being with only a fraction of theinternal disruption which normally follows empire-building.
But Man can flee as well as fight. Every invading army is preceded byhordes of refugees. Ships left every planet threatened by the Empire,seeking new, uncharted planets to settle--planets that would be safefrom the Imperial Fleet because they were hidden among a thousandthousand stars. Mankind spread through the galaxy faster than the Empirecould. Not even Jerris the First could completely consolidate the vastreaches of the galaxy into a single unit; one lifetime is simply notenough.
Nor are a dozen.
Slowly, the Empire had changed. Over the next several generations, theEmperors had yielded more and more of the absolute power that had beenleft to them by Jerris. While history never exactly repeats itself, aparallel could be drawn between the history of the Empire and thehistory of England between, say, 1550 and 1950. But, while England'sempire had begun to recede with the coming of democratic government, theTerran Empire continued to spread--more slowly than at first, butsteadily.
Until, that is, the Empire had touched the edges of the GehanFederation.
For the hordes that had fled from the Empire had not forgotten her; theyknew that one day the Empire would find them, that one day they wouldhave to fight for their independence. So they formed the Federation,with its capital on the third planet of Gehan's Sun.
It was a federation in name only. Even after several generations, therefugees had not been able to build up enough population to fight theEmpire. There was only one other way out, as they saw it. They formed amilitary dictatorship.
In the Twentieth Century, the German Third Reich, although outnumberedby its neighbors and enemies, populationwise, had concentrated all itsefforts on building an unbeatable war machine. Japan, also outnumbered,had done likewise. Between them, they thought they could beat the restof Earth. And they came dangerously close to succeeding.
The Gehan Federation had done the same thing, building up fleets andarmies and material stockpiles as though she were already at war.
And, in doing so, her citizens had voluntarily forfeited the very thingthey thought they were fighting for--their freedom.
But they posed a greater threat to the Terran Empire than that Empirehad ever faced before. Any nation so totally prepared for defensive warmay, at any moment, decide that the best defense is a good offense. Anynation which subjects its people to semislavery for the sake of war musteventually fight that war or suffer collapse.
The Empire had to change tactics. Instead of steady expansion, she wasforced into a deadly game of interstellar chess, making her playscarefully, so as not to touch off the explosive temper of her opponent.
It was not a situation to be handled by clumsy fools.
And Lord Senesin, the Prime Portfolio of the Imperial File, the electedleader of the Empire, the constitutional head of the ImperialGovernment, was accused, not only of being a clumsy fool, but of being adangerous madman. The planet Bairnvell was an independent, autonomically of the Gehan Federation, and, although not actually a member of theFederation, was presumably under her protection. For the Imperial Fleetto go to the aid of rebels trying to overthrow Bairnvell's lawfulgovernment seemed to be the act of an insane mind. The people of theEmpire wouldn't stand for it.
* * * * *
Colonel Lord Barrick Sorban was well aware of the temper of the peopleand of the situation that prevailed politically in the Empire--more so,in fact, than most men. He was also well aware that internal strife of avery serious nature could so dangerously weaken the Empire that theGehan Federation would be able to attack and win.
His job was to cut off that sort of thing before it could gain momentum.His job was to maintain the Empire; his only superior was the Emperorhimself; his subordinates hand-picked, well-trained, and, like himself,unobtrusive to the public eye. And not one of those subordinates knewwho the colonel's superior was.
The colonel strolled along the streets of Honolulu with all thecourteous aplomb of a man who was both an officer and a gentleman ofleisure. He dropped in at various respectable clubs and did variousrespectable things. He went into other places and did other things notso respectable. He gave certain orders to certain people and madecertain odd arrangements. When everything had been set up to hissatisfaction, he ate a leisurely dinner, topped it off with two glassesof Velaskan wine, read the tenth edition of the _Globe_, and strolledout to the street again, looking every inch the impeccable gentleman.
