“Okay,”I said.
“Do you think you and she can throw Ferris Fremont out of office?” Rachel called after me sardonically. “You and she and Valis? That satellite?”
Pausing at the door, I answered, “No. I don’t. Maybe some lesser tyranny in another universe. Some despotic ruler of America in an alternate world that’s not so bad , as this – but this world, this tyrant, no.”
“I envy the people in that universe.”
“Me too.” I left the apartment and drove from Placentia to the La Paz Bar on Harbor Boulevard in Fullerton.
The La Pa/ Bar is extremely dark, and when I entered I could not see her anywhere. At last I made out her small figure; she sat alone at a small table in the rear, her purse in front of her beside an empty drink glass and a dish of corn chips.
Seating myself, I said, Tm sorry I said those things.”
“It’s all right,” Sadassa said. “You were supposed to say them. I just didn’t know how to react – I had to get out of that restaurant. Too many people, too crowded. I had no instructions then as to what to say; you took me by surprise.”
“Was it true, then? What I said? About your mother?”
“Basically, yes. I’ve received instructions since I saw you; I know what I’m supposed to say. You are to sit here until I’ve finished talking.”
“Okay,” I said.
Sadassa said, “What you told me came from the satellite. There is no other way you could have known it.”
“That’s right,” I said.
“The information you told me introduced you to me as a member of our organization, a new one; that information is an initial step in understanding the situation, but it is not the full story. I’m to further initiate you into the organization by – “
“What organization?” I said.
“Aramchek,” Sadassa said.
“Then Aramchek exists.”
“Certainly it does. Why should Ferris Fremont spend half his time trying to stamp out a group that’s imaginary? Aramchek includes hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, here and in the Soviet Union. I don’t really know how many. The satellite reaches each of us directly and on an individual basis, so only the satellite knows who, how many, where, and what we are to do.”
“What is Aramchek?” I said.
“I just told you. People here and there contacted and informed by the satellite. The satellite itself is called Aramchek; we get our name from it. You’re a member of Aramchek, brought into it on the initiative of the satellite. It is always by the volition of the satellite that someone is brought in – exactly as you were: picked out, selected. We, you and I and the others, are the Aramchek people, exponents of a composite mind emanating from the satellite, which in turn receives its instructions by web from the planets of the Albemuth system.
“Albemuth is the correct name for the star we call Fomalhaut. We came from there originally, but the mind controlling the satellite is not like ours; rather, it is” – she paused – “much superior. The dominant life form on the planets of Albemuth. Whereas we were a less-evolved life form. We were given our freedom tens of thousands of years ago, and we migrated here to set up our own colony. When we fell into overwhelming difficulties, the satellite was dispatched to help us, to serve as a link back to the Albemuth system.”
“I knew most of this already,” I said.
Sadassa continued, There is one thing you do not know, or rather do not realize. What has been happening is a transfer of plasmatic, highly evolved life forms from the Albemuth planets via the communications network to the satellite, and from there to the surface of this planet. Technically speaking, Earth is being invaded. That is what is really happening.
The satellite has done it before – two thousand years ago, to be exact. It didn’t work out that time. The receivers were eventually destroyed and the plasmatic life forms escaped into the atmosphere, taking the receivers” energy with them.
“You yourself personally were invaded by a plasmatic life form sent in energy form to take control of you and direct your actions. We, the members of the organization, are receptor sites for these plasmatic life forms from the home planets, a sort of collective brain – that’s what we now consist of, to our own advantage. They are coming in a very small number, however, for the purpose of helping us; this is not a mass invasion but rather a small, highly selective one. It was with great deliberation that you were picked out as a receptor site; I was, too. Without this possession we could not succeed. We may not succeed anyhow.”
“Succeed at what?”
“Dislodging Ferris Fremont.”
Then that is a major goal.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “A major goal here, in the limited terms of this planet. You have become a composite entity, part human and part – well, they have no name. Being energy, they merge together, split apart, and re-form into their composite form, as a band in the atmospheres of their home planets. They are highly evolved atmospheric spirits who once had material bodies. They are very old; this is why, when your theoleptic-like experience began, you had the impression of a very ancient person seizing possession of you, with ancient memories.”
“Yes,” I said.
“You thought it was a human being who had died,” Sadassa said. “Didn’t you? I thought so too when it happened to me. I imagined all sorts of things – I tried out every theory in the book. Valis let us – “
“I made up that word,” I broke in.
“You were given that word; it was placed in your head.
It is how we all refer to him. Of course it isn’t his name; it is merely a label, an analysis of his properties. Valis allows us an interval in which to formulate theories acceptable to our own minds in order to minimize the shock. Eventually, when we are ready, we are given the truth. It is a hard blow to take, Nick, to discover that Earth is in the process of being selectively invaded; it conjures up horrific scenes of Martian insects, tall as buildings, landing and kicking over the Golden Gate Bridge. But this is not like that; this is for our benefit. It is selective, cautious, and considerate, and its only antagonist is our own antagonist.”
“Will these plasmatic life forms leave after Fremont is destroyed?” I asked.
“Yes. They’ve come several times before in the past, given help and knowledge – medical knowledge in particular – and departed. They are our protectors, Nick; they come when we need them and then go away.”
“It fits what I already know,” I said. I found that my body was trembling, as if I were cold. “Can I have the waitress bring me a drink?” I asked Sadassa.
“Of course. If you have enough money, I’d like another. A margarita.”
I ordered two margaritas.
“Well,” I said as we sat sipping our drinks, “it’s a lot easier for me now. I don’t have to convince you.”
“I already have the material written out,” Sadassa said.
“What material?” I said, and then I understood. To be inserted as subliminal information on the record album. “Oh,” I said, startled. “Can I see it?”
“I don’t have it with me. I’ll give it to you during the next few days. It’s to go in an album you expect to sell well; you can have anyone record it, preferably one of your most popular artists. It should be, if at all possible, a hit record. This project has been building for years, Sick. For ten or twelve years. It must not misfire.”
“What is the message like?” I asked.
“You’ll see it. In time.” She smiled. “It reads like nothing at all.”
“But do you know what’s really in it?”
“No,” Sadassa sard. “Not completely. It’s a song about „party time.“ It goes something like, „Come to the party.“ It sounds of course like a fun party; you know. Then later the vocal line goes, „