Check and Checkmate Page 4

always eager to investigatesubversion. It was good political publicity, and about the onlycongressional activity that could command public attention and interest.The cheers were rousing and prolonged. When it was over, the Speaker andthe President of the Senate both made brief addresses to set themachinery in motion.

  * * * * *

  John Smith watched the proceedings with deep satisfaction. But as timewore on, he began to wonder how many spies were truly being apprehended.Among the many thousands who were brought to justice, only sixty-nineactually confessed to espionage, and over half of them, upon beingsubjected to psychiatric examination, proved to be neuroticpublicity-seekers who would have confessed to anything sufficientlydramatic. Twenty-seven of them were psychiatrically cleared, but evenso, their stories broke down when questioned under hypnosis or hypnoticdrugs, except for seven who, although constantly maintaining theirguilt, could not substantiate one another's claims, nor furnish anyevidence which might lead to the discovery of a well-organized espionagenetwork. John Smith was baffled.

  He was particularly baffled by the disappearance of seventeen men in keypositions, who, upon being mentioned as possible candidates for theprobe, immediately vanished into thin air, leaving no trace. It seemedto Smith, upon reading the individual reports, that many of them wouldhave been absolved before their cases got beyond the deputy level, soflimsy were the accusations made against them. But they had not waitedto find out. Two were obviously guilty of _something_. One had murdereda deputy who came to question him, then fled in a private plane, lastseen heading out to sea. He had apparently run out of fuel over theocean and crashed. The second man, an ordnance officer at the provingground, had spectacularly committed suicide by exploding an atomicartillery shell, vaporizing himself and certain key comrades includinghis superior officer.

  Here, the President felt, was something really ominous. Thedisappearances and the suicides spelled careful discipline and planning.Their records had been impeccable. The accusations seemed absurd. Ifthey were agents, they had done nothing but sit in their positions andwait for an appointed time. The possibilities were frightening, butevidence was inconclusive and led nowhere. Nevertheless, thehouse-cleaning continued.

  On Fourthday of Traffic Safety Week, which was also Eat MoreCorn-Popsies Week, John Smith XVI conferred with Ivan Ivanovitch IXagain at the appointed time. Contrary to all traditions, he againordered the Stand-ins--temporarily eight in number, since Number Six haddied mysteriously in the bathtub--to leave the study so that he mightunmask. Promptly at sixteen o'clock the Asian's face--or rather hisceremonial mask--came on the screen. But seeing the Westerner'ssquare-cut visage smiling at him sourly, he promptly removed thecovering to reveal his Oriental face. The exchange of greetings wascurt.

  "I see by recent events," said Ivan, "that you are nervous on yourthrone. For the sake of your own people, let me warn you that we have nodesigns on your autonomy unless you become aggressive toward us. Thereal difficulty, as revealed by your purge, is that you feel insecure,and insecurity makes you unpredictable. I do not, of course, expect youto be trustworthy. But insecurity sometimes breeds impulsiveness. If youare to strike out blindly, perhaps the talks had best be broken off."

  Smith XVI reddened angrily but held his temper. The man's presumptionwas intolerable. Further, he knew about the probe, knowledge which couldonly come from espionage.

  "I have become aware," the President said firmly, "that you have managedto establish a spy-system on this continent. If you wish betterrelations, you will have the activity stop at once."

  "I don't know what you're talking about," said the Peoplesfriend with abland smile. "I might point out however that at least forty of yourspies are either killed while trying to cross the Wall, or areapprehended after they manage to enter my regime."

  "The accusation is too ridiculous to deny," Smith lied. "We have nodesire to pry into your activities. We wish only to maintain the statusquo."

  The exchange continued, charges and countercharges and denials. Neitherside expected truth or honesty, and the game was as old as civilization.Neither expected to be believed, although the press of both nationswould heatedly condemn the other's lack of good faith. The ethical sideof the affair was for the rabble to consider, for only the rabble caredabout such things. The real task was to ferret out the enemy's attitudesand intentions without revealing one's own.

  * * * * *

  Smith felt that he had won a little, and lost a little too. He had foundmany hints of subversive activity, but had betrayed his own lack ofcertainty by reacting so swiftly to it. Ivan IX, on the other hand,seemed too much at ease, too secure, and even impertinent.

  "At our last meeting," said the Asian, "I suggested a meeting betweenourselves. Have you given thought to the matter?"

  "I have given it thought," said the President, "and will agree to theproposal provided you come to this country. The meeting will be held atmy capitol."

  "Which you change at random intervals, I notice," purred Ivan with abland smile. "For security reasons?"

  "You could only know that by espionage!" Smith snapped.

  "Your proposal of course is outrageous. The only sensible place for themeeting is in Singapore."

  "That is out of the question. I must insist on the capitol of mygovernment as the only acceptable meeting-place. My government incontacting yours put itself in the position of extending an invitation,a position from which we could not depart without loss of dignity."

  "I suggest we delay the matter then," grunted the Peoplesfriend. "Andtalk about the agenda for such a meeting. What did you have in mind?"

  "I have already stated our general aims as being a reduction of armamentexpenses, beneficial to both sides. I think you agree?"

  "Not necessarily, since our budget is already rather low. However, makeyour specific proposals, and I shall consider them. Further economy,where not injurious to security, is always desirable."

  "I propose, then, that we discuss a method whereby agreement might bereached on a plan to divulge the nature of our respective armaments,including number, nature, and purpose of each weapon-class, as afoundation for discussions relating to reductions."

  Smith waited for a flat "no" to the suggestion. The Asian leaderapparently knew a great deal more about the West's armaments than Smithknew about the East. The Peoplesfriend had nothing to gain by revealingthe military strength of his own hemisphere. But he paused, watchingSmith with an expressionless stare.

  "I accept that for further consideration, at least," Ivan said at last.

  John XVI hovered between elation and suspicion. Suspicion won. "Ofcourse there must be some method to assure that accurate figures aredivulged."

  "That could probably be settled."

  Again the President was shocked. It was all too easy. Something wasrotten about the whole thing. The Peoplesfriend agreed too readily tothings that seemed to be to his disadvantage. The discussion continuedfor several hours, during which both men presented viewpoints andpostponed agreement until a later meeting.

  "Stockpiles of fissionable material," said the President, "which couldquickly be converted to weapons use should also be discussed."

  Ivan frowned. "I mentioned before that we have no need of atomicarmaments, nor any plans for building them. Our defense is secured bysomething entirely different, a weapon which serves an industrialfunction in time of peace, and a weapon which I might add was largelyresponsible for our abandoning Marxism. A single discovery, AndreiSorkin's, made communist doctrine not only a wrong solution, but a wrongsolution to a problem that had ceased to exist."

  "What problem are you referring to?"

  "The use of human beings as automatic devices in a corporatemachine--the social-structure of industry, in which the worker wascaught and bolted down and expected to perform a single, highlyspecialized task. That of course, is almost a definition of the word'proletarian'. We no longer have a true proletariat. For that reason, weare no longer Marxist--a
lthough the name 'communist' has survived withits meaning changed."

  The conference ended after setting the time for another meeting. JohnSmith XVI felt that he had been groping in the dark, because of theinformation-vacuum that kept him from even making a reasonable guess asto Ivan's real aims. He kept feeling vaguely that Ivan was just playingalong, reacting according to the opportunity of the moment, notparticularly caring what Smith did next. But leaders of states just didnot proceed so carelessly--not unless they were fools, or unless theywere supremely confident in the ultimate outcome.

  * * * * *

  The intelligence service analysis of his latest conversation with Ivangave him something to think about later however.