Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition, December 1955 — page 111: what you’re looking at

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

THE LONG WAY HOME 109 they’d also gotten a line into the Technon itself. They can doctor the reports it gets from the Society—not every report, but enough. That power has to be saved for special occasions, because the machine must have data-com- parison units, it must be capable of ‘suspicion,’ to do its job. This is a special occasion. “Chanthavar, Brannoch, and Valti were all acting at cross purposes because there hadn’t been time to consult the Technon; otherwise it would normally have told Valti to keep hands off the affair, or at least to codperate with Chanthavar. When it was informed, you know, it ordered Valti’s release. “But then the Thrymans got busy. Even imprisoned, they must have been in touch with their agents outside, including high-ranking Thrymans in the Society. oe don’t know exactly what story has been fed the Technon. At a guess, I’d suggest something like this: A trading ship has just come back with news of a new planet inhabited by a race having Saris’ abilities. They were studied, and it turned out that there is no way to duplicate that nullifying effect artificially. The Thrymans are perfectly capable of cooking up such a report complete with quantitative data and mathematical theory, I'll bet. “All right. This report, supposedly from its own good, reliable Society, reaches the Technon. It makes a very natural decision: let the Centaurians have Saris, let them waste their time investigating a blind alley. It has to look real, so that Brannoch won’t suspect; therefore, work through Valti without informing Chanthavar. “So... the end result is that Centauri does get the nullifier! And the first news the Technon has of this is when the invading fleet arrives able to put every ship in the Solar System out of action!” Marin made no reply for a while. Then she nodded. “That sounds logical,” she said. “I remember now . . . when I was at Brannoch’s, just before coming to you, he spoke with that tank, mentioned something about Valti being troublesome and ripe for assassination, and the tank forbade him to do it. Shall we tell Chanthavar?” “No,” said Langley. “But do you want the Centaurians to win?” ‘““Emphatically not. I don’t want a war at all, and letting this information out prematurely would be a sure way to start one. Can’t you see the wild scramble to cover up, purge, strike at once lest you be further subverted? “The fact that Brannoch himself is in the dark, that he knows nothing about this supremely important Society business, indicates to me that Thrym doesn’t exactly have the interests of the League at heart either. The League is only a means to a much bigger and deadlier end.” : He lifted his head. “So far, darling, my attempts to sit in on this game have been pretty miserable flops. I’m risking both our lives against what I think is the future of the human race. It sounds rather silly, doesn’t it? One little man thinking he can change history all by his lonesome. A lot of trouble has been caused by that delusion. “I’m gambling that this time, for once, it’s not a mistake—that I really can carry off something worth while. Do you think I’m right? Do you think I even have a right to try?” i CcommiclOoks.conn