The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress Part 32

Got most of this from Mike after we arrived Little David's Sling early Sunday. He was feeling groused over loss of two of his eyes and still more groused over gun crews-I think Mike was developing something like human conscience; he seemed to feel it was his fault that he had not been able to outfight six targets at once. I pointed out that what he had to fight with was improvised, limited range, not real weapons.

"How about self, Mike? Are you right?"

"In all essentials. I have outlying discontinuities. One live missile chopped my circuits to Novy Leningrad, but reports routed through Luna City inform me that local controls tripped in satisfactorily with no loss in city services. I feel frustrated by these discontinuities-but they can be dealt with later."

"Mike, you sound tired."

"Me tired? Ridiculous! Man, you forget what I am. I'm annoyed, that's all."

"When will that second ship be back in sight?"

"In about three hours if he were to hold earlier orbit. But he will not-probability in excess of ninety percent. I expect him in about an hour."

"A Garrison orbit, huh? Oho!"

"He left my sight at azimuth and course east thirty-two north. Does that suggest anything, Man?"

Tried to visualize. "Suggests they are going to land and try to capture you, Mike. Have you told Finn? I mean, have you told Prof to warn Finn?"

"Professor knows. But that is not the way I a.n.a.lyze it."

"So? Well, suggests I had better shut up and let you work."

Did so. Lenore fetched me breakfast while I inspected Junior-and am ashamed to say could not manage to grieve over losses with both Wyoh and Lenore present. Mum had sent Lenore out "to cook for Greg" after Milla's death-just an excuse; were enough wives at site to provide homecooking for everybody. Was for Greg's morale and Lenore's, too; Lenore and Milla had been close.

Junior seemed to be right. He was working on South America, one load at a time. I stayed in radar room and watched, at extreme magnification, while he placed one in estuary between Montevideo and Buenos Aires; Mike could not have been more accurate. I then checked his program for North America, found naught to criticize-locked it in and took key. Junior was on his own-unless Mike got clear of other troubles and decided to take back control.

Then sat and tried to listen to news both from Earthside and L-City. Co-ax cable from L-City carried phones, Mike's hookup to his idiot child, radio, and video; site was no longer isolated. But, besides cable from L-City, site had antennas pointed at Terra; any Earthside news Complex could pick up, we could listen to directly. Nor was this silly extra; radio and video from Terra had been only recreation during construction and this was now a standby in case that one cable was broken.

F.N. official satellite relay was claiming that Luna's ballistic radars had been destroyed and that we were now helpless. Wondered what people of Buenos Aires and Montevideo thought about that. Probably too busy to listen; m some ways water shots were worse than those where we could find open land.

Luna City Lunatic's video channel was carrying Sheenie telling Loonies outcome of attack by Esperance, repeating news while warning everybody that battle was not over, a warship would be back in our sky any moment-be ready for anything, everybody stay in p-suits (Sheenie was wearing his, with helmet open), take maximum pressure precautions, all units stay on red alert, all citizens not otherwise called by duty strongly urged to seek lowest level and stay there till all clear. And so forth.

He went through this several times-then suddenly broke it: "Flash! Enemy cruiser radar-sighted, low and fast. It may dido for Luna City. Flash! Missiles launched, headed for ejection end of-"

Picture and sound chopped off.

Might as well tell now what we at Little David's Sling learned later: Second cruiser, by coming in low and fast, tightest orbit Luna's field permits, was able to start its bombing at ejection end of old catapult, a hundred kilometers from catapult head and Brody's gunners, and knock many rings out in minute it took him to come into sight-and-range of drill guns, all cl.u.s.tered around radars at catapult head. Guess he felt safe. Wasn't. Brody's boys burned eyes out and ears off. He made one orbit after that and crashed near Torricelli, apparently in attempt to land, for his jets fired just before crash.

But our next news at new site was from Earthside: that bra.s.sy F.N. frequency claimed that our catapult had been destroyed (true) and that Lunar menace was ended (false) and called on all Loonies to take prisoner their false leaders and surrender themselves to mercy of Federated Nations (nonexistent-"mercy," that is).

Listened to it and checked programming again, and went inside dark radar room. If everything went as planned, we were about to lay another egg in Hudson River, then targets in succession for three hours across that continent-"in succession" because Junior could not handle simultaneous. .h.i.ts; Mike had planned accordingly.

Hudson River was. .h.i.t on schedule. Wondered how many New Yorkers were listening to F.N. newscast while looking at spot that gave it lie.

