Upsetting the Balance Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dramatis Personae

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  About the Author

  By Harry Turtledove

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  Copyright

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  (Characters with names in CAPS are historical, others fictional)

  HUMANS

  ANIELEWICZ, MORDECHAI

  Jewish partisan, eastern Poland

  Archie

  Military Hospital Orderly, Chicago

  Auerbach, Rance

  Captain, U.S. Cavalry, Syracuse, Kansas

  BEAVERBROOK, LORD

  British Minister of Supply

  Berkowitz, Benjamin

  Captain, U.S. Army; psychiatrist, Hot Springs, Arkansas

  Beulah

  Receptionist, Hanford, Washington

  BLAIR, ERIC

  BBC newsreader and author, London

  Calhoun, Jake

  Cavalry trooper, U.S. Army

  CHILL, KURT

  Wehrmacht Lieutenant General, Pskov, USSR

  Chung, Horace

  Laundryman, Lewiston, Idaho

  Daniels, Peter (“Mutt”)

  Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Chicago

  DEIBNER, KURT

  Nuclear physicist, Tübingen,Germany

  Doc

  Physician, Chicago

  Donnelly

  Bomb disposal expert, U. S. Army Chicago

  Dölger

  Wehrmacht captain, Pskov, USSR

  Edie

  Whore, Lewiston, Idaho

  EINSTEIN, ALBERT

  Physicist, Couch, Missouri

  EISENHOWER, DWIGHT

  U.S. Army General, Couch, Missouri

  Embry, Ken

  RAF pilot, grounded in Pskov, USSR

  Eschenbach, Wolfgang

  Panzer loader, Rouffach, Alsace

  FERMI, ENRICO

  Nuclear physicist, Denver, Colorado

  Fleishman, Bertha

  Jew in Lodz, Poland

  Fred

  RAF Flight Sergeant, Watnall England

  Friedrich

  Partisan, Eastern Poland

  George

  Local resident, Hanford Washington

  GERMAN, ALEKSANDR

  Partisan Brigadier, Pskoc, USSR

  GODDARD, ROBERT

  Rocket expert, Couch, Missouri

  Goldfarb, David

  RAF radarman, Bruntingthorpe, England

  Gorbunova, Ludmila

  RAF pilot

  Grillparzer, Gunther

  Panzer gunner near Breslau Germany

  GROVES, LESLIE

  Brigadier General, U.S. Army, Denver, Colorado

  Gruver, Solomon

  Jewish fireman in Lodz, Poland

  Gus

  Private, U.S. Army, Chicago

  Hagerman, Max

  Cavalry trooper, U.S. Army

  HALIFAX, LORD

  British ambassador to the United States

  Henry

  RAF man, Nottingham England

  Henry, Marjorie

  Physician, Hanford Idaho

  Hexham

  Colonel, U.S. Army, Denver Colorado

  Hines, Rachel

  Escapee from Lakin, Kansas

  Hipple, Fred

  RAF Group Captain, Bruntingthorpe, England

  Ho Ma

  Midwife, refugee camp west of Shanghai

  Horton, Leo

  RAF Radarman, Bruntingthorpe, England

  Hou Yi

  Dung-beetle show man, Peking

  Howard

  Cavalry trooper, eastern Colorado

  Hsia Shou-Tao

  People’s Libreation Army officer, China

  HULL, CORDELL

  U.S. Secretary of State

  Jacobi, Nathan

  BBC newsreader, London

  Jacobs

  Private, U.S. Army, Chicago

  “Jacques”

