“And I respectfully suggest that we can’t, sir. We haven’t men enough to pull it off. We’ll have trouble enough recruiting and training enough men to set up a temple in each of the garrisoned cities.”
Ardmore chewed a thumbnail and looked frustrated. “You’re probably right. Well, confound it, we won’t get anywhere at all if we sit here worrying about the difficulties. I said we’d have to play by ear and that’s what we’ll do. The first job is to get a headquarters set up in Denver. Jeff, what are you going to need?”
Thomas frowned. “I don’t know. Money, I suppose.”
“No trouble about that,” said Wilkie. “How much? I can make you half a ton of gold as easily as half a pound.”
“I don’t think I can carry more than about fifty pounds.”
“I don’t think he can spend bullion very easily,” Ardmore commented. “It should be in coin.”
“I can use bullion,” Thomas insisted. “All I have to do is to take it to the Imperial bank. Panning gold is encouraged; our gracious masters charge one hell of a stiff seigniorage.”
Ardmore shook his head. “You’re missing the propaganda aspect. A priest in long robes and a flowing beard doesn’t whip out a check book and a fountain pen; it’s out of character. I don’t want you to have a bank account anyhow; it will give the enemy detailed records of just what you are doing. I want you to pay for things with beautiful, shiny golden coins, stacks of them. It will make a tremendous impression. Scheer, are you any good at counterfeiting?”
“I’ve never tried it, sir.”
“No time like the present. Every man needs an alternative profession. Jeff, you didn’t have any chance to pick up an Imperial gold coin, did you? We need a model.”
“No, I didn’t. But I suppose I could get one, if I sent word out among the hobos that I needed one.”
“I hate to wait. But you’ve got to have money to tackle Denver.”
“Does it have to be Imperial money?” asked Doctor Brooks.
“Eh?”
The biologist hauled a five dollar gold piece from his pocket. “Here’s a lucky piece I’ve carried since I was a kid. I guess this is a lucky time to let it go.”
“Hmm… How about it, Jeff? Can you pass American money?”
“Well, American paper money is no good, but gold coin—My guess is that those leeches probably won’t object, so long as it’s gold—at the bullion price, at least. I’m sure that Americans will take it.”
“We don’t care how much they discount it.” Ardmore took the coin and chucked it to Scheer. “How long will it take you to make forty or fifty pounds of those?”
The master sergeant studied it. “Not long if I pour them rather than stamp them. You want them all just alike, sir?”
“Why not?”
“Well, sir, there’s the matter of the date.”
“Oh! I get you. Well, that’s the only pattern we have; I guess we’ll just have to hope that they either won’t notice or won’t care.”
“If you can allow me just a little more time I think I could fix it, sir. I make about twenty or so with this as a pattern, then I’ll do a little hand work and put a different date on each one. That will give me twenty different patterns instead of one.”
“Scheer, you have the soul of an artist. Do it that way. While you are about it, you had better vary the scratches and wear marks on each.”
“I had thought of that, sir.”
Ardmore grinned. “This team is going to be a headache to His Imperial Nastiness yet. Well, how about it, Jeff? Any more points to settle before we adjourn the meeting?”
“Just one, boss. How do I get to Denver? Or how do we get there, assuming that Howe comes along?”
“I thought you would bring that up. It’s a sticky question; we can’t expect the Hand to provide you with a helicopter. How are your feet? Any broken arches? Corns and bunions?”
“I’ll be switched if I want to walk. It’s a long way.”
“Don’t blame you. And the devil of it is that it’s a problem we’re going to have with us from now on, if we are going to organize all over the country.”
“I don’t understand the difficulty,” put in Brooks. “I thought citizens were still allowed to ride anything but aircraft?”
“Sure—with travel permits and endless red tape. Never mind,” Ardmore continued, “the day will come when the costume of a priest of Mota will be all the travel permit we’ll need. If we work this right, we’ll be teacher’s pet with all sorts of special privileges. In the meantime the trick is to get Jeff into Denver without attracting undue attention and without wearing out his feet. Say, Jeff, you never did tell me how you traveled. Somehow we missed that.”
