Panting, he staggered erect and tried to assess the damages. Except for bruises, there weren't any. His three assailants hadn't had the time for a complete mauling. He brushed at his street-grimed clothing with shaking hands.
He looked around. Down the avenue he heard another order to halt but, unless his rescuer was actually willing to shoot, he wasn't going to have much luck.
Only a few doors down was the entrance to a prole autobar. He staggered toward it, still brushing his jacket. Just before he entered, he straightened up as best he could, but the attempt was needless. The sorry little bistro was empty of customers.
He fumbled himself into a chair at the first table he could get to and for a time sat there, catching his breath. For all he knew, the police officer would return and pick him up on general principles, and before he could make adequate explanations, he might wind up in the banger. He might even louse up his schedule and miss the Newark meeting.
He brought forth his Universal Credit Card, put it into the table payment slot, and dialed a syntho-beer. He knew that his monthly GAS credits were low and there were several days to go before next month's deposit was credited to his account, but he needed that drink. Largely, national organizers of the Wobblies had to be self- supporting. The membership made minor contributions to the National Fund, but since they were all on GAS themselves and needed their credits for their own survival, it couldn't be much.
The beer had come and he had taken his initial swallow before the newcomer entered the autobar, looked around, and then descended on his table.
Roy Cos brought his gaze up. He had expected a uniform, but the other was in ordinary garb. Then Roy recognized him. He was the note-taking stranger.
The gray-faced man couldn't have weighed more than fifty kilos. He wore a wispy mustache, in a day when facial hair was long out of style, and his faded eyes had a perpetual squint. He slid into the chair opposite Roy.
Roy said, in resignation, 'I thought you were an IABI man. But thanks, anyway. You came up like the Seventh cavalry rescuing the wagon train.'
'Who, me?' the other said in false innocence, dialing for a drink. He looked at Roy's beer. 'You look as though you could use something stronger than that. How about a whiskey?'
'Can't afford it. You mean you're not a cop?'
'No, I'm a reporter. And I
Roy eyed him. 'What was all that about, 'Halt, or I fire'?'
The other grunted sour amusement and fished a package of cigarettes from a side pocket. 'If I'd shouted, 'Halt or I'll write,' they'd be kicking my butt right now. I figured they'd hardly hang around demanding to see my badge.'
He stuck a smoke into his thin pale mouth and lit it with a lighter. To Roy's surprise, it wasn't marijuana, but tobacco. You couldn't mistake the odor of this forbidden narcotic.
Roy said, 'Well, thanks again. You think you ought to be smoking like that in a public place?'
'There's nobody here but us. What happened?'
'You know as much about it as I do. I suppose it was those three hecklers. Who in the hell are you?'
The other extended a scrawny hand. 'Forrest Brown. Call me Forry. I'm from the local area Tri-Di news—stuff that you don't get on the national networks.'
As they shook hands, Roy said, 'You're a news commentator?'
Brown shook his head. The smoke drifted up his face from the cigarette that drooped in his mouth, making him squint still more.
'Just a leg man. Oh, I go on video occasionally, when one of the regular men is off. But I never reached commentator level. I suppose I wasn't pretty enough. You've got to project personality to hit commentator level.'
The center of the table had sunk and returned with the whiskey. Roy took a glass, still shaky, and said in defiance, 'Here's to the revolution,' and knocked it all back.
The gray little man nodded and swallowed a third of his own booze. 'You think it'll ever come—at this rate?'
Roy ignored that and focused on his job again with professional ease. 'You were going to do a story on the Wobbly movement?'
The other shook his head. 'No, actually I just stopped by your meeting from sheer boredom. I had nothing else to do.'
Roy was bitter. 'The conspiracy of silence, eh? It's like pulling teeth to get any of our meetings or demands into the news. But what should 1 expect? The news media are owned by the enemy.'
But Forry Brown shook his head again. 'You people overemphasize that. Oh, it applies to a certain extent. Word from above is to not give too much coverage to any minority organizations. Not just your Wobblies, but the Neo-Nihilists, the Libertarians, the Luddites, the Gay Libbers, and all the rest. But there's no taboo, no conspiracy of total silence. The thing is, you people aren't news. Nobody cares about your programs. They want something exciting. You're not exciting. A good murder, some scandal about the latest Tri-Di sex symbol, government corruption, one of the bush wars in Africa or Asia, even a hurricane or earthquake, bring in more viewers than some yawner about a Wobbly meeting attended by fifteen people. But that isn't the big reason I'm not filing a story on you, even after you were attacked by members of your audience. If they'd killed you, maybe somebody would have a story.' He took another cigarette and lit it from the butt of his last.
Roy Cos forgot his bruises temporarily and said, 'Damn it,
I'd almost be willing. How can we present our program to the people if we can't get any media coverage?'
The little man's grimace was sour. 'Wish I could help you, but just this morning the computers spelled me down. I'm surprised that I was able to hang on this long, even as a second-rate legman in a backwater Tri-Di area. It's not enough being selected by the damned computers for a job. Each year a new batch of journalism graduates apply for positions. As you said in your talk, over ninety percent of the population is unemployed. We who have jobs try desperately to hang onto them, and sometimes the experience we've accumulated helps out. But sooner or later some new kid with a higher Ability Quotient steps into your boots.' He shrugged. 'I've been expecting the axe for a long time.'
Roy Cos had never held a job in his life—not that he hadn't religiously applied each year. He said, in compassion, 'I'm sorry. What happens now? Do you get a pension or something from your Tri-Di network?'
The other snorted and finished his drink. 'Hell, no. I go back on GAS. Theoretically, I should've saved a portion of the pseudo-dollar credits I earned while I was working and invested them in Variable Basic government stock, or one of the private corporations. The dividends would supplement my GAS.' He snorted again, took his cigarette from his mouth and looked at it. 'I'm afraid I developed some expensive habits. Lady Nicotine doesn't come cheap these days.'
The Wobbly organizer took him in. He had never met anyone before who was actually hooked on tobacco. He didn't move in the circles that could afford it. He also had the usual prejudice against the use of the poisonous weed.
Roy said, 'Why didn't you ever take the cure?'
Brown laughed dryly. 'Because, once you take it, you're allergic to nicotine for the rest of your life. I guess I didn't really want to be cured. I like to eat better than you proles can afford, like to drink better, travel better. I even took a trip around the world once and I've been in Europe a couple of times. Free rocket shuttle fare as a newsman, but the other expenses were largely on me. You ought to see some of the bordellos they have in the East.' He sighed. 'That's one thing they'll never automate. Knock on wood.'
As a Wobbly, Roy Cos didn't approve of prostitution any more than he did of the deadly nicotine, so underneath was a certain smug satisfaction when he said, 'So now you're in the same position as all the rest of us. You should join the Wobbly movement.'
Brown ground out his cigarette and brought forth another. 'Not me,' he said. 'What I've got to do is dream up some other manner of supporting my vices.'
Roy switched subjects, knowing the unlikelihood of the ex-newsman ever accomplishing that. 'Any idea how we could get more media coverage? It's a sore point with us. When those old American revolutionists wrote the