Two hours later F.N. station was saying that Lunar rebels had had missiles in orbit when catapult was destroyed-but that after those few had impacted would be no more. When third bombing of North America was complete I shut down radar. Had not been running steadily; Junior was programmed to sneak looks only as necessary, a few seconds at a time.

I then had nine hours before next bombing of Great China.

But not nine hours for most urgent decision, whether to hit Great China again. Without information. Except from Terra's news channels. Which might be false. b.l.o.o.d.y. Without knowing whether or not warrens had been bombed. Or Prof was dead or alive. Double b.l.o.o.d.y. Was I now acting prime minister? Needed Prof: "head of state" wasn't my gla.s.s of chai. Above all, needed Mike-to calculate facts, estimate uncertainties, project probabilities of this course or that.

My word, didn't even know whether ships were headed toward us and, worse yet, was afraid to look. If turned radar on and used Junior for sky search, any warship he brushed with beams would see him quicker than he saw them; warships were built to spot radar surveillance. So had heard. h.e.l.l, was no military man; was computer technician who had b.u.mbled into wrong field.

Somebody buzzed door; I got up and unlocked. Was Wyoh, with coffee. Didn't say a word, just handed it to me and went away.

Sipped it. There it is, boy-they're leaving you alone, waiting for you to pull miracles out of pouch. Didn't feel up to it.

From somewhere, back in my youth, heard Prof say, "Manuel, when faced with a problem you do not understand, do any part of it you do understand, then look at it again." He had been teaching me something he himself did not understand very well-something in maths-but had taught me something far more important, a basic principle.

Knew at once what to do first.

Went over to Junior and had him print out predicted impacts of all loads in orbit-easy, was a pre-program he could run anytime against real time running. While he was doing it, I looked for certain alternate programs in that long roll Mike had prepared.

Then set up some of those alternate programs-no trouble, simply had to be careful to read them correctly and punch them in without error. Made Junior print back for check before I gave him signal to execute.

When finished-forty minutes-every load in trajectory intended for an inland target had been retargeted for a seacoast city-with hedge to my bet that execution was delayed for rocks farther back. But, unless I canceled, Junior would reposition them as soon as need be.

Now horrible pressure of time was off me, now could abort any load into ocean right up to last few minutes before impact. Now could think. So did.

Then called in my 'War Cabinet"-Wyoh, Stu, and Greg my "Commander of Armed Forces," using Greg's office. Lenore was allowed to go in and out, fetching coffee and food, or sitting and saying nothing. Lenore is a sensible fem and knows when to keep quiet.

Stu started it. "Mr. Prime Minister, I do not think that Great China should be hit this time."

"Never mind fancy t.i.tles, Stu. Maybe I'm acting, maybe not. But haven't time for formality."

"Very well. May I explain my proposal?"

"Later." I explained what I had done to give us more time; he nodded and kept quiet. "Our tightest squeeze is that we are out of communication, both Luna City and Earthside. Greg, how about that repair crew?"

"Not back yet."

"If break is near Luna City, they may be gone a long time. If can repair at all. So must a.s.sume we'll have to act on our own. Greg, do you have an electronics tech who can jury-rig a radio that will let us talk to Earthside? To their satellites, I mean-that doesn't take much with right antenna. I may be able to help and that computer tech I sent you isn't too clumsy, either." (Quite good, in fact, for ordinary electronics-a poor bloke I had once falsely accused of allowing a fly to get into Mike's guts. I had placed him in this job.) "Harry Biggs, my power plant boss, can do anything of that sort," Greg said thoughtfully, "if he has the gear."

"Get him on it. You can vandalize anything but radar and computer once we get all loads out of catapult. How many lined up?"

"Twenty-three, and no more steel."

"So twenty-three it is, win or lose. I want them ready for loading; might lob them off today."

"They're ready. We can load as fast as the cat can throw them."

"Good. One more thing-Don't know whether there's an F.N. cruiser-maybe more than one-in our sky or not. And afraid to look. By radar, I mean; radar for skywatch could give away our position. But must have skywatch. Can you get volunteers for an eyeball skywatch and can you spare them?"

Lenore spoke up. "I volunteer!"

"Thanks, honey; you're accepted."

"We'll find them," said Greg. "Won't need fems."

"Let her do it, Greg; this is everybody's show." Explained what I wanted: Mare Undarum was now in dark semi-lunar; Sun had set. Invisible boundary between sunlight and Luna's shadow stretched over us, a precise locus. Ships pa.s.sing through our sky would wink suddenly into view going west, blink out going east. Visible part of orbit would stretch from horizon to some point in sky. If eyeball team could spot both points, mark one by bearing, other by stars, and approximate time by counting seconds, Junior could start guessing orbit-two pa.s.ses and Junior would know its period and something about shape of orbit. Then I would have some notion of when would be safe to use radar and radio, and catapult-did not want to loose a load with F.N. ship above horizon, could be radar-looking our way.

