Federation World

Chapter 26

THE calm, unhurried voice of the computer resumed, “The sensors indicate a premature nuclear detonation which took place just below ground level in the crater site. For this reason local blast damage was confined to a three-mile radius, but the detonation caused nonexplosive vaporization of the fissionable material comprising a large but unspecified number of stored missiles. The debris thrown up is too densely seeded with radioactive materials, and will not attain sufficient altitude, for removal by weather control methods. The area of short-term lethal contamination will spread quickly and will cover approximately one-quarter of the land mass in three days.

“Computer insertion. This method of supplying data is imprecise and time-wasting. May I support it with graphics?”

“Yes,” Beth said.

A good picture, Martin heard it said, was worth a thousand words. These were very bad pictures indeed: visual sensor blowups of the existing conditions and equally realistic and frightful projections of what lay in the near future-and they spoke volumes even to a Keidi who could not understand the figures but was experiencing tri-di images for the first time. The patches of discoloration had returned to cover his face and speaking horn.

“You will have urgent duty obligations to discharge,” the doctor said suddenly. “But if it is possible, I should like to return to my people at once.”

“That wouldn’t help them or you…” Martin began, when Beth held up her hand.

“Doctor, yours is a coastal city,” she said quietly. “The prevailing winds are off the ocean, so that your people will have longer than those living inland on the Estate, perhaps as much as five days, before they are seriously affected. Your underground shelters are probably more effective than any other dwellings on Keida, and will give protection until the air and food becomes increasingly contaminated. By then nothing you or they can do will…”

“No,” Martin said, “there are better shelters.”

Beth gave him a puzzled look, but before she could reply the doctor said, “My people are of the second and third generations. They know nothing of pre-Exodus nuclear weapons and their effects, and they will be fearful and confused. I have a strong duty obligation to speak to them.”

“You can speak to them from here,” Beth said. “We can match frequencies with your radio in the city, so long as it is switched on and someone is listening.”

“They will be listening,” the doctor said.

Beth indicated the sound pickup at the doctor’s elbow. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“And while you’re talking to them,” Martin said quickly, “we’ll have to find a way of making the other Keidi listen as well. The First might be slow to warn everyone about the full extent of the danger because that would mean admitting blame for it. He is aware of the danger, as are most of the other Undes-I mean, others of the same age group, and will know what a large-scale nuclear fallout will entail. But for the younger adults, a warning will not be enough, we’ll have to include a crash course in post nuclear disaster survival. I… I’m having second thoughts. Maybe we should swallow our pride and scream for Federation assistance.”

Beth did not reply. The doctor was watching silently, plainly more interested in what they were saying than contacting his people. Martin sighed.

“I know that look,” he said. “It means you don’t agree.”

“This is a Federation hypership,” Beth said quietly. “A very potent hunk of machinery, if I do say so myself. If we call for help, they will send, quickly but with a time lapse of at least four days, another hypership that is equally capable but with a ship handler and contact specialist on board who are unfamiliar with the situation here. We will have to take additional time to explain it to them before they can even start to help us. We don’t have that much time to waste. So wouldn’t it be better if you decided exactly what kind of help is needed, then I will tell you if my ship can deliver it?”

There was a moment’s silence, during which the doctor’s speaking horn moved slowly from the sound pickup to point at Martin.

“I had assumed,” the Keidi said, “that my people were beyond help, that the radioactivity would kill all of them sooner or later, and that anything you or they could do would merely delay the end and make it, at best, only more lingering and unpleasant for the offspring of the survivors, or is there something of lasting benefit that you can do for us? Do not misdirect me. On your answer depends what I must say to my people.”

Beth was looking at him as well, her expression puzzled but hopeful. He sighed again. “Don’t expect miracles.”

“From Galactics,” the Keidi said gravely, “I don’t know what to expect. Answer me.”

“Very well,” Martin said. “Whatever we decide to do, it must be done quickly. The Keidi, all of the Keidi, must be contacted at once and the situation explained to them, and they must be made to believe the explanation. That will be difficult because of what they’ve been told about Galactics. But if you, Doctor, were to expand the message to the people in your city so that it would apply to everyone, so that it contains the information, advice, and instructions which all the Keidi will need, we could beam it to every operating receiver on the planet. Coming from you the message would be believed. As for the small or isolated families and settlements without receivers, the ship’s fabricators should be able to produce the required number of audio broadcast devices, which will be dropped on them so that they, too, will receive their instructions.”

