Soldier, ask not

Chapter 18

Still, I was under the close observation of my peers in the Guild; and on my return to St. Louis on Earth, among my other mail was a note from Piers Leaf.

Dear Tam:

Your series was an admirable job. But, bearing in mind what we talked about the last time we met, I would think that straight reporting might build a better professional record for you than dealing in background material of this sort. With best wishes for your future-

P.L.

It was a plain enough cautioning not to be observed involving myself personally in the situation I had told him I would investigate. It might have caused me to put off for a month or so the trip I had planned to St. Marie. But just then Donal Graeme, who had accepted the position of War Chief for the Friendlies, carried out his first subsurface extrication of a Friendly expeditionary force from Coby, the airless mining world in the same system as the Exotic worlds and St. Marie. As a result of that rescue, the Exotic mercenary command was severely shaken up, to be reorganized under the command of Geneve bar-Colmain.

Despite widespread admiration for Graeme's skill, the public saw the situation as an unexpected pardon for Friendly forces who had been the aggressors on Coby. With the general liking for the Exotics on the other twelve worlds, what attention my series of articles had obtained was completely wiped out. In this I was well content. What I hoped to gain from their publication, I had already gained in the relaxation of enmity and suspicion of me personally by Field Commander Wassel and his occupation force.

I went to St. Marie, a small but fertile world which, with Coby and a few uninhabited bits of rock like Zombri, shared the Procyon system with the Exotic worlds, Mara and Kultis. My official purpose of visit was to see what effect the Coby military debacle had had on this suburban planet with its largely Roman Catholic, predominantly rural population.

While there were no official connections between them, except a mutual-aid pact, St. Marie was by necessity of spatial geography almost a ward of the larger, more powerful Exotic worlds. Like anyone with rich and powerful neighbors St. Marie, in her government and affairs, pretty much rose and fell with Exotic fortunes. It would be interesting to the reading public of the sixteen worlds to see how the Exotic reversal on Coby had caused the winds of opinion and politics to blow on St. Marie.

As anyone might expect, it had caused them to blow contrary. After some five days of pulling strings, I finally arranged an interview with Marcus O'Doyne, past-President and political power in the so-called Blue Front, the out-of-power political party of St. Marie. It took less than half an eye to see that he was bursting with ill-contained joy.

We met in his hotel suite in Blauvain, the capital of St. Marie. He was of no more than average height, but his head was outsized, heavy-boned and powerful-featured under wavy white hair. It sat awkwardly on his plump and fairly narrow shoulders; and he had a habit of booming his voice out with the ring of a platform speaker, during ordinary conversation, that did not endear him to me. His faded blue eyes gleamed as he spoke.

"... Woken them up, by - George!" he said, once we were seated in overplump chairs in the sitting room of his hotel suite with drinks in our hands. He paused, catching his breath stagily a little before coming out with emphasis on the "George!" as if he wished me to notice that he had been about to use the name of the deity, but had recollected himself in time. It was, I began to find out, a regular trick of his, this catching himself from profanity or obscenity as if in the nick of time.

"the common people - the rural people," he said leaning confidentially toward me. "They were asleep here. They've been asleep for years. Lulled to sleep by those sons of Belial on the Exotics. But that business on Coby woke them up. Opened their eyes!"

"Lulled to sleep - how?" I asked. "Song and dance, song and dance!" O'Doyne rocked back and forth on the couch. "Stage-show magic! Headshrinker's tactics - oh, a thousand and one things, Newsman. You wouldn't believe it!"

"My readers might," I said. "How about citing some instances?"

"Why - darn your readers! Yes, I say - darn your readers!" He rocked forward again, glaring proudly at me. "It's the common inhabitant of my own world I'm concerned with! The common inhabitant. He knows what instances, what coercions, what wrongs! We're not a sideshow here, Mr. Olyn, though maybe you think so! No, I say - darn your readers, and - darn you! I'll get no man in trouble with those robed-babies by citing exact instances."

"You don't give me much to write about, in that case," I said. "Suppose we shift our ground a little, then. I understand that you claim that the people of the present government are maintained in power only by Exotic pressures on St. Marie?"

"They are appeasers, plain and simple, Mr. Olyn. The government - no, no! Call them the Green Front, which is all they are! They claim to represent all the people of St. Marie. They - You know our political situation, here?"

"I understand,'' I said,' 'that your constitution laid out your planet originally into political districts of equal areas, with two representatives to a planetary government from each district. Now I understand your party claims that the growth of city population has allowed the rural districts to control the cities, since a city like Blauvain with half a million inhabitants has no more representation than a district with three or four thousand people in it?"

"Exactly, exactly!" O'Doyne rocked forward and boomed confidentially at me. "The need for reapportionment is acute, as it always has been in such historic situations. But will the Green Front vote themselves out of power? Not likely! Only a bold move - only a grass-roots' revolution can get them out of power and our own party, representing the common man, the ignored man, the disenfranchised man of the cities, into government."

