Philip Dick - Radio Free Albemuth

"But our big military establishment."

"To keep our own people down. Not theirs."

Rachel said, "You didn't know this yesterday."

"I knew it when I saw the shoe ad," I said. "When I saw the message from the Communist Party that was also from FAP. They are working with the KGB in New York, not against it; how could it operate openly if FAP didn't let it? There is one intelligence community and one only. And we are all its victims, wherever we live."

"I need a drink," Rachel managed to say.

"Take heart," I said. "The beginning of the change has set in. The turning point has come. They will be exposed; they will stand in court, every one of them, and answer for crimes they have committed."

"Because of you?" She gazed timidly at me.

"Because of Valis," I said.

Rachel said, "It's not you any longer, Nick. You're not the same person."

"That is right," I said.

"Who are you?"

I said, „Their adversary. Who is going to see them hunted down."

"You can't do it by-"

"I'll be given the names of others."

"Like yourself?"

I nodded.

So that letter," Rachel said, "that shoe ad - it would never have gotten in the mail without the permission and cooperation of the American authorities."

That's right," I said.

"What about Aramchek?"

I said nothing.

"Is Valis Aramchek?" Rachel asked hesitantly. "Or maybe you shouldn't tell me; maybe I'm not supposed to know."

Til tell you - " I began, but all at once I felt two great invisible hands grip me by the upper arms; they held so tightly that I grunted in pain. Rachel stared at me. I could not speak any further; all I could do was try to withstand the pressure of the invisible hands holding me. Then, at last, they released me. I was free.

"What happened?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing." I took in deep, unsteady breaths.

"The look on your face - something had hold of you, didn't it? You started to say something you shouldn't have." She patted me gently on the arm. "It's okay, Nick; you don't have to say. I don't want you to say."

"Maybe some other time," I said.

Toward the end of the day two FAPers, both of them lean and alert young men, showed up at my door.

Silently, they examined the shoe ad I had received in the mail. I showed them the piece of paper on which I had written the encoded message that I had extracted.

"I am Agent Townsend," the first FAPer said. "And this is my teammate, Agent Snow. It was very alert of you to report this, Mr Brady."

I said, truthfully, "I knew it would be coming. I even knew the day."

"I imagine," Agent Townsend said, "that the Communists would very much like to control someone in your position. You have power over a large number of recording artists, do you not?"

"Yes," I said.

"You can sign up and record whomever you wish?"

"I need the approval of two other executives," I said. "But usually they go along with me."

"They have come to respect your judgement?"

"Yes," I said.

"How has the Party contacted you before?" Agent Snow asked.

"They never before - "

"We realize they never turned the screws before. But did they contact you through mutual friends, or by phone, or mail? Or directly, through their agents?"

"I don't know," I said. "I know the contact, the pressure has been there, but it's been too devious and subtle up until now to put my finger on."

"No one person in particular."

"No," I said.

Agent Townsend said, "This is the first time they've come out overtly, then."

"Yes," I said.

"In your case," Agent Townsend said, "they made a mistake. We have a mail intercept on you, Mr Brady; we rntercepted this document and decoded it ourselves. We knew the hour of its arrival in your mailbox. You were watched as you took it upstairs to this apartment. You were timed as to how long it took you to react to it. And of course we were looking to see your reaction. Frankly, we didn't expect you to call us. We assumed you'd destroy it."

"My wife suggested I destroy it," I said. "But that could have been taken two ways."

"Oh, yes," Agent Townsend said. Two ways easily. You read the encoded message and then burned it; that's a normal process for Party members; they wouldn't leave something like this lying around after they had assimilated its contents; it'd be incriminating."

The sibyl had directed me right. Inwardly, without any visible sign, I sighed with relief. Thank God for her, I said to myself; on my own, like Rachel, I most likely would have destroyed it, imagining that was enough. And thus incriminated myself forever.

Destroying it would have proved I had read it. That I knew what it was. One does not carry a harmless shoe ad to the bathroom and set fire to it in the bathtub.

Studying the name and address written on the back of the document, Agent Townsend said to Agent Snow, This looks like... you know, that girl's handwriting." To me he said, "Your friend Phil Dick knows a girl named Vivian Kaplan. Do you know her?"

"No," I said, "but he's mentioned her."

"You wouldn't have any samples of her handwriting around?" Agent Townsend asked.

"No," I said.

"Vivian is a rather far-out person," Agent Townsend said with a half smile. "She reported about you recently, Mr Brady, that you hold prolonged conversations with God. Is that true?"

"No,"I said.

"She got it from his friend," Agent Snow pointed out to Agent Townsend.

"What," Agent Townsend continued, "would possibly give rise to such an idea in her head? Can you think of anything?" „

I said, "I never met the girl."

"She is reporting on you," Agent Townsend said.

"I know that," I said.

"What would your feelings toward her be," Agent Townsend said, "if evaluation of this shoe ad document showed that it emanated from her?"

"I would want nothing to do with her," I said.

"Well, we are not really sure," Agent Townsend said, "and in all likelihood it emanated from the KGB in New York, but until we are positive we have to consider the outside possibility that one of our own posts mailed it off to you."

I said nothing.

"What we'd like you to do," Agent Snow said, "is pass on to us any further documents of this sort which you may receive, or any contacts with suspicious persons coming in any form whatever, phone or mail, or at your door. You realize, of course, that the Party may have decided to destroy you for your unwillingness to cooperate with them."

"Yes," I said. "I know that."

"I mean physically destroy. Kill."

I felt cold, hearing that, terribly cold.

"There is not much we can do to help you," Agent Snow said, "in that regard. If someone wants to kill a person they usually can."

"Could you assign anyone to stay with me?" I said.

The two FAP agents exchanged glances. "Afraid not," Agent Townsend said. "It exceeds our authority. And we don't have the manpower. You can if you wish buy a handgun. That might be a good idea, especially in view of ihe fact that you have a wife and small child."

Til do that," I said.

"We will okay it," Agent Townsend said.

Then you don't think one of your own posts sent this," I said.

"Frankly, I doubt it very much," Agent Townsend said. "We'll conduct a routine inquiry. It would certainly simplify everything, from our standpoint. May I take this ad and the envelope?"

"Certainly," I said. I was glad to have it out of my hands.

That night I sat out alone on the patio of our apartment, gazing up at the stars. By now I knew what had happened to me; for reasons I did not understand, I had become plugged into an intergalactic communications network, operating on a telepathic basis. Sitting there in the dark by myself I experienced the stars overhead and the enormous amount of traffic flowing between them. I was in touch with one station in the network, and I gazed up trying to locate it, although most likely locating it was impossible.