Part 3 (1/2)
He was tempted to remind young Obray of Erskyll that there were no such things as fundamental laws of socio-economics; merely usually reliable generalized statements of what can more or less be depended upon to happen under most circ.u.mstances. He resisted the temptation. Count Erskyll had had enough shocks, today, without adding to them by gratuitous blasphemy.
”In this case, Obray, it worked in reverse. The s.p.a.ce Vikings enslaved the Adityans to hold them in subjugation. That was a politico-military necessity. Then, being committed to slavery, with a slave population who had to be made to earn their keep, they found cybernetics and robotics economically unsound.”
”And almost at once, they began appointing slave overseers, and the technicians would begin training slave a.s.sistants. Then there would be slave supervisors to direct the overseers, slave administrators to direct them, slave secretaries and bookkeepers, slave technicians and engineers.”
”How about the professions, Lanze?”
”All slave. Slave physicians, teachers, everything like that. All the Masters are taught by slaves; the slaves are educated by apprentices.h.i.+p.
The courts are in the hands of slaves; cases are heard by the chief slaves of judges who don't even know where their own courtrooms are; every Master has a team of slave lawyers. Most of the lawsuits are estate-inheritance cases; some of them have been in litigation for generations.”
”What do the Lords-Master do?” Shatrak asked.
”Masterly things,” Degbrend replied. ”I was only down there since noon, but from what I could find out, that consists of feasting, making love to each other's wives, being entertained by slave performers, and feuding for social precedence like wealthy old ladies on Odin.”
”You got this from the slaves? How did you get them to talk, Lanze?”
Degbrend and Ravney exchanged amused glances. Ravney said:
”Well, I detailed a sergeant and six privates to accompany Honorable Degbrend,” Ravney said. ”They.... How would you put it, Lanze?”
”I asked a slave a question. If he refused to answer, somebody knocked him down with a rifle-b.u.t.t,” Degbrend replied. ”I never had to do that more than once in any group, and I only had to do it three times in all.
After that, when I asked questions, I was answered promptly and fully.
It is surprising how rapidly news gets around the Citadel.”
”You mean you had those poor slaves beaten?” Erskyll demanded.
”Oh, no. Beating implies repeated blows. We only gave one to a customer; that was enough.”
”Well, how about the army, if that's what those people in the long red-brown coats were?” Shatrak changed the subject by asking Ravney.
”All slave, of course, officers and all. What will we do about them, sir? I have about three thousand, either confined to their barracks or penned up in the Citadel. I requisitioned food for them, paid for it in chits. There were a few isolated companies and platoons that gave us something of a fight; most of them just threw away their weapons and bawled for quarter. I've segregated the former; with your approval, I'll put them under Imperial officers and noncoms for a quickie training in our tactics, and then use them to train the rest.”
”Do that, Pyairr. We only have two thousand men of our own, and that's not enough. Do you think you can make soldiers out of any of them?”
”Yes, I believe so, sir. They are trained, organized and armed for civil-order work, which is what we'll need them for ourselves. In the entire history of this army, all they have done has been to overawe unarmed slaves; I am sure they have never been in combat with regular troops. They have an elaborate set of training and field regulations for the sort of work for which they were intended. What they encountered today was entirely outside those regulations, which is why they behaved as they did.”
”Did you have any trouble getting cooperation from the native officers?”
Shatrak asked.
”Not in the least. They cooperated quite willingly, if not always too intelligently. I simply told them that they were now the personal property of his Imperial Majesty, Rodrik III. They were quite flattered by the change of owners.h.i.+p. If ordered to, I believe that they would fire on their former Lords-Master without hesitation.”
”You told those slaves that they ... _belonged_ ... to the _Emperor_?”
Count Erskyll was aghast. He stared at Ravney for an instant, then s.n.a.t.c.hed up his brandy-gla.s.s--the meal had gotten to that point--and drained it at a gulp. The others watched solicitously while he coughed and spluttered over it.
”Commodore Shatrak,” he said sternly. ”I hope that you will take severe disciplinary action; this is the most outrageous....”