Free John Rackham by The Double Invaders

mood, and that was bad.
Anger was simple, or mirth, or mockery, but this crowd was in a state of
whimsical imbalance where anything could happen.
    "Because
of these and other things," Mordin resumed when he could be heard,
"we of Stopa will debate first, so that others may listen and learn from
what is said. Dissent? I hear none. Very well." He swiveled his
cold stare on Bragan. "You name yourself Denzil Bragan. You say you are
the
    Supreme
Executive of Zorgan. Will you now tell us what that may mean, so we can
understand it?"
    "I
will, gladly." Bragan could turn on a platform voice and manner when it
was needed. He had delivered many a lecture to a less promising audience than
this. He turned now to have the corner at his back.
    "First
a small correction," he said. "I am not Supreme in Zorgan. I am
nothing so grand as that. Zorgan is a mighty empire that bridges the stars.
Tonight, when you look at the sky, look at that part which lies between the big
red star and the bright white one. That is Zorgan. Let me describe it for you.
You have a sun. This is one of its planets. Many suns have such planets, some
more than one. Imagine as many suns as there are Scartanni in this chamber now,
and each one with at least one planet like Scarta, with as many people on them,
or more, as Scarta has. Now try to imagine how many people there are. And all
are Zorgan."
    "You mean they are all of one
kind?" Mordin demanded.
    "They
are now. Once there was just the one planet, the birthplace of a powerful and
mighty people, the Zorgan. By degrees they perfected all the skills and arts of
war and weapons. They traveled in space to the next near planet and conquered
it, and made it work for Zorgan the way my arm works for me. Then another
planet—another arm." He had them, and he knew it. They were silent and
intent, following his pictures.
    "Now
Zorgan has many hundreds of arms, but only one head. That is the control, is
Zorga itself. That planet is ruled by the
Grand Council, like this one, only a thousand times greater. That is where the
Supreme Executive of Zot-. gan is. Me, I am no more than the finger on
one hand of one of the smaller arms. But I am—as I said—the Supreme Executive
of Zorgan, on this planet. Nowl You see these men, and others of my men in
other places? All of them do what I command!"
    "Not
now, they don't!" some joker shouted from the throng and got himself a
quick storm of laughter. Mordin quelled it with an imperious hand.
    "Say
more, Bragan of Zorgan," he offered. "Tell us what would have been
done, what you would have done had you succeeded with your plan."
    "In all its detail it would take a long
time to tell, but I can give you the broad outline very simply. I would have
set up command posts and training places, to teach you many things. How to grow
ten times as much food as you do now, and then ten times as much again. How to
build great machines to make weapons and build ships like those we came in. How
to make proper places for such ships to land. How to prepare fuel for them.
How to organize yourselves so that one man could do as much as a hundred men do
now, in less time—and have more time free to enjoy for himself. And much more.
How to make fine clothing such as you have never dreamed of. Devices—a radio
with picturesl Aircraft that fly higher and faster than anything you have ever
seen. New metals, stronger than any you know. Many other things."
    "It sounds large," Mordin commented
dryly. "Say now, who feeds and keeps the teachers?" That struck home
to the audience, who responded with a roar. Bragan waited for it to die down.
    "You
keep and feed those who teach you, in return for the great wonders they teach.
We of Zorgan will make you great, and powerful, and rich. In return you will
give us one tenth of everything you make, and"—he had to save it until the
derisive roar dwindled a little—"and you will become a part of the mighty
Zorgan Empire, sharing in its strength and protected by its