a dozen witnesses whoclaim they did see it happen, including five or six of the news agencymen."
"And they knew what it was?"
"Enough of them did."
Thayer cursed softly. "No chance that one of them pitched the thing intothe diggings for an Earthside sensation?"
"I'm afraid not," Jackson said. "It was lying in the sifter after mostof the sand and dust had been blown away."
"Why didn't you call me at once?"
"I've been holding down something like a mutiny here, Silas. Vaughn gotaway before I could stop him, but I grounded the other aircars till youcould decide what to do. Our visitors don't like that. Neither do theylike the fact that I've put a guard over the section where the find wasmade, and haven't let them talk to Norm's work crew.
"Ronald Black and his staff have been fairly reasonable, but there'sbeen considerable mention of military highhandedness made by the others.This is the first moment I've been free."
"You did the right thing," Thayer said, "but I doubt it will help muchnow. Can you get hold of Ronald Black?"
"Yes, he's over there ..."
"Colonel Thayer?" another voice inquired pleasantly a few seconds later.
"Mr. Black," the colonel said carefully, "what occurred in the diggingsa short while ago may turn out to be a matter of great importance."
"That's quite obvious, sir."
"And that being the case," the colonel went on, "do you believe it wouldbe possible to obtain a gentleman's agreement from all witnesses tomake no mention of this apparent discovery until the information isreleased through the proper channels? I'm asking for your opinion."
"Colonel Thayer," Ronald Black's voice said, still pleasantly, "myopinion is that the only way you could keep the matter quiet is toarrest every civilian present, including myself, and hold usincommunicado. You have your duty, and we have ours. Ours does notinclude withholding information from the public which may signal thegreatest shift in the conduct of the Geest War in the past two decades."
"I understand," Thayer said. He was silent for some seconds, and perhapshe, too, was gazing during that time at a Fort Roye of the future--aClass A military base under his command, with Earth's great war vesselslined up along the length of the peninsula.
"Mr. Black," he said, "please be so good as to give your colleagues thisword from me. I shall make the most thorough possible investigation ofwhat has occurred and forward a prompt report, along with any materialevidence obtained, to my superiors on Earth. None of you will receiveany other statement from me or from anyone under my command. An attemptto obtain such a statement will, in fact, result in the arrest of theperson or persons involved. Is that clear?"
"Quite clear, Colonel Thayer," Ronald Black said softly. "And entirelysatisfactory."
* * * * *
"We have known for the past eight weeks," the man named Cranehart said,"that this was not what it appears to be ... that is, a section of aGeest weapon."
He shoved the object in question across the desk towards CommissionerSanford and Ronald Black. Neither of the two attempted to pick it up;they glanced at it, then returned their eyes attentively to Cranehart'sface.
"It is, of course, an excellent copy," Cranehart went on, "produced witha professional forger's equipment. As I imagine you're aware, thatshould have made it impossible to distinguish from the original weapon.However ... there's no real harm in telling you this now ... Geesttechnology has taken somewhat different turns than our own. In theirweapons they employ traces of certain elements which we are onlybeginning to learn to maintain in stable form. That is a matter yourgovernment has kept from public knowledge because we don't wish theGeests to learn from human prisoners how much information we are gainingfrom them.
"The instrument which made this copy naturally did not have suchelements at its disposal. So it employed their lower homologues and inthat manner successfully produced an almost identical model. In fact,the only significant difference is that such a gun, if it had been acomplete model, could not possibly have been fired." He smiled briefly."But that, I think you will agree, _is_ a significant difference! Weknew as soon as the so-called Geest gun was examined that it could onlyhave been made by human beings."
"Then," Commissioner Sanford said soberly, "its apparent discovery onRoye during our visit was a deliberate hoax--"
Cranehart nodded. "Of course."
Ronald Black said, "I fail to see why you've kept this quiet. Youneedn't have given away any secrets. Meanwhile the wave of publiccriticism at the government's seeming hesitancy to take action on thediscovery--that is, to rush protection to the threatened TerritorialSegments--has reached almost alarming proportions. You could havestopped it before it began two months ago with a single announcement."
"Well, yes," Cranehart said. "There were other considerations.Incidentally, Mr. Black, we are not unappreciative of the fact that thenews media under your own control exercised a generous restraint in thematter."
"For which," Black said dryly, "I am now very thankful."
"As for the others," Cranehart went on, "the government has survivedperiods of criticism before. That is not important. The important thingis that the Geest War has been with us for more than a human life spannow ... and it becomes difficult for many to bear in mind that until itsconclusion no acts that might reduce our ability to prosecute it can betolerated."
Ronald Black said slowly, "So you've been delaying the announcementuntil you could find out who was responsible for the hoax."
"We were interested," Cranehart said, "only in the important men--thedangerous men. We don't care much who else is guilty of what. This, yousee, is a matter of expediency, not of justice." He looked for a momentat the politely questioning, somewhat puzzled faces across the desk,went on, "When you leave this room, each of you will be conducted to anoffice where you will be given certain papers to sign. That is the firststep."
* * *
There was silence for some seconds. Ronald Black took a cigarette from aplatinum case, tapped it gently on the desk, put it to his mouth and litit. Cranehart went on, "It would have been impossible to unravel thisparticular conspiracy if the forgery had been immediately exposed. Atthat time, no one had taken any obvious action. Then, within a fewdays--with the discovery apparently confirmed by our silence--normalmaneuverings in industry and finance were observed to be under way. If amajor shift in war policy was pending, if one or more key bases were tobe established in Territorial Segments previously considered beyond therange of Geest reconnaissance and therefore secure from attack, thiswould be to somebody's benefit on Earth."
"Isn't it always?" Black murmured.
"Of course. It's a normal procedure, ordinarily of no concern togovernment. It can be predicted with considerable accuracy to whatgroup or groups the ultimate advantage in such a situation will go. Butin these past weeks, it became apparent that somebody else was winningout ... somebody who could have won out only on the basis of careful andextensive preparation for this very situation.
"That was abnormal, and it was the appearance of an abnormal pattern forwhich we had been waiting. We find there are seven men involved. Thesemen will be deprived of the advantage they have gained."
Ronald Black shook his head, said, "You're making a mistake, Cranehart.I'm signing no papers."
"Nor I," Sanford said thickly.
Cranehart rubbed the side of his nose with a fingertip, saidmeditatively, "You won't be forced to. Not directly." He nodded at thewindow. "On the landing flange out there is an aircar. It is possiblethat this aircar will be found wrecked in the mountains some fourhundred miles north of here early tomorrow morning. Naturally, we have asatisfactory story prepared to cover such an eventuality."
Sanford whitened slowly. He said, "So you'd resort to murder!"
Cranehart was silent for a few seconds. "Mr. Sanford," he said then,"you, as a member of the Territorial Office, know very well that theGeest War has consumed over four hundred million human live
s to date.That is the circumstance which obliges your government to insist on yourco-operation. I advise you to give it."
"But you have no proof! You have nothing but surmises--"
"Consider this," Cranehart said. "A conspiracy of the type I havedescribed constitutes a capital offense under present conditions. Areyou certain that you would prefer us to continue to look for proof?"
Ronald Black said in a harsh voice, "And what would the outcome be if wedid choose