"Oh, I didn't know . . ."
"It is not something one boasts about."
An embarrassed silence settled over them. Finally Leo- 354 nov asked, "Well, you obviously have something in mind. What is it?"
Without letting himself stop to think. Kinsman an- swered, "Declare independence."
Leonov said nothing.
"Make Selene a nation, declare our independence from both the United States and the Soviet Union and apply for membership in the United Nations."
It took a long time for Leonov to reply. "I thought so. I was afraid that would be your brilliant idea."
"Look at it point by point," Kinsman urged, starting to feel some enthusiasm. "First, we won't have to fight here on the Moon. If we unite, we won't fight. The only way we can unite is for both of us to stop taking orders from Earthside. The only way we can stop taking orders is to declare ourselves independent ..."
"We would starve to death in a matter of weeks."
"Not so!" Kinsman snapped. "Moonbase's water capaci- ty can more than take care of all our needs. If we combine it with yours we can irrigate more farmlands and grow enough crops and livestock to be completely self-sufficient."
"If we have enough water."
"We will. We'll have enough in a few months for everything we want to do, plus an emergency backup, as well."
Before Leonov could say more. Kinsman went on, "The only way to make our independence stick is to have the UN recognize us. I think there are enough unaligned nations in the General Assembly that are fed up with both the West and the East to vote us in."
"That debating society!" Leonov stamped a few paces away from Kinsman. "Chet, my lunar brother, I expected better of you. This idea of independence is nonsense, idiocy. It cannot work. I myself have thought about it a thousand times. But it cannot succeed!"
"But if the UN would recognize an independent Selene ..."
"Hah! So what? What good would it do? Long before the question of our glorious independence is even placed on the debating society's agenda, both Moonbase and Lunagrad would be buried alive under troops from Earthside. Our 355 court-martials would be finished and our bodies fertilizing the pig farms before the UN bureaucrats could lift a finger."
"But—"
"Admit it!" Leonov nearly shouted. "We have no mili- tary strength. You could not even be sure that enough of your own Moonbase people would go along with your insane idea. All you would do would be to foment civil war inside your own community."
Kinsman shook his head. "No. That much I'm certain of. You forget, I've been selecting the permanent residents of Moonbase for the past five years. I know who they are and what they'll do. The ninety-dayers—yes, we'd have trouble with some of them. But nothing we couldn't handle."
Leonov snorted. "Well, I know what would happen in Lunagrad. Half the populace would shoot the other half, and I have no idea who would be left alive when the smoke cleared. Possibly no one."
