The slowness and delay of these deliberations had eaten into him. Didn"t these gilded popinjays realize that while they dawdled about, good men were dying out there in the field! But urgency never touched them.
They were not even really interested.
He knew he had failed miserably. He hoped he had not hurt any chances Jonnie might have. Forlorn hope. It was all up to Jonnie now. But what could the poor lad possibly do?
- Part XXVII -
Chapter 1.
Music began to be heard in the conference room. It was slow, dignified music. Ponderous. Impressive. The emissaries looked about with some interest, wondering what was going to happen. So far this had been a deadly dull conference on an apparently deadly dull planet that didn"t even have any night life or dancing or singing females to serve up. The conference had begun right away as though there was something urgent or important to take up: not even a customary round of hot spots to get acquainted; so far no one had even offered any bribes! instead just some boring, minor squabble that concerned combatants of just this one universe and just a sector of it at that. Nice music. Fit for regal functions, much less a conference.
A huge man entered the door. He was about six and a half feet tall, stripped to the waist, wearing a scarlet sash, with yellow skin, shaved head. (It was one of the Mongols from among the Chinese.) That in it self would not have been very interesting. But his muscles were huge and swollen with the effort of carrying something on his head that would seem to be very heavy indeed. But from all they could see, he was carrying nothing nothing! There were his arms and gripping hands, there were his bulging back muscles and biceps. Although he was walking in cadence with the music, there was even a slightly perceptible tremor in his legs. But they could see nothing being carried.
The man went up to the platform and with great care set the nothing down. They even heard a b.u.mp. (It was a gla.s.sine electronics table used by Psychlos for small electronic work that required light from every angle. It had been sawed down and sprayed with lens spray that pa.s.sed light one hundred percent and so reflected nothing.) He arranged the nothing with great care.
There was a bit of flurry in the audience as emissaries craned about and peered, amused and interested. The communicator acting as host (he had a stripped-down mine radio in his ear) said, "You have the solemn promise of this planet at the risk of heavy indemnity that no lethal, destructive, or harmful object will be entered into this conference room."
Several emissaries laughed. They were quite cheerful. A good joke to put nothing on the platform and then say it was harmless. It quite took their fancy.
But something else was happening now. The huge Mongol had withdrawn. To the stately music, two beautifully gowned Chinese boys, faces impa.s.sive, came down the aisle. Each was carrying a gorgeous red satin pillow with gold ta.s.sles and on each pillow was a huge book. Solemnly, first one, then the other, approached the host. He took each book from its pillow and laid it upon the heretofore invisible table, spine t.i.tles toward the audience.
So there was was something on the platform. An invisible table. New interest. Those with better eyes could read the t.i.tles on the spines up there: one was a "Dictionary of the Psychlo Language"; the other was "Intergalactic Laws By Treaties of Governing Nations." something on the platform. An invisible table. New interest. Those with better eyes could read the t.i.tles on the spines up there: one was a "Dictionary of the Psychlo Language"; the other was "Intergalactic Laws By Treaties of Governing Nations."
But Lord Schleim, with his weak Tolnep eyes, was not even trying to read any book t.i.tles. He was tense and crouching back. Theatrics! They were pulling theatrics on him. Ah, well. He would corner whoever this was and bite him to death with wit-fangs! Sssst on theatrics! They would change nothing.
The two boys withdrew in a stately fashion, carrying away their now-empty pillows.
The music suddenly stopped. There was a roll of drums.
The host drew himself up and cried out his announcement in a strong, sonorous voice above the drums, "Masters of all planets! Lords of the great and powerful realms of sixteen galaxies! May I now introduce to your august presence, LORD JONNIE! He who embodies the spirit of Earth!"
A trumpet fanfare cut through and rose above the drums. The clear, piercing notes rose into the air.
Jonnie came walking down the aisle. He was walking slowly, heavily, commanding as though he weighed a thousand pounds. He was dressed in black and silver and he carried a silver wand. But it wasn"t silver; it looked so, but when the light caught it on the slightest movement it flashed with blindingly bright rainbow colors.
