INTERVENTION

by May, Julian; Dikty, Ted

  Is that you!

  Who else?...I don't think you'll have to worry about interference from Victor for a few years now. He'll give you up as a bad job and try to find other ways to cope with his family problems.

  But Sunny—

  You've probably saved her life. To say nothing of your own. Once the two of you were married, Victor would have felt free to activate his unconscious oedipal retribution fantasy, wiping out his mother's threat to his ambitions.

  I don't understand.

  Then I suggest you reread Hamlet. But not on a dark and stormy night ... Au 'voir, cher Rogi. Until the next time.

  I began to squirm out from under the camper. The booted feet walked away, their sound dispersed by the serried ranks of parked vehicles. By the time I was able to stand up, the underground garage was silent again. I could see Victor, unconscious, slumped behind the wheel of the Porsche.

  Eh bien, Rogi, you long streak of piss. Saved again! Or is your psychocreativity more inventive than you suspect?

  I picked up my bags. My suit was filthy and I had no doubt that my face was, too; but front-desk personnel are inured to such things during science-fiction conventions. No explanation would be required. All I had to do was say that I had changed my mind about checking out.

  I went to the elevator and pressed the Up button. The damned thing took forever to arrive.

  7

  CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, EARTH

  13 MAY 1995

  JARED ELLSWORTH, S.J.: Denis! Wonderful to see you again. Sit down! Sit down! What has it been—ten years?

  DENIS REMILLARD: Twelve. When I got my M.D.

  ELLSWORTH: And a lot of water's gone over the dam since then, hasn't it? Brebeuf Academy is very proud of you, Denis. I shouldn't admit this, but we haven't been exactly diffident about letting endowment prospects know that you were one of our early alumni.

  REMILLARD : Oh, that's perfectly all right, Jared. It makes me feel less guilty about not doing more for the Academy myself.

  ELLSWORTH: Nonsense. We've appreciated your generous contributions. You'll be glad to know that Brebeuf's gimmick has been copied in other parts of the world. Now there are a dozen or so other free schools for the gifted children of low-income families. But I haven't heard that any of them harbored a really wild talent like you! Merely normal geniuses. [Laughs.]

  REMILLARD: You might be interested to know that the operant population has about the same IQ spread as the normal. Just as many dummies among us as smartasses.

  ELLSWORTH: That could lead to problems.

  REMILLARD: It has. We don't talk about it very much publicly. A German team just completed a study, a metapsychic assay of prisoners and inmates of institutions for the criminally insane. A disproportionate percentage of the incarcerated con men and bunco artists show traits of suboperancy in the coercive and telepathic modes. The percentage of psychopaths with operant traits is also higher than expected.

  ELLSWORTH: [whistles] Any theories about that?

  REMILLARD: The psychos might have kept their sanity if their fragile minds hadn't been burdened with the additional load of operant function—with all the stress that entails. Mental evolution is bound to leave a lot of maladaptive souls fallen by the wayside. The operant crooks who kept their marbles adapted—but the wrong way. They used the mind-powers opportunistically. It's a big temptation, even among the high-minded. The less intelligent metacriminals got caught, probably not even realizing that they had the powers. They thought the mind reading was just keen insight and the coercion a gonzo personality. The more intelligent operant crooks would still be at large, of course. No doubt highly regarded by their beneficiaries and damned by their enemies as financial wizards...

  ELLSWORTH: It makes you wonder about the charismatic leaders of sleazy cults. And certain great and magnetic villains of history such as Hitler and Stalin.

  REMILLARD: Someday, when we know more about the genotypes for operancy, there'll be some fascinating research done. But today, we're more concerned about this—this lower stratum of operants for pragmatic reasons.

  ELLSWORTH: Mm'm. I can imagine. Bound to be baddies among you, of course, as in any other human population. But it's a thing not too many normals thought about prior to Dr. Weinstein's trial—not that he could be classed among your common or garden variety of delinquent. [Takes out a pipe and begins to pack it with tobacco.] The criminal operant will pose tricky legal problems. I suppose the really powerful ones would be able to coerce juries and witnesses as well as read the minds of the prosecuting attorneys.

