Journalists -- Fiction; Mars (Planet) -- Fiction; Martians -- Fiction; Political fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
The damage the Green Arrow did to the Rockheads was negligible in its
overall effect. But he had been more than a night raider--he'd been a
symbol to the people in the Rockhead yoke that someone was actively
on their side. There was a tremendous lift in spirit each time the
Arrow hit a Rockhead target, and for days thereafter people in the
community where he had struck--and in others, too--were more cocky and
less cooperative than the Rockheads thought they had a right to be.
The Arrow's raids sparked slow-down movements and some sabotage and
evoked Rockhead reprisals, against guilty and innocent alike. Some
of the reprisals were cruel--so cruel that they would have deterred
a less determined man--but the Green Arrow was not to be swayed. He
remained--even after he was captured and executed--a symbol of liberty
in a land which had not tasted such a blessing for years.
Galactic News had covered the Green Arrow story from start to finish.
G.N. gave it the full treatment, despite threats from the Rockheads and
the denial to it of certain newsgathering facilities. More than that,
Scott Warren got permission from G.N.'s New York headquarters to send a
man out to interview the Arrow. The reporter got through where all the
anti-partisan forces of the Rockheads had failed, and interviewed the
Arrow in his desert headquarters. That interview was the journalistic
beat of the year--and was highly embarrassing to the Rockheads. Shortly
thereafter the reporter was arrested by the Rockhead secret police, and
it took all the influence of World Government to have him released.
The name of that reporter was George Mercer. He was now covering the
Martian parliament for Galactic News.
There had been more in Mercer's story than had been made public,
however. Before Galactic broke the story, it went with it to W.G. A
high diplomatic official there, in the interests of security, asked
G.N. to withhold one fact, and Galactic agreed. As things turned out
it was nothing W.G. hadn't known; but something in the nature of a
politico-military secret. It was the name of the Green Arrow.
* * * * *
Scott Warren knew what the name was, but it meant nothing to him. He
got Mercer's original story out of the files--it had once been kept in
a safe--and put it in an inside pocket.
"This used to be classified material," he said to the girl. "It's not
any more. I don't know why you want it."
Ylia smiled. "Are you ready to go?"
He nodded. She put the grotesque mask on again and the two of them left
the building.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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