WORLDWAR:
STRIKING
THE
BALANCE
Harry Turtledove
A Del Rey® Book
BALLANTINE BOOKS • NEW YORK
Contents
Title Page
Dramatis Personae
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
About the Author
By Harry Turtledove
To learn more about other great ebook titles from Ballantine...
Copyright
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
(Characters with names in CAPS are historical, others fictional)
HUMANS
ANIELEWICZ, MORDECHAI
Jewish fighting leader, Lodz, Poland
Apfelbaum, Moisei
Colonel Skriabin’s clerk, gulag near Petrozavodsk, USSR
Auerbach, Rance
U.S. Army cavalry captain, Lamar, Colorado
Avram
Partisan near Hrubieszów, Poland
Bagnall, George
Flight engineer, Pskov, USSR
Beck
Wehrmacht captain, Riga, Latvia
BEGIN, MENACHEM
Jewish guerrilla, Haifa, Palestine
Birkenfeld; Oskar
Jewish Order Service policeman Lodz, Poland
Boleslaw
Pole in Lodz, Poland
Borcke, Martin
Wehrmacht captain, Pskov, USSR
BRADLEY, OMAR
U.S. Army lieutenant general, outside Denver
BROCKDORFF-AHLEFELDT, WALTER VON
Wehrmacht lieutenant general, Riga, Latvia
Casimir
Partisan leader outside Hrubieszów, Poland
Chaim
Jewish guard, Lodz, Poland
CHILL, KURT
Wehrmacht lieutenant general, Pskov, USSR
Daniels, Peter (“Mutt”)
U.S. Army second lieutenant, Chicago
Dölger, Hans
Wehrmacht captain and adjutant, Pskov, USSR
DONOVAN, WILLIAM (“WILD BILL”)
U.S. Army major general, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Donskoi, Yakov
Soviet interpreter, Cairo
Drucker, Johannes
Panzer driver north of Lodz, Poland
Easter
British Army colonel, Haifa, Palestine
EDEN, ANTHONY
British foreign secretary
Embry, Ken
RAF pilot, Pskov, USSR
Fleishman, Bertha
Jewish fighter, Lodz, Poland
Fritz
Wehrmacht ammunition hauler north of Lodz, Poland
Fyodorov, Ivan
Soviet prisoner in transit
GERMAN, ALEKSANDR
Partisan brigadier, Pskov, USSR
GODDARD, ROBERT
Rocket scientist, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Goldfarb, David
RAF radarman, Dover, England
Gorbunova, Ludmila
Red Air Force senior lieutenant, Pskov, USSR
Grabowski
U.S. Army corporal, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Grillparzer, Gunther
Wehrmacht gunner outside Lodz, Poland
GROVES, LESLIE
U.S. Army brigadier general, Metallurgical Laboratory, Denver
Gruver, Solomon
Jewish fighter, Lodz, Poland
Hanrahan
U.S. Army captain, outside Fordyce, Arkansas
Hawkins
U.S. Army lieutenant, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hines, Rachel
U.S. Army cavalry private, Lamar, Colorado
Hsia Shou-Tao
Communist guerrilla leader, Peking
HULL, CORDELL
President of the United States
Ignacy
Partisan leader outside Warsaw
Irma
Waitress, Lamar, Colorado
Jäger, Heinrich
Wehrmacht panzer colonel outside Lodz, Poland
Joachim
Wehrmacht ammunition hauler north of Lodz, Poland
Jones, Jerome
RAF radarman Pskov, USSR
Jordan, Constantine
RAF flight lieutenant, Dover, England
Kagan, Max
American nuclear physicist, north of Moscow
Kapellmeister
Wehrmacht major Kristianstand, Norway
Kaplan, Naomi
Barmaid, White Horse Inn, Dover, England
Karol
Farmer north of Lodz, Poland
KURCHATOV, IGOR
Nuclear physicist, north of Moscow
Kurowski
U.S. Army private, Chicago
Lidov, Boris
NKVD colonel, Moscow
Liu Han
Ex-peasant woman; guerrilla, Peking
Liu Mei
Liu Han’s daughter
Logan
Radioman near Fall Creek, Illinois
Magruder, Bill
U.S. Army cavalry lieutenant, Lamar, Colorado
MAO TSE-TUNG
Communist Party leader, Peking
Marchenko
NKVD captain, gulag outside Petrozavodsk, USSR
MARSHALL, GEORGE
U.S. Secretary of State
Mather, Donald
Captain, SAS, Dover, England
Mavrogordato, Panagiotis
Captain of the freighter Naxos
Maxi
SS officer north of Lodz, Poland
McBride