  REMILLARD: Probably. But the real difficulty isn't in the courtroom antics. After all, the authorities can always do as the Scottish Lord of Justiciary did in the Weinstein case: bring in a watchdog operant as an amicus curiae to be on the lookout for mental hanky-panky. No ... the problem is going to be getting the goods on operant crooks in the first place. Superior metacriminals would be able to cover their tracks in any number of mind-bending ways. Posthypnotic suggestion, for instance. This has great limitations and probably wouldn't work at all in blatant cases like first-degree murder in front of witnesses, but it might very well succeed in less emotionally charged crimes. Frauds and conspiracies and other kinds of white-collar shenanigans. You're no doubt aware that the financial world is still in an uproar over its theoretical loss of transaction secrecy. Objectively, the financiers know that the chance of a crooked operant spying on them is close to zero. Now. But what about later, as operants become more numerous? The global economy is in a much shakier condition than most people realize due to the impact of operancy. Not many economic analysts have written about the matter. They're afraid of making the situation worse. It was bad enough when all they had to worry about was Psi-Eye investigations of KGB and CIA bank accounts in Switzerland. This new recognition of potential operant criminality has thrown them into a real swivet. And there's no remedy yet. We'll have to wait until more operants are trained for oversight work—and are willing to take it on. It's not going to be the most popular career choice among idealistic young heads.

  ELLSWORTH: Thought police! Good heavens, what an idea.

  REMILLARD: [laughs hollowly] You should see my hate mail! The common folks aren't quite so sure anymore that operants belong to the League of Superheroes. Have you ever watched that Alabama TV evangelist, Brother Ernest? According to him, we're nothing less than the vanguard of Antichrist, the mystery of iniquity, with all power and signs and lying wonders... and the Last Judgment is only five years away! It's to laugh—until you realize how many viewers the man has. And there are other antioperant movements poking their noses out of the woodwork. That outfit in Spain, Los Hijos de la Tierra, the Sons of Earth. And the Muslim fundamentalists are fully convinced we're the agents of El Shaitan. You know, Jared, operancy will bring about a profound social revolution during the Third Millennium—but only if we operants manage to survive the Second! There's a real possibility that militant normals might opt for the easy way out of the dilemma we pose...

  ELLSWORTH: [waving out a match and snorting smoke] Don't give me that eschatological bullshit! Defeatism? From somebody who had the finest Jebbie education lavished on him? [Gestures to photo portrait of Teilhard de Chardin by Karsh of Ottawa.] From somebody who sopped up Papa Pierre's nostalgie de l'unité and global consciousness and optimistic expectation of Omega like a thirsty young sponge? Don't talk poppycock! You swelled heads are a challenge for us normals, but we're going to work it out. This isn't the Dark Ages, and the hysterical fools don't rule.

  REMILLARD: No. Thank God, they don't. You'll have to make allowances for me, Jared. I'm afraid I've always had a tendency to fall into negativism and intellectual agonizing when the going gets tough. That's more or less why I came to see you.

  ELLSWORTH: And here I thought it was to atone for your shameful neglect of your old teacher all these years.

  REMILLARD: I need a very specialized kind of moral advice. None of the ethicists at Dartmouth had the foggiest notion of what I wa
s talking about. Their counsel was worthless.

  ELLSWORTH: Was it really! Oh, the arrogance of the intellectual elite. Nobody has problems like you have problems. I always think of John von Neumann on his deathbed, deciding to convert. Is he thinking humbly about making his peace? Is he awed at the imminence of the Infinite? No. He says, "Get me a smart priest."

  REMILLARD: [smiling] So they brought him a Jesuit, of course.

  ELLSWORTH: [sighs] I'll bet it still cost him an extra half hour in purgatory. But never mind that. What's your bitch?

  REMILLARD: There are two of them, Jared, with both universal and particular application. The first goes under the seal of confession.

  ELLSWORTH: Uh-huh.

  REMILLARD: It concerns a matter we've already touched on. Suppose I know the identity of a metapsychic criminal. But the way I found this person out was by mental intrusion: reading the secret thoughts. A deliberate violation of which our crook was unaware.

  ELLSWORTH : This is your great moral dilemma? Same thing as stealing a letter that incriminates. The theft is wrong.

