“You can land me and my people.”
“Are you crazy?” Barker shook his head and reached for the controls. “You don’t know what’s down there and you might die within a day.” He rested his finger on the alarm button. “No sense in talking about it. You know the rules.”
“If you press that button,” said Williams coldly, “I’ll have you broken for cowardice.”
“You’ll what?”
“You heard what I said. You’re an old man, Barker, and you’ve started to think like one. Space isn’t for the old, and the Bureau is beginning to realize that. There’s a new world down there waiting to be exploited and you’ve no right to deny my request. If you insist on running from something you don’t understand, then I’ll see to it that the publicity breaks you.”
“You young fool!” Barker surged to his feet, his heavy features mottled with rage. “I’m the captain of this ship and you and every man and woman aboard will do as I say. Damn you! I’ll have you thrown in irons for this. Harper!”
“Wait.” Williams stepped back as the radioman rose from his seat. “Never mind the rights and wrongs of it. Just imagine what the public will say. A new world, a potential granary, and you ran away from it without even a second thought. And it isn’t your skin that I’m asking you to risk. All I ask is that you land me and my people as you were directed to do. What do you think the media will say? The public? They are short of food, Barker, and they pay too much in taxes as it is. Do you think that the Bureau will hesitate to throw you to the lions if it would calm the people? If you think that, Barker, then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were.”
“I....” The captain swallowed, his eyes glaring his hate of the young man, but he gestured Harper to return to his chair. “What about the others?”
“My people?” Williams shrugged. “I’ll take full responsibility for them. You will land us?”
“You know what you’re doing, don’t you?” Barker glared his contempt. “I know just what your threats are worth; you aren’t concerned with what the people will say and think; all you’re worried about is losing your own little world to play the dictator in. To satisfy your own conceit you’re willing to risk the lives of fifty innocent people on an unknown, and as far as we can determine, lethal world. I thought that you were low, Williams, but I didn’t think that any man could be that selfish.”
“That’s enough!” Anger glowed in twin spots of red on the commander’s cheeks. “I’m not asking for your moral condemnation, and the future will prove that I’m right. Progress is determined by the sacrifice of the individual for the majority, and what does it matter if a thousand die so long as the race is advanced on the path of its destiny? In any case, we won’t be as helpless as you seem to imagine. The original colonists had plenty of equipment and we can use that. My people are mostly trained personnel, scientists, the men and women who were to study Hyperon as soon as the economy of the settlement could afford to support them. We’ll get along.”
“You’ll get along, you mean, don’t you?” Barker openly sneered as he stared at the young commander. “What do you care for the others?”
“Never mind that. You’ll land us?”
“Not so fast.” Barker settled himself back in his chair. He seemed to have lost his anger and looked at the commander with an almost amused contempt. “Don’t think that you can bully me, Williams. I don’t need a young snippet like you to threaten me with adverse publicity, and don’t forget that I happen to have a few more contacts than you imagine. If it came to the point, you would be the one to suffer, not I.” He glanced at the screen and the empty, too-small clearing shown on it. “If you land you know that it will be ten years before a ship makes contact?”
“I know.”
“And yet you want to be cooped up down there with men and women who will know that you’ve tricked them as soon as they land.”
“I am their commander.”
“I see.” Barker looked towards the radio-man and shrugged. “All right, Williams. You can have your kingdom—but your people must be warned and given free choice.”
“You insist?”
“Yes.”
“Then I have no choice. You’ll land us?”
“You will also sign and thumb-print a waiver accepting full responsibility?”
“Of course.”
“Very well, then.” Barker sighed heavily as he stared at the screen. “I’ll land you—and I hope that you get just what you deserve.”
He didn’t look at the commander as he gave the necessary orders.
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