 Why can't they transmit Umluana as planned?
Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Analog, January 1961. If Umluana noticed Read's gun, he didn't show it. Umluana turned back to Rashid a second too soon. Two men with rifles plunged into the gas; sighing, they fell to the floor in a catatonic trance. In a few minutes Miaka Station will know we're coming. It was the home of factory workers, clerks, semiskilled technicians, all who do the drudge work of civilization and know they will never do more. Did you ever notice how our fathers look, how they sleep so much? Trained to use small arms and gas weapons, they guarded certain borders, bodyguarded diplomats and UN officials, even put down riots that threatened international peace. As the UN evolved into a strong world government, the UN Inspector Corps steadily acquired new powers. Rather than resign, he accepted punishment which assigned him to weeks of dull, filthy extra labor. One power implied in the UN Charter no Secretary General or Inspector General had ever tried to use. The power to arrest any head of state whose country violated international law. Could the World Court try and imprison a politician who had conspired to attack another nation? Men planted bases on the moon and in four years, 1978-82, ringed the world with matter transmitters; but the black population of Africa still struggled toward political equality. Umluana took control of Belderkan in 1979. He began a propaganda war against neighboring South Africa, promising the liberation of that strife-torn land. Most Negro leaders, having just won representation in the South African Parliament, told him to liberate his own country. China called the uproar a vicious slur on a new African nation. The United States and Russia, trying not to get entangled, asked for more investigation by the UN. Umluana was defying world law. They would enter Belderkan, arrest Umluana and try him by due process before the World Court. If the plan succeeded, mankind would be a long step farther from nuclear war. But then they would have spent hours flying over Africa, with Belderkan fighters in hot pursuit, other nations joining the chase and the world uproar gaining volume. By transmitter, if all went well, they could have Umluana in Geneva in an hour. From Miaka they would transmit to the Belderkan Preserve, a famous tourist attraction whose station could transmit to any point on the globe. They had made no plans to take over Miaka. They planned to get there before it could be defended. "There's no military base near Miaka," Rashid said.
 The controls at the Belderkan Preserve have been destroyed.
 The controls at the Geneva receiving station have been destroyed.  The controls at the Miaka station have been destroyed.  The controls at the UN receiving station have been destroyed.  The controls at the Belderkan Preserve have been destroyed.