"I am apparently a relatively high official in the government. It is
called a Congressman. Although there are many others of equal and
superior rank, I am well liked. I have a strong political following."
"Was there any suspicion?"
"None at all. I had the good fortune, almost immediately upon
discovering my role in this civilization, to gain access to a number of
speech recordings our host had made. His voice is very little different
than mine, and of course within about thirty minutes I had mastered his
tone, his inflection, and his manner of speech. We shall have little or
no difficulty."
They were seated in the living-room of the house; in its den, two young
boys were diligently working at the task their father had set them. The
books were opened in an orderly array on the wide, polished floor. One
read excerpts from the texts as the other quickly gained mastery of a
portable typewriter, transcribed as his brother read aloud.
"Father was correct in his reasoning ... take this ... _with the
desertion by Germany of the League of Nations, the stage for World War
II was set. Failure of the Weimar Republic_ ..."
Their sheaf of notes had grown measurably in thickness since the first
fact had been written on the first page the night before. The boy
had written it slowly as he had begun mastery of the awkward writing
machine--_1. Washington defeats Cornwallis at Yorktown, Oct. 19,
1781_ ...
In the living-room, the woman was listening to her husband.
"By their standards, we would seem as improbable in our psychological
reactions, our reasoning and our way of life as they seem
under-developed and generally inferior in intelligence to our eyes.
When you're among them, Lisa, you will have to guard against the
self-assurance which to them could be easily interpreted as lack of
emotion. Under any but the most intimate circumstances, we might appear
to them as some sort of thinking machinery devoid of what they term
'character' and 'personality'. Other than that, you should have little
trouble. If you should err through some lack of detailed knowledge,
you will find it amazingly easy to cover up." He toyed with a cigarette
in a momentary attempt to deduce its function. He broke it in two,
examined the tobacco grains as she spoke. Her voice was quiet, almost
as though consciously held in check by some secret restraint.
"From your description, these people can be dealt with more or less at
the mental level of a child of eight, then...."
"A child of about 13, on their standards. Not in individual cases,
however--you will have to judge quickly for yourself. There are many
who approach us in mental agility. I believe, from what I've been able
to discover during the last few hours, that our host was one of those.
There are few others of his rank, however, who are his equal."
"That would account for the apparatus." And then in a different voice
and quite suddenly she said, "Dare we not use it, Douglas, and--"
"And what? Lisa, sometimes I think I don't understand you at all. You
seem frightened, I think. Are you frightened?"
"No. No, Douglas."
"That's better. At any rate, we will do best to leave his apparatus
absolutely unmolested. Here, apparently, science is not a restricted
thing, in the sense that the individual is not limited by law in its
study and practice. Technological secrets of the government are of
course carefully guarded, and periodically divulged to the public in
vague or distorted form. However, the individual may be a free agent in
science to the limit of his wealth, interest and intellectual ability.
That is why our host was able to complete a project similar to that
upon which Zercheq was at work when he was apprehended. Although even
my technical training at Quadrature Academy excluded detailed study of
space-time mechanics just as it did nuclear fission, I'm quite positive
that our host has constructed a successful Chronospan, as Zercheq
called it. If we tamper with it, his chances of returning here and ours
of returning to our phase in time are reduced to absolute zero. As it
is, he will be faced with the task of building another to effect his
return--and unless he is a clever man indeed, his chances are of course
exceedingly slim. Zercheq was only half-finished when the S Council
apprehended him."
"We are the--innocent victims of a trap, then."
"It need not be a trap, precisely, my dear. There is a slim chance that
we may return--but that must of course remain in his hands. Quite
probably, he may fail. Therefore, we must go about the process of
adapting ourselves, and in any measure possible, alter and adapt this
civilization to our own methods and standards."
"Please, Douglas--"
"Yes?"
* * * * *
She looked away from him for a moment, then back, but with her eyes
lowered.
"I suppose changing them," she said softly, "would be a--a challenge to
you, Douglas." Then her eyes came up, looked full into his. "Please,
let us use his device. Let us go back. I--It is that I--I _am_ afraid,
Douglas," she said.
