conspicuous consequence of this inflammation.”
“Horse shit,” Guthrie muttered. “Alaskans remember better than most what it was like being free. They didn’t want a correction center built in their back yard, and somehow a rumor got started that the Russians would come over and join them.”
“From abroad,” Escobedo declared, “high Fireball officials issued pronunciamentos hostile at best, incendiary at worst. The company embargoed sale within the Union of security-related materials. Again and again, employees helped fugitive subversives to escape abroad.”
“A bit of truth there, for a change,” Guthrie remarked.
“But I repeat, this was inevitable,” Escobedo said, almost compassionately. “It was like many a conflict in the past between opposing forces, equally sincere—Christians versus pagans, astronomers versus astrologers, democrats versus royalists, liberators versus imperialists.”
His tone became stern again. “Now, as I told you, we have discovered that certain persons in the lower echelons of Fireball became so fanatically full of hatred that they entered into actual criminal conspiracy. They made contact with Chaotic terrorists who have long been waiting for a chance to strike deadly blows at you, the North American people. These individuals in Fireball aided and abetted the terrorists. They helped Chaotics get employment in the company, until today it is riddled with infiltration.
“The danger this poses is obviously enormous. Fireball fills key positions in the economy of the Union, as it does in every country on Earth. Its potential power to commit sabotage is virtually unlimited. In our modern world, we all depend for our lives on a frighteningly vulnerable network of high-technology services, as well as materials and energy from space. Let any of this be disrupted, and we shall immediately stand on the brink of starvation, chaos, mass death. Ruthless enemies, desiring still quicker collapse, could wreck our transportation and communicationfacilities here on the ground. The terrorists, armed and ready, would take mastery of the ruins.
“This is why your government has occupied everything in our country that is Fireball’s. Were we able, we would have occupied everything everywhere. I have instructed North America’s representatives in the World Federation to call for action by the Peace Authority. For surely chaos in a nation as large as ours menaces the entire human species.”
He smiled afresh. “Now for the good news. I said before that the directors of Fireball, and indeed most of its personnel, are not evil. Misguided, we know. Negativistic, selfish, greedy, yes, many among them—I do not say all. But they are not insane. They are not stupid. They realize full well how much they too would lose by a breakdown of order. They accept that the Chaotics are enemies not only of Avantist Xuanism, but of civilization as a whole. They were simply not aware of the extent to which these enemies have infected their own quasi-nation.
“Once your Security Police had access to Fireball headquarters, they went to work. Brilliantly they used the most advanced investigative techniques. Piece by piece, they uncovered the basic truth. Much remains to be done, of course, but we now know what it is that we must do. When we had this information, we approached certain key leaders of Fireball, in deepest confidence. They were appalled. They agreed that full occupation was necessary. The Chaotics must be rooted out to the last cancerous cell. It is for the company’s health almost as much as for our own.
“Citizens, I tell you that this development means more than immediate safety. It points toward an entire, positive future. I do not expect the officers of Fireball or of the other corporations that follow its lead—I do not expect them to embrace correct doctrine overnight. They will continue to pursue their self-interest, and the interest of their organizations, for a long time to come.
“Horse shit,” Guthrie muttered. “Alaskans remember better than most what it was like being free. They didn’t want a correction center built in their back yard, and somehow a rumor got started that the Russians would come over and join them.”
“From abroad,” Escobedo declared, “high Fireball officials issued pronunciamentos hostile at best, incendiary at worst. The company embargoed sale within the Union of security-related materials. Again and again, employees helped fugitive subversives to escape abroad.”
“A bit of truth there, for a change,” Guthrie remarked.
“But I repeat, this was inevitable,” Escobedo said, almost compassionately. “It was like many a conflict in the past between opposing forces, equally sincere—Christians versus pagans, astronomers versus astrologers, democrats versus royalists, liberators versus imperialists.”
His tone became stern again. “Now, as I told you, we have discovered that certain persons in the lower echelons of Fireball became so fanatically full of hatred that they entered into actual criminal conspiracy. They made contact with Chaotic terrorists who have long been waiting for a chance to strike deadly blows at you, the North American people. These individuals in Fireball aided and abetted the terrorists. They helped Chaotics get employment in the company, until today it is riddled with infiltration.
“The danger this poses is obviously enormous. Fireball fills key positions in the economy of the Union, as it does in every country on Earth. Its potential power to commit sabotage is virtually unlimited. In our modern world, we all depend for our lives on a frighteningly vulnerable network of high-technology services, as well as materials and energy from space. Let any of this be disrupted, and we shall immediately stand on the brink of starvation, chaos, mass death. Ruthless enemies, desiring still quicker collapse, could wreck our transportation and communicationfacilities here on the ground. The terrorists, armed and ready, would take mastery of the ruins.
“This is why your government has occupied everything in our country that is Fireball’s. Were we able, we would have occupied everything everywhere. I have instructed North America’s representatives in the World Federation to call for action by the Peace Authority. For surely chaos in a nation as large as ours menaces the entire human species.”
He smiled afresh. “Now for the good news. I said before that the directors of Fireball, and indeed most of its personnel, are not evil. Misguided, we know. Negativistic, selfish, greedy, yes, many among them—I do not say all. But they are not insane. They are not stupid. They realize full well how much they too would lose by a breakdown of order. They accept that the Chaotics are enemies not only of Avantist Xuanism, but of civilization as a whole. They were simply not aware of the extent to which these enemies have infected their own quasi-nation.
“Once your Security Police had access to Fireball headquarters, they went to work. Brilliantly they used the most advanced investigative techniques. Piece by piece, they uncovered the basic truth. Much remains to be done, of course, but we now know what it is that we must do. When we had this information, we approached certain key leaders of Fireball, in deepest confidence. They were appalled. They agreed that full occupation was necessary. The Chaotics must be rooted out to the last cancerous cell. It is for the company’s health almost as much as for our own.
“Citizens, I tell you that this development means more than immediate safety. It points toward an entire, positive future. I do not expect the officers of Fireball or of the other corporations that follow its lead—I do not expect them to embrace correct doctrine overnight. They will continue to pursue their self-interest, and the interest of their organizations, for a long time to come.
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