Tanderon (27 page)

“Come, come,” Captain Ellis urged genially. “Surely there is someone among you who is valiant enough to speak against the dreaded Federation?”

That time we all laughed aloud. Criticizing the Federation and how it was run was the one universal way in which all Federation member planets were alike. No matter what your own home government was like, you were fully within your rights, wherever you were, to jump on the Council and its policies with both nit-picking feet. We’d all enjoyed the captain’s comment, but there were still no volunteers.

Captain Ellis had looked around the room then, but most of the kids there had been in school recently enough to remember how to avoid the teacher’s eye. It had been a lot longer for me, though, and I never have been really good at avoiding people’s eyes. When his gaze fell on me, I knew immediately that I’d been selected.

“Cadet Santee,” he’d said with a smile, folding his arms gently in front of him.

“Would you be so kind as to enlighten us with an example?”

I hadn’t intended to mix in, but I’d had little choice at that point. In spite of being surprised that he remembered my name, I got to my feet and to attention and said,

“Sir, my example would be Tanderon.”

The kids in the class roared with laughter, obviously thinking that I’d meant the Academy was a failure, but Captain Ellis had stared at me thoughtfully, ignoring the laughter and letting it play itself out. When the room had returned to quiet, he nodded his head and smiled at me again.

“Excellent,” he’d applauded in his mild, unexcited way. “Tanderon happens to be the example I, myself, had been thinking of. You may tell your classmates why this particular planet is such a good example.”

The class had been absolutely silent then, suffering, I’d thought, from shock. They had probably never thought about Tanderon except as the place where the Federation had its training facilities, but I knew it a little better than they did.

“Sir, Tanderon is an early failure of the Federation,” I said slowly, trying to get my thoughts in order. “What happened here affected the Council so strongly that an amendment was made in the Planets’ Charter.”

Captain Ellis nodded encouragingly, so I continued.

“When Tanderon was first settled, its people had high hopes for it. It was a pleasant world, and it had much more than its share of natural resources. The settlers weren’t immediately in a position to exploit Tanderon’s riches but they knew it wouldn’t be long before they would be, so they were content to wait. The rest of the Federation’s planets, though, weren’t quite as content.

“They demanded that mining and exporting be begun immediately, so that the results would be immediately available to supplement their own planets’ requirements. Too many of them were short on natural resources, and they needed imports to balance the demand. The Council wavered, then they stood back and told the member planets to work it out with the people on Tanderon. They had decided not to get involved.”

Captain Ellis stared down at the floor, but I knew he was still listening. I took a short breath, then shifted position a little.

“The people on Tanderon were overwhelmed by the offer made them by the other planets. They were told that full mining, drilling, and exporting facilities would be established free of cost, and that all proceeds from the sale of the exports would go only to them. They looked around at the cabins they were living in, pictured mansions instead, and quickly signed the agreements. If one or two people thought to ask themselves what would happen when they needed those natural resources themselves, the answer must have been drowned out by the sound of hard cash being deposited in a bank. No one protested, and the operation was begun.”

Captain Ellis’s head was still down, but his eyes were up and studying me. I saw a faint glint in them, but I was too deep in the reconstruction to pay much attention to it.

“Surprisingly, it took almost a century before Tanderon was stripped,” I continued.

“It had really been a remarkable find, but four generations after the first settlers got here, the planet was an empty shell with almost nothing left for its own use. The other planets abandoned the facilities they’d been only too glad to donate, and Tanderon’s people found themselves all alone on a planet which had been raped in its youthful promise. It was dead and dry under their feet now, and there was no way to buy back what had been sold. Most of the profits they’d realized had gone to import what they themselves needed and wanted, and there was nothing left to attract further investors or settlers.

