The Highest Treason Page 4

  _The Traitor_

  Convincing the Kerothi that he was in earnest was more difficult thanMacMaine had at first supposed. He had done his best, and now, afternearly a year of captivity, Tallis had come to tell him that his offerhad been accepted.

  General Tallis sat across from Colonel MacMaine, smoking his cigaretteabsently.

  "Just why are they accepting my proposition?" MacMaine asked bluntly.

  "Because they can afford to," Tallis said with a smile. "You will bewatched, my sibling-by-choice. Watched every moment, for any sign oftreason. Your flagship will be a small ten-man blaster-boat--one of ourown. You gave us one; we'll give you one. At the worst, we will comeout even. At the best, your admittedly brilliant grasp of tactics andstrategy will enable us to save thousands of Kerothi lives, to saynothing of the immense savings in time and money."

  "All I ask is a chance to prove my ability and my loyalty."

  "You've already proven your ability. All of the strategy problems thatyou have been given over the past year were actual battles that hadalready been fought. In eighty-seven per cent of the cases, yourstrategy proved to be superior to our own. In most of the others, itwas just as good. In only three cases was the estimate of your losseshigher than the actual losses. Actually, we'd be fools to turn youdown. We have everything to gain and nothing to lose."

  "I felt the same way a year ago," said MacMaine. "Even being watchedall the time will allow me more freedom than I had on Earth--if theBoard of Strategy is willing to meet my terms."

  Tallis chuckled. "They are. You'll be the best-paid officer in theentire fleet; none of the rest of us gets a tenth of what you'll begetting, as far as personal value is concerned. And yet, it costs uspractically nothing. You drive an attractive bargain, Sepastian."

  "Is that the kind of pay you'd like to get, Tallis?" MacMaine askedwith a smile.

  "Why not? You'll get your terms: full pay as a Kerothi general, withretirement on full pay after the war is over. The pick of the mostbeautiful--by your standards--of the Earthwomen we capture. A home onKeroth, built to your specifications, and full citizenship, includingthe freedom to enter into any business relationships you wish. If youkeep your promises, we can keep ours and still come out ahead."

  "Good. When do we start?"

  "Now," said Tallis rising from his chair. "Put on your dress uniform,and we'll go down to see the High Commander. We've got to give you aset of general's insignia, my sibling-by-choice."

  Tallis waited while MacMaine donned the blue trousers and gold-trimmedred uniform of a Kerothi officer. When he was through, MacMaine lookedat himself in the mirror. "There's one more thing, Tallis," he saidthoughtfully.

  "What's that?"

  "This hair. I think you'd better arrange to have it permanentlyremoved, according to your custom. I can't do anything about the colorof my skin, but there's no point in my looking like one of your wildhillmen."

  "You're very gracious," Tallis said. "And very wise. Our officers willcertainly come closer to feeling that you are one of us."

  "I am one of you from this moment," MacMaine said. "I never intend tosee Earth again, except, perhaps, from space--when we fight the finalbattle of the war."

  "That may be a hard battle," Tallis said.

  "Maybe," MacMaine said thoughtfully. "On the other hand, if my overallstrategy comes out the way I think it will, that battle may never befought at all. I think that complete and total surrender will end thewar before we ever get that close to Earth."

  "I hope you're right," Tallis said firmly. "This war is costing farmore than we had anticipated, in spite of the weakness of your--thatis, of Earth."

  "Well," MacMaine said with a slight grin, "at least you've been able tocapture enough Earth food to keep me eating well all this time."

  Tallis' grin was broad. "You're right. We're not doing too badly atthat. Now, let's go; the High Commander is waiting."

  * * * * *

  MacMaine didn't realize until he walked into the big room that what hewas facing was not just a discussion with a high officer, but whatamounted to a Court of Inquiry.

  The High Commander, a dome-headed, wrinkled, yellow-skinned, hard-eyedold Kerothi, was seated in the center of a long, high desk, flanked oneither side by two lower-ranking generals who had the same deadly, hardlook. Off to one side, almost like a jury in a jury box, sat twenty orso lesser officers, none of them ranking below the Kerothi equivalentof lieutenant-colonel.

  As far as MacMaine could tell, none of the officers wore the insigniaof fleet officers, the spaceship-and-comet that showed that the wearerwas a fighting man. These were the men of the Permanent HeadquartersStaff--the military group that controlled, not only the armed forces ofKeroth, but the civil government as well.

  "What's this?" MacMaine hissed in a whispered aside, in English.

