Spinneret

Chapter 21

The conference room at Martello had been put together out of two offices and a small machine shop in anticipation of face-to-whatever meetings between Carmen and alien trade representatives. It was not yet even remotely plush, but the chairs were comfortable and the table had been polished to a high gloss. Standing stiffly behind his chair, Meredith glanced around the room once more, wishing they'd had more time to work on the place. A room adequate for meeting a Ctencri merchant seemed considerably less so for a talk with the Commander in Chief.

The far door opened and a young corporal stepped in, looking about as nervous as a soldier not actually under fire can look. "Colonel Meredith: may I present the President of the United States and Mr. Ashur Msuya of the United Nations."

Flattening against the door, the corporal snapped a salute as Allerton and Msuya strode past him into the room.

Followed by four quiet men in dark suits, who spread inconspicuously along the back wall. Secret Service? Meredith wondered. Or did Msuya decide to bring some muscle this time? Hiding his worry, he threw Allerton a salute of his own.

"Mr. President; Mr. Msuya: welcome to Astra. I'm sorry we haven't got a more elaborate ceremony for you, but we're a bit short of brass bands here."

Allerton smiled slightly at that; Msuya didn't. "That's quite all right," the President said. "We're actually here more on business, anyway."

So we're skipping even the pretense of a casual visit. Uh-oh. "I expected that was the case, sir," he said. He gestured to the three people flanking him. "Permit me then to introduce Dr. Peter Hafner, Civilian Council Head Carmen Olivero, and Councillor Cristobal Perez, whom I've asked to sit in on the meeting. If there are no objections, of course."

"There are," Msuya said. "Having civilians here serves no useful purpose. You are in command on Astra, Colonel, and I for one have no patience with this 'Civilian Council' smokescreen."

Deliberately, Meredith turned to Allerton. "Mr. President?"

"Mr. Msuya is correct in that all responsibility for Astran activities must rest with you," Allerton said. "However, if you want to consider these people as advisors, I think we can accept their presence."

Msuya growled something under his breath, and for an instant he and Allerton locked eyes. Then, with a fractional shrug, he pulled a chair out from the table and sat down. So, Meredith thought as Allerton and and the Astrans followed suit, Allerton hasn't completely knuckled under to UN pressure yet— or at least is willing to lock horns with Msuya on minor issues. Tucking away the information for future reference, he looked at Allerton and waited for the other's move.

It wasn't long in coming. "Colonel, we've been hearing reports recently of what must be considered unusual policy decisions coming out of your office. Your refusal to allow Mr. Msuya's scientific team to study your Spinneret cable and your abrupt dismissal of Dr. Chang's group at that same time, your inability to provide Earth with cable samples for study, and your apparent efforts toward unauthorized trade agreements have all raised questions about your fitness to command. I'd like to hear what explanations, if any, you have for your actions."

A well-rehearsed speech, Meredith thought, keeping his eyes OD the President.

"Am I being court-martialed, sir?" he asked bluntly.

"Not in the usual sense, no. Neither your rank nor your record are in any danger.

Only—as I said—your position on Astra."

"I see." Meredith glanced once at Msuya's poker face, thinking furiously. "As far as the scientific teams are concerned, I believe my jurisdiction includes the final decision on personnel joining the colony, even if their stay is to be temporary. As the Rooshrike had retrieved the second Spinneret cable and I had already obtained assurances that they would share their test results with us, it seemed redundant and a little ridiculous to waste time with the few boxfuls of equipment we had available."

"The time was ours to waste if we chose," Msuya put in with a mildness that seemed to shelter the promise of later fireworks. 'Furthermore, as a commissioned UN group we were legally outside your command authority."

"Excuse me, Mr. Msuya, but I had no independent confirmation of that fact,"

Meredith countered. "As I explained then, such orders or authorizations had to come through the holder of the mandate, namely the United States government."

He glanced at Carmen, got a small confirming nod. "Now, as to providing Earth with cable, we're perfectly willing to do so once we figure out the best way to move it through hyper-space."

"Free of charge?" Msuya asked.

"At the very least, we'll need to be supplied with the equivalent mass in other metals—all of our customers will need to do that much. As for the price … we haven't decided on such terms yet."

"I see nothing requiring any decisions," Msuya said. "Astra is UN territory; we should not have to pay for what is already ours."

"Iowa is a state of the U.S.," Meredith shrugged, "but its farmers don't give their grain away free."

Msuya arched his eyebrows. "I believe I said Astra was UN territory, not part of the U.S. Unless there is some unilateral agreement here I'm unaware of?"

