hisposition with them, and thereby securing his hold on the Primary,Secondary, and Tertiary Stand-ins, who were becoming a little toopresumptuous of late.
He had a plan in mind, vague, tentative, and subject to constantrevision to suit events as they might begin to occur. He kept the plan'sgoal to himself, knowing that the Stand-ins would call it insane,dangerous, impossible.
"John! We're picking up their station!" a Stand-in called. "It's aminute before time!"
He left the window and walked calmly to the couch before theteleviewphone, whose screen had come alive with the kaleidoscopepatterns of the interference-station which sprang to life as soon as anenemy station tried to broadcast.
"Have the fools cut that scatter-station!" he barked angrily.
A Stand-in grabbed at a microphone, but before he made the call theinterference stopped--a few seconds before the appointed time. Thescreen revealed an empty desk and a wall behind, with a flag of theAsian League. No one was in the picture, which was slightly blurred byseveral relay stations, which had been set up on short notice for thisone broadcast.
A wall-clock peeped the hour in a childish voice: "Sixteen o'clock,Thirdday, Smithweek, also Accident-Prevention Week and Probe-SubversivesWeek; Happy 2073! Peep!"
A man walked into the picture and sat down, facing John Smith XVI. Aheavy-set man, clad in coveralls, and wearing a red rubber or plastichelmet-mask. The mask was the face of the first Soviet dictator, deadover a century ago. John's scalp bristled slightly beneath his owngolden headdress. He tried to relax. The room was hushed. The opposingleaders stared at each other without speaking. Historic moment!
Ivan Ivanovitch slowly lifted his hand and waved it in greeting. JohnSmith returned the gesture, then summoned courage to speak first.
"You have translators at hand?"
"I need none," the red mask growled in the Western tongue. "You areunable to speak my tongue. We shall speak yours."
The President started. How could the Red know that he did not speak theRusso-Asian dialect?
"Very well." The President reached for a prepared text and began toread. "I requested this conference in the hope of establishing some formof contact between our peoples, through their duly constituted executiveauthorities. I hope that we can agree on a series of conferences, aimedeventually at a lessening of the tension between us. I do not proposethat we alter our respective positions, nor to change our physicalisolation from one another, except in the field of high-level diplomacyand...."
"Why?" grunted the Asian chieftain.
John Smith XVI hesitated. The gutteral monosyllable had been tonelessand disinterested. The Red was going to draw him out, apparently. Verywell, he would be frank--for a time.
"The answer should be evident, Peoplesfriend. I presume that yourgovernment spends a respectable sum for armaments. My government doeslikewise. The eventual aim should be economy...."
"Is this a disarmament proposal?"
The fellow was blunt. Smith cleared his throat. "Not at the presenttime, Peoplesfriend. I hoped that eventually we might be able toestablish a mutual trust so that to some extent we could lessen theburden...."
"Stop talking Achesonian, President. What do you want?"
The President went rigid. "Very well," he said sarcastically, "I proposethat we reduce military expenses by blowing the planet in half. Thehalves can circle each other as satellite twins, and we'll have achievedperfect isolation. It would seem more economical than the presentcourse."
He apparently had sized-up the Peoplesfriend correctly. The man threwback his masked head and laughed uproariously.
"The Solomon solution!... ha ha!... Slice the baby in half!" theStalin-mask chuckled. Then he paused to grow sober. "Too bad we can't doit, isn't it?"
* * * * *
John Smith sat stiffly waiting. Diplomacy was dead, and he had made amistake in trying to be polite. Diplomats were dead, and the artforgotten. Poker-game protocol had to apply here, and it was really theonly sensible way: for two opponents to try to cheat each other honestlyand jovially. He was glad the Soviet Worker's Vicar had not responded tohis first politeness.
"Anything else, Smith?"
"We can discuss agenda later. What about the continued conferences?"
"Suits me. I have nothing to lose. I am in a position to destroy youanyway, a position I have occupied for several years. I have not caredto do so, since you made no overt moves against us."
A brief silence. Bluff? Smith wondered. Certainly bluff. On the otherhand, it would be interesting to see how far Ivan would brag.
"I gather your atomic research has made rapid strides, for you to makesuch a boast," Smith ventured.
"Not at all. In fact, my predecessor had it curtailed and limited toindustrial applications. Our weapons program has become uni-directional,and extremely inexpensive. I'll tell you about it sometime."
Smith's flesh crawled. Something was wrong here. The Asian leader wastoo much at his ease. His words meant nothing, of course. It had to belying noise; it could be nothing else. A meeting such as this was notmeant to communicate truth, but to discern an opponent's attitude and totry to hide one's own.
"Let it suffice to say," the Red leader went on, "that we know moreabout you than you know about us. Our system has changed. A century ago,our continent suffered a blight of dogmatism and senseless butchery suchas the world had never seen. Obviously, such conditions cannot endure.They did not. There was strong reaction and revolution within theframework of the old system. We have achieved a workable technologicalaristocratism, based on an empirical approach to problems. We realizethat the final power is in the hands of the people--and I use thatarchaic word in preference to your 'rabble'--"
"Are you trying to convert me to something?" John Smith growled acidly.
"Not at all. I'm telling you our position." He paused for a moment, theninserted his fingertips under the edge of the mask. "Here is probablythe best way to tell you."
The Red leader ripped off the mask, revealing an impassive Oriental facewith deepset black eyes and a glowering frown. The President sucked inhis breath. It was unthinkable, that a man should expose himself to ...but then, that was what he was trying to prove wasn't it?
He kicked a foot-switch to kill the microphone circuit, and spokequickly to the Stand-ins, knowing that the Asian could not see his lipsmove behind the golden mask.
"Is Security Section guarding against spy circuits?"
"Yes, John."
"Then quick, get out of the room, all of you! Join the Secondaries."
"But John, it'll leave you fingered! If nine of us leave, they'll knowthat the remaining one is--"
"Get on your masks and get out! I'm going to take mine off."
"But John--!"
"Move, Subversive!"
"You don't need to curse," the Stand-in muttered. The nine men, out ofthe camera's field, donned golden helmets identical to Smith's, whistledsix notes to the audio-combination, then slipped out the thick steeldoor as it clicked and came open.
* * * * *
The Red was jeering at him quietly. "Afraid to take off your mask,President? The rabble? Or your self-appointed Stand-ins? Which frightensyou, President--"
John Smith plucked at a latch under his chin, and the golden headdresscame apart down the sides. He lifted it off and laid it casually aside,revealing a hard, blocky face, slightly in need of a shave, with coolblue eyes and blond brows. His hair was graying slightly at the temples,with a fortyish hairline.
* * * * *
The Red nodded. "Greetings, human. I doubted that you would."
"Why not?" growled Smith.
"Because you fear your Stand-ins, as appointees, not subject to your'rabble'. Our ruling clique selects its own members, but they aresubject to popular approval or recall by referendum. I fear nothing fromthem."
"Let's not compare our domestic forms, Peoplesfriend."
"I wanted to point out," the A
sian continued calmly, "that your systemslipped into what it is without realizing it. A bad was allowed to growworse. We, however were reacting against unreasonableness and stupiditywithin our own system. In the year 2001--"
"I am aware of your history before the Big Silence. May we discusspertinent matters--?"
The Asian stared at him sharply. The frown grew deeper. The black eyeslooked haughty. "If you _really_ want to discuss something, John Smith,suppose we arrange a personal meeting in a non-walled, neutral region?Say, Antarctica?"
John Smith XVI, unaccustomed to dealing without a mask, let surprisefill his face before he caught himself. The Asian chuckled but saidnothing. The
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