The Project Gutenberg EBook of Generals Help Themselves, by M. C. Pease

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Title: Generals Help Themselves

Author: M. C. Pease

Release Date: March 17, 2010 [EBook #31680]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: _The fleet came in at four o'clock._]

_With no one to help him, it seemed the General was lost. But the
enemy was soon to discover that--_

GENERALS HELP THEMSELVES

By M. C. Pease

"Did it go well?" the aide asked.

The admiral, affectionately known as the Old Man, did not reply until
he'd closed the door, crossed the room, and dropped into the chair at
his desk. Then he said:

"Go well? It did not go at all. Every blasted one of them, from the
President on down, can think of nothing but the way the Combine over-ran
Venus. When I mention P-boats, they shout that the Venusians depended on
P-boats, too, and got smashed by the Combine's dreadnoughts in one
battle. 'You can't argue with it, man,' they tell me. And they won't
listen."

"But the Venusians fought their P-ships idiotically," the aide
complained. "It was just plain silly to let small, light, fast ships
slug it out with dreadnoughts. If they had used Plan K--"

The Old Man snorted.

"Are you trying to convince me? I've staked my whole reputation on Plan
K. They wouldn't give me the money to build a balanced space-fleet, even
when the fleets of the Combine of Jupiterian Satellite States were
staring them in the face. So, I took what I could get and poured it into
P-boats. I threw all our engineering and scientific staff into making
them faster and more maneuverable than anyone ever thought a space-ship
could be. I got them to build me electronic computers that could direct
that speed. And, two years ago, every cent I could lay my hands on went
to install the computers on all our ships."

"I remember," the aide said.

"But, now the chips are down, the people have funked out on me. I am one
of the most