Part 14 (1/2)

”We defeated you then,” Molotov said coldly. ”We can do it again, you know. And, as I said, Germany is in no position to aid you.”

”I understand that,” the Finn said. ”I understand it most thoroughly. That is why my government has entered into consultations with the Race. We were not eager to do this, you must understand, but the Soviet Union's att.i.tude left us no choice.”

For Molotov, the words were like a blow in the belly. He hadn't made a worse miscalculation since the pact with the n.a.z.is. ”You would betray mankind?” he barked, his voice harsh.

”Nyet,” Kekkonen repeated. ”Our government would-and will-protect our country from aggression. Dealing with the Lizards is the only choice available to us at the moment. Because it is our only choice, we have taken it.”

It was not the choice Molotov had expected the Finns to take. They'd jealously protected their independence against the USSR. They'd also protected it, as much as they could, against the Germans. They'd been the Reich's Reich's allies, but not, unlike Hungary and Romania, its subject allies. Molotov tried the best arrow left in his quiver: ”How will your people take the news that you have surrendered to the Race?” allies, but not, unlike Hungary and Romania, its subject allies. Molotov tried the best arrow left in his quiver: ”How will your people take the news that you have surrendered to the Race?”

Kekkonen's smile was almost as cold as any Molotov might have produced. ”You misunderstand, Comrade General Secretary. In no way have we surrendered to the Race.”

”What?” Molotov was so furious, and so alarmed, he had trouble sounding dry. ”Did you not just tell me that you are allowing the Race to occupy Finland?”

”Yes, the Race will have a military presence in my country,” Urho Kekkonen replied. ”But the Lizards will not occupy us, any more than the Germans occupied us. We remain independent. The males of the Race in Finland will remain in their bases unless we are attacked, in which case they will cooperate with us in our defense. An attack on Finland will be construed as an attack on the Race.”

”I... see,” Molotov said. ”This... agreement does not infringe on your sovereignty?”

Kekkonen shook his big head. ”We do not care to have anyone anyone infringe on our sovereignty. The Soviet Union has had some small trouble grasping this over the years. It includes you, it includes the infringe on our sovereignty. The Soviet Union has had some small trouble grasping this over the years. It includes you, it includes the Reich, Reich, and it also includes the Race.” and it also includes the Race.”

”I... see,” Molotov said again. ”I had not believed the Lizards would enter into such an agreement.” If I had, I never would have issued that ultimatum. If I had, I never would have issued that ultimatum.

”Perhaps no one had proposed such an arrangement to them before,” the Finnish amba.s.sador answered. ”Perhaps no one was in a position to propose such an agreement to them before. But we did, and they wasted no time in accepting.”

”Of course they accepted,” Molotov snapped. ”You've let them put their foot in the door.”

”We judged it better to let them put their foot in the door than for you to force your foot in,” Kekkonen said.

Molotov didn't answer right away. He was thinking furiously. The Lizards never would have agreed to such a bargain before the latest round of fighting with the Germans. (That the Finns wouldn't have needed to ask for such an arrangement then was for the moment beside the point.) But they'd left the Reich Reich independent but weak. They'd re-created an independent but weak France. And now they were fostering an independent Finland that could never be anything but weak. independent but weak. They'd re-created an independent but weak France. And now they were fostering an independent Finland that could never be anything but weak.

They have hit upon something new, he thought. he thought. Now they are seeing what they can do with it. Now they are seeing what they can do with it. The Lizards still weren't skilled diplomats, not by Earthly standards. Odds were, they never would be. But they played the game better than they had on first coming to Earth: then, they'd hardly realized there was a game to be played. They could learn. He wished they hadn't started learning here. The Lizards still weren't skilled diplomats, not by Earthly standards. Odds were, they never would be. But they played the game better than they had on first coming to Earth: then, they'd hardly realized there was a game to be played. They could learn. He wished they hadn't started learning here.