Perhaps too cautious-but had to a.s.sume that this catapult, this one radar, these two dozen missiles, were all that stood between Luna and total defeat-and our bluff hinged on them never knowing what we had or where it was. We had to appear endlessly able to pound Terra with missiles, from source they had not suspected and could never find.

Then as now, most Loonies knew nothing about astronomy-we're cave dwellers, we go up to surface only when necessary. But we were lucky; was amateur astronomer in Greg's crew, cobber who had worked at Richardson. I explained, put him in charge, let him worry about teaching eyeball crew how to tell stars apart. I got these things started before we went back to talk-talk. "Well, Stu? Why shouldn't we hit Great China?"

"I'm still expecting word from Dr. Chan. I received one message from him, phoned here shortly before we were cut off from cities-"

"My word, why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried to, but you had yourself locked in and I know better than to bother you when you are busy with ballistics. Here's the translation. Usual LuNoHo Company address with a reference which means it's for me and that it has come through my Paris agent. 'Our Darwin sales representative'-that's Chan-'informs us that your shipments of'-well, never mind the coding; he means the attack days while appearing to refer to last June-'were improperly packaged resulting in unacceptable damage. Unless this can be corrected, negotiations for long-term contract will be serously jeopardized."

Stu looked up. "All doubletalk. I take it to mean that Dr. Chan feels that he has his government ready to talk terms . . . but that we should let up on bombing Great China or we may upset his apple cart."

"Hmm-" Got up and walked around. Ask Wyoh's opinion? n.o.body knew Wyoh's virtues better than I. . . but she oscillated between fierceness and too-human compa.s.sion-and I had learned already that a "head of state," even an acting one, must have neither. Ask Greg? Greg was a good farmer, a better mechanic, a rousing preacher; I loved him dearly-but did not want his opinion. Stu? I had had his opinion.

Or did I? "Stu, what's your opinion? Not Chan's opinion-but your own."

Stu looked thoughtful. "That's difficult, Mannie. I am not Chinese, I have not spent much time in Great China, and can't claim to be expert in their politics nor their psychology. So I'm forced to depend on his opinion."

"Uh-d.a.m.n it, he's not a Loonie! His purposes are not our purposes. What does he expect to get out of it?"

"I think he is maneuvering for a monopoly over Lunar trade. Perhaps bases here, too. Possibly an extraterritorial enclave. Not that we would grant that."

"Might if we were hurtin'."

"He didn't say any of this. He doesn't say much, you know. He listens."

"Too well I know." Worried at it, more bothered each minute.

News from Earthside had been droning in background; I had asked Wyoh to monitor while I was busy with Greg. "Wyoh, hon, anything new from Earthside?"

"No. The same claims. We've been utterly defeated and our surrender is expected momentarily. Oh, there's a warning that some missiles are still in s.p.a.ce, falling out of control, but with it a rea.s.surance that the paths are being a.n.a.lyzed and people will be warned in time to avoid impact areas."

"Anything to suggest that Prof-or anybody in Luna City, or anywhere in Luna-is in touch with Earthside?"

"Nothing at all."

"d.a.m.n. Anything from Great China?"

"No. Comments from almost everywhere else. But not from Great China."

"Uh-" Stepped to door. "Greg! Hey, cobber, see if you can find Greg Davis. I need him."

Closed door. "Stu, we're not going to let Great China off."

"So?"

"No. Would be nice if Great China busted alliance against us; might save us some damage. But we've got this far only by appearing able to hit them at will and to destroy any ship they send against us. At least I hope that last one was burned and we've certainly clobbered eight out of nine. We won't get anywhere by looking weak, not while F.N. is claiming that we are not just weak but finished. Instead we must hand them surprises. Starting with Great China and if it makes Dr. Chan unhappy, we'll give him a kerchief to weep into. If we can go on looking strong-when F.N. says we're licked-then eventually some veto power is going to crack. If not Great China, then some other one."

Stu bowed without getting up. "Very well, sir."

"I-"

Greg came in. "You want me, Mannie?"

"What makes with Earthside sender?"

"Harry says you have it by tomorrow. A crummy rig, he says, but push watts through it and will be heard."

