The Society of Timeand Other Stories by John Brunner

Author:John Brunner [Brunner, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi & Fantasy
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Published: 2020-11-11T22:00:00+00:00

After much pondering, the Confederacy agreed. In law, it could be argued that at the time when they proposed to take the ore, it belonged to nobody, or if it did, it belonged to the ancestors of the present-day Indians. It might not be possible, as they were promised, to conceal the traces—but what did that matter? If the facts came to light, they would drag with them for all the world to see the truth about the Mohawk-Empire alliance. It would splinter, and it was to be hoped that at least some of the splinters could be picked up by the Confederacy.

But it would be easier for all parties, of course, if the secret could be kept.

The proposers of the plan, once it was accepted, took steps to ensure not only that the loss of the ore was discovered, but to pin the deed squarely on the perpetrators. Part of it was luck—the fact that Don Miguel stopped off in New Madrid to present his compliments to the Prince, and let it be mentioned that he was bound for a vacation in California, suggested an opportunity too good to miss.

And but for the fact that Father Ramon’s agent knew of a Mohawk—or rather, a Mohawk subject—who had lately purchased some drill-bits in Augsburg, the result would have been as Two Dogs expected, especially when Roan Horse was killed. For this was only the first step. All over the continent there were other sites, waiting to be discovered. This one was genuine; the others were manufactured. The plan was that the Imperials should complain officially; the Confederacy would issue denials and promises that the same would not be done again… and then, time after time, evidence would be produced that it had been done. The same procedure would be adopted to fake these sites as had been used by corrupt Licentiates in Europe to take wealthy patrons on illegal sightseeing trips—one and the same journey would be used for a legal and a covert purpose. Since there was a sharp limit—four thousand four hundred and sixty years and a few weeks—on the operating range of time apparatus, by establishing the faked sites at maximum distance in the past it could be rendered impossible for anyone from a later point of departure to visit them and see that they were being prepared by Indians, not by miners from the Confederacy. And more than one drill-bit had been bought in Augsburg, and could be left if evidence had to be supplied.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.