“The Federation Council finally saw the mistake that had been made so many years earlier, but it was impossible for them to undo it. They changed the Charter to forbid other planets from ever again trying to move in on an unprotected settlement, then relocated those of Tanderon’s people who wanted to move. But there were still too many people who considered Tanderon their home and therefore not to be abandoned. That’s why the Federation training facilities were built here, to guarantee that Tanderon would still be able to stay in touch with the rest of the Federation. It didn’t give the people their planet back, but it was better than leaving them to be swept under the limitless rug of interstellar distances. For better or for worse, Tanderon is still very much with us.”

Captain Ellis had joined in the deep silence for a moment, but then he’d smiled again.

“Thank you,” he’d said quietly. “That was most graphically put. I think we can all see now what the Council saw. Do you all approve of their decision, or would you have done things differently?”

After a moment hands began to go up, and I was able to sit down and return to the anonymity I preferred. Captain Ellis had chaired the following discussions quietly, allowing the kids to give him their opinions before he gave them his. No one took many notes, but by the time the class was over it was clear that everyone knew they’d gotten more out of that hour than if they’d wired another class word for word.

I’d started to leave with everyone else when we were dismissed, but Captain Ellis had surprised me again by gesturing me over to him. He’d waited until the room was empty, then he’d looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes.

“I’m fortunate that you were assigned to my class, Cadet Santee,” he’d said, sitting, for the first time, in the chair behind his desk. “I usually have to tell that story myself, but this time I was rescued by a special agency, so to speak. As a matter of fact, one might even call you a – ah – special agent of that agency.”

I’d studied his thin, innocent face for a moment, then had smiled slightly and said,

“Sir, I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course not, of course not,” he’d agreed hastily and somewhat soberly. “There are times when my mind tends to wander, but I’d thought to mention a hobby of mine to you. I have a great fascination for the many brave souls who risk their all so that our Federation might be protected. I’ve long since discovered the names of the hardiest of these souls, and I recite them to myself on occasion to remind myself that there are those about who really do care for the Federation and its people.”

He’d paused to scratch at his ear, then had turned his head to the side to look at me.

“Should I ever come across one of those names somewhere I would not be so forward as to mention it,” he murmured. “But I would make an attempt to find out if the person involved was indeed the one I’d been thinking of. Should that be the case, I would then take very great pleasure in quietly professing my admiration. One so rarely finds such an opportunity.”

His gaze had been directly on my face, and I hadn’t been able to keep from smiling more widely.

“Captain Ellis,” I’d said slowly, “I still don’t know what you’re talking about, but I somehow feel that if you ever get the opportunity you’re looking for, the individual involved will feel very honored by your admiration. I’m sure it doesn’t happen to any of them very often.”

“More’s the pity,” he’d murmured, looking sad for a minute, but then he’d brightened again and had reached toward his desk. “I think I’d best supply you with a pass for your next class. It would never do to see you punished for having had to listen to my ramblings.”

He’d quickly made out the pass and had handed it to me, and I’d taken it and gone on my way. The time had been a bright spot in an otherwise dark day, and I knew as I stepped out of the shower and toweled myself dry that it would be quite some time before I forgot it. When I was mostly dry I wrapped the towel around me, picked up my dirty uniform, and went back to my room – only to discover that I had another pleasant surprise waiting. Elaine had laid out a clean uniform for me on my bunk, and I stared at it for a second before turning to look at her.

“Elaine,” I mused, “did anyone ever tell you that you’re one of the galaxy’s greatest people?”

“Cut it out,” she protested, grinning shyly. “It’s nothing that anyone else wouldn’t have been glad to do.”

“Oh, no?” I countered, putting my well-worn uniform in the laundry bag. “Then where are all the people breaking down our door for the privilege? And speaking of breakers, where’s Linda?”

“Linda dressed early and went to meet someone,” she answered, frowning at a piece of lint on her kilt. “I think it’s a boy she met in one of her classes.”

“Congratulations,” I said, throwing away the towel and starting to get into the uniform. “Now maybe she’ll be a little easier to live with. But how about you? Are you set for the big bash tomorrow night?”

