Traitor's Sun

  disheartened than I expected."

  "What does it mean for Darkover?" Mikhail did not particularly care what

  happened to the Federation, which remained an abstract conglomeration of places

  he had never seen or, in many cases, even heard of. No matter how much

  Marguerida or Lew told him about it, it remained more imaginary than real in his

  mind. More to the point, after he had received the great matrix stone, he had

  realized that he would never be able to travel off-world, as he had longed to

  when he was younger. So, although he remained interested and even curious,

  Mikhail had discovered that it pained him to talk about faraway planets he would

  never see. He was envious that Marguerida had traveled so extensively, and

  sometimes he even resented his wife's travels a little, enough that that feeling

  shamed him a good deal.

  Lew shook his head. "I cannot guess. The Terranan might imagine we can be

  brought to our knees by the removal of their technologies, by closing the port

  and withdrawing."

  "That's ridiculous-we've never had any use for their technology! It would

  probably be a blessing for us if they left."

  Lew gave a gruff chuckle, a slight growling noise in his throat, like a bear

  trying to laugh and failing. "Bodies politic are rarely logical, Mikhail."

  "Then how can they function?"

  His father-in-law looked thoughtful for a moment. "They run on ideals and power

  struggles-often political movements are born of ideals, but deteriorate into

  power struggles, megalomania and the dissolution of the very ideals which gave

  birth to the political movement in question. Here, I believe, the ideal is that

  everyone in the Federation will be alike-without diversity-and that it is

  possible to achieve consensus by decree. The Expansionists believe that this can

  be achieved by everyone agreeing to do it their way, the Expansionist way. And

  since they have experienced strong opposition, they are seeking to force their

  'ideals' down people's throats."

  Mikhail frowned over this. His mind felt soggy, but he was glad of this

  distraction, this unwieldy problem to focus on, however poorly. "I am not sure I

  understand you. Do you mean to say that these people really believe that they

  can coerce entire planets to give up their customs, to be just like Terra? That

  is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in ages."

  "I know-it sounds impossible. But I don't think you have any idea of how

  powerful the effect of propaganda can be on a populace, because Darkover has

  never experienced the effect of constant newsfeeds, which only tell what the

  government wishes its citizens to know. It has happened over and over in human

  history, like some recurring nightmare."

  "Tell me." Over his father-in-law's shoulder, he watched Donal come to

  attention, and knew his paxman was listening intently. He felt a flutter of

  pleasure, the better for being completely unexpected. Donal had wisely chosen to

  make Danilo Syrtis-Ardais his model, and realized already that his task was much

  more than merely guarding the person of Mikhail Hastur. With time and

  experience, Donal would become a wise advisor. Oddly, this notion comforted

  Mikhail more than he would have thought possible.

  Lew Alton made a kind of grunting noise, a familiar prelude to the conveying of

  information. Oddly, the ordinariness of the sound, and the anticipation of the

  words to follow soothed Mikhail's frayed nerves. At least this was the same.

  "First, someone in power announces things are going to hell in a handcart, and

  that the reason is the fault of some group or tribe or opposition party. Morals

  are decaying, or parents are not rearing their children properly. They propose

  that the answer lies in reformation, in everyone behaving according to some

  ideal that suits their notions of a good society. They demand conformity, and

  anyone who does not submit is regarded as a potential enemy, if not an outright

  traitor. It has happened in our own times, on places like Benda V, about thirty

  years ago, for instance."

  "I've never heard of that planet." There were several hundred members in the

  Federation, and Mikhail had only read extensively about twenty or thirty. But

  although he was quite well-informed for someone who had never left Darkover, it

  always made Mikhail feel terribly ignorant when a planet was mentioned he knew

  nothing about. It was rather silly, since there were so many planets in the

  Federation, and even widely traveled people like Marguerida and Lew did not know

  about all of them.

  "I'm not surprised, since it is a pretty out-of-the-way place. Here is what

  happened, as well I can recall. The Orthodox high priest announced he had had a

  vision from God, that the only way to save the planet from utter destruction was

  to wage a holy war against all members of the Church of Elan, which were the

  rivals of the Orthodoxy, and had become very powerful on Benda. They were

  accused of everything from poisoning the grain to murdering Orthodox babies and

  drinking their blood. And since the media was controlled by the Orthodox, this

  resulted in a planet-wide bloodbath. About sixty million people were slaughtered

  in a three-month period-men, women, children."

  Mikhail was stunned. "But didn't the Federation intervene? I mean, I thought

  that was something they were supposed to do in . . . such situations?"

