Tyranopolis, p.3
Tyranopolis, page 3
The delicate task completed, he removed the key circuit from the projection machine and ground it to nothing under his heel. Then he headed back to his den. Now that the critical hour of midnight was approaching … time he checked out that the enemy had indeed been observing him.
FOUR
Over at the enemy, where the power was, hordes of experts under Fourteen’s direction, had been busy. They were thinking, planning, re-examining Higenroth’s file from A to Z. While he was in bed with Eidy, committees considered just about every possibility of the situation.
Suppose he had nothing? they asked.
Then why wasn’t he fleeing to The Hills - that sticky little trap for foolish rebels, who actually believed there was a place to escape to?
But, again, if he had something - what a pressure that possibility created. It was the pressure experienced by a type of human being who excelled in one peculiar ability: how fast could he come to heel, how swiftly could he find a solution that would assuage the dictator, how abjectly could he then fall over other peculiars like himself in his eagerness to help kill, wound, or damage the doomed person.
Even Crother Williams - Number Fourteen - had some of that anxiety. What he did not share, or even really suspect in them, was their mindless willingness to do anything against the selected victim. His intent: We will do tonight what is necessary. And let the law handle the rest, as already prescribed. Meaning, the Accolade beheading process was their final, solution, if all else failed.
By midnight, under Williams’ direction, a small army of men and an enormous technological array was moving in upon the little university town, concentrating the power of the State against one man.
Higenroth’s check-out first showed on his den wall the outline of a big ship high in the night sky above his house. Within instants his perfect system was surveying the interior of what he recognized as a police laboratory vessel. What startled Higenroth, however, was the enormous armament of the ship.
‘Hey!’ he thought, ‘that’s a cover ship.’ Covering somebody’s approach to his house, or making sure he didn’t escape, Higenroth made a quick examination of the craft’s equipment, nodded his head with reluctant admiration - they were loaded for a total overwhelm of his pervasive transmission system.
Belatedly, he saw that Dr. Glucken was one of the scientists at the massive instrument board.
That one clue, Higenroth thought, his colour draining. Glucken had not, of course, analyzed the secrets of the pervasive system. But he was sitting up there now, ready to use the resources of a planet to find out.
Well-l-ll, Higenroth decided finally, I never expected it to be easy.
He hoped Glucken had got an eyeful of his future bride in bed. One could anticipate that in the Scientific Age people adjusted to such memories at the velocity of fear.
A picture formed on the wall; apprized Higenroth that trucks and men were approaching the house. Hurriedly, he twisted dials that would bar loud sounds from Eidy’s room. It was only moments later that the front door crashed with a splintering roar.
As men grabbed him, Higenroth recognized Fourteen. Instantly, the older man ceased his mild struggling, and offered the other a faint, almost sympathetic smile. ‘Do what’s right,’ he said. ‘You’ll feel better.’
The younger man gave him a startled glance. Then he stiffened. ‘The law is right,’ he said harshly. ‘The law requires all scientific secrets to be revealed. There are no exceptions, not even Professor Higenroth.’
The scientist pursed his lips. ‘I was wondering how a man like you would work out a moral dilemma inside himself. And that one is pretty good.’
‘Do you suggest -‘ Fourteen spoke grimly ‘- that the law is wrong? Do you imply that the system which now exists, is in error? Do you question the right of Lilgin to rule in the world as it is today, barely out of anarchy?’
It was the kind of argument that had no future. So Higenroth cut past it. ‘Frankly,’ he said, ‘I’d like to get out of the mess I’m in. But I understand that his excellency does not make deals with condemned persons.’
‘It’s impossible,’ was the stiff reply. ‘It’s too late.’
‘Then all I can say,’ said Higenroth, ‘is, if you have been assigned the task of obtaining non-existent information from me, without having the power to offer me anything in return, well, then, young man, you’re in as big a mess as I am.’
‘You’re implying,’ said Williams, ‘that there’s no rationality in what is happening. I assure you it is completely logical.’
He did not wait for a reply but spun on his heels, and said curtly, ‘Bring it in here!’
What was brought in was a closed circuit television set of an advanced design. Higenroth stared at the machine, suddenly hopeful. He said to Fourteen, ‘Maybe you were too hasty in your judgement. Maybe there will be a transaction. Maybe -‘
He stopped. For on the viewplate of the set there was a brightness, which resolved into the eidolon of the most famous face of all. Seeing it, the lesser officials in the room dived ingratiatingly to the floor. Fourteen remained standing. And Higenroth’s guards held him, and themselves remained erect; merelv raised their eyes towards the ceiling in a soldierly respect.
After one prolonged look into those metal-like black eyes, Higenroth wondered: Well-l-ll, is it the Egotist himself, or his Alter Ego? Since it was the face, it was a fantastic achievement either way. The Great Man knew. Surely, they wouldn’t use his double without his express permission.
Even that didn’t matter.
By bringing in the TV, they were temporarily opening up their energy barriers. That mattered.
On the screen, the lips parted. The famous, resonant baritone voice said: ‘From you, Professor, we now require, for the people, a total revelation of your pervasive system.’
