Full download textbook at textbookfull.

com

Analyzing Media Messages Using Quantitative

Content Analysis in Research 4th Edition Daniel
Riffe

https://textbookfull.com/product/analyzing-media-messages-
using-quantitative-content-analysis-in-research-4th-edition-
daniel-riffe/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWLOAD EBOOK

Download more textbookfull from https://textbookfull.com

More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Empirical Political Analysis Quantitative and

Qualitative Research Methods Richard C. Rich

https://textbookfull.com/product/empirical-political-analysis-
quantitative-and-qualitative-research-methods-richard-c-rich/

Analyzing Multidimensional Well-Being: A Quantitative

Approach 1st Edition Satya R. Chakravarty

https://textbookfull.com/product/analyzing-multidimensional-well-
being-a-quantitative-approach-1st-edition-satya-r-chakravarty/

Online Social Media Content Delivery Zhi Wang

https://textbookfull.com/product/online-social-media-content-
delivery-zhi-wang/

Test Bank Psychology 4th Ed by Daniel Schater 4th

Edition Daniel Schater

https://textbookfull.com/product/test-bank-psychology-4th-ed-by-
daniel-schater-4th-edition-daniel-schater/
Optimization of Trustworthy Biomolecular Quantitative
Analysis Using Cyber-Physical Microfluidic Platforms
1st Edition Mohamed Ibrahim (Author)

https://textbookfull.com/product/optimization-of-trustworthy-
biomolecular-quantitative-analysis-using-cyber-physical-
microfluidic-platforms-1st-edition-mohamed-ibrahim-author/

Quantitative Data Analysis: A Companion for Accounting

and Information Systems Research 1st Edition Willem
Mertens

https://textbookfull.com/product/quantitative-data-analysis-a-
companion-for-accounting-and-information-systems-research-1st-
edition-willem-mertens/

Social Media in an English Village Daniel Miller

https://textbookfull.com/product/social-media-in-an-english-
village-daniel-miller/

Societal Agents in Law: Quantitative Research Larry D.

Barnett

https://textbookfull.com/product/societal-agents-in-law-
quantitative-research-larry-d-barnett/

Quantitative Methods in Environmental and Climate

Research Michela Cameletti

https://textbookfull.com/product/quantitative-methods-in-
environmental-and-climate-research-michela-cameletti/
Analyzing Media Messages

Analyzing Media Messages, Fourth Edition provides a comprehensive guide to

conducting content analysis research. It establishes a formal definition of quantita-
tive content analysis; gives step-by-step instructions on designing a content analysis
study; and explores in depth several recurring questions that arise in such areas as
measurement, sampling, reliability, data analysis, and the use of digital technology in
the content analysis process.
The fourth edition maintains the concise, accessible approach of the first three edi-
tions while offering updated discussions and examples. It examines in greater detail
the use of computers to analyze content and how that process varies from human cod-
ing of content, incorporating more literature about technology and content analysis
throughout. Updated topics include sampling in the digital age, computerized content
analysis as practiced today, and incorporating social media in content analysis. Each
chapter contains useful objectives and chapter summaries to cement core concepts.

Daniel Riffe is Richard Cole Eminent Professor in Media and Journalism at UNC-
Chapel Hill and former editor of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. His
research examines mass communication and environmental risk, political communi-
cation and public opinion, international news coverage, and research methodology.
Before joining UNC-Chapel Hill, he was Presidential Research Scholar in the Social
and Behavioral Sciences at Ohio University.

Stephen Lacy is Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University, where he studied con-
tent analysis and media managerial economics for more than 30 years in the School of
Journalism and Department of Communication. He has co-written or co-edited five
other books and served as co-editor of the Journal of Media Economics.

Brendan R. Watson is an Assistant Professor of Journalism Innovations at Michigan

State University. His research examines the role of public affairs news/information in
helping communities cope with social upheaval due to the increasing urbanization, glo-
balization, and pluralism of postindustrial society. He also studies research methodol-
ogy. He has taught graduate seminars in content analysis at MSU and the University
of Minnesota, where he was previously on the faculty. He holds a Ph.D. in Mass
Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Frederick Fico is Professor Emeritus from the School of Journalism at Michigan State
University, where he studied and taught content analysis for more than 30 years. His
research specialties are news coverage of conflict, including elections, and how report-
ers use sources, particularly women and minorities. His research explores the implica-
tions of empirical findings for values of fairness, balance, and diversity in reporting.
Routledge Communication Series
Jennings Bryant/Dolf Zillmann, Series Editors

Selected titles include:

The Business of Sports

Off the Field, in the Office, on the News, 3rd Edition
Mark Conrad

Advertising and Public Relations Law, 3rd Edition

Carmen Maye, Roy L. Moore, and Erik L. Collins

Applied Organizational Communication

Theory and Practice in a Global Environment, 4th Edition
Thomas E. Harris and Mark D. Nelson

Public Relations and Social Theory

Key Figures, Concepts and Developments, 2nd Edition
Edited by Øyvind Ihlen and Magnus Fredriksson

Family Communication, 3rd Edition

Chris Segrin and Jeanne Flora

Advertising Theory, 2nd Edition

Shelley Rodgers and Esther Thorson

An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research,

3rd Edition
Edited by Don W. Stacks, Michael B. Salwen, and Kristen C. Eichhorn

Analyzing Media Messages, 4th Edition

Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research
Daniel Riffe, Stephen Lacy, Brendan R. Watson, and Frederick Fico

For a full list of titles, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-

Communication-Series/book-series/RCS.
Analyzing Media Messages
Using Quantitative Content
Analysis in Research
Fourth Edition

Daniel Riffe, Stephen Lacy,

Brendan R. Watson, and
Frederick Fico
Fourth edition published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Daniel Riffe, Stephen Lacy, Brendan R. Watson, and Frederick
Fico to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 1998
Third edition published by Routledge 2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-1-138-61397-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-61398-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-46428-7 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Daniel Riffe:
For Florence, Ted, Eliza, Bridget, Brynne, and Hank

