“I’m honored, sir. But the truth is that I might not be enough now. The ongoing campaign against PHC has turned ugly and desperate.”
Hawthorne turned away from Mune. Craning his neck, he looked up at the sunlamps. The heat felt good, even if it did cause his clothes to stick to him. He had acted too precipitously, he saw that now.
“We’re being squeezed,” Hawthorne said, as he let the sunlamp’s heat beat against his face. “Years of losing ground, as the Highborn tighten a noose around our collective throats—”
Hawthorne faced Mune. “I’m out of ideas.”
“I’m not sure I believe that, sir.”
Hawthorne looked back up at the sunlamp. “I’m not talking about tactical battlefield surprises, but original ideas that approach this from a new angle. Yezhov had ideas. He killed Highborn in a degenerate fashion, but it was new and frankly, inventive. As for me—we fought the Highborn to a standstill at Mars. It changed nothing. Earlier, we struck at the Sun-Works Factory, to little effect. My grand plans have delayed the enemy, but I’ve done nothing to reverse the direction of the war.”
“The Highborn have problems, too, sir,” Mune said. “We just don’t know what they are.”
“Don’t use my own words against me. That’s too depressing today.”
“You’ve implemented plans that have contested every inch of ground,” Mune said. “The emergency construction of more proton beams and the mass merculite missile sites were entirely your ideas, sir. Without you—”
“We must beat them back,” Hawthorne said. “I don’t know how to beat them back. Now everything threatens to unravel because I’ve started an underground war with PHC. I don’t dare let up or they’ll devour me on the rebound. The military will lose morale if I retreat. No. It’s them or me, and I intend to come out victorious.”
“I’ve thought about the attack on Yezhov, sir. Why would PHC personnel kill their chief?”
“He was going to tell me everything he knew, or the mind-scanner would have revealed it.”
“Begging your pardon, sir, but you’d just countermanded the order. The doctor injected him then.”
“The doctor might have injected Yezhov during the operation to ensure his silence. Since he thought the chance had passed, the doctor attacked when he did.”
“You saw the doctor’s face, sir. In my opinion, he was no longer rational.”
Hawthorne began to unbutton his uniform before he had a heatstroke. There was rot in Social Unity and it was growing. Maybe there had always been the rot, and maybe there was in any human organization. Now the endless defeats versus the Highborn and the growing pressure made the rot more noticeable. Somehow, he had to burn out the gangrene and then find a way to stiffen North American Sector.
Don’t lie to yourself, James.
He had to drive the Highborn from Earth orbit. That was the only true way to win the war. Yet how could he achieve such a miracle? The strongest SU Battlefleet remained in Mars orbit. Yet those remaining warships dared not travel here and face the Doom Stars a second time.
What were the cyborgs doing in Neptune? Had they attacked the Saturn System as some reports indicated? The cyborgs had attacked the Jovian System, but failed to take it. That was interesting for several reasons.
The cyborgs…there were altered people on Earth—proto-cyborgs. The proto-cyborgs had similar brainwave patterns as found in the SU Battlefleet after the Highborn retreated. Who had altered these people on Earth? The evidence pointed to PHC. The evidence was also mounting that cyborgs were here, and they were always dangerous to human life.
After wiping sweat from his face, Hawthorne fanned himself. He’d struck at Political Harmony Corps and found it to be like the hydra that Hercules of the Greek myths had battled. Each time Hercules had cut off a hydra head, another two had grown in its place. If he couldn’t kill PHC, he had to call a truce with them. Which was the better decision?
“I need to call a meeting,” Hawthorne said.
“The Directors are clamoring for one.”
“I’ll talk with Danzig and Juba-Ryder, but none of the others.”
“The others will take that as a slight, sir.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to repeat my own words to me?”
“You did, sir. You also told me to always tell you the truth—that you trusted truth-tellers more than you did yes-men.”
“I wouldn’t mind a few yes-men now and again,” Hawthorne said.
“You would hate them, sir, and they would weaken your position.”
“Danzig and Juba-Ryder, call the two old Directors. I want Specialist Cone there, Crowfoot—” Hawthorne asked, “What’s the situation on Director Danzig?”
“Extremely comprising,” said Mune.
Hawthorne shook his head. “I’m getting slow and forgetful. Hmm. I’ll give you the rest of the names in an hour, and then I’ll see them tomorrow. Today….” Hawthorne stared up at a sunlamp. He needed ideas, but he was fresh out of them. Maybe the meeting tomorrow would jog something in him, but he doubted it. He dreaded the possibility that all initiative had left Social Unity for good. He dreaded the nearly certain truth that all he could look forward too was the relentless grind of defeat as he bitterly hung on for as long as he could.
-13-
Sharply at 6:13 A.M. the next morning, the meeting began on Level Three of New Baghdad. It was held in the Supreme Commander’s quarters. Director Danzig of China Sector and Director Juba-Ryder of Egyptian Sector joined Air Marshal Crowfoot of Earth-Air Defense, Security Specialist Cone and Field Marshal Mead of Missile Defense.
Two years ago in order to dilute the power of the Directorate, Hawthorne had shrunk each Director’s area of authority. Danzig used to run Eurasia and Juba-Ryder Africa. As the area under Social Unity control shrank, the number of Directors had risen to three times the former size.
Captain Mune attended, sitting in back. Outside waited three more bionic soldiers, part of Hawthorne’s new personal security team.
***
From the Supreme Commander’s biocomp transcriptions, File #3:
The meeting opened with a long, detailed report by Cone on the conflict between Hawthorne’s security teams and renegade PHC murder-squads. Next, Crowfoot spoke about the impossibility of airlifting critical reinforcements to North American Sector. Hawthorne made few comments on these reports. Army Chief of Staff Engel entered and reported on Eurasian and African readiness for Highborn invasions. He then took his leave, and the Supreme Commander began to comment.
HAWTHORNE: The situation is grim. Everywhere we are on the defensive. Yet we have certain strengths remaining, as pointed out by the Army Chief of Staff. We hold Eurasia and Africa in a fierce grip. It is the majority of the landmass on Earth, and Earth is by far the most important planet of the Solar System. We, therefore, continue to hold the critical real estate. Earth is heavily armed with proton beams, merculite missiles and point-defense cannons. We also have more trained soldiers than at the beginning of the hostilities.
MEAD: We have twenty times the number of missiles now.
HAWTHORNE: Yes, an excellent point. Unfortunately, it is also true that in order to win a war, one must do more than defend. One must attack. We last attacked at Mars, which happened much too long ago.
DANZIG: I’d like to comment on that, if I may.
HAWTHORNE: This is an open meeting.
DANZIG: We took a gamble then. It resulted in the destruction of a Doom Star. Yet it also resulted in the loss of the farm habitats. Mass starvation has badly shaken Social Unity. I wonder if here is the source of the hostility between PHC and yourself.
CONE: Hostility? It is an urban campaign fought in our cities like a civil war. We cannot afford it. (To Hawthorne) I suggest we call out the military instead of just using the security teams.