“No problem,” Beth said.

“What instructions?” the doctor asked.

‘To go to the nearest shelter as quickly as possible,” Martin replied. “I know that some of them, those far beyond the borders of the Estate, will be quite safe for a few days or even weeks. But a warning that is hedged around with qualifiers loses urgency. Once they are safe, for a while, at least, we will have time to think about what is to happen next. My species has a proverb, ‘Where there’s life, there’s hope,’ and…”

“If there is no hope,” the doctor broke in harshly, “why needlessly prolong life?”

“We haven’t time for a philosophical discussion, Doctor,” Martin said. “Your Keidi must be instructed to go quickly to places of safety. The only safe, guaranteed radiation-proof shelters on Keida are the Federation’s induction centers. There will be a minor food supply problem there, since the reception areas have only the Keidi equivalent of coffee and sandwich dispensers, but if the price of safety is…”

“There is a major problem,” the doctor said. “Entrance to those centers was barred to many Keidi, even when they were able to elude the First’s guards. You are asking that they go to these places of safety when some of them will be forbidden entry. The movement into your shelters would not be a smooth one. There would be deep mental anguish at the thought of separating barred and eligible friends, or parents and offspring. I know my Keidi, off-worlder. They would not accept your offer of shelter under those conditions.”

Martin took a deep breath. To Beth he said, “The induction center computers are small and relatively simple. I expect, rather I hope, that the ship’s computer can instruct them to open the induction center doors, to everyone.”

Beth nodded. “A hypership main computer has the rank,” she said. “But do you realize what you’re doing?”

Suddenly she was looking frightened.

“Yes,” Martin said reassuringly, “I’m gaining time to think of a longer-term solution. First we move the Keidi under cover. There may be overcrowding in some of the centers, but they have their own, short-range matter transmitters. During my interrogations I can remember being transferred from center to center all over Earth. Here we can relieve local congestion by moving the people to areas on Keida not likely to be affected by radiation. But now we must contact them quickly and…”

“Hold!” the doctor broke in angrily. “These radiation-free areas, are they in the northern and southern latitudes, the areas which were abandoned after the Exodus for the central continent because of the climate and poor cultivation? Would you protect the Keidi from radiation poisoning only to let them die of exposure and starvation?”

“No,” Martin replied. “This vessel is powerful and versatile, so much so that there are times when it frightens even us. Shelters and warm clothing can be fabricated, sufficient food synthesized, and dropped to take care of their short-term needs, and in time a satisfactory solution will be worked out. While you prepare your message, Doctor, I will contact the First.”

“Wait,” Beth said anxiously. “That is Keida’s complete induction center network we’re opening up, to all comers.”

He knew that and she knew that he knew it. Without replying he turned to the doctor and said, “The ship can give us everything we need, except time. Do you understand enough now to be able to speak to your people?”

“No,” the doctor said, “but I shall do it anyway.”

“There is another question, however,” the Keidi went on, turning to Beth. “Is the plan that your life-mate has devised one that will be approved by your superiors?”

“No,” said Beth, “but he will do it anyway.”

As the pale blue glow that was the hush field dropped around the Keidi, Martin tried to tell himself that his offense might be considered a venial one. But one of the first directives given to a trainee contactor was that a Federation Examination and Induction Center was a highly sophisticated and sensitive assemblage of equipment which must remain in violate. Impregnable though it was from external forces, the interior contained equipment and material which should be used only for the interrogation, instruction, and processing of potential Citizens and non-Citizens. Now he was deliberately withdrawing the primary safeguards, the first and most effective line of defense, and throwing the centers open to everyone.

Undesirables included.

That, he was very much afraid, would not be considered a venial offense.

“You understand that the centers will be used only as temporary radiation shelters?” he said to Beth, “The doors will open and the reception areas and matter transmitters continue to function, but, everything else is to be powered down. In the present circumstances there’s no point in allowing the refugees to be tested for citizenship. The ones who qualified might not be allowed to leave by those who didn’t, and if fighting started inside the shelters… Can you shut down the interrogators?”