"You think such a grass-roots' revolution is possible at the present time?" I adjusted downward the volume control on my recorder.

"Before Coby, I would have said - no! Much as I would have hoped for such a thing - no! But, since Coby-" He stopped and rocked triumphantly backward, looking at me significantly.

"Since Coby?" I prompted, since significant looks and significant silences were no use to me in doing a job of straight reporting. But O'Doyne had a politician's caution about talking himself into a corner.

"Why, since Coby," he said, "it's become apparent - apparent to any thinking man of this world - that St. Marie may have to go it alone. That we may have to do without the parasitic, controlling hand of the Exotics. And where are men to be found who can steer this troubled ship of St. Marie through the stormy trials of the future? In the cities, Newsman! In the ranks of those of us who have always fought for the common man. In our own Blue Front party!"

"I understand," I said. "But under your constitution wouldn't a change of representatives require an election? And can't an election only be called for

by a majority vote of the current representatives? And don't the Green Front have that majority now, so that they are unlikely to call an election that would put most of them out of office?"

"True!" he boomed. "True!" He rocked back and forth, glaring at me with the same broad hint of significance.

"Then," I said, "I don't see how the grass-roots' revolution you talk about is possible, Mr. O'Doyne."

"Anything is possible!" he answered. "To the common man, nothing is impossible! The straws are in the wind, the wind of change is in the air. Who can deny it?"

I shut off my recorder.

"I see," I said, "we're getting nowhere. Perhaps we could make a little better progress off the record?"

"Off the record! Absolutely! Indeed - absolutely!" he said heartily. "I'm as willing to answer questions off the record as on, Newsman. And you understand why? Because to me, on - on and off - are one and the same. One and the same!"

"Well, then," I said, "how about some of these straws in the wind? Off the record, can you give me an example?"

He rocked toward me and lowered his voice.

"There are - gatherings, even in the rural areas," he muttered. "Stirrings of unrest - this much I can tell you. If you ask me for places-names-why, no. I won't tell you."

"Then you're leaving me with nothing but vague hints. I can't make a story out of that," I said. "And you'd like a story written on this situation, I suppose?"

"Yes, but-" His powerful jaw set. "I won't tell you. I won't risk - I won't tell you!"

"I see," I said. I waited for a long minute. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then fidgeted upon the couch. "Perhaps," I said slowly, "perhaps there's a way out of this."

He flashed a glance almost of suspicion at me, from under white eyebrows.

"Perhaps I could tell you instead," I said quietly. "You wouldn't have to confirm anything. And of course, as I say, even my own remarks would be off the record."

"You - tell me?" He stared hard at me.

"Why not?" I said easily. He was too good a public man to let his bafflement show on his face, but he continued to stare at me. "In the News Services we've got our own avenues of information; and from these we can build up a general picture, even if some parts are missing. Now, speaking hypothetically of course, the general picture on St. Marie at this moment seems to be pretty much the way you've described it. Stirrings of unrest, gatherings and rumblings of discontent with the present - you might say, puppet-government."

"Yes," he rumbled. "Yes, the very word. That's what it is, a- darn puppet government!"

"At the same time," I went on, "as we've already discussed, this puppet government is well able to subdue any kind of local uprising, and is not about to call an election that will remove it from power; and - barring the calling of such an election - there seems no constitutional way of changing the status quo. The highly able and selfless leaders that St. Marie might otherwise - I say might, being neutral myself, of course - rind among the Blue Front, seem legally committed to remaining private citizens without the power to savri their world from foreign influence."

"Yes," he muttered, staring at me. "Yes."

"Consequently, what course remains open to those who would save St. Marie from her present government?" I went on. "Since all legal avenues of recourse are stopped up, the only way left, it may seem to brave men, strong men, is to set aside normal procedure in such times of trial. If there are no constitutional ways to remove the men presently holding the reins of government, they may end up being removed otherwise, for the ostensible good of the whoie world of St. Marie and everyone on it."

He stared at me. His lips moved a little, but he said nothing. Under the white eyebrows, his faded blue eyes seemed to be popping slightly.

"In short - a bloodless coup d'etat, a direct and forcible removal from office of these bad leaders seems to be the only solution left for those who believe this planet needs saving. Now, we know-"

"Wait-" broke in O'Doyne, booming. "I must tell you here and now, Newsman, that my silence mustn't be construed as giving consent to any such speculation. You shall not report-"

"Please," I interrupted in my turn, holding up a hand. He subsided rather more easily than one might have expected. "This is all perfectly theoretical supposition on my part. I don't suppose it has anything to do with the real situation." I hesitated. "The only question in this projection of the situation - theoretical situation - is the matter of implementation. We realise that as far as numbers and equipment, forces of the Blue Front outnumbered a hundred to one in the last election is hardly to be compared with the planetary forces of the St. Marie Government."

