Alfred van Vogt - The Players of Null-A

Enro leaned forward, and drew his arm back as if to strike him in the face. He sat like that for a moment, tense, his lips compressed and his eyes bleak. Slowly, he relaxed, and leaned back in his chair. There was a faint smile on his face, as he said, 'Go on, hang yourself!'

Gosseyn said, 'It seems to me that you've concentrated so completely on the offensive part of the war that you have perhaps not taken into account some equally important aspects.'

Enro was shaking his head wonderingly. 'All this,' he said in amazement, 'from someone who has spent the last eleven years in a vegetable garden.'

Gosseyn ignored the comment. He was intent, and it seemed to him that he was making progress. His theory was simplicity itself. The Prince Ashargin had not been brought forward at this critical moment except for the most urgent reasons. He would not be lightly eliminated until the purpose for which he had been resurrected was accomplished,

Besides, this was a good time to obtain information as to just what Enro was doing about certain individuals.

'For instance,' Gosseyn said, 'there is the problem of the Follower.' He paused to let that sink in, then went on. The Follower is a virtually indestructible being. You don't think that, when this war is won, a man like the Follower will allow Enro the Red to dominate the galaxy.'

Enro said grimly, 'I'll take care of the Follower if he ever gets any ideas.'

That's easy to say. He could come into this room at this moment, and kill everybody in it.'

The big man shook his head. He looked amused. 'My friend,' he said, 'you've been listening to the Follower's propaganda. I don't know how he makes that shadow shape of his, but I decided long ago that all the rest was based on normal physics. That means Distorters and, in case of weapons, energy transmission. There are only two Distorters in this building not in my control, and I tolerate them. I defy any one to build machines in my vicinity that I don't know about.'

Gosseyn said, 'Still, he can predict your every move.'

The smile faded from the other's face. 'He can make any prediction he pleases,' he said harshly. 'I have the power. If he tries to interfere with it, he'll quickly find himself in the position of a man who has been sentenced to hang. He knows the exact day and hour, but there is nothing he can do about it.'

Gosseyn said, 'In my opinion you haven't thought that through the way you ought to.'

Enro was silent, his gaze fixed on the table. He looked up finally. 'Anything else?' he said. 'I'm waiting for these conditions you mentioned.'

It was time to get down to business.

Gosseyn could feel the gathering strain on Ashargin's body. He would have liked to ease up a little on the tense nervous system of the prince. He thought of glancing at Crang, Patricia or Secoh to see how they were reacting to the developing situation. It would give Ashargin a moment of relaxation.

He suppressed the impulse. Enro had practically forgotten that there was anyone else present. And it would be unwise to distract his concentrated attention. He said aloud:

'I want to have permission to make a call anywhere in the galaxy at any time of the day or night. Naturally, you can listen in—you or your agent, that is.'

'Naturally,' said Enro sarcastically. 'What else?'

'I want to have the authority to use the Distorter transporter anywhere in the Greatest Empire at will.'

'I'm glad,' said Enro, 'you're restricting your movements to the Empire.' He broke off. 'Continue, please.'

'I want authority to order any equipment I please from the Stores Department.' He added quickly, 'No weapons, of course.'

Enro said, 'I can see that this could go on and on. What do you offer in exchange for these fantastic demands?'

Gosseyn spoke his answer, not to Enro, but to the lie detector. 'You've been listening to all this—have I been speaking frankly so far?'

The tubes flickered ever so faintly. There was a long hesitation. ‘You mean everything up to a point. Beyond that there is confusion involving ——— ' It stopped.

'The Sleeping God?' asked Gosseyn.

'Yes—and then again, no.'

Gosseyn turned to Enro. 'How many revolutions are you fighting,' he asked, 'on planets of the Greatest Empire, where vital war equipment is being manufactured?'

The dictator stared at him sourly. He said finally, 'More than twenty-one hundred.'

'That's only three percent. What are you worried about?' It was a negative statement for bis purposes, but Gosseyn wanted information.

'Some of them,' said Enro frankly, 'are important technologically out of proportion to their numbers,'

That was what he had wanted to hear. Gosseyn said, 'For what I have asked, I'll make radio speeches in support of your attack. Whatever the name of Ashargin is worth in controlling the empire, I place at your disposal. I'll co-operate until further notice. That's what you want of me, isn't it?’

Enro stood up. 'Are you sure,' he said savagely, 'that there isn't anything else you want?'

'One more thing,' said Gosseyn.

'Yes?'

Gosseyn ignored the sneer in the big man's voice. 'It has to do with my wife. She will no longer appear at the royal bathtub.'

There was a long pause. And then a powerful fist smashed down on the table.

'It's a deal,' said Enro, in a ringing voice, 'and I want you to make your first speech this afternoon.'

For the sake of sanity, use QUOTATIONS: For instance, 'conscious' and 'unconscious' mind are useful descriptive terms, but it has yet to be proved that the terms themselves accurately reflect the 'process' level of events. They are maps of a territory about which we can possibly never have exact information. Since Null-A training is for the individuals, the important thing is to be conscious of the 'multiordinal'—that is the many valued—meaning of the words one hears or speaks.

It was late afternoon when Gosseyn returned to Nirene's apartment. The young woman was sitting at the table writing a letter. She laid down her pen when he entered, climbed to her feet, and went over to a big chair. From its depths she gazed at him, her gray eyes steady.

'So we've all got about two months to live,' she said at last.

Gosseyn-Ashargin pretended to be surprised. 'That long?' he said.

He made no further comment. Just what she had heard about the luncheon incident or where she had heard it didn't matter. He felt sorry for her, but her destiny was not yet actually in his hands. When a ruler could order a woman to become the mistress or wife of a stranger because she had paused for half a minute to speak to him, that was a fact that defied normal expectations. She had made the mistake of being born a member of the old nobility, and she existed beside the abyss of Enro's suspicions.

It was Nirene who once more broke the silence. 'What are you going to do now?'

Gosseyn had been asking himself the question, aware that it was greatly complicated by the possibility that at any moment he might be back in his own body.

But suppose he wasn't? Suppose he remained here for several days longer. What then? Was there anything he could do that would be of value now or later to either Ashargin or Gosseyn?

There was Venus. Were any Venusians out in space yet? Did they even know what was going on?

And he really ought to have a look at the Sleeping God. That involved obtaining permission from Secoh.

His mind paused as he came to item number three on his list Train Ashargin. He looked at Nirene.

'I've been driving the prince rather hard,' he said, 'and I think I'd better let him have a rest for about an hour.'

'I'll call you when the time is up,' said Nirene, and her voice was so gentle that Gosseyn glanced at her, startled.