"Power we got. And if he says 'tomorrow' then he knows what he wants to build. So will be today-say six hours. I'll work under him. Wyoh hon, will you get my arms? Want number-six and number-three-better bring number-five, too. And you stick with me and change arms for me. Stu, want you to write some nasty messages-I'll give you general idea and you put acid in them. Greg, we are not going to get all those rocks into s.p.a.ce at once. Ones we have in s.p.a.ce now will impact in next eighteen, nineteen hours. Then, when F.N. is announcing that all rocks are accounted for and Lunar menace is over. . . we crash into their newscast and warn of next bombings. Shortest possible orbits, Greg, ten hours or less-so check everything on catapult and H-plant and controls; with that extra boost all has to be dead on."

Wyoh was back with arms; I told her "number six" and added, "Greg, let me talk with Harry."

Six hours later sender was ready to beam toward Terra. Was ugly job, vandalized mainly out of a resonance prospector used in project's early stages. But could ride an audio signal on its radio frequency and was powerful. Stu's nastified versions of my warnings had been taped and Harry was ready to zipsqueal them-all Terran satellites could accept high speed at sixty-to-one and had no wish to have our sender heated more seconds than necessary; eyeball watch had confirmed fears: At least two ships were in orbit around Luna.

So we told Great China that her major coastal cities would each receive a Lunar present offset ten kilometers into ocean-Pusan, Tsingtao, Taipei, Shanghai, Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Djakarta, Darwin, and so forth-except that Old Hong Kong would get one smack on top of F.N.'s Far East offices, so kindly have all human beings move far back. Stu noted that human beings did not mean F.N. personnel; they were urged to stay at desks.

India was given similar warnings about coastal cities and was told that F.N. global offices would be spared one more rotation out of respect for cultural monuments in Agra-and to permit human beings to evacuate. (I intended to extend this by another rotation as deadline approached-out of respect for Prof. And then another, indefinitely. d.a.m.n it, they would build their home offices next door to most overdecorated tomb ever built. But one that Prof treasured.) Rest of world was told to keep their seats; game was going extra innings. But stay away from any F.N. offices anywhere; we were frothing at mouth and no F.N. office was safe. Better yet, get out of any city containing an F.N. headquarters-but F.N. vips and finks were urged to sit tight.

Then spent next twenty hours coaching Junior into sneaking his radar peeks when our sky was clear of ships, or believed to be. Napped when I could and Lenore stayed with me and woke me in time for next coaching. And that ended Mike's rocks and we all went into alert while we got first of Junior's rocks flung high and fast. Waited until certain it had gone hot and true-then told Terra where to look for it and where and when to expect it, so that all would know that F.N.'s claims of victory were on a par with their century of lies about Luna-all in Stu's best, snotty, supercilious phrases delivered in his cultured accents.

First one should have been for Great China but was one piece of North American Directorate we could reach with it-her proudest jewel, Hawaii. Junior placed it in triangle formed by Maui, Molokai, and Lanai. I didn't work out programming; Mike had antic.i.p.ated everything.

Then p.r.o.nto we got off ten more rocks at short intervals (had to skip one program, a ship in our sky) and told Great China where to look and when to expect them and where-coastal cities we had neglected day before.

Was down to twelve rocks but decided was safer to run out of ammunition than to look as if we were running out. So I awarded seven to Indian coastal cities, picking new targets-and Stu inquired sweetly if Agra had been evacuated. If not, please tell us at once. (But heaved no rock at it.) Egypt was told to clear shipping out of Suez Ca.n.a.l-bluff; was h.o.a.rding last five rocks.

Then waited.

Impact at Lahaina Roads, that target in Hawaii. Looked good at high mag; Mike could be proud of Junior.

And waited.

Thirty-seven minutes before first China Coast impact Great China denounced actions of F.N., recognized us, offered to negotiate-and I sprained a finger punching abort b.u.t.tons.

Then was punching b.u.t.tons with sore finger; India stumbled over feet following suit.

Egypt recognized us. Other nations started scrambling for door.

Stu informed Terra that we had suspended-only suspended, not stopped-bombardments. Now get those ships out of our sky at once-NOW!--and we could talk. If they could not get home without refilling tanks, let them land not less than fifty kilometers from any mapped warren, then wait for their surrender to be accepted. But clear our sky now!

This ultimatum we delayed a few minutes to let a ship pa.s.s beyond horizon; we weren't taking chances-one missile and Luna would have been helpless.

And waited.

Cable crew returned. Had gone almost to Luna City, found break. But thousands of tonnes of loose rock impeded repair, so they had done what they could-gone back to a spot where they could get through to surface, erected a temporary relay in direction they thought Luna City lay, sent up a dozen rockets at ten-minute intervals, and hoped that somebody would see, understand, aim a relay at it-Any communication?

No.