Chapter 22 Chapter 21

My family, from the grandpa to the children, a total of more than 30 people were waiting for us at the air lock.When we met, we were ecstatic and wept together.This time even Stu didn't hold back anymore.Little Hazel performed a kissing ceremony for us, gave each of us a Liberty Cap, and kissed us.Seeing all the family members put on their Liberty Caps brought tears to my eyes, maybe it was patriotism that suffocated me, made me excited; maybe it was the fact that I could be with my loved ones again. "Where's Slim?" I asked Hazel. "Didn't you invite him?" "He can't come. He's the master of ceremonies at the welcome party."

"Welcome party? Isn't this the one in front of you?" "You'll understand in a while." After a while, I really understood.Luckily the whole family came out to meet us and we only got together for a while on the pipe (the whole car was packed).The three of us were carried all the way to the Old Dome, protected by guards.The guards joined hands, stopped the cheering and singing crowd, and squeezed their way through the middle.The boys all wore red hats and white shirts, and the girls wore long white vests and red skirts.Liberty hats are worn by both men and women.

At the station and in the old dome, women I'd never seen kissed us all the way.Let's just hope that the measures we took during the quarantine on the ship are still effective-otherwise half or more people in Moon City will be lying down with colds. (Obviously, we were clean because there were no outbreaks. I remember when I was very young, there was an epidemic of measles and thousands of people died of it.) We are worried about the professor.The patient, who was dying an hour ago, could hardly bear such a welcome.Surprisingly, he not only seemed very pleasant, but also gave a wonderful speech in the Old Dome, which was short and catchy.He mentioned "love," but also "home," "the moon," and "comrades and neighbors," and even "side by side," and it all sounded so good.

They built a platform on the south side, hung a huge video screen.Adam Selene appeared on this video screen, and he welcomed us back.Then the professor's face also appeared on the screen, which was magnified a lot, and the voice also came out from there, clear and loud, no need for him to shout at the top of his voice.But he has to pause every sentence, which is necessary, because although his voice is amplified, it will still be drowned out by the cheers of the audience.The professor can also take a break during the pause.The strange thing is that the current professor doesn't look old or tired at all.It doesn't look sick at all.Not long after returning to the moon, he became energetic as if he had taken a tonic.And so am I!Gravity is back to normal, and it feels great to breathe this pure air, the fresh air that belongs to our Moon City!

I don't mean the whole city!The Old Dome couldn't hold the entire population of the Moon City—but it really looked like the whole city was here.I estimated the number of people in a ten-square-meter space, and the hundreds were less than half, so I gave up.There might be 30,000 people here, which is incredible. The professor's speech was broadcast and heard by nearly three million people.VCRs beamed live broadcasts to those crowds who couldn't squeeze into the "Old Dome."Cables and relays carried everything from the site across the dark side of the desolate moon's surface to all populated areas.He seized the moment to announce the future the authorities had arranged for them, and what kind of slave life it was.He waved the "white paper."

"This is it!" he cried. "Your bonds! Your shackles! Are you willing to wear them?" "No!" "They said you had to wear them. Switch threatened to use a hydrogen bomb...then the survivors would surrender and put on the shackles obediently. Will you?" "No! Never!" "Never," agreed the professor, "they're threatening to use the military ... more and more troops to trample and ravage our moon. We're going to fight them." "right!" "We'll fight them on the lunar surface, we'll fight them in the lanes, we'll fight them in the corridors! If we must die, we shall die free!"

"Yes! Yes! Tell them! Tell them!" "If we die, let history record: This is the most glorious moment on the moon! For freedom, we would rather die than surrender!" Some words sound familiar.But it's so fresh and so appropriate here; I can't help but growl too.I know we can't beat Earth—I'm tech-savvy, and I know that no amount of bravery is going to help a hydrogen bomb.But we are ready, if they are going to fight, let them come! The professor let them roar and sing the hymn "Fight for the Republic" (Simon's version).Adam was on screen again, leading them and singing along with them.

