A. van Vogt - The Empire of Isher

He explained briefly his system of classifying the various individuals into groups on the basis of vocation, degree of importance and, what was more important, pitch of enthusiasm for the venture into which the empress had precipitated her adherents.

“From three scientists,” Hedrock went on, “who regard the weapon shops as an integral part of Isher civilization, we gained in the first ten days the secret of the science behind the time-energy machine in so far as that science is known to the government. We discovered that, of the four generals in charge of the enterprise, two were opposed to it from the beginning, a third was won over when the building disappeared—but the fourth, General Doocar, the man in charge, unfortunately will not abandon the attack until she does. He is an empress man in the sense of personal loyalty transcending his own feelings, and opinions.”

He paused, expecting them to comment. But no one said anything. Which was actually the most favorable response of all. Hedrock continued, “Some thousands of officers have deserted the Imperial forces, but only one member of the Imperial Council, Prince del Curtin, openly opposed the attack after the execution of Banton Vickers who, as you knew, criticized the whole plan. And the prince’s method of disapproval has been to withdraw from the palace while the attack is in progress.

“Which brings us,” said Hedrock, “to the empress herself.” He summarized her character for them. The glorious Innelda, an orphan since her eleventh birthday, had been crowned when she was eighteen and was now twenty-five. “An age,” said Hedrock grimly, “which is an in-between stage in the development of the animal man to human man levels.”

He saw that they were puzzled by his reiteration of facts they all knew. But he had no intention of condensing his account. He had his own formula for defeating the empress and he wanted to state it at least once in as skillful a fashion as possible. “At twenty-five,” he said, “our Innelda is emotional, unstable, brilliant, implacable, impatient of restrictions on her desires and just a bit unwilling to grow up. As the thousands of reports came in, it seemed to me finally that our best method of dealing with such a person was to leave channels along which she could withdraw gracefully when the crises came.”

He looked around, questioningly. He was keenly aware that, with these men he dared not try to put his ideas over in a disguised form. He said frankly, “I hope that Council members will not take it amiss if I recommend for their consideration the following basic tactic. I am counting on some opportunity occurring of which we can take advantage and so bring her whole war machine to a stop. My assumption is that once it has stopped the empress will busy herself with other matters and conveniently forget all about the war she started.”

Bedrock paused in order to give weight to his next words. “My staff and I will watch anxiously for the opportunity and will call your attention to anything that seems to have possibilities. And now, are there any questions?”

The first few were minor. Then a man said, “Have you any notion as to what form this socalled opportunity will take?”

Hedrock said carefully, “It would be difficult to go into all the avenues that we are exploring. This young woman is open on many fronts to persuasion and to pressure. She is having a hard time with recruits for the army. She is still subject to the connivances and intrigues of a group of older people who are reluctant to accept her as an adult. They withhold information from her. Despite her efforts to keep in touch with what is going on, she is caught in an old, old net: Her communication with the real world is snarled up.” Hedrock finished. “In one way or another we are trying to take advantage of these various weaknesses.”

The man who had already spoken said, “This is only a formula.”

“It is a formula,” said Hedrock, “based on my study of the character of the empress.”

“Don’t you think you had better leave such studies to the Pp machine expert and to the No-men?”

“I examined all the weapon shop data on the lady before offering my suggestion.”

“Still,” said the man, “it is up to the elected Council to make decisions in such matters.”

Hedrock did not back down. “I have made a suggestion,” he said, “not a decision.”

The man said nothing more. But Hedrock had his picture of a Council of very human members, jealous of their prerogatives. These people would not easily accept his decision, when he finally made it, on the problem of the seesaw drama that was being played to its still undetermined conclusion in ever remoter bends of time.

He saw that his audience was becoming restless. Eyes turned involuntarily toward the time map and several men glanced anxiously at their watches. Hastily Hedrock withdrew from the room with its almost invisible energy floors. Watching that pendulum could become a drug. The brain itself would be weakened by the strain of attending a mechanism which recorded the spasms of real bodies in their movements through time itself.

It was bad enough to know that the building and the man were swinging steadily back and forth.

He arrived back in his office just in time to catch a ’stat call-up from Lucy.

“…in spite of my efforts,” she said, “I was forced out of the Penny Palace. And when the doors shut I knew what was going to happen. I’m afraid he was taken to one of the houses of illusion, and you know what that means.”

Hedrock nodded thoughtfully. He noted sharply that the girl seemed disturbed by her experience. “Among other things,” he said slowly, “the illusion energies have some qualifying effect on callidity. The nature of the modification cannot be determined without subsequent measurement but it can be stated with reasonable certainty that his luck will never again take the direction of success at gambling.”

He had delayed his reaction while he examined her face. Now he said with decision, “It is unfortunate that Clark has fallen prey to all these pitfalls of the city so easily. But since he was never more than a long-run possibility we can let him go without regret, particularly—and this cannot be stressed too often—as even the slightest interference in the natural progression of his life would cause later suspicion that would nullify any good he might do us.

“You may accordingly consider yourself detached from him. Further instructions will, be given you in due course.” He paused. “What’s the matter, Lucy? Got an emotional fixation on him?”

Her expression left no doubt of it. Hedrock pressed on quietly, “When did you discover it?”

Whatever resistance had been in her, whatever fear of discovery, was gone. “It was when those other women were kissing him. You mustn’t think,” she added hastily, “that disturbed me. He’ll go through quite a lot of it before he settles down.”

“Not necessarily,” said Hedrock earnestly. “You’ll have to resign yourself to the house of illusion but it has been my observation that a fair percentage of men emerge from such an experience hard as steel in some respects but rather weary of worldliness.”

He realized from her face that he had said enough. The groundwork for her future action was established. Results would follow in the natural course of events. He smiled a friendly smile. “That’s all for now, Lucy. Don’t let it get you down.”

Her image and his faded from the screen in a flash. Robert Hedrock glanced out of the door of his office several times during the next hour. At first the corridors seemed very busy. Gradually the activity died down and at last the corridor was clear.

He acted now with decision but without haste. From a wall safe he took the microfilm plans of the time control machine—the one in the room where he had talked to the weapon shop councilors a little more than two hours before. He had requested Information Center to send them to him and they had done so without comment. There was nothing unusual in their compliance. As head of the coordination department he had access to all the scientific knowledge of the weapon shops. He even had an explanation as to why he wanted the plans in the event that he was asked. He wanted to study them, so his story would go, in the hope that some solution would suggest itself. But his reasons were private and his purpose personal.