Stephen Lacy:
For I. P. Byrom, N. P. Davis, and A. G. Smith

Brendan R. Watson:
For Joan and Maroun

Fred Fico:
For Beverly, Benjamin, and Faith
Contents

Preface viii

1 Introduction 1

2 Defining Content Analysis as a Social Science Tool 20

3 Computers and Content Analysis 36

4 Measurement 47

5 Sampling 71

6 Reliability 98

7 Validity 132

8 Designing a Content Analysis 148

9 Data Analysis 168

Appendix: Reporting Standards for Content

Analysis Articles 192
References 194
Author Index 213
Subject Index 219
Preface

The purpose of this book is to help facilitate the development of a science

of communication, in particular as it relates to mediated communication.
A communication science is at the heart of all our social sciences because
communication increasingly defines what we do, how we do it, and even
who we are individually, socially, and culturally.
In fact, never before in human history has mediated communication
been so central, pervasive, and important to human civilization. A good
communication science is necessary if humanity is to fully understand
how communication affects us. Absent good understandings from such
a communication science, we will always be at the mercy of unintended,
unforeseen consequences.
But absolutely necessary to the development of a communication sci-
ence is a means of logically assessing communication content. Broadly
speaking, communication content varies based on a large set of factors
that produce that communication. In turn, the variations in communi-
cation content affect a large set of individual, group, institutional, and
cultural factors. In other words, understanding communication content is
necessary and central to any communication science in which the goal is
to predict, explain, and potentially control phenomena (Reynolds, 1971).
More specifically, we believe the systematic and logical assessment of
communication content requires quantitative content analysis, the topic
of this book. Only this information-gathering technique enables us to
illuminate patterns in large sets of communication content with reliability
and validity, and through the reliable and valid illumination of such pat-
terns can we hope to illuminate content causes or predict content effects.
We bring to this effort our experiences conducting or supervising
hundreds of quantitative content analyses in our careers as researchers,
examining content ranging from White House coverage, to portrayal
of women and minorities in advertising, to the sources given voice in
local government news. The content analyses have included theses and
dissertations, class projects, and funded studies, and have involved con-
tent from sources as varied as newspapers, broadcast media, and social
media. Some projects have been descriptive, whereas others have
 Preface ix
tested hypotheses or sought answers to specific research questions.
They have been framed in theory about processes that affect content
and about the effects of content.
If conducting or supervising those studies has taught us anything, it
is that some problems or issues are common to virtually all quantita-
tive content analyses. Designing a study raises questions about sampling,
measurement, reliability, and data analysis. These fundamental questions
arise whether the researcher is a student conducting her first content
analysis or a veteran planning her twentieth, whether the content being
studied is words or images, and whether it comes from social networking
sites or a legacy medium.
In preparing this book for the fourth edition, we re-engage these
recurring questions. Our goal is to make content analysis accessible, not
arcane, and to produce a comprehensive guide that is also comprehensi-
ble. We hope to accomplish the latter through clear, concrete language
and by providing numerous examples—of recent and “classic” studies—
to illustrate problems and solutions. We see the book as a primary text
for courses in content analysis, a supplemental text for research methods
courses, and a useful reference for fellow researchers in mass communi-
cation fields, political science, and other social and behavioral sciences.
This fourth edition varies from the previous three because a new
coauthor (Brendan R. Watson) has joined the team. His participation rep-
resents the reduction in scholarly activity by two of the authors, who are
now emeritus, and his presence contributes a deeper understanding of the
growing use of computers for a variety of activities in content analysis.
We owe thanks to many for making this book possible: teachers who
taught us content analysis—Donald L. Shaw, Eugene F. Shaw, Wayne
Danielson, James Tankard, G. Cleveland Wilhoit, and David Weaver—
colleagues who provided suggestions on improving the book; and
our students who taught us the most about teaching content analysis.
Brendan learned content analysis by studying the second edition of this
very book and doing content analysis with his mentors, with whom he
is now coauthor. Finally, our deepest appreciation goes to our families,
who often wonder whether we do anything but content analysis.

—Daniel Riffe
—Stephen Lacy
—Brendan R. Watson
—Frederick Fico
1 Introduction

Consider the diversity of these quantitative content analyses.

