Old Man's War Boxed Set 1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

reason why the colonists should be any more technologically advanced than we are.”
    Something suddenly clicked in my head. “Unless they cheat,” I said.
    Harry grinned. “Exactly. That’s what I think, too.”
    Jesse looked at me, and then Harry. “I’m not following you two,” she said.
    “They cheat,” I said. “Look, on Earth, we’re bottled up. We only learn from ourselves—we make discoveries and refine technology all the time, but it’s slow, because we do all the work ourselves. But up there—”
    “Up there humans meet other intelligent species,” Harry said. “Some of which almost certainly have technology more advanced than ours. We either take it in trade or reverse engineer it and find out how it works. It’s much easier to figure out how something works when you’ve got something to work from than it is to figure it out on your own.”
    “That’s what makes it cheating,” I said. “The CU is reading off someone else’s notes.”
    “Well, why doesn’t the Colonial Union share what it’s discovered with us?” Jesse asked. “What’s the point of keeping it to themselves?”
    “Maybe they think that what we don’t know can’t hurt us,” I said.
    “Or it’s something else entirely,” Harry said, and waved toward the window, where the beanstalk cables slid by. “This beanstalk isn’t here because it’s the easiest way to get people to Colonial Station, you know. It’s here because it’s one of the most difficult —in fact, the most expensive, most technologically complex and most politically intimidating way to do it. Its very presence is a reminder that the CU is literally light-years ahead of anything humans can do here.”
    “I’ve never found it intimidating,” Jesse said. “I really never thought about it much at all.”
    “The message isn’t aimed at you,” Harry said. “If you were President of the United States, however, you’d think of it differently. After all, the CU keeps us all here on Earth. There’s no space travel except what the CU allows through colonization or enlistment. Political leaders are always under pressure to buck the CU and get their people to the stars. But the beanstalk is a constant reminder. It says, ‘Until you can make one of these, don’t even think of challenging us.’ And the beanstalk is the only technology the CU has decided to show us. Think about what they haven’t let us know about. I can guarantee you the U.S. President has. And that it keeps him and every other leader on the planet in line.”
    “None of this is making me feel friendly toward the Colonial Union,” Jesse said.
    “It doesn’t have to be sinister,” Harry said. “It could be that the CU is trying to protect Earth. The universe is a big place. Maybe we’re not in the best neighborhood.”
    “Harry, were you always this paranoid,” I asked, “or was this something that crept up on you as you got older?”
    “How do you think I made it to seventy-five?” Harry said, and grinned. “Anyway, I don’t have any problems with the CU being much more technologically advanced. It’s about to work to my advantage.” He held up an arm. “Look at this thing,” he said. “It’s flabby and old and not in very good shape. Somehow, the Colonial Defense Forces are going to take this arm—and the rest of me—and whip it into fighting shape. And do you know how?”
    “No,” I said. Jesse shook her head.
    “Neither do I,” Harry said, and let his arm down with a plop onto the table. “I have no idea how they’ll make it work. What’s more, it’s likely that I can’t even imagine how they’ll do it—if we assume that we’ve been held in a state of technological infancy by the CU, trying to explain it to me now would be like trying to explain this beanstalk platform to someone who’s never seen a mode of transportation more complex than a horse and buggy. But they’ve obviously made it work. Otherwise, why would they recruit