  "Pearr up, my prrotherr," Tallis answered softly, in the same tongue,"all is well."

  MacMaine had known, long before he had ever heard of General PolanTallis, that the Hegemony of Keroth was governed by a military junta,and that all Kerothi were regarded as members of the armed forces.Technically, there were no civilians; they were legally members of the"unorganized reserve," and were under military law. He had known thatKerothi society was, in its own way, as much a slave society as that ofEarth, but it had the advantage over Earth in that the system did allowfor advance by merit. If a man had the determination to get ahead, andthe ability to cut the throat--either literally or figuratively--of theman above him in rank, he could take his place.

  On a more strictly legal basis, it was possible for a common trooper tobecome an officer by going through the schools set up for that purpose,but, in practice, it took both pull and pressure to get into thoseschools.

  In theory, any citizen of the Hegemony could become an officer, and anyofficer could become a member of the Permanent Headquarters Staff.Actually, a much greater preference was given to the children ofofficers. Examinations were given periodically for the purpose ofrecruiting new members for the elite officers' corps, and any citizencould take the examination--once.

  But the tests were heavily weighted in favor of those who were alreadywell-versed in matters military, including what might be called the"inside jokes" of the officers' corps. A common trooper had some chanceof passing the examination; a civilian had a very minute chance. Anoncommissioned officer had the best chance of passing the examination,but there were age limits which usually kept NCO's from getting acommission. By the time a man became a noncommissioned officer, he wastoo old to be admitted to the officers training schools. There wereallowances made for "extraordinary merit," which allowed commontroopers or upper-grade NCO's to be commissioned in spite of thegeneral rules, and an astute man could take advantage of thoseallowances.

  Ability could get a man up the ladder, but it had to be a particularkind of ability.

  * * * * *

  During his sojourn as a "guest" of the Kerothi, MacMaine had made apoint of exploring the history of the race. He knew perfectly well thatthe histories he had read were doctored, twisted, and, in general,totally unreliable in so far as presenting anything that would becalled a history by an unbiased investigator.

  But, knowing this, MacMaine had been able to learn a great deal aboutthe present society. Even if the "history" was worthless as such, itdid tell something about the attitudes of a society that would make upsuch a history. And, too, he felt that, in general, the main eventswhich had been catalogued actually occurred; the details had beenblurred, and the attitudes of the people had been misrepresented, butthe skeleton was essentially factual.

  MacMaine felt that he knew what kind of philosophy had produced themental attitudes of the Court he now faced, and he felt he knew how tohandle himself before them.

  Half a dozen paces in front of the great desk, the color of the floortiling was different from that of the rest of the floor. Instead of asolid blue, it was a dead black. Tallis,
who was slightly ahead ofMacMaine, came to a halt as his toes touched the edge of the blackarea.

  _Uh-oh! a balk line_, MacMaine thought. He stopped sharply at the samepoint. Both of them just stood there for a full minute while they werecarefully inspected by the members of the Court.

  Then the High Commander gestured with one hand, and the officer to hisleft leaned forward and said: "Why is this one brought before us in theuniform of an officer, bare of any insignia of rank?"

  It could only be a ritual question, MacMaine decided; they must knowwhy he was there.

  "I bring him as a candidate for admission to our Ingroup," Tallisreplied formally, "and ask the indulgence of Your Superioritiestherefor."

  "And who are you who ask our indulgence?"

  Tallis identified himself at length--name, rank, serial number,military record, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

  By the time he had finished, MacMaine was beginning to think that therecitation would go on forever. The High Commander had closed his eyes,and he looked as if he had gone to sleep.

  There was more formality. Through it all, MacMaine stood at rigidattention, flexing his calf muscles occasionally to keep the bloodflowing in his legs. He had no desire to disgrace himself by passingout in front of the Court.

  Finally the Kerothi officer stopped asking Tallis questions and lookedat the High Commander. MacMaine got the feeling that there was about tobe a departure from the usual procedure.

  Without opening his eyes, the High Commander said, in a brittle, ratherharsh voice, "These circumstances are unprecedented." Then he openedhis eyes and looked directly at MacMaine. "Never has an animal beenproposed for such an honor. In times past, such a proposal would havebeen mockery of this Court and this Ingroup, and a crime of suchmonstrous proportions as to merit Excommunication."

