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The Colors of Space

Page 70

He took a chart from a drawer, spread it out on a table top. "The

simplest way would be to cut these two wires. When the Lhari land, we'll

be there, waiting for them. On board the Lhari ship, there must be full

records--coordinates of their home world, of where they go for their

catalyst fuel--all that."

Bart whistled. "But won't the crew defend the ship? You can't fight

energon-ray guns!"

Montano's face was perfectly calm. "No. We won't even try." He handed

Bart a small strip of pale-yellow plastic.

"Keep this out of sight of the Mentorians," he said. "The Lhari won't be

able to see the color, of course. But when it turns orange, take cover."

"What is it?"

"Radiation-exposure film. It's exactly as sensitive to radiation as you

are. When it starts to turn orange, it's picking up radiation. If you're

aboard the ship, get into the drive chambers--they're lead-lined--and

you'll be safe. If you're out on the surface, you'll be all right inside

one of the concrete bunkers. But get under cover before it turns red,

because by that time every Lhari of them will be stone-cold dead."

Bart let the strip of plastic drop, staring in disbelief at Montano's

cold, cruel face. "Kill them? Kill a whole shipload of them? That's

murder!"

"Not murder. War."

"We're not at war with the Lhari! We have a treaty with them!"

"The Federation has, because they don't dare do anything else," Montano

said, his face taking on the fanatic's light, "but some of us dare do

something, some of us aren't going to sit forever and let them strangle

all humanity, hold us down, let us die! It's war, Bart, war for

economic survival. Do you suppose the Lhari would hesitate to kill

anyone if we did anything to hurt their monopoly of the stars? Or didn't

they tell you about David Briscoe, how they hunted him down like an

animal--"

"But how do we know that was Lhari policy, and not just--some fanatic?"

Bart asked suddenly. He thought of the death of the elder Briscoe, and

as always he shivered with the horror of it, but for the first time it

came to him: Briscoe had provoked his own death. He had physically

attacked the Lhari--threatened them, goaded them to shoot him down in

self-defense! "I've been on shipboard with them for months. They're not

wanton murderers."

Raynor Two made a derisive sound. "Sounds like it might be Three

talking!"

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