Astounding British Edition, Vol. 9, No. 7 — page 63: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SOE ES ope ae ie, _ Saree ‘The speech was clear in Brad’s mind; it would have made an impressive oration. But he never had an opportunity to de- liver it. He had somehow, miscalculated. His eloquent silence lingered a _ split- second too long. An Earth representative arose and asked for the floor. “We are grateful to Diplomat Brad,” he said, “for this insight into the forlorn sociology of our unfortunate enemy.” “Unfortunate?” Brad stammered. “A sad people who have wasted them- selves and their wealth in the pursuit of an illusion. They are like lost children, desperately in need of rational guidance.” Brad recovered from his first shock. “Pity no doubt demonstrates our own sophistication and enlightenment,” he said dryly. “But it scarcely serves to turn back an invader. We still have time to do that! If we vote emergency military mea- sures at once—” A polite muttering fluttered over the audience. The Speaker perfunctorily banged his gavel for order. “You are invited here to report data, Mr. Brad,” he said, “not to propose a course of action.” 3 “You must listen to me! This is not a thing we can discuss forever in our polite political vacuum. It means the end of—”’ . The gavel banged again. A Martian representative arose and said gently. “Diplomat Brad, your intensity of emo- tional,reaction is clear and, perhaps, even excusable. But you are thinking with your senses! Our Federation is built on co- operation, on a peaceful union of rational minds. Even if we could adopt the course you suggest, we would destroy the sub- stance of our union in the process. No enemy can defeat us, Diplomat Brad; a rational people can be defeated only by itself.” “Words! That’s all you’re saying! Do we build a barricade of words over our heads when their fire rains down on London? Do we knock their ships from the sky with a few well-placed adjectives?” _ The robot attendants had not yet re- moved the telescreen from the Hall. It began to glow suddenly, dissolving into a poorly relayed picture from Mars. Brad saw the red earth, churned up before a A ee SL a a Sera Ss a ae * = ae . - “FOR THE GLORY OF AGON giant prongs of fire. He thought, for a moment, that he could identify the out- line of the Centaurian colony; but it was gone in a mist of flame and dust. Above the din of destruction, he heard the voice of the Martian announcer. “. . . First pictures of the Agonian attack. ‘Curiously they have restricted their fire power to the colony of their own people, although the range of the attack may change at any moment.” Brad sank back against the wall. The voice ground 6n, but the words made no sense to him. The destruction, he knew, was only a foretaste of the final chaos; and still the Federation did nothing! The representatives sat impassive on their benches. And Brad’s world was lost. Abruptly the blaze of flame was gone. On the telescreen Brad saw a shattered landscape, vast square miles of Mars smoldering with the dying fire of eternal death. On the perimeter of the wound the ground was unharmed. Brad saw the gleaming dome of an Earth colony still standing untouched on the horizon. The telescreen was suddenly torn by a flashing pattern of interference. The voice was cut off and another thundered into the Hall—a guttural, metallic voice, using the Basic Federation tongue awkwardly : “In this way do we punish our traitors! This is a warning to you servile fools who call yourselves the Solar Federation, We are the men of Agon, and Agon is invin- cible. We have come as your conquerors. Take warning and meet our terms at once, or one by one your cities and your soil will be burned by our flame from the sky. For the glory of Agon!” The screen went dead. Doggedly Brad watched the represen- tatives. Many expressed acute pain at the violent death of the Centaurian colony, but that was only the emotional reaction Brad could detect. One Earth representative said: “They ll want to make a treaty, natur- ally. It was implicit in the data Diplomat Brad presented.” “They'll probably try to seize our resources,” another added. “l’m not sure. They’re still afraid to — contact us directly.” GoOmichdoo SalE)