At ten minutes of eleven, he took a skycab to the fashionable apartmenthouse where the Honorable Jon Senesin, son of the Prime Portfolio, madehis home. The skycab deposited him on the roof at two minutes of eleven.The android doorman opened the entrance for him, and he took the dropchute down to the fifteenth floor. At precisely eleven o'clock, he wasfacing the announcer plate on Jon Senesin's door.
Senesin opened the door. There was a queer look--half jubilant, halfworried--on his face as he said: "Come in, my lord, come in. Care for adrink?"
"Don't mind if I do, Jon. Brandy, if you have it."
Young Senesin poured the brandy, speaking rapidly as he did. "I've madean appointment to get those tapes, my lord. I want you to go with me. Ifwe can get them, we can break this whole fraud wide open. Wide open." Hehanded the colonel a crystal goblet half filled with the clear,red-brown liquid. "Sorry I left so hurriedly this morning, but if thatHeywood character had said another word I'd have broken his nose forhim."
The colonel took the goblet and looked into its depths. "Jon, what doyou expect these tapes to prove?"
The young man's face darkened. He walked across the spacious room,brandy goblet in hand, and sat down on the wall couch before he spoke.
"Just what I told you, my lord. I expect to prove that my father's mindhas been tampered with--that he is not responsible for the decisionsthat have been made in his name--that he is going to lose his positionand his reputation and his career for something that he would never havedone in his right mind--that he has been the duped pawn of someoneelse."
The colonel walked over toward the couch and stood over the young man."Someone? You keep referring to 'someone.' Ever since you asked me tohelp you, you've been mysterious about this someone. Whom do yoususpect?"
Senesin looked up at the colonel for a long moment before he answered.Then: "I suspect the Emperor himself," he said, half defiantly.
The colonel raised his finely-drawn brows just a fraction of an inch, asthough he hadn't known what the answer would be. "The Emperor? HannikarIV? Isn't that a little far-fetched?"
Senesin shook his head vehemently. "Don't you see? Legally, the Emperoris powerless; the Throne hasn't had any say-so in the Government forover a century--except to sign state papers and such. But suppose anEmperor came along who wanted power--power such as the old Emperors usedto have. How would he go about getting it? By controlling theGovernment! He could slowly force them to give him back the powers thatthe people of the Empire have taken so many centuries to obtain."
The colonel shook his head. "Impossible. Not even the Emperor couldcontrol the votes of the whole File for that purpose. It simply couldn'tbe done."
"Not that way; of course not," the young man said irritably. "But there_is_ a way. It's been used before. Are you up on your history?"
"Reasonably well," the colonel said dryly.
"How did Julius Caesar get dictatorial powers? And, after him, Augustus?Rome was threatened by war, and then actually engaged in it, and thepatricians were glad to give power to a strong man."
"That was in a state ruled by the few patricians," the colonel pointedout, "not in a democracy."
"Very well, then; what about the United States, during World War II?Look at the extraordinary powers granted to the President--first to stopa depression, then to win a war. What might have happened if he hadn'tdied? Would he have gone on to a fifth and a sixth term? How much morepower could he have usurped from the hands of Congress?"
The colonel wondered vaguely what history texts yo
ung Senesin had read,but he didn't ask. "All right," he said, "now tie your examples up withHis Majesty."
"It's very simple. By controlling the mind of the Prime Portfolio, theEmperor can plunge the Empire into war with the Gehan Federation. Oncethat has been done, he can begin to ask for extraordinary powers fromthe File. If he has a few key men under his thumb, he can swing themajority of the File any way he wants to. Don't you see that?"
The colonel said: "It does make a certain amount of sense." He paused,looking at the young man speculatively. "Tell me, son: why did you pickme to tell this tale to?"
Senesin's sensitive face betrayed his anxiety. "Because you have been myfather's best and oldest friend. If he's really being made a puppet of,I should think you'd