“Y-yes. I guess so.”
“You’re a smart fellow, Lambert. You don’t have to beat information but of prisoners. Trick it out.”
“I’ll try, sir.”
“Good.” Danielis glanced at the watch that had been given him as per tradition, together with a sidearm, when he was first commissioned. (Such items were much too expensive for the common man. They had not been so in the age of mass production; and perhaps in the coming age—) “I have to go. See you around.”
He left the tent feeling somewhat more cheerful than before. No doubt I am a natural-born preacher, he admitted, and I never could quite join in the horseplay at mess, and a lot of jokes go completely by me; but if I can get even a few ideas across where they count, that’s pleasure enough. A strain of music came to him, some men and a banjo under a tree, and he found himself whistling along. It was good that this much morale remained, after Maricopa and a northward march whose purpose had not been divulged to anybody.
The conference tent was big enough to be called a pavilion. Two sentries stood at the entrance. Danielis was nearly the last to arrive, and found himself at the end of the table, opposite Brigadier General Perez. Smoke hazed the air and there was a muted buzz of conversation, but faces were taut.
When the blue-robed figure with a Yang and Yin on the entered, silence fell like a curtain. Danielis was astonished to recognize Philosopher Woodworth. He’d last seen the man in Los Angeles, and assumed he would stay at the Esper center there. Must have come here by special conveyance, under special orders ...
Perez introduced him. Both remained standing, under the eyes of the officers. “I have some important news for you, gentlemen,” Perez said most quietly. “You may consider it an honor to be here. It means that in my judgment you can be trusted first, to keep absolute silence about what you are going to hear, and second, to execute a vital operation of extreme difficulty.” Danielis was made shockingly aware that several men were not present whose rank indicated they should be.
“I repeat,” Perez said, “any breach of secrecy and the whole plan is ruined. In that case, the war will drag on for months or years. You know how bad our position is. You also know it will grow still worse as our stocks of those supplies the enemy now denies us are consumed. We could even be beaten. I’m not defeatist to say that, only realistic. We could lose the war.
“On the other hand, if this new scheme pans out, we may break the enemy’s back this very month.”
He paused to let that sink in before continuing.
“The plan was worked out by GHQ in conjunction with Esper Central in San Francisco some weeks ago. It’s the reason we are headed north—” He let the gasp subside that through the stifling air. “Yes, you know that the Esper Order is neutral in political disputes. But you also know that it defends itself when attacked. And you probably know that an attack was made on it by the rebels. They seized the Napa settlement and have been spreading malicious rumors the Order since then. Would you like to comment on that, Philosopher Woodworth?”
The man in blue nodded and said coolly: “We’ve our own way of findin’ out things—intelligence service, you might say—so I can give y’all a report of the facts. St. Helena was attacked at a time when most of its adepts were away, helpin’ a new community get started out in Montana.” How did they move so fast? Danielis wondered. Teleport, or what? “I don’t know, myself, if the enemy knew about that or were just lucky. Anyhow, when the two or three adepts that were left came and warned them off, fightin’ broke out and the Adepts were killed before they could act.” He smiled. “We don’t don’t claim to be immortal, except the way every living thing is immortal. Nor infallible, either. So now St. Helena’s occupied. We don’t figure to take any immediate steps about that, because a lot of people in the community might get hurt.
“As for the yarns the enemy command been handin’ out, well, I reckon I’d do the same, if I had a chance like that. Everybody knows an adept can do things that nobody else can. Troops that realize they’ve done wrong to the Order are goin’ to be scared of supernatural revenge. You’re educated men here, and know there’s nothin’ supernatural involved, just a way to use the powers latent in most of us. You also know the Order doesn’t believe in revenge. But the ordinary foot soldier doesn’t think your way. His officers have got to restore his spirit somehow. So they fake some equipment and tell him that’s what the adepts were really usin’—an advanced technology, sure, but only a set of machines that can be put out of action if you’re brave, same as any other machine. That’s what happened.
“Still, it is a threat to the Order; and we can’t let an attack on our people go unpunished, either. So Esper Central has decided to help out your side. The sooner this war’s over, the better for everybody.”
A sigh gusted around the tattle, and a few exultant oaths. The hair stirred on Danielis’ neck. Perez lifted a hand.
“Not too fast, please,” the general said. “The adepts are not going to go around blasting your opponents for you. It was one hell of a tough decision for them to do as much as they agreed to. I, uh, understand that the, uh, personal development of every Esper will be set back many years by this much violence. They’re making a big sacrifice.
“By their charter, they can use psionics to defend an establishment against attack. Okay ... an assault on San Francisco will be construed as one on Central, their work! headquarters.”
The realization of what was to come was blinding to Danielis. He scarcely heard Perez’ carefully dry continuation:
“Let’s review the strategic picture. By now the enemy holds more than half of California, all of Oregon and Idaho, and a good deal of Washington. We, this army, we’re using the last land access to San Francisco that we’ve got. The enemy hasn’t tried to pinch that off yet, because the troops we pulled out of the north—those that aren’t in the field at present—make a strong city, garrison that’d sally out. He’s collecting too much profit elsewhere to accept the cost.
“Nor can he invest the city with any hope of success. We hold Puget Sound and the southern California ports. Our ships bring in ample food and munitions. His own sea power much inferior to ours; chiefly schooners donated by coastal bossmen operating out of Portland. He might overwhelm an occasional convoy, but hasn’t tried that so far because it isn’t worth his trouble; there would be others, more heavily escorted. And of course he can’t enter the Bay, with artillery and rocket emplacements on both sides of the Golden Gate. No, about all be can do is maintain some water communication with Hawaii and Alaska.
“Nevertheless, his ultimate object is San Francisco. It has to be—the seat of government and industry, the heart of the nation.
“Well; then, here’s the plan. Our army is to engage the Sierra Command and its militia auxiliaries again, striking out of San Jose. That’s a perfectly logical maneuver. Successful, it would cut his California forces in two. We know, in fact, that he is already concentrating men in anticipation of precisely such an attempt.
“We aren’t going to succeed. We’ll give him a good stiff battle and be thrown back. That’s the hardest part: to feign serious defeat, even convincing our own troops, and still maintain good order. Well have a lot of details to thresh out about that
“We’ll retreat northward, up the Peninsula toward Frisco. The enemy is bound to pursue. It will look like a God-given chance to destroy us and get to the city walls.