Robert Silverberg: The Planet Killers

Gardner’s shoulders slumped. After eleven months, he still had not outrun Security and Karnes.

“What about you?” he asked. “You were a wreck when we left you, Smee.”

“They took me apart and put me back together,” Smee said. “Two months of round-the-clock therapy. It did wonders.”

“I see.”

“And when Karnes finally traced you down and found out you had emigrated to Herschel, he sent me out after you.”

Gardner moistened his lips. “It’s going to-take more than you to bring me back, Smee. And you aren’t even armed. You’re underestimating me.”

Smee folded his thick arms across his chest. “You aren’t under arrest, Gardner. Karnes just wanted to know if you were interested in rejoining the Corps.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a trick, Roy,” Lori murmured.

Smee shook his head. “No trick. You see, Karnes ran a recomputation on Lurion. He sent a dozen observers there to find out about this underground group of yours, and then he ran the new information into the computer. The computer said there wouldn’t be any war if the underground got control. With help, it predicted, Lurion could be swung toward decency within twenty years.”

“You’re joking!” Gardner gasped.

“You think I am? Security is turned upside down about this business. Karnes is sending his best men into Lurion to work with this underground and help them, Gardner. It’s the biggest project going.”

“What’s this matter to me?”

“Just this,” Smee said. “Karnes sends his apologies via me. If it wasn’t for you, he said, Lurion would have been blown up. But you planted the seed of doubt in him, that day when you stormed out of his office. He realized he had to make the recomputation before he did anything else. So he did. And plans were changed. And he sent me out here to ask you if you’ll reconsider, come back to the Corps, and go to

Lurion to head our unit there.”

There was a long moment of silence. At length Gardner said softly, “But I’m pretty well established here. We’ve built this farm practically with our bare hands. We like it here. We were thinking of starting a family, next year. And you come along out of nowhere, asking us to move out of Eden and sign up for another tour of duty in hell.”

“It won’t be hell forever,” Smee said. “Not if we all do our share. But you make up your own minds. I’ll be staying in town two days, till the next ship leaves. I’m going straight to Lurion from here.”

Gardner felt a lump growing in his throat. He looked out over the land, at the sprouting seedlings, at the dark hills in the distance, the trees, the rivers. He sucked a deep breath of air into his lungs.

“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “We’d be giving up a lot.”

“You were once a Security man, Gardner. You took an oath. You had a loyalty.”

Gardner nodded dreamily. He turned, looking at Lori. Her eyes were moist. She was clinging tight to paradise, too. It would be so easy to shrug shoulders, to tell Smee that Earth and Lurion could solve their problems without Roy Gardner. And then live with the shame of knowing that you had failed your world.

Lori managed a smile. Gardner saw the look in her eyes, and he knew what it meant. “Lori…”

She nodded gently. “We can always come back here later, when you’ve done your job.”

“Ali right,” Gardner said. He turned to Smee. “Stay here with us tonight. Tomorrow we’ll fly into town and arrange the sale of the farm. Lori, call the spaceport and book two reservations on that flight to Lurion.”

“You sure this is what you want to do?” Smee asked. “You’ve got a pretty nice place here. Maybe you don’t really want to give it up.”

“It can wait,” Gardner said. “Lurion can’t. I’ve got a job to do there. Only this time the job isn’t murder.”