  REMILLARD: I acknowledge the guilt. That's not the problem. If it was a letter I stole, I could send it to somebody in authority who could take action. When you steal thoughts things aren't so easy.

  ELLSWORTH: No.

  REMILLARD: Aside from my reading this person's mind and discovering the general fact of wrongdoing, there is no proof whatsoever of the person's guilt. He was not fantasizing, because I can see the effects of his crimes quite clearly. But the perpetrator is ordinarily an excellent screener—you know about that? okay—and most probably no other honest operant person has the least inkling what he has been up to. There is no corroborating evidence of crime, nothing that would stand up in a court of law. Some of the things he's done wouldn't even fall under our present criminal code. For instance, there's no law against mind-to-mind mayhem; at most, our courts would view it as simple or aggravated assault, with the injury not provable. So what am I going to do?

  ELLSWORTH: [expels smoke slowly] Neat.

  REMILLARD: I thought you'd like it. Objectively, that is. It's Shit City when you're on the inside looking out.

  ELLSWORTH: This metapsychic monster of depravity. He's intimately known to you? I mean, you're close enough so that there's absolutely no possibility that you've misunderstood the situation?

  REMILLARD: The person is a relative.

  ELLSWORTH: Uh-huh. And we are dealing with very serious moral matters?

  REMILLARD: The most serious.

  ELLSWORTH: Obviously, you can't haul this person down to your local police station and—uh—turn his mind inside out.

  REMILLARD: Obviously not. Firstly, he would probably kill me if I tried it. Secondly, even if I did succeed in wringing a confession out of him—say with the help of operant friends—it would be inadmissible evidence. In the United States, one may not be forced to incriminate oneself.

  ELLSWORTH: The only logical recourse is to try to nail him with some evidence that's concrete. Do as the government snoops do: use the illegally obtained information to scratch up other stuff that will hold up in court. You understand—hem!—that I'm not advising you to do anything sinful.

  REMILLARD: But... I couldn't.

  ELLSWORTH: You couldn't, or you wouldn't? Do you mean you're too busy to see justice done? You've got other things to do?

  REMILLARD: [doggedly] Yes. I have duties. Obligations to the metapsychic operant community. To evolving humanity as a whole. To find evidence against this one miserable bastard might be impossible. There might not be any. Searching for it could alert him and endanger me. Endanger my work.

  ELLSWORTH: You seriously believe he'd try to kill you?

  REMILLARD: Or do me grave mental damage.

  ELLSWORTH: You are never morally obligated to put yourself in danger in order to do good. Caritas non obligat cum tanto incommodo. One can assume such an obligation freely, as officers of the law do, but a private individual does not have such a duty.

  REMILLARD: [sighs] I thought not.

  ELLSWORTH : On the other hand, Christ told us we're blessed when we give up our life for our friends. It is the ultimate magnification of love. Of course, he was propounding a behavioral ideal... The valiant thing is not always the prudent thing. As you say, you have your work, and it is undoubtedly important.

  REMILLARD : I—I can't just stand by and let him get away with what he's done! He may do it again.

  ELLSWORTH: You could be patient. Bide your time and watch.

  REMILLARD: I'm so distracted by other things. This is ... so small compared to the other problems I have to deal with. So damned personal. I pushed it aside earlier when all I had were suspicions, and that was wrong. My negligence cost lives. Now that I'm certain about him, there doesn't seem to be anything I can do.

  ELLSWORTH: You think you're the only one who ever faced this? It's old, Denis! Old as the human race. Listen to King David: "Be not vexed over evildoers. Trust in the Lord and do good. Commit to the Lord your way; trust in him and he will act. He will make justice dawn for you like the sun; bright as the noonday shall be your vindication."

  REMILLARD: This evildoer is my brother.

  ELLSWORTH: Oh, son.

  REMILLARD: It may be my fault he's like this. I never liked him. I never tried to show him that what he was doing was wrong. When I was a kid, I was relieved to get away from home and come here, away from him. When I was a grown man I still avoided him, even though I knew he had deliberately suppressed the mind-powers of my other young brothers and sisters. I was afraid. I still am.

  ELLSWORTH: You should get your siblings away from his influence.

