Kuttner, Henry The Portal in the Picture

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I stepped out of them without even looking down.
"You'll do as you're told," he said, just to make clear he wasn't conceding
anything. "It isn't that easy. You're right to rely on your mob but don't rely too
much. I can always disperse them if they push me too far. I'd prefer not to, but it's
within my power to do so. I'll refrain only so long as it's more convenient to
refrain. Do you understand that?"
"I see what you mean," I said.
"Very well. You and Clia will return to Paradise. A public ceremony is being
organized now for that purpose. You may go on one condition." He exhaled
loudly through his nose.
"On one condition," he repeated. "That is that you address the crowd before you
go. A short speech is being prepared for you. The people must be instructed to
disperse quietly. They must be told they have sinned in allowing the fatal treason
of curiosity to overcome them. The great Alchemist is displeased with them all.
"That must be made clear. A few moral truths about obeying the priesthood and
doubling their contributions to the Temple as a sign of true repentance will be
incorporated in your speech. After that I believe they'll go quietly."
I looked at him thoughtfully. Maybe they would. I couldn't be sure, but I rather
felt they would. It was clever of the Hierarch. Certainly it put Coriole right back in
his place. He had tried to crowd me into a position of public savior which I wasn't
at all ready to assume. This was the only way I could think of that would get me
out of it.
But it made me feel very uncomfortable. Nobody could say I'd encouraged all
those people to stick their necks out by following me to the Temple. I'd done
everything I could to get rid of them. True, now that they were here they were
very useful, but I hadn't asked them to follow me.
I didn't owe them anything. I'd been deftly maneuvered into this spot and, if I
could be maneuvered out again, that was a matter between Coriole and the
Hierarch. I was a tool and it suited me fine.
Then I remembered Uncle Jim and my discomfort deepened.
When you came right down to it this is what Uncle Jim had done, too. Pitched
into Malesco unintentionally, he had accumulated a band of followers, taken on
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hostages to fortune at least I'd managed to avoid that and eventually deserted
when things became more rugged than he could take. Now the pattern was
repeating itself.
"You have no choice, of course," the Hierarch put in neatly at this point. "Your
refusal would simply mean the deaths of the people. I'd rather not wipe out your
misguided followers, but if I must I can. Remember, this is my world, not yours. I
rule Malesco."
He pulled in his chins and gave me an orgulous look. I shrugged. He was perfectly
right. It was his world. I didn't want Malesco. All I wanted was to get back to New
York with Lorna. And this was the easiest way to do it.
"It's the people's problem," I assured myself. "They haven't any right to expect
some magic deliverer from another world to turn up and solve everything for
them. If I lay an easy solution in their laps they won't value it. You've got to work
out your own problems before you get any good from them. That's one of the first
lessons in life."
"If you have any notions," the Hierarch said at this point, "that you can burst into
inspired speech at the last moment, please forget them."
I blinked at him. That hadn't occurred to me. He was overestimating my concern
for the people of Malesco.
"Remember I control all the mechanistic resources of this world," he reminded
me. "The people can't possibly overthrow me. It's no kindness to encourage them
to try. Surely you can see that."
I did, all right. I glanced at Lorna, who had been unexpectedly silent. She wasn't
following the conversation at all. From the moment she saw a pack of cigarettes
emerge from my pocket it was clear that one devouring desire had taken control
of her. But she seemed to be too afraid of the Hierarch to say anything. There was
no help to be gained from her. She didn't even know what we were saying.
I sighed uncomfortably. "All right," I said. "Let's get started. I'll make your speech
for you." And I began stuffing my empty pockets back into place to give myself
something to do.
Chapter XV
I STOOD on the stage of the biggest theatre I'd ever played in and got ready for the
largest audience. The average legitimate theatre in New York is a tiny place and it
holds comparatively few people at a time.
But this vast, long chamber with the painted walls would more than contain the
crowd I had left in the square before the Temple. I shuffled my feet on the golden
stage and wished the ordeal were over.
Lorna was beside me, making nervous adjustments of her robes. The Hierarch sat
on a hideous gold throne, even more encrusted with ornament than his desk
upstairs. There were priests and priests and more priests everywhere I looked,
but the people hadn't come in yet. The doors were closed.
This was the dais below the great circular screen that opened upon Earth. It was
just a window now. Through it I could see over the rooftops the great watery [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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