«You did all right at the skyfield yesterday without rehearsal. This is just more of the same old hoke: I want you to do it the same way.»
Bonforte's personality was coming through stronger the longer Corpsman stalled; I think Clifton could see that I was about to cloud up and storm, for he said, «Oh, for Pete's sake, Bill! Hand him the speech.»
Corpsman snorted and threw the sheets at me. In free fall they sailed but the air spread them wide. Penny gathered them together, sorted them, and gave them to me. I thanked her, said nothing more, and started to read.
I skimmed through it in a fraction of the time it would take to deliver it. Finally I finished and looked up.
«Well?» said Rog.
«About five minutes of this concerns the adoption. The rest is an argument for the policies of the Expansionist Party. Pretty much the same as I've heard in the speeches you've had me study.»
«Yes,» agreed Clifton. «The adoption is the hook we hang the rest on. As you know, we expect to force a vote of confidence before long.»
«I understand. You can't miss this chance to beat the drum. Well, it's all right, but — »
«But what? What's worrying you?»
«Well — characterization. In several places the wording should be changed. It's not the way
Corpsman exploded with a word unnecessary in the presence of a lady; I gave him a cold glance. «Now see here, Smythe,» he went on, «who knows how Bonforte would say it? You? Or the man who has been writing his speeches the past four years?»
I tried to keep my temper; he had a point. «It is nevertheless the case,» I answered, «that a line which looks okay in print may not deliver well. Mr. Bonforte is a great orator, I have already learned. He belongs with Webster, Churchill, and Demosthenes — a rolling grandeur expressed in simple words. Now take this word “intransigent,” which you have used twice. I might say that, but I have a weakness for polysyllables; I like to exhibit my literary erudition. But Mr. Bonforte would say “stubborn” or “mulish” or “pigheaded.” The reason he would is, naturally, that they convey emotion much more effectively.»
«You see that you make the delivery effective! I'll worry about the words.»
«You don't understand, Bill. I don't care whether the speech is politically effective or not; my job is to carry out a characterization. I can't do that if I put into the mouth of the character words that he would never use; it would sound as forced and phony as a goat spouting Greek. But if I read the speech in words he
«Listen, Smythe, you're not hired to write speeches. You're hired to — »
«Hold it, Bill!» Dak cut in. «And a little less of that “Smythe” stuff, too. Well, Rog? How about it?»
Clifton said, «As I understand it, Chief, your only objection is to some of the phrasing?»
«Well, yes. I'd suggest cutting out that personal attack on Mr. Quiroga, too, and the insinuation about his financial backers. It doesn't sound like real Bonforte to me.»
He looked sheepish. «That's a bit I put in myself. But you may be right. He always gives a man the benefit of the doubt.» He remained silent for a moment. «You make the changes you think you have to. We'll can it and look at the playback. We can always clip it — or even cancel completely “due to technical difficulties.”» He smiled grimly. «That's what we'll do, Bill.»
«Damn it, this is a ridiculous example of — »
«That's how it is going to be, Bill.»
Corpsman left the room very suddenly. Clifton sighed. «Bill always has hated the notion that anybody but Mr. B. could give him instructions. But he's an able man. Uh, Chief, how soon can you be ready to record? We patch in at sixteen hundred.»
«I don't know. I'll be ready in time.»
Penny followed me back into my office. When she closed the door I said, «I won't need you for the next hour or so, Penny child. But you might ask Doc for more of those pills. I may need them.»
«Yes, sir.» She floated with her back to the door. «Chief?»
«Yes, Penny?»
«I just wanted to say don't believe what Bill said about writing his speeches!»
«I didn't. I've heard his speeches — and I've read this.»
«Oh, Bill does submit drafts, lots of times. So does Rog. I've even done it myself. He —
«I believe you. I wish he had written this one ahead of time.»
«You just do your best!»
I did. I started out simply substituting synonyms, putting in the gutty Germanic words in place of the «intestinal» Latin jawbreakers. Then I got excited and red in the face and tore it to pieces. It's a lot of fun for an actor to mess around with lines; he doesn't get the chance very often.
I used no one but Penny for my audience and made sure from Dak that I was not being tapped elsewhere in the ship — though I suspect that the big-boned galoot cheated on me and listened in himself. I had Penny in tears in the first three minutes; by the time I finished (twenty-eight and a half minutes, just time for station announcements, she was limp). I took no liberties with the straight Expansionist doctrine, as proclaimed by its official prophet, the Right Honorable John Joseph Bonforte; I simply reconstructed his message and his delivery, largely out of phrases from other speeches.
Here's an odd thing — I believed every word of it while I was talking.
But, brother, I made a speech!
Afterwards we all listened to the playback, complete with full stereo of myself. Jimmie Washington was present, which kept Bill Corpsman quiet. When it was over I said, «How about it, Rog? Do we need to clip anything?»
He took his cigar out of his mouth and said, «No. If you want my advice, Chief, I'd say to let it go as it is.»
Corpsman left the room again — but Mr. Washington came over with tears leaking out of his eyes — tears are a nuisance in free fall; there's nowhere for them to go. «Mr. Bonforte, that was
«Thanks, Jimmie.»
Penny could not talk at all.
I turned in after that; a top-notch performance leaves me fagged. I slept for more than eight hours, then was awakened by the hooter. I had strapped myself to my bunk — I hate to float around while sleeping in free fall — so I did not have to move. But I had not known that we were getting under way so I called the control room between first and second warning. «Captain Broadbent?»
«Just a moment, sir,» I heard Epstein answer.
Then Dak's voice came over. «Yes, Chief? We are getting underway on schedule — pursuant to your orders.»
«Eh? Oh yes, certainly.»
«I believe Mr. Clifton is on his way to your cabin.»
«Very well, Captain.» I lay back and waited.
Immediately after we started to boost at one gee Rog Clifton came in; he had a worried look on his face I could not interpret — equal parts of triumph, worry, and confusion. «What is it, Rog?»
«Chief! They've jumped the gun on us! The Quiroga government has resigned!»
Seven
I was still logy with sleep; I shook my head to try to clear it. «What are you in such a spin about, Rog? That's what you were trying to accomplish, wasn't it?»
«Well, yes, of course. But — » He stopped.
