* * * * *
Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen to Dr. Karl Thurn, Professor of
Psychology at University of Laibach.
My dear Karl:
I hope your psionic research goes better than my official project! My
business goes nowhere! I have written to generals, ministers, and all
kinds of persons who held high office under The Leader. Each and every
one refuses to discuss The Leader or his own experiences under him. Why?
Surely no one would blame them now! We have had to agree to pretend that
no one did anything improper under The Leader, or else that what anyone
did was proper at the time. So why should the nabobs of that incredible
period refuse to discuss what they should know better than anyone else?
I am almost reduced to asking the aid of the astrologers and soothsayers
The Leader listened to. Actually, I must make a note to do so in sober
earnest. At least they had their own viewpoint of events.
Speaking of viewpoints, I have had some hope of clarifying The Leader's
career by comparing it with that of Prime Minister Winston, in power in
his country when The Leader ruled ours. His career is splendidly
documented. There is astonishingly little documentation about The Leader
as a person, however. That is one of the difficulties of my task. Even
worse, those who should know him best lock their lips while those--
Here is an unsolicited letter from the janitor of a building in which a
former Minister of Education now has his law offices. I have many
letters equally preposterous....
* * * * *
Enclosure in letter to Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach.
Herr Professor:
I am the janitor of the building in which Herr Former Minister of
Education Werfen has his offices. In cleaning there I saw a letter
crumpled into a ball and thrown into a corner. I learned in the time of
The Leader that angry actions often mean evil intentions, so I read the
letter to see if the police should be notified. It was a letter from you
in which you asked Herr Former Minister of Education Werfen for his
memories of The Leader.
I remember The Leader, Herr Professor. He was the most holy man who ever
lived, if indeed he was only a man. Once I passed the open door of an
office in the building I then worked in. I looked in the door--it was
the office of the then-struggling Party The Leader had founded--and I
saw The Leader sitting in a chair, thinking. There was golden light
about his head, Herr Professor. I have told this to other people and
they do not believe me. There were shadowy other beings in the room. I
saw, very faintly, great white wings. But the other beings were still
because The Leader was thinking and did not wish to be disturbed. I
assure you that this is true, Herr Professor. The Leader was the holiest
of men--if he was only a man.