Epps and Dixon (2017) examined Facebook sharing by 381 survey
respondents in order to compare shared rap songs with Billboard’s top
rap songs. Though respondents were familiar (70% reported “strong
familiarity,” p. 474) with the chart-toppers, what they chose to share was
an imperfect mirror of Billboard’s ratings: 73% of top songs involved
sexual explicitness compared to 52% of those shared; 62% of top sellers
objectified women compared to only 32% of shared songs; and 57% of
top songs used derogatory words to describe women (e.g., “slut,” “dog,”
“bitch”) compared to just 35% of shared songs.
Other researchers (Lynch, Tompkins, van Driel, & Fritz, 2016) looked
at female character “sexualization” in video games across three decades,
a time period encompassing the 1996 Tomb Raider game that introduced
Lara Croft, a character scholars have described as highly sexualized
yet strong, bold, educated, and capable (p. 569). While sexualization
increased from 1992 to 2006, it declined from 2007 to 2014; moreover,
Lynch et al. (2016) reported a persistent relationship across time between
female character sexualization and character capability, a fact that may
help “empower female gamers” (p. 578), even though female characters
were more often in secondary than in primary roles (p. 580).
Johnson and Pettiway (2017) examined cultural projection on 46
African and African-American museums’ websites, recording the visual
imagery, affordances, and tactics the museums used to express black
identity, and called the websites “digital disruptors on an Internet mostly
controlled by companies led by white men” (p. 371).
Two traditionally marginalized groups—women and protestors—
were the focus of a four-and-a-half-decade (including before and after
1973’s Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortion) content analysis of New
York Times and Washington Post abortion protest coverage (Armstrong
& Boyle, 2011). Despite the “uniqueness of the issue to women, (and) to
the feminist movement” (p. 171), men appeared more often as sources.
Challenging the dichotomy of audience members as consumers or
citizens, Mellado and van Dalen (2017) drew three successive samples of
2 Introduction
Chilean newspaper articles (totaling more than 3,500), coding each for
19 indicators in order to confirm a three-dimensional categorization of
news as serving civic, infotainment, or service functions for audiences.
A study of Norwegian local political campaigns (Skogerbo & Krumsvik,
2015) examined the influence of social media on “mediatization,” a
process wherein “parties and politicians adapt their practices to for-
mats, deadlines and genres that are journalistically attractive” (p. 350),
thus allowing candidates to help set the political issue agenda. Following
21 candidates from seven different parties in five municipalities, the
researchers gathered data on local newspaper coverage and on the con-
tent and linking (sharing or retweeting) in candidates’ Facebook and
Twitter postings (total of 2,615 items). While candidates were active on
social media, “there was surprisingly little evidence that social media
content travelled [sic] to local newspapers and contributed to agenda
setting” (p. 350).
Similarly, Bastien (2018) compared issue agendas between newspaper
coverage and transcripts from televised debates in five Canadian federal
campaigns between 1968 and 2008. Reporting on the debates became
increasingly “analytical and judgmental” and less “factual” in style: the
presence of journalists’ opinions in paragraphs increased from 14% to
24% across the study period (p. 9). “On the other hand, the correla-
tion between the agendas of both politicians and journalists is steady:
the longer an issue is debated by the leaders, the more it is reported by
journalists” (p. 15).
Visitors to the political blogosphere may assume that its news con-
tent is qualitatively different from mainstream media, which are often
dismissed as partisan, pro-status quo, or slaves to advertisers. Leccese
(2009) coded more than 2,000 links on six widely read political blogs,
discovering that 15% looped readers back to another spot on the blog,
47% linked to mainstream media websites, and 23% linked to other
bloggers. Only 15% linked to primary sources.
In order to examine how one political “tradition”—“going negative”
with advertising—has fared in the 21st century, Druckman, Kifer, and
Parkin (2010) analyzed more than 700 congressional candidate websites
from three election cycles (2002, 2004, 2006), and compared website and
television advertising negativity. Contrary to predictions (e.g., Wicks &
Souley, 2003) that web advertising would be more negative, Druckman
et al. (2010) found 48% of candidates went negative on the web, but
55% went negative in their television ads. By the 2008 campaign cycle
(N = 402 sites), Druckman, Kifer, and Parkin (2014) were able to deter-
mine that non-incumbency and availability of consultant guidance were
pivotal in how aggressively candidates used technologies on websites,
an insight that has spurred subsequent surveys of “insiders” who ran
congressional campaigns between 2008 and 2014 (Druckman, Kifer, &
Parkin, 2017; Druckman, Kifer, Parkin, & Montes, 2017).
 Introduction 3
Lee and Riffe (2017) explored how corporations and an industry
monitoring group focus media attention on corporate social respon-
sibility (CSR) activities (e.g., efforts to improve the environment, the
community, and employees). Data from 7,672 press releases from 223
U.S. corporations, 1,064 New York Times and Wall Street Journal arti-
cles, and ratings of corporations by a CSR monitoring group showed
stronger relationships between ratings and news coverage than between
press releases and news coverage. Companies may need to heed such
monitoring groups, lest they learn of their own shortcomings through
the media, and promote CSR topics that interest the media—corporate
governance, consumer issues, diversity, and the environment.
Earlier, Ki and Hon (2006) explored Fortune 500 companies’ web
communication strategies, coding company sites’ ease of use, openness,
and public access, as well as site promotion of firms’ CSR activities
involving education, the community, and the environment, finding that
few sites communicated effectively about CSR.
Systematic content analysis showed that Survivor, a long-running
“reality” television program, routinely offered viewers high doses of anti-
social behavior, with indirect aggression (behind the victim’s back) the
most common (73% of antisocial behaviors), followed at 23% by verbal
aggression and deceit at 3% (Wilson, Robinson, & Callister, 2012).
Although these studies differ in purpose, focus, techniques employed,
and scientific rigor, they reflect the range of applications possible with
quantitative content analysis, a research method defined briefly as the
systematic assignment of communication content to categories according
to rules, and the analysis of relationships involving those categories using
statistical methods.
Usually, such content analysis involves drawing representative sam-
ples of content, training human coders to use category rules developed
to measure or reflect differences in content, and measuring the reliability
(agreement or stability over time) of coders in applying the protocol. The
collected data are then usually analyzed to describe typical patterns or
characteristics or to identify important relationships among the content
qualities examined. If the categories and rules are sound and are reliably
applied, the chances are that the study results will be valid (e.g., that
the observed patterns are meaningful). Though most of these procedures
have remained constant over time, contemporary scholars are exploring
new ways to utilize computers to complement human coding to deal with
large amounts of text, explorations that are discussed below.
This skeletal definition deliberately lacks any mention of the specific
goal of the researcher using quantitative content analysis (e.g., to test
hypotheses about sharing rap videos), any specification of appropriate
types of communication to be examined (e.g., corporate websites, video
games, or political blogs), the content qualities explored (e.g., presence
of a reporter’s opinion, use of profanity in a shared song, or negativity
4 Introduction
on candidate websites), or the types of inferences that will be drawn from
the content analysis data (e.g., concluding that antisocial behavior goes
unpunished in reality television). Such specification of terms is essential
to a thorough definition. However, before a more comprehensive defi-
nition of this versatile research method is developed in Chapter 2, we
offer an overview of the place of content analysis in mass communication
research and examples of its use in other fields and disciplines.

Communication Research
Whereas some scholars approach communication messages from per-
spectives associated with the humanities (e.g., as literature or art), many
others employ a social science approach based on empirical observation
and measurement. Typically, that means that these researchers identify
questions or problems (either derived from the scholarly literature or
occurring in professional practice), identify concepts that “in theory”
may be involved, and propose possible explanations or relationships
among concepts. Implausible explanations are discarded, and viable ones
tested empirically, with theoretical concepts now measured in concrete,
observable terms.
If members of an ethnic minority, for example, believe that they are
underrepresented in news content (in terms of their census numbers),
a researcher may propose that racism is at work or that minorities are
underrepresented among occupational groups that serve more often as
news sources. Each of these propositions involves different concepts to be
“operationalized” into measurement procedures and each can be tested
empirically. Similarly, if researchers want to address how social media
help achieve concerted action during a crisis such as the 2011 Arab Spring,
operational procedures can be developed and used to collect data on social
media content, which can be compared with data for official media.
Put another way, explanations for problems or questions for such
researchers are sought and derived through direct and objective observa-
tion and measurement rather than through one’s reasoning, intuition,
faith, ideology, or conviction. In short, these communication researchers
employ what is traditionally referred to as the scientific method. The
centuries-old distinction between idealism (an approach that argues that
the mind and its ideas are “the ultimate source and criteria of knowl-
edge”) and empiricism (an approach that argues that observation and
experimentation yield knowledge) continues to hold the attention of
those interested in epistemology or the study of knowledge (Vogt, 2005,
pp. 105–106, 149). Content analysis assumes an empirical approach, a
point made more emphatically in later chapters.
Another important distinction involves reductionism and holism.
Much of communication social science adheres implicitly to a reduction-
ist view—i.e., that understanding comes through reducing a phenomenon
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tongues of the
Moon
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Tongues of the Moon

Author: Philip José Farmer

Illustrator: Dan Adkins

Release date: March 31, 2024 [eBook #73304]

Language: English

Original publication: New York, NY: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company,

1961

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TONGUES OF THE

MOON ***
 Earth was dying. Possibly the only human beings left
in the Universe were those on the Moon. On this last
outpost of humanity, the age-old controversy between
ideologies continued to tear the human race apart,
as each group prepared to unleash the deadly ...

