"Friend of yours?"
"Somebody who heard about you. Maybe he can do something for you. He
feels the way you do about the Syndic."
Wyman clenched his teeth. The pain still came at the thought. Syndic,
Hogan, Inge and betrayal. God, to be able to hit back at them!
The red ride ebbed. Suddenly he stared at T. G. and demanded: "Why? Why
should you put me in touch? What is this?"
T. G. shrugged. "I don't worry about the Syndic. I worry about people.
I've been worrying about you. You're a little insane, Max, like all of
us here."
"God damn you!"
"He has...."
Max Wyman paused a long time and said: "Go on, will you?" He realized
that anybody else would have apologized. But he couldn't and he knew
that T. G. knew he couldn't.
The old man said: "A little insane. Bottled-up hatred. It's better out
of you than in. It's better to sock the man you hate and stand a chance
of having him sock you back than it is just to hate him and let the
hate gnaw you like a grave-worm."
"What've you got against the Syndic?"
"Nothing, Max. Nothing against it and nothing for it. What I'm for is
people. The Syndic is people. You're people. Slug 'em if you want and
they'll have a chance to slug you back. Maybe you'll pull down the
Syndic like Samson in the temple; more likely it'll crush you. But
you'll be _doing_ something about it. That's the great thing. That's the
thing people have to learn--or they wind up in Riveredge."
"You're crazy."
"I told you I was, or I wouldn't be here."
The man came at sunset. He was short and pudgy, with a halo of wispy
hair and the coldest, grimmest eyes that Wyman had ever seen. He shook
hands with Wyman, and the young man noted simultaneously a sharp pain in
his finger and that the stranger wore an elaborate gold ring. Then the
world got hazy and confused. He had a sense that he was being asked
questions, that he was answering them, that it went on for hours and
hours.
When things quite suddenly came into focus again, the pudgy man was
saying: "I can introduce myself now. Commander Grinnel, of the North
American Navy. My assignment is recruiting. The preliminary examination
has satisfied me that you are no plant and would be a desirable citizen
of the N. A. Government. I invite you to join us."
"What would I do?" Wyman asked steadily.
"That depends on your aptitudes. What do you think you would like to
do?"