Free Our Friends From Frolix 8 by Philip K Dick Page B

disassociate yourself from this?’
    ‘No sir,’ Barnes said respectfully.
    ‘All right.’ Gram nodded. ‘Get hold of Amos Ild as soon as possible, make sure he understands that it’s a state secret, and ask him to get started on an artificial analogue to Cordon’s brain. Get the encephalograms cranking out, or however it is they go about it.’
    ‘Encephalograms,’ Barnes said, nodding in agreement. ‘A massive, intensive study of Cordon’s mind – brain, whichever.’
    Gram said, ‘You’ve got to remember the image Irma hasvis-à-vis the public. We know what she’s really like, but they think of her as a kindly, generous, philanthropic do-gooder who sponsors charities and generally beautifying public works, such as floating gardens in the sky. But we know—’
    ‘So,’ Barnes interrupted, ‘the public will think that Cordon has murdered a harmless, loving person. A terrible crime, even in the eyes of Under Men. Everyone will be glad when Cordon is “killed” immediately after his vicious, senseless act. That is, if Ild’s brain is good enough to fool the Unusuals, the telepaths.’ In his mind he could imagine the synthetic brain sending Cordon ricocheting about the hanging arena, mowing people down by the hundreds.
    ‘No,’ Gram said, picking up his thoughts once again. ‘We’ll gun him down immediately. There’s no chance of a foul-up there. Sixteen armed men, all crack shots, will fire on him instantaneously.’
    ‘Instantaneously,’ Barnes said dryly, ‘after he’s managed to shoot one particular person out of a crowd of thousands. He would have to be a damn good shot.’
    ‘But they’ll think he was after me,’ Gram reminded him. ‘And I’ll be sitting in the front row… Irma with me.’
    ‘In any case, he isn’t going to be gunned down “instantaneously”,’ Barnes pointed out. ‘A second or two will have to elapse, while he makes his shot. And if he’s a little off – you’re sitting right beside her.’
    ‘Hm,’ Gram said, chewing his lip.
    ‘A slip of inches,’ Barnes said, ‘and it would be you, not Irma. I think your attempt to combine your problems with the Under Men and Cordon and your problems with Irma into one big colorful operatic smash-finale is a little too—’ He pondered. ‘There’s a Greek word for it.’
    ‘
Terpsichore
,’ Gram said.
    ‘No,’ Barnes said. ‘
Hubris.
Trying too much; going too far.’
    ‘I still agree with Council Chairman Gram,’ Alice Noyes said in her brisk, cold-crimson voice. ‘Admittedly, it’s daring. But it will solve so much. A man who rules, as does the Council Chairman, must be able to make such a decision,to try daring maneuvers to keep the structure functioning. In this one act—’
    ‘I’m resigning as Police Director,’ Barnes said.
    ‘Why?’ Gram asked, surprised; obviously no thoughts passing through Barnes’ mind had forewarned him of this – the decision came out of nowhere.
    ‘Because it will probably mean your death,’ Barnes said. ‘Because Amos Ild will program it to get you, not Irma.’
    ‘I have an idea,’ Alice Noyes said. ‘As Cordon is led to the center of the arena, Irma Gram will descend from her place, carrying one white rose. She will hold it out to Cordon, and at that moment he will grab a weapon from a too-lax guard and shoot her.’ She smiled thinly, her usually dim eyes glittering. ‘That ought to undermine them forever. An act of senseless viciousness like that; only a madman would kill a woman bringing him a white rose.’
    ‘Why white?’ Barnes asked.
    ‘Why what white?’ Noyes asked.
    ‘The rose, the goddam rose.’
    ‘Because it’s a symbol of innocence,’ Noyes said.
    Willis Gram, still chewing on his lip, still scowling, said, ‘No, that won’t do. He’s got to seem to be trying to get me, because he would have a motive for getting me. But what motive would he have for killing Irma?’
    ‘To kill she, who you most love.’
    Barnes laughed.
    ‘What’s