The Complete Stories_ Volume 1 - Isaac Asimov [278]
Altmayer looked up. "Hello, Jeff."
"What's been happening, Dick? I thought your principles, pal, forbid destruction of any kind. Here's a book-viewer that looks somewhat destroyed." He picked up the pieces.
Altmayer said, "I was holding the viewer when my wave-receiver came through with an official message. You know which one, too."
"I know. It happened to me, too. Where is it?"
"On the floor. I tore it off the spool as soon as it belched out at me. Wait, let's dump it down the atom chute."
"Hey, hold on. You can't—"
"Why not?"
"Because you won't accomplish anything. You'll have to report."
"And just why?"
"Don't be an ass, Dick."
"This is a matter of principle, by Space."
"Oh, nuts! You can't fight the whole planet."
; "I don't intend to fight the whole planet; just the few who get us into wars." Stock shrugged. "That means the whole planet. That guff of yours of leaders tricking poor innocent people into fighting is just so much space-dust. Do you think that if a vote were taken the people wouldn't be overwhelmingly in favor of fighting this fight?"
"That means nothing, Jeff. The government has control of—"
"The organs of propaganda. Yes, I know. I've listened to you often enough. But why not report, anyway?" Altmayer turned away.
Stock said, "In the first place, you might not pass the physical examination."
"I'd pass. I've been in Space."
"That doesn't mean anything. If the doctors let you hop a liner, that only means you don't have a heart murmur or an aneurysm. For military duty aboard ship in Space you need much more than just that. How do you know you qualify?"
"That's a side issue, Jeff, and an insulting one. It's not that I'm afraid to fight."
"Do you think you can stop the war this way?"
"I wish I could," Altmayer's voice almost shook as he spoke. "It's this idea I have that all mankind should be a single unit. There shouldn't be wars or space-fleets armed only for destruction. The Galaxy stands ready to be opened to the united efforts of the human race. Instead, we have been factioned for nearly two thousand years, and we throw away all the Galaxy." Stock laughed, "We're doing all right. There are more than eighty independent planetary systems."
"And are we the only intelligences in the Galaxy?"
"Oh, the Diaboli, your particular devils," and Stock put his fists to his temples and extended the two forefingers, waggling them.
"And yours, too, and everybody's. They have a single government extending over more planets than all those occupied by our precious eighty independents."
"Sure, and their nearest planet is only fifteen hundred light years away from Earth and they can't live on oxygen planets anyway."
Stock got out of his friendly mood. He said, curtly, "Look, I dropped by here to say that I was reporting for examination next week. Are you coming with me?"
"No."
"You're really determined."
"I'm really determined."
"You know you'll accomplish nothing. There'll be no great flame ignited on Earth. It will be no case of millions of young men being excited by your example into a no-war strike. You will simply be put in jail."
"Well, then, jail it is."
And jail it was. On June 17, 2755, of the atomic era, after a short trial in which Richard Sayama Altmayer refused to present any defense, he was sentenced to jail for the term of three years or for the duration of the war, whichever should be longer. He served a little over four years and two months, at which time the war ended in a definite though not shattering Santannian defeat. Earth gained complete control of certain disputed asteroids, various commercial advantages, and a limitation of the Santannian navy.
The combined human losses of the war were something over two thou-sand ships with, of course, most of their crews, and in addition, several millions