ell of an important decision in the next couple of
days. It's not up to me. For once I'm not to be brushed off with that
'don't bother me with details,' routine."

"Decision? What decision? You said everything was all ready to go,
didn't you?"

"Look," Paul Koslov said, "remember when you gave me this assignment.
When you told me about the Germans sending Lenin up to Petrograd in
hopes he'd start a revolution and the British sending Somerset Maugham
to try and prevent it?"

"Yes, yes, man. What's that got to do with it?" Even over the long
distance, the Chief's voice sounded puzzled.

"Supposedly the Germans were successful, and Maugham failed. But looking
back at it a generation later, did the Germans win out by helping bring
off the Bolshevik revolution? The Soviets destroyed them for all time as
a first-rate power at Stalingrad, twenty-five years afterwards."

The voice from Washington was impatient. "What's your point, Paul?"

"My point is this. When you gave me this assignment, you told me I was
in the position of the German who engineered bringing Lenin up to
Petrograd to start the Bolsheviks rolling. Are you _sure_ that the
opposite isn't true? Are you sure it isn't Maugham's job I should have?
Let me tell you, Chief, these boys I'm working with now are sharp,
they've got more on the ball than these Commie bureaucrats running the
country have a dozen times over.

"Chief, this is the decision that has to be made in the next couple of
days. Just who do we want eliminated? Are you sure you don't want me to
tip off the KGB to this whole conspiracy?"

THE END

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Astounding Science Fiction_ May 1960.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Revolution, by Dallas McCord Reynolds

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