"No, of course not," Allerton said, throwing an annoyed look at Meredith.

"Colonel Meredith was merely making an analogy."

And a damn stupid one, too, Meredith berated himself. Msuya had a strong enough case without having extra ammunition hand-delivered to him. At his left Hafner shifted in his chair, and on his far right Perez muttered something inaudible.

"I see," Msuya said, his tone making it clear the point was merely being postponed until later. "That of course leads directly into the whole question of trade agreements and your authority to make them. Do you deny you're offering UN

property—namely Spinneret cable—for sale without proper authorization?"

Meredith took a deep breath—and Carmen stepped unexpectedly into the brief pause. "It seems to me, Mr. Msuya, that we've kept very strictly to our legal duties, which I'll point out include both development and defense of the Astran colony. We're currently being orbited by ships of six alien races, more than half of them fully equipped warships. Do you have any idea what they could do if they thought we wanted to keep all of the Spinneret's technology and cable production for ourselves?"

"You fought off the M'zarch attack well enough."

"Through a combination of our luck and their ignorance," Meredith said. "Miss Olivero is correct: the only way to keep our neighbors peaceful is to make sure they see immediate benefits for doing so."

"So you're saying these offers of cable are basically fraudulent?" Msuya asked.

"Absolutely not," Meredith said. "Or would you have the human race stuck with a reputation as swindlers?"

"In other words, the UN had better rubberstamp your deals or else."

He was pushing hard to get Meredith into a corner; and Meredith was starting to get tired of it. "If you reject them you'd better be prepared to explain why we, as what the Rooshrike call an equal-status colony, are not permitted to make local trade arrangements. You'd better also be prepared to start any diplomatic overtures back at square one, in that event."

"All right, then"—Msuya switched tracks smoothly—"as long as you've brought it up, what about this alleged trade agreement with the Rooshrike? Or were you unaware that the UN has an exclusive contract with the Ctencri?"

"If you'll recall, Mr. Msuya, you ended your last visit to Astra by threatening us with total embargo of food and supplies," Meredith reminded him. "You made it abundantly clear that we would starve. As Miss Olivero pointed out, I had an obligation to protect Astra. Opening up an independent supply line seems to me to come under that heading."

He had the satisfaction of seeing the other frown with surprise; apparently that wasn't a defense he'd expected. "You can't protect your colony against its owners," he growled at last. "That's a completely ridiculous argument."

"Perhaps," Meredith shrugged. "But I have yet to see any proof that these threats and orders are the genuine will of the UN. It could just as easily be that the Ctencri are threatening Earth with an embargo of its own unless the UN obeys its orders in this matter."

Msuya stared at him for a moment, his jaw working with either rage or frustration.

Then, leaning back in his chair, he gave Meredith a cold smile. "You dance exceedingly well, Colonel, especially for a military man. Let's see if you can dance out of this." He waved a negligent hand toward Allerton. "Mr. President?"

Allerton had the look of a bad toothache on his face. But his voice was firm enough. "Colonel Meredith, as Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces, I order you to comply fully with any and all instructions Mr. Msuya may give you concerning the Spinneret equipment or cable."

Meredith pursed his lips, trying hard to think. "Has the U.S. mandate been rescinded, then?" he asked in an effort to gain time.

"No, you're still in command of the colony itself. It's only the Spinneret that the UN will be handling directly."

"I see." So we've knuckled under to threats of embargo, he thought bitterly.

"Suppose I refuse?"

Allerton didn't bat an eye, "Then you'd be relieved of duties and brought back to the States aboard the UN ship."

Meredith nodded slowly. "Which means you brought my potential successor along with you. May I ask who he is?"

"You'll be replaced by General Benigno Sandoval of the People's Republic of the Philippines," Msuya spoke up. "And, yes, he is aboard the main ship."

At his left, Hafner stirred. "May I ask, Mr. Msuya, just what you'll do with the Spinneret if you're put in charge?"

Msuya's eyes hardened briefly at the if. "We'll be continuing your work, mainly: learning about the equipment and how to use it."

"With all this knowledge going exclusively to the UN, as opposed to all the world's governments?"

"Primarily. We couldn't risk the leak of sensitive material to die aliens."

"I see." Hafner paused. "And the cable, too, would be UN property, I suppose.

How would it be distributed to countries who want to, say, build suspension bridges with it? Free, or would you charge for it?"

"I don't see that as any of your business," Msuya told him bluntly.

