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the armed households, I might have been able to persuade the sector government to rescind
its orders for dismantling them. Then we might not have provoked the kind of thing which
has made your betrothed an outlaw.
Pain crossed her face.  Maybe, she said.
 My duty here, he told her,  is first to keep the Pax, including civil law and order; in the
longer run, to assure that these will stay kept, when the Terran troops finally go home. But
what must be done? How? Should we, for example, should we revise the basic structure
altogether? Take power from the landed gentry especially, whose militarism may have been
the root cause of the rebellion, and establish a parliament based on strict manhood suffrage?
Desai observed her expressions; she was becoming more open to him.  You are shocked?
Indignant? Denying to yourself that so drastic a change is permanently possible?
He leaned forward.  My lady, he said,  among the horrors with which I live is this
knowledge, based on all the history I have studied and all the direct experience I have had. It
is terrifyingly easy to swing a defeated and occupied nation in any direction. It has occurred
over and over. Sometimes, two victors with different ideologies divided, such a loser among
them, for purposes of  reform. Afterward the loser stayed divided, its halves perhaps more
fanatical than either original conqueror.
Dizziness assailed him. He must breathe deeply before he could go on:  Of course, an
occupation may end too soon, or it may not carry out its reconstruction thoroughly enough.
Then a version of the former society will revive, though probably a distorted version. Now
how soon is too soon, how thoroughly is enough? And to what end?
 My lady, there are those in power who claim Sector Alpha Crucis will never be safe until
Aeneas has been utterly transformed: into an imitation Terra, say most. I feel that that is not
only wrong-you have something unique here, something basically good-but it is mortally
dangerous. In spite of the pretensions of the psychodynamicists, I don t believe the
consequences of radical surgery, on a proud and energetic people, are foreseeable.
 I want to make minimal, not maximal changes. They may amount to nothing more than
strengthening trade relations with the heart stars of the Empire, to give you a larger stake in
the Pax. Or whatever seems necessary. At present, however, I don t know. I flounder about in
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a sea of reports and statistics, and as I go down for the third time, I remember the old old
saying,  Let me write a nation s songs, and I care not who may write its laws.
 Won t you help me understand your songs?
Silence fell and lasted, save for a wind whittering outside, until the tadmouse offered a
timid arpeggio. That seemed to draw Tatiana from her brown study. She shook herself and
said,  What you re askin for is closer acquaintance, Commissioner. Friendship.
His laugh was nervous.  I ll settle for an agreement to disagree. Of course, I haven t time
for anywhere near as much frank discussion as I d like-as I really need. But if, oh, if you
young Aeneans would fraternize with the young marines, technicians, spacehands-you d find
them quite decent, you might actually take a little pity on their loneliness, and they do have
experiences to relate from worlds you ve never heard of-
 I don t know if it s possible, Tatiana said.  Certainly not on my sole recommendation.
Not that I d give any, when your dogs are after my man.
 I thought that was another thing we might discuss, Desai said.  Not where he may be or
what his plans, no, no. But how to get him out of the trap he s closed on himself. Nothing
would make me happier than to give him a free pardon. Can we figure out a method?
She cast him an astonished look before saying slowly,  I do believe you mean that.
 Beyond question I do. I ll tell you why. We Impies have our agents and informers, after
all, not to mention assorted spy devices. We are not totally blind and deaf to events and to the
currents beneath them. The fact could not be kept secret from the people that Ivar
Frederiksen, the heir to the Firstmanship of Ilion, has led the first open, calculated renewal of
insurgency. His confederates who were killed, hurt, imprisoned are being looked on as
martyrs. He, at large, is being whispered of as the rightful champion of freedom-the rightful
king, if you will-who shall return. Desai s smile would have been grim were his plump
features capable of it.  You note the absence of public statements by his relatives, aside from
nominal expressions of regret at an  unfortunate incident. We authorities have been careful
not to lean on them. Oh, but we have been careful!
The tenuous atmosphere was like a perpetual muffler on his unaccustomed ears. He could
barely hear her:  What might you do ... for him?
 If he, unmistakably of his own free will, should announce he s changed his mind-not
toadying to the Imperium, no, merely admitting that through most of its history Aeneas
didn t fare badly under it and this could be made true again-why, I think he could not only be
pardoned, along with his associates, but the occupation government could yield on a number
of points.
Wariness brought Tatiana upright.  If you intend this offer to lure him out of hidin -
 No! Desai said, a touch impatiently.  It s not the kind of message that can be broadcast.
Arrangements would have to be made beforehand in secret, or it would indeed look like a
sellout. Anyhow, I repeat that I don t think you know how to find him, or that he ll try
contacting you in the near future.
He sighed.  But perhaps- Well, as I told you, what I mainly want to learn, in my clumsy
and tentative fashion, is what drives him. What drives all of you? What are the possibilities
for compromise? How can Aeneas and the Imperium best struggle out of this mess they have
created for each other?
She regarded him for a second period of quiet, until she asked,  Would you care to have
lunch?
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The sandwiches and coffee had been good; and seated in her kitchenette bay, which was
vitryl supported on the backs of stone dragons, one had an unparalleled view across quads,
halls, towers, battlements, down and on to Nova Roma, the River Flone and its belt of green,
the ocherous wilderness beyond.
Desai inhaled fragrance from his cup, in lieu of the cigarette he had not yet ventured to
mention.  Then Ivar is paradoxical, he remarked.  By your account, he is a skeptic on his
way to becoming the charismatic lord of a deeply religious people.
 What? He d lost count of how often today he had taken the girl aback.  Oh, no. We ve
never been such. We began as scientific base, remember, and in no age of piety. She ran
fingers through her hair and said after a moment,  Well, true, there always were some
believers, especially among Landfolk. . . . m-m, I suppose tendency does go back beyond
Snelund administration, maybe several lifetimes . . . reaction to general decadence of
Empire?-but our woes in last several years have certainly accelerated it-more and more,
people are turnin to churches. She frowned.  They re not findin what they seek, though.
That s Ivar s problem. He underwent conversion in early adolescence, he tells me, then later [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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