Soa como "O Direito de Revolta" e "O direito de resistir" , histórias curtas de Keith Laumer ; publicado pela primeira vez (juntos) em Se , maio-junho de 1971 , que está disponível no Internet Archive ; reimpresso em O Melhor de Se , Volume I e Governo americano através de ficção científica (Patricia Warrick , Martin H. Greenberg e < href="http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/olander_joseph_d"> Joseph D. Olander , eds.) Aqui está uma revisão da cápsula por Don D'Ammassa :
Em "The Right to Revolt", o personagem do ponto de vista, Andrew Galt, faz parte de um grupo de jovens revoltados, colonos de terceira geração em um mundo de colônia chamado Colmar. Quando a história começa, eles estão reclamando amargamente sobre a administração:Finally we have two related stories that appear together in The Best from If (1973), "The Right to Revolt" and "The Right to Resist." In the first, colonists on a planet run by a corporation rebel rather than accept the imposition of new colonists and the pre-emptive relocations of those already in place. In the second, the rebels have taken over but now face unrest from the people they rule. Both tend to lecture rather than show.
"We told them," Williver said, sounding frightened. He swallowed. "We held off until now to give them a chance to see reason. They didn't. Opening a new sector now is a smack in the teeth to every man in the colony."
"It's not just a kick in the mouth," Gray said. "It's slavery for all of us who are tagged to go out on the advance team. And for what? To give the Colonial Bureau a nice growth rate to brag about."
"To fill politicians' pockets back on Terra," Pinchot corrected. "We're supposed to give up our homes, families, friends, move out into the desert, live in lash-up hutments, eat issue rations, work like horses fourteen hours a day—"
"I'm not afraid of work," Galt said. "If it were on a voluntary basis I might even sign on."
"But it's not voluntary, Galt. It's compulsory. They decide who goes and for how long."
Eles decidem se revoltar:
"The Committee of Fifty," Galt said, "consisting of forty-one members by actual count, out of over twenty-five thousand colonists—"
"What percentage of French peasants staged the French Revolution?" Gray demanded. "How many Americans actually fired on the Redcoats? How many Bolsheviks tossed out the Czar?"
"We can do it," Pinchot said, his eyes narrow and intent. "We move in fast, take the Port and the Comm Center, the generator and pumping stations, the depot and warehouses, grab Admin House—and we're in charge."
A revolta não é totalmente sem sangue. Uma das vítimas:
"Stop where you are! Davies, Henderson! We know you, you can't get away—" The voice broke off as light winked and a shot crashed from the gate. Fry was lying flat in the shadow of the ornamental gatepost. Galt saw another flash, but the second shot was drowned by the short savage roar of a police bullet-pump. Fry's body was flung a foot into the air and hurled ten feet back like a bundle of rags.
A revolta é bem sucedida. Galt confronta o administrador Blum em seu escritório:
"What do you want from me, Andy?"
"Capitulate. Hand over control to the Committee and step down. I'll guarantee your safe conduce—and Jensen's, too, unless he does something stupid, like firing on our men."
Blum stared levelly across at Galt. "Are you sure this is what you want? The responsibility—"
"Tell him," Galt said harshly.
Blum turned to the screen. "Lay down your arms, Stig," he said. "I'm signing a formal resignation in favor of Andrew Galt."
Agora Galt está dirigindo a colônia, e seu revolucionário camarada Pinchot está descontente com ele:
Galt pushed another sheet of paper across the desk. Pinchot glanced at it, then stared at Galt.
"Are you right out of your mind? This is Blum's Opening Order for Sector Twelve."
"Wrong. It's my order for opening Sector Twelve."
"You can't do it. The people won't accept it. What will Gray and Williver—and Pyle and Tomkin and the others say? They—we—risked our necks fighting this same crazy scheme."
"We need more income, less dependence on imports. We have to extend our usable acreage and expand our mining operations. If you can think of another way to do it, I'll welcome the suggestion."
Pinchot's face looked slack and grayish. "Is this what we took over—the same old headaches, only worse?"
"Did we really take over, Pinchot?" Galt asked tiredly. "Or did they con us into standing on our own feet?"
"O direito de resistir" é definido vinte anos depois. O novo regime está enfrentando agitação:
The crash of breaking glass was like an explosion in the darkness. Planetary Administrator Andrew Galt came awake, rolled off the side of the bed and hugged the floor. In the silence a final glass fragment fell from the window frame to the rug. Galt got to his feet, saw the paper-wrapped bolt lying by the dresser.
END TYRANNY ON COLMAR was lettered neatly in red on the back of a recently published ration application form. Galt grunted and tossed the aper away.
O ecologista marinho Dick Weinberg faz um grande avanço:
"You remember the problem I reported I was having with the slime formation," Weinberg said.
"I see it hasn't improved any," Galt said. "I hope it's not interfering seriously with your work."
"Fact is, Andy, I've about dropped everything to work on it. I think I've identified it as a mutated Fuligo Septica, probably introduced on some imperfectly sterilized glassware from Terra. We tried high-pressure steam first, but—"
"Just a minute, Dick. Dropped everything?" Galt's voice was harsh. "Maybe I haven't succeeded in making it clear that the mission of finding food supplements for the Colmarian diet is absolute top priority—"
Weinberg looked reproachfully at Galt. "Mr. Administrator, may I make my presentation?" His wide mouth quivered, the corners running upward in spite of his obvious effort to hold them down.
"What the devil are you grinning at?"
"How did you like the coffee?"
"Drinkable," Galt snapped "What—"
"It's made from the sporangia phase; the stalks, you understand, dessicated, ground, and roasted."
"You made that coffee out of—this?" Galt prodded a mass of crusted brown flakes with his toe.
"Uh-huh. The cake was made from the spores, with an admixture of plasmodium, plus a sweetener."
"Slime cake?" Galt said.
"Of course all this required a certain amount of processing. We're running some ideas in glass, looking for shortcuts—for commercial quantity production, you understand. But with a little drying and compressing, we get what, unless I flunked Chem 1, is the best all-around livestock feed going." He took from his pocket a hard, dull-shiny, purple-brown cake the size of a bar of soap. "Hence the goats," he said. "And the chickens."
Galt stood as if stricken. "But—if this is true—" He took a deep breath and became brisk. "Fine. One miracle to order—" His voice broke and he cackled in glee. "Dick, you sneaky bastard, you've just saved a world, damn your hide!"