"Oh, but it is," Perez spoke up. "You see, whoever is giving the orders is going to need Dr. Hafner and myself to escort all of his workers into the Spinneret control room."

"Really." Msuya favored him with a patronizing smile. "Some local union regulation, I suppose?"

"No," Perez countered tartly. "More a matter of continued breathing."

Msuya snorted. "If you mean to threaten us—"

"Not at all. If you'll permit me, I'd like to explain about the things we call Gorgon's Heads." In a few crisp sentences Perez described the Spinners' security machines and the apparent misunderstanding that had given five of the Astrans free passage among them. By the time he finished, Msuya's amused look had vanished completely. "So you see," Perez concluded, "we couldn't in good conscience help you unless we were convinced your plans were the best possible for the common people of Earth."

Msuya studied him, his eyes flicking briefly to Meredith and Hafner as well.

Meredith held his peace, trying to figure out what exactly Perez was angling for.

A UN commitment to the expanded immigration the Hispanic wanted? Or was it something more basic—personal power in the new Astran regime, perhaps?

Msuya might have been reading his mind. "I think I can assure you, Mr.

Perez—and you also, Dr. Hafner—that we'll take every step necessary to make sure the Spinneret is used to benefit all mankind. I'm sure your input will be considered extremely valuable; perhaps associate directorships of Spinneret operations for you and the other three would be the proper way to make your importance official."

"An interesting offer." Perez leaned forward to look past Carmen at Meredith. "I must apologize to Colonel Meredith though—I don't believe he had finished his discussion with you and President Allerton. Colonel?—the floor is yours."

Meredith gazed at Perez's face for a heartbeat before turning back to Allerton.

What is he up to? He's got Msuya's offer—why turn the conversation back to me?

Just to see if I'll go ahead and hang myself?

"Actually, we were about finished," Allerton said. He, too, was looking at Meredith … and his intense expression was nearly a duplicate of Perez's. "The colonel will be turning over Spinneret operations to Mr. Msuya immediately."

Meredith braced himself. All right, you ghouls, here I go. Watch me twist in the wind. "No, sir, I will not," he said. "I don't feel Mr. Msuya or any other UN

official can handle the Spinneret under the current conditions as well as we of Astra can, and I can't in good conscience relinquish my command to him."

"Then you're relieved of all duty," Msuya said, the satisfaction in his voice unmistakable. "General Sandoval can be down in an hour; until then—"

"One moment, sir," Perez interrupted mildly. "I don't believe the Council's been consulted on whether General Sandoval would be an acceptable replacement for Colonel Meredith."

Msuya stared at him. "What are you talking about? Who the UN appoints to oversee its territory is its own business."

Perez looked at Carmen. "Miss Olivero, I submit such an attitude toward a duly elected assembly indicates the UN's unfitness to properly manage the Spinneret."

"I agree," she said, a slight tremolo in her voice betraying her tension. "Mr.

President; Mr. Msuya—pending an official vote, the Astran Council tentatively rejects Colonel Meredith's replacement."

"What sort of nonsense is this?" Msuya snorted. "Meredith is leaving Astra and that's final. If you don't like it you can send a protest to General Sandoval through one of his troops."

"'Troops'?" Hafner asked. "So now you're bringing in occupation—"

Meredith silenced him with a gesture. "Miss Olivero is right," he said quietly. "I'm not leaving Astra."

The silence from the other end of the table was thick enough to drive tent stakes into. "You will leave," Msuya said at last, "or you will be guilty of treason, both to your own country and to the UN. Your own troops will turn on you rather than share in your crime."

"Possibly. But you may overestimate their loyalty to the UN. Most of us remember your lack of genuine interest in Astra before the cables began appearing."

"You have a paltry four hundred men," Msuya barked, his control snapping at last.

"I can rent a cargo cruiser from the Ctencri and have four times that many here in ten days. Do you want to see your people ground like vermin into the dust?"

Meredith lifted his left arm, tapped the phone strapped to his wrist. "In less time than it takes for your sixteen hundred men to board their shuttles, I can be in contact with the chief Rooshrike representative out there. What do you think he'd do if I told him I was being invaded and asked for his help?"

"I'd simply explain you were no longer in charge—"

"He knows me. He doesn't know you."

"The Ctencri would support our demand."

"The Ctencri have no warships here … and the Rooshrike aren't disposed toward doing them favors."

Msuya spat something venemous-sounding, the tightness of his jaw visible through his cheeks.