Tongues of the Moon

By PHILIP JOSE FARMER

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

Amazing Stories September 1961.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Fireflies on the dark meadow of Earth....
The men and women looking up through the dome in the center of
the crater of Eratosthenes were too stunned to cry out, and some did
not understand all at once the meaning of those pin-points on the
shadowy face of the new Earth, the lights blossoming outwards, then
dying. So bright they could be seen through the cloudmasses
covering a large part of Europe. So bright they could be located as
London, Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, Leningrad, Rome, Reykjavik,
Athens, Cairo....
Then, a flare near Moscow that spread out and out and out....
Some in the dome recovered more quickly than others. Scone and
Broward, two of the Soviet North American officers present at the
reception in honor of the South Atlantic Axis officers, acted swiftly
enough to defend themselves.
Even as the Axes took off their caps and pulled small automatics and
flat bombs from clips within the caps, the two Americans reached for
the guns in their holsters.
Too late to do them much good if the Argentineans and South
Africans nearest them had aimed at them. The Axes had no shock on
their faces; they must have known what to expect. And their
weapons were firing before the fastest of the Soviets could reach for
the butts of their guns.
But the Axes must have had orders to kill the highest ranking Soviets
first. At these the first fire was concentrated.
Marshal Kosselevsky had half-turned to his guest, Marshal Ramírez-
Armstrong. His mouth was open and working, but no words came
from it. Then, his eyes opened even wider as he saw the stubby gun
in the Argentinean's hand. His own hand rose in a defensive, wholly
futile, gesture.
Ramírez-Armstrong's gun twanged three times. Other Axes' bullets
also struck the Russian. Kosselevsky clutched at his paunch, and he
fell face forward. The .22 calibers did not have much energy or
penetrate deeply into the flesh. But they exploded on impact; they
did their work well enough.
Scone and Broward took advantage of not being immediate targets.
Guns in hand, they dived for the protection of a man-tall bank of
instruments. Bullets struck the metal cases and exploded, for, in a
few seconds, the Axes had accomplished their primary mission and
were now out to complete their secondary.
Broward felt a sting on his cheek as he rolled behind the bank. He
put his hand on his cheek, and, when he took it away, he saw his
hand covered with blood. But his probing finger felt only a shallow of
flesh. He forgot about the wound. Even if it had been more serious,
he would have had no time to take care of it.
A South African stepped around the corner of the bank, firing as he
came.
Broward shot twice with his .45. The dark-brown face showered into
red and lost its human shape. The body to which it was now loosely
attached curved backwards and fell on the floor.

"Broward!" called Scone above the twang and boom of the guns and
the wharoop! of a bomb. "Can you see anything? I can't even stick
my head around the corner without being shot at."
Broward looked at Scone, who was crouched at the other end of the
bank. Scone's back was to Broward, but Scone's head was twisted far
enough for him to see Broward out of the corner of his eye.
Even at that moment, when Broward's thoughts should have
excluded everything but the fight, he could not help comparing
Scone's profile to a face cut out of rock. The high bulbous forehead,
thick bars of bone over the eyes, Dantesque nose, thin lips, and chin
jutting out like a shelf of granite, more like a natural formation which
happened to resemble a chin than anything which had taken shape in
a human womb.
Ugly, massive, but strong. Nothing of panic or fear in that face; it was
as steady as his voice.
Old Gibraltar-face, thought Broward for perhaps the hundredth time.
But this time he did not feel dislike.
"I can't see any more than you—Colonel," he said.
Scone, still squatting, shifted around until he could bring one eye to
bear fully on Broward. It was a pale blue, so pale it looked empty,
unhuman.
"Colonel?"
"Now," said Broward. "A bomb got General Mansfield and Colonels
Omato and Ingrass. That gives you a fast promotion, sir."
"We'll both be promoted above this bank if an Axe lobs a bomb over,"
said Scone. "We have to get out of here."
"To where?"
Scone frowned—granite wrinkling—and said, "It's obvious the Axes
want to do more than murder a few Soviets. They must plan on
getting control of the bonephones. I know I would if I were they. If
they can capture the control center, every Soviet on the Moon—
except for the Chinese—is at their mercy. So...."
"We make a run for the BR?"
"I'm not ordering you to come with me," said Scone. "That's almost
suicide. But you will give me a covering fire."
"I'll go with you, Colonel."
Scone glanced at the caduceuses on Broward's lapels, and he said,
"We'll need your professional help after we clean out the Axes. No."
"You need my amateurish help now," said Broward. "As you see"—he
jerked his thumb at the nearly headless Zulu—"I can handle a gun.
And if we don't get to the bonephone controls first, life won't be
worth living. Besides, I don't think the Axes intend taking any
prisoners."
"You're right," said Scone. But he seemed hesitant.
"You're wondering why I'm falling in so quickly with your plan to
wreck the control center?" said Broward. "You think I'm a Russky
agent?"
"I didn't say I intended to wreck the transmitters," said Scone. "No. I
know what you are. Or, I think I do. You're not a Russky. You're a...."
Scone stopped. Like Broward, he felt the rock floor quiver, then start
shaking. And a low rumbling reached them, coming up through their
feet before their ears detected it.
Scone, instead of throwing himself flat on the floor—an instinctive but
useless maneuver—jumped up from his squatting position.
"Now! Now! The others'll be too scared to move!"