  "Yes, I know. The taxes collected from the planets of the Federation are

  supposed to be used to maintain the Spaceforce, so that they can keep events

  like this from ever happening. However the real function of the Force is to keep

  Terran coffers full, to see that trade is not disrupted, that taxes are

  collected, and that resources continue to flow to Terra. They did not intervene

  because it was decided that it was a planetary matter, not a Federation one. So

  for the past three decades, as far as I know, Benda has been a theocracy where

  everyone spies on everyone else, and you can be executed for belching during

  services. These, I understand, take up at least four hours of every day.

  Needless to say, this has created great economic hardship, because if you are

  stuck in church, you can hardly be tending your fields or selling your goods,

  can you? And the loss of all those poor folks who belonged to the Church of Elan

  did not help either, since they were productive members of the community."

  "Sixty million? That is three times more than the entire population of

  Darkover!" Mikhail stared at Lew, unable to quite believe what he had just

  heard. "And no one tried to fight back?"

  "Mikhail, anyone who risked that was going to die." He sighed again, seeing the

  incomprehension in Mikhail's eyes. "I know-you cannot really grasp this sort of

  thing because it is beyond your experience. Darkover is a very special world,

  and one of the wisest things Regis ever did was to keep us out of the Federation

  except as a Protected Planet."

  "When I was younger, I always thought he did it to keep people like my mother

  happy, or at least quiet!" Mikhail let himself chuckle softly at the ridiculous

  thought of Regis making so momentous a decision just to appease Javanne Hastur.

  She was never qu
iet, and now she would come to Comyn Castle and make his life

  miserable. He did not feel he had the strength to stand up to her intrigues and

  passions just now.

  Lew nodded, as if he understood what Mikhail was thinking perfectly well. "He

  felt it was potentially too costly, that Darkovan culture would not survive if

  we embraced Terranan values completely. The plain truth is that we don't need

  the Federation. What do you think would happen if there was no longer a

  Federation presence here, Mik?"

  "As far as I can see, if the Federation pulls out there would not be any more

  Big Ships, and the hospital at HQ would cease to exist. The Terranan would not

  pay us for the lease on the spaceport any longer. Not that they have been any

  too consistent with the payment in recent years." After a moment's reflection,

  he added, "And Marguerida would no longer be able to procure coffee at

  exorbitant cost for her occasional pleasure. It is a shame that we have never

  been able to cultivate the plant on Darkover." Mikhail had never taken to

  coffee, but he knew his wife loved the strange, bitter stuff. "None of that

  seems too earth shattering to me."

  Lew chuckled. "That is a fairly good assessment of the impact, since the

  Federation controls the spaceways. There are quite a number of intersystem

  trading companies, but between the stars, one must have the technology of the

  Big Ships, and only the Terranan have that and guard it jealously. As for the

  other, the lease is about to end, and Belfontaine was trying to jigger Regis

  into concessions, as he should. It is part of his job."

  Mikhail found himself amused at the memory of the excuses for the lateness of

  the payments that had been offered. "Regis told me that Belfontaine had

  suggested that when the lease is renewed, that Darkover should pay the

  Federation for maintaining a base, instead of them paying us. He got a big kick

  out of it." It hurt to remember that, but it touched his heart at the same time.

  It made him remember Regis' smile-his smile had always been one of his greatest

  assets.

  "That's true enough, and I will never forget the look on Belfontaine's face when

  I had the pleasure of telling him the answer was a definite no. But, Mikhail,

  what economic effect would the Terranan leaving have on us?"

  "Well, not much, I believe. The Trade City would certainly lose considerable

  business, and the pleasure houses would not be happy. Lady Marilla's pottery

  would not be exported any longer, but the Aillard and Ardais Domains would

  survive. We haven't really developed much trade, have we? I suppose that is why

  the Terranan want us to be a member world instead of a protected one, so they

  can market their products. We don't produce enough food to export, and we don't

  have enough metal to build ships or other things. Marguerida says that the sand

  up in the Dry Towns would be useful for silicon-based technologies, but somehow

  I can't imagine a factory in Shainsa. Besides, if I understand the process

  correctly, it would need a lot of water, and there isn't any to spare in that

  region.

  "No, there is not. And that is one major problem with adopting Terran ways-the

  impact on the ecology would be tremendous and devastating. You have never seen a

  manufacturing world, but I have. The air is thick with smoke and foul smells,

  and the people live in wretchedness. We don't have slums on Darkover-you don't

  even know what that means, do you? Believe me, Mik, the poorest family on

  Darkover lives better than many people on advanced worlds. We are a marginal

  world, for which we should be thankful, because if we had more obvious

  resources, we would be more attractive to interlopers. Our timber would be hewn,

  exported to places we never heard of, our crops taken to feed people on other

  planets, and when the land would no longer support our populace, because the

  rivers were full of silt, we would either be abandoned or forced to pay enormous

  prices for food from other planets."

