"I'll see what I can find."
"And send up that watchmaker. We really need him."
"I'll give him a hypo test tonight."
"Is that necessary, Jeff? If the PanAsians killed his family you can be sure of his sentiments."
"That's his story. I'll feel a lot safer if I hear him tell it when he's doped. He might be a ringer you know."
"O.K., you're right, as usual. You run your show; I'll run mine. When are you going to be able to turn the temple over to Alec, Jeff? I need you here."
"Alec could take it now, just to run it. But as I understand it, my prime duty is to locate and recruit more 'priests,' ones capable of going out in the field and starting a new cell alone."
"That's true, but can't Alec do that? After all, the final tests will be given here. We agreed that never, under any circumstances, would the true nature of what we are doing be revealed to anyone except after we got him inside the Citadel and under our thumbs. If Alec makes a mistake in picking a man it won't be fatal."
Jeff turned over in his mind what he wanted to say. "Look, boss, it may seem simple from where you sit; it doesn't look simple from here. I --" He paused.
"What's the matter, Jeff? Got the jitters?"
"I guess so."
"Why? It seems to me the operation is proceeding according to plan."
"Well, yes -- maybe. Major, you said this would be a long war."
"Yes?"
"Well, it can't be. If it's a long war, we'll lose it." "But it's got to be. We don't dare move until we have enough trusted people to strike all over the country at once."
"Yes, yes, but that's got to be the shortest possible time. What would you say was the greatest danger that faces us?"
"Huh? Why the chance that someone might give us away, either accidentally or on purpose."
"I don't agree, sir -- not at all. That's your opinion because you see it from the Citadel. From here I see an entirely different danger -- and it worries me all the time."
"Well, what is it, Jeff? Give."
"The worst danger -- and it hangs like a sword over our heads all the time -- is that the PanAsian authorities may grow suspicious of us. They may decide that we can't be what we pretend to be -- just another phony western religion, good to keep the slaves quiet. If they once get that idea before we are ready, we're finished."
"Don't let it get you nervy, Jeff: In a pinch, you've got enough stuff to fight your way back to base. They can't use an atom bomb on you in one of their own capitals -- and Calhoun says that the new shield on the Citadel will stop even an atom bomb."
"I doubt it. But what good would it do us if it did? Suppose we could hole up there until we died of old age: if we don't dare stick our noses out we can't win back the country!"
"Mmm ... no -- but it might give us time to think of something else."
"Don't kid yourself, Major. If they catch on, we're licked -- and the American people lose their last chance this generation, at least. There are still too few of us, no matter what weapons Calhoun and Wilkie can cook up."
"Suppose I concede your point: you knew all this when you went out. Why the panic? Battle fatigue?"
"You can call it that. But I want to discuss the dangers as I see them here in the field. If we really were a religious sect, with no military power, they'd leave us alone till hell froze. Right?"
"Check. "
"Then the danger lies in the things we have to do to cover up the fact that we've got a lot of stuff we aren't supposed to have. Those dangers are all out here in the field. First --" Thomas ticked them off on his fingers, oblivious to the fact that his commanding officer could not see him. "-- is the shield of the temple. We've got to have it; this place can't stand a search. But it would be almost as bad if we had to use it. If any senior PanAsian gets the notion to inspect in spite of our immunity, school is out for sure; I don't dare kill him and I don't dare let him come in. So far, by the grace of God, a lot of doubletalk, and the liberal use of bribes, I've been able to turn them away."
"They already know that we've got the temple shields, Jeff; they've known it from the first day we made contact here."
"Do they, now? I don't think so. Thinking back over my interview with the Hand I'm convinced that that officer who tried to force his way into the mother temple wasn't believed when he made his report. And you can bet your last cookie he is dead now; that's the way they work. The common soldiers that were there don't count. The second hazard is the personal shield that we 'priests' carry. I've used mine just once and I'm sorry I did. Fortunately he was just a common soldier, too. He wouldn't report it; he wouldn't be believed and he would lose face."
"But, Jeff, the 'priests' have got to wear shields; we can't let a staff fall into enemy hands -- not to mention the fact that the monkeys might be able to drug an unshielded 'priest' before he could suicide."
"You're telling me! We've got to have them; we don't dare use them -- and that calls for some fast double-talk in a pinch. The next hazard is the halo; the halo was a mistake, boss."
"Why do you say that?"
"O. K., it impresses the superstitious. But the bigshot PanAsians are no more superstitious than you are. Take the Hand -- I wore it in his presence. He wasn't impressed; it was my great good luck that he apparently regarded it as nothing important, just a gadget to impress my followers. But suppose he had really thought about it and decided to find out how I did it?"
"Maybe," said Ardmore, "we had better omit the halo effect in the next city we penetrate."
"Too late. Our official designation here is 'holy men who wear halos.' It's our trademark."
"So? Jeff, I think you've done a wonderfully good job of covering up."
"There is one more hazard. It's a slow one, a time bomb."
"Eh?"
"Money. We've got too much money. That's a suspicious circumstance."
"But you had to have money to operate."
"How well I know it. It has been the only thing that enabled us to get away with it so far. These people are even more corruptible than Americans, Chief; with us it is a frowned-upon dereliction; with them it's an essential part of their culture. A good thing, too -- we now have the respected position of the goose that lays the golden eggs."
"But why do you call it a time bomb? Why is it a hazard at all?"
"Remember what happened to the goose in the story? Some day some smart laddie is going to wonder where the goose gets all that gold and take him apart to find out. In the meantime all the recipients of our cumshaw are closing their eyes to the suspicious circumstances and getting as much as they can while the getting is good. I'm betting that each one will keep his mouth shut about his take, as long as he can get away with it. I doubt if the Hand knows that we seem to have an unlimited supply of American gold coins. But some day he will find out; that's the time bomb element. Unless he can be bribed, too -- in a polite way, of course -- he will start some very embarrassing investigations. Somewhere up the line we'll run into an official more interested in knowing the facts than in sticking out his palm. Before that day rolls around we had better be set to move!"
"Hmm ... I suppose so. Well, Jeff, do the best you can and get us some 'priest' recruits up here as fast as you can. If we had one hundred dependable men, as talented in handling people as you are, we could set 'D' Day a month from now. But it may take years and, as you say, events may trip us up before we can move."
"You can see why I have trouble finding 'priest' recruits? Loyalty isn't enough; a special aptitude for kidding the public is necessary. I learned it as a hobo. Alec really hasn't got it; he's too honest. However I may have one recruit now -- a chap named Johnson."