"Afraid?" His tone was that of a man speaking half in doubt, half in
impatience. "I still fail to understand you, Lisa. A moment ago you
said--"
"Then forgive me," she interjected with a nervous suddenness. "It
is--let us say it is the shock."
"If so it shall wear off. But you may be assured, Lisa, there is
nothing to fear. These people are at least a century behind us,
generally speaking. Sociologically, they are where we were before the
formation of the Prelatinate--purely a case of arrested development
dating from antiquity. Technologically they are very little behind
us--perhaps only decades. I am not as yet familiar with the manifold
details of which the causes are comprised, but the effects in
themselves are starkly obvious. There are wars, for one thing. They
are the end effect of all the other contributory effects. I am in a
position to inaugurate the proper political maneuvers to eliminate this
end effect--and I shall. The problem of changing these people should
be quite simple, and because of their terrible desperation, it should
take astonishingly little time. They are slow-moving when it comes to
governmental function for the direct benefit of the individual, but
in their present state--as I say, almost unbelievably confused and
hazardous--I am quite sure that they can be relied on to favor any
possible solution to the curtailment of crisis after crisis."
"You mean--you mean the games, don't you, Douglas?..."
"Why of course! What else would I mean?"
"They have space travel, I suppose--"
"No--no, oddly, they're highly skeptical of it--it's still relegated
to colorful pamphlets for amusement purposes and to a few rather well
done pieces of fiction with all too limited circulation. But of course,
when the time comes, the Sahara will serve well enough--that is where
we started. Ordinarily, it would take years with people such as these
to convince them to adopt our game system. I shall work through their
weak spots--their fear, their desperation, their willingness to follow
beliefs unfounded in fact. Perhaps even within months ... Lisa, you're
not listening!"
"Yes. Yes I am, Douglas."
"I see. You think that because they're rank amateurs in the philosophy
of political mechanics, I will meet insurmountable stumbling blocks.
It is true they are quite backward in economic theory, and of course
that has its manifestation throughout government as well as the
governed. But fortunately, their motives are transparent to anyone
except themselves--that will help at least in gaining a toehold. Before
I begin, I want a few hours careful study of the notes the boys are
compiling. They've been industrious, I hope and not too taken with all
this."
She did not answer him.
"You are to be highly credited, my dear," he said. He knew her mood
would pass. It had, before.... "They are fine sons. I shall see to it,
as long as we must remain in this time-phase, that the only arms they
shall ever carry will be in the war games which I feel confident I can
inaugurate. They're in the den? After you, my dear...."
He did not notice the sudden tightening of the little lines at the
edges of her mouth.
* * * * *
For several days, it was little more than a game of watchful waiting.
There had been committee meetings, sub-committee meetings, and each
had been more tense in the complexion of its discussions than the one
preceding it. These men, he found, were little, desperate men, and had
but only recently come to realize it.
The notes Ronal and Kurt had compiled for him were extensive and
accurate. Fundamentally, he understood the background of cause and
effect underlying the tensions, and had realized at once that these
men had become mired so deeply in the swale of political intrigue
that they had at last come to the point where they would gladly grab
at the nearest straw to extricate themselves. But they had run out of
straws. They had begun running out in the early 1950's; each had broken
pitifully since the Korea fiasco, and now they had been used up. He
listened, for his opportunity could come at any moment--and it must be
precisely the right moment.
"Gentlemen," one of them began in the soft drawl of the south, "I am
in favor of the President's proposal for two main reasons and two
alone: firstly, it is an indirect solution to the thorny problem of
Civil Rights. Secondly, we simply must have the arms. No one could
have foretold that Soviet Russia would have succeeded as she did in
ultimately outproducing us. Therefore we are caught by surprise, and
simply must have the funds, gentlemen. I wish to go definitely on
record as favoring the 50 per cent tax on individual income...."
"Impossible! I think the Congressman forgets the inherent strength in
the will of the people! I tell you they've had all they will take.
Especially in your own state. Congressman--they will become slaves in a
far more severe sense of the word than they ever were before the Civil
W--pardon me, the War Between the States."
