To The Stars

“Quite true. Their material reserves are high — but not their food supplies. I doubt if they can produce enough food for their population, even with synthetics. The future is still in doubt. We’ve won the first battles but not the war. And our need for food is even more desperate than Earth’s. We have no reserves. That was Earth policy. Starvation is very close — which is why we need the corn. At once. The cargo ships are in landing orbit now; they started down as soon as I sent the signal that the position was secure. We thank you for getting the corn here despite all the problems. We’ll start loading at once.

“No,” Jan said grimly. “That’s not the way it is going to be at all. The corn will not be loaded until I say so.”

Debhu stepped back, startled, his gun swinging up by reflex.

“Kill me if you like. Kill us all. But the corn is ours.

Twenty

Debhu’s eyes were angry slits in his dark face. “What are you getting at, Kulozik? We’re fighting a war and we need that food — we must have that food. No one is going to stand in our way. I can take your life as easily as I saved it.”

“Don’t threaten me or brag about your war. We have been fighting a war too, against this alien world. And we brought this corn for you. It didn’t get here by accident. If we had left it behind it would be ashes by now. These people are poor enough, but they lost what little they had for your sake. Their clothing, furniture, personal possessions, all left behind to make room for the corn you want to grab as though you had a right to it. It is over — do you understand that? Good men died when we went back on the second trip, and I don’t want to find out that they died in vain. You’ll get the corn all right, but we have certain conditions attached to it. You are going to listen to our terms or you are going to have to shoot us. You’ll get the corn all right, but it will be the last. The decision is up to you.”

Debhu stared at Jan closely, at the tight muscles and half-closed fists. For a long moment they stood that way, facing each other in silence. Until the anger faded from Debhu’s face to be replaced by a half smile. He grunted and the gun slipped from sight.

“You’re a hard man, Kulozik, I can see that,” he said. “I’ll just have to talk to you. You have a point. It’s been a busy morning. I guess you have as much of a right to the fruits of the rebellion as anyone. Not that we have very much. Let’s go find your wife, who will probably want to see you, and have something to drink and talk it over.”

“Agreed!”

Alzbeta was beyond words, still not believing what had happened. She buried her face in his shoulder, holding him to her, crying and not realizing why.

“It’s all right,” Jan said. “All over. Things are not going to be the way they used to be — they are going to be far better. Now make some tea for our guest and I’ll tell you why.”

He dug out a bottle of his alcohol distillate and poured some into the cups, hoping the tea would ameliorate the taste. Debhu’s eyes widened when he sipped some.

“It takes getting used to,” Jan said. “Shall we drink then? To sanity and a peaceful future.”

“Yes, I’ll drink to that. But I would also like to know what your rebellion means.”

“No rebellion,” Jan said, draining his cup and setting it down. “Just give and take. Equality. The people here are now no longer economic slaves and that will have to end. They will have to work for their freedom — and they have started already. They’ll keep supplying all the food you need. But they want something in return.”

“We haven’t much to give. There has been a lot of destruction, more than I wanted to admit in public. Chaos. We’ll be centuries rebuilding.”

“All we need is simple equality and what goes with it. The Elders’ rule will have to be ended. Not at once; it is the only system they know and nothing would work without it. But it will break down of its own accord. We want full contact with the rest of the Commonwealth — the rest of the planets. I want these people to see democracy at work and compare it to economic slavery. I want the children educated off-world. Not all of them, just the best. They’ll bring back intelligence and ideas, then everything will have to change for the better. The Elders will not be able to resist forever.”

“You’re asking a lot…”