I shut off my recorder.
"I see," I said, "we're getting nowhere. Perhaps we could make a little better progress off the record?"
"Off the record! Absolutely! Indeed - absolutely!" he said heartily. "I'm as willing to answer questions off the record as on, Newsman. And you understand why? Because to me, on - on and off - are one and the same. One and the same!"
"Well, then," I said, "how about some of these straws in the wind? Off the record, can you give me an example?"
He rocked toward me and lowered his voice.
"There are - gatherings, even in the rural areas," he muttered. "Stirrings of unrest - this much I can tell you. If you ask me for places-names-why, no. I won't tell you."
"Then you're leaving me with nothing but vague hints. I can't make a story out of that," I said. "And you'd like a story written on this situation, I suppose?"
"Yes, but-" His powerful jaw set. "I won't tell you. I won't risk - I won't tell you!"
"I see," I said. I waited for a long minute. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then fidgeted upon the couch. "Perhaps," I said slowly, "perhaps there's a way out of this."
He flashed a glance almost of suspicion at me, from under white eyebrows.
"Perhaps I could tell you instead," I said quietly. "You wouldn't have to confirm anything. And of course, as I say, even my own remarks would be off the record."
"You - tell me?" He stared hard at me.
"Why not?" I said easily. He was too good a public man to let his bafflement show on his face, but he continued to stare at me. "In the News Services we've got our own avenues of information; and from these we can build up a general picture, even if some parts are missing. Now, speaking hypothetically of course, the general picture on St. Marie at this moment seems to be pretty much the way you've described it. Stirrings of unrest, gatherings and rumblings of discontent with the present - you might say, puppet-government."
"Yes," he rumbled. "Yes, the very word. That's what it is, a- darn puppet government!"
"At the same time," I went on, "as we've already discussed, this puppet government is well able to subdue any kind of local uprising, and is not about to call an election that will remove it from power; and - barring the calling of such an election - there seems no constitutional way of changing the status quo. The highly able and selfless leaders that St. Marie might otherwise - I say might, being neutral myself, of course - rind among the Blue Front, seem legally committed to remaining private citizens without the power to savri their world from foreign influence."
"Yes," he muttered, staring at me. "Yes."
"Consequently, what course remains open to those who would save St. Marie from her present government?" I went on. "Since all legal avenues of recourse are stopped up, the only way left, it may seem to brave men, strong men, is to set aside normal procedure in such times of trial. If there are no constitutional ways to remove the men presently holding the reins of government, they may end up being removed otherwise, for the ostensible good of the whoie world of St. Marie and everyone on it."
He stared at me. His lips moved a little, but he said nothing. Under the white eyebrows, his faded blue eyes seemed to be popping slightly.
"In short - a bloodless coup d'etat, a direct and forcible removal from office of these bad leaders seems to be the only solution left for those who believe this planet needs saving. Now, we know-"
"Wait-" broke in O'Doyne, booming. "I must tell you here and now, Newsman, that my silence mustn't be construed as giving consent to any such speculation. You shall not report-"
"Please," I interrupted in my turn, holding up a hand. He subsided rather more easily than one might have expected. "This is all perfectly theoretical supposition on my part. I don't suppose it has anything to do with the real situation." I hesitated. "The only question in this projection of the situation - theoretical situation - is the matter of implementation. We realise that as far as numbers and equipment, forces of the Blue Front outnumbered a hundred to one in the last election is hardly to be compared with the planetary forces of the St. Marie Government."
"Our support - our grass-roots' support-"
"Oh, of course," I said. "Still, there's the question of actually taking any physically effective action in the situation. That would take equipment and men - particularly men. By which I mean, of course, military men able either to train raw native troops, or themselves to take powerful action-"
"Mr. Olyn," said O'Doyne, "I must protest such talk. I must reject such talk. I must" - he had gotten up to pace the room, and I saw him going back and forth, with his arms waving-" I must refuse to listen to such talk."
"Forgive me," I said. "As I mentioned, I'm only playing with a hypothetical situation. But the point I'm trying to get at-"
"The point you're trying to gel at doesn't concern me, Newsman!" said O'Doyne, halting in front of me with his face stern. "The point doesn't concern us in the Blue Front."
"Of course not," I said soothingly. "I know it doesn't. Of course, the whole matter is impossible."
"Impossible?" O'Doyne stiffened. "What's impossible?"
"Why, the whole matter of a coup d'etat," I said. "It's obvious. Any such thing would require outside help - the business of militarily trained men, for example. Such military men would have to be supplied by some other world - and what other world would be willing to lend valuable troops on speculation to an obscure out-of-power political party on St. Marie?"
I let my voice dwindle off and sat smiling, gazing at him, as if I expected him to answer my final question. And he sat staring back at me as if he expected me to answer it myself. It must have been a good twenty seconds that we sat in mutually expectant silence before I broke it once more, getting up as I did so.
"Obviously," I said, with a touch of regret in my voice, "none. So I must conclude we'll be seeing no marked change of government or alteration in relations with the Exotics after all on St. Marie in the near future. Well" - and I held out my hand-" I must apologize for being the one to cut this interview short, Mr. O'Doyne; but I see I've lost track of the time. I'm due at Government house across the city in fifteen minutes, for an interview with the President, to get the other side of the picture; and then I’ll have to rush to get back to the spaceport in time to leave this evening for Earth."
He rose automatically and shook my hand.
"Not at all," he began. His voice rose to a boom momentarily, and then faltered back to ordinary tones. "Not at all - it's been a pleasure acquainting you with the true situation here, Newsman." He let go of my hand, almost regretfully.
"Good-bye, then," I said.
I turned to go and I was halfway to the door when his voice broke out again behind me.
"Newsman Olyn-"
I stopped and turned.
"Yes?" I said,
"I feel" - his voice boomed out suddenly-" I have a duty to ask you - a duty to the Blue Front, a duty to my party to require you to tell me of any rumors you might have heard concerning the identity of any world - any world - ready to come to the aid of good government here on St. Marie. We are your readers here, too, on this world, Newsman. You also owe us information. Have you heard of some world which is - reported, rumored, what have you - to be ready to extend aid to a grass-roots' movement on St. Marie, to throw off the Exotic yoke and ensure equal representation among our people?"
I looked back at him. I let him wait for a second or two.
"No," I said. "No, Mr. O'Doyne, I haven't."
He stood, unmoving, as if my words had fixed him in position, legs spread a little wide, chin high, challenging me.
"I'm sorry," I said. "Good-bye."
I went out. I do not think he even answered my farewell.
I went across to Government house and spent a twenty minutes full of reassuring, pleasant platitudes in interview with Charles Perrinni, President of the St. Marie government. Then I returned, by way of New San Marcos and Joseph's Town to the spaceport and the spaceliner for Earth.