We stepped back from the platform with the help of a youth group led by Slim, trying to slip away.But the women wouldn't let us go, and the boys didn't do their best to stop them, the line was broken and they swarmed up. It was ten o'clock in the evening when Wyoh, the Professor, Stu and I returned to our room at the Fortune Hotel, where Adam Mike met us via video.I was starving and so was everyone else.I ordered dinner, and the professor insisted on having dinner before reviewing the plan. start working.Adam told me to read that white paper aloud first, he and Comrade Wyoming wanted to hear it - "But first, Comrade Manny, if you have a recording on Earth the above speech is actually adapted from WWII Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Parliament The speeches that Britain will fight to the last moment, can you send them to my office by high-speed telephone? I will write them down for study-so far I only have a summary of the codes sent to me by Comrade Stewart. "

I did, knowing that Mike would do some careful research right away—choosing words is something "Adam Selene" is good at.I also decided to suggest to the professor that Stu enter our substantive work.If Stu was going to enter the decision-making level in the future, it was not an option to keep so secretive to keep him from knowing about Mike. It took five minutes to overdrive the recording to Mike, and another half hour to discuss the plan. When I finished reading, Adam said, "Professor, thanks to your speech, this welcome has been more successful than I expected. I think we should get the embargo passed by Parliament immediately. I want to call tonight, There will be a meeting at noon tomorrow. What do you think?"

I said, "It seems to me that there will be a lot of people complaining in the next few weeks. If you must impose this decision on them - and I don't see why it is necessary - then it is as if you declared the Declaration of Independence. Let’s do it that way. Let’s wait until the middle of the night and pass this decree on our own.” Adam replied, "I'm sorry, Manny. I'm trying to understand what's going on here on Earth, and you've got to know what's going on here. Things have changed, and this council is not what it was then. Is it, Wyoming Comrade?" "Dear Manny, the current Parliament is democratically elected and must be passed by them. Parliament is our government."