RAF flying officer, Dover, England
Mehier, Karl
Panzer loader north of Lodz, Poland
Mendel
Jewish guard, Lodz, Poland
Mieczyslaw
Farmer north of Lodz, Poland
Mikhailov, Anton
Zek in gulag near Petrozavodsk, USSR
MOLOTOV, VYACHESLAV
Foreign commissar, USSR
Mori
Japanese Army major, west of Peking
Muldoon, Herman
U.S. Army sergeant, Chicago
NIEH HO-T’ING
Guerrilla leader, Peking
Nussboym, David
Political prisoner in transit
Osborne, Andy
Guide near Karval, Colorado
Palchinsky, Yuri
Guard, gulag near Petrozavodsk, USSR
PATTON, GEORGE
U.S. Army lieutenant general near Fall Creek, Illinois
Peterson, Richard
Technician, Metallurgical Laboratory, Denver
Pirogova, Tatiana
Red Army sniper, Pskov, USSR
Rasmussen
U.S. Army lieutenant, Chicago
RIBBENTROP, JOACHIM VON
German foreign minister
Rita
Madam, Elgin, Illinois
Roundbush, Basil
RAF flight lieutenant, Dover, England
Rudzutak, Stepan
Gang boss in gulag near Petrozavodsk, USSR
Russie, Moishe
Jewish leader, approaching Palestine
Russie, Reuven
Moishe and Rivka Russie’s son
Russie, Rivka
Moishe
Russie’s wife
Saul
Jewish guard, Lodz, Poland
Schultz, Georg
German mechanic attached to Red Air Force, Pskov, USSR
Sholom
Partisan outside Hrubieszów, Poland
SKORZENY, OTTO
SS Standartenführer, North of Lodz, Poland
Skriabin
NKVD colonel, gulag outside Petrozavodsk, USSR
Smithson, Hayward
U.S. Army major, Medical Corps, Karval, Colorado
STALIN, IOSEF
General Secretary, Communist Party, USSR
Stefarnia
Partisan outside Hrubieszów, Poland
STERN
Jewish guerrilla leader, Jerusalem
Summers, Penny
Refugee, Lamar, Colorado
Su Shun-Ch’in
Muslim qadi, Peking
Suzie
Whore, Elgin, Illinois
Sylvia
Barmaid, White Horse Inn, Dover, England
Szymanski, Stan
U.S. Army captain, Elgin, Illinois
Tadeusz
Farmer outside of Lodz, Poland
TOGO, SHIGENORI
Japanese foreign minister
VASILIEV, NIKOLAI
Partisan brigadier, Pskov, USSR
Witold
Blacksmith, Hrubieszów Poland
Wladeslaw
Partisan near Hrubieszów, Poland
Yeager, Barbara
Sam Yeager’s wife
Yeager, Jonathan
Sam and Barbara Yeager’s son
Yeager, Sam
U.S. Army sergeant, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Yitzkhak
Jew in Lodz Poland
Zelkowitz, Leon
Jewish fighter, Lodz, Poland
THE RACE
Aaatos
Intelligence operative, Florida
Atvar
Fleetlord, conquest fleet of the Race
Bunim
Regional subadministrator, Lodz, Poland
Chook
Small-unit group leader near Fall Creek, Illinois
Essaff
Guard and interpreter, Peking
Fsseffel
Headmale, Race Barracks One, gulag near Petrozavodsk, USSR
Gazzim
Prisoner and interpreter, Moscow
Kirel
Shiplord, 127th Emperor Hetto
Mzepps
Prisoner, Dover, England
Nikeaa
Infantry officer outside Pskov, USSR
Oyyag
Prisoner, gulag near Petrozavodsk, USSR
Ppevel
Assistant administrator, eastern region, main continental mass, Peking
Pshing
Atvar’s adjutant, Cairo
Ristin
Prisoner, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Saltta
Psychological researcher, Canton, China
Straha
Tosevite propagandist, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Strukss
Tosevite liaison officer, Cairo
Teerts
Killercraft flight leader, Florida
Tessrek
Researcher in tosevite behavior
Ttomalss
Researcher in tosevite behavior, Peking
Uotat
Atvar’s interpreter, Cairo
Ullhass
Prisoner, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Ummfac
Aircraft armorer, Florida
Ussmak
Mutineer outside Tomsk, USSR
Zolraag
Negotiator with Jewish guerrillas, Jerusalem
I
In free fall, Atvar the fleetlord glided over to the hologram projector. He poked the stud at the base of the machine. The image that sprang into being above the projector was one the Race’s probe had sent back from Tosev 3 eight hundred local years earlier.
