Part 11 (1/2)
”I love my people,” Tallis said grimly.
MacMaine was startled for a moment. He'd never thought about it that way. ”You're right, Tallis,” he said at last. ”You're right. We _do_ know. And because I loved the human race, in spite of its stagnation and its spirit of total mediocrity, I did what I had to do.”
”You will pardon me,” Tallis said, with only the faintest bit of acid in his voice, ”if I do not understand exactly what it is that you did.”
Then his voice grew softer. ”Wait. Perhaps I do understand. Yes, of course.”
”You think you understand?” MacMaine looked at him narrowly.
”Yes. I said that I am not a psychomedic, and my getting angry with you proves it. You fought hard and well for Keroth, Sepastian, and, in doing so, you had to kill many of your own race. It is not easy for a man to do, no matter how much your reason tells you it _must_ be done.
And now, in the face of death, remorse has come. I do not completely understand the workings of the Earthman's mind, but I----”
”That's just it; you don't,” MacMaine interrupted. ”Thanks for trying to find an excuse for me, Tallis, but I'm afraid it isn't so. Listen.
”I had to find out what Earth was up against. I had a pretty good idea already that the Kerothi would win--would wipe us out or enslave us to the last man. And, after I had seen Keroth, I was certain of it. So I sent a message back to Earth, telling them what they were up against, because, up 'til then they hadn't known. As soon as they knew, they reacted as they have always done when they are certain that they face danger. They fought. They unleashed the chained-down intelligence of the few extraordinary Earthmen, and they released the fighting spirit of even the ordinary Earthmen. And they won!”
Tallis shook his head. ”You sent no message, Sepastian. You were watched. You know that. You could not have sent a message.”
”You saw me send it,” MacMaine said. ”So did everyone else in the fleet. Hokotan helped me send it--made all the arrangements at my orders. But because you do not understand the workings of the Earthman's mind, you didn't even recognize it as a message.
”Tallis, what would your people have done if an invading force, which had already proven that it could whip Keroth easily, did to one of your planets what we did on Houston's World?”
”If the enemy showed us that they could easily beat us and then hanged the whole population of a planet for resisting? Why, we would be fools to resist. Unless, of course, we had a secret weapon in a hidden pocket, the way Earth had.”
”No, Tallis; no. That's where you're making your mistake. Earth didn't have that weapon until _after_ the ma.s.sacre on Houston's World. Let me ask you another thing: Would any Kerothi have ordered that ma.s.sacre?”
”I doubt it,” Tallis said slowly. ”Killing that many potential slaves would be wasteful and expensive. We are fighters, not butchers. We kill only when it is necessary to win; the remainder of the enemy is taken care of as the rightful property of the conqueror.”
”Exactly. Prisoners were part of the loot, and it's foolish to destroy loot. I noticed that in your history books. I noticed, too, that in such cases, the captives recognized the right of the conqueror to enslave them, and made no trouble. So, after Earth's forces get to Keroth, I don't think we'll have any trouble with you.”
”Not if they set us an example like Houston's World,” Tallis said, ”and can prove that resistance is futile. But I don't understand the message. What was the message and how did you send it?”
”The ma.s.sacre on Houston's World was the message, Tallis. I even told the Staff, when I suggested it. I said that such an act would strike terror into the minds of Earthmen.
”And it did, Tallis; it did. But that terror was just the goad they needed to make them fight. They had to sit up and take notice. If the Kerothi had gone on the way they were going, taking one planet after another, as they planned, the Kerothi would have won. The people of each planet would think, 'It can't happen here.' And, since they felt that nothing could be superior to anything else, they were complacently certain that they couldn't be beat. Of course, maybe Earth couldn't beat you, either, but that was all right; it just proved that there was no such thing as superiority.
”But Houston's World jarred them--badly. It had to. 'h.e.l.l does more than Heaven can to wake the fear of G.o.d in man.' They didn't recognize beauty, but I shoved ugliness down their throats; they didn't know love and friends.h.i.+p, so I gave them hatred and fear.
”The committing of atrocities has been the mistake of aggressors throughout Earth's history. The battle cries of countless wars have called upon the people to remember an atrocity. Nothing else hits an Earthman as hard as a vicious, brutal, unnecessary murder.
”So I gave them the incentive to fight, Tallis. That was my message.”
Tallis was staring at him wide eyed. ”You _are_ insane.”
”No. It worked. In six months, they found something that would enable them to blast the devil Kerothi from the skies. I don't know what the society of Earth is like now--and I never will. But at least I know that men are allowed to think again. And I know they'll survive.”
He suddenly realized how much time had pa.s.sed. Had it been too long?
No. There would still be Earth s.h.i.+ps prowling the vicinity, waiting for any sign of a Kerothi s.h.i.+p that had hidden in the vastness of s.p.a.ce by not using its engines.
”I have some things I must do, Tallis,” he said, standing up slowly.