  French farmer near Ambialet

  Jäger, Heinrich

  Panzer colonel, Rouffach, Alsace

  Jerzy

  Partisan, eastern Poland

  Jimmy

  Stretcher-bearer, Chicago

  Johannes

  Panzer driver near Breslau, Germany

  Jones, Jerome

  RAF radarman in Pskov, USSR

  Karpov, Feofan

  RAF colonel south of Moscow

  Kennan, Maurice

  RAF Flight Lieutenant, Bruntingthorpe, England

  Kipnis, Jakub

  Interpreter, Lizard POW camp in Poland

  Larssen, Jens

  Nuclear physicist with the Mettalurgical Laboratory

  Lidov, Boris

  Colonel, NKVD

  Liu Han

  Peasant woman in refugee camp south of Shanghai

  Magruder, Bill

  Lieutenant, U.S. Cavalry , Syracuse, Kansas

  Mather, Donald

  Captain, Special Air Service, Dover, England

  Mavrogordato, Panagiotis

  Captain of tramp freighter Naxos

  Maxwell

  Cavalry trooper, eastern Colorado

  Meinecke, Klaus

  Panzer gunner, Rouffach, Alsace

  MOLOTOV, VYACHESLAV

  Foreign commissar, of the USSR

  Muldoon, Herman

  First sergeant, U.S. Army Chicago

  MUSSOLINI, BENITO

  Italian Fascist leader, Couch, Missouri

  NIEH HO-T’ING

  People’s Liberation Army officer, China

  Nigel

  RAF corporal, Watnall, England

  Nordenskold, Morton

  Colonel, U.S. Army, Lamar, Colorado

  Norma

  BBC worker, London

  Nussboym, David

  Jew in Lodz, Poland

  O’Neill, Red

  Cavalry trooper, U.S. Army

  Okamoto

  Major, Japanese Army

  Oscar

  Sergeant, U.S. Army, Denver, Colorado

  Pete

  U.S. Army sentry, Denver, Colorado

  Pirogova, Tatiana

  Red Army sniper, Pskov, USSR

  Porlock

  Supply officer, Minneapolis

  RIBBENTROP, JOACHIM VON

  German Foreign Minister

  Roundbush, Basil

  RAF Flight Officer, Bruntingthorpe, England

  Russie, Moishe

  Jewish refugee and broadcaster, London

  Russie, Reuven

  Son of Moishe and Rivka Russie

  Russie, Rivka

  Moishe Russie’s wife

  Schultz, Georg

  German soldier working as RAF mechanic

  Sholudenko, Nikifor

  NKVD officer

  Silberman, Pinchas

  Jew in Lodz, Poland

  SKORZENY, OTTO

  SS Standartenfürher

  Smithers

  British Army major

  Smitty

  Cavalry trooper, eastern Colorado

  STALIN, IOSEF

  General Secretary, Communist Party of the USSR

  Stanegate, Fred

  British soldier

&
nbsp; Stansfield, Roger

  Royal Naval Commander; captain HMS Seanymph

  Stella

  Barmaid, Bruntingthorpe, England

  Summers, Penny

  Escapee from Lakin, Kansas

  Summers, Wendell

  Escapee from Lakin, Kansas; Penny’s father

  Szabo, Bela (“Dracula”)

  Private, U.S. Army, Chicago

  SZILARD, LEO

  Nuclear physicist, Denver, Colorado

  Szymanski, Stan

  Captain, U.S. Army, Chicago

  Terence

  Storekeeper, Couch Missouri

  Tompkins

  Major, U.S. Army, Hot Springs, Arkansas

  VASILIEV, NIKOLAI

  Partisan brigadier, Pskov, USSR

  Wiggs, Ralph

  RAF meteorologist, Bruntingthorpe, England

  Yeager, Barbara

  Sam Yeager’s wife

  Yeager, Jonathan

  Son of Sam and Barbara Yeager

  Yeager, Sam

  Sergeant, U.S. Army, Denver, Colorado

  “Yetta”

  Telephone operator, Lodz, Poland

  York, Hank

  Radioman, U.S. Army, Chicago

  THE RACE

  Atvar

  Fleetlord, conquest fleet of the Race

  Diffal

  Security officer

  Ekretkan

  Casualty, St. Alban’s, England

  Elifrim

  Airbase commander, southern France

  Hisslef

  Base commandant, Siberia

  Hossad

  Killercraft pilot

  Innoss

  Airbase armorer, southern France

  Jisrin

  Killrcraft pilot

  Kirel

  Shiplord, 127th Emperor Hetto

  Msseff

  Reasercher in China

  Nejas

  Landcruiser commander, Alsace

  Nivvek

  Killercraft pilot

  Pshing

  Adjutant to Atvar

  Ristin

  Prisoner of war, Denver , Colorado

  Rokois

  Assistant to Pshing

  Skoob

  Landcruiser gunner, Alsace

  Sserep

  Killercraft pilot

  Straha

  Shiplord, 206th Emperor Yower

  Teerts

  Flight leader, prisoner of war, Tokyo

  Tessrek

  Researcher in human psychology

  Ttomalss

  Researcher in human psychology

  Ullhass

  Prisoner of war, Denver, Colorado

  Ussmak

  Landcruiser driver, Alsace

  Vesstil

  Shuttlecraft pilot for Straha

  Wuppah

  Smallgroup commander, Chicago

  1

  The fleetlord Atvar had convened a great many meetings of his shiplords since the Race’s conquest fleet came to Tosev 3. Quite a few of those meetings had been imperfectly happy; the Tosevites were far more numerous and far more technically advanced than the Race had imagined when the conquest fleet set out from Home. But Atvar had never imagined calling a meeting like this.

  He used one eye turret to watch his leading officers as they gathered in the great hall of his bannership, the 127th Emperor Hetto. The other eye turret swiveled down to review the images and documents he would be presenting to those officers.

  Kirel, shiplord of the 127th Emperor Hetto and a staunch ally, stood beside him on the podium. To him, Atvar murmured, “Giving a good odor to what happened in the SSSR won’t be easy.”

