Read Star Trek: The Original Series - 082 - Federation for Free Online

were caught up in a memory instead of reciting facts he had studied. “You know what the American newspapers—they were the data agencies of the time —you know what they said?” ‘Tin at a loss.” Brack quoted. “‘The commercial, moral, and political effects of this increased intercourse, to Europe and this country, must be immense.’” “They were right, weren’t they?” Cochrane asked.
    Brack’s eyes burned into him. “And, they said, because of the expansion of business, the rapid spreading of information, and the resulting reduction of prejudice, it would make ‘war a thing almost impossible.’” Cochrane shrugged. “Simpler times.” “No,” Brack said emphatically. “There’s never been a simpler time. Never. In all of human history, everything has always been as complex as it is right now. The people change. The technology Changes. But the… the forces at work, whatever it is that drives us to be human, that’s always the same.”
    Brack looked back at the governor’s home. The quartet still played. Cochrane could hear faint laughter mingled with the music—a cocktail party on Titan. He wondered what the newspaper data agencies of 230 years ago would have thought about that.
    “Eighteen thirty-eight,” Brack continued. “That same year, the Boers slaughter three thousand Zulus in Natal. British forces invade Afghanistan. Eighteen thirty-nine: Ottoman forces invade Syria. Britain and China start the Opium War. Eighteen forty: the Treaty of London unites Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia against Egypt. Steamships didn’t do a thing except get troops into battle more quickly. It’s never going to end, Zefram.” Cochrane thought he saw where his friend was headed with his argument. “You’re worried about what’s going on back on Earth, aren’t you? Colonel Green. The Optimum Movement.” But Brack went on as if he hadn’t heard Cochrane. “A century later, nineteen forty-four: World War Two.” He rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “We actually started numbering them. And all eyes were on television. You know what the data agencies said about that?” “You tell me.” “Exactly what they said about steamships!” Brack held his hand to his eyes, recalling something he had read. Or heard.
    “‘Television offers the soundest basis for world peace that has yet been presented. International television will knit together the peoples of the world in bonds of mutual respect.’” Now Brack rubbed his hand over his eyes, as if overcome by a sudden wave of fatigue, not just weariness. “Television! And after Korea, and Vietnam, and Afghanistan, and Africa, and Khan, and Antarcti-ca, war was still with us. And television…” Brack snorted disdainfully. “It’s been twenty years at least since anything’s been done with it on an international level. It’s dead. Steamships are curios for collectors. But people are still people.” Across the domed field, the concert ended. Cochrane heard the polite applause. As Brack had said, the guest of honor would be missed soon.
    “What’s your point, Micah?” “They’re going to say the same thing about what you’ve done.” “That the fluctuation superimpeller will bring an end to war?”
    Brack’s wry smile didn’t do anything to warm his grim tone. “I promise you that that will be the lead editorial on a hundred serxices by the end of the week.” -‘Well, why not?” Cochrane asked. “I mean, wars are fought over resources, and the superimpeller opens up the galaxy.
    ‘thefts no end to resources now.” Cochrane followed Brack’s gaze to the governor’s home. There were silhouettes in the windows. People looking out, trying to find the man of the hour. Of the century.
    “Wars are fought because that is what people do,” Brack said.
    “Resources are an excuse, nothing more.” Cochrane felt frustration rising in him. Usually, he was all for these philosophical talks with Brack. The industrialist could go on as