Kekkonen said, ”I presume we may now consider your ultimatum withdrawn?”

I ought to tell him no, Molotov thought. Molotov thought. I ought to tell him we would be happy to go to war with the Finns and the Lizards both. That would jolt him out of his smug bourgeois complacency. I ought to tell him we would be happy to go to war with the Finns and the Lizards both. That would jolt him out of his smug bourgeois complacency.

But it would also result in disaster for the Soviet Union. Molotov knew that only too well. Had he not known it, the recent horrid example of the Greater German Reich Reich would have rubbed his nose in it. Fighting the Lizards was a tactic of last resort. And so, staring hatefully at Kekkonen through his spectacles, he bit off one word: would have rubbed his nose in it. Fighting the Lizards was a tactic of last resort. And so, staring hatefully at Kekkonen through his spectacles, he bit off one word: ”Da. ”Da.”

He took a certain amount of satisfaction in noting how relieved the Finn looked. Kekkonen hadn't been sure he wouldn't throw his country onto the funeral pyre for the sake of pride. The n.a.z.is had, after all. But the n.a.z.is weren't rational, and never had been. The USSR was and would remain in the struggle against imperialism indefinitely. If he had to retreat today, he would advance tomorrow.

After Urho Kekkonen had left, Molotov summoned Andrei Gromyko and Marshal Zhukov. He told them what the Finns had done. Zhukov cursed. Gromyko came to the point: ”What did you tell him, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich?”

”That we withdraw the ultimatum.” The words were sour as vomit in Molotov's mouth, but he brought them out even so. Turning to Zhukov, he asked, ”Or do you think I made a mistake?”

”No,” Zhukov said at once. ”When the devil's grandmother starts fooling with your plans, you have to change them.”

Molotov was relieved there. Unlike Kekkonen, he didn't show it. Had Zhukov been bound and determined to fight the Lizards, he would have brushed Molotov aside and done it. But he'd fought them a generation before and wasn't eager to repeat the experience, any more than Molotov was.

Gromyko's s.h.a.ggy eyebrows twitched. ”Just when you think the Race too stupid to survive, you get a surprise like this.”

”What do you suggest to avoid similar unfortunate surprises, Andrei Andreyevich?” Molotov asked.

”Well, if we were going to present Romania with an ultimatum, this would be a good time to put it back on the shelf,” Gromyko answered. ”Of course, we had no such plan in mind.”

”Of course,” Molotov said in a hollow voice. All three men looked at one another. Romania still held Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, lands the USSR had reclaimed under the 1940 Vienna Award, only to lose them again in the aftermath of the Hitlerite invasion. Now that the Reich Reich could no longer come to the aid of its friends, the Romanian government would have been next on the list after Finland. But if the Romanians screamed for help and the Lizards answered, that would just give the Race a longer frontier with the USSR. could no longer come to the aid of its friends, the Romanian government would have been next on the list after Finland. But if the Romanians screamed for help and the Lizards answered, that would just give the Race a longer frontier with the USSR.

”Dammit, why wasn't this antic.i.p.ated?” Zhukov glared at Molotov. ”We could have ended up with our d.i.c.ks in the sausage machine.”

As he had with Kekkonen, Molotov had to fight for calm. If Zhukov got angry enough, the Red Army would start running the Soviet Union the very next day. But Molotov knew that acting as if he was afraid of that only made it more likely to happen. After a deep breath, he asked, ”Georgi Konstantinovich, did you you expect the Finns to seek support from the Lizards?” expect the Finns to seek support from the Lizards?”

”Me? No way in h.e.l.l,” Zhukov answered. ”But I'm a soldier. I don't pretend to be a diplomat. I leave that kind of worrying to people who do pretend to be diplomats.” Now he glowered at Andrei Gromyko. Better at Gromyko than at me, Better at Gromyko than at me, Molotov thought. Molotov thought.