Higenroth was intently, concentrating on the mental pattern that would, indeed, make this temporary contact a permanent revelation of his system for the people. So he made no reply.
Again, the voice spoke:
‘Professor, it has been proved that men talk under pressure. The pressure for you - well, nearly three years ago, my aides were instructed to find the most attractive girl in the world. They found her. She was put into one of your classes. The rest is history.’
No question, they got me!
The moustached, fatherly face - everybody’s father -smiled in an unfatherly way; almost a snarl. The voice said cynically (a forbidden emotion; so it must be the Alter Ego):
‘I mention this because not too long ago, Professor, a man wouldn’t tell us his secrets. We had his wife torn to pieces before his eyes. That he could stand. Then we started on him. That he couldn’t stand. He talked. We think that you will talk as it starts to happen to a wife who is expecting your child.’
Higenroth held his breath. How would this creature react, he wondered, when he discovered what pressure he was already under - though he didn’t know it yet.
But any moment now …
As if the expectation were a signal, there was a muffled cry from the floor somewhere behind Higenroth. The old scientist glanced around, and saw that one of the dictator’s aides was sitting up; and that he wore earphones.
The man screeched: ‘Your excellency, this scene - what you’re doing and saying here - is being broadcast everywhere!’
Higenroth suppressed a strong impulse to raise his hand like the precise scholar he was, and correct the statement.
What he wanted to say, was, ‘Not broadcast everywhere, but pervasively communicated, sir. Meaning, your lackeyed fool heard it wrong. It’s a worse situation than you think, and it won’t do any good to shut off that set now.’
It was not necessary to piece together, afterwards, what happened next. Until now, except for this room, the pervasive system had moved in on that closed-circuit television - what a perfect zeroing-in modality that had provided him - located the dictator, patterned him, and was now permanently focused.
Henceforth, every move of the dictator, and every word spoken by him, would emanate from all the plastic walls in the world. Including, as Higenroth mentally made the adjustment - the plastic walls of this room.
So, with the others, he watched as the dictator flung his hand against a switch that disconnected the television. Too late. Then he watched as the dictator, visible against the background of a somewhat larger and more ornate room, hastily stood up and walked over to several men wearing the humble uniform prescribed for top police officers.
One of these men said to him, suavely, ‘Your excellency, after all, our purpose has been to discover what advanced science we are dealing with. And so, since in all this great world you are the one person whose life is an open book, therefore it is a wonderful thing that a method has at last been devised whereby you can share yourself with your people everywhere.’
So it is the Alter Ego.
Because he had hoped in a tiny way, when he saw the familiar face, that it might be the dictator in person; and because if it wasn’t - if it was in fact the Alter Ego - then Professor Higenroth was as good as dead. His heart sank ever so little.
Almost at once, the old man braced himself. After all, he hadn’t really expected to save his own life. Let’s continue with the game of rescuing the world in some future time.
It was interesting to watch, in that mood, the dictator’s double head back towards the table. The actor, who looked so sensationally similar to Lilgin, clicked on the closed-circuit television that once more gave him direct connection with Higenroth, and said, ‘Professor, how do we shut it off?’ Higenroth felt sorry for the man. I’ll try to protect him, he thought - but he doubted if it could be done. The Great Big Killer out there in the palace had his own logic for such matters. The logic was that he took no chances. Ever. Undoubtedly, the Alter Ego would have to be murdered, on the mere possibility that he would remain connected to Higenroth’s machine.
Higenroth said, ‘I wanted to take this opportunity to show you and the world what a wonderful opportunity for perfect communication now exists between the government and the world. Here in this method is at long last a system whereby a leader’s private and public life, every word he speaks, every instruction he gives, what he is like when he is alone, how and with whom he makes love - the entire moment by moment existence of a ruler - shall be visible to all the people ail the time. No more secrets, no more need to maintain a public image, no propaganda department - just simply on the walls of everybody’s home and office, there he is.
‘Naturally,’ the old scientist went on, ‘it is not my intention to force such a system upon anyone. And in fact I shall shortly shut off the equipment. It is my suggestion that at some later time you will order that it be turned back on. And that, henceforth, of your own free will, you will make this remarkable contact and communication available to the people of this planet.
‘And now, in conclusion -‘ Higenroth continued ‘- I have an ideal political-economic solution of my own for the world. It is time, in my opinion, that choice be again offered the human race. I urge that the world be divided into two economic -areas. One shall be capitalist. The other shall be, uh, a continuation of what we now have. The difference between this idea and what we had in the past would be that there shall be only one political government in charge of both economic areas, making sure that neither encroaches on the other. Ensuring that individuals in both camps may move freely back and forth from one system to the other, as suits their temperaments and momentary interests, all -‘ he repeated ‘under one government.’
As he reached that point, he saw that the face before him had changed. And he thought: they’ve got what they want, and what I want them to have, a look at my system, and a statement of my purpose. So it was time to say goodbye.
He said it by shaping the particular Alpha wave that shut off the pervasive equipment.
Instantly, the images disappeared from the walls.
On the television the Alter Ego looked relieved. ‘Thank you, Professor. And goodbye.’