Broward rose, though he wanted to cling to the floor. Directly below

them—or, perhaps, to the side but still underground—a white-hot
"tongue" was blasting a narrow tunnel through the rock. Behind it,
also hidden within the rock, in a shaft which the vessel must have
taken a long time to sink without being detected, was a battlebird.
Only a large ship could carry the huge generators required to drive a
tongue that would damage a base. A tongue, or snake, as it was
sometimes called. A flexible beam of "straightened-out" photons, the
ultimate development of the laser.
And when the tongue reached the end of the determined tunnel,
then the photons would be "un-sprung". And all the energy crammed
into the compressed photons would dissipate.
"Follow me!" said Scone, and he began running.
Broward took a step, halted in amazement, called out, "The suits ...
other way!"
Then, he resumed running after Scone. Evidently, the colonel was not
concerned about the dome cracking wide open. His only thought was
for the bonephone controls.
Broward expected to be cut down under a storm of bullets. But the
room was silent except for the groans of some wounded. And the
ever-increasing rumble from deep under.
The survivors of the fight were too intent on the menace probing
beneath them to pay attention to the two runners—if they saw them.
That is, until Scone bounded through the nearest exit from the dome
in a great leap afforded by the Moon's weak gravity. He almost hit his
head on the edge of the doorway.
Then, somebody shot at Broward. But his body, too, was flying
through the exit, his legs pulled up, and the three bullets passed
beneath him and blew holes in the rock wall ahead of him.
Broward slammed into the wall and fell back on the floor. Though
half-stunned, he managed to roll past the corner, out of line of fire,
into the hallway. He rose, breathing hard, and checked to make sure
he had not broken his numbed wrists and hands, which had
cushioned much of his impact against the wall. And he was thankful
that the tongues needed generators too massive to be compacted
into hand weapons. If the Axes had been able to smuggle tonguers
into the dome, they could have wiped out every Soviet on the base.
The rumble became louder. The rock beneath his feet shook. The
walls quivered like jelly. Then....
Not the ripping upwards of the floor beneath his feet, the ravening
blast opening the rock and lashing out at him with sear of fire and
blow of air to burn him and crush him against the ceiling at the same
time.
From somewhere deep and off to one side was an explosion. The
rock swelled. Then, subsided.

Silence.
Only his breathing.
For about six seconds while he thought that the Russian ships
stationed outside the base must have located the sunken Axis vessel
and destroyed it just before it blew up the base.
From the dome, a hell's concerto of small-gun fire.
Broward ran again, leaping over the twisted and shattered bodies of
Russians and Axes. Here the attacking officers had been met by
Soviet guards, and the two groups had destroyed each other.
Far down the corridor, Scone's tall body was hurtling along, taking the
giant steps only a long-time Lunie could safely handle. He rounded a
corner, was gone down a branching corridor.
Broward, following Scone, entered two more branches, and then
stopped when he heard the boom of a .45. Two more booms. Silence.
Broward cautiously stuck his head around the corner.
He saw two Russian soldiers on the floor, their weapons close to their
lifeless hands. Down the hall, Scone was running.
Broward did not understand. He could only surmise that the Russians
had been so surprised by Scone that they had fired, or tried to fire,
before they recognized the North American uniform. And Scone had
shot in self-defense.
But the corridors were well lit with electroluminescent panels. All
three should have seen at once that none wore the silver of
Argentine or the scarlet and brown of the South Africans. So...?
He did not know. Scone could tell him, but Broward would have
trouble catching up with him.
Then, once more, he heard the echoes of a .45 bouncing around the
distant corner of the hall.
When Broward rounded the turn as cautiously as he had the previous
one, he saw two more dead Russians. And he saw Scone rifling the
pockets of the officer of the two.
"Scone!" he shouted so the man would not shoot him, too, in a
frenzy. "It's Broward!"
Coming closer, he said, "What're you doing?"
Scone rose from the officer with a thin plastic cylinder about a
decimeter long in one hand. With the other hand, he pointed his .45
at Broward's solar plexus.
"I'm going to blow up the controls and the transmitters," he said.
"What did you think?"
Choking, Broward said, "You're not working for the Axis?"
He did not believe Scone was. But, in his astonishment, he could only
think of that as a reason for Scone's behavior. Despite his accusation
about Scone's intentions, he had not really believed the man meant
to do more than insure that the controls did not fall into Axis hands.
Scone said, "Those swine! No! I'm just making sure that the Axes will
not be able to use the bonephones if they do seize this office.
Besides, I have never liked the idea of being under Russian control.
These hellish devices...."
Broward pointed at the corpses. "Why?"
"They had their orders," said Scone. "Which were to allow no one
into the control room without proper authorization. I didn't want to
argue and so put them on their guard. I had to do what was
expedient."
Scone glared at Broward, and he said, "Expediency is going to be the
rule for this day. No matter who suffers."
Broward said, "You don't have to kill me, too. I am an American. If I
could think as coolly as you, I might have done the same thing
myself."
He paused, took a deep breath, and said, "Perhaps, you didn't do this
on the spur of the moment. Perhaps, you planned this long before. If
such a situation as this gave you a chance."
"We haven't time to stand here gabbing," said Scone.

