Thereafter Kayapi strutted about, while the old Bruxo lay in a state of collapse inside the taboo hut on the pallet where the baby had been born.
Chester watched over the old man sullenly—over the last remaining Self-Embedding Brain—trying to make things tolerable for him.
TWENTY-ONE
SECRET & SENSITIVE
Subject: WASHINGTON SPECIAL ACTION GROUP MEETING #2
CONCERNING PROJECT “LEAPFROG”
7. It is remarkable to what extent the ‘Brazilian Revolution’ has already, by sheer adjacency, thrown Argentina, Uruguay and Guyana into widespread civil turmoil, and Paraguay into a state bordering on anarchy—and had serious repercussions in nations as far removed from Brazil geographically as the Republic of South Africa, Spain and Japan. In the ‘supersaturated’ cultural context of Planet Earth today, this kind of trigger effect is predictable, and it is worth noting that the contagion may be as much mental, as strictly geographical.
8. This ‘trigger effect’ has been subjected to a mathematical analysis of the psychosocial vectors involved, by the Rand Corporation. It is in no way a statement of the outmoded panic concept popularly known as the ‘Domino Theory’. This is a scientific model and must be heeded as such. Even the isolationist philosophy of many senior figures in the Administration cannot reasonably balk at acceptance of a need for exemplary action at this point—action based not upon ‘political’ hypotheses of dubious merit, as heretofore, but upon the psychosocial realities of Planet Earth. (See the attached Rand Corporation document on the testing out in practice of the math models involved, in Puerto Rico, and in Angola.)
9. It is evident that the events in Brazil, if not reversed, represent an immediate 50% attrition of US investment and resource potential for the whole subcontinent.
10. Attempting to control these events by applying ‘conventional’ pressures is unlikely to prove effective. There is considerable evidence that key elements in the Brazilian Administration, hitherto considered stable and pro-American, have abruptly polarized in the opposite direction.
11. The precipitating event in this upsurge of nationalistic and even of extreme xenophobic reactions is of course the unfortunate—and unforeseen—monitoring by a Chinese satellite of the small nuclear explosions that breached the dam codenamed ‘Niagara’. The People’s Republic Government’s announcement of this, against a background of rising insurgency inside Brazil itself, was a propaganda stroke of the first order. The equally unfortunate and unforeseen flood devastation produced by project ’Niagara Falls’ provides the final obstacle to a ‘conventional’ political solution to the nationalistic frenzy now gripping Brazil and much of Latin America.
12. It is vital to neutralize the snowballing set of events in Latin America; to trigger an ‘anti-catalyst’ to divert these events. And this ‘anti-catalyst’ must be as momentous and of the same order as the Amazon disaster.
13. It is therefore recommended that Project ‘Leapfrog’ should be ‘shunted’ along these diversionary lines.
(See attached Rand Corporation working paper, ‘Transfer of Threat: an analysis of hostility transferred from an actual and internal enemy to an imaginary and external enemy’, para 72, ‘… to a theoretically plausible yet statistically unlikely “Alien Menace’”.)
14. It is recommended that in order to maximize the technological payoff from Project ‘Leapfrog’, while at the same time diverting the South American revolutionary situation, Project ‘Mulekick’ should be proceeded with at speed.
15. It will be necessary to inform the Soviet Government as soon as (i.e. during) the delivery of ‘Mulekick’. And to adopt a posture of national defence readiness, whilst guaranteeing equal rights to share any technical data accruing as pay-off.
TWENTY-TWO
“Don’t fret about it, Pierre,” said Sole lamely, as the long-awaited helicopter came down at last upon the village. “What Kayapi did might have been the right thing, in Xemahoa terms—he had to find some answer to the presence of that monster, damn it! I know it made me throw up. But mightn’t it still have been the right thing to do? Sometimes the right thing is the thing that makes us sick—”
“Kayapi—” the Frenchman spat out.
“—may be a Xemahoa genius.”
“—is a vile opportunist, a dirty little village Hitler.”
“Crap, Pierre. It’s like you said earlier—he’s a myth-maker, a cultural strongman. And I’ll tell you something else. We have to act in a ruthless manner too—not for one Indian village but for the whole damn planet.”
“Words, words—”
“If what we need to do involves taking somebody’s brain out of their head—”
The helicopter landed. It wasn’t piloted by the Texan nor did it carry Chase or Billy—but pilot and passenger had the same clear-cut Mormon uniformity of the Soft War Corps that even the Negro Chester managed to fit, with his slick-carved souvenir features; though as he ran up now he resembled a distraught Queequeg with his eternal harpoon. Tom Zwingler emerged from Pierre’s hut, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“Zwingler?”
“Thank God for that! You’re from Franklin? What happened?”
The passenger ignored the question.
“Why’s the sky dark at night then, Zwingler?”
“Universe is expanding,” Tom Zwingler smiled as a world of comforting certainties, codewords and organization reasserted itself for him. But an uncertain look came over his face as he took in the brusque hostility in the other man’s tone.
His smile wasn’t returned.
“You’re to evacuate with us right away. But you needn’t bring any of these Indians with you. Project ‘Leapfrog’ has been altered.”
“But—why? Have we left it too late? Have the aliens gone?”
“Explanations while we fly, Zwingler. Right now we’re in one hell of a hurry. The Brazilian Air Force are hunting for us.”
“They’re—doing—WHAT?” exploded Chester, “WHO are doing WHAT?”
“The Brazilian Air Force. Part of it anyhow. The past few days have seen some surprises, I may tell you! There’s civil war in Brazil. And chaos spreading across half-a-dozen countries. On account of that mess you and your demolition geniuses made of things.”
The man glared resentfully at the trio.
“Goddam awful mess—”
“We haven’t heard anything about what happened. We’ve got no radio. We’ve just been waiting here.”
“You’ll hear about the hornet’s nest you stirred up soon enough. Radio!—it’s frightening these days. How many of you are there? I thought there were just three.”
“You’ll be coming, won’t you Pierre?” asked Zwingler slyly.
Pierre’s eyes gleamed with a sudden ray of hope.
“You said Revolution? And the Air Force are on the side of the Revolution?”
“That’s about it,” the mormon salesman nodded.
“The Revolution!” Pierre whispered gleefully. He glanced around him furtively, as though he was thinking of rushing off into the jungle and joining in the fighting there and then.