‘Goodbye,’ said Higenroth.
As he watched, then, the fateful act that cut him off here, completed. The Alter Ego’s hand moved toward the turn-off switch, and touched it.
The image of him faded from the television.
Fourteen came over. ‘Well,’ he said cheerfully, ‘at least now we know the extent of your achievement. And the machinery to do what you have done must be around here somewhere. We need, therefore, only search for it. Or -better still - expect you to be sensible, and show us where it is without fuss.’
That - Higenroth had to admit - was certainly the outward appearance of the situation. It was obvious that even Fourteen was, in effect, saying to himself: with our massive government power, we can move in on this man, Higenroth, and decide from moment to moment what to do with him, since he is completely at our mercy.
The old scientist, observing that attitude, thought won-deringly: they don’t seem to realize that they are in my house, and that here I am dictator.
What none of these people comprehended, yet, was that communication is a many-levelled phenomenon. First, of course, there is the communication mode, which can be a voice or an intricate electronic method - and then there was the nervous system, which receives the message.
In the professor’s house that last was the principal concern of some of his equipment. To the unnoticing nervous systems of the dictator’s dupes, it was presently perfectly logical that they call their huge military trucks and load onto them the machinery that Higenroth located for them behind walls, in hidden basement rooms, and concealed panellings. To the watchers in the big ship above it did seem a little odd that all of the government people crowded into the moving vans, or drove in other cars, and -leaving the Higenroths behind in sole possession of their house - accompanied the captured equipment aboard a huge military transport jet.
Fourteen, using his total authority, contacted the police vessel briefly, and ordered it to continue its watch over the house. Whereupon, the huge plane with himself aboard it, launched itself into the air, and flew off into the darkness.
As soon as the house was clear of intruders - so those aboard the police ship observed with their spy rays -Higenroth went to his wife’s bedroom, undressed and retired. In the morning (it was entirely for the benefit of Glucken) the professor once more had carnal knowledge of his attractive young wife. At which time, he began to prepare for the events of Patriotic Day. That was the appearance, and, as it developed, the reality, also.
The past experience of the military watchers aboard the spy ship was that a scientist like Higenroth would go with a silent, faraway look - to the guillotine.
Fourteen was present at the Accolade ceremony, and watched the beheading - which he personally regretted. But, still, this particular scientist had been incredibly foolish: all those critical articles…. It was too early for outright antagonists of the government to be allowed. Maybe at some later time, such people could be tolerated. But not now, not yet.
After the deed was done, the youngest member of the Praesidium of the People’s Government rounded up the students who had been connected to the professor’s knowledgeable - now decapitated - head, and had them all flown to Fortress Ten, a minimum-security prison. The place delusively looked like a country estate; and the young people were temporarily at least delighted with it.
Later in the afternoon, Crother Williams (Number Fourteen) called on Mrs. Higenroth, the new widow. That was shaking. He had heard of her good looks. But after all the palace had its own quota of beautiful women; and so he approached the meeting with Eidy, unprepared.
And stood for many seconds almost blanked out by the breathtaking perfection of her features and matching figure. He managed finally to explain haltingly that the ‘uh, government wishes to offer you its protection, and therefore has a temporary home, for you, uh, Mrs. Higenroth …’
Where he toe her did look like a home. But it also - like Fortress Ten - was a well-guarded prison.
These tasks completed, Fourteen returned to the palace. And he was indeed very well pleased with himself. He reported to Three, who listened silently to his account, and then said, ‘I’ll question you in greater detail in the morning. It all seems to have gone too easy.’
‘What else could Higenroth do against a large military unit?’
‘True,’ acknowledged the gaunt man. ‘But we’ll see in the morning.’
FIVE
As the early dawn light brightened the glazed windows and fine panelled drapes of Fourteen’s bedroom, Fourteen’s bedside intercom buzzed. He was accustomed to instant awakenings and urgent calls; and so, exhausted though he was, he opened his eyes, reached, and said, ‘Williams, sir.’
It was Three phoning from his bedroom. ‘Jodell here. I have just received a query from the Boss.’
‘Yes?’ Alertly.
‘Where did you have Higenroth’s equipment taken?’
‘I assumed his excellency wanted it in a near, safe place. So I had it delivered into Storage Room Y-16 in Subbase-ment Four.’
‘You mean, right here in the palace?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Very good. I’ll tell him.’
Contact broken, Fourteen settled back into bed with a sleepy sigh - and the intercom buzzed.
He opened his eyes, and saw that it was much brighter outside. So it wasn’t really as fast a return call as he had for an instant believed … Obviously, I slept.
As before, the face and the speaker on the viewplate was Three. The younger man was startled to see that his senior was fully dressed, and, what was more, very grim.
‘I wish to inform you, Mr. Williams, that his excellency requires you to remain in your quarters until this matter of the disappearance of the Higenroth invention is fully cleared up.’
‘Uh .. . disappearance?’ stuttered Fourteen. ‘Earlier this morning, sir, when I informed his excellency of your statement as to the location of the Higenroth equipment, he personally went down to the fourth level basement to storage section Y-16. He discovered that there is no record of delivery.’