He came to the platform, stepped up, moved behind the table, and turned.
At that instant a mine spotlight placed just above the door flamed on. He stood there in black and silver and yet a blaze of living color.
He did not speak. Feet apart, not blocked from their view by the table, he held the silver wand between his two hands and simply looked at them with a stern and even disdainful expression. Dominant.
This was impressive enough to the emissaries. Even though they were used to pomp and tended to discount it, they would have been respectful of this display. But there was something else.
That beast on the helmet! It looked alive. The trick of the light, the play of the silver metal that flashed, the glowing red coals of eyes, whatever it was it looked alive alive. Was he wearing a live winged beast on his helmet?
Lord Schleim would have none of it. Unfortunately there had been a slight slip which played directly into his hands. When one word meant several things in Psychlo, it required a slight change of inflection or tone to make it have the different meaning. The word "spirit" in Psychlo could also mean "mind," "angel," or "devil," and although the communicator had used the right inflection for "spirit," Lord Schleim chose to accept a different inflection.
The Tolnep sprang up as though striking from cover. "Lords and august emissaries," he said with an acid hiss, "I challenge the right of this devil devil to speak! We have seen no credentials. We-" to speak! We have seen no credentials. We-"
"Sir," said Jonnie. "I could not quite hear you. What did you say?"
Lord Schleim whirled on him. He began savagely, "I said-"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes," said Jonnie, waving his wand. "I beg your pardon, your lordship. It was merely your uncouth Tolnep accent. Quite provincial. Can you understand him, my lords?"
They laughed. It was true that Schleim had a bit of an accent, due probably to his fangs and having to hiss. Tolneps were really quite rural; they had only one planet and that was quite distant from the center of things.
"You devil!" hissed Schleim.
"Uh, uh, uh," said Jonnie. "No violence in such a meeting. I am quite certain I nor the truly worthy emissaries in this gathering desire your ejection from it."
Then before Schleim would retaliate, something else happened. The wand, which had been tapping Jonnie"s palms, suddenly pointed in the direction of Schleim"s feet. It had a small beam of light set in the end of it and it flashed on. (It was a light used to show dust in a mine shaft and it made a very thin white pencil of light, like a pointer.) Jonnie looked a bit incredulous. Then he turned his head clear off to the side as though to hide a laugh. The light switched off.
Schleim looked down. He had to stretch for he had a bit of a paunch.
What had this devil seen?
Then Lord Schleim saw them. His boots! Instead of wearing his proper, scaled, glittering green boots, he was wearing old, rough blue boots. Dirty blue boots. His valet! In the rush of getting him off, his clumsy, d.a.m.ned valet had put the wrong boots on him. Oh, when he got home...when he got home he would have the oaf punctured! Worse. Dragged through the streets and bitten to death by small children.
But Jonnie was addressing the emissaries. "I must apologize to you, my lords. I pray you to overlook my discourtesy in arriving late. But I am sure you will understand when I tell you that I was looking for a point of law." He looked at them in a kindly and deferential fashion, laid down the wand on the invisible table, and tapped the top of the law book. (The manners and phrases of the old c.h.i.n.ko instruction discs were coming in handy now! At first when he entered he had felt stiff and unnatural, artificial and affected, but suddenly it felt as though he had been doing this sort of thing all his life.) "No one," he continued, "could possibly expect such n.o.ble and such highly t.i.tled and credentialed lords to experience an uncomfortable trip, nor to convene upon such a lowly and undeserving planet, for the petty purpose of adjudicating the minor differences of some back planet squabble."
The delegates sat up. This was more like it. This is what they had been thinking all the time. Hear, hear!
