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Title: Example

Author: Tom Pace

Release Date: November 16, 2020 [EBook #63782]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed
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                                EXAMPLE

                              By TOM PACE

           Malevolent death reared out of inky space before
              the hurtling liner. From it a frantic voice
            reached Commander Gray--"You know what to do!"
             He smiled grimly. Yes, he knew what to do....

           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
                      Planet Stories Winter 1946.
         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]


The Fifth Sector Commander was known as a rigid man, that was true, and
yet no one could say exactly how rigid.

His office, aboard the _Polaris_, was a rather grim place. All command
offices were, essentially, being limited pretty much to regulation
furnishings, but rare was the Commander who did not manage to plant
some of his personality there. It was perhaps characteristic of
Commander Gray that there was only one item in his office which could
be said to reveal anything about him.

He sat now behind the cubical steel desk and looked down at the glowing
screen of the television set. The face in it was not at ease. Far from
it.

Ordinarily, John Brullar, the Commissioner over Gray, was a
self-important, unconsciously comical person. Now he looked neither
comical nor important. He just looked very, very frightened.

He licked his trembling lips and said, in a voice hoarse with fear,
"Of _course_ there is something you can do, Commander! After all,"
he brightened faintly, "there are important people on the _Stella_.
Important people." He emphasized "important."

"I am aware of that, Commissioner Brullar," said the Commander. "Yet,
what can I do?"

"You have authority!" sputtered Brullar. "And you know what you can
_do_! Get through to Interstellar Command on Sirius VII and tell them
just exactly what these Beolins are up to!" He glared, a fat man in
mortal fear for his life. "And you can do it quickly, Commander!
Quickly, do you understand?"

"I understand," the Commander said.

"Good." Brullar started to speak again, gulped, hesitated, and finally
repeated, "Good." He switched off.

The Commander gazed reflectively down the catwalk, through the ship,
at the faint glimmer of green outside of an open lock. There was a
turbulence deep in his steel-colored eyes. He tapped a small stud with
a slim, tapering forefinger.

Kina Staun came in.

Kina wasn't all Solarian. He had enough Sol blood in him to make him
one in almost every respect, but there were differences, if you looked
closely. He was the Commander's personal aide. There was actually
more than that between them. The tremendousness of all the Commander
governed--and which Kina helped him run--made for a rather involved
relationship.

When people saw the Commander, they looked for Kina Staun. The two
had not been a hundred yards apart since they had first met as
newly-appointed official and aide. It was said that Kina knew every
bit as much about the Fifth Sector and the Commander's work as the
Commander knew himself.

For that reason, if Kina ever left his post, he would certainly die
within an hour.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Commander said, "Kina, call Hauns." The Secretary showed no
surprise, but somehow managed to give that impression.

"The city of Hauns, capitol of Beolin III, the ruling planet of the
Beolin system?" he asked very respectfully.

"Yes. I want to talk to their Commissioner-in-Chief. And also find the
present location of the _Stella_."

"Yes, sir," said Kina.

He came back within ten seconds. "The _Stella_," he said, "is now at
3rd Quadrant 3521 NA, W-88236. Speed, one light-year per hour. Heading,
338 Degrees NA of nearest sun, Beolin. And I have Beolin Command for
you."

The Commander touched a switch and the screen flicked on again. "Thank
you, Kina," he said.

The face in the screen was definitely not human. Its structure, and
even more, its expression was alien. It was distinctly unpleasant.

It belonged to Krraula, who was Commander-in-Chief, and the foremost
murderer of the Beolin System. He smiled, a smile that was not a smile.
He said, "Ah, Commander." And he saluted, sneering slightly.

The Commander said, "Greetings, Krraula. I would like to inquire the
reason for your fleet being in its present position."

Krraula smiled again. "The fleet, Commander? Merely maneuvers," he said
slyly. "Why do you ask?"

"There is a liner transiting through the outer fringes of your
territory in--" he looked at a paper Kina had slipped before him
"--about four hours. I would appreciate it if your fleet is withdrawn
in time. It would not go well, Krraula, if an ... accident ... were to
happen to this liner of which I speak. I think you understand."

He gave Krraula no time to answer, but switched off. He sat back, and
looked aimlessly at Kina.

"Kina," he said, after a few moments of thought.

"Yes, Commander."

"Do you get the framework of this problem?"

"I do, sir," answered the aide.

"Good. Let me hear it."

"The question is one of Command," said Kina Staun quietly. "Out here in
the stars, power--the authority to command--goes not to men's heads but
to their souls. Krraula of Beolin is an example, and, in a different
way--"

"Myself?"

"No, Commander Brullar. He is the brass-hat type, while Krraula is
simply a tyrannical madman."

"So far, you're right. But what of _this_ particular problem?"

"Yes, sir," the aide said. "Krraula, and the Beolin rulers, have power
in and about their system to the extent that their depredations go
unchallenged there. And an apathetic Interstellar Command--"

"Does not act," finished the Commander. "You are entirely correct,
Kina." He touched studs on the desk and reports slid through the viewer
on the wall. He said quietly, "We have lost a score of ships--ships
that we are sure the Beolins could tell us about. And yet the Command
does not act." He looked reflectively at the slim, impassive man, and
then spoke swiftly.