  "You mean this has happened?"

  "Absolutely. I know of at least two planets which have been almost destroyed by

  the greed of the corporations that owned them, then left to struggle along with

  a ruined ecosystem, where the population can hardly feed itself. And since I

  left the Senate, there have likely been several more."

  "I find that hard to believe. Why? I mean, it seems very short-sighted."

  "Exactly. The Federation has kept going through expansion, by finding new

  planets to exploit. This has been the policy for the last hundred years, give or

  take a decade. But in the last fifty, only a handful of habitable worlds have

  been discovered-the rest were places where establishing a new colony would

  either be prohibitively expensive, or so unattractive that the only way to get

  people there was to ship them out and force them to live there, which is quite

  costly. But the basic idea is that restraint is unnecessary. This is the

  foundation of the Expansionist philosophy, which is that unlimited growth is not

  only possible, but is also desirable. They remain blind to the actuality, which

  is that there are fewer and fewer habitable planets to be had in this region of

  space. And because the worlds they are exploiting are farther and farther away

  from the center of the Federation, the governing of these places becomes more

  and more difficult, demanding more and more resources to maintain contact,

  longer and longer journeys between worlds, with greater and greater cost to haul

  the raw materials home to Terra. So they want the member worlds to surrender

  everything they have, and be taxed for it as well. The home world, and a few

  other planets have become parasites on the rest of the Federation."

  "Taxed to send their food to Terra?" Mikhail knew he was tired, but he was not

  sure he had understood his father-in-law.

  "Yes."

  "But, Lew, that is insane. Why would anyone pay to have their wheat sent

  somewhere else?"

  "By using the media to convince the population that they derive some benefit

  from being taxed and starved at the same time."

  "But what possible benefit . . .?"

  "They are persuaded that by being taxed to support the Spaceforce, they are

  being protected from some imaginary enemy-aliens that are destined to appear in

  the skies and conquer them. They do not see that the real enemy has become the

  Federation itself. There are, at present, weapons that can reduce a planet to

  molten slag in hours, things created to defend against this phantom race, which

  are actually being used to keep the member worlds in line. The only thing that

  keeps the whole situation from dissolving into chaos is that the expense of such

  things is enormous-sending a fleet of ships to destroy a planet costs a great

  deal, not to mention that it is poor policy. It is very hard to keep the

  knowledge of something that monumental out of the newsfaxes, and it tends to

  make other worlds more anxious, rather than more obedient. The Federation has

  become rather like a big bully, kicking smaller children around just because it

  can. And, until now, the existence of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies has

  acted as a restraint on such insane
undertakings."

  "Do you think that we will have Federation Marines invading Thendara, then?"

  Mikhail was only half serious.

  "I hope not. And I do not really expect such an assault, although it could

  happen, if someone decided that Darkover had strategic importance. No, the

  greatest danger is that the Federation itself will crumble, and that there will

  be splinter groups, with their own ambitions for power and dominance. A

  planetary governor or some local king with a few captured dreadnoughts could be

  real trouble. Or worse, if some admiral in the Force decides to mutiny and go

  adventuring for his own profit." There was a grim look on his father-in-law's

  face now.

  "Do the Terranan know that?"

  "Some of them certainly do. There are people within the Federation who have

  likely given as much thought to this, over the years, as I have. The problem is,

  however, these people have no power and do not make policy. It's probably the

  nightmare of the General Staff, that some planet will manage to get hold of

  enough armaments to be a threat to Terran security. There have been a few

  rebellions in the last fifteen years, planets where the populace revolted, or

  the governor went off on his own hook. They have been put down with force, but

  with enough restraint to keep things from getting completely out of hand. Again,

  it was the function of the Senate to keep things from getting to that point, to

  restrain the Premier and the General Staff from making overt war on too many

  worlds. But I think you must talk to Herm since his information is more recent

  than mine."

  "I suppose I must. I just don't feel as if I am ready. Everyone has been telling

  me for years how powerful I am because of this accursed ring," he said, making a

  fist of his gloved hand. "But I do not feel powerful. I don't have Regis' charm

  or cunning, nor his experience, although I have tried to learn all I could."

  "You will do very well, Mikhail. Regis believed that, and I do as well."

  "I am glad I will have you to advise me, Lew, and Herm as well. And I am even

  more glad I do not have the Aldaran Gift because I think that if I could foresee

  the future, I would be too frightened to do anything at all. I would give a

  great deal to have some of my youthful certainty back again, instead of all