Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven [304]
"Not me," Christopher said. "We won our war."
There were murmurs of agreement. Harvey stepped forward, intending to join in. Not another war. Not another afternoon with the crossbow …
He felt Maureen beside him. She looked up at him, pleading in her eyes. "Don't let them do this," she said. "Make them understand!" She dropped her hand from Harvey's arm and bent over the Senator. "Dad. Tell them. We have to … to fight. To save that power plant."
"Why?" Jellison asked. "Haven't we had enough war? It doesn't matter. I couldn't order it. They wouldn't go."
"They would. If you told them, they would."
He didn't answer. She turned back to Harvey.
Randall stared at her without comprehension. "Listen," he said. "Listen to Al."
"Reinforcements wouldn't be enough, Tim," Al Hardy was saying. "Chief Hartman and the Senator and the Mayor and I, we looked at the problem this afternoon. We hadn't forgotten you! And the cost is too high. You said it yourself, the plant is fragile. It's not enough to put a garrison in there, to keep it filled with troops. You have to keep the Brotherhood from dropping one mortar shell in the right place. Tell me, if that plant worker hadn't turned off the steam valve, wouldn't that have done it?"
"Yes," Tim snarled. "That would have finished us. So a twenty-year-old kid parboiled himself to save the plant. And General Baker made his decision."
"Tim, Tim," Hardy pleaded. "You don't understand. It wouldn't do any good just to send reinforcements. Look, I'll send volunteers. As many as want to go, and with plenty of food and ammunition … "
Tim's face showed joy, but only for a moment.
". .. but it won't do any good, and you know it. To save that power plant we will have to send out all our strength, everyone, not to defend the plant, but to attack the New Brotherhood. Pursue them, fight them, wipe them out. Take all their weapons. Then set up patrols around the edges of the lake. Keep the enemy at least a mile from the plant. It would take all our strength, Tim, and the cost would be horrible."
"But—"
"Think about it," Hardy said. "Patrols. Spies. An army of occupation. All to stop one fanatic from getting one hit on one crucial piece of equipment and putting it out of commission for one day. That's the task. Isn't it?"
"For now," Tim said. "But given peace and quiet for a few weeks, Price will have Number Two on line. Then as long as either works, the other can be repaired."
The roomful of survivors was sobering now, most of them, because the last of the liquor was as dead as the coffee supply. They muttered to each other, spoke, argued, and they seemed to Harvey to be divided in opinion, but the strength was against Tim. As it should be, Harvey thought. Not more war.
But … he looked at Maureen. Now she was crying openly. Because of Baker? Baker had made his choice, and Maureen wouldn't let him be wasted? Her eyes met his. "Talk to them," she said. "Make them understand."
"I don't understand myself," Harvey said.
"What we can afford," she said. "A civilization has the ethics it can afford. We can't afford much. We can't afford to take care of our enemies—you know about that."
He shuddered. He knew about that.
Leonilla Malik came in the back way, through the Mayor's office. She bent over the Senator. "I am told that you need me," she said.
"Who told you that?" Jellison demanded.
"Mister Hardy."
"I'm all right. Get back to your hospital."
"Doctor Valdemar is on duty. I have a few minutes."
She stood slightly behind the Senator, and she watched him carefully, her expression professional—and concerned.
"We must count the costs," Al Hardy was saying. "You ask us to risk everything. We have assured survival. We are alive. We have fought the last battle. Tim, electric lights are not worth throwing