"Our support - our grass-roots' support-"

"Oh, of course," I said. "Still, there's the question of actually taking any physically effective action in the situation. That would take equipment and men - particularly men. By which I mean, of course, military men able either to train raw native troops, or themselves to take powerful action-"

"Mr. Olyn," said O'Doyne, "I must protest such talk. I must reject such talk. I must" - he had gotten up to pace the room, and I saw him going back and forth, with his arms waving-" I must refuse to listen to such talk."

"Forgive me," I said. "As I mentioned, I'm only playing with a hypothetical situation. But the point I'm trying to get at-"

"The point you're trying to gel at doesn't concern me, Newsman!" said O'Doyne, halting in front of me with his face stern. "The point doesn't concern us in the Blue Front."

"Of course not," I said soothingly. "I know it doesn't. Of course, the whole matter is impossible."

"Impossible?" O'Doyne stiffened. "What's impossible?"

"Why, the whole matter of a coup d'etat," I said. "It's obvious. Any such thing would require outside help - the business of militarily trained men, for example. Such military men would have to be supplied by some other world - and what other world would be willing to lend valuable troops on speculation to an obscure out-of-power political party on St. Marie?"

I let my voice dwindle off and sat smiling, gazing at him, as if I expected him to answer my final question. And he sat staring back at me as if he expected me to answer it myself. It must have been a good twenty seconds that we sat in mutually expectant silence before I broke it once more, getting up as I did so.

"Obviously," I said, with a touch of regret in my voice, "none. So I must conclude we'll be seeing no marked change of government or alteration in relations with the Exotics after all on St. Marie in the near future. Well" - and I held out my hand-" I must apologize for being the one to cut this interview short, Mr. O'Doyne; but I see I've lost track of the time. I'm due at Government house across the city in fifteen minutes, for an interview with the President, to get the other side of the picture; and then I’ll have to rush to get back to the spaceport in time to leave this evening for Earth."

He rose automatically and shook my hand.

"Not at all," he began. His voice rose to a boom momentarily, and then faltered back to ordinary tones. "Not at all - it's been a pleasure acquainting you with the true situation here, Newsman." He let go of my hand, almost regretfully.

"Good-bye, then," I said.

I turned to go and I was halfway to the door when his voice broke out again behind me.

"Newsman Olyn-"

I stopped and turned.

"Yes?" I said,

"I feel" - his voice boomed out suddenly-" I have a duty to ask you - a duty to the Blue Front, a duty to my party to require you to tell me of any rumors you might have heard concerning the identity of any world - any world - ready to come to the aid of good government here on St. Marie. We are your readers here, too, on this world, Newsman. You also owe us information. Have you heard of some world which is - reported, rumored, what have you - to be ready to extend aid to a grass-roots' movement on St. Marie, to throw off the Exotic yoke and ensure equal representation among our people?"

I looked back at him. I let him wait for a second or two.

"No," I said. "No, Mr. O'Doyne, I haven't."

He stood, unmoving, as if my words had fixed him in position, legs spread a little wide, chin high, challenging me.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Good-bye."

I went out. I do not think he even answered my farewell.

I went across to Government house and spent a twenty minutes full of reassuring, pleasant platitudes in interview with Charles Perrinni, President of the St. Marie government. Then I returned, by way of New San Marcos and Joseph's Town to the spaceport and the spaceliner for Earth.

I paused only to check my mail on Earth and then transshipped immediately for Harmony, and the site on that planet of the United Council of Churches, which together governed both Friendly worlds of Harmony and Association. I spent five days in the city there, cooling my heels in the offices and wardrooms of minor officers of their so-called Public Relations Bureau.

On the sixth day, a note I had sent immediately on arriving to Field Commander Wassel paid its dividend. I was taken to the Council building, itself; and, after being searched for weapons - there were some violent sectarian differences between Church groups on the Friendly worlds themselves, and they made no exceptions, evidently, even for Newsmen- I was admitted to a lofty-ceilinged office with bare walls. There, surrounded by a few straight-backed chairs, in the middle of the black-and-white tile of the floor, sat a heavy desk with the seated man behind it dressed entirely in black.

The only white things about him were his face and hands. All else was covered. But his shoulders were as square and broad as a barn door and above them his white face had eyes as black as the clothing, which seemed to blaze at me. He got up and came around the desk, towering half a head over me, to offer his hand.

"God be with you," he said.

Our hands met. There was the hint of a hard touch of amusement in the thin line of his straight mouth; and the glance of his eyes seemed to probe me like twin doctor's scalpels. He held my hand, not hard, but with the hint of a strength that could crush my fingers as if in a vise, if he chose.

I was face to face, at last, with the Eldest of that Council of Elders who ruled the combined churches of Harmony and Association, him who was called Bright, First among the Friendlies.