He backed away, his gun and gaze steady on Broward. With his other
hand, he felt around until the free end of the thin tube fitted into the
depression in the middle of the door. He pressed in on the key, and
(the correct sequence of radio frequencies activating the unlocking
circuit) the door opened.
Scone motioned for Broward to precede him. Broward entered. Scone
came in, and the door closed behind him.
"I thought I should kill you when we were behind the bank," said
Scone. "But you weren't—as far as I had been able to determine—a
Russian agent. Far from it. And you were, as you said, a fellow
American. But...."
Broward looked at the far wall with its array on array of indicator
lights, switches, pushbuttons, and slots for admission of coded cards
and tapes.
He turned to Scone, and he said, "Time for us to quit being coy. I've
known for a long time that you were the chief of a Nationalist
underground."
For the first time since Broward had known him, Scone's face cracked
wide open.
"What?"
Then, the cracks closed up, the cliff-front was solid again.
"Why didn't you report me. Or are you...?"
"Not of your movement, no," said Broward. "I'm an Athenian. You've
heard of us?"
"I know of them," said Scone. "A lunatic fringe. Neither Russ,
Chinese, nor Yank. I had suspected that you weren't a very solid
Marxist. Why tell me this?"
"I want to talk you out of destroying the controls and the
transmitters," said Broward.
"Why?"
"Don't blow them up. Given time, the Russ could build another set.
And we'd be under their control again. Don't destroy them. Plant a
bomb which can be set off by remote control. The moment they try
to use the phones to paralyze us, blow up the transmitters. That
might give us time to remove the phones from our skulls with
surgery. Or insulate the phones against reception. Or, maybe, strike
at the Russkies. If fighting back is what you have in mind. I don't
know how far your Nationalism goes."
"That might be better," said Scone, his voice flat, not betraying any
enthusiasm for the plan. "Can I depend upon you and your people?"
"I'll be frank. If you intend to try for complete independence of the
Russians, you'll have our wholehearted cooperation. Until we are
independent."
"And after that—what then?"
"We believe in violence only after all other means have failed. Of
course, mental persuasion was useless with the Russians. With fellow
Americans, well...."
"How many people do you have at Clavius?"
Broward hesitated, then said, "Four. All absolutely dependable. Under
my orders. And you?"
"More than you," said Scone. "You understand that I'm not sharing
the command with you? We can't take time out to confer. We need a
man who can give orders to be carried out instantly. And my word
will be life or death? No argument?"
"No time now for discussions of policy. I can see that. Yes. I place
myself and my people under your orders. But what about the other
Americans? Some are fanatical Marxists. Some are unknown, X."
"We'll weed out the bad ones," said Scone. "I don't mean by bad the
genuine Marxists. I'm one myself. I mean the non-Nationalists. If
anyone wants to go to the Russians, we let them go. Or if anybody
fights us, they die."
"Couldn't we just continue to keep them prisoners?"
"On the Moon? Where every mouth needs two pairs of hands to keep
breathing and eating? Where even one parasite may mean eventual
death for all others? No!"
Broward said, "All right. They die. I hope...."
"Hopes are something to be tested," said Scone. "Let's get to work.
There should be plenty of components here with which to rig up a
control for the bomb. And I have the bomb taped to my belly."
"You won't have to untape your bomb," said Broward. "The
transmitters are mined. So are the generators."
"How did you do it? And why didn't you tell me you'd already done
it?"
"The Russians have succeeded in making us Americans distrust each
other," said Broward. "Like everybody else, I don't reveal information
until I absolutely have to. As to your first question, I'm not only a
doctor, I'm also a physical anthropologist engaged in a Moonwide
project. I frequently attend conferences at this base, stay here
several sleeps. And what you did so permanently with your gun, I did
temporarily with a sleep-inducing aerosol. But, now that we
understand each other, let's get out."
"Not until I see the bombs you say you've planted."
Broward smiled. Then, working swiftly with a screwdriver he took
from a drawer, he removed several wall-panels. Scone looked into the
recesses and examined the component boards, functional blocks, and
wires which jammed the interior.
"I don't see any explosives," Scone said.
"Good," said Broward. "Neither will the Russians, unless they
measure the closeness of the walls to the equipment. The explosive
is spread out over the walls in a thin layer which is colored to match
the original green. Also, thin strips of a chemical are glued to the
walls. This chemical is temperature-sensitive. When the transmitters
are operating and reach maximum radiation of heat, the strips melt.
And the chemicals released interact with the explosive, detonate it."
"Ingenious," said Scone somewhat sourly. "We don't ..." and he
stopped.
"Have such stuff? No wonder. As far as I know, the detonator and
explosive were made here on the Moon. In our lab at Clavius."
"If you could get into this room without being detected and could
also smuggle all that stuff from Clavius, then the Russ can be
beaten," said Scone.
Now, Broward was surprised. "You doubted they could?"
"Never. But all the odds were on their side. And you know what a
conditioning they give us from the day we enter kindergarten."
"Yes. The picture of the all-knowing, all-powerful Russian backed by
the force of destiny itself, the inevitable rolling forward and unfolding
of History as expounded by the great prophet, the only prophet,
Marx. But it's not true. They're human."

They replaced the panels and the screwdriver and left the room. Just
as they entered the hall, and the door swung shut behind them, they
heard the thumps of boots and shouts. Scone had just straightened
up from putting the key back into the dead officer's pocket when six
Russians trotted around the corner. Their officer was carrying a burp
gun, the others, automatic rifles.
"Don't shoot!" yelled Scone in Russian. "Americans! USAF!"
The captain, whom both Americans had seen several times before,
lowered her burper.
"It's fortunate that I recognized you," she said. "We just killed three
Axes who were dressed in Russian uniforms. They shot four of my
men before we cut them down. I wasn't about to take a chance you
might not be in disguise, too."
She gestured at the dead men. "The Axes got them, too?"
"Yes," said Scone. "But I don't know if any Axes are in there."
He pointed at the door to the control room.
"If there were, we'd all be screaming with pain," said the captain.
"Anyway, they would have had to take the key from the officer on
guard."
She looked suspiciously at the two, but Scone said, "You'll have to
search him. I didn't touch him, of course."
She dropped to one knee and unbuttoned the officer's inner
coatpocket, which Scone had not neglected to rebutton after
replacing the key.
Rising with the key, she said, "I think you two must go back to the
dome."
Scone's face did not change expression at this evidence of distrust.
Broward smiled slightly.
"By the way," she said, "what are you doing here?"
"We escaped from the dome," said Broward. "We heard firing down
this way, and we thought we should protect our rear before going
back into the dome. We found dead Russians, but we never did see
the enemy. They must have been the ones you ran into."
"Perhaps," she said. "You must go. You know the rules. No
unauthorized personnel near the BR."
"No non-Russians, anyway," said Scone flatly. "I know. But this is an
emergency."
"You must go," she said, raising the barrel of her gun. She did not
point it at them, but they did not doubt she would.
Scone turned and strode off, Broward following. When they had
turned the first corner, Scone said, "We must leave the base on the
first excuse. We have to get back to Clavius."
"So we can start our own war?"
"Not necessarily. Just declare independence. The Russ may have their
belly full of death."
"Why not wait until we find out what the situation on Earth is? If the
Russians have any strength left on Earth, we may be crushed."
"Now!" said Scone. "If we give the Russ and the Chinese time to
recover from the shock, we lose our advantage."
"Things are going too fast for me, too," said Broward. "I haven't time
or ability to think straight now. But I have thought of this. Earth could
be wiped out. If so, we on the Moon are the only human beings left
alive in the universe. And...."
"There are the Martian colonies. And the Ganymedan and Mercutian
bases."
"We don't know what's happened to them. Why start something
which may end the entire human species? Perhaps, ideology should
be subordinated for survival. We need every man and woman,
every...."
"We must take the chance that the Russians and Chinese won't care
to risk making Homo sapiens extinct. They'll have to cooperate, let us
go free.
"We don't have time to talk. Act now; talk after it's all over."
But Scone did not stop talking. During their passage through the
corridors, he made one more statement.
"The key to peace on the Moon, and to control of this situation, is the
Zemlya."
Broward was puzzled. He knew Scone was referring to the
Brobdingnagian interstellar exploration vessel which had just been
built and outfitted and was now orbiting around Earth. The Zemlya
(Russian for Earth) had been scheduled to leave within a few days for
its ten year voyage to Alpha Centaurus and, perhaps, the stars
beyond. What the Zemlya could have to do with establishing peace
on the Moon was beyond Broward. And Scone did not seem disposed
to explain.
Just then, they passed a full-length mirror, and Broward saw their
images. Scone looked like a mountain of stone walking. And he,
Broward thought, he himself looked like a man of leather. His shorter
image, dark brown where the skin showed, his head shaven so the
naked skull seemed to be overlaid with leather, his brown eyes
contrasting with the rock-pale eyes of Scone, his lips so thick
compared with Scone's, which were like a thin groove cut into
granite. Leather against stone. Stone could outwear leather. But
leather was more flexible.
Was the analogy, as so many, false? Or only partly true?
Broward tended to think in analogies; Scone, directly.
At the moment, a man like Scone was needed. Practical, quick
reacting. But, like so many practical men, impractical when it came to
long range and philosophical thinking. Not much at extrapolation
beyond the immediate. Broward would follow him up to a point.
Then....

