Alfred van Vogt - The Players of Null-A

To Gosseyn the realization of the truth had come many seconds before. Venus! This was the Board of Inquiry that had been appointed to investigate the defeat of Thorson in the solar system.

'Well, gentlemen,' said Enro amiably, 'I see that we are all interested in hearing what you have to say.'

Ugell took a paper from an inner pocket, and put on a pair of glasses. He looked up. 'Are you interested in the reasons for our decision?'

'Most certainly,' said Enro. 'What I want to know is, what happened? How did Thorson, one of the great trouble shooters of the empire, fail on a mission that was to be a mere incident in his career?'

Rour was silent. Ugell said, 'Your excellency, we questioned more than a thousand officers and men. Their stories made the following picture. Our armies successfully captured the cities of the rebels. Then, on the death of Marshal Thorson, the new commander ordered that Venus be abandoned. Naturally, these orders were carried out. So you see it is no disgrace to our armies, but the action of one man for reasons which we have not been able to discover.'

The picture was reasonably accurate. It failed to mention that Venusian Null-As had successfully defended their planet against the attacking forces. The investigation had not ferreted out the role that Gilbert Gosseyn had played in the death of Thorson, but, still, the facts that had been discovered were a part of the reality.

Enro was frowning. 'Was Thorson murdered by his successor?' he asked.

'There is no evidence pointing in that direction,' said Rour, as Ugell failed to answer. 'Marshal Thorson was killed during an attack which he personally led against a rebel stronghold on the planet, Earth.'

Enro exploded into anger. 'The incredible fool,' he said savagely. 'What was he doing leading any force in person?' With an effort the dictator controlled himself. 'However, gentlemen, I am very glad to have heard this account. It fits in with some information which I already have, and with some theories of mine. At the moment I am troubled in my own palace here by people who are foolishly plotting against my life, and so I should like you to give me the name of the officer who succeeded Thorson as commander of our forces on Venus.'

Ugell read from the paper: 'His name is Eldred Crang. We have been unable to find any trace of this traitor.'

Enro stared straight ahead. 'And, gentlemen, what are your recommendations?' Ugell read in a monotone, That the habitable parts of the system be sprayed with any one-year radioactive isotope that is available in the region, and that the system be rendered uninhabitable.'

He looked up. 'Marshal Rour is rather taken with a new idea that a young woman psychologist has been urging upon him recently. That is, that some planet be populated solely with criminally insane people. It seemed to us, though this notion was not incorporated in the text of our findings that it might be an interesting experiment to carry out as soon as the planets in question become habitable again.'

He handed the document to Enro, who took it without a word. There was a pause while he read it.

So Enro had known all the time. That was the thought that Gosseyn held in his mind. Their silly little plot—which had never really got beyond the embryo stage—had probably amused him even as he pondered the most devastating answer he could make to all their hopes.

It seemed clear, also, that he had known for some days who Eldred Crang was.

Enro was passing the document to Patricia. Without looking at it, she started to tear it up.

'That, gentlemen, is what I think of your recommendations.'

She climbed to her feet. Her face was colorless. 'It's just about time, Enro,' she said, 'that you and your executioners stop this mad murder of every one who has the courage to oppose you. The people of the planets Venus and Earth are harmless.'

'Harmless?' said Rour involuntarily. 'If they're so harmless, how is it that they were able to defeat our armies?'

She turned on him, her blue eyes flashing. 'Your report has stated—just now—that there was no defeat. That the action to retreat was taken at the command of the officer who succeeded Thorson.'

She leaned towards him. 'Is it possible that you are trying to cover up a defeat for our forces by a false statement, an appeal to the vanity of my brother?'

She was beside herself, in a thalamic fury. With a gesture she waved aside his effort to speak, and answered her own question.

'Never mind,' she said, 'your facts are reasonably accurate. I'll vouch for them. Because I gave the order to the officer who succeeded Thorson. He had no recourse but to obey the sister of his ruler. He sits here beside me as my husband.'

'His price was high,' sneered Enro.

He turned to the military men. 'Gentlemen, I have known for several days the identity of Eldred Crang. I am unable to act against him as a traitor because here on Gorgzid my sister's authority is very similar to my own, and I am bound by my religious faith to uphold her rights. I am trying to persuade the lord guardian to . . . uh . . . grant her a divorce, and he has taken the request under advisement'

The words were earnestly spoken. It was hard to believe that behind the apparent logic and integrity of them was Enro's determination to use that religion to compel his sister to follow the ancient Gorgzid custom of brother-sister marriage. And that all the rest was fabrication.

Patricia was speaking again, earnestly. 'The people of the solar system have developed an educational system of the highest order, a culture which I should like to see modeled throughout the galaxy.'

She turned to look down at her brother. 'Enro,' she said, 'there can be no point in destroying a system which had devoted itself to education. If at any time it should be necessary to take over those planets, it could probably be done without bloodshed.'

Enro laughed. ‘An educational system, eh?' He shrugged cynically. 'Secoh will be only too happy to tell you the plans the Temples have for subjugated planets.'

He turned to the marshals and there was a savage note in his voice as he said: 'Gentlemen, I must apologize for my sister's ill-tempered rudeness. She has a tendency to forget that her rule as Gorgzin does not extend beyond the planetary system where she and I are joint heirs. In ordering Lieutenant General Crang to withdraw our forces from Venus, she forgot that the Greatest Empire is a private achievement of my own. In marrying him, and permitting him and'—he hesitated, and glared for an instant at Gosseyn-Ashargin—'other upstarts to plan against me under her protection, she forfeited any right which she might have had to appeal to the softer side of my nature.'

His teeth snapped decisively. He said grimly: 'You may be sure that I do not appoint Boards of Inquiry, and then ignore their recommendations. And, as a precaution, to insure that the Gorgzin does not place herself in jeopardy by going to Venus, I shall immediately issue an order that no galactic Distorters can be used by her until after the destruction of the population of the solar system has been carried out as recommended. Thank you, gentlemen. You have my best wishes.'

Gosseyn noticed that the negating order did not extend to Prince Ashargin. He said nothing, but immediately the meal was over, he headed for the public Distorter system of the palace. He didn't know if it was possible to go to Venus in a Distorter cage; by ship, yes, but he couldn't get hold of a ship —and so his only recourse was to make the attempt.

He took the torn segments of the Venusian report from his pocket and quickly pieced them together. He still had to admire the way Crang had removed them from Patricia's plate, studied them briefly, and then casually passed them on to Ashargin.

The galactic co-ordinates of the position in space of Sol were printed right across the top of page one. He read, Decant Eight, r36,400 theta 272º Z1800—-