Sir Robert was thunderstruck. What was this lad up to? The war not important? Their strong points caving in, their friends dying, and he could say it wasn"t important? He looked at the two small gray men. They were both sitting there smiling, a bit vacant but smiling. They hadn"t been smiling before and Sir Robert knew for a fact that Jonnie hadn"t talked with them, so they knew no more than he. But he had to restrain himself from jumping up to cry out that this was an important war. One point: these emissaries in their jewels and flashing clothes, strange faces and feelers, were all bobbing their heads and settling down for a real conference.
"No," continued Jonnie. "It would be an insult to the mighty states you represent to call you here on something as trivial as repelling pirates!"
Lord Schleim started to slither up out of his chair. He was about to shout this devil down and force him to mend his language when he saw those eyes looking again at his boots. But it wasn"t really the glance at the boots that stopped Lord Schleim. He recognized with diplomatic shrewdness that this devil could fall into a trap of his own digging. It was a very simple matter to prove that the attacking Tolnep ships were fully commissioned, legal ships and officers of the Tolnep navy. So let the devil plow on for now. He"d fang him shortly. Hah, the fellow was no real opponent after all!
"Such regal representatives of kings and governments," continued Jonnie, "should- and if I am wrong, please correct me- convene on real points of treaties and Intergalactic law. And on these their expertise cannot be seriously challenged or questioned."
Hear, hear. True. Naturally. You have a point. Pray continue! The emissaries, all except for the combatants, were sitting up, interested. And all combatant representatives began to look uneasy. All except Lord Schleim who was beginning to feel confident- this devil was going to dig a hole for himself. There was one trouble here for Lord Schleim: each time that devil moved it made lights flash off his b.u.t.tons, and Tolneps had to wear filters to convert to ordinary visible spectrum, so every flash of a b.u.t.ton overwhelmed the power of the filter and he was getting a headache. He wished he could make them turn off that spotlight they had on this creature.
Jonnie was sweeping on. "The definition of the category of "pirate" as opposed to the definition of "military force" is a critical question. I am sure that, from time to time, even in the best-organized, paid, and regulated military forces, elements of navies or even merchant ships have mutinied or gone astray or been misled and have turned pirate, defying the benign and responsible authority of their own governments."
Oh, yes. Many instances. Just last month in these troubled times, a squadron of s.p.a.ceships had mutinied at Oxentab. Lots of them in history. An old point, the emissaries agreed. Lot of stories written about it. Go on.
"So," continued Jonnie, "to protect legitimate authority such as that which you represent," (pleased faces except for the combatants), "and to really be able to cope with piracy when it occurs, the definition must be clarified. And this can only be done by an august body such as yours in the form of a formal treaty."
Good idea. Correct. Right. Very glum combatants, except Schleim who was certain now this devil would shortly be sent down in flames.
Jonnie opened the Psychlo dictionary to a marked place. "We know that the Psychlo language is a composite of many tongues, even your own individual languages, and was not in fact a language generated solely by the Psychlos. It is a universal tongue because it was taken from many universes, which is the only reason we so generally speak it."
That was true. Real scholarship. The Psychlos picked up everything from others including language. Shouldn"t even be called "Psychlo." The emissaries buzzed about it.
"This dictionary," said Jonnie, "is the standard recognized work, is it not?" He held it up. Yes, they nodded. Jonnie laid the book down and read from it. "It states: "Pirate: one who preys upon commerce or communities or planets in a vessel or s.p.a.ceship or group of ships not under the regulation of a national or planetary government; also any commander or crew member of such a ship.""
Right, right. That was a pirate. But Lord Schleim was feeling very smug. He felt he really had this devil now. He could see exactly which way he was trying to go. It would be child"s play to fang these arguments to pieces and then proceed with the surrender talks. What a letdown the devil was going to get. Every Tolnep ship was under the direct orders of the Tolnep government. Totally legal.