They came to the entrance to the dome. Only the sound of voices
came from it. Together, they stuck their heads around the side of the
entrance. And they saw many dead, some wounded, a few men and
women standing together near the center of the floor. All, except
one, were in the variously colored and marked uniforms of the Soviet
Republics. The exception was a tall man in the silver dress uniform of
Argentine. His right arm hung limp and bloody; his skin was grey.
"Colonel Lorentz," said Scone. "We've one prisoner, at least."
After shouting to those within the dome not to fire, the two walked
in. Major Panchurin, the highest-ranking Russian survivor, lifted a
hand to acknowledge their salute. He was too busy talking over the
bonephone to say anything to them.
The two examined the dome. The visiting delegation of Axis officers
was dead except for Lorentz. The Russians left standing numbered
six; the Chinese, four; the Europeans, one; the Arabic, two; the
Indian-East Asiatic, none. There were four Americans alive. Broward.
Scone. Captain Nashdoi. And a badly wounded woman, Major Hoebel.
Broward walked towards Hoebel to examine her. Before he could do
anything the Russian doctor, Titiev, rose from her side. He said, "I'm
sorry, captain. She isn't going to make it."
Broward looked around the dome and made a remark which must, at
the time, have seemed irrelevant to Titiev. "Only three women left. If
the ratio is the same on the rest of the Moon, we've a real problem."
Scone had followed Broward. After Titiev had left, and after making
sure their bonephones were not on, Scone said in a low voice, "There
were seventy-five Russians stationed here. I doubt if there are over
forty left in the entire base. I wonder how many in Pushkin?"
Pushkin was the base on the other side of the Moon.
They walked back to the group around Panchurin and turned on their
phones so they could listen in.
Panchurin's skin paled, his eyes widened, his hands raised
protestingly.
"No, no," he moaned out loud.
"What is it?" said Scone, who had heard only the last three words
coming in through the device implanted in his skull.
Panchurin turned a suddenly old face to him. "The commander of the
Zemlya said that the Argentineans have set off an undetermined
number of cobalt bombs. More than twenty, at the very least."
He added, "The Zemlya is leaving its orbit. It intends to establish a
new one around the Moon. It won't leave until we evaluate our
situation. If then."
Every Soviet in the room looked at Lorentz.

The Argentinean straightened up from his weary slump and

summoned all the strength left in his bleeding body. He spoke in
Russian so all would understand.
"We told you pigs we would take the whole world with us before we'd
bend our necks to the Communist yoke!" he shouted.
At that moment, his gaunt high-cheekboned face with its long upper
lip, thin lipline mustache, and fanatical blue eyes made him resemble
the dictator of his country, Félipé Howards, El Macho (The
Sledgehammer).
Panchurin ordered two soldiers and the doctor to take him to the jail.
"I would like to kill the beast now," he said. "But he may have
valuable information. Make sure he lives ... for the time being."
Then, Panchurin looked upwards again to Earth, hanging only a little
distance above the horizon. The others also stared.
Earth, dark now, except for steady glares here and there, forest fires
and cities, probably, which would burn for days. Perhaps weeks.
Then, when the fires died out, the embers cooled, no more fire. No
more vegetation, no more animals, no more human beings. Not for
centuries.
Suddenly, Panchurin's face crumpled, tears flowed, and he began
sobbing loudly, rackingly.
The others could not withstand this show of grief. They understood
now. The shock had worn off enough to allow sorrow to have its way.
Grief ran through them like fire through the forests of their native
homes.
Broward, also weeping, looked at Scone and could not understand.
Scone, alone among the men and women under the dome and the
Earth, was not crying. His face was as impassive as the slope of a
Moon mountain.
Scone did not wait for Panchurin to master himself, to think clearly.
He said, "I request permission to return to Clavius, sir."
Panchurin could not speak; he could only nod his head.
"Do you know what the situation is at Clavius?" said Scone
relentlessly.
Panchurin managed a few words. "Some missiles ... Axis base ...
came close ... but no damage ... intercepted."
Scone saluted, turned, and beckoned to Broward and Nashdoi. They
followed him to the exit to the field. Here Scone made sure that the
air-retaining and gamma-ray and sun-deflecting force field outside
the dome was on. Then the North Americans stepped outside onto
the field without their spacesuits. They had done this so many times
they no longer felt the fear and helplessness first experienced upon
venturing from the protecting walls into what seemed empty space.
They entered their craft, and Scone took over the controls.
After identifying himself to the control tower, Scone lifted the dish
and brought it to the very edge of the force field. He put the controls
on automatic, the field disappeared for the two seconds necessary for
the craft to pass the boundary, and the dish, impelled by its own
power and by the push of escaping air, shot forward.
Behind them, the faint flicker indicating the presence of the field
returned. And the escaped air formed brief and bright streamers that
melted under the full impact of the sun.
"That's something that will have to be rectified in the future," said
Scone. "It's an inefficient, air-wasting method. We're not so long on
power we can use it to make more air every time a dish enters or
leaves a field."
He returned on the r-t, contacted Clavius, told them they were
coming in. To the operator, he said, "Pei, how're things going?"
"We're still at battle stations, sir. Though we doubt if there will be any
more attacks. Both the Argentinean and South African bases were
wrecked. They don't have any retaliatory capabilities, but survivors
may be left deep underground. We've received no orders from
Eratosthenes to dispatch searchers to look for survivors. The base at
Pushkin doesn't answer. It must...."

