Free Tactics of Mistake by Gordon R. Dickson Page A

more effective in his own work. You know what you can do now, Cletus. Think what you might be able to do if you could make use of all we can teach you!”
    Cletus shook his head again.
    â€œIf you turn us down,” said Mondar, “it signals a danger to you, Cletus. It signals an unconscious desire on your part to go the deCastries way—to let yourself be caught up by the excitement of directly manipulating people and situations instead of dealing with what’s much more valuable, but less emotionally stimulating—the struggle with ideas to find principles that’ll lift people eventually above and beyond manipulation.”
    Cletus laughed, a little grimly. “Tell me,” he said, “isn’t it true that you Exotics won’t carry or use weapons yourself, even in self-defense? And that’s why you hire mercenaries like the Dorsai, or make agreements with political groups like the Alliance to defend yourselves?”
    â€œYes—but not for the reason most people think, Cletus,” said Mondar, swiftly. “We haven’t any moral objection to fighting. It’s just that the emotions involved interfere with clear thinking, so people like myself prefer not to touch weapons. But there’s no compulsion on our people on this. If you want to write your work on military tactics, or even keep and carry guns—”
    â€œI don’t think you follow me,” said Cletus. “Eachan Khan told me something. You remember when you were in the command car after it overturned, earlier today, and he suggested you not let yourself be taken alive by the Neulander guerrillas—for obvious reasons? You answered that you could always die. ‘ No man ,’ you said, ‘ commands this body but myself .’ “
    â€œAnd you think suicide is a form of violence—”
    â€œNo,” said Cletus. “I’m trying to explain to you why I’d never make an Exotic. In your calmness in the face of possible torture and the need to kill yourself, you were showing a particular form of ruthlessness. It was ruthlessness toward yourself—but that’s only the back side of the coin. You Exotics are essentially ruthless toward all men, because you’re philosophers, and by and large, philosophers are ruthless people.”
    â€œCletus!” Mondar shook his head. “Do you realize what you’re saying?”
    â€œOf course,” said Cletus, quietly. “And you realize it as well as I do. The immediate teaching of philosophers may be gentle, but the theory behind their teaching is without compunction—and that’s why so much bloodshed and misery has always attended the paths of their followers, who claim to live by those teachings. More blood’s been spilled by the militant adherents of prophets of change than by any other group of people down through the history of man.”
    â€œNo Exotic spills blood,” said Mondar, softly.
    â€œNot directly, no,” said Cletus. “But to achieve the future you dream of means the obliteration of the present as we know it now. You may say your aim’s changed from revolution to evolution, but your goal is still the destruction of what we have now to make room for something different. You work to destroy what presently is—and that takes a ruthlessness that’s not my way—that I don’t agree with.” He stopped speaking.
    Mondar met his eyes for a long moment. “Cletus,” said Mondar at last, “can you be that sure of yourself?”
    â€œYes,” said Cletus. “I’m afraid I can.” He turned toward the door. As he reached the door and put his hand on its button, he turned back.
    â€œThanks all the same, Mondar,” he said. “You and your Exotics may end up going my way. But I won’t go yours. Good night.” He opened the door.
    â€œCletus,” said Mondar, behind him, “if you refuse us now, you do it at