Threshold by Janet Morris & Chris Morris

Author:Janet Morris & Chris Morris [Morris, Janet & Morris, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780451450845
Google: 8zGGPwAACAAJ
Amazon: 0451450841
Publisher: Roc
Published: 1991-06-04T10:00:00+00:00

Someday perhaps a species would come along who would treat humanity as it had treated all less aggressive species. If that day came, Croft wanted to be sure that humankind's record was as presentable as possible. If ever humans were faced with a stronger, smarter, more deadly and less beneficent race than itself, who considered humans no better than subhuman or lesser alien forms, mankind had better have a clear conscience.

People must do better among the stars than they'd done on Earth, or one of Croft's descendants would curse him for causing the cycle to repeat. It was cheaper, in the long run, to treat all life-forms fairly and keep their populations high than to begin reparation and repopulation projects. The fate of the Earth and its denizens demonstrated that.

But Croft couldn't seem to instill his zeal for long-range thinking in his fellow UNE members. It might be human to mistreat everyone you could get away with mistreating, to cheat and steal and oppress whenever and whomever possible, but it wasn't laudable. Or acceptable.

This conference had been the first major attempt to regularize interstellar rights that had seemed to have the tiniest hope of success.

Now it was about to blow up in Mickey Croft's face, due to a couple of horny teenagers from powerful families.

Croft couldn't keep his mind on the speech of the camel-lipped Epsilonian at the end of the dais. When this session was over, the audience was going to be allowed to ask questions. The answers to those questions would be beamcast to the ends of creation.

Croft found himself praying that Remson really had managed to keep the lid on things.

It was Croft's only hope.

But as he watched, with the Epsilonian's voice lisping in his ears, he saw three people in NAMECorp uniforms escort a tall blond man in a business suit into the conference hall.

Well, somebody had found Cummings, Jr.

Croft wanted to rub his eyes again. But he'd done that once already. He shifted in his seat, ostensibly to look at the Epsilonian speaker. Beyond the woman from Commerce beside him was a lesser Medinan mullah.

The mullah glared at him and made a motion: he drew his leveled hand across his throat.

Oh, good. So the Medinans were simply awaiting their moment.

Between the Epsilonian speaker and the mullah's chance to talk were only two other functionaries. Croft considered recessing the conference unilaterally.

But there were too many professional reporters and diplomats in this handpicked audience. That would never do.

He faced front once more and stared ahead blindly, focusing on the panorama of flags that hung at the back of the hall. He felt as if the fifth-force generators had failed and, weightless, he was drifting toward the ceiling. But there was nothing wrong with the artificial gravity around here.

The Epsilonian ended his speech with an impassioned plea for full human status for his "brother workers in the wastelands of creation. All of us share with the rest of our honored United Nations of Earth brotherhood a common heritage. We should have equal status.

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