“It’s funny, but I think I may be,” she answered with a blush. “A bunch of us were introducing ourselves around, and one of the girls tried to cut me off when I was saying my name. I don’t know where I got the nerve, but I raised my voice and told her what you told me last night. You know, that I’m worth knowing and if she didn’t want to know me it was her loss. She couldn’t have cared less, but a couple of the boys came over to me and asked me to repeat my name. Before they left, they said they’d see me tomorrow night at the dance.”

“There you go,” I said with a grin of my own as I finished straightening my tie.

“Didn’t I tell you it would work wonders? I’m just about ready, so shall we go?”

She got up from her bunk, and I let her go through the door first to give myself time to check my right wrist. Being in slightly worse shape, it had healed more slowly than the left one and that hot dishwater hadn’t done it any good. When I looked down I could see that the sleeve of the blouse covered it, so I forgot about it. I could do anything that had to be done to it later.

At 1900, I was about to leave the dining hall to report for punishment detail, when Morrison came up to me and stood herself in my way.

“How many demerits did you pick up today, not counting classroom demerits?” she demanded without preamble.

“I didn’t get any,” I told her honestly. “Why?”

“Because the colonel wants to see you in his office,” she said, a thoughtful look about her. “You’re supposed to go there now and wait for him. I wonder why he wants to see you.”

“Who cares?” I asked, flashing a grin. “I hope he keeps me there for hours. It makes me feel good just to look at him.”

“There’s no accounting for taste, I suppose,” she commented, folding her arms. “I get a different feeling when I look at him.” I gave her a blank stare, but knew exactly what she meant. Pete could be very frustrating for a woman, especially if she worked for him. “You’d better get over there,” she added. “No sense in making him mad.”

I thanked her and left on the run, but slowed down once I got outside. I had too many more hours in front of me to waste whatever strength I had left. When I got to Pete’s building, I went in to the reception area to see my old friend the sergeant again. Talk about observant. For the first time I noticed that his name was Cambet.

He looked up when I opened the door, and this time found a broad grin for me.

“The colonel said for you to wait in his office,” he told me. “He’ll be here in a few minutes.” I thanked him and was headed for Pete’s office when the sergeant spoke to me again. “You know, I couldn’t figure out how you kept butting heads with him and still came out as well as you did, but now I know. Like father, like daughter.”

I stopped where I was and looked back at him over my shoulder. “Does he know you know?” I asked, swallowing a grin.

“Of course not!” Cambet said, looking and sounding shocked. “Do you think I want to walk a guard post? Uh, you won’t tell him, will you?”

“Your secret is safe with me,” I assured him, then continued on into Pete’s office. I hadn’t expected the word to get around that fast, but military bases actually have very few secrets. As long as the gossip is juicy in any way at all, it’s guaranteed to spread faster than C.

I checked Pete’s desk, and found what I thought I would: Jeff’s notes on his class, which covered who was in it and how far they’d gotten with the work. I lit one of Pete’s cigarettes then sat down to study Jeff’s notes, but hadn’t gotten very far when the door opened and Pete came in. He swung the door closed behind him, and came over to the desk.

“Get your tail out of my chair,” he growled, gesturing with a thumb. “Sit on the other side where you belong.”

I tsked and moved to the guest chair while he reclaimed his own, but before I could get back to the notes he showed he had more to say.

“I have just one question for you,” he said, mimicking me. “How many of my proctors did you have to kill to finish the day with no out-of-class demerits?”

“Hardly any at all,” I answered in a sober, bland way. “To look at me, you would almost think I was a professional.”

“I know you’re a professional,” he said as he leaned back. “I just won’t say a professional what. What story did you give the proctors?”

“What difference does it make?” I asked, arranging the notes in front of me again without looking up at him. “They seem to have bought it, and that’s the main concern.”

“I would agree with that except for one thing,” he said, the growl beginning to come back. “All day today they kept staring at me when they thought I wasn’t watching, and I’ve never seen such a variety of expressions. There’s only one thing that could have caused that, and it’s your story. Now spill it! I want to know what you told them.”