  One of Kirel’s eye turrets swung toward a hologram of the tall cloud rising from the nuclear explosion that had halted—worse, had vaporized—the Race’s drive on Moskva. “Exalted Fleetlord, the odor is anything but good,” he said. “We knew the Big Uglies were engaged in nuclear research, yes, but we did not expect any of their little empires and not-empires—especially the SSSR—to develop and deploy a bomb so soon.”

  “Especially the SSSR,” Atvar agreed heavily. The Soyuz Sovietskikh Sotsialesticheskikh Respublik sent a frisson of horror through any right-thinking male of the Race. A short span of years before, its people had not only overthrown their emperor but killed him and all his family. Such a crime was literally unimaginable back on Home, where emperors had ruled the Race for a hundred thousand years. Among the Big Uglies, though, impericide seemed stunningly common.

  The gas-tight doors to the great hall hissed closed. That meant all the shiplords were here. Atvar knew it, but was still less than eager to begin the meeting. At last, Kirel had to prompt him: “Exalted Fleetlord—”

  “Yes, yes,” Atvar said with a hissing sigh. He turned on the podium microphones, spoke to the males waiting impatiently in their seats: “Assembled shiplords, you are already aware, I am certain, of the reason for which I have summoned you here today.”

  He touched a button. Two images sprang into being behind him, the first of a brilliant point of light northeast of the Soviet city of Kaluga captured by an observation satellite, then that ground-level shot of the cloud created by the SSSR’s atomic bomb.

  The shiplords, no doubt, had already seen the images tens of times. All the same, hisses of dismay and fury rose from every throat. The tailstumps of several males quivered so hard with rage that they could not stay in their seats, but had to stand until their tempers eased.

  “Assembled shiplords, we have taken a heavy blow,” Atvar said. “Not only did this explosion take with it many brave males and a large quantity of irreplaceable landcruisers and other combat equipment, it also moved our war against the Big Uglies into a new phase, one whose outcomes are not easily foreseen.”

  To the Race, few words could have been more ominous. Careful planning, leaving nothing to chance, was not only inherent in the temperament of most males but inculcated in all from hatchlinghood. The Race had sent a probe to Tosev 3 sixteen hundred years before (only half so many of this planet’s slow revolution around its star), decided it was worth having, and methodically begun to prepare. But for those preparations, little in the Race’s three-world empire had changed in that time.

  The Big Uglies, meanwhile, had gone from riding animals and swinging swords to riding jet aircraft, launching short-range missiles, using radio . . . and now to atomic weapons. The Race’s savants would be millennia investigating and explaining how a species could move forward so fast. Neither the Race itself nor its subjects, the Hallessi and the Rabotevs, had ever shown such a pattern. To them, change came in slow, tiny, meticulously considered steps.

  Atvar, unfortunately, did not have millennia to investigate the way the Big Uglies worked. Circumstances forced him to act on their time scale, and with too large a measure of their do-it-now, worry-later philosophy. He said, “In this entire sorry episode, I take comfort in but one thing.”

  “Permission to speak, Exalted Fleetlord?” a male called from near the front of the hall: Straha, shiplord of the 206th Emperor Yower, next senior in the fleet after Kirel—and no ally of Atvar’s. To Atvar’s way of thinking, he was so rash and impetuous, he might as well have been a Big Ugly himself.

  But at a meeting of this sort, all views needed hearing. “Speak,” Atvar said resignedly.

  “Exalted Fleetlord—” Straha used the proper deferential title, but sounded anything but properly deferential. “Exalted Fleetlord, how can any part of this fiasco cause you comfort?”

  Some of the shiplords muttered in alarm at the harsh language Straha used; males of the Race, even those of highest rank, were expected to show—and to feel—respect for their superiors at all times. But a disquieting number of officers—and not just those of his faction—seemed to agree with Straha.

  Atvar said, “Here is the comfort, Shiplord.” He used Straha’s title, high but not supreme in the conquest fleet, to remind him of his place, then went on, “Analysis shows the plutonium the SSSR used in its weapon to have come fro
m stocks stolen from us in a raid during Tosev 3’s past autumn. The Big Uglies may be able to make a bomb if they get nuclear material, but we have no evidence they can manufacture it on their own.”

  “Cold comfort to the thousands of males dead because you didn’t think the Tosevites could do even so much,” Straha jeered.

  “Shiplord, you forget yourself,” Kirel said from beside Atvar; sometimes a near-equal could call attention to a breach of decorum a superior might feel he had to ignore.

  “By the Emperor, Shiplord, I do not,” Straha shouted back. At the mention of his sovereign, he cast down both eye turrets so he looked at the floor for a moment. So did every other male in the chamber, Atvar included. The murmurs among the shiplords grew; as Kirel had said, Straha’s conduct was most out of place in a staid officers’ meeting.

  But Straha himself was anything but staid. “Who, Exalted Fleetlord, led the raid in which we lost this nuclear material?” he demanded.