Starquake.pdf

"That gives us four greats of turns," Cliff-Web said. "I should be able to get the drive built in less than
two.If we get the money." He turned his attention to the three-dimensional scene floating above the floor
in front of the silvery holovid screen. The legislators had gathered in a large depression in the center of
Bright that served as a meeting compound. The place wasn't used very often lately, since most large
gatherings for business and entertainment were carried out through multiple communications linkups
rather than in person.
This was the last session of the legislature before the recess for elections, however, and it was
traditionally held at the meeting compound. The last item of business left in this great's session was the
appropriation of the money to build the giant scale inertia drive engine needed to replace the failing engine
on the human herder rocket. The large, doughnut-shaped device had been dubbed the "Jumbo Bagel" by
the holovid newscasters. The name came from the engine's resemblance to a confection eaten by the
humans. One of the legislators was speaking, and the holocamera zoomed in on the waving eye-stubs as
the speaker's pad amplified his tread motions.
"... I, for one, don't want to go back to my clan just before election and say that we are going to have to
raise taxes just to save a bunch of ignorant Slow Ones who were too dumb to build their spacecraft
correctly. Let them rescue themselves, I say!"
"I'm sure my esteemed colleague in the third sextant of the chamber didn't really mean that," another
speaker chided. "We certainly can't blame the Slow Ones for being ignorant. They live so slowly that
there is no chance they
will ever catch up with us. Yet they are not animals. We cannot ignore their plight and just let them die.
After all, they did help us once."
"But that was long ago. Back when we were still but savages. We have paid them back in full by filling
up their memory crystals with all the advanced technology they could possibly use. We even cleaned out
the black holes in their Sun to stop the ice ages they would otherwise have to face. We owe them
nothing, I say. Space exploration is dangerous. People—humans and cheela alike—are often killed by
unforeseen accidents. These Slow Ones knew they were on a risky mission when they volunteered. They
were unlucky and will have to accept their fate. Why should we empty our pouches to save them from
their own foolhardi-ness. I will voteNo!"
"He can't be serious!" Cliff-Web exploded in anger. "We can't let those humans die when we could
easily save them! He must be playing to the voters. Is there really a chance that those fools won't give us
the money?"
"If it comes to a tally this turn, the appropriation will probably pass, although it will be close," Star-Glider
calculated. "What I am afraid of is that they will decide to put the tally off until after the elections. We will
then have a large number of newly elected clan representatives and we will have to go through the whole
round of re-educating and re-justifying. It could cost us a full great of turns, and time is getting short...."
Another cheela moved to a speaker's pad. She had to be leader of the fourth sextant since she came
from the frontmost pad of that sextant. Her body was large and firm and she had great presence. The
wave-pattern in her eye-stub motions moved slower and slower as she drew the attention of the
assembled legislators.
"The legislator from the first sextant and the legislator from the third sextant are both competent people
They have both looked at the same set of facts yet can't seem to agree. I am sure that there are others of
you with similar differences of opinion. I would like to propose a compromise position. I recommend that