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(“Karloman Jungahr”)

It came to war.

Tibet and America, each claiming the Radiant HeatMonopoly, applied for a War Permit for 2127,a.d.

The Universal War Board granted it, stating, ofcourse, the conditions. It was, after a few compromisesand amendments had been effected, accepted by thebelligerent nations.

The conditions were:

The belligerent nations had no difficulty in rentingthe War Territory of Kerguelen. The rent charged bythe Austral League was, as usual, forty million dollarsan hour.

Spectators from all over the world rushed to the bordersof the Territory, eager to obtain good places. Q-raytelescopes came into tremendous demand.

Mechanics carefully worked over the giant war-machines.

The radio-controls, delicate as watches, were broughtto perfection, both at the control stations in Lhasa andin the City of Franklin, and on the war-flyers.

The planes arrived on the minute decided.

Controlled by their pilots thousands of miles away,the great planes swooped and curved, neither fleet daringto make the first move.

There were five American ships, theProspero,Ariel,Oberon,Caliban, andTitania, and five Chinese ships,rented by the Mongolians, theHan,Yuen,Tsing,Tsin,andSung.

The Mongolian fleet incurred the displeasure of thespectators by casting a smoke screen, which greatly interferedwith the seeing. TheProspero, every gun throbbing,hurled itself into the smoke screen and came outon the other side, out of control, quivering with incoordinatingmachinery. As it neared the boundary, it wasblown up by its pilot, safe and sound, thousands ofmiles away. But the sacrifice was not in vain. TheHanandSung, both severely crippled, swung slowly out ofthe mist. TheHan, with a list that clearly showed it wasdoomed, was struck by a lucky shot from theCalibanand fell several hundred feet, its left wing ablaze. Butfor a second or two, the pilot regained control, and,with a single shot, disabled theCaliban, and then theHan fell to its doom on the rocky islands below.

TheCaliban andSung continued to drift, firing ateach other. As soon as it was seen that neither would beof any further use in the battle, they were, by commonconsent, taken from the field.

There now remained three ships on each side, dartingin and out of the smoke screen, occasionally ascendingto cool the engines.

Among the spectators, excitement prevailed, for itwas announced from the City of Franklin that a newand virtually unknown pilot, Jack Bearden, was goingto take command of three ships at once! And never beforehad one pilot commanded, by radio, more than twoships! Besides, two of the most famous Mongolian aces,Baartek and Soong, were on the field, while an evenmore famous person, the Chinese mercenary T’ang,commanded theYuen.

The Americans among the spectators protested that apilot so young and inexperienced should not be allowedto endanger the ships.

The Government replied that it had a thorough confidencein Bearden’s abilities.

But when the young pilot stepped before the televisionscreen, on which was pictured the battle, and themaze of controls, he realized that his ability had beenoverestimated, by himself and by everyone else.

He climbed up on the high stool and reached for thespeed control levers, which were directly behind him.He leaned back, and fell! His head struck against twobuttons: and he saw theOberon andTitania blowthemselves up.

The three enemy ships cooperated in an attack on theAriel. Bearden swung his ship around and rushed it intothe smoke screen.

He saw the huge bulk of theTsing bear down uponhim. He fired instinctively—and hit the control center.

Dodging aside as theTsing fell past him, he missedtheTsin by inches. The pilot of theTsin shot at thereinforcements of theAriel’s right wing, loosening it.

For a few moments, he was alone, or, rather, theAriel was alone. For he was at the control board in theWar Building in the City of Franklin.

TheYuen, controlled by the master-pilot T’ang, roseup from beneath him, shot off the end of his left wing,and vanished into the mists of the smoke screen beforethe astonished Bearden was able to register a single hit.

He had better luck with theTsin. When this swoopeddown on theAriel, he disabled its firing control. Then,when this plane rose from beneath, intending to ram itselfinto theAriel, Bearden dropped half his machine-gunsoverboard. They struck theTsin, which explodedimmediately.

Now only theAriel and theYuen remained! Master-pilotfaced master-pilot.

Bearden placed a lucky shot in theYuen’s rudder,but only partially disabled it.

Yuen threw more smoke-screen bombs overboard.

Bearden rose upward; no, he was still safe and soundin America, but theAriel rose upward.

The spectators in their helicopters blew whistles, shotoff pistols, went mad in applause.

T’ang lowered theYuen to within several hundredfeet of the water.

He was applauded, too.

Bearden inspected his ship with the autotelevisation.It would collapse at the slightest strain.

He wheeled his ship to the right, preparatory to descending.

His left wing broke under the strain: and theArielbegan hurtling downward. He turned his autotelevisationon theYuen, not daring to see the ship, which carriedhis reputation, his future, crash.

TheYuen was struck by his left wing, which was fallinglike a stone. TheYuen exploded forty-six secondslater.

And, by international law, Bearden had won the warfor America, with it the honors of war and the possessionof the enormous Radiant Heat revenue.

All the world hailed this Lindbergh of the twenty-secondcentury.

Mis-spelled words and printer errors have been fixed.

[The end ofWar No. 81-Q by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (as Cordwainer Smith)]