Gilson was a man of middle age. He had a fair, lightly freckled complexion and brown hair. His features were so regular they made no impression. It was an easily forgotten face—valuable for an agent of Extra-Terrestrial Security.
“Can you wait? I have a visitor.”
“I’m used to waiting,” Gilson said. He smiled. “Just a glorified flatfoot.”
Carmody passed his hand over the screen, and it went brown. He offered Abog a drink; the Kareenan accepted.
“Normally, I wouldn’t rush into this,” Abog said. “Unfortunately, time does not permit the usual diplomatic delays. So, I won’t offend the Father if I come to the point?”
“On the contrary. You’d offend me if you slithered around like a snake on oil, that is to say, like a politician. I like directness.”
“Very well. However, you should know something first about the extent of the authority vested in me. Also, something about our governmental structure, and about the man at its head. I think...”
“I think your good intentions about going straight to the heart of the matter are being betrayed by your training. Never mind all the extraneous stuff.”
Abog looked upset, but he rallied with a quick show of bluish teeth. “All right. The only thing is, I wanted you to realize that my government would never pry into your personal life or your beliefs—not at any other time, that is. Now, we must ask...”
“Ask.”
Abog sucked in a deep breath, then said, “Have you or have you not come to announce your conversion to Boontism?”
“Is that all? No, I am not converting. I am firm in my faith.”
“Oh.”
Abog seemed disappointed. After a silence and a long stare past Carmody, he said, “Perhaps, you could use your influence as a Father to, uh, well, dissuade Yess.”
“I don’t know that I have any influence. Dissuade him from what?”
“Frankly, my chief, Rilg, is worried. If Yess makes the decision that all stay Awake, the effect will be catastrophic. Those who survive may be ‘good’, ‘purified’, but how many will live through the Night? The statisticians predict that over three-fourths of the population will die. Think of that, Father. Three-fourths! Kareenan civilization will be wiped out.”
“Does Yess know this?”
“He has been told. He agrees that the statisticians may be correct. But he doesn’t think they have to be. He maintains that there is a good reason why Yess usually triumphs over Algul during the Night. The majority of the Sleepers are, quote, good, unquote. Their dreaming state reflects their true desires. And these desires somehow affect those who stay Awake. Therefore, Yess wins.
“Following this reasoning, if all stay Awake, the effect will be the same as if most Slept. Only, the essentially ‘good’ will have a chance to be thoroughly purified of the evil elements present even in the best.”
“He could be right,” Carmody said.
“Yess could also be very wrong. We think he is. But even if he is right, think of what will happen! Even if the predictions are wrong, at least a fourth would be killed. What a devastation, what a slaughter! Men, women, children!”
“It does seem frightful.”
“Frightful! It’s hideous, savage! Why, even Algul could not think of anything so fiendish! If I did not know better I would say...”
He stopped, rose, and moved close to the Earthman. He whispered, “There have been rumors that it was not really Yess who was bom during that Night. It was Algul. But Algul, clever as he is, claimed to be Yess. Such a trick would be just like the Deceiver.”
Carmody smiled and said, “You can’t be serious?”
“Of course not. Do you think I’m one of those poor fools? But this kind of rumor shows the people’s confusion. They can’t understand how their great and kind god could require them to do this.”
“Your scriptures predict just such an event.”
Abog looked frightened, and there was panic in his voice.
“True, but nobody ever expected it to happen. Only a handful of the superorthodox believed in it, even prayed for it.”
“There’s something I don’t understand,” Carmody said. “What would happen to those who just refused to go through the Night?”
“Anybody who refuses to obey an order of Yess is automatically and legally classified as a follower of Algul. He can be arrested and imprisoned.”
“But he still won’t have to undergo the Night?”
“Oh, yes, he will. He’ll not be given the drags to put him Asleep, and he’ll have to face whatever comes, in a prison cell.”
“But suppose there’s a mass resistance? The government wouldn’t have time or the facilities to deal with a large body of people, would they?”
“You don’t understand Kareenans. No matter how frightened they will be, the majority would find it unthinkable to disobey Yess.”
The more Carmody thought about it, the less he liked it. To some extent, he could understand the men and women being forced to go through with it, but the children! The innocents would suffer; most of them would die. If a parent hated his child, consciously or unconsciously, he would kill the child. And those parents who were defending their children against the attacks of others might be killed, and then the children would die, too.
“I don’t understand it,” he said. “But then I am not, as you pointed out, a Kareenan.”
“But will you try to persuade him not to force this?”
“Have you talked to the other Fathers?”
“Some of them,” Abog said. “I got nowhere. They will go along with whatever Yess wants.”
Carmody was silent for a while. He fully intended to argue with Yess, but he was not sure that it would be wise to tell Abog so. Who knew what capital Abog and the party he represented might make of his statement? Or what resentment Yess might have if Carmody’s intentions were published?
“I’ll just have to take the consequences,” Carmody said aloud. “All right, I do mean to talk Yess out of making the decision you and so many others fear. But I do not want to be quoted on TV or have this interview printed in the papers. If such happens, I’ll deny everything.”
Abog seemed happy. Smiling, he said, “Very good. Perhaps you can succeed where others have failed. So far, he has made no official pronouncement. There’s time yet.”
He thanked Carmody and left.
The priest called Gilson back and told him to come up; then he notified the guards to let the Earthman in when he came.
The phone rang a third time. Tand’s face appeared on the screen.
“I’m sorry, John. Yess can’t see you tonight. But he will see you tomorrow night at the Temple. Meanwhile, what do you intend to do to pass the time?”
“I think I’ll put on a mask and join the merrymakers in the street.”
“You can, because you’re a Father,” Tand said. “But your Earth compatriots, those men you spoke about, Lieftin and Abdu, they can’t. I got the police to restrict them to the hotel unless they agree to go through the Night. As a matter of fact, all non-Kareenans are restricted by the new ruling. I’m afraid there’ll be a lot of disgruntled tourists and scientists tonight. But that’s the way it is.”
“You swing a lot of weight, Tand.”
“I don’t overuse my power. But I think this ruling is a good idea. I’d like to go out with you, John, but I’m tied up with too many official duties. Power brings its responsibilities, you know.”
“I know. Good night, Tand.”
His hand passed over the screen, and he turned to walk away. The phone rang. This time, it was not a face but a hideous mask that appeared on the screen. The mask blocked out all view of what lay behind it. From the noises Carmody surmised that the phone was in a public booth on one of the main streets.