"As I pointed out, Congressman, the President's proposal will solve the
thorny Civil Rights problem. And at any rate, the people of which you
so respectfully speak, Congressman, seem to have learned that politics
is after all a matter for the professional politicians. I think we both
realize that whether or not they feel, as you say, that they have had
all they can take, they will do little about it. When, in recent years,
have they, may I ask? I suggest, therefore...."
Several of the conferees looked in Blair's direction, as though
expecting him to do something. But the time was not yet. And when it
came, he must be careful--even in their desperation, they would not
accept it whole-hog.
"--and I b'lieve it is obvious that by working gradually, as we have in
the past, we should not have any of the trouble the Congressman from
New York suggests. Each year, we have simply added a little more, and
promised it would be the last time. Until now, even at 30 per cent we
are in a position to continue almost indefinitely. One thing the people
do fear, gentlemen, is war. We have been skillful, and let us not mince
words about it. They have been thoroughly frightened!"
Of course that was it. Gradually, with accompanying promises.... The
fear had been made a direct thing, and the tangled, subtle causes
beneath had become psychologically, if not actually, inaccessible.
All of the causes, of course, he might never learn. But the general
effects were obvious, so it was on them and with them alone that he
must build his case.
* * * * *
It was now a matter of discerning how many of these men were genuinely
concerned with bettering the situation, how many were tenaciously
satisfied with the status quo, and how many were intent on using the
situation to better their own interests. All were desperate men. Only
their goals were different.
In time of course he would be able to do away with most of them.
They would in all probability fail to fit in a world organized about
the psychological concept on which the games were built. The people
themselves, however, if what the southern Congressman had said were
true, would fit perfectly.
And inwardly, he smiled. It was almost a simple thing, because it was
obvious that what the man had said was at least true to a degree. Their
economic set-up was proof of it. Millions and millions of pieces of
green paper, in which they had implicit faith despite the facts which
they knew to be true--that far less than half of their paper currency
was validly backed by the standard metal on which it was based. There
was not that much ore in the planet's entire crust!
But they _believed_ that the system worked, and that was all that was
necessary.
Just as the people of his own time-phase believed that a child could
actually be conditioned for life against violence, after sustaining
the temporary psychological shock caused by a week's subjugation to the
bloody horror of wanton slaughter. It was understood that such severe
psychological shock during the early years of mental development was
sufficient to condition each new generation for life against any future
acts of violence as adults, and it was believed because it seemed
to work. And because it seemed to work, it was believed _in_. Each
surviving youth grew into adulthood as convinced as his neighbor that
the conditioning of the games was life-long, that the psychological
scar they left was permanent, and would therefore render impossible any
form of violent conflict.
The belief, scientifically questionable as it might be, was never
challenged, because there was always the fact to face that there was,
after all, no war.
There was none primarily because the games simply solved the main cause
of it. Carefully controlled mortality rates on the battlefields kept
the population where it belonged, prevented the ultimate over-crowding
which was directly and indirectly responsible at 90 per cent of the
causes of any armed conflict. The few who were sufficiently timorous
to probe the philosophy upon which the system was based were at once
amazed at its simplicity: it consisted simply of a logical premise
that the killing of a required number of immature children was
self-evidently worth the saving of millions of valuable adults. It was
a matter of necessary sacrifice.
Yes, the people of this time-phase would fit into the plan well. Not
because they were intelligent, but because they had a natural tendency
as followers, and because their limited imaginations held them in a
mentally astigmatic state, too concerned with the status quo to ask
questions concerning the future until it was too late.
Blair smiled, this time openly. Tayne could have the directorship back
there! Here there was no Tayne. Here was a world for the asking, upon
which he would at last be the object of primary, not tertiary, worship
by a planet! He could take the shapeless clay--could cultivate it,
could forge it in time into a great, brilliant civilization--and it
would be his, all his. What greater monument to the genius of a man....
* * * * *
It was a week later when the time came. The Congressman from the south
had been on a brief inspection of a hydrogen bomb site following a test
detonation. The pink flush had subsequently vanished from his jowls
and in its place was the color of ash. His brain had been mightily
disturbed; he had been forced to the painful recourse of thought, and
that had disturbed it even further.
Two other Congressmen were getting away with intelligent debate,
because the Congressman from the south was at last quite silent.