  REMILLARD: I tried. Only one of them is legally an adult, and she won't come. He's mesmerized her. The others ... I tried to convince my mother to come away with them. I know she wanted to, but she still refused. He's influenced her, too. I can't force them.

  ELLSWORTH: Then you've done all you can for now. Keep working on your mother and the older sister but don't do anything to endanger them... You really do think there's further danger from this brother of yours?

  REMILLARD: I suspect that he's killed certain individuals who were a threat to his business. I know for a certainty that he killed three of my sisters who defied him.

  ELLSWORTH : Oh, my God. If I was in your shoes, I expect I'd go for the sonuvabitch with a shotgun and a bag of rifled slugs.

  REMILLARD: No, you wouldn't. Neither would I. That's the hell of it ... All right, Jared, let's table this one. All I can do is follow your advice and wait. Now this second problem is by no means as grave, so let's discuss it ex confessio—

  ELLSWORTH: Don't you want your absolution?

  REMILLARD: Oh ... I didn't really think of this dialog as an actual confession. I only put you under the seal to protect you from any hazardous obligation you might otherwise have felt constrained to assume.

  ELLSWORTH: The mention of grace embarrasses the learned psychiatrist! It never occurs to you to accept the forgiveness of Christ. You're like millions of other educated Catholics, Denis. You've kept the sense of guilt but not the sense of sin, and absolution without solution looks like a cop-out to you. It seems too damned easy.

  REMILLARD: Maybe.

  ELLSWORTH: But that's what grace is all about. It's a gift and a mystery. We're allowed to take it if we're sorry—even if we can't undo the evil we've done. A psychiatrist tries to offer solutions to guilt, but very often, as in your case, there are no solutions. That's where we priests have the advantage. We can channel the grace even if you feel you don't deserve it.

  REMILLARD: [laughs softly] A spatiotemporal sexternion.

  ELLSWORTH: Say what!

  REMILLARD: God can be coerced. Never mind. It's just a dynamic- field-theory in-joke.

  ELLSWORTH: You want the absolution or not? For the neglect and the violation.

  REMILLARD: Lay it on me.

  ELLSWORTH: [Prays in a low voice and gestures.] All right, what's the second proble
m?

  REMILLARD: Do I have an obligation to reproduce? To have offspring?

  ELLSWORTH: You're serious!

  REMILLARD: It's been pointed out to me—by my busybody Uncle Rogi, as well as by an esteemed Soviet colleague named Tamara Sakhvadze—that inasmuch as I'm going to be twenty-eight years old next week, I should marry and father children in order to propagate my undeniably superior genes.

  ELLSWORTH: Uh—the idea doesn't appeal to you?

  REMILLARD: Not really. I've always been much more interested in intellectual stimulation than sex. The occasional biological urge distracted me, but it was easily squelched. I've never felt passionately attracted to a woman—or to a man, either. Frankly, the whole sexual thing seems rather a nuisance. You squander so much energy in it that could be devoted to more productive pursuits. God knows, I don't seem to have enough hours in the day for the work that has to be done!

  ELLSWORTH: The Jews of the Old Testament were given the solemn duty to increase and multiply. But this part of the Old Law wasn't carried over into the New. No one is obliged to procreate now.

  REMILLARD: Two persons whose opinion I value highly think otherwise. One is Tamara, who is a Neo-Marxist. The other is Urgyen Bhotia, who was a Tibetan lama and now professes an idealistic humanism.

  ELLSWORTH: I can see why both of them might believe as they do. The good of society, as opposed to that of the individual, is paramount in both their faiths. Christianity—and Western civilization as a whole—gives the individual sovereignty in reproductive matters. On the other hand, having disposed of obligation, let us proceed to the more delicate matter of the most perfect choice ... Let me ask you a question that's cheeky but not impertinent: Just how special are you?

  REMILLARD: My metapsychic armamentarium has been rather painstakingly assayed. It was compared with that of known metapsychics all over the world in a study just completed by the University of Tokyo. My higher faculties exceed those of everyone else by several orders of magnitude. I am fertile, and there's a reasonable expectation that I would pass my alleles for powerful metafunction on to my offspring—particularly if my mate were highly endowed mentally herself.