Well, they were in for a surprise. Fred was due to appear at Walton’s office at 1100 on the morning of the seventeenth to take over command. Walton planned to be ready for them by then.
There was the matter of Lamarre. Walton wanted the little scientist and his formula badly. But by this time Fred had certainly made at least one copy of Lamarre’s documents; the threat would remain, whether or not Popeek recovered the originals.
Walton had twenty-four hours to act. He called up Sue Llewellyn, Popeek’s comptroller.
“Sue, how’s our budget looking?”
“What’s on your mind, Roy?”
“Plenty. I want to know if I can make an expenditure of—say, a billion, between now and nightfall.”
“A billion? You joking, Roy?”
“Hardly.” Walton’s tone was grim. “I hope I won’t need it all. But there’s a big purchase I want to make… an investment. Can you squeeze out the money? It doesn’t matter where you squeeze it from, either, because if we don’t get it by nightfall there probably won’t be a Popeek by the day after tomorrow.”
“What are you talking about, Roy?”
“Give me a yes or no answer. And if the answer’s not the one I want to hear, I’m afraid you can start looking for a new job, Sue.”
She uttered a little gasp. Then she said, “Okay, Roy. I’ll play along with you, even if it bankrupts us. There’s a billion at your disposal as of now, though Lord knows what I’ll use for a payroll next week.”
“You’ll have it back,” Walton promised. “With compound interest.”
His next call was to a man he had once dealt with in his capacity of secretary to Senator FitzMaugham. He was Noel Hervey, a registered securities and exchange slyster.
Hervey was a small, worried-looking little man, but his unflickering eyes belied this ratty appearance. “What troubles you, Roy?”
“I want you to make a stock purchase for me, pronto. Within an hour, say?”
Hervey shook his head instantly. “Sorry, Roy. I’m all tied up on a hefty monorail deal. Won’t be free until Wednesday or Thursday, if by then.”
Walton said, “What sort of money will you be making on this big deal of yours, Noel?”
“Confidential! You wouldn’t invade a man’s privacy on a delicate matter like—”
“Will it be worth five million dollars for you, Noel?”
“Five million—hey, is this a gag?”
“I’m awfully serious,” Walton said. “I want you to swing a deal for me, right away. You’ve heard my price.”
Hervey smiled warmly. “Well, start talking, friend. Consider me hired.”
A few other matters remained to be tended to hurriedly. Walton spent some moments talking to a communications technician, then sent out an order for three or four technical books—Basic Kaleidowhirl Theory and related works. He sent a note to Lee Percy requesting him to stop by and see him in an hour, and told his annunciator that for no reason whatsoever was he to be disturbed for the next sixty minutes.
The hour passed rapidly; by its end, Walton’s head was slightly dizzy from too much skimming, but his mind was thrumming with new possibilities, with communications potentals galore. Talk about reaching people! He had a natural!
He flipped on the annunciator. “Is Mr. Percy here yet?”
“No, sir. Should I send for him?”
“Yes. He’s due here any minute to see me. Have there been any calls?”
“Quite a few. I’ve relayed them down to Mr. Eglin’s office, as instructed.”
“Good girl,” Walton said.
“Oh, Mr. Percy’s here. And there’s a call for you from Communications.”
Walton frowned. “Tell Percy to wait outside a minute or two. Give me the call.”
The communications tech on the screen was grinning excitedly. He said, “Subspace message just came in for you, sir.”
“From Venus?”
“No, sir. From Colonel McLeod.”
“Let’s have it,” Walton said.
The technician read, “‘To Walton from McLeod, via subspace radio: Have made successful voyage to Procyon system, and am on way back with Dirnan ambassador on board. See you soon, and good luck—you’ll need it.’”
“Good. That all?”
“That’s all, sir.”
“Okay. Keep me posted.” He broke contact and turned to the annunciator. Excitement put a faint quiver in his voice. “You can send in Mr. Percy now,” he said.
XV
Walton looked up at the public relations man and said, “How much do you know about kaleidowhirls, Lee?”
“Not a hell of a lot. I never watch the things, myself. They’re bad for the eyes.”
Walton smiled. “That makes you a nonconformist, doesn’t it? According to the figures I have here, the nightly kaleidowhirl programs are top-ranked on the rating charts.”
“Maybe so,” Percy said cautiously. “I still don’t like to watch them. What goes, Roy?”
“I’ve suddenly become very interested in kaleidowhirls myself,” Walton said. He leaned back and added casually, “I think they can be used as propaganda devices. My brother’s reaction to one gave me the idea, couple days ago, at the Bronze Room. For the past hour or so, I’ve been studying kaleidowhirls in terms of information theory. Did you know that it’s possible to get messages across via kaleidowhirl?”
“Of course,” Percy gasped. “But the Communications Commission would never let you get away with it!”
“By the time the Communications Commission found out what had been done,” Walton said calmly, “we wouldn’t be doing it any more. They won’t be able to prove a thing.” Sarcastically he added, “After spending a lifetime in public relations, you’re not suddenly getting a rush of ethics, are you?”
“Well… let’s have the details, then.”
“Simple enough,” Walton said. “We feed through a verbal message—something like Hooray for Popeek or I Don’t Want War With Dirna. We flash it on the screen for, say, a microsecond, then cover it up with kaleidowhirl patterns. Wait two minutes, then flash it again. Plenty of noise, but the signal will get through if we flash it often enough.”
“And it’ll get through deep down,” Percy said. “Subliminally. They won’t even realize that they’re being indoctrinated, but suddenly they’ll have a new set of opinions about Popeek and Dirna!” He shuddered. “Roy, I hate to think what can happen if someone else gets to thinking about this and puts on his own kaleidowhirl show.”
“I’ve thought of that. After the Dirna crisis is over— after we’ve put over our point—I’m going to take steps to make sure no one can use this sort of weapon again. I’m going to frame someone into putting on a propaganda kaleidowhirl, and then catch him in the act. That ought to be sufficient to wise up the Communications Commission.”
“In other words,” Percy said, “you’re willing to use this technique now. But since you don’t want anyone else to use it, you’re willing to give up future use of it yourself as soon as the Dirna trouble is over.”
“Exactly.” Walton shoved the stack of textbooks over to the PR man. “Read these through first. Get yourself familiar with the setup. Then buy a kaleidowhirl hour and get a bunch of our engineers in there to handle the special inserts. Okay?”
“It’s nasty, but I like it. When do you want the program to begin?”
“Tomorrow. Tonight, if you can work it. And set up a poll of some kind to keep check on the program’s effectiveness. I want two messages kaleidowhirled alternately: one supporting Popeek, one demanding a peaceful settlement with the aliens. Have your pulse takers feel out the populace on those two propositions, and report any fluctuation to me immediately.”