industrial might to war reparations and make this universe a model for all the others. And who are the master mind changers? None but the Kekkonshiki. They told me that their psychcontrol techniques work on all races. Let’s put them to the test.”
“And how do you think they will do that?” an admiral asked.
“The details will be worked out later,” I said, meaning I hadn’t the slightest idea at this time. “Order up a battle cruiser and see that there are plenty of space marines aboard. I am off at once to arrange the salvation of the galaxy.”
“I am not sure about that,” Incuba said. “There is a question of morality in mind manipulation…” Her words died away and she slumped to the floor.
“Poor thing, she’s fainted,” Angelina said. “All the stress, you know. I’ll take her to her quarters.”
Fainted indeed! I had seen my wife in action before. As she spirited the unconscious girl from the room I moved fast, taking advantage of the time she had bought me.
“The battle cruiser! Order it to the spacelook now for I am going to board her.”
“Correct,” Inskipp said. “It’s on its way.” He was aware of the byplay too and just as eager as I was to get the project launched while the Morality Corps observer was accidentally indisposed.
We made a fast and silent trip. For security measures I imposed a radio blackout from repeater stations and told the psiman to accept no messages directed at us. So when the frigid world of Kekkonshiki appeared on the screens ahead I still had not been ordered back. And, after giving the subject a good deal of concentration, I knew what had to be done.
“Break radio blackout and contact the landing party,” I ordered.
“They’re on now,” the operator said. “But they haven’t landed. Their ship is still in orbit.”
“What’s happened?”
“Here’s the commander, sir.”
An officer with a bandaged head appeared on the screen. He saluted when he saw all the gold braid I was wearing.
“They insist on fighting,” he said. “My orders were to pacify the planet, not blow it up. So when all attempts at communication failed I withdrew. After neutralizing their spacers.”
“They know they can’t win.”
“You know that and I know that. Now try telling it to those madmen.”
It should have been expected. The fatalistic Kekkonshiki would much prefer to die than surrender. In fact surrender was probably a word that they did not know, a concept alien to their Moral Philosophy of survival. Yet we needed their help. There was only one person on the planet—hopefully still alive—who could possibly arrange that.
“Stay in orbit, Commander, and await instructions. This ship will join you after I have made contact on the planet. You’ll hear from me when it is time to land.”
Within an hour I had issued all the orders, gathered what equipment I would need, and was floating down in a spacesuit towards the white planet below. The gravchute slowed my drop and the infrared scope let me see clearly through the driving snow. I steered for a familiar building and dropped, not too lightly, onto a roof where I had been before. It was all very cold and very depressing because I had hoped I had seen the last of this particular world.
I suppose I could have landed on the ground and gone in through the front door, taken a squad of marines too to help me shoot up any opposition. But that was not what I wanted. A quiet contact with Hanasu first, before anyone knew I was back. The fact that it was well after dark had convinced me that retracing my old route might be the best way. I pried open the trapdoor and, after much wriggling and puffing, managed to get myself and the spacesuit through the opening and into the building. First step accomplished. Then I took off the cumbersome garment, unlocked the door for what I hoped was the last time, and walked silently down the corridor.
“You are the enemy, you must be killed,” a small boy said in a toneless voice as he hurled himself at me. I stepped aside so he stumbled and fell, leaving me the perfect target. The needle from my gun easily penetrated the seat of his trousers and he sighed and relaxed. I tucked him under my arm and went on as quietly as I could.
By the time I pushed open Hanasu’s office door I was carrying four of them altogether and beginning to stagger. He looked up from behind the desk and, if he were capable of smiling, this is the time when he would have.
“It all worked as you planned,” he said. “The message was received. You escaped.”
“I did, and now I’m back. With some small friends who were not happy to see me.”
“They listen to the radio broadcasts from Kome and they do not know what to believe. They are disturbed.”
“Well, these ones are quiet enough now. Let me make them comfortable on your floor.”
“I will use the axion feed. They will remember nothing.”
“Not this time. They’ll sleep long enough not to bother us. Now tell me—what has happened since I left.”
“Confusion. It is written nowhere in our Moral Philosophy what to do at this sort of time. Therefore when Kome issued his orders to fight or die he was obeyed. Everyone can understand that. There was no way I could combat him by myself, so I have done nothing. I have waited.”
“Very wise. But now that I am here there is something very important that you can do.”
“What is that?”
“Convince your people here that they must take up alien disguise again and go back and control the aliens.”
“I do not understand. You wish them to encourage the war again?”
“No. Quite the opposite. I want them to stop it.”
“You must explain. This is beyond me.”
“Let me ask you a question first. Could the synaptic generators be used on the aliens? To convince them that human beings are really very nice after all. We do have damp eyeballs and sweat a lot. Fingers aren’t too different from tentacles when you think about it. Could this be done?”
“Very easily. You must understand that the aliens come from primitive cultures and are easily led. When we began infiltrating them to organize the invasion we were faced with indifference at first. To overcome this the leaders were treated and taught to hate humans. Then, through propaganda, they convinced the rest of the populations. It took a long time, but that is the way it was done.”
“Can the indoctrination process be reversed?”
“I would think so. But how can you convince my people to do a thing like this?”
“That is the big question I was coming to.” I stood and paced the room, marshaling my thoughts, stepping over the snoring bodies of the boys. “What is to be done must be done through the teachings of Moral Philosophy as you practice it here. I was wrong, angry, when I told you that this culture must be destroyed. It should not be. It is a vital one, an important one that contains elements that should benefit all of mankind. It was just misapplied when it left the surface of this planet. Is there anything inherent in Moral Philosophy, MP, that says you must be galaxy conquerors?”
“No. We learned to hate those who abandoned us on this world because we must always believe that they will never come back to save us. We must save ourselves. Survival is the beginning and the end. Anything that goes against that is wrong.”
“Then Kome and his talk of racial suicide is wrong!”
For a Kekkonshiki, Hanasu looked almost startled “Of course! His preachings go against the law. All must be told.”
“They will be. But that is point one. Now
Hanasu was wide-eyed and rigid, his mind in a turmoil as he considered these unusual ideas. Nodding his head.
“It is just as you say. It is a novel thing to apply Moral Philosophy to a new situation. It has never been done before. There were no new situations. There are now. We have been wrong and I see now how we have been
