people
if the massive, ore-laden planet stopped producing.

"Damn." Molten silicates were running down the sides of the volcano's
shattered peak. He re-engaged the flexing wheel pods and headed back
toward the dome.

How he hated this war. Not just for the killing. Any fool knew that
life was no great gift, and death no injury. One took care of his own,
forged what meaning he could, then surrendered in the end to oblivion.

But this war. This stupid, wasteful war. How many times must the same
story be told? Poverty and abuse on Canton leading to discontent, the
fascists coming to power, spreading their hatred in the name of God and
white supremacy. And of course a remote socialist settlement, theirs,
had proved the ideal target for a tune-up campaign. If they hadn't
gone straight for the Khrushchev colony he would probably have laughed.
Fascism must inevitably fail, just as humanist Marxism would never
die. The Cantons would surely be put down, but not before many things
innocent and beautiful had been maimed forever. Fascists! In spite of
all that he knew he could almost hate them without thinking.

And their own tentative alliance with Soviet Space. How long would
that last if the gold, tungsten and osmo-alloys stopped coming? This
planet was the key, and at the moment not a very sure bet. All he
could do was go back to the safety (relative safety) of the dome and
wait for Percy's report, and see if the Soviet astronomers had anything
intelligent to say.

He suddenly realized as he crawled in segments across a gap in the high
ridge. . .that he loved this place. Yes, loved it. The wide valley
that opened before him, even in turmoil, was beautiful to the point of
pain. Who could not feel the beauty of its raw vastness? His wife and
colleagues on the tamer Lauries II had always thought him demented.
THE STORMS, THE LONG NIGHTS, they would say. But he had never minded
the storms or the dark. They merely seemed to him a metaphor for life.
Yes, life was a storm; that thought heartened him. Perhaps this was
just another, if more severe. No, he knew better. The fascists were
real and the planet was in trouble. The flux of power among the Space
giants now favored the United Commonwealth, which remained neutral but
refused to allow the Soviets to intervene. And the German States, God
damn them. For all their greatness and determination they still
retained a stubborn streak of the Nazi mentali