Spartan Planet - A. Bertram Chandler [44]
"You were not in time, of course."
"No, sir. We were not in time." He added virtuously, "I made sure of that."
"How, Brasidus?"
"I knew the way, she did not. I was able to make a detour."
The answer seemed to satisfy Diomedes. He grunted, "All right. You may sit down." For a few seconds he drummed on the desktop with his fingertips. "Meanwhile, Brasidus, the situation in the city is developing. Commander Grimes allowed his Arcadians, as well as the human members of his crew, shore leave. There was an unfortunate occurrence in the Tavern of the Three Harpies. An Arcadian, accompanied by a human spaceman, went in there. They got drinking with the other customers."
"Not the sort of place that I'd drink in by choice," Brasidus said, the other's silence seeming to call for some sort of comment.
"They were not so fortunate as to have a guide, such as yourself, to keep them out of trouble." (You sarcastic swine, thought Brasidus.) "Anyhow, there was the usual crowd in there. Helots of the laboring class, hoplites not fussy about the company they keep. It wouldn't have been so bad if the two spacemen had just taken one drink and then walked out, but they stayed there, drinking with the locals, and allowed themselves to be drawn into an argument. And you know how arguments in the Three Harpies usually finish."
"There was a fight, sir?"
"Brilliant, Brasidus, brilliant. There was a fight, and the human spaceman was laid out, and the Arcadian was beaten up a little, and then stripped. There was, you will understand, some curiosity as to what her body was like under her uniform."
"That was bad, sir."
"There's worse to follow. At least four hoplites had sexual intercourse with her by force."
"So it is possible, sir, in spite of the malformation."
Diomedes chuckled obscenely. "It's possible, all right. Everybody in the tavern would have had her if the other spaceman hadn't come round and started screaming for help on a little portable transceiver he wore on his wrist. A dozen men from the ship rushed in, real toughs—and I wish that my own personnel could learn their techniques of unarmed combat. Then the police condescended to intervene and laid everybody out with their stun guns, and then Commander Grimes, who'd heard about it somehow, came charging into my office threatening to devastate the city, and . . . and . . .
"Anyhow, you can see why I had to handle this Lazenby creature with kid gloves. Even though Grimes admits that his own crew were at fault—he had issued strict orders that no sightseeing party was to consist of fewer than six people—he was furious about the 'rape,' as he called it. You saw how he reacted when he thought that you had been doing something of the kind. He demanded that the rapists be punished most severely."
"But they were hoplites, sir, not helots. They had the right . . ."
"I know, I know. When I need instruction in the finer points of Spartan law, I'll come to you. The conduct was discourteous rather than criminal. The culprits will, by this time, have been reprimanded by their commanding officer, and will, in all probability, he back in the Three Harpies, telling anybody who cares to listen what intercourse is like with an Arcadian. It is, I gather, quite an experience. Are you quite sure that you didn't . . .?"
"Quite sure, sir."
"That's your story, and you stick to it." Again there was a pause, and the muffled drumming of Diomedes' fingers on the top of his desk. Then he went on, "Even on Sparta we have experienced occasional mutiny, infrequent rebellion. Tell me, Brasidus, what are the prime causes of mutiny?"
"Discontent, sir. Overly strict discipline. Unjust punishments . . ."
"And . . .?"
"That's about all, sir."
"What about envy, Brasidus?"
"No sir. We all know that if we show ability we shall become officers, with all the privileges that go with rank."
"But what if there's a privilege