Allerton cleared his throat. "You realize, though, that Mr. Msuya is right about the legal consequences here," he said. "By disobeying my direct order you automatically draw a court-martial. All of you, in fact, will almost certainly be found in violation of various federal laws, up to and possibly including treason.

Meredith focused on him. "All Astrans who'd rather not stay under the new conditions will be allowed to leave on the next ship," he said, wishing he knew what the other was thinking. Allerton's words were harsh enough and his tone only marginally less so; but his expression was relaxed almost to the point of contentment. Is this what he really wants? he wondered. Open rebellion that'll draw the UN's fire away from the U.S.? In that case he's got a real treat in store.

"For the rest of us, I expect you'll have to try us in absentia. But I'm not sure American laws will apply to citizens of a foreign nation."

The words hung in the air for a good three seconds before anyone else caught on.

"A what?" Hafner whispered as Carmen and Perez turned to look at him.

Allerton's expression never changed. "You're seceding from the union, then?" he asked.

"Not really, sir—Astra never was technically U.S. territory. We are declaring independence, however."

Msuya slammed both fists onto the table. "This has gone far enough. Guards!—all four of these people are under arrest."

The two men to the right of the door stepped forward, small guns magically appearing in their hands. " Allerton—your men, too," Msuya snapped.

The other two guards took tentative steps forward, stopped at Allerton's signal.

"The Secret Service doesn't follow your orders," the President said coolly. "They have no authority to act in a case like this and therefore will not do so."

Msuya flashed him a look of pure hatred … and Meredith raised his phone and flipped its speaker to nondirectional mode. "Major, did you get all of that?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Brown's voice came back, loud enough to be heard at the far end of the table. "The Rooshrike have been alerted. A landing party is standing by."

Msuya was the first one to speak. "You're bluffing."

Meredith shook his head. "They'll come if we ask them to," he said calmly. "The last thing you're equipped for is full-scale combat."

"I could kill you and your fellow scorpions first," he spat.

"You could," Meredith acknowledged. "But you'd be killing three of the five people who have access to the Spinneret control room. If something should happen to the others you'd be locked out forever."

For a long moment Msuya sat there, frozen. Then, slowly, he stood up and gestured to his guards, who put their weapons away. "As I said once before, Colonel," he said, his voice quiet as a graveyard, "you can throw me off Astra now … but you will live to regret it. The goods shipment you've contracted for with the Rooshrike will not leave Earth; the UN and the Ctencri will see to that.

The embargo against you will be vacuum-tight, and will not be lifted until Astra starves to death or you're brought to New York in chains. Think about that when you're reduced to eating sand."

Turning, he strode to the door, yanked it open, and disappeared into the night air, followed by his guards. Allerton stood up and nodded, his face carefully neutral.

"I'm sure, Colonel, that you haven't heard the last of this," he said quietly. "But— unofficially, of course—I wish you luck." Without waiting for a reply, he turned and left.

"Well," Hafner breathed as the Secret Service men closed the door behind them.

"He must still be in shock."

Perez pushed his chair back and let his own straight-backed posture dissolve into a tired slouch. "Not at all," he said with a sigh. "Allerton's delighted at the way things have turned out. By declaring independence we've gotten him off the hook with the UN—he's not responsible for our actions, so Saleh can't legitimately stick the U.S. with a trade embargo or whatever."

"So we get hit by it instead," Carmen murmured.

"We were going to get embargoed anyway," Perez shrugged. "At least this way the U.S. doesn't suffer."

Meredith cocked an eyebrow at him. "I was under the impression you didn't think much of the U.S.," he said.

"Not liking the government but caring about the people aren't incompatible attitudes," Perez replied.

"You just like the UN less?"

"I like the idea of UN control of Astra less," he corrected. "Like you, I believe all of us here can do a better job of administering the Spinneret than any big government. And with the Ctencri trade locked up, the UN is fast becoming a form of big government." Wearily, he got to his feet. "Colonel, if you don't need us anymore, I'd like to get back to bed."

"Of course," Meredith nodded. "You might as well all go. I'll need you alert by midmoming when I announce our new independence. I've got a feeling it's not going to go over very well."

"Don't worry, Colonel," Hafner said, yawning prodigiously as he levered himself out of his chair. "We'll probably even have a national anthem written by dinnertime."

Meredith sat quietly for a few moments after they were gone, his own eyelids feeling like stone tablets. National anthem, indeed, he thought. You can tell right away how much experience he's had working with people.

