John Brunner – Jagged Orbit

Flamen said, “I feel dizzy. What happened?”

“If it’s got through to you, it’s big,” Conroy said, and marched towards the door. “Move!”

Be it resolved: That in view of the grave disservice to the cause of black self-determination resulting from Mayor Black’s reliance on a white South African racial expert in the implementation of his pro-melanist policy inasmuch as it has entailed the dismissal of Pedro Diawho is known to be a staunch and irreplaceable advocate of a standpoint adhered to by all participants in this discussion every possible step be taken to rectify the consequences of his misguided act at the earliest opportunity including if need be the forcible packling of Mayor Black to determine whether his behavior is in conformity with the best interests of American mela

“Sprained knee” (for kneeblank, Afrikaans nieblanke non-white person): a colored person constrained to live and/or work in a white-dominated environment rather than an enclave or a country with a colored government

What exactly was going on Flamen had no idea, but Conroy seemed persuaded that it was far more likely to lead to the collapse of Mogshack’s authority than the original plan, and clinging optimistically to that he alhimself to be swept along by events. Followed by his ill-assorted gaggle of companions, he rode the pediflow in the Etchmark Undertower from the elevator to the door of his office, feeling in his pocket for the Punch key to admit them.

But when he applied it, he realized that the door was already unlocked.

“What the hell?” he said under his breath. The panel moved aside at a touch, before he had time to consider that if there was an intruder in the office it would make more sense to steal quietly away and send for the busies than to walk in and confront him. In spite of the fact that his occupation exposed him to the potential fury of a great many of his victims, he had never carried a gun to protect himself, and he doubted whether anyone else in his party was armed at the moment.

While he was still in the grip of his initial surprise, however, one of the internal doors slid back and a dark face appeared, wearing an embarrassed expression like a kid caught stealing candy.

“Good God!” Conroy said over Flamen’s shoulder; he was the taller by half a head. “Aren’t you Pedro DiaWell, you seem to have landed on your feet after being so unceremoniously thrown out of Blackbury!”

Diablo gave a distracted nod, eyes on Flamen. “Ah. I hope you don’t mind,” he said. “IBM couldn’t get me one of the practice units you suggested until Monday at the soonest, and having seen what your equipment is capable of I simply couldn’t resist the temptation of coining in to play around with it. I did get the code to isolate the unit, of course-it didn’t need special wiring after all-and I promise I haven’t done it any harm.”

“You might have had the courtesy to let me know!” Flamen snapped. “I damned near mistook you for a burglar, and I was all set to sneak off and send for the police! Right now, though, we have more important uses for our computers, so I’d appreciate it if you’d get lost.” Ill-temperedly, he strode past Diablo and into his own office.

“Nonsense,” Conroy said, following.

“What?”

“I said nonsense. For one thing I’ve wanted to meet this man for years-he’s probably the best intuitive psychologist on the planet, and I regularly use recordof his shows as study themes, to illustrate how a determined individual can manipulate the mass audiAnd for another thing, you’re angry and frusI’m pretty much manic, and we have to contend with a hell of a complex problem. It’ll be very damned useful to have someone around with a detached point of view, and I can’t think of anyone much more dethan someone who never wanted to be in New York at all and would far rather still be home in Black-bury. Right?” he added to the knee.

“Who in the hell are you?” Diablo demanded in aston

“Oh-I’m sorry! I’m Xavier Conroy.”

“You are?” Diablo’s verge-of-hostile manner changed magically. He held out his hand. “Damn it, I’ve been hoping to meet you for years, too! Why in the world did you let them chase you off to that backwater teaching job in Manitoba?”