A Big Ugly warrior sat mounted on a beast. He wore leather boots, rusty chainmail, and a dented iron helmet; a thin coat woven from plant fibers and dyed blue with plant juices shielded his armor from the heat of the star the Race called Tosev. To Atvar, to any male of the Race, Tosev 3 was on the chilly side, but not to the natives.
A long, iron-pointed spear stood up from a boss on the contraption the warrior used to stay atop his animal. He carried a shield painted with a cross. On his belt hung a long, straight sword and a couple of knives.
All you could see of the Tosevite himself were his face and one hand. They were plenty to show he was almost as fuzzy as the beast he rode. Thick, wiry yellow fur covered his jaws and the area around his mouth; he had another stripe above each of his flat, immobile eyes. A thinner layer of hair grew on the back of the visible hand.
Atvar touched his own smooth, scaly skin. Just looking at all that fur made him wonder why the Big Uglies didn’t itch all the time. Leaving one eye turret aimed at the Tosevite warrior, he swung the other in the direction of Kirel, shiplord of the 127th Emperor Hetto. “This is the foe we thought we were opposing,” he said bitterly.
“Truth, Exalted Fleetlord,” Kirel said. His body paint was almost as colorful and complex as Atvar’s. Since he commanded the bannership of the conquest fleet, only the fleetlord out-ranked him.
Atvar stabbed at the projector control with his left index claw. The Big Ugly warrior vanished. In his place appeared a perfect three-dimensional image of the nuclear explosion that had destroyed the Tosevite city of Rome: Atvar recognized the background terrain. But it could as easily have been the bomb that vaporized Chicago or Breslau or Miami or the spearhead of the Race’s assault force south of Moscow.
“As opposed to the foe we thought we faced, this is what we are actually dealing with,” Atvar said.
“Truth,” Kirel repeated, and, as mournful commentary, added an emphatic cough.
Atvar let out a long, hissing sigh. Stability and predictability were two of the pillars on which the Race and its Empire had flourished for a hundred thousand years and expanded to cover three solar systems. On Tosev 3, nothing seemed predictable, nothing seemed stable. No wonder the Race was having such troubles here. The Big Uglies did not play by any of the rules its savants thought they knew.
With another hiss, the fleetlord poked at the control stud once more. Now the threatening cloud from the nuclear blast vanished. In a way, the image that replaced it was even more menacing. It was a satellite photograph of a base the Race had established in the region of the SSSR known to the locals as Siberia, a place whose frigid climate even the Big Uglies found appalling.
“The mutineers still persist in their rebellion against duly constituted authority,” Atvar said heavily. “Worse, the commandants of the two nearest bases have urged against committing their males to suppress the rebels, for fear they would go over to them instead.”
“This is truly alarming,” Kirel said with another emphatic cough. “If we choose males from a distant air base to bomb the mutineers out of existence, then, will it truly solve the problem?”
“I don’t know,” Atvar said. “But what I really don’t know, by the Emperor”—he cast down his eyes for a moment at the mention of his sovereign—“is how the mutiny could have happened in the first place. Subordination and integration into the greater scheme of the Race as a whole are drilled into our males from hatchlinghood. How could they have overthrown them?”
Now Kirel sighed. “Fighting on this world corrodes males’ moral fiber as badly as its ocean water corrodes equipment. We are not fighting the war that was planned before we set out from Home, and that by itself is plenty to disorient a good many males.”
“This is also truth,” Atvar admitted. “The leader of the mutineers—a lowly landcruiser driver. If you can image such a thing—is shown to have lost at least three different sets of crewmales: two, including those with whom he served at this base, to Tosevite action, and the third grouping arrested and disciplined as ginger tasters.”
“By his wild pron
ouncements, this Ussmak sounds like a ginger taster himself,” Kirel said.
“Threatening to call in the Soviets to his aid if we attack him, you mean?” Atvar said. “We ought to take him up on that; if he thinks they would help him out of sheer benevolence, the Tosevite herb truly has addled his wits. If it weren’t for the equipment he could pass on to the SSSR, I would say we should welcome him to go over to that set of Big Uglies.”
“Given the situation as it actually is, Exalted Fleetlord, what course shall we pursue?” Kirel’s interrogative cough sounded vaguely accusing—or maybe Atvar’s conscience was twisting his hearing diaphragms.
“I don’t know yet,” the fleetlord said unhappily. When in doubt, his first instinct—typical for a male—was to do nothing. Letting the situation come nearer to hatching so you could understand it more fully worked well on Home, and also on Rabotev 2 and Halless 1, the other inhabited worlds the Race controlled.