colony established by the Mars Convicts and theirdescendants.
That was the basic plan. The task of developing a stardrive remained ahuge one because of the complete lack of information about thedirection organized research should take. That difficulty would beovercome easily only by a second unpredictable twist offortune--unless one of the Mars Convicts' FTL ships ventured closeenough to Earth to be captured.
The last had now happened. The ship had been destroyed before it couldbe investigated, so that advantage was again lost. The ship's pilot,however, remained in their hands. The fact that he disclaimed havinginformation pertinent to the drive meant nothing. So far as he knew,he might very well be speaking the truth. But he had piloted a shipthat employed the stardrive, was familiar with instruments whichcontrolled it, had been schooled in their use. A detailedinvestigation of his memories could not fail to provide literallyhundreds of meaningful clues. And the Machine's scientists, in theirsuperficially still fruitless search for the nature of the drive, had,in fact, covered basic possibilities with such comprehensivethoroughness that a few indisputably valid clues would show them nowwhat it _must_ be.
* * * * *
The prisoner, still demonstrating an extraordinary degree ofobliviousness to what lay in store for him, appeared to welcome theopportunity to be heard by the directors of the Machine. Menesee,leaning back in his chair, studied the man thoughtfully, giving onlypartial attention to what was said. This was the standard openingstage of a Tribunal interrogation, an underplayed exchange ofquestions and answers. Innocuous as it seemed, it was part of aprocedure which had become refined almost to an unvarying ritual--aritual of beautiful and terrible precision which never failed toachieve its goals. Every man watching and listening in the Machine'sauditoriums across the world was familiar with the swift processes bywhich a normal human being was transformed into a babbling puppet, hisevery significant thought becoming available for the upper echelons toregard and evaluate.
They would, of course, use torture. It was part of the interlockingmechanisms of interrogation, no more to be omitted than thepreliminary conditioning by drug and hypnosis. Menesee was not undulysqueamish, but he felt some relief that it would not be the crudeinstruments ranked beside the prisoner which would be used. They werereserved as a rule for offending members of the organization,providing a salutary warning for any others who might be tempted toact against the interests of the Machine or fail culpably in theirduties. This prisoner, as an individual, meant nothing to the Machine.He was simply a source of valuable information. Therefore, only directnerve stimulation would be employed, in the manipulation of whichSpokesman Dorn was a master.
So far the Spokesman had restricted himself to asking the prisonerquestions, his voice and manner gravely courteous. To Menesee'ssurprised interest, he had just inquired whether two men of the lastEarth ship to visit Mars, who had disappeared there, might not havebeen captured by Mars Convicts operating secretly within the SolarSystem.
"Yes, sir," Rainbolt replied readily, "they were. I'm happy to saythat they're still alive and well."
Menesee recalled the incident now. After the mass escape of the MarsConvicts, the penal settlements had been closed down and the miningoperations abandoned. To guard the desert planet against FTL raidersas Earth was guarded was technically infeasible. But twice each decadea patrol ship went there to look for signs that the Mars Convicts hadreturned. The last of these patrols had been conducted two yearsbefore. The missing men were believed to have been inspecting adeserted settlement in a ground vehicle when they vanished, but notrace of them or the vehicle could be discovered.
Administrator Bradshaw, seated to the spokesman's left, leaned forwardas if to speak, but then sat back again. Menesee thought thatRainbolt's blunt admission had angered him. Bradshaw, white-haired andhuge in build, had been for many years the nominal head of theMachine; but in practice the powers of the administrator were lessthan those of the spokesman, and it would have been a breach ofprotocol for Bradshaw to intervene in the interrogation.
Dorn appeared to have noticed nothing. He went on. "What was thereason for capturing these men?" "It was necessary," Rainboltexplained, "to find out what the conditions on Earth were like atpresent. At the time we didn't want to risk discovery by coming tooclose to Earth itself. And your two men were able to tell us all weneeded to know."
"What was that?" the spokesman said.
Rainbolt was silent a moment, then said, "You see, sir, most of thepast sixty years have been spent in finding new worlds on which humanbeings can live without encountering too many difficulties. Butthen--"
Dorn interrupted quietly, "You found such worlds?"
"Yes, sir, we did," Rainbolt said. "We're established, in about equalnumbers, on planets of three star systems. Of course, I'm not allowedto give you more precise information on that at present."
"Quite understandable," the spokesman agreed dryly.
Menesee was conscious of a stir of intense interest among thelistening directors in the hall. This was news, indeed! Mingled withthe interest was surprised amusement at the prisoner's artlessassumption that he had any choice about what he would or would nottell.
"But now that we're established," Rainbolt went on, apparently unawareof the sensation he had created, "our next immediate concern is toresume contact with Earth. Naturally, we can't do that freely whileyour Machine remains in political control of the planet. We found outfrom the two captured men that it still is in control. We'd hoped thatafter sixty years government in such a form would have become obseletehere."
* * * * *
Menesee heard an astonished murmuring from the director boxes on hisright, and felt himself that the fellow's impudent last remark mightwell have been answered by a pulse of nerve stimulation. SpokesmanDorn, however, replied calmly that the Machine happened to beindispensable to Earth. A planetary economy, and one on the verge ofbecoming an interplanetary and even interstellar economy, was simplytoo intricate and precariously balanced a structure to maintainwithout the assistance of a very tightly organized governing class.
"If the Machine were to vanish today," he explained, "Earth wouldapproach a state of complete chaos before the month was out. In ayear, a billion human beings would be starving to death. There wouldbe fighting ... wars--" He shrugged, "You name it. No, my friend, theMachine is here to stay. And the Mars Convicts may as well resignthemselves to the fact."
Rainbolt replied earnestly that he was not too well informed ineconomics, that not being his field. However, he had been told andbelieved that while the situation described by the spokesman would betrue today, it should not take many years to train the populations ofEarth to run their affairs quite as efficiently as the Machine haddone, and without loss of personal and political liberties.
At any rate, the Mars Convicts and their descendants did not intendto give up the independence they had acquired. On the other hand, theyhad two vital reasons for wanting to come to an agreement with Earth.One was that they might waste centuries in attempting to accomplish bythemselves what they could now do immediately if Earth's vastresources were made available to them. And the other, of course, wasthe obvious fact that Earth would not remain indefinitely without astardrive of its own. If an unfriendly government was in control whenit obtained one, the Mars Convicts would be forced either to abandontheir newly settled planets and retreat farther into the galaxy orsubmit to Earth's superior strength.
Meanwhile, however, they had developed the principles of Oneness.Oneness was in essence a philosophy, but it had many practicalapplications; and it was in such practical applications that he,Rainbolt, was a trained specialist. He had, therefore, been dispatchedto Earth to introduce the principles, which would in time bring aboutthe orderly disintegration of the system of the Machine, to befollowed by the establishment of an Earth government with which theMars Convicts could deal without detriment to themselves.
Menesee had listened with a sense of growing angry in
credulity. Thefellow couldn't be as much of a fool as he seemed! Therefore, he haddevised this hoax after he realised he would be captured, to cover uphis real purpose which could only be that of a spy. Menesee saw thatAdministrator Bradshaw was saying something in a low voice to thespokesman, his face stony. Dorn glanced over at him, then looked backat the prisoner and said impassively, "So the goal of your missionarywork here is the disintegration of the Machine?"
Rainbolt nodded, with an air almost of eagerness. "Yes, sir, it is!And if I will now be permitted to--"
"I am afraid you will be permitted to do nothing," Spokesman Dorn saiddryly, "except, of course, to answer the number of questions we intendto ask you."
Rainbolt checked himself, looking startled. The spokesman's hand