Operation R.S.V.P. | Page 4

to aim a rocket at
some target in Afghanistan and see what happens.
3.) Both the UPREA mutated virus and the UEESR contagious sterility,
with positive vaccines against the former and means of instrumental
detection of the latter.
4.) A technique for initiating and controlling the Bethe
carbon-hydrogen cycle. We are now using this as a source of heat for
industrial and even domestic purposes, and we also have a
carbon-hydrogen cycle bomb. Such a bomb, delivered by one of our
Sword of Islam Mark IV's, was activated yesterday over the Northern
tip of Nova Zembla, at an altitude of four miles. I am enclosing
photographic reproductions of views of this test, televised to Kabul by
an accompanying Sword of Islam Mark V observation rocket. I am
informed that expeditions have been sent by both the UEESR and the
UPREA to investigate; they should find some very interesting
conditions. For one thing, they won't need their climbing equipment to
get over the Nova Zembla Glacier; the Nova Zembla Glacier isn't there,
any more.
5.) A lithium bomb. This has not been tested, yet. A lithium bomb is
nothing for a country the size of Afghanistan to let off inside its own
borders. We intend making a test with it within the next ten days,

however If your Excellencies will designate a target, which must be at
the center of an uninhabited area at least five hundred miles square, the
test can be made in perfect safety. If not, I cannot answer the results;
that will be in the hands of Allah, Who has ordained all things. No
doubt Allah has ordained the destruction of either Moscow or Nanking;
whichever city Allah has elected to erase, I will make it my personal
responsibility to see to it that the other isn't slighted, either.
However, if your Excellencies decide to accede to my modest and
reasonable demands, not later than one week from today, this
test-launching will be cancelled as unnecessary. Of course, that would
leave unsettled a bet I have made with Dr. Hong Foo--a star sapphire
against his favorite Persian concubine--that the explosion of a lithium
bomb will not initiate a chain reaction in the Earth's crust and so
disintegrate this planet. This, of course, is a minor consideration,
unworthy of Your notice.
Of course, I am aware that both your Excellencies have, in the past,
fomented mutual jealousies and suspicions among the several
"autonomous" republics under your respective jurisdictions, as an
instrument of policy. If these peoples were, at this time, to receive full
independence, the present inevitability of a pan-Asiatic war on a grand
scale would be replaced only by the inevitability of a pan-Asiatic war
by detail. Obviously, some single supra-national sovereignty is needed
to maintain peace, and such a sovereignty should be established under
some leadership not hitherto associated with either the former UEESR
or the former UPREA. I humbly offer myself as President of such a
supra-national organization, counting as a matter of course upon the
whole-hearted support and co-operation of both your Excellencies. It
might be well if both your Excellencies were to come here to Kabul to
confer with me on this subject at your very earliest convenience.
The Peace of Allah be upon both your Excellencies!
Shere Ali Abdallah, Ph.D., Sc.B., M.A.

From N. Y. Times, Oct. 30, 1984:
MOUZORGIN, SUN LI-YIN,
FETED AT KABUL
Confer With Ameer;
Discuss Peace Plans
Surprise Developments Seen....

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Operation R.S.V.P., by Henry
Beam Piper
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPERATION
R.S.V.P. ***
***** This file should be named 18261.txt or 18261.zip ***** This
and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/6/18261/
Produced by Greg Weeks, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be
renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set
forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying
and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge
for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not

charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They
may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically
ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to
the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.