"And there," said Cletus, as they stood in the warm night breeze, looking upward. He pointed at a yellowish star low on the horizon. "That'll be your sister world, Mara. I understand you Exotics have got quite a colony there, too."
"Oh yes," answered Mondar thoughtfully, gazing at the star.
"A pity," said Cletus, turning to him, "that they aren't as free there from Alliance and Coalition influence as you've been here on Kultis since the Neulanders were taken care of."
Mondar withdrew his eyes from the star, turned himself to face Cletus and smiled. "You're suggesting we Exotics hire your new battle unit to drive out the Alliance and Coalition forces?" he said, humor in his voice. "Cletus, we've strained our financial resources for you already. Besides, it's counter to our general philosophy to contemplate deliberate conquest of other peoples or territories. You shouldn't suggest it to us."
"I don't," said Cletus. "I only suggest you contemplate the building of a core-tap power station at the Maran North Pole."
Mondar gazed through the darkness at Cletus for a moment without speaking. "A core-tap power station?" he echoed at last, slowly. "Cletus, what new subtlety are you working at now?"
"Hardly a subtlety," replied Cletus. "It's more a matter of taking a square look at the facts on Mara, economic and otherwise. The Alliance and the Coalition are both still stretched to their economic limits to maintain their influence with various colonies on all the new worlds. They may have lost ground here. But they're both strong on Mara, on Frieland and New Earth under Sirius, on Newton and Cassida, and even to a certain extent on the younger old worlds of the solar system - Mars and Venus. In fact, you might say they're both overextended. Sooner or later they're bound to crack - and the one that's liable to crack first, because it's invested more of its wealth and manpower in influencing new world colonies than the Coalition has, is the Alliance. Now, if either the Alliance or the Coalition goes under, the one that's left is going to take over all the influence that the other formerly had. Instead of two large octopi, with their tentacles into everything on the new worlds, there'll be one extra-large octupus. You don't want that."
"No," murmured Mondar.
"Then it's plainly to your interests to see that, on some place like Mara, neither the Alliance nor the Coalition gets the upper hand," said Cletus. "After we took care of Neuland, and you invited the Alliance forces out, the personnel the Alliance had here were taken away and spread out generally - plugged in any place the Alliance seemed in danger of springing a leak in confrontation with the Coalition. The Coalition, on the other hand, took its people in Neuland - of which, granted, there weren't as many as there were of Alliance people, but it was a fair number - and simply shifted them over to Mara. The result is that the Coalition is headed toward getting the upper hand over the Alliance on Mara."
"So you're suggesting we hire some of these newly trained Dorsais of yours to do on Mara what you did here?" Mondar smiled at him, a little quizzically. "Didn't I just say that philosophically we Exotics consider it inadvisable to improve our position by conquest - or any violent means, for that matter. Empires built by force of arms are built on sand, Cletus."
"In that case," said Cletus, "the sand under the Roman Empire must have been most solidly packed. However, I'm not suggesting any such thing. I'm merely suggesting that you build the power plant. Your Exotic colony of Mara occupies the subtropical belt across the one large continent there. With a core-tap power station at the North Pole, you not only extend your influence into the essentially unclaimed sub-arctic regions there, you'll be able to sell power to all the small, independent, temperate-zoned colonies lying between Mara and the station. Your conquest on that planet, if any, will be by purely peaceful and economic means."
"Those small colonies you refer to," said Mondar, his head a little on one side, watching Cletus out of the comers of his blue eyes, "are all under Coalition influence."
"All the better," said Cletus. "The Coalition can't afford very well to drill them a competing core-tap power plant."
"And how are we going to afford it?" Mondar asked. He shook his head. "Cletus, Cletus, I think you must believe that our Exotic peoples are made of money."
"Not at all," Cletus said. "There's no need for you to put yourself to any more immediate expense than that for the basic labor force required to set up the plant. It ought to be possible for you to set up an agreement for a lease-purchase on the equipment itself, and the specially trained people required to set up the plant."
"Where?" asked Mondar. "With the Alliance? Or the Coalition?"
"Neither," said Cletus, promptly. "You seem to forget there's one other colonial group out here on the new worlds that's proved itself prosperous."
"You mean the scientific colonies on Newton?" said Mondar. "They're at the extreme end of the philosophical spectrum from us. They favor a tight society having as little contact with outsiders as possible. We prize individualism above anything else, and our whole purpose of existence is the concern with the total human race. I'm afraid there's a natural antipathy between the Newtonians and us." Mondar sighed slightly. "I agree we should find a way around such emotional barriers between us and other human beings. Nonetheless, the barrier's there - and in any case, the Newtonians aren't any better off financially than we are. Why should they extend us credit, equipment and the services of highly trained people - as if they were the Alliance itself?"
"Because eventually such a power station can pay back their investment with an excellent profit - by the time the lease expires and you purchase their interest in it back from them," said Cletus.
"No doubt," said Mondar. "But the investment's still too large and too long-ranged for people in their position. A man of modest income doesn't suddenly speculate on distant and risky ventures. He leaves that to richer men, who can afford the possible loss - unless he's a fool. And those Newtonians, whatever else they are, aren't fools. They wouldn't even listen."
"They might," said Cletus, "if the proposition was put to them in the proper manner. I was thinking I might say a word to them myself about it - if you want to authorize me to do that, that is. I'm on my way there now, to see if they might not want to hire some of our newly trained Dorsai troops."
Mondar gazed at him for a second; the Exotic's eyes narrowed. "I'm utterly convinced, myself," he said, "that there's no chance in the universe of your persuading them to anything like this. However, we'd stand to gain a great deal by it, and I don't see how we could possibly lose anything by your trying. If you like, I'll speak to my fellow Exotics - both about the project and about your approaching the Newtonians for equipment and experts to put it in."
"Fine. Do that," said Cletus. He turned back toward the house. "I imagine I should start folding up, then. I want to inspect the Dorsai troops in the regiment you've got here now, and set up some kind of rotation system so that we can move them back by segments to the Dorsai for the new training. I want to be on my way to Newton by the end of the week."
"I should have our answer for you by that time," said Mondar, following him in. He glanced curiously at Cletus as they moved into the house side by side. "I must say I don't see what you stand to gain by it, however."
"I don't, directly," Cletus answered. "Nor do the Dorsais - we Dorsais, I have to get used to saying. But didn't you say something to me once about how anything that moved mankind as a whole onward and upward also moved you and your people toward their long-term goal?"