John Rackham by The Double Invaders Read Free Book Online Page A

understand exactly what the position is, because the next and most logical
step won't be pleasant, and you need to know why it's necessary. So think of
this. What good are reprisals, unless they are known? I can threaten Mordin, or
others. I can even line him and a lot more up against a wall and have them all
shot. But what does that achieve, if nobody sees it done?"
    Out of a thoughtful silence Karsh muttered,
"If only they hadn't all lit out that way I"
    "It raises two points," Bragan
said. "First, that they really did go, and thus very efficientiy got
themselves out from under our thumb and out of our reach, not caring one damn
about any hostages. That makes Mordin's claim sound valid, doesn't it?" He
eyed his companions keenly, then went on.
    "Second, let's look at that fact again.
Half a million people picked up and went, in a few hours, in the dark, and
left never so much as a trace, nor made a sound. Very nice teamwork. Nobody is
going to convince me that such a trick was done on the spur of the moment. That
took organizationl'*
    "Checks with all the other ships,"
Karsh whispered, scratching his jaw. "What do we do?"
    Bragan scowled as he reviewed his own mind.
"We adjust. We are up against a wily and ingenious opposition. They are
fighting us not with weapons, or force, because they haven't much of either,
but with brains, intelligence, and imagination. So we have to hit them on that
level. And here's how. We will first remove all sub-headquarters establishments
out of their buildings and into our own. And each sub-station will have a
stockade that needs no guarding, or at most just one man on patrol. A big
stockade."
    "For the hostages," Karsh nodded.
"That makes sense. We can't tie up our troopers just keeping watch on
balky prisoners. But—"
    Bragan halted with a palm. "Then we rum
the prisoners loose into the stockade. Solid stone, fused smooth, with no
doors. We gas them first, strip them right down to the skin. And leave them. We
also wire each stockade with micro-pickups and feed the noise into the
Scartanni.network. Then slammer-patrols go out and quarter the countryside and
pick up more and more prisoners. Anybody they can grab. And we strip them, too,
and dump them in the stockades. And leave them. No food, no water, no shelter,
no clothes—and no out, either. And we will see just how long the Scartanni can
hold out."
    Swann's face was a study in unbelief.
"You can't do that!" he protested. "Women and
kids, starving?"
    "You
seem to forget"—Bragan stared him down—"that I am in charge here. I
can do it. My job is to take, break and remake this planet, and that is exactly
what I am going to do. The first thing is to show the Scartanni so there can be
no doubt, that they haven't got a chance, that we are master here."
    "But condemning women
and kids to starve!"
    "Fool! I'm not starving them. I am not going to do a thing to them except confine
them behind walls. If the rest of the Scartanni want to feed their friends, I
won't stop them. Let them come, and bring food. They will be welcomed. That is
what I intend to tell them, on their own radio. They have the intelligence, and
the imagination, to take it from there."
     
    IV
    B ragan
went on the Scartanni air
at noon, Stopa-time. Activities in the wake of his talk with Mordin had been
fast and efficient and he was able to talk over the radio in the sense, mostly,
of "this has been done." A people with fast reactions ought to
appreciate just how fast he had reacted in his turn. He wasted no time in
elaboration.
    After
introducing himself as before, as the Supreme Executive on the planet, he told
them, "I leam that as a people you do not have any great respect for those
in authority over you and that you do not feel obliged to obey their orders.
That attitude will change. How quickly it changes will depend on you. At this
moment Zorgan holds some seven thousand of you prisoner. From this moment all prisoners will be held in open stockades, without food,
water,