  MacMaine knew what that meant. The word was used literally; thecondemned one was cut off from all communication by having his sensorynerves surgically severed. Madness followed quickly; psychosomaticdeath followed eventually, as the brain, cut off from any outsidestimuli except those which could not be eliminated without deathfollowing instantly, finally became incapable of keeping the bodyalive. Without feedback, control was impossible, and theorganism-as-a-whole slowly deteriorated until death was inevitable.

  At first, the victim screamed and thrashed his limbs as the brain sentout message after message to the rest of the body, but since the brainhad no way of knowing whether the messages had been received or actedupon, the victim soon went into a state comparable to that of catatoniaand finally died.

  If it was not the ultimate in punishment, it was a damned closeapproach, MacMaine thought. And he felt that the word "damned" couldbe used in that sense without fear of exaggeration.

  * * * * *

  "However," the High Commander went on, gazing at the ceiling,"circumstances change. It would once have been thought vile that amachine should be allowed to do the work of a skilled man, and thethought that a machine might do the work with more precision andgreater rapidity would have been almost blasphemous.

  "This case must be viewed in the same light. As we are replacingcertain of our workers on our outer planets with Earth animals simplybecause they are capable of doing the work more cheaply, so we mustrecognize that the same interests of economy govern in this case.

  "A computing animal, in that sense, is in the same class as a computingmachine. It would be folly to waste their abilities simply because theyare not human.

  "There also arises the question of command. It has been represented tothis court, by certain officers who have been active in investigatingthe candidate animal, that it would be as degrading to ask a humanofficer to take orders from an animal as it would be to ask him to takeorders from a commoner of the Unorganized Reserve, if not more so. And,I must admit, there is, on the surface of it, some basis for thisreasoning.

  "But, again, we must not let ourselves be misled. Does not a spaceshippilot, in a sense, take orders from the computer that gives him hisorbits and courses? In fact, do not all computers give orders, in oneway or another, to those who use them?

  "Why, then, should we refuse to take orders from a computing animal?"

  He paused and appeared to listen to the silence in the room beforegoing on.

  "Stand at ease until the High Commander looks at you again," Tallissaid in a low aside.

  This was definitely the pause for adjusting to surprise.

  It seemed interminable, though it couldn't have been longer than aminute later that the High Commander dropped his gaze from the ceilingto MacMaine. When MacMaine snapped to attention again, the others inthe room became suddenly silent.

  "We feel," the hard-faced old Kerothi continued, as if there had beenno break, "that, in this case, we are justified in employing the animalin question.

  "However, we must make certain exceptions to our normal procedure. Thecandidate is not a machine, and therefore cannot be treated as amachine. Neither is it human, and therefore cannot be treated as human.

  "Therefore, this is the judgment of the Court of the Ingroup:

  "The animal, having shown itself to be capable of behaving, in somedegree, as befits an officer--including, as we have been informed,voluntarily conforming to our custom as regards superfluous hair--itshall henceforth be considered as having the same status as an untaughtchild or a barbarian, insofar as social conventions are concerned, andshall be entitled to the use of the human pronoun, he.

  "Further, he shall be entitled to wear the uniform he now wears, andthe insignia of a General of the Fleet. He shall be entitled, as far aspersonal contact goes, to the privileges of that rank, and shall beaddressed as such.

  "He will be accorded the right of punishment of an officer of thatrank, insofar as disciplining his inferiors is concerned, except thathe must first secure the concurrence of his Guardian Officer, ashereinafter provided.

  "He shall also be subject to punishment in the same way and for thesame offenses as humans of his rank, taking into account physiologicaldifferences, except as hereinafter provided.

  "His reward for proper service"--The High Commander listed the demandsMacMaine had made--"are deemed fitting, and shall be paid, provided hisduties in service are carried out as proposed.

  "Obviously, however, certain restrictions must be made. GeneralMacMaine, as he is entitled to be called, is employed solely as aStrategy Computer. His ability as such and his knowledge of thepsychology of the Earth animals are, as far as we are concerned at thismoment, his only useful attributes. Therefore, his command isrestricted to that function. He is empowered to act only through theother officers of the Fleet as this Court may appoint; he is not tocommand directly.

  "Further, it is ordered that he shall have a Guardian Officer, whoshall accompany him at all times and shall be directly responsible forhis actions.

  "That officer shall be punished for any deliberate crime committed bythe aforesaid General MacMaine as if he had himself committed thecrime.

  "Until such time as this Court may appoint another officer for thepurpose, General Polan Tallis, previously identified in theseproceedings, is appointed as Guardian Officer."

  The High Commander paused for a moment, then he said: "Proceed with theinvestment of the insignia."