Frontiersman, February 2025

which I will presently identify, and on behalf of the Coterie itself, I welcome you.”

There was a round of applause.

“I shall not detain you with a compendium of the reasons why Castle of Bethlehem has been selected as the site for this conference — ”

That brought a few scattered shouts of “Thank You!!”, “Bravo!”, and “Hear-hear!” which the First Speaker endured with practiced skill.

“ — nor shall I bore you with the reasons this planet has been of significance in the history of human life in the galaxy. Such a list would indeed be a long one and there are more pressing matters before us today. In that regard, I’ll only say that the significance of Castle of Bethlehem, and of its place in history, will be enhanced by what is beginning here today. You gentlemen, representing your thousands of other planets throughout human space, will assure that.”

The members of the audience were in a generous mood. They gave a small cheer. The Speaker smiled and shifted his position. He then took a deep breath and gave the appearance of preparing to take a plunge.

“I appreciate the responsiveness you’ve all shown by coming here with such little notice, over such great distances, and with such a mysterious lack of information regarding the purpose and sponsor of this conference.”

There was another round of cheers, for the appreciation so far was mutual.

“I know you’re all busy and important people on your own worlds but, believe me, you’re here for a very important reason, a reason that will fully justify any inconvenience this conference might have caused you. You’re here because —” and the Speaker paused, perhaps for dramatic effect, but succeeded only in looking uneasy. He cleared his throat nervously and continued more softly, “You’re here because the Berserkers are winning.”

That unexpected statement brought a few isolated exclamations of objection, and a slowly growing rumble of dissent.

“Not for over 500 years!” shouted a voice from the audience. A rabble of support arose. The Speaker had touched upon a sensitive subject.

“Gentlemen! You’ve come a long way to this conference! We’ve spared no expense! At least hear me!”

He waited briefly, while the noise tapered off to an uneasy mutter.

“I know that for over 500 years now there has been a kind of stability.”

“We’ve stopped ’em is what ya mean!” shouted a man in the front row, but a few others growled at him. It seemed that the members of the audience were, for the moment at least, willing to listen.

“A kind of stability, I said. An appearance of success. In the opposite spiral arm, the Bebeyem are holding out, and seem secure. They’re defending a volume of space five times as large as ours. Near the core, the Nem still survive. And of course, so do we. Perhaps we are not as numerous as the Bebeyem, perhaps not so inscrutable as the Nem, but we are quite successful in our own way.”

A low rustle of approval ran through the audience but the previous boisterous mood had been tainted with caution.

“Or so it would seem.” said the First Speaker. “But the facts are not exactly as people perceive them. We tend to see things on a scale comparable to the lengths of our own lives. That, perhaps, was our greatest loss when the Carmpan were overrun. We lost their perspective, their way of looking at things that was so very different from our own. But believe me, given the longer view, the facts are more grim than they otherwise appear.”

“The Bebeyem, although they defend their space well, are completely surrounded by an estimated one million Berserker units.”

That fact startled the listeners and the residual shuffling and whispering tapered away. The audience became as quiet as it had been so far.

“I refer,” continued the speaker, “to major, full sized battle stations. The estimate does not include smaller auxiliary units or individual combat modules.”

“The Nem survive on a planet that’s been a molten glob for over a century. They survive only because the Berserkers have not discovered a way to kill non-material beings. One day the Berserkers will solve that problem. On that day, the Nem will die. And what about us? Five hundred years ago we controlled about 10,000 planets. Today we still control about 10,000 planets. Fact? Yes, it is a fact, but somewhat simplistic. An oversimplification. Five hundred years ago we controlled slightly more than 10,000 planets. Today we control slightly fewer than 10,000 planets. The difference is a small one, but significant. I assure you, it is irreversible.”

The members of the audience, no longer in their previous merry mood, were listening intently.

— to be continued —