"... And I contend that our armed forces have not at all times been
informing us truthfully, especially regarding the need for vast land
armies, when it is obvious that they have become obsolete. It is my
opinion that their maintenance is used simply as a tool, gentlemen--a
tool to gouge extra taxes from the public, thereby enforcing their
increased dependence for survival on the government itself."
"You mean, Congressman, to say that the Army lies?"
"Like a rug, Congressman!"
There was a murmur throughout the group, short, whispered exchanges.
"You can substantiate this claim?"
"Do I really have to, Congressman?"
A gavel rapped quickly. Blair had slipped for the moment into the
comfort of relaxation; by the Prelatinate, it was _amusing_!
Then the debate continued, and he was at last convinced that these men
were genuinely afraid that the war from which no amount of influence
or money could buy their safety was imminent. The third war in their
history which would genuinely be fought to win. The others had been
their American Revolution, and their Civil War.
Then, "Congressman Blair. You've had little to say for the last few
days. Perhaps this sub-committee could profit by an opinion from
you...."
The chance had come.
He rose. "I have a plan," he said, "that may seem fantastic to you. I
have waited until most of the routine arguments were heard, so that
this thing would not be any more confused and bogged down in senseless
debate than necessary. I am prepared to answer all questions directed
to me regarding it, but I am finished at the first sign of the usual
harangue."
* * * * *
He watched their faces. They were suddenly intense, and there was a new
alertness in them. It was true, then--they did respect him; he had a
good following.
"It is quite evident that our enemy has taken the advantage by
surprise. The nuclear weapons on both sides have kept us deadlocked for
about seven nervous, uncomfortable, difficult years. And the deadlock
is now on the verge of finally being broken, and to his advantage.
He is now capable of outproducing us--his dealings with unscrupulous
American businessmen have finally borne fruit, and he has sprung his
surprise. His nuclear weapons outnumber ours five to one and he is
in the driver's seat whether we care to deny it or not. And we are
stuck with twenty million men under arms in the field--rifles and
hand-grenades, lumbering tanks and a few other ridiculous toys. An
organization so tremendous that it trips itself and falls flat on its
face at every attempted move.
"But you gentlemen are painfully aware of all this, as are the
high-ranking, tradition-bound military leaders who are still denying
it. What you may not be aware of is that we may equalize our position
if we are quick to act--we may counter-surprise, counter-shock, if we
do not delay.
"I therefore ask your support, gentlemen, when I introduce my bill
to immediately lower the present minimum draft age from seventeen to
thirteen years."
The gavel clattered for order. Many had risen to their feet.
"Your questions, one at a time, gentlemen."
"Very well. The chair recognizes the Congressman from New Jersey."
"May I submit, Congressman Blair, that your plan is crazy? You yourself
admitted that manpower alone is woefully insufficient to cope with this
situation."
"It is, as such. In the form of surprise--and believe me, it would
surprise the enemy ten times the degree to which it has obviously
shocked this group here--it would prove of great value, in that it
would reflect a murderously frightening desperation. It would, of
course, have to be simultaneously accompanied by an immediate step-up
in production of nuclear weapons. All other types would immediately
be dropped. Factory shifts would in all instances immediately become
full-day, full-week."
"The Congressman from California."
"And you mean to imply that our enemy would actually stand in fear of a
thirteen-year-old?"
"Human mass has nothing to do with age, Congressman."
"The Congressman from Ohio."
"What you suggest, Congressman, is inhuman, unbearably horrible--you
suggest that we support you in a bill to draft _children_!"
"To make my point more clear, perhaps I should ask some questions of
my own. First, am I to understand that this group was at any time in
_opposition_ to Universal Military Training? And--second, is the youth
of seventeen a grown man?
"Or shall I ask the question this way--where would you rather place
these youngsters--in a position to possibly solve our dilemma, or in
cities that cannot possibly be adequately defended, and have them
marked for certain death along with the rest of us in them?
"You say my proposal is unbearably inhuman. You are right. War is. It
makes little difference how you draft its plans.
"Are there any further questions?"
There were none.
"Very well. I will call for a confidence vote, with the chair's
permission."
"Permission granted."
The Congressman from the south was very white. And very silent.