I said slowly, "You had an election and you gave them everything? Everything? So what are we doing?" I looked at the professor, expecting him to throw a fit.My objection will not be with his - but I really don't see the point of substituting one council for another.At least the first group is so loose that we can dismiss them easily - and this new group will be firmly in place and will not be dismissed. The professor was calm, fiddling with his fingers, with a relaxed face: "Manny, I think the situation is not as bad as you imagined. In every era, we have to adapt to popular mythology. In the past, kings were appointed by God, so the problem The key lies in whether God appoints the right people, and the myth of this era is 'the will of the people', but this is only a superficial change. Comrade Adam and I have had a long discussion on how to determine the will of the people Discussions. With all due respect, I think this option is feasible." "Yeah... ok. But why didn't you tell us beforehand? Stu, you know?" "I don't know, Manny, there's no reason to tell me," he shrugged. "I'm a monarchist, and I'm not interested in that. But I agree with the professor that elections are really necessary in this day and age." The professor said, "Manny, we didn't have to know until we got back, I had other work with you to do. Comrades Adam and Comrade Wyoming did a lot in our absence... before judging their work , let's see what they did." "I'm sorry. Wyoh, don't you mind?" "Manny, we're not going to give them any chance. Adam and I first decided on three hundred members of Parliament, and then took the time to go over the list of party members, including some prominent people who weren't members of the party. Finally we A list of candidates for council was drawn up - some of whom were members of the previous special council. Not all of them were whiners at the time, but we picked as many of them as possible. Next , Adam called them one by one and asked them if they would serve the people... and asked them to keep their secrets. We had to replace some people. When we were all ready, Adam spoke on TV and announced that at the request of the political party, the freedom The election begins; a date is set, stating that every citizen over the age of sixteen has the right to vote, and that to become a candidate one must collect nominations signed by more than a hundred people and send the nominations to the Old Dome, or where they are Public notice points in residential areas. We have divided thirty provisional constituencies, each electing ten MPs—except for the smallest area, each residential area is an independent constituency." "Get everything in place first, and then whoever has the party vote gets elected?" "No, dear. Strictly speaking, there is no partisan vote. But our candidates are already ready... I must say that my youth organization has done a very good job of collecting signatures." Beautiful. The people we selected sent out their nominations on the first day. Many others did as well, a total of more than two thousand candidates. There are only ten days between the announcement of the election and the official start of the election, and we know that What we wanted, the other candidates were in conflict and could not be united. Therefore, there was no need for Adam to publicly campaign for our candidate. Our approach worked—you won by seven thousand votes, my dear, and the last The closest opponent to you has less than a thousand votes." "I won?" "Yeah, you won, I got elected, the professor got elected, Comrade Clayton got elected, everyone in our program got elected! It wasn't hard, although Adam never expressed support for anyone, but I let our comrades know who should be supported. Simon helped with that too, plus we have great connections with the papers. Hope you're here on election night to see the results come out Moment. So exciting!" "Then how do you count the votes? I really don't understand how elections are conducted. Do you write your names on a piece of paper?" "Oh no, we went with a better system...because, after all, some of our most loyal supporters can't write. We use banks as voting places, and bank clerks identify customers, and customers identify their respective The identities of family members and their neighbors who do not have bank accounts...People vote verbally, and under the supervision of the voters, the bank staff enters the ballots into the bank's computer, and the results are immediately displayed at the Yuecheng Clearing House. After a few minutes, the results are printed." With a heartbeat, I decided to ask Wyoh privately, no, not Wyoh, but Mike.I decided to defy his "Adam Selene" dignity and get to the bottom of the matter.Thinking of the exaggerated large check before, I couldn't help expressing doubts about my number of votes.Seven thousand votes, or seven hundred votes?Or only my family and friends voted for me?But I don't worry about the new parliament anymore.It was no use asking Wyoh, she didn't need to know what Mike had done... so she could do her own job better. No one will doubt it.When you put correct numbers into a computer, there is no doubt that the results will be correct.Everyone takes it for granted.Even me, I would never be suspicious before encountering a computer with a sense of humor. I was going to let Stu know about Mike just now, but I changed my mind when I thought that this would cause trouble. "Mai..." I started, then quickly changed my words, "Damn, that sounds like it worked. We won, but by what number?" Adam replied calmly: "Eighty-six percent of our candidates were selected, which is about the same as I expected." ("Almost"? Mike is an old slick, it should be exactly the expected number!) "I take back the objection just now, and I will be at the meeting at noon tomorrow." I said. "The way I see it," Stu said, "is that assuming the embargo starts right away, we're going to need something to sustain the enthusiasm we're seeing tonight, or we're going to have a long, protracted