“I hitch-hiked. Quite a chore, too. Most of the truckers are too scared of the security police to risk it.”
“You did? You shouldn’t have, Jeff: The priests of Mota do not hitch-hike. It doesn’t fit in with miracle working.”
“Well, what do they do? Dawggone it, Major, if I had walked I would still be on the way—or more likely arrested by some flunky who hadn’t gotten the news yet.” Thomas’ face showed irritation most unusual in him.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t second-guess you. But we will have to figure out a better way.”
“Why don’t I just run him down in one of the scout cars?” asked Wilkie. “At night, of course.”
“Night doesn’t mean anything to radar, Bob. They would shoot you out of the sky.”
“I don’t think so. We have an almost unlimited amount of power at our disposal—sometimes it scares me when I try to think how much. I believe I can rig a radar beacon effect that will burn out any radar set that is turned on us.”
“Giving notice to the enemy that there is still someone around capable of hanky-panky with electronics? We mustn’t tip our hand so soon, Bob.”
Wilkie shut up, crestfallen. Ardmore thought it over. “And yet we’ve got to take chances. You rig your rig, Bob—then plan on hedgehopping all the way. We’ll do it about three or four o’clock in the morning and there’s a chance that you won’t be noticed at all. Use your rig if you have to but if you do then everyone is to return to base. The incident must not be connected with the priests of Mota, even in the matter of timing. The same applies after Wilkie sets you down, Jeff. If by any chance you are surprised, use the Ledbetter effect to kill off all the enemy anywhere close to you—then go underground. Jungle up. Under no circumstances is any PanAsian to be permitted to suspect that the priests of Mota are anything but what they seem. Kill off your witnesses and escape.”
“Right, boss.”
The little scout car hovered over Lookout Mountain a few feet away from Buffalo Bill’s grave. The door opened and a robed priest dropped to the ground, stumbling because of the heavy money belt slung from his shoulders and waist. A similar figure followed him and landed a bit more sure-footedly. “You all right, Jeff”
“Sure.”
Wilkie left the car on automatic long enough to lean out and say, “Good luck!”
“Thanks. But shut up and get going.”
“Okay.” The door closed and the car disappeared into the night.
It was growing light by the time Thomas and Howe reached the foot of the mountain and started into Denver. So far as they knew they had not been detected although once they had crouched in bushes for several minutes, afraid to breathe, while a patrol passed. Jeff had kept his staff ready, a thumb resting lightly on a golden leaf in the decorations below the cube of Mota. But the patrol passed on, unaware of the curbed lightnings trained on them.
Once in the city and in daylight they made no further attempt to avoid attention. Few PanAsians were about so early; members of the slave race scurried along the streets, on their way to their labors, but the master race still slept. The Americans who saw them stared briefly but did not stop them nor speak to them; native Americans had already learned the first law of police states: mind your own business; don’t be nosy!
Jeff delibera
tely sought out an encounter with a PanAsian policeman. He and Alec stepped down from the curb, switched on their shields and waited. No Americans were nearby; the presence of occupation police caused them to melt into walls. Jeff wet his lips and said “I’ll do the talking, Alec.”
“Suits me.”
“Here he comes. Oh, my god, Alec, switch on your halo!”
“Huh?” Howe reached a finger up under his turban behind his right ear; the halo, shimmering iridescent light, sprang into being over his head. It was a mere ionization effect, a parlor trick of the additional spectra, less mysterious than natural aurora—but it looked good.
“That’s better,” Jeff acknowledged, from the side of his mouth. “What’s the matter with your beard?”
“It keeps coming unstuck. I sweat.”
“Don’t let it come unstuck now! Here he comes—” Thomas struck the benediction pose; Howe followed suit. Jeff intoned, “Peace be unto you, Master!”
