Free Seed of Stars by Dan Morgan, John Kippax

figure whose carefully cultured voice flowed on so smoothly, never once at a loss for the elegant phrase, the precise word with which to make his meaning clear.
    "You are all, I'm sure, familiar with the Magarach Principle?" continued Magnus, beaming enquiringly. Then, despite a spattering of confirmatory nods from the less somnolent members of his audience, he went on to explain: "Briefly, the principle states that any colonial population must continue to grow at a certain rate in order to preserve its cultural heritage and stability. After the first seventy-five years of colonization, during which the development of a planet can be said to be in the melting pot, to coin a phrase, population growth should settle down to a steadily rising curve. If this fails to happen, and the birth rate falls below a certain percentage, then it can be predicted that the colony, as such, is no longer viable. Now, you may ask, under such circumstances, surely the situation could be remedied by the introduction of new batches of colonists fresh from Earth? However, historical precedent shows us quite clearly that this is not the case. The introduction of such 'new blood' at this stage of development, with its inevitable dangers of clash between the 'old' colonists and the 'new,' can only result in the kind of instability which may well destroy the colony completely through conflict between racial groups, even to the extent of civil war and insurrection, as in the case of Damien II, some ten years ago, when the intervention of two Space Corps ships was required to restore order, and it was eventually found necessary to declare the colony nonviable, with the consequent evacuation of the entire colonial population. I do not intend to go into detail about the manner in which the Corps handled this particular operation; suffice it to say that there were certain questions at the time, and considerable adverse comment about the use of an unnecessary measure of violence..."
    "Rubbish!"
    Maseba winced as the unmistakable bark of Commander Tom Brace's parade-ground-trained voice broke in on the smooth tones of Magnus, and glanced at his wrist watch. Three and a half minutes flat.
    Magnus, imperturbable as ever, smiled mildly in the direction of the interruption, and said: "You had a question, commander?"
    Bruce, his lean features pale with rage, green eyes flashing, rose to his feet. He said: "Mister Magnus—I was under the impression that this was supposed to be a briefing session, expressly for the purpose of laying out the respective duties of my officers in the Kepler III operation."
    "But of course, commander."
    "In that case, I don't see why we have to sit here and listen to a crash course in sociopolitical theory," Bruce said vehemently. "You can rely on the fact that my officers will perform their duties to the letter in accordance with their Corps training."
    "Ah, yes, commander," .Magnus said smoothly. "That is a point upon which I have no doubt whatsoever. But unfortunately the carrying out of an independence investigation is not merely a matter of orders given and orders obeyed. There will arise inevitably in the course of any such operation certain situations which are, at this stage, unpredictable. In dealing with such situations, correct decisions can only be made by those people who are fully acquainted with the underlying principles of colonial independence."
    Bruce was unimpressed and unrepentant. "Good God, man! If you spend this amount of time on preliminaries, just how long do you anticipate the entire operation will take to complete?"
    Magnus drew the fingers of his right hand caressingly down the taut skin of his cheek. "That, commander, is a question which I can only answer at this stage by saying: as long as necessary. Does that satisfy you?"
    "It does not!" snapped Bruce. "How in hell can I map out any kind of voyage schedule on the basis of 'as long as necessary'? Do you expect me to sit there on Kepler III indefinitely, with