"Kina, I want you to get me two more connections ... Sirius VII, and
the Command Cruiser nearest to Beolin. Hurry! The cruiser first."

       *       *       *       *       *

A minute or so later, Kina slipped a sheet of paper onto the desk, and
touched a switch. The screen glittered into life, showing the face of
a man who wore a captain's shoulder bars. Glancing at the paper, which
gave the name of the officer and the ship, the Commander said, "Captain
Stang, how far are you from Beolin?"

"Roughly twenty light years, sir," was the immediate answer.

"Do you think that you can make a speed of--say--five light-years per
hour, or perhaps more?"

The captain frowned slightly. "I'm not sure, Commander. Perhaps we can."

"Good! Stand by, at your present position in space." Gray switched off.

Kina spoke softly at his side. "That one cruiser, Commander, is more
than a match for the entire Beolin fleet." He paused. "Here is your
call to Sirius Headquarters, sir."

[Illustration: "That one cruiser, Commander, is more than a match for
the entire Beolin fleet."]

The Commander turned back to the screen. "Over-Commissioner Branu, are
you aware of the present stage of relations with Beolin?"

The Over-Commissioner frowned at him. "Certainly! Why are you asking,
Commander?" There was an imperious sharpness in his voice.

"What are they?"

Branu hesitated, said, "Relations are somewhat strained at present, of
course, but not seriously. I--"

"Suppose proof was given that Beolin was back of the recent
disappearances of spacecraft?"

"My dear Commander Gray! You--you must not say that! Such an intimation
might _easily_ cost you your post! Why--"

The Commissioner cut him off.

"You see, Commander," said Kina, "the Command simply cannot think of
such a thing."

"Yes ... but they could be made--forced--to think of it."

"There is only one way to do _that_," said Kina. "Only one way."

"Yes." Commander Gray fell silent for a minute, and then said quietly,
"Kina."

"I am listening, sir."

"The hands of one man," said the Commander, "were never meant to hold
personal power such as this. We can do only the best we can ... and it
will never be perfect. We must be prepared to--" he hesitated slightly
before going on "--to set aside all personal things, and substitute the
stars for them. Because only in that way can we approach perfection."

Kina was silent and attentive, but his eyes flickered for a second
across the one personal item in the office.

"I am not a god, Kina. And yet I must be. Because there are men--such
as Krraula--who think they are." He fell silent.

Then he said, "A god _must_ have power of life ... and death."

The screen was on again and, once more, it was Commissioner Brullar. He
was almost frantic.

"Commander Gray! Have you acted yet? The captain says that we are being
screened out. Only this special set can get through--and only to you!"
He gulped, mopping at his forehead. "Commander, I have my entire family
aboard this ship! I--I know that you...." His voice faltered for an
instant. "Can't _you_ get through to the Command?"

Then, nervously, without waiting for a reply, he plunged on. "The
Captain of the _Stella_ says he believes there is an Interstellar
Command cruiser within four hours or so. Can't you get it here? It
could escort us through the edge of the Beolin system in safety!
Commander Gray, I in--"

The Commander cut Brullar off.

"Kina," he asked, "what do you think the effect of a Beolin massacre
would be on the Command?"

"Roughly estimating, Commander, considerably more than the effect of an
unleashed power beam on inert matter."

"Yes," said the Commander. "Yes. Kina, at least ten thousand human
lives have been lost on ships that I _know_ have been captured by the
Beolins. Unless the Command takes action--now--there will never be a
check on Krraula and his successors. And only a shocking catastrophe
would stir up the Sirius Command Headquarter. A certain kind of
catastrophe."

"The sacrifice justifies itself," said Kina Staun. "The moral laws, the
very framework of civilization itself, is now of a shape incredible to
the person of two or three hundred years ago."

"My orders, then, should be...?"

Kina stood up, stiffly. "It would be presumptuous of me, Commander."

The silence did not last very long.

At last the Commander said, "Kina, order Captain Stang to resume
his usual patrol activities. Arrange to follow the _Stella_ with a
long-range recording beam. Prepare for the Interstellar Command's
order ... to proceed with a punitive expedition against the Beolin
system." He looked long down the catwalk, and his fingers slowly closed
about the one personal touch to his office.

His voice was very low. "No more messages are to be received from the
_Stella_."

And he opened his hand.

       *       *       *       *       *

Later, after the Commander had gone down the catwalk to walk about for
a while on the soft, Earthlike greenness of this world's vegetation,
Kina bent to pick up that which had fallen to the floor.

It was a color photograph, and the cold plastic sheen of the film
somehow managed to convey the impression of the blonde, young woman's
soft, warm loveliness.

It was inscribed, "_With all my love, John. Myra._" Kina had often seen
Commissioner Brullar's daughter.

He dropped the photograph in to a disposal chute, and turned to some
papers that had to be filed.

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