“So?”
“So energy, senator. Solar power! Economical.”
“I don’t understand exactly what you’re saying. You mean this substellar thing is hotter than our sun?”
“No, it’s not nearly as hot. But it’s a lot closer. The important thing is it doesn’t move. What’s the big problem with solar power here? The sun doesn’t stay put. It wanders around all over the sky, and half the time it’s not in the sky at all, because it’s night here and so the sun’s on the other side of the earth. I mean, look at our ship here. We had to preheat for nearly half an hour to get the gas light enough to lift, because it’s after dark. On the side of the planet that faces its sun — the only side that interests me, Gus — it’s never dark.”
Lenz nodded and sipped his drink, waiting for more.
“It’s never dark. It’s never winter. The sun stays put, so you don’t have to make your Fresnel lenses movable. And almost as important, the weather isn’t a problem. You know what the score is on our own solar-power installations. Not counting clamjets in the daytime — because they’re up over the clouds a lot of the time — we lose as much as twenty-five percent working time because the clouds cut out the sunlight.”
Lenz looked puzzled. “This planet doesn’t have any clouds?”
“Oh, sure. But they don’t matter. The radiation is almost all heat, and it punches right through the clouds! Figure it out. Here we lose half the solar-generating time to night; another few percent to dawn and dusk, because the sun’s so low it doesn’t yield much power; as much as sixty percent additional for half the year because it’s winter; and another twenty-five percent to cloud cover. Put them all together and we’re lucky to get ten percent utilization. On this planet a cheaper installation can get damn near a hundred percent.”
Lenz thought about that for a moment. “Sounds interesting,” he said cautiously, and signaled for a refill.
Margie left him to sort things out in his own mind. Sooner or later it would occur to him to ask what good energy some hundred light-years away was going to do the voters in the state of Colorado on Earth. She had an answer for that, too, but she was content to wait until he asked for it.
But when he asked a question it caught her by surprise. “Margie? What’ve you got against the Paks?”
“Paks? Why — nothing, really.”
“You seem to take this Ahmed’s competition pretty seriously.”
“Not on a personal level, Gus. I’m not crazy about Paks. But I’ve been on friendly terms with some. I had a Pak orderly when I was teaching at West Point. Nice kid. Kept my clothes ironed and never bothered me when I didn’t want him around.”
“That sounds like a nice Appliance to own,” Lenz observed.
“Yeah, yeah. I take your point.” She stopped to think. “That’s not where it’s at, though. I’m not against Ahmed because he’s a Pak. I’m against the Paks because they’re the other side. I can’t help it, senator. I root for my team.”
“Which is who, Margie? Just the Food Bloc? Just the United States? Maybe just the female commissioned officers of the US Army?”
She giggled comfortably. “All of them, in that order,” she agreed.
“Margie,” he said seriously, “we’re just shooting the bull here over a couple of drinks. I don’t want to get too heavy.”
“Why not, Gus? Order up a couple more drinks and let’s get to it!”
He obeyed. While they were coming he said, “You’re a nice girl, Margie, but a little too bloody-minded. Pity you went to West Point.”
“Wrong, Gus. The pity is that so few young Americans have the chance now.”
He shook his head. “I voted to phase down the service academies and cut the military budget.”
“I know you did. Worst vote you ever cast.”
“No. There was no choice. We can’t afford war, Margie. Can’t you understand that? Even Pakistan could blow us off the map! Not to mention the Chinese and the Turks and the Poles and the rest of the People Bloc. Not to mention the British, the Saudis, the Venezuelans. We can’t afford to fight anybody, and nobody can afford to fight us. And everybody knows it. They’re not our enemies—”
“But they’re competing with us, senator,” said Captain Menninger, suddenly sitting up straighter and speaking with more precision. “Economically. Politically. Every other way. Remember Clausewitz: war is the logical extension of politics. I grant,” she said quickly, “that we can’t go that far. We don’t want to blow up the planet. I know what you’re saying. It’s like that famous saying of — what was his name, the Russian cosmonaut? Years and years ago. Sevastianov, I think: ‘When I was in space I saw how tiny the world was, and realized how important it was for all of us to learn to live together on it.’ Well, sure, Gus. But learning to live together doesn’t mean that some people can’t live a little better than others. It’s a fact of life! The Fuel people keep jumping their prices. And the People people keep demanding more money for their export workers, or else they’ll keep them home, and what will we do for orderlies and airline stewardesses? And we compete back. Well, Gus, when I compete, I compete hard. I play to win! This Kung’s Star planet is something I want to win. I think there’s goodies on this planet. I want them for us. Us being defined as the Food Bloc, the United States, the state of Texas, the city of Houston, and all the other subdivisions you named or want to name, including blond ex-professors from West Point, if you like, in descending order of size of community. Whichever community you want to talk about, if it’s mine, I want it to be first, best, and most successful! I think that’s what they call patriotism, senator. I really doubt that you want to knock it.”
He looked at her thoughtfully over the new drinks, and raised his. “To you, Margie. You really are some kind of iron-pants.”
She laughed. “All right,” she said, softening. “I’ll drink to that. Now, what about my bill?”
Lenz finished his drink and put it down. “For better or worse we’re part of an economic community, and that’s a fact of life for you, Captain Margie Menninger. You can’t sell this to me as a United States venture. You might as a cooperative deal for the Food Bloc.”
“Gripes, Gus! We’d still be paying for the whole thing!”
“Maybe ninety percent of it, yes.”
“Then why not do it all and take it all?”
“Because,” he said patiently, “I won’t vote for that. So?”
Margie was silent for a moment, considering her priorities. She shrugged. “So all right,” she said. “I don’t mind if we include a few token gooks. Maybe two or three Canadians. A Brazilian. Maybe even a Bulgarian. In fact, there was a Bulgarian at the convention—”
She stopped herself. In mid-sentence it had occurred to her that in some sense she owed that Nan Whatever-it-was-ova a sort of a favor; but it had occurred to her simultaneously that the Bulgarian girl had been excessively close to the very Pak she was most worried about.
“No,” she said, “on second thought I’m not sure I want a Bulgarian. They’re too tiny a power to worry about, frankly. But maybe one or two people from the Soviets. If we send ten, and if at least six are genuine made-in-America US citizens, I can see bringing along a few from the rest of the bloc.”
“Um.” Lenz looked thoughtfully at her for a moment, moving slightly in his seat to the gentle pitching of the clamjet as it rose and fell through the night sky. “Well,” he said, “we’ll see.” He smiled at her. “What shall we do with this night God has given us, Margie? It’s too late to think hard and too early to go to sleep. Want to watch the stars for awhile?”