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growth of facial hair.
 We ve won.
Will knew he should have shouted, thrown his hands in the air, or otherwise
reacted as billions of his fellow Humans no doubt already were. Instead he
felt oddly calm.
 When did you get the news?
 Just a few minutes ago. It arrived via closed transponder from a place called
London. His English had gotten quite good, Will thought.  They re pulling
out; the Crigolit, Ashregan, Molitar, Acaria, the
Amplitur themselves. All of them, everywhere. Your Gobi and Great Plains, the
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Ukraine and Matto
Grosso, even those bases they had managed to secure. Shuttles have been coming
and going all morning.
Our forces took several of them out before they could escape, and at least one
warship that didn t slip back into Underspace quickly enough.  I don t
understand, Will said quietly.  I d heard that we were pushing them back, but
nothing to suggest total victory was imminent. What happened to make them
suddenly pull up and leave?
 No one knows. T var hunted for and found a bench built to his height.  The
word is that by this evening there won t be an enemy soldier left on your
world or a hostile warship in your system. The
Hivistahm are concerned that it may be some kind of trick, but the Hivistahm
would worry if the Amplitur sued for peace tomorrow. The consensus among the
Massood is that the pullout is genuine.  There ll be a lot of celebrating.
 It s already begun, T var told him.  Here at the base as well as across your
world. This is a great moment for your people as well as for the Weave. Not
that the Amplitur haven t been driven from other worlds, but it was
accomplished far more quickly here than anyone thought likely or possible.
 They must not have cared for what they found, Will murmured thoughtfully.
 They encountered what they first found on Vasarih and later on Aurun, only
much more of it. T var was bursting with excitement.  We ll give them more of
what they don t like until we finally push them back to their homeworld,
wherever that may be and however long it may take.
 Perhaps, said Will slowly.
T var gave him a funny look.  I don t understand your implication.  You and
your councils better not expect Humans to fulfill preconceived expectations.
Now that the Amplitur have been driven out, mankind may not react to your
liking. People united in the face of a common foe. Now that that foe has fled,
don t be surprised if everyone decides they want to go back to the way things
were before all this happened. I ve been warning you and Caldaq about that
possibility all along.
 Impossible, said T var.  A species cannot demature. Will snorted
derisively.  Don t underestimate the determination of a world filled with
fractious fools.
Despite the best efforts of the enemy to preserve the secret, Humanity and the
Weave learned of mankind s resistance to Amplitur probing when a brace of
Human soldiers were exposed to a captured
Amplitur officer. Seeking to free himself, the officer struck out, with the
result that he lapsed into convulsions. Astonished Massood who came upon the
scene listened intently as the puzzled Humans reported the sequence of events.
The inferences which were drawn led to a series of delicate experiments which
confirmed what the
Amplitur already knew and feared, though an understanding of the Human body s
actual defense mechanism awaited considerable further study. The Massood
troops in the field were not interested in reasons. Delighted and not a little
awed by the news, they regarded their hairless colleagues with ever greater
respect.
So it came as quite a shock when the population of Earth declined to leap
wholeheartedly into the battle against the Purpose, exactly as Will Dulac had
told the S van it might.
The representatives of the Weave were taken aback. Not only had Humans proven
themselves superbly in combat, but they alone among sentients were immune to
the enemy s mental trickery and manipulation.
Therefore the decision not to participate did not arise from fear.
S van and Massood attempted to remonstrate with mankind. Their reward was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]