Warworld: The Lidless Eye by John F. Carr, Don Hawthorne Page A

since the conversation began. “How dare you! I stayed here during the time that dreadful man, who called himself King of Haven, ran roughshod over Castell, and I never had any problems. Why should things get worse now?”
    “Because, for all of his faults, David Steele was not a fool. Steele knew better than to harm the wife of the man who was commander-in-chief of the largest military force on Haven. Unfortunately, these pompous fools in the Chamber of Deputies don’t have half his common sense. I never thought the day would come when I’d miss that villain, but I do. These damn idiots think they can bend the Brigade to their will by threats and intimidation.”
    “Then they don’t know my Gary,” she said with cold sarcasm. “Now, do they?”
    He signed. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, Laura. Please, start packing. We have to leave now.”
    “No,” she said sternly. “You’ve bullied me enough. This time I will not leave my home; it’s all I have left.”
    The Brigadier felt his heart sink. He’d been afraid of this. It wouldonly get uglier from this point on. He was tempted to turn around and leave, but the girl he’d fallen in love with still lived inside, underneath the wrinkles and wattles. It wasn’t Laura’s fault they hadn’t aged together like everyone else. He wouldn’t leave her here unless she absolutely refused to go. No matter what, Laura didn’t deserve the indignity of being carried off against her will by his own soldiers.
    Let her preserve what little self-respect she has left , he thought. If Laura truly wanted to stay in their home, fortified by her familiar possessions and memories, let her stay. He owed her that much—at the very least.

Chapter Nine
I
    Vessel Commander First Rank Galen Diettinger took his seat in the wardroom as his staff filed in. There were no distinctions of services among Soldiers, only of caste and rank, so the Deathmasters and Breedmasters were directly subservient to Diettinger, as First Ranker.
    Perhaps even more so than when I was Dictator , he mused. That must have seemed quite ludicrous to many of my old staff, for a while, there. No doubt they prefer having things back to normal…
    “ Normal ,” he smiled, almost saying the word aloud. His staff had never been allowed any doubt whatsoever about the chain of command, and the tone of this conference, Diettinger knew, would be maintained along those lines.
    The Survey Rank was presenting as much information as she had on the Haven System. “The inhabited moon which is named Haven is only marginally habitable. Rotational period for the moon is eighty-sevenhours standard, with a longer relative ‘day’ owing to the considerable illumination provided by the gas giant, Cat’s Eye. Drier than we might like, with only a sixty-percent hydrographic index…” The voice of the Survey officer droned on through the communications panel in the wardroom, but the impassive faces of the listeners belied their keen interest.
    They were learning about their next conquest, after all, and as military men, and especially as Soldiers , they would need every bit of information available to them.
    What they have not yet realized , Diettinger thought, is that Haven is to be far more than just another conquest. That realization will come soon enough.
    “…Haven’s rotation is unusual, since it is locked tidally with the Cat’s Eye, but in the synchronized pattern of Mercury rather than always presenting the same face as does the Earth’s Moon. The planet is somewhat smaller than Earth, and has a much thinner atmosphere. Due to its proximity to the Cat’s Eye there is great seismic activity. During the period of formation the tidal forces resulted in unusual patterns of vulcanism. Haven is a jumble of high mountains and deep rift valleys. Most of the mountains are high rocky peaks similar to the Himalaya Mountains in Asia on Earth.
    “The only temperate area is in the equatorial zone, which climactically