Messiah

directors' meeting.

'It's about right,' he said complacently, coming to a full stop at the files. 'We don't actually know the figures of places without proper Centers like the Latin countries where we are undergoing a bit of persecution. But the statistics for this country are exact.'

'It's hard to believe.' I looked at the figure which represented so many human beings, so much diversity, all touched by one man. 'Less than three years…'

'Three more years and we'll have most of Europe too.'

'Why, I wonder?'

'Why?' He slammed shut the cabinet drawer which he'd been examining. He looked at me sharply. 'You of all people ask why? Cavesword… and all your words too, did the trick. That's what. We've said what they wanted to hear… just the opposite of my old game of publicity where we said what -we wanted them to hear. This time it's just the other way around and it's big, ah, it's big.'

I could agree with that but I pressed him further. 'I know what's happened, of course, and your theory is certainly correct if only because had we said the opposite of what they wanted to hear nothing would have happened. But the question in my mind, the real 'why,' is Cave and us. Why we of all the people in the world? Cavesword, between us and any school of philosophy, is not new. Others have said it more eloquently. In the past it was a reasonably popular heresy which the early popes stamped out…'

'Timing! The right man at the right time saying the right thing. Remember the piece you did on Mohammed…'

'I stole most of it.'

'So what? Most effective. You figured how only at that one moment in Arabian political history could such a man have appeared.'

I smiled. 'That is always the folly of the 'one unique moment.' For all I know such a man could have appeared in any of a hundred other Arab generations.'

'But he never did except that one time… which proves the point.'

I let it go. Paul was at best not the ideal partner in the perennial conversation. 'There is no doubt but that Cave's the man,' I said, neutrally. 'Not the last of the line but at least the most effective, considering the shortness of the mission so far.'

'We have the means. The old people didn't. Every man, woman, and child in this country can see Cave for themselves, and at the same moment. I don't suppose ten thousand people saw Christ in action… it took a generation for news of him to travel from one country to the next.'

'Parallels break down,' I agreed. 'It's the reason I wonder so continually about Cave and ourselves and what we are doing in the world.'

'We're doing good. The people are losing their fear of death. Last month there were twelve hundred suicides in this country directly attributable to Cavesword. And these people didn't kill themselves just because they were unhappy, they killed themselves because he had made it easy, even desirable. Now you know there's never been anybody like that before in history, anywhere.'

'I'll say not.' I was startled by the figure he had quoted.

In our Journal we were always reporting various prominent suicides and, though I had given orders to minimize these voluntary deaths, I had been forced every now and then to record the details of one or another of them. But I'd had no idea there had been so many. I asked Paul if he was quite sure of the number.

'Oh yes.' He was blithe. 'At least that many we know of.'

'I wonder if it's wise.'

'Wise? What's that got to do with it? It's logical. It's the proof of Cavesword. Death is fine so why not die?'

'Why not live?'

'It's the same thing.'

'I would say not.'

'Well, you ought to play it up a little more anyway. I meant to talk about it at the last directors' meeting but there wasn't time.'

'Does Cave know about this? About the extent…'

'Sure does.' Paul headed for the door. 'He thinks it's fine. Proves what he says and it gives other people nerve. This thing is working.'

There was no doubt about that of course. It is hard, precisely, to give the sense of those two years when the main work got done in a series of toppling waves which swept into history the remaining edifices of other faiths and institutions. I had no real first-hand impressions of the country for I seldom stirred from our headquarters.

I'd sold the house on the river. I had cut off all contacts with old friends and my life, simply, was Cave. I edited the Journal, or rather presided over the editors. I discussed points of doctrine with the various Residents who came to see me in the yellow tower. They were devoted men and their enthusiasm was heartening, if not always communicable to me. Each week was published further commentaries on Cavesword and I found my time grew short if I tried to read them all. I contented myself, finally, with synopses prepared for me by the Journal's staff and I felt like a television emperor keeping abreast of contemporary letters, but there was not enough time, as it was, in which to contemplate the great things. Once a week we all dined with Cave. Except for that informal occasion we seldom saw him; though he complained continually about his captivity (and it was exactly that; we were all captives to some degree), he was cheerful enough. Paul saw to it that he was kept busy all day addressing Residents and Communicators, answering their questions, firing them by the mere fact of his presence. It was quite common for strangers to faint upon seeing him for the first time, as a man and not as a figure on a bit of film. He was good-natured, though occasionally embarrassed by the chosen groups which were admitted to him. He seldom talked privately to any of them, however, and he showed not the faintest interest in their problems, not even bothering to learn their names. He was only interested in where they were from and Paul, aware of this, as an added inducement to keep Cave amenable, took to including each group at least one Cavite from some far place like Malaya or Ceylon.

Iris was busiest of all. She had become, without design or preparation, the head of all the Cavite schools throughout the country where the various Communicators of Cavesword were trained, thousands of them each year, in a course which included not only Cavesword but history and psychology as well. There were also special classes in television-producing and acting. Television, finally, was the key. It was the primary instrument of communication. Later, with a subservient government and the aid of mental therapists and new drugs, television became less necessary but, in the beginning, it was everything.

Clarissa's role was, as always, enigmatic. She appeared when she pleased and she disappeared when she pleased. I discovered that her position among the directors was due to her possession of the largest single block of stock, dating back to the first days. During the crucial two or three years, however, she was often with us merely for protection since all our lives had been proscribed by the last remnants of the old churches who, as their dominion shrank, fought more and more recklessly to destroy us.

Stokharin spent his days much like Iris, instructing the Communicators and Center-therapists in psychology. His power over Paul had fortunately waned and he was far more likeable: Paul was 'freed,' Stokharin would say with some satisfaction, due to therapy… and a new father-image.

Less than two years after the Congressional hearings, Paul, in his devious way, entered politics and in the following Congressional elections, without much overt campaigning on our part, the majority of those elected to both Houses of the Congress were either Cavite or sympathetic.

3

At last I have met him. Early this evening I went downstairs to see the manager about an item on my bill which was incorrect. I had thought that I should be safe for this was the time when most of the hotel guests are bathing and preparing for dinner. Unfortunately, I encountered Butler and his newly arrived colleague in the center of the lobby. I suddenly found myself attempting, by an effort of will, very simply to vanish into smoke like one of those