War World X: Takeover Read Online Free Page B

biggest supply o’ seeds an’ livestock?”
    “The ‘Workers’ and Peasants’ League’,” Bronstein laughed. “That used to be a joke, outdated even when we were founded, and that was 1905.”
    “It wasn’t a joke a good half-century earlier,” Himself said, straight-faced.
    Bronstein frowned. “There are no surviving unions from that far back,” he noted.
    “Not survivin’, no.” Himself looked innocently up at the stars. “Reborn, at need. Conditions here are more primitive than they were on Earth, even in 1905, so we go back to something’ earlier.”
    Bronstein gave him a long look. “Don’t tell me,” he said slowly, “That your real name is Maguire.”
    “No,” Himself laughed, “An’ me mother’s name wasn’t Molly, eyther, but the ideas are the same. Unify the farmers an’ small shopkeepers an’ miners—aye, an’ even the Harmonies—because there’s really only two classes here: the mining companies, with their CoDo troops for harness-bulls—”
    Bronstein smiled thinly.
    “—an’ everybody else. That means we got ta unify all o’ that everybody else. Organize everybody who isn’t the Ruling Class. Build ’em up so they can run the whole planet by themselves, even if another ship never comes. That’s what we got ta do first.”
    “And now we’ve got enough population to do it.” Bronstein took a deep breath. “Knowledge can be power, after all.”
    “How d’ye mean?”
    “You know, we organizers of the First Union had a couple of good computers with us, part of our ‘traveling organizer packs’. When Kenny-Co called in the Marines to smash the strike, they never imagined—and never looked for—anything like those computers. Those jobs had plutonium batteries that can last a century and more if they aren’t smashed. Jablonski’s long past needing his. You want it?”
    “Jaysus,” Himself breathed. “What a difference that could make!”
    “Come along with me, up to the old cave complex, to the one furthest from the river, and I’ll show you a corner that the Marines never found. That’s where I’ve been keeping it for all these years.”

     
    Jane paced back and forth across the tower room, chewing her lip. “Is that everything Vann Damm said, Leo?” she asked.
    “All I can remember. I’m no expert on politics, Jane, but it all makes ugly good sense.”
    “Too good. Everybody wants to steal Haven from the Harmonies. Kennicott wants it for the hafnium, Dover for the shimmer stones, the other mining companies want it for whatever they can get, BuReloc wants it for a dumping ground and everybody else wants it for the shimmer stones. That means CoDo has to takeover and run the place itself. The Harmonies won’t be able to hold out forever, no matter what we do.”
    “I never thought I’d feel sorry for the arrogant bastards,” said Makhno.
    “But there’s plenty we can do to slow down the takeover, slow it down until we’ve got our own population strong enough to deal with the CoDominium. It can be done….” She cast a long look out of the tower window, taking in the view of the island, the river, and the land beyond. “Ever hear of a guy named Thomas Jefferson, Leo?”
    “Sure, in basic history. American revolutionary: wrote the Declaration of Independence and a few other things. Why?”
    “He also had this idea that if every person has their own turf, their own way of making a living by themselves—and the means of defending it—then they’re not dependent on anybody. They’re hard to kill, hard to rule, harder to takeover, and…they tend to have this egalitarian attitude. They don’t fall into pecking orders. There was another guy, I think his name was Hine-line or something like that, who listed all the things a competent human being should be able to do. ‘Specialization is for insects’, he said. I don’t know who said ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, but that’s our basic strategy, Leo. Whatever their specialty is, we