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whole issue of the Congress fleet is resolved. But once she's free to return her
attention to us, she can try, at least, to contact these ... people directly."
"If these aliens communicated through philotic links," said Quara, "they
wouldn't have to use molecules."
"Maybe these molecules," said Miro, "are how they communicate with animals."
Admiral Lands could not believe what he was hearing. The First Speaker of
Starways Congress and the First Secretary of the Starfleet Admiralty were both
visible above the terminal, and their message was the same. "Quarantine,
exactly," said the Secretary. "You are not authorized to use the Molecular
Disruption Device."
"Quarantine is impossible," said Lands. "We're going too rapidly. You know the
battle plan I filed at the beginning of the voyage. It would take us weeks to
slow down. And what about the men? It's one thing to take a relativistic voyage
and then return to their home worlds. Yes, their friends and family are gone,
but at least they aren't stuck off on permanent duty inside a starship! Keeping
our velocity at near-relativistic speeds, I'm saving them months of their lives
spent in acceleration and deceleration. You're talking about expecting them to
give up years!"
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"Surely you're not saying," said the First Speaker, "that we should blow up
Lusitania and wipe out the pequeninos and thousands of human beings so that your
crews don't get depressed."
"I'm saying that if you don't want us to blow up this planet, fine -- but let us
come home."
"We can't do that," said the First Secretary. "The descolada is too dangerous to
leave it unsupervised on a planet that has rebelled."
"You mean you're canceling the use of the Little Doctor when nothing has been
done to contain the descolada?"
"We will send a landing team with due precautions to ascertain the exact
conditions on the ground," said the First Secretary.
"In other words, you'll send men into mortal danger from this disease with no
knowledge of the situation on the ground, when the means exist to eliminate the
danger without peril to any uninfected person."
"Congress has reached the decision," said the First Speaker coldly. "We will not
commit xenocide while any legitimate alternative remains. Are these orders
received and understood?"
"Yes sir," said Lands.
"Will they be obeyed?" asked the First Speaker.
The First Secretary looked aghast. You did not insult a flag officer by
questioning whether he meant to obey orders.
Yet the First Speaker did not withdraw the insult. "Well?"
"Sir, I always have and always will live by my oath." With that, Lands broke the
connection. He immediately turned to Causo, his X.O., the only other person
present with him in the sealed communications office. "You are under arrest,
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sir," said Lands.
Causo raised an eyebrow. "So you don't intend to comply with this order?"
"Do not tell me your personal feelings on the matter," said Lands. "I know that
you're of Portuguese ethnic heritage like the people of Lusitania --"
"They're Brazilian," said the X.O.
Lands ignored him. "I will have it on record that you were given no opportunity
to speak and that you are utterly blameless in any action I might take."
"What about your oath, sir?" asked Causo calmly.
"My oath is to take all actions I am ordered to take in service of the best
interests of humanity. I will invoke the war crimes clause."
"They aren't ordering you to commit a war crime. They're ordering you not to."
"On the contrary," said Lands. "To fail to destroy this world and the deadly
peril on it would be a crime against humanity far worse than the crime of
blowing it up." Lands drew his sidearm. "You are under arrest, sir."
The X.O. put his hands on his head and turned his back. "Sir, you may be right
and you may be wrong. But either choice could be monstrous. I don't know how you
can make such a decision by yourself."
Lands put the docility patch on the back of Causo's neck, and as the drug began
feeding into his system, Lands said to him, "I had help in deciding, my friend.
I asked myself, What would Ender Wiggin, the man who saved humanity from the
buggers, what would he have done if suddenly, at the last minute, he had been
told, This is no game, this is real. I asked myself, What if at the moment
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