“Yes,” Beth answered. “Are you having second thoughts again, I hope?”

“No,” he lied.

“In that case,” Beth said in the toneless voice which indicated extreme disapproval, “you can speak to Camp Eleven whenever you like. The doctor has already begun talking to his people. The first audio units are on the way down and your messages will be recorded for later re-broadcasting. Is there anything else?”

“No.”

The Camp’s radio room was an alien bedlam, with too many voices shouting at once for Martin’s translator to separate them. But the Keidi leader was there, and within a few seconds the clamor died so that only his words were heard against a muted background of the other incoming signals.

“Out of this terrible catastrophe,” the First said bitterly, “we thought that some good had been achieved, that we had succeeded in destroying you and your landing vessel. But now it is clear that, having brought about the destruction of my Estate, you have escaped ultimate chastisement.”

“Be glad that we did,” Martin said, controlling his anger, “and that we are still willing to help your people. I will ignore your attempt to make us appear responsible in any way for the nuclear detonations, since the devices and the decision to launch them were yours, and I will assume that your words are for the benefit of those around you who do not as yet know the truth. So stop wasting valuable time and listen to me. We knew about your missile site and the frightful toll of radiation casualties among the dissidents forced to work there. We do not believe…”

“This is sensitive material,” the First broke in angrily. “Only a few of my most trusted family members know of it. Do not speak of it further or I shall break contact.”

“At present I am speaking only to Camp Eleven,” Martin said, “but I can just as easily address every Keidi on the planet. If you don’t want to save your lives, there are others who do. Now listen to me.

“We do not believe,” he went on quickly, “that you intended to loose a multiple warhead weapon over your own territory, but the mistakes of frightened or overzealous subordinates remain your responsibility. The underground detonation in the missile arsenal was undoubtedly an accident, for which you also bear ultimate responsibility for uncovering the facility in the first place. You are old enough to have learned the effects of these air and ground bursts, and know that very soon the radioactive contamination will poison the air and lands of your Estate, and beyond. The criminal obligation you have incurred in this matter is so enormous that it can only be discharged by…”

“Off-worlder,” the Keidi leader broke in, “I will not listen if you speak to me in this manner!”

“You will listen,” Martin said fiercely, “because you are the First Father of your Estate, the one person above all others on this continent with the authority and the organization to move large numbers of Keidi quickly to places of safety…”

Martin quickly outlined his plan, and when he finished speaking there was a long silence from Camp Eleven, but the sound of quiet, urgent conversations in the background indicated that they remained in contact. Martin pointed at the ship status displays and said, “I’m worried. We’re fabricating thousands of soft-landed audio units, sensors, high altitude flares, and three two hundred seat transports. The logistical computations alone… Are you sure the ship can handle all this?”

“My ship,” Beth responded, “hasn’t had so much to do since it got between that Teldi city and a meteor storm during our first assignment, and on that occasion it had had to use its muscles rather than its brains. This time it has to use both and, well, let’s say we have a very busy and happy ship.

“I’m worried, too,” she ended, “but not about that.” “Off-worlder,” the First said before Martin could reply, “I have considered all that you have said, but I will not accept the entire responsibility for what has happened. You know of my plan to unify Keida into one family, and I believe this would have succeeded without your help, or interference, by using those missiles solely as a threat. Your coming here precipitated this disaster…”

“He has a point,” Beth said softly. “… But for the good of my people,” the First went on, “I will accept your offer of assistance. Are you sure the white houses will open to us?”

“They will open,” Martin said dryly, “even to you.” “That,” Beth said, “is what worries me.” Martin wanted to steer her away from that subject. As soon as the First broke contact, he said, “Have you been monitoring the doctor?”

Beth looked angry for a moment, then she said, “Yes, the doctor is doing fine. He didn’t tell us that, as well as being their medic, he is the city’s Negotiator of Obligations, a sort of non-family Father, who is respected all over the continent for his fairness in arbitration. No wonder the people are listening to him. A few of them are still arguing. As soon as he’s finished, bring him to the surveillance module. Very soon we shall be dealing with a large number of simultaneous events, and the screens here are too small to show everything we’ll need to see.”