depression. My Meaning that the embargo will cause the Great Depression, which will lead to disillusionment. Adam, I admire your ability to make accurate guesses about future events. Do you think my worry is warranted?" "Have." "yes?" Adam looked at us in turn, and it was hard to believe that this was just a virtual image, just a binary trick. "Comrades... we must go to war with Earth as soon as possible." No one said anything.Once war is brought up, we have to face it. I sighed and asked, "When do we start throwing stones?" "We're not going to fight," Adam replied. "They have to throw the first stone. We're going to confront them and force them to go to war. I'm going to reserve my opinion on how to do that. What do you think, Man?" Comrade Ni?" "Um... don't keep staring at me. My idea is to throw big rocks at Agra - those guys are a waste of space. But I know you won't approve." "No, it can't be like this." Adam said seriously. "Doing this will anger the whole of India—this is a nation that hates killing. Once the Taj Mahal is destroyed, people on the entire planet will be angered and even shocked." "It would piss me off too," said the professor. "Manny, don't use such a dirty trick." "Look," I said, "I didn't say I was going to do it. Besides, we can avoid the Taj Mahal." "Manny," said the professor, "as Adam pointed out, our strategy must be to provoke them and let them fire the first shot in the war. This is the classic 'Pearl Harbor' strategy in strategic theory, which is very important in international politics." Advantage. The point is: 'how?' I suggest convincing them that we are weak, disunity, and that a show of force will make us a good citizen. You on Earth, Stu Friends should come in handy. Suppose, if the Lunar Council reprimands me and Manny, what happens on Earth?" "Oh, it won't work!" Wyoh disagreed. "Okay, dear Wyoh. No need to really berate us, it's simple, just broadcast it on the news to Earth. But it's better to use a secret report, pretending to be our geoscientists here secretly In the meantime, our official channel still has to pretend it's under heavy government censorship. How's that going, Adam?" "I think this suggestion can be used as a possible tactic in this strategy. But this alone is not enough. We should also be bombed." "Adam," Wyoh said, "how do you say that? Even if Moon City can withstand the biggest bombs - I hope they never use them - we know the Moon is not vulnerable to a full-front war, you said it yourself Been many times. Is there no other way to keep them from bothering us?" Adam propped his right cheek, muttering.I thought to myself: Mike, if you keep acting like this, even I will believe you!I was getting a little annoyed with him and wanted to have a talk with him—the kind of talk where you don't have to do what "President Selene" says. "Comrade Wyoming," he said solemnly, "this is a very complex game, and it is a 'non-zero-sum' game. We have certain resources, or 'pieces,' and there are several possibilities but our opponents have more resources and personnel, and they can play many more moves. Our purpose is to manipulate this game so that we can focus our efforts on feasible solutions while weakening the They, make them lose their advantage, and prevent them from exerting their superior power to the greatest extent. Timing is the key. If the start is done well, a series of events can go in the direction we planned. Maybe I didn’t express it clearly enough. I can use the computer Show these factors to you. You can accept the conclusion or make your own judgment." He's reminding Wyoh (right under Stu's nose) that he's not Adam Selene, but Mike—a thinking intelligent computer perfectly capable of handling such complex problems. Wyoh backed off. "No, no," she said, "I don't know math anyway. Well, let's do what we have to do. What shall we do?" It wasn't until four o'clock in the morning that we drafted a plan that the professor, Stu, and Mike were happy with, or it took Mike so long to sell his plan.He almost went his own way, regardless of our ideas.Could this be the professor's plan for Mike to sell? Anyway, we now have a plan, a schedule.This is an adjustment to the plan made on Tuesday, May 14, 2075 in light of changing circumstances.The new strategy, in one sentence, is that we treat the planet as badly as possible while convincing them that we are powerless and vulnerable. At noon, I took a short nap and rushed to the auditorium for the meeting. It turned out that I could actually sleep for another two hours: the members of Parliament in Singapore could not be so punctual because they had to come from Moon City, Singapore. It was not until two-thirty in the afternoon that Wyoh struck the gavel to announce the meeting. Yes, my new wife is the president of this unorganized group.She was adept at handling parliamentary procedures, and it turned out that her election as chairman was a good idea: under her presidency, the mob on the moon behaved a little better. I am not going to talk about what the new parliament has done, the details of the meeting, and so on.I only show my face when necessary, and I am not prepared to understand the parliamentary rules-it should be equality and politeness, and the chairman has a lot of power to control the parliamentary process according to his (her) ideas. Wyoh was about to hammer the gavel to order them to maintain order when a fellow jumped up and said, "Madam Chairman, I suggest that we suspend the procedure and listen to Professor de la Pazza!"