Frederik Pohl - The Cool War

It was murderously, densely hot in the little stateroom, and with the portholes sealed shut there was no air. At least the pain in his battered head was less. It was even bearable; Leota’s aspirins had worked. Or the bruises had dwindled in his consciousness in comparison with the implications of what she had said. Hake allowed out of his mind the thought that this smelly, steamy room might be the last place he would ever see alive, and studied it. It was not exactly frightening, but it was paralyzing. Once again he could see no handle to grip his life by, nothing he could do to change his state.

When Leota had left, responding to three sharp raps on the door, she had gathered up bowl, tray, spoon and even the ice bag to take away. If she had left even so much as a table knife— But there was nothing like that. There was nothing in the room that was not either securely fastened down or harmless.

He wiped sweat from his face, stood up, pulled off his shirt, kicked off his shoes, and was still sweltering. He could not even tell whether it was day or night. The questioning and beating had seemed endless, but might really have been only for an hour or two; the brief sleep could have been minutes, or could have been anything. No light came through the sealed hatch over the portholes. He did not even know whether the little ship was moving or bobbing somewhere at anchor.

He threw his pants across one of the far bunks and stretched out. There was a quality that was almost satisfying about the total impotence of his position. As there was nothing at all he could do, he was permitted to do nothing. Even the faded pounding in his head, the tenderness of his face and the ache in his gut became only phenomena to be observed. He was very nearly at peace as he drowsed there, one arm behind his head, and he was amused to find that his impotence did not extend to all of his person. In all the time he had been talking to Leota one part of him had been very aware of her round, tanned legs and the gentle feminine smell that came from her. He could smell it now; and that, and perhaps the rocking of the boat, and perhaps some unidentified personality trait in the new Hake combined to make him want very much to make love. And when after a time Leota came in again, bearing fresh ice bag, water and aspirin, and the door was locked behind her and she sat on the edge of the bunk, he reached up toward her. Startled, she said, “Heeeeyyy—” And then, pulling her lips away from his, “At least let me put down the glass.” It was like making love in a dream, easy, unhurried and sure, and he was not even surprised to find that she was as ready as he.

When they were apart he traced the gentle edge of bone before her left hip with his fingers and said, “You know, I didn’t really expect this, but I’m awfully glad about it.” Their eyes were only inches apart, and she looked into his carefully, then kissed him, shook her head, sat up and glanced at her watch.

“Take your aspirin,” she said, “and then let’s talk. I’ve got twenty-five minutes left to turn you.”

“Turn me into what?” he asked, swallowing obediently.

“Turn you into a double agent, Horny,” she said.

He slid to the edge of the bunk and sat next to her. He brushed her bare shoulder with his lips thoughtfully. “Oh, yes,” he said. “My little problem.”

“It’s actually our problem, Horny. But that’s the deal they’ll give you. If you’ll work with them they’ll let you go. They’ve got a plan. They’re going to ransom you— exchange you for somebody the Team’s got hidden out in Texas. Don’t ask me who; I don’t know.”

Hake said consideringly, “I don’t really know how high a price the Team puts on me.”

She said, “Well, to be frank, Horny, the twins don’t really think it’s very high. They’ll let themselves be bargained down—of course, assuming that you go along. Otherwise there’s no deal for you. Or maybe for me, either,” she added. “If they, ah, dispose of you I really don’t think they will want me to be around as a possible witness to murder.”

That was a new thought, and a soberingly unwelcome one to Hake. He put his arm around her warm, damp waist, but she did not yield. “So we have to talk, Horny. I don’t think there ought to be any moral question for you. I can’t believe that you want to be loyal to a bunch of destructive lunatics. It’s not just the PCP, or bribing half the disk jockeys in Europe to play narco music, or counterfeiting the pound, or jiggering everybody’s computer nets. Or spreading disease, or insect pests, or allergenic weeds, or—”

“I didn’t know about the narco music,” Hake said. “And what’s that about the computers?”

“All the time, Horny. How do you think they finance themselves? Or, for that matter,” she added honestly, “how do you think I do? I’m not saying I really like the way my side operates. They spy on you, we spy on you. They trick you, I trick you.”

“I like the way you do it better,” he observed. “What do you mean, you spy on me? Is that how you knew I was going to the Team in the first place?”

“Certainly. We don’t have the resources the Team does,” she said bitterly, “but we do what we can. I have an old school friend who—no, never mind who she is. We don’t have time. I have to persuade you to turn around.”

“Oh,” said Hake, “I thought you knew that. I’m turned.”

She looked at him. “You’re sure?”

“Sure?” He laughed. “What I’m sure of is that I’m getting real tired of being used. But I’m willing to try it your way.”

She studied him carefully, then shook her head. “All right,” she said. “Now all we have to do is hope the Reddis don’t change their mind. And—” she glanced at her watch— “we still have twenty minutes.”

He pulled her toward him, but he had misunderstood her meaning. She resisted. “Wait a minute, Horny. Now it’s time for me to ask you the question.”

“What question?”

“The one I told you I was going to ask: Why did you do all this?”

He said peevishly, “I thought we’d just been over all that. I don’t know.”

“But maybe I do. I have a theory. Don’t laugh—”

He was a long way from laughing.

“I have to start from the beginning. What do you know about hypnotism?”

Hake took his arm away from her and said, “Leota, I’m not an impatient man, but if you’ve got a point I wish you’d get to it.”

“Well, that is the point. You act hypnotized. Do you understand what I’m saying? Whatever anybody tells you to do, you do. You’re suggestible. Just like someone in a hypnotic trance state.”

“Oh, hell.” He was exasperated. “I can’t be hypnotized to do things I wouldn’t do otherwise—that’s a fact! Everybody knows that.”

“They do? How do you know it? Have you made a study of hypnotism?”

“No, but—”

“No, but you sure as hell act as if you were! Don’t give me knee-jerks, Horny. Think about it.”

“Well—” He thought for a moment, and then said cautiously, “I admit that I don’t altogether understand what I’ve been doing the last couple of months. I’ve wondered about it. I went along with any lousy thing they suggested quick enough—as you point out.”

“I don’t mean it critically, Horny. The opposite of that. You couldn’t help yourself, if you were hypnotized.”

He looked at her. “How sure are you of any of this?”

“Well, not very,” she admitted. “But it makes sense, doesn’t it? Is there any other way to explain it? You can’t even call it reflex patriotism. You went along with me, too, when I told you not to report me.”

He looked up with a spasm of hope. “But—that was against the Team!”