velocities that exceed human endurance levels.
TAN: Our file on the shock troopers indicates that humans can endure tremendous Gs in special suits. The Guardian Fleet does not possess such suits, however.
SOLON: Has the Guardian Fleet possibly built such suits in secret?
SU-SHAN: I am unaware of it.
TAN: No.
SOLON: Can you be absolutely certain, Chief Strategist, that a hidden department in the Guardian Fleet didn’t authorize such tests?
TAN: I am certain enough to risk my reputation on it.
SOLON: We are not here for histrionics, Chief Strategist.
TAN: The Dictates prohibit that. And such was not my intent. I feel I must add that in no way does my statement imply histrionics.
SOLON: Hm…. I detect imprecision in your statement. We must study each possibility in turn to arrive at certain knowledge. I will also point out that your reputation does not correlate with possible, secret suit- testing.
TAN: You are the Solon. Yet rationality… compels me to a different methodology.
SOLON: (in a cool tone) Do you wish to instruct me?
SU-SHAN: (hurriedly) Your intellect shines too brightly for either of us to hint at ‘instruction’.
TAN: The Chief Controller verbalizes my own belief, sir. Perhaps this is a foolish thought. I will state it in the hope of instruction from the Solon. You, as the guidance of an entire world, of an entire planetary system, have a myriad of responsibilities. Each decision requires time and an iota of nervous energy and firing neurons. As a Strategist and intimately involved in the war—
SOLON: We have not declared a state of war. Therefore, your final statement is false. I must insist that you apply a more rigorous use of the language. Truth is the watchword, our armor against barbarism and its accompanying ignorance.
TAN: Naturally, I agree, sir. But isn’t it true that the Secessionists have foisted violent action upon us?
SOLON: ‘Secessionist’ implies a higher level of sanction to their actions than is warranted. They are terrorists, and as such must be expunged with ruthless vigor as an exterminator sprays for fleas.
TAN: Yes, I see your point. Ah. I wonder if you could clarify a point for me. In an emergency, can an enemy of my enemy act as my temporary ally?
SOLON: Show me this enemy.
TAN: I believe that the growing velocity of the supply vessels lends credence to the cyborg hypotheses.
SOLON: Hm. I have examined this so-called ‘cyborg file’. The Mars barbarians or the terrorist Force-Leader staged it. The file shows a single cyborg committing acted sabotage. I find it completely unwarranted to base a strategy on a doctored file and am surprised you suggest it.
TAN: I agree on the doctoring of the file. Still, data from the
SOLON: Or greater cleverness from the terrorists than we expected. Remember, they have benefited under our philosophical and educational systems. Their ploys could be deeply laid indeed.
TAN: The law of simplicity implies a cyborg stealth-attack as the more probable explanation for these various occurrences.
SU-SHAN: You overstep yourself, Chief Strategist. The Solon can reason all this—
SOLON: There is no need to defend me, Chief Controller. I called for the three-way to add your minds to mine. I concur with the Chief Strategist’s analysis.
SU-SHAN: (whispered) You believe that cyborgs are attacking Callisto?
SOLON: Reason would suggest this, yes.
SU-SHAN: I don’t understand. You just said—
TAN: The Solon is right!
SU-SHAN: But his preamble implied differently. All those words—
TAN: Don’t matter in face of the cyborgs. We must act now to save our system.
SU-SHAN: If the supply vessels are cyborg-controlled—Sir, we must summon the warships from Ganymede to help defend Callisto.
SOLON: It is too late for warships to affect the Battle for Callisto.
TAN: (quietly) May I query you, sir?
SOLON: I will indulge your curiosity by answering your question before you ask it. The Dictates have failed us versus the cyborgs. It is a galling truth to ingest. For hours, I have struggled internally with this truth. Now we must decide on the future. I have hesitated, and I hesitate still to arrive at the bitter conclusion.
SU-SHAN: Orbital Defense will defeat whatever—
SOLON: There is a high probability that Callisto will never recover from the coming attack. And by Callisto, I mean the paradise created by the Dictates.
TAN: We must not surrender or give in to despair, sir.
SOLON: (monotone) Who do we wish to succeed us? The terrorists have used this opportunity to do us harm. They lack mercy. The cyborgs… do they possess higher reason than we do?
TAN: They’re trying to annihilate us. The Dictates show—
SOLON: The cyborgs have reasoned more deeply than we have. Our coming destruction proves their superiority.
TAN: Would such reasoning also imply that the Secessionists are our superiors?
SOLON: (coldly) You are hereby relived of your station, Chief Strategist.
TAN: Article twenty dash A3 states that only a quorum of the War Council can relieve a Strategist from his or her post.
SOLON: You dare to quote articles to me?
TAN: I have begun to wonder if you are well, sir. The strain of office—
SOLON: I am the Solon, the wisest of Callisto. Emotive despair cannot shatter my reason. I am sending immediate orders to the ships at Ganymede to begin their bombardment. If we cannot survive the coming nightmare, neither shall the ingrates of Ganymede. With our death, the cyborgs will have proven our superiors. We can only hope they read the Dictates and see its value in the new order.
TAN: Su-Shan, the Solon is sick. You must send your Orbital Defense arbiters down to the surface and relieve the Solon and his archons from office.
SOLON: I have already relieved you, Chief Strategist.
TAN: (to Su-Shan) I will contact the Ganymede Flotilla and instruct them to coordinate with the Secessionists. We must unite against the cyborgs. We must save our civilization from destruction. Do you hear me, Su-Shan?
SOLON: I am the wisest. You will obey me or face extinction.
SU-SHAN: (softly) I hear you, Chief Strategist.
SOLON: (monotone) We are doomed, but we can decide and should decide on whom is the most worthy to succeed the Dictates. I relieve you both of office. I await the end now that I foresee it with such clarity. Humanity has lost. The New Order of melded-men is at hand.
TAN: Reason implies that you fight until you’re dead, sir. We’re not dead yet. Therefore, we shall fight to survive and reinstate the Dictates in whatever remains after the war is won.
SOLON: We are doomed. The cyborgs have achieved strategic surprise and superiority. I deem them worthy to replace us—and my voice is decisive. For none can see as well as me, as I am the supreme intellect of Jupiter.
TAN: Send those arbiters at once, Su-Shan, and begin making priority targets. The Solon has said one thing I agree with. Those aren’t supply vessels heading for Callisto, but the first wave of the cyborg assault.
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