The Asiatic cop stopped. His knowledge of English was limited to halt, come along, and show your card; he depended on his club to keep the dogs in line. On the other hand he recognized the get up; it matched a picture on a notice newly posted in the barracks—this was one of the many silly things the slaves were allowed to do.
Still, a slave was a slave and must be kept in line. All slaves must bow; these slaves were not bowing. He cracked his club at the midriff of the nearer slave.
The nightstick bounced off before it reached the robed figure; the cop’s fingers tingled as if he swung on something quite hard. “Peace be unto you!” Jeff rumbled again and watched him narrowly. The fellow was armed with a vortex pistol; Jeff was not afraid of it but it was no part of his plan to let the creature discover that he was immune to the Emperor’s weapons. He was sorry that he had to use the shield against a blow from a stick and hoped that the PanAsian would not be able to believe the evidence of his own senses.
Certainly the man was startled. He looked at his stick, started to draw it back as if to swing again, then appeared to change his mind. He resorted to his meager supply of English. “Come along!”
Jeff raised his hand again. “Peace be unto you! It is not meet that the farjon should ripsnipe the cuskapads in the sight of the great lord Mota! Franchope!” He pointed to Howe.
The cop looked doubtful, then moved a few feet away to the street corner, glanced up and down and blew his whistle. Alec whispered, “What did you point to me for?”
“I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea. Watch it!”
Another cop came trotting up; the pair approached Howe and Thomas. The new one seemed to be in authority over the first; they held a short discussion in meaningless sing-song, then the later arrival came close, drawing his pistol as he did so. “You fellow boys, come along now quick!”
“Come, Alec.” Thomas fell in with the policemen, switching off his shield as he did so. He hoped that Alec would notice that he had done so and conform; it seemed a good notion not to advertise the existence of the shields—not yet, at least.
The PanAsian conducted them to the nearest police station. Jeff walked briskly along, giving unctuous blessings to one and all. As they neared the station the senior cop sent the other trotting on ahead. When the party arrived they found the officer in charge waiting in the doorway, apparently curious to see these queer fish his men had hooked.
He was both curious and very much on his toes; the officer knew the circumstances under which the unfortunate lieutenant who had first turned up these strange holy men had gone to his ancestors. He was determined not to make a mistake which would cause him to lose face.
Jeff marched up to him, struck his pose and said, “Peace be unto you! Master, I have a complaint to make about your servants. They have stopped us from carrying out our holy work, work which is blessed by His Serene Highness himself, the Imperial Hand!”
The officer fingered his swagger stick, then spoke in his own language to his subordinates. He turned back to Jeff. “Who are you?”
“A priest of the great god Mota.”
The PanAsian asked the same question of Alec; Jeff interceded. “Master,” he said hastily, “he is a most holy man who has taken a vow of silence. If you force him to break it the sin will be on your head.”
The officer hesitated. The bulletin concerning these crazy savages had been most pointed, but it had given no clear precedents for dealing with them. He hated to establish precedents; those who did so were sometimes promoted, more frequently they joined their ancestors. “He need not break his holy vow. But show me your cards, both of you.”
Jeff looked amazed. “We are humble, nameless holy men, serving the great god Mota. What have we to do with such?”
“Hurry up!”
Jeff tried to look sad rather than nervous. He had rehearsed this speech in his mind; much depended on it getting across. “I am sorry for you, young Master. I will pray to Mota on your behalf. But now I must insist that you take me before the Hand of the Emperor—at once!”
“That’s impossible.”
“His Highness has seen me before; he will see me again. The Hand of the Emperor is always ready to see the servers of the great god Mota.”
The officer looked at him, turned and went back into the station house. They waited.
“Do you suppose he’ll actually have us taken before the prince?” Howe whispered.
“I hope not. I don’t think so.”
“Well, what will you do if he does?”
“Whatever I have to. Shut up—you’re supposed to be under a vow of silence.”