Jonnie had turned to the book on Intergalactic law. "However, according to treaties, of which Intergalactic law is composed, we have a different definition. With your permission I will read it: "Article 234,352,678. Based on the treaties of Psychlo vs. Hawvin signed at Blonk, Psychlo vs. Camchod signed at Psychlo, a pirate shall hereinafter be defined as one who feloniously steals or mines minerals. Jonnie tapped the book and laughed lightly. "I guess we know who and how and why that misdefinition occurred!"
They laughed. Psychlo was not very well liked, and a Psychlo would pa.s.s anything to protect Psychlo interests.
"Therefore," said Jonnie, "this august body, I feel, should define "pirate" and "piracy" among systems and planets and, after due deliberation, envisage the execution of treaties to forbid it!"
Sir Robert groaned. The lad was proposing days of wrangling over stale things like treaties when the planet was being torn to bits with a flat-out a.s.sault, undoubtedly egged on by this Tolnep through his hidden radio. But his groans were drowned in the general a.s.sent.
Jonnie had now drawn back from the books. He took up the wand. He tapped it in his palm. "I feel in my humble opinion," (he certainly didn"t look humble), "that we must work upon this now in order that we should know whether the Tolnep fleet officers and crewmen are to be slowly vaporized individually as pirates or simply shot as military men when court-martialed."
Lord Schleim slithered up with a scream. "Stop!" He glared around at the other combatants. They sat just behind him. They were saying nothing. They simply looked stunned. Then he realized that the devil had said "Tolnep"; he had not said "combined forces." Venom splattered as Lord Schleim hissed his protest. The devil had gone too far! In a moment Lord Schleim would tear down his house, but just now there was another point.
"You are selecting out the honorable Tolnep forces for your venomous insinuations!" said Schleim ravingly. "This is a clear case of prejudice and has to be dismissed as such by this body! There are other combatants. I demand these statements to be stricken from our recorders as biased, slanted, and an intentional insult to the Tolnep planetary forces."
Jonnie calmly smiled at him and looked at the Tolnep boots and back up to the fanged face. "Bombastic conduct will right no wrongs here. Your conduct insults these lords. Behave yourself."
"I demand a reply!" screamed Schleim. Jonnie sighed tolerantly. "Very well.
You shall have it. It is my opinion that the Hawvins, Bolbods, Drawkins, Jamb.i.t.c.how, and Hockner forces were simply coerced, probably with false statements, into cooperating with the Tolneps. Since by your own testimony your ships vastly outnumber theirs, and since your own senior officer, as you state, commanded the so-called combined force, and when killed, was succeeded by another Tolnep who is now their senior officer, it seems very evident they were forced to cooperate in this attack by the superior firepower of the Tolnep fleet. So we cannot hold these other races or forces guilty. And we are not charging them. They are only victims and cannot be regarded, in my opinion, in any other way when we apply the word "pirate" on a clarified definition."
Now! Now was the time! Lord Schleim knew the ripe moment when he saw it. He would crush this devil. He slithered himself up to his full height. He a.s.sumed the grandeur of dignity.
"Your arguments, devil, drop into the rocks and fall like dust into the gra.s.s. The Tolnep admiral and the Tolnep captain and all the Tolnep ships and crews were never in any way acting outside the command of the Tolnep central government. So enough of this claptrap about "pirates" and let us get on with the proper business of surrender!"
The taste of triumph and victory was sweet as poison in the Tolnep"s mouth. In a few moments now, this whole thing would be finished.
Sir Robert groaned.
He saw the two small gray men were looking down, nervous now. Regretting perhaps they had helped?
Chapter 2.
Jonnie looked at the Tolnep. He shook his head sadly.
He looked at the a.s.semblage. They were leaning back, beginning to lose interest. For a while there it had appeared that something would occur that would concern them.
"My lords," said Jonnie, "please do forgive this distraction from the main purpose of this meeting. This...this Tolnep is absolutely demanding that we finish this minor concern of a raid upon a peaceful planet. So with your permission, I feel I have no other choice than to settle this slight disturbance."
"Yes, oh, well, go ahead. One doesn"t see where this is going now but go ahead. I suppose the Tolnep will just keep interrupting. So go ahead."