Gromyko's equanimity was almost as formidable as Molotov's. The foreign commissar said, ”We tried something. It didn't work. The world will not end. No one reasonable could have imagined that the Finns would prefer the Race to their fellow humans.”

Zhukov grunted. ”They preferred the n.a.z.is to their fellow humans, back in '41. They don't much like us, for some reason or other.”

That would do as an understatement till a better one came along. As Zhukov said, the Finns had become Hitler's cobelligerents as soon as they got the chance. Now they were teaching the Lizards to play balance-of-power politics? All that to avoid the influence of the peace-loving workers and peasants of the USSR? Molotov shook his head. ”The Finns,” he said, ”are an inherently unreliable people.”

”That's true enough,” Marshal Zhukov agreed. In musing tones, he went on, ”We could probably win a war in Finland, even against the Race. The Lizards' logistics are very bad.”

”We could probably win a war against the Race in Finland,” in Finland,” Gromyko said acidly. ”The n.a.z.is more or less won a war against the Race Gromyko said acidly. ”The n.a.z.is more or less won a war against the Race in Poland. in Poland. But they didn't win their war against the Race. Could we?” But they didn't win their war against the Race. Could we?”

”Of course not,” Zhukov answered at once.

”Of course not. I agree,” Molotov said. ”That is why, when Kekkonen presented me with a fait accompli, fait accompli, I saw no choice but to withdraw our note. We cannot antic.i.p.ate everything, Georgi Konstantinovich. Even the dialectic shows only trends, not details. We shall have other chances.” I saw no choice but to withdraw our note. We cannot antic.i.p.ate everything, Georgi Konstantinovich. Even the dialectic shows only trends, not details. We shall have other chances.”

”Oh, very well.” Zhukov sounded like a sulky child.

”It is not as if our own sovereignty were weakened,” Gromyko said, and the marshal nodded. That satisfied him, as least for the moment. It salved Molotov, but it didn't satisfy him. The Soviet Union's sovereignty survived; its prestige, as he knew too well, had taken a beating.

Something would have to be done about that. Not in Europe, barring desperate times he didn't foresee. The Lizards' eye turrets were looking that way. But the USSR had the longest land frontier of any nation-any human nation-on Earth. ”Persia,” Molotov murmured. ”Afghanistan. China, of course. Always China.”

With considerable pleasure, Atvar studied the reports he had received from Helsinki and Moscow. Swinging one eye turret toward Ps.h.i.+ng, he said, ”Here is something that, for once, appears to have worked very well indeed. The Soviet Union has retreated from its threats against Finland, and our influence over that small not-empire is increased.” His mouth fell open in a laugh. ”Since we had essentially no influence over Finland up until this time, any influence is an increase.”

”Truth, Exalted Fleetlord,” his adjutant agreed. After a moment, though, he added, ”A pity we could not arrange to incorporate the not-empire into the territory we administer directly.”

”I too would have liked that,” Atvar said. ”But when our representative broached the idea to the leaders of the Finnish not-empire, they flatly refused. We have taken what we could get-not everything we wanted, but much better than nothing.”

Ps.h.i.+ng sighed. ”On this world, Exalted Fleetlord, we have never been able to get everything we wanted. Too often, we have had to count ourselves lucky to get any of what we wanted.”

”That, unfortunately, is also truth,” the fleetlord said. ”It is why I agreed to this half measure-in fact, something less than a half measure. But it did succeed in making the SSSR pull back.”

”What would you have done had the SSSR chosen to invade this small not-empire in spite of our presence there?” Ps.h.i.+ng asked.

”Let me put it this way: I am glad we did not have to put it to the test.” Atvar felt like adding an emphatic cough to that, but didn't; he didn't care to have his adjutant know just how glad he was. ”One thing we have done since coming to Tosev 3 is show the Big Uglies that they can-indeed, that they must-rely on our word. Because of that, the Russkis were convinced we would honor our commitment to Finland, and so did not presume to test it. If you think this makes me unhappy, you are mistaken.”