Free The Universe Maker by A. E. van Vogt Page A

methods."
    There was a light of understanding in Lela's eyes. "You mean those Russes?" she asked.
    Cargill agreed. "Yep, the Russes."
    "They sure fixed those," said Lela.
    Cargill, who had already heard how the fixing took place, did not pursue the subject The great land mass had been divided into forty separate states. The fall of Sovietism produced a resurgence of religion on a singularly primitive level. It was a feudalistic disaster, product of the usual fears of a mentally sick hierarchy, uncreative, and so completely suppressive that the genius of half the people of earth had already been lost for two hundred years.
    Cargill explained: "For us, the best thing to do would be to start off with a barrage of propaganda—and then wait to see what happens. The fight," he smiled grimly,
    " comes last." He turned back to the TV set, saying as he did so: "Well take the first step right now."
    By the fifth day of his broadcasts, Cargill began to have a queer feeling of unreality. He seemed to be talking into emptiness. For the first time in his life he understood how people must have felt in the early days of radio with only a microphone to stare at. What he lacked was a Hooper rating. There was -no mail to bring an awareness of audience response, no surveys of any kind to encourage him. But in spite of his doubts he kept on.
    Thirty days drifted by. On the morning of the thirty-first day, just as Cargill finished his propaganda talk, a man's face appeared on his TV plate. He was a cunning-looking individual about forty-five years old.
    "I want to talk to you," he said.
    A trap? Cargill's fingers hovered over the dial that would cut him off the air. He hesitated and the stranger had time to say, "My name is Guthrie. I want to talk to you about this rabble-rousing you've been doing."
    He looked and sounded like a boss. He was a typical rough older Planiac and his words were sweet music to Cargill. But it was not yet time to talk.
    "I'm not interested," said Cargill.
    He broke the connection.
    From that moment he began to name places where his supporters should meet and get together. It was dangerous but then so was being alive. What would save the great majority from counteraction was that each floater was armed with a mounted spit gun.
    The days passed. Late one afternoon, Lela came briefly out of the control room. "It's going to be dark by the time we get to the lake," she said.
    Cargill smiled. "Which lake do you mean?" He added quickly, "Never mind. I'm just amazed constantly at the way you pick out these places."
    "It isn't anything," said the girl. And she meant it. "I've been watching this country since I was a baby. I know it like the palm of my hand."
    "Better, I'll wager," said Cargill.
    They came in low over the trees and landed in a clearing with the aid of their searchlight. As Cargill started to open the door a spit gun flared in the darkness. What saved him was that he was behind the door. The energy spat past him and made a thunderous sound as it struck the metal corridor wall. The door smoked from the terrific heat. He had a sense of suffocation. Under him the ship began to lift. And then, once more, there was a sunlike glare—only this time the blow was delivered farther back, near the rear of the machine. The floater faltered and, as Cargill at last got the door shut, sagged back to the ground. It struck with a jar unlike anything that Cargill had ever experienced. He hurried to the control room and found Lela manning their spit gun.
    She was very pale. " Those scum ," she said, "have wrecked us."
    The dawn light filtered through the turgid glass. It was dull at first, little more than a lighter shade of darkness, but it grew bright. From the control room Cargill could see the dark areas outside lightening. To his right was the gray horizon of the lake with the far shore hazed in mist.
    From where she sat, manning the ship's powerful spit gun, Lela said, "It's bright enough now. Try and lift her again."
    It was