Jonnie sighed. "Thank you, your lordships. You are very tolerant." Then he turned to Lord Schleim. Jonnie took a very firm stand with his feet. He had picked up the wand and was now tapping it in his palm.
"Lord Schleim," said Jonnie, "for I believe that is what some call you, please produce the orders given to your admirals and captains."
Schleim laughed. "You know very well an emissary cannot carry with him the whole files of a military establishment. Furthermore, although you, as a barbarian, would have no inkling of this, a Tolnep commander is at liberty to exercise autonomy on military expeditions."
"As I suspected," said Jonnie. "There were no legal orders."
"I did not say that!" hissed Schleim.
"I"m afraid you did," said Jonnie. "I have no choice now but to proceed for you are delaying more important proceedings."
Jonnie smacked the wand into his palm twice. It sounded like two pistol shots.
There was an instant rush down the aisle as two uniformed technicians came, pushing a mine cart. The cart had been plated in gold. It looked very sleek. On it rested a projector of some size and it too was gold-plated. It was an atmosphere screen projector. It s general use was to project pictures of mine shafts or tunnels. It used a projection light based on the same principle as an atmosphere-armor cable with a variation. The light, striking atmosphere ions, made them condense to greater or lesser degree and reflect back. By putting a stick for scale in the original scene, one could then take the projected picture and actually measure distances in it from point to point. It put, in this way, a three-dimensional picture on thin air.
The technicians moved it into place where it would project into the large, empty s.p.a.ce to Jonnie"s left. They placed a multiple-b.u.t.ton switch on the invisible table close to Jonnie"s hand. They bowed, about-faced, and withdrew.
They had come in so fast and left so quickly that Lord Schleim had not had time to get in an objection. Now he did. "I must protest this display of foolish flimflam! I will not permit you to hoodwink this august body further-"
"Schleim!" said Jonnie severely, "it will do no good for you to seek to suppress evidence when you well know it will work to your disfavor."
Mutters from the emissaries. Sit down, Schleim. Be quiet. This looks like it will be interesting. Hush, Schleim.
Jonnie pressed two b.u.t.tons. The spotlight at the door went out and simultaneously a picture flashed on it. It was a three-dimensional, remarkably detailed closeup of Roof a.r.s.ebogger. He seemed to the emissaries to be standing right there in what had been empty s.p.a.ce. There was no sound. But they had never before seen a mine atmosphere projector for the simple reason that the Psychlos never marketed entertainment gadgets and this was mining equipment.
Roof a.r.s.ebogger"s face was patched with the sores of disease. His fangs were black and one was broken. He was dressed in something that looked like it had been discarded from a slum. It was part of a long series of pictures shot by pilots flying air cover at the Purgatoire River. It had been taken with a radio telephoto camera. The shots had been left in Jonnie"s room to help do the briefing of the time he had been out of action.
Jonnie said, "Is this man a member of your government? Now answer carefully, Schleim. Is this a minister of any department, an official of the military?"
Several emissaries t.i.ttered. The figure was so disgusting disgusting that if this were a member of the Tolnep government...well! that if this were a member of the Tolnep government...well!
Schleim was stung. He looked at the picture. What a disgusting creature! Vomitous! Eyes still dazzling a little bit from the lights flashing off the devil, he pawed at his filter and stared again. Was there something vaguely familiar about that figure?
That he was peering so hard made it seem that maybe the Tolnep government was composed of such riffraff. Several emissaries laughed out loud.
That did it. Schleim lashed out, "Of course not! That filthy creature would be thrown out of any government department on Tolnep! You are insulting me. You are insulting Tolnep! You are running a calculated campaign to degrade the dignity and importance of my office and my planet. I must protest-"
"Quiet," said Jonnie, soothingly. "Just pay attention here. You have said he is no part of your government and has no official capacity. Is that right?" "Absolutely ! If you think-"