slower
process, but we'll get it done in time. If I know that pair as well as
I think I do, Jonkvank and Yoorkerk will give us plenty of pretexts,
before long. Then, we can start giving them government by law instead
of by royal decree, and real courts of justice; put an end to the
head-payment system, and to these arbitrary mass arrests and
tax-delinquency imprisonments that are nothing but slave-raids by the
geek princes on their own people. And, gradually, abolish serfdom. In
a couple of centuries, this planet will be fit to admit to the
Federation, like Odin and Freya."

"Well, won't that depend a lot on whom the Company sends here to take
Harrington's place?"

"Unless I'm much mistaken, the Company will confirm me," he replied.
"Administration on Uller is going to be a military matter for a long
time to come, and even the Banking Cartel and the mercantile interests
in the Company are going to realize that, and see the necessity for
taking political control. The Federation Government owns a bigger
interest in the Company than the public realizes, too; they've always
favored it. And just to make sure, I'm sending Hid O'Leary to Terra on
the next ship, to make a full report on the situation."

"You think it'll be cleared up by then? The _City of Montevideo_ is
due in from Niflheim in a little under three months."

"It'll have to be cleared up by then. We can't keep this war going
more than a month, at the present rate. Police-action, and mopping-up,
yes, full-scale war, no."

"Ammunition?" she asked.

He looked at her in pleased surprise. "Your education has been
progressing, at that," he said. "You know, a lot of professional
officers, even up to field rank in the combat branches, seem to think
that ammo comes down miraculously from Heaven, in contragravity
lorries, every time they pray into a radio for it. It doesn't; it has
to be produced as fast as it's expended, and we haven't been doing
that. So we'll have to lick these geeks before it runs out, because we
can't lick them with gunbutts and bayonets."

"Well, how about nuclear weapons?" Paula asked. "I hate to suggest
it--I know what they did on Mimir, and Fenris, and Midgard, and what
they did on Terra, during the First Century. But it may be our only
chance."

He finished his beer and shoved the bottle into the waste-receiver,
then got out his cigarettes.

"I'd hate to have to make a decision like that, Paula," he told her.
"The military use of nuc