brilliant green gloves, covering what appeared to be the Ulsian double-thumbed hands. The head was very large, compared with the rest of the body, with the bulk of it extending up and behind the face like an ancient Egyptian royal headdress. The face itself was loosely covered at the bottom, and more tightly covered at the top. Only the eyes could be clearly seen; two green eyes with large round jet-black pupils.

  "Greetings, Terrans," the image spoke. "I represent the formal government of Ulse, and I am pleased to formally introduce our civilization to you, and commence down the path we hope will lead eventually to formal relations between our civilizations. We regret the situation under which this introduction is made, and we wish you well in resolving these difficulties. Since we ourselves have been fighting for our very survival, there is a limit to the direct assistance we can offer.

  "Ulse is the founding planet of a Federation of planetary systems, and through Space Marshall Claudius we have requested two systems to assist you. One, Ranh, is close to you, while another, Kroth, is some distance away, but it was along the path between Ulse and Earth. If these fleets arrive, they will be required to fight under the direct command of Space Marshall Claudius. Finally, Marshall Claudius brings with him two of the most advanced main line battleships in the Ulsian fleet.

  "Much has changed since Marshall Claudius left Earth, and we rejoice that you have successfully negotiated a number of crises which afflict planets at your level of development. I regret that we cannot converse directly. We are so many light years from your planet that by the time any message could be sent and returned, the sender would be long dead. However, we have attempted to anticipate your questions, and this image is interactive, in that if anything is said that we have foreseen, the answer to that has been recorded. The recordings were, of course, made in Ulsian; the translation is computer driven at your end."

  "Interactive? That's not possible."

  "Yes it is, Commissioner Garrett," the image said as it turned towards the Justice Commissioner. "You see, I have read your name, and used it."

  "How do I know this isn't a trick," Commissioner Halas said quietly to the image. "How could you possibly know we had not succumbed to the dark ages? How could you know the term light years would mean anything to us?"

  The image appeared to laugh, and a strange cackle was heard. "That is easy," the image said. "We thought of all possible outcomes in which a message might make sense, and we made separate recordings. The selection for today was made by Marshall Claudius; we trust he made the correct choice."

  "Can you help us against the M'starn?" Commissioner Kleppe asked.

  "Directly, no," the image said, and it raised it's two hands vertically below its chin. "We could not know where the M'starn went, for the galaxy is a very large place, and we needed every ship for our war, which is on a very much larger scale than anything you will have to face. I realize that is of no direct help to you, but I cannot help it."

  "Then how do you know they're here?"

  "In the strictest sense, I do not," the image said, and it opened its hands slightly. "However, if they were not, you would not be receiving this message. Ulse would not normally contact a civilization at your level of development, because you have too much to lose by our doing so. Since you are seeing this message, your development is where it is and the M'starn are there.

  "Now," the image went on, "we cannot help directly, but we can offer some advice. Since this message has been selected, you have reached a level of technological development where victory is possible, and as Marshall Claudius has shown us, depleted and unusual resources can have a dramatic effect. If he believes you can win, then you believe it. You have more than a chance, indeed I would expect you to win, but only provided you commit everything you have to the task.

  "At the time I made this recording, your planet had a history of war, squabbling, and what we would call the characteristics of a generally immature civilization. I know you will be thinking, that is easy for Ulsians to say, and you would be correct. I am not pointing this out because I think you are inferior. You are not, but your civilization is younger. However understandable all this may be, though, right now internal dissent is exactly what you do not need. Occasionally in that part of your history that I know of, this dissent can be put aside for the greater purpose. Now is such a time for your whole planet to put it aside, for your major advantage will be your determination to succeed. Use that well, for it is imperative that you unite and devote all your attention to your current problem.

  "Finally, I would recommend you make Marshall Claudius the overall fighting commander of your military efforts, at least for this period. There are two reasons: the first is that all friendly alien vessels must fight under his orders, hence his command is the only means to guarantee that all your resources are working together, and without this cohesion, victory is very doubtful. Secondly, Marshall Claudius has experience, and has won the only important victories against the M'starn at the time of making this message. I know it is difficult to entrust your future to one man about whom you know little, but believe me, it was far more difficult for Ulse to do that, and we are quite convinced that had we not, Ulse would be no more. In your case, at least he is of your species, and he has experience of what is technically your future.

  "Let me give you something that may be of interest. There has always been a small Ulsian group in your system, monitoring and recording your planet's progress. Yes, I know you may feel hurt by that, but I trust you will understand. We shall share the data with you, and you will receive recordings of a number of events in your planet's history, ranging from, for example, the daily life and customs of Sumer, Kemet and some others, and the battles of Men-kheper-re and Alexander through to the present, whatever that may be.

>   "Thank you for listening to me. I shall attempt to answer your questions, and I understand that some of these will be from curiosity only."

  Two hours later, the President brought the meeting back to order, the image was collapsed, and Gaius turned to the meeting.

  "Thank you for your interest," Gaius said. "You must now decide your response to the M'starn."

  "What chances do you think you have of beating the M'starn?" Reiner asked thoughtfully.

  "I was hoping it would be we, not me," Gaius said firmly. "The short answer to your literal question is not much. If I were to fight alone, the only credible strategy would be to retreat and get reinforcements. That wouldn't do you any good, though."

  "Then what chance do we have?" Reiner persisted.

  "By yourselves, none. The position is a little different. For me, I have a powerful craft, but not enough of them. You have the economic base to out-manufacture the M'starn, but you don't know what to do with it. Together, we will win."

  "You're rather confident," Reiner remarked with a frown.

  "If you provide enough fire-power, we can win," Gaius replied. "The attitude of the Roman soldier was, if we can win, we will win." He paused, and added with a wry smile, "It didn't always happen, but if you go into battle expecting to lose, a loss is preordained."

  "Then what do you think we should do?" Commissioner Kleppe asked.

  "First, make me overall commander of the military effort and I can then impress into our service all ships with Ulsian allegiance. It's hard to know how much help we can get, but it will be more than you can manage. Secondly, you must make funds available to engage in a massive manufacturing exercise. You must build weapons as fast as you can. What you lack in quality, you must make up for in quantity. I shall advise you what to make."

  "But can we make anything that would affect the M'starn?" Halas asked. "I thought you said our stuff was just too primitive."

  "Your current forces are ineffective," Gaius replied. "However, that doesn't mean that everything within your technology is. Ulse cannot give you new science, but I have surveyed what you have, and I know that the local Ulsian knowledge and analytical expertise can advise on how to make that far more effective, and in one or two cases, even workable where it wasn't before. Also, we can accelerate your development." He paused, and added, "I wish to make one thing clear. The reason I can't give you certain technology is that you could never use it within the time available. Earth's role is to make weapons. It's too late to develop them.