—a proposal that won everyone's approval . Wyoh struck the hammer again. "Motion dismissed. Members from Lower Churchill please sit down. Chairman of Standing Committee on Revolutionary, Government and Permanent Institutions speaks." The chairman turned out to be a councilor from Lower Tycho named Wolfgang Korshkov (a member of the professorial branch and the number one expert on financial scams at the Moon House Corporation).He dominates the speaking position all day long, talking on and on, and only making time for the right people when he thinks it's appropriate (for example, he chooses his own speakers, rather than randomly letting people speak ).But no one was too bothered.With a leader, the mob seemed content.Although the venue was noisy, it did not get out of control. At dinner, Moon City formed a new government to replace the previous interim government (that is, the puppet government that sent me and the professor to Earth).Parliament affirmed what the interim government had done, thanked the outgoing government, and entrusted Wolfgang's committee with continuing work on the establishment of permanent government institutions. The professor was elected speaker of the parliament, the president of the transitional government, who served until the constitution was drawn up.He shirked it on the grounds of age and health... Later he said that if he could agree to a few conditions that would lighten his burden, he agreed to take office.He was unable to preside over meetings except at the great occasions representing the country, and after his travels around the world, he was feeling old and feeble, so it was necessary for Parliament to elect a Speaker and Interim Speaker... Besides, he felt that Parliament should Limit the number of co-opted non-constituency MPs to 10 per cent of the current number of MPs.In this way, a future president (whoever he is) will have the leeway to choose cabinet members or government ministers from non-members of parliament. They hesitated.Most people are proud to be "Members of Parliament" and covet this status for a long time.But the professor just sat there, exhausted, waiting.Someone finally pointed out that, even so, major policies should still be decided by parliament.So they agreed to the professor's request. Then someone made a speech and asked a question to the chairman.Everyone knows that Adam Selene can't show up in Parliament, but can you please Madam Chair tell us why we can't elect Adam Selene to represent the whole moon as a way of thanking him for what he has done for us?All Moon people, and all Earth people, should know that we not only do not reject Adam Selene, but that he is our favorite politician and that he did not become the leader of the Parliament because he did not want to be! The cheers continued for a long time.You can easily find the author of this discourse, and it is true that the professor wrote it, and Wyoh arranged the speaker.Here's what came out after a few days of discussion: President and Secretary of State for External Affairs: Professor Bernardo de la Pazza Speaker: Finn Nelson Interim Speaker: Wyoming Davis Under Secretary of State for External Affairs and Secretary of Defense: General O'Kelly Davis; Minister of Information: Terrence Sheehan (Sheehan, in collaboration with Adam and Stu, took over Lunar Pravda as editor-in-chief); Director of the Department of Public Information: Stuart René Lajoie; Secretary-General of the Ministry of State Economy and Finance (also Head of Finance of the Ministry of Energy): Wolfgang Korshkov; Minister of the Interior and Security: Comrade Clayton; Secretary Regardless and Special Advisor to the President: Adam Selene. See what's left?Previous titles have been abolished and all major government affairs are still run by the Branch which is directed by Mike and has the support of a Parliament which we will not lose a single vote of - of course we have lost some which we would not have liked to have won votes, or votes that we simply don't care about. But at the time, I couldn't see the purpose of these boring arrangements. At the meeting that evening, the professor gave a report on our trip, followed by me (with the approval of the chairman of the committee, Korshkov). I told them what the Five-Year Plan really meant and how the authorities bribed me.I'm by no means a great speaker, but luckily I read Mike's provocative speech during dinner.After watching it, I felt angry again, and even gave a speech that was so impassioned and contagious.When I sat down at the end of my speech, the whole parliament was in a rage, and a riot was almost on the verge of breaking out. The professor stepped forward, so thin, so pale.He said softly: "What shall we do, comrades? If Chairman Korshkov agrees, I propose that we discuss how to deal with the insults they have recently inflicted on our nation." A councilor from New Lyon was anxious to declare war.They might well have declared war if the professor hadn't pointed out that they still had to listen to the committee report. The report continued, and it made people gnash their teeth even more after hearing it. Finally Comrade Jean-Jones said: "Comrades, Chairman Korshkov, I am a rice and wheat farmer. I was, because in May I took out a bank loan and together with my sons wanted to A single crop of rice and wheat has been replaced by multiple cultivation. We are completely bankrupt-even the transportation expenses to come here are borrowed from others-but the family can still feed their stomachs, and maybe one day we can pay off the bank loan. I don't grow food anymore. "But others have to plant. Even though we're free, the ejection pod never stops. We're still shipping in the hope that one day our checks will be worth something. "Now we get it! They've told us what they're going to do to us! In my opinion, the only way to get the scoundrels to understand is to stop our grain shipments, right now! Not a ton! Not a kilo …until they come here, come here to bargain, make a fair price, and make a deal!" At midnight they passed the "embargo" and then called adjournment - the Standing Committee continued its discussion. I went home with Wyoh and was with my family again.We don't have much to do, Mike Adam and Stu are still working out how to hit Earth.Mike had turned off the catapult twenty-four hours earlier ("Technical failure in ballistic computer").The last catapult pod will be picked up by ground control in Pune in a day and we will inform Earth that this is the last catapult to get there.