William Forstchen - Into the Sea of Stars

"And then what? Damn it, tell me, then what? You've selected a goal that can be too easily reached. Oh, it was a wonderful goal that could bind a people together when they needed binding. You engineered that superbly well. But now, thanks to me, you can attain that goal. Once you've reached it, however, what can revenge bring?"

"It can still bring a payment here," Smith replied, strik ing his chest. "Here it will bring a rich reward."

"A reward of the moment. But a societal revenge, once it is reached, bears a strange price. Once the goal has been obtained, then there is no goal-no dream to reach out to. Nothing now to work toward. And then the old prophets and the old dreams are cast aside. Think, man, of the contempt' your age felt for the century-long quest for revenge in the Middle East. They had their revenge and destroyed their foe, taking back what they called the usurped lands, and think in the end of the bitter retribution that came-and how it was created by themselves."

To his surprise Smith nodded his head in response. "I lost several classmates in that war, I remember now."

"I could argue this point for hours, Franklin Smith, but that is foolish. You're the philosophy professor, you should be able to follow the argument on your own. I am merely the historical observer.

"If your society reaches its goal, then it will change forever-and in a direction you might not have anticipated or be able to control. The very factors that bind it together, that give it strength and vitality, will be lost. Your own America was built on a goal of expansion and limitless opportunity. When you started to listen to the drivel of idiots who said there must be limits to growth and that expansion into space is wrong, you fell behind. It was nearly fatal, for the Japanese and Chinese never had such doubts.

"Go ahead and make your goal. They'll throw you aside then, Smith. You've already started toward another goal; if you point that way, you can't lose."

"Go ahead," Smith replied sarcastically, "enlighten me, Professor."

"The complete settling of space is the only goal that can be sought and yet, ultimately, never obtained. With the hibernation drug you could take your people in that direction for ten thousand more years. At your rate of growth you could be tens of trillions, reaching out across the entire galaxy. That's a hell of an alternative. Don't go back to Earth, Smith. Go ahead and kill us if need be, but don't go back to Earth. Revenge isn't worth the cost. You shaped a destiny for your people, continue to do it. In five or six generations your people could forget that the hatred of Earth ever existed-and the dream could be redirected elsewhere."

"But you Earthmen could one day be a threat."

"That's like- saying a Carthaginian army could have threatened the America of your twenty-first-century. Damn it, Smith, you've got such an exponential jump on Earth, it'll never catch up. Besides, our society is still primarily planetbound. We've learned; our society's ethic limits population growth. Less than one-tenth of one percent of us are space dwellers, and the vast majority of those out there still look back down to Earth. We're a people who've learned to live within our ecosystem, as those aboard any space colony must do. It's pretty boring in a way, but that's the way I guess we'll always be. We cast off our seed, and some of us will still go out, but the grim ne cessities of it have already been done by our ancestors.

"But your people, your vibrant society is not looking inward, dependent on a single planet. Your people are already looking out toward the rest of the universe. The hell with Earth, Franklin Smith, you've got an entire uni verse to populate with your descendents."

Ian fell silent. And for several minutes nothing more was said.

"You know something, Ian, you are neither as dumb nor as wimpish as I first thought. Your argument is sound and bears thinking. After all, the distant future is only a matter of months for me, but generations for my people. We have a significant lead on you already, and now, with this light drive, there is nothing to fear from your people."

Smith stretched and walked over to rest his hand on the hilt of the sword. "However, Ian Lacklin, though it saddens me to say this, I think you should pray to what ever god it is that you worship, for it is time that you meet him."

"Wait a minute, Doc," Ian said hurriedly, coming to his feet, "I thought that you'd see we weren't a threat, I mean, you know…"

Smith drew the blade out of the floor and advanced on Ian.

"Look at it from my perspective, Ian, and try to be reasonable. I still have a touch of the paranoid in me. If I let you go there is the slim chance that you could create quite a problem for me some day. Besides, I have the designs for your ship, so there's no need to let others know that I have it. Therefore…" He shrugged his shoul ders and grimaced as if he were being forced into an unpleasant act.

"You ask me to be reasonable?" Ian shouted. "Damn it, you're going to cut my head off and you want me to be reasonable!"

"I'm sorry, Ian, I do like you. I promise your passing will be quick and painless. Now just kneel down so I won't miss my aim and cause you undue suffering."

"Bullshit! I've tried to be reasonable, but you wouldn't listen. So you've forced me into it." Ian reached into his pocket.

"Come along now, Ian, we searched you for weapons, and I was good enough to allow you to keep your personal effects. Now don't try to threaten me."

"I'm not threatening you," Ian said coldly. "There's a thermonuclear mine aboard our ship; your sensing devices should have picked up the radiation signature."

"So what?"

Ian pulled the alien cylinder out of his pocket. "This is the trigger."

"Come on, Ian Lacklin, you're bluffing. That's a use less piece of junk."

"I thought so, too. But it's a small, alien transmitting device. Just before we jumped to this region I rigged it up to trigger the mine."

Smith was silent, watching Lacklin's eyes for some telltale clue.

Ian was actually shaking. "I'm not joking this time, Smith. I didn't want this situation, I had hoped we could get along without threats, but you forced me into this."

Ian held the cylinder over his head and touched the end of it with his thumb.

"Take another step and you'll get to see firsthand what real eternity is all about. All I need to do is push down on the end of this cylinder and puff, you and I will be gamma rays."

Ian was staring straight into Smith's eyes and a taunting smile crossed his face. He was in control!

"I'll tell you something, Smith," Ian said, his voice reflecting his sense of assurance. "I've listened to you for some time now, in fact, I've even grown to like you, but the game is over. So here's what you're going to do for me. First off, you're going to call the guards off my friends, and then we'll take a nice leisurely stroll down to the docking ports."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then we'll see right now if I'm bluffing or not."

Smith still held him with his gaze, but Ian knew he had the upper hand.

"Look, Smith, we pose no threat, we only stir a fear that should have been buried a millennium ago. Now if I push this button you die, and when you go the civilization that is built around your semigodhood dies with you. Logic therefore dictates that we take that little walk to the dock ing bay. You can save face by making sure all your people are ordered from the area. Later just tell them that you decided to let us live. So you win. And even if I'm bluffing, you'd still win anyhow; we and the Earth pose no threat to you."

Smith started to smile but lan's gaze held steady as he started to move his thumb.

" Stasz, is all secure in there?"

"Engines are powering up, Ian. All secured, just tell me when to close the airlock and let's get the hell out of here."