NO WAR TOMORROW
Feature Novel of Days to Come
By Wallace West
War now would mean the destruction, not merely of
one planet, but all the inhabitable worlds. But
if a satisfactory substitute could be found....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Science Fiction Quarterly May 1951.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Captain Frank Sage, S.P., shouldered through the double safety doors ofMoon Station Cafe, tossed his gear into a corner and sat down at thebar.
"'Lo, Tom," he said glumly. "Make it black coffee, ham and eggs andapple pie."
"You going right out?" Old Tom stopped his eternal polishing of glassesand gave his bald head a rub with the towel before switching on the hotplate. "I was hoping you could lay over a day and chew the fat."
"Not this time." Sage swished the coffee in its heavy cup to cool it."I'm pushing off soon as they refuel my crate and calibrate the orbit;I've got troubles."
"Um!" The bartender squinted quizzically at his lean and lankycustomer. "I hear the Big Shots are big-shotting it again on Venus."
"Right! They're getting much too big for their britches these days;that's why I'm on this cursed jaunt."
"I sort of thought you and the Space Patrol and my gal Sadie had theBig Shots on the hip up there."
"Sadie!" The captain's voice was bitter as his coffee.
"You kids been fighting again?"
"Fighting again! We never stop. If Sadie weren't your daughter,Tom, and if I weren't so crazy about her...." Frank's dour face litup briefly, "... I'd have sewed her in a sack and dumped her into theCentral Sea long ago."
"When she was a kid I often used to think of doing the same thing."Tom juggled a sizzling order onto a plate and slid it across the bar."What's the trouble this time?"
"It's just that United Stars won't use the Patrol to clean the BigShots off Venus." The younger man attacked the victuals with a gustowhich belied his mood. "We've got things pretty well under controlat Venusport. The Incor Underground is growing stronger all overWildoatia. One more push and...."
"... and Sadie agrees with United Stars?"
"That's right. I don't get it, Tom."
"Look, son." The old man leaned both hamlike hands on the bar andthrust his face within a few inches of the captain's. "Sadie's amighty smart gal. If Wildoatia ever gets cleaned up, the Incors in theUnderground will have to do the job themselves. The Patrol's work isto police Venusport and see that tender-foot Incors get an even breakuntil they head into the bush."
"But why, Tom? Confound it...."
"Didn't you learn at school," the bartender interrupted, "that thestate of Wildoatia is the safety valve for United Stars? The people whogo there voluntarily—and the ones who are sent there—don't wantto live under a decent government. They're incorrigibles who hate andabominate a peaceful, well-ordered civilization. They want to sow theirwild oats—to rob, steal, commit murder and do as they damned wellplease. Maybe they'll—some of them—become good citizens eventually ifwe leave them alone—give them a chance to grow up. The growth of theUnderground suggests that that may happen. On the other hand, if youuse outside force to destroy