The Players of Null-A

XXI NULL-ABSTRACTS

It is not enough to know about Null-A training techniques. They must be learned on the automatic, that is, the 'unconscious' level. The 'talking-about' stage must give way to the 'doing' stage. The goal is flexibility of approach below the verbal level to any event. General semantics is designed to give the individual a sense of direction, not a new set of inflexibilities.

He had a flash glimpse now of the whole picture. Entirely aside from the dream, so many things fitted. That mechanic on the destroyer killing himself rather than taking a chance on being questioned. What private emotional reason could have driven him to it? Religious, of course.

And who would be in a better position than Secoh for finding out when a new planet like Yalerta had been discovered? As a chief adviser of Enro, he would have the resources of an empire at his disposal.

Millions of bits of information would be catalogued, condensed and organized for him to pass on to Enro—if he chose. Scientific information of every kind would be submitted to him for submission to the dictator. And so, radically new and different Distorter instruments had come to the attention of a man who knew little or nothing about any of the sciences, and who needed just such a development to give galactic-wide scope to his private wanderings.

A man who called himself the Follower, a name with religious meaning.

The rest of the scene, the motivation for everything, could be a growth based on the religion itself. It seemed natural that the Lord Guardian of the Sleeping God should have spurred the ambitions of a planetary emperor like Enro, driving him to conquer the Greatest Empire, then consolidating the galaxy in order to spread the religion farther.

The picture was not complete in all its parts, but in that flash moment it seemed logical to Gosseyn that he adopt it as the assumption on which he must base his actions now.

Secoh was the Follower. Secoh was a sincere believer in the religion of the Sleeping God. Secoh was a fanatic, sharp and alert on almost every level of thought—except his religious belief. And even there his very conviction must give him a flexible way of looking at things.

But if there was a weakness in this man, that was it. Gosseyn-Ashargin sat up slowly as Secoh approached the bed and sat down facing him. The priest said in a rich tone:

'Prince, you are about to be given an opportunity to win back for your family a measure of your former position.'

Gosseyn guessed then what was coming. He was not mistaken. He listened to the offer, which was in effect a vice regency with, as Secoh carefully put it, 'Only the Sleeping God himself above you.'

Meaning himself. And yet he undoubtedly believed what he said.

There was no pretense that League forces had captured Gorgzid. The Lord Guardian was frank. 'It seemed to Crang it might be a good bargaining point if the League appeared to have captured the capital.'

He waved a hand, dismissing that aspect of the subject.

'I can tell you,' he said sincerely, 'that Enro was no longer satisfactory to the Sleeping God, and I need hardly say that the calls you have received from the Temple are an indication of where the God is trying to point my attention.'

He meant it. This man believed in his curious religion. His eyes glowed with honest purpose. Gosseyn studied him, and was only too conscious of how unsane the man was.

He wondered then: Was Enro dead? He asked the question.

Secoh hesitated, but only for a moment. 'He must have suspected something,' he confessed. 'I went to his apartment last night after his return to the palace, hoping to hold him in conversation until it was too late for him to get away. We had rather an explosive conversation.'

He scowled. ‘The sacrilegious scum! In the past he has dissembled his hatred of the Sleeping God, but last night he was in a state of anxiety, and so he forgot himself, and actually threatened to destroy the temple.

Then, just as the attack began, he similarized himself to Paleol's flagship.'

Secoh paused. Some of the fire went out of his eyes. He said thoughtfully, 'Enro is a very able man.'

It was a grudging admission, but the fact that Secoh could make such a statement was a measure of his own ability. His failure to capture Enro was clearly a major defeat, and yet he had already adjusted to it.

'Well,' said Secoh, 'are you with me or against me?'

It was a bald way of putting it, especially as there was no indication of what refusal might mean. Gosseyn decided against a direct question about that. He said instead:

'What would you have done with Enro if you had caught him?'

The Lord Guardian smiled. He stood up and walked over to the bedroom window. He beckoned Gosseyn-Ashargin, who came without hesitation.

Gosseyn stood beside the priest, and looked down on a courtyard that was changed. Gallows were going up. More than a dozen were already in position, and there were silent shapes hanging from nine of them. Gosseyn stared at the dead men thoughtfully. He was neither shocked nor impressed. Wherever men acted thalamically there usually would be found a full quota of hangmen. Beside him, Secoh said: . 'Enro managed to get away but I did seize a number of his uncompromising supporters. Some of them I am still trying to persuade.' He sighed. 'I am easy to please, but in the final issue I must have cooperation. Accordingly, such scenes as that'—he pointed downward—'are necessary concomitants to the elimination of evil forces.' He shook his head. 'One can have no mercy on recalcitrants.'

Gosseyn had his answer. This was what happened to people who were 'against' instead of 'for'.

He knew now what crisis he must try to arrange. But it would be staking a great deal—Ashargin's life, among other things—on the intensity of Secoh's beliefs.

It was surprisingly easy to say the nonsense words. It took a moment to realize why: Ashargin's nervous system would have established channels for false to fact verbalisms about the Sleeping God—a point he'd have to remember in his final plans for the prince, who was obviously not yet trained in general semantics.

But he spoke the necessary words about having received a summons from the Sleeping God to the effect that a great honor was planned for Secoh. He must come to the temple, bringing with him Ashargin and a Distorter circuit. Gosseyn watched tensely for the Lord Guardian's reaction to the inclusion of the Distorter, since that would be a deviation from long established rituals. But apparently Secoh accepted any direct command of his god, regardless of past formalisms.

And so the first and simplest step was accomplished.