There was a crackling and a roar. When the noise died down, a voice
in Russian said, "This is Eratosthenes. You will refrain from further
radio communication until permission is received to resume.
Acknowledge."
"Colonel Scone on the United Soviet Americas Force destroyer Broun.
Order acknowledged."
He flipped the switch off. To Broward, he said, "Damn Russkies are
starting to clamp down already. But they're rattled. Did you notice I
was talking to Pei in English, and they didn't say a thing about that? I
don't think they'll take much effective action or start any witch-hunts
until they recover fully from the shock and have a chance to evaluate.
"Tell me, is Nashdoi one of you Athenians?"
Broward looked at Nashdoi, who was slumped on a seat at the other
end of the bridge. She was not within earshot of a low voice.
"No," said Broward. "I don't think she's anything but a lukewarm
Marxist. She's a member of the Party, of course. Who on the Moon
isn't? But like so many scientists here, she takes a minimum interest
in ideology, just enough not to be turned down when she applied for
psychological research here.
"She was married, you know. Her husband was called back to Earth
only a little while ago. No one knew if it was for the reasons given or
if he'd done something to displease the Russkies or arouse their
suspicions. You know how it is. You're called back, and maybe you're
never heard of again."
"What other way is there?" said Scone. "Although I don't like the
Russky dictating the fate of any American."
"Yes?" said Broward. He looked curiously at Scone, thinking of what a
mass of contradictions, from his viewpoint, existed inside that
massive head. Scone believed thoroughly in the Soviet system except
for one thing. He was a Nationalist; he wanted an absolutely
independent North American republic, one which would reassert its
place as the strongest in the world.
And that made him dangerous to the Russians and the Chinese.

America had fallen, prey more to its own softness and confusion than
to the machinations of the Soviets. Then, in the turbulent bloody
starving years that followed the fall with their purges, uprisings,
savage repressions, mass transportations to Siberia and other areas,
importation of other nationalities to create division, and bludgeoning
propaganda and reeducation, only the strong and the intelligent
survived.
Scone, Broward, and Nashdoi were of the second generation born
after the fall of Canada and the United States. They had been born
and had lived because their parents were flexible, hardy, and quick.
And because they had inherited and improved these qualities.
The Americans had become a problem to the Russians. And to the
Chinese. Those Americans transported to Siberia had, together with
other nationalities brought to that area, performed miracles with the
harsh climate and soil, had made a garden. But they had become
Siberians, not too friendly with the Russians.
China, to the south, looking for an area in which to dump their excess
population, had protested at the bringing in of other nationalities.
Russia's refusal to permit Chinese entry had been one more added to
the long list of grievances felt by China towards her elder brother in
the Marx family.
And on the North American continent, the American Communists had
become another trial to Moscow. Russia, rich with loot from the U.S.,
had become fat. The lean underfed hungry Americans, using the
Party to work within, had alarmed the Russians with their increasing
power and influence. Moreover, America had recovered, was again a
great industrial empire. Ostensibly under Russian control, the
Americans were pushing and pressuring subtly, and not so subtly, to
get their own way. Moscow had to resist being Uncle Samified.
To complicate the world picture, thousands of North Americans had
taken refuge during the fall of their country in Argentine. And there
the energetic and tough-minded Yanks (the soft and foolish died on
the way or after reaching Argentine) followed the paths of thousands
of Italians and Germans who had fled there long ago. They became
rich and powerful; Félipé Howards, El Macho, was part-Argentinean
Spanish, part-German, part-American.
The South African (sub-Saharan) peoples had ousted their
Communist and Fascist rulers because they were white or white-
influenced. Pan-Africanism was their motto. Recently, the South
African Confederation had formed an alliance with Argentine. And the
Axis had warned the Soviets that they must cease all underground
activity in Axis countries, cease at once the terrible economic
pressures and discriminations against them, and treat them as full
partners in the nations of the world.
If this were not done, and if a war started, and the Argentineans saw
their country was about to-be crushed, they would explode cobalt
bombs. Rather death than dishonor.
The Soviets knew the temper of the proud and arrogant
Argentineans. They had seemed to capitulate. There was a
conference among the heads of the leading Soviets and Axes.
Peaceful coexistence was being talked about.
But, apparently, the Axis had not swallowed this phrase as others had
once swallowed it. And they had decided on a desperate move.
Having cheap lithium bombs and photon compressors and the means
to deliver them with gravitomagnetic drives, the Axis was as well
armed as their foes. Perhaps, their thought must have been, if they
delivered the first blow, their anti-missiles could intercept enough
Soviet missiles so that the few that did get through would do a
minimum of damage. Perhaps. No one really knew what caused the
Axis to start the war.
Whatever the decision of the Axis, the Axis had put on a good show.
One of its features was the visit by their Moon officers to the base at
Eratosthenes, the first presumably, in a series of reciprocal visits and
parties to toast the new amiable relations.
Result: a dying Earth and a torn Moon.

Broward belonged to that small underground which neither believed

in the old Soviet nor the old capitalist system. It wanted a form of
government based on the ancient Athenian method of democracy on
the local level and a loose confederation on the world level. All
national boundaries would be abolished.
Such considerations, thought Broward, must be put aside for the time
being. Getting independence of the Russians, getting rid of the hellish
bonephones, was the thing to do now. Or so it had seemed to him.
But would not that inevitably lead to war and the destruction of all of
humanity? Would it not be better to work with the other Soviets and
hope that eventually the Communist ideal could be subverted and the
Athenian established? With communities so small, the modified
Athenian form of government would be workable. Later, after the
Moon colonies increased in size and population, means could be
found for working out intercolonial problems.
Or perhaps, thought Broward, watching the monolithic Scone, Scone
did not really intend to force the other Soviets to cooperate? Perhaps,
he hoped they would fight to the death and the North American base
alone would be left to repopulate the world.
"Broward," said Scone, "go sound out Nashdoi. Do it subtly."
"Wise as the serpent, subtle as the dove," said Broward. "Or is it the
other way around?"
Scone lifted his eyebrows. "Never heard that before. From what
book?"
Broward walked away without answering. It was significant that
Scone did not know the source of the quotation. The Old and New
Testaments were allowed reading only for select scholars. Broward
had read an illegal copy, had put his freedom and life in jeopardy by
reading it.
But that was not the point here. The thought that occurred to him
was that, nationality and race aside, the people on the Moon were a
rather homogeneous group. Three-fourths of them were engineers or
scientists of high standing, therefore, had high I.Q.'s. They were
descended from ancestors who had proved their toughness and good
genes by surviving through the last hundred years. They were all
either agnostics or atheists or supposed to be so. There would not be
any religious differences to split them. They were all in superb health,
otherwise they would not be here. No diseases among them, not
even the common cold. They would all make good breeding stock.
Moreover, with recent advances in genetic manipulation, defective
genes could be eliminated electrochemically. Such a manipulation had
not been possible on Earth with its vast population where babies
were being born faster than defective genes could be wiped out. But
here where there were so few....
Perhaps, it would be better to allow the Soviet system to exist for
now. Later, use subtle means to bend it towards the desired goal.
No! The system was based on too many falsities, among which the
greatest was dialectical materialism. As long as the corrupt base
existed, the structure would be corrupt.