treatment. But the leaders of the group areagents of the Gehan Federation. My men are picking them up now. The manthat contacted you and me last night was arrested within two minutesafter we left."
"But--the _evidence_! Those tapes. The documents. They all seemedgenuine. They seemed so convincing."
"They should be convincing, Jon," said Lord Senesin in his smoothoratorical baritone. "You see, they are perfectly true."
Jon Senesin looked at his father as though the older man had suddenlysprouted an extra set of ears. "Y ... You've been brainwashed?"
The Prime Portfolio shook his head. "No, son, not that. Did you seeanything like that on the tapes?"
"N-no. But the others. Fileman Brenner, Portfolio for Defense Vane,General Finster--all of them. I thought--"
"You thought wrong, son," said Lord Senesin. "I am and always have beenworking loyally with His Majesty. He gives the orders, and I carry themout."
Jon's voice became taut. "You mean you're helping him? You're trying toget the Empire into a war with the Gehan Federation so that _he_ canbecome another dictator, like Jerris the First?" He kept his eyescarefully averted from the Emperor as he spoke.
Thus he didn't notice that His Majesty looked at Colonel Sorban with anexpression that said, "You're right. He does have guts."
Lord Senesin said: "No, son; I'm not working toward that at all. Neitheris His Majesty. There would be no point in it."
Then, for the first time, the Emperor spoke. His voice was soft, butcommanding. "Mr. Senesin, let me explain something to you."
Jon Senesin's head jerked around. There was a confused mixture of fearand determination on his face.
"Mr. Senesin, I no more want war than you do. I am trying to avoid itwith every power at my command. I have that duty to my people. But Ihave another duty, too. A duty, not just to the Empire, but to the humanrace as a whole. And that duty is to establish, not a Terran Empire, buta Galactic Empire--a single, consolidated government for every planet inthe galaxy. Man can't go on this way, divided, split up, warring withhimself. Man can't live in isolation, cut off from other worlds, othertypes of societies.
"We can't have a part of the human race living in constant fear ofanother part. We can't allow the conditions that exist at this moment inthe Gehan Federation. To paraphrase Lincoln, 'The galaxy cannot existhalf slave and half free.'
"Right now, there is evidence that the Gehan Federation will collapseinternally within less than five years. The only way for the Presidentof the Federation to avert that collapse will be to declare war on theEmpire. We have had to take certain risks in order to insure that whenand if war does come, we will win it.
"Bairnvell was one of those risks. Not too great a one, as it turns out;evidently the Federation government doesn't see that our possession ofthat base is a vital factor in our own defense. Strategy in threedimensions isn't easy to reason out.
"Mr. Senesin, I have no desire for power in a personal way. Any power Ihave is used for the good of my people. I have no police system forterrorizing the people; I don't suppress the freedom of every man to sayor print what he wants. To call your Sovereign a fatheaded slob in anewsfac might be considered bad taste, but it isn't illegal. I can'teven bring a civil suit against you, the way an ordinary citizen could.
"Now, I'll grant that I sometimes use illegal means to control theEmpire. But there are reasons for that. I--"
He was interrupted by a soft chime. He pressed a button on his armchair."Yes?"
"You go on the interstellar hookup in twenty minutes, Sire. The File hasassembled," said a voice from a speaker.
"I'll be right there." He stood up and glanced apologetically at theother three men. "Sorry. Political announcement, you know. You two goahead and explain to Mr. Senesin." Then he looked directly at the PrimePortfolio. "I'll tell them you're slightly ill." He reached out, tookLord Senesin's hand, and grasped it firmly. "I'll make it look good, oldfriend, don't worry. I'll need your help with Lord Evondering when hegets the Primacy."
* * * * *
The other men were on their feet already. They watched in silence as hewalked out the door, then eased themselves back into their chairs.
"I still don't understand," Jon said softly. The bitterness and angerseemed to have left him, leaving only puzzlement in their wake. "If youtake orders from him, Dad, then this isn't a democracy any more. It'sbecome another Imperial dictatorship."
"Son," said his father, "the Empire never has been a democracy in thesense you're thinking about. Ever since Jerris the First, it has beenruled solely by the Emperors. Always.
"The Imperial Family is a special breed, son. It's a genetic strain inwhich the quality of wise leadership is dominant. It's a quality that'smore than just intelligence; wisdom is the ability to make correctjudgments, not only for one's self, but for others."
"But, Dad!" There was almost a wail in the boy's voice. "That makes thewhole democratic system in the Empire a farce! It's totally unnecessary!_You're_ unnecessary! He could run everything by himself!"
Lord Senesin started to say something, but Colonel Sorban interrupted.
"No, you young fool, he is _not_ unnecessary! He is, in a very realsense, the Emperor's shield. Our Emperors have always given the peopleof the Empire the kind of government they _need_, not the kind ofgovernment they _want_. There are certain things that _must_ be done,whether the people like those things or not.
"How long do you think the Empire would last without the Imperial Lineto guide it? Not ten years! The thing is too big, too vast, for anyordinary man to handle the job. The voters are perfectly capable ofelecting a man to the Primacy on the strength of his likable personalityalone--look at Lord Evondering. A hell of a pleasant guy, without aglimmering of real wisdom.
"When the people don't like the things the Government does, they throwit out--even if the thing done was actually for the best. The peopledemand a new Government. We can't allow them to throw the Emperor out,so we need a scapegoat. This time, it happened to be your father, here.He happened to be Prime at a crucial time, and he had to give ordersthat made him unpopular. So he'll have to get out, and let the LoyalOpposition take over. But the Emperor will go right on running things.
"Your father is far from unnecessary, son. He's a hero, dammit, andyou'd better remember that! He's taking the rap for another man becausehe knows that he is expendable and the other man isn't.
"Oh, your father could probably ride this thing out and stay in thePrimacy for a couple more years. But this mess with the Federation isgoing to get a lot stickier than it is now. The Emperor is going to haveto do things that the people will hate even worse, and we might as welllet that fool Evondering take the rap. He'll look so bad by the time heleaves the Primacy that everyone will be screaming for your father backagain, to clean up the mess."
Jon Senesin still looked dazed. "But, if that's the case, why allow thepeople to vote at all?"
"Because that's the only way you can keep an Empire stable! As long asthe average man feels he has a voice in his Government, he's forced toadmit that any failures are partly his own fault. Nobody rebels againsta government he can vote against. As long as he has ballots, he won'tuse bullets."
Lord Senesin said: "I know it's a shock, coming this way. But look at itright, son."
* * * * *
"I am," said Jon slowly. "At least, I think I am. But it doesn't reallyseem right. Not yet." He looked at the colonel. "One thing I don'tunderstand, my lord. Why did you let me take all that evidence around tothe newsies? And why are you telling me all this now? I'm still notfully convinced. Aren't you afraid I'll tell the whole story?"
But it was his father who answered. "You tried that, son. It didn'twork, did it?"
"No. But _why_? Why wouldn't they believe me, even when I had all thatevidence?"
"Because they don't _want_ to believe you," said the colonel. "Ever hearof a father-image? The Emperor is a symbol, Jon. He's not a human beingin the eyes of the
average man. He's the kind All-Father, the godlikebeing who dispenses mercy, but not justice.
"Haven't you ever noticed that orders of judgment against criminals aresigned only by the courts and by the Portfolio of the Interior? Butpardons and paroles are signed by the Emperor.
"It may not sound ethical to you, but that's the way the Emperor has tooperate. He takes credit for all the nice things he does, and letsothers take the blame for anything that's