The officer came back after several minutes and said curtly, “You are free to go.”
“To the Imperial Hand?” Jeff inquired maliciously.
“No, no! Just go. Get out of my district.”
Jeff stepped back one pace and delivered a last benediction. The two “priests” turned away. From the corner of his eye Jeff saw the officer lift his swagger stick and cut savagely at the senior of the two policemen; he pretended not to see. He walked about a block before he spoke to Howe. “There! We should have no more trouble for a while.”
“How do you figure? You sure got him sore at us.”
“That’s not the point. We can’t afford to have him or any other cop thinking he can push us around like the others. By the time we have gone three blocks the word will be all over town that I’m back and to lay off. That’s the way we’ve got to have it.”
“Maybe so. I still think it’s dangerous to have the cops on the alert for us.”
“You don’t understand,” Jeff said impatiently. “There isn’t any other safe way to do it. Cops are cops, no matter what is the color of their skin. They deal in fear and they understand fear. Once they understand we can’t be touched, that it is very bad medicine to bother us, they’ll be as polite to us as they are to their superiors. You’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I’m right. Cops are cops. Pretty soon we’ll have them on our payroll. Oh, oh! Watch it, Alec—here comes another one.” A PanAsian policeman was dogtrotting up behind them. However, instead of overtaking them or calling to them to halt, he crossed over and kept abreast with them on the other side of the street. He ignored them determinedly.
“What’s up, d’you think, Jeff?”
“We’re being chaperoned. A good thing; Alec—the rest of the monkeys won’t bother us now. We’ll just get on with our job. You know this town pretty well, don’t you? Where do you think we ought to locate the temple?”
“I guess that depends on what you are looking for.”
“I don’t know exactly.” He stopped and wiped sweat from his face; the robes were hot and the money belt made it worse. “Now that I’m here, this whole deal seems silly. I guess I wasn’t meant to be a secret agent. How about out in the west end, in the expensive neighborhood? We want to make a big impression.”
“No, I don’t think so, Jeff. There are just two kinds of people out in the rich neighborhoods now.”
>
“Yes?”
“PanAsians and traitors—black market dealers and other sorts of collaborationists.”
Thomas looked shocked. “I guess I’ve been out of circulation too long. Alec, until this very minute it never occurred to me that an American—any American—would go along with the invaders.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have believed it either, if I hadn’t seen it. I guess some people will do anything, born pimps.”
They settled on an empty warehouse downtown near the river in a populous, poor neighborhood. The area had long been rundown; now it was depressed. Three out of four shops were boarded up; trade had stagnated. The building was one of many empty warehouses; Thomas picked it because of its almost cubical shape, matching that of the mother temple and the cube on his staff, and the fact that it was detached from other buildings by an alley on one side and a vacant lot on the other.
The main door was broken. They peered in, entered and snooped around. The place was a mess but the plumbing was intact and the walls were sound. The ground floor was a single room with a twenty foot ceiling and few pillars; it would do for “worship.”
“I think it will do,” Jeff decided. A rat jumped out of a pile of rubbish heaped against one wall. Almost absentmindedly he trained his staff on it; the animal leaped high and dropped dead. “How do we go about buying it?”
“Americans can’t own real estate. We’ll have to find out what official holds the squeeze on it.”
“That oughtn’t to be hard.” They went outside; their police chaperone waited across the street. He looked the other way.
The streets were fairly well filled by now, even in this neighborhood. Thomas reached out and snagged a passing boy—a child of not more than twelve but with the bitter, knowing eyes of a cynical man. “Peace be unto you, son. Who rents this building?”
“Hey, you let go of me!”
“I mean you no harm.” He handed the boy one of Scheer’s best five dollar gold pieces.
The boy looked at it, let his eyes slide past them to the Asiatic guard across the street. The PanAsian did not seem to be watching; the lad caused the coin to disappear. “Better see Konsky. He has all the angles on things like that.”
Sixth Column Page 10