His phone buzzed: Major Brown. "The UN shuttle's ready to lift, Colonel," he reported. "Shall I let 'em go?"

"Sure." He paused, waiting. A moment later the roar of repulsers filled the room, oddly deadened by the soundproofing they'd packed into the walls. The sound faded slowly, finally reaching the point where normal conversation was possible.

"Major? You still there?"

"Yes, sir," Brown growled. "Damn dizzy yahoo took it low and slow; probably trying to wake up as many people in Unie as he could."

"More likely trying to pick out the Spinneret entrance. Msuya's not going to give up that easily." He thought for a moment. "You still have a connection through to the Rooshrike?"

"Yes, sir."

"Friday at sixteen hundred; right," Brown said. "What do I give as the purpose of the meeting?"

"To discuss our marketing plans for the Spinneret cable … and to settle on a security arrangement for Astra."

Brown was silent for a moment. "You don't seriously think Saleh would send troops here, do you?"

"I don't know, but if I were him I'd take some kind of action pretty damn fast. You see, as a sovereign nation, we can make trade deals with other countries without going through the UN bureaucracy—and if that trade includes Rooshrike-supplied technology, we'll be bypassing the UN's monopoly. Saleh'll go from master of the universe back to chief referee at the world's biggest nursery school, and I can guarantee he's not going to go quietly."

"Mm. So you're meeting the aliens here to keep Msuya from eavesdropping?"

"More or less. Also to underline our new independence—I doubt that the aliens much care where we talk, but it's a symbol of authority on Earth to have people come to you instead of vice versa."

"If you don't mind my saying so. Colonel, I think we have more important things to worry about than taking symbolic pot shots at Msuya's backside. How in the world are you going to sell this to the troops and civilians, good U.S. citizens all?"

"I don't know," Meredith said frankly. "I'm sure we would have come to this point eventually—we couldn't stay UN territory forever—so it's not like the idea will be totally unimaginable. It is going to be a mess, though. I just hope we can keep people from going off half-cocked one way or the other before they've thought about all the pros and cons."

"We'll have to keep an eye on the troops, especially," Brown pointed out.

"Leading a 'loyalist coup' might be some ambitious lieutenant's idea of a shortcut to captain."

"A lieutenant or someone higher," Meredith grimaced. "Maybe you'd better try and sound out the other area commanders before the announcement. Barner, I think, will be okay, but Gregory and Dunlop could conceivably be trouble."

"Especially Dunlop, given all the friction you've had," Brown said. "Maybe we'll be lucky and he'll decide to go back to Earth."

"Don't I wish," Meredith said sourly. "But chances are he'll stay. After all the pride he had to swallow to keep his Ceres post we probably couldn't get him out of there without a crowbar."

"Um. Well, maybe we can persuade him he's too patriotic to continue breathing this freshly sullied Astran air." Brown snorted. "Sorry—he still gets to me sometimes. One other thing I thought of, Colonel: do you think we should ask the Rooshrike to jam any attempts at broadcast communication from the UN ship?"

"Keep our propaganda unsullied by theirs?"

"Well-l-l … I know it sounds totalitarian, but I still think it would be a good idea.

At least until you've had a chance to present our case."

"I don't really like it … but go ahead. Besides, Astra can't possibly qualify as a dictatorship as long as Perez is running around loose."

Brown chuckled. "He'd be almost funny if he wasn't so good at charming the brains out of people."

"Well, for once that talent's going to come in handy. Perez helped dig us into this position, and he's damn well going to help us sell it."

"I hope he can do it. Frankly, I don't know myself whether or not we're making too much of a fuss over the Spinneret."

Meredith smiled wanly. Right again, Carmen; it does make a difference. "Remind me to take you down to the Spinner cavern some day, Major. You'll see we've got something worth fighting over—and I'd just as soon keep the battles confined to words."

"Yeah." Brown paused. "Colonel, did you read how the Rooshrike went about testing their Spinneret cable's strength?"

Meredith frowned. "No, I never got to that section of their report. Why?—is it important?"

"Oh, not really. They attached a couple of five-ton asteroids to the ends and started the whole thing spinning. They had it going nearly twelve turns a minute when the gee forces tore the asteroids apart. It just occurred to me that if that's how they do their science, I don't think I'd care to see their approach to warfare."

And the Rooshrike are supposed to be technologically behind the other races, Meredith reminded himself. "Me, too," he told Brown. "Let's hope we can avoid a private demonstration. Get those messages off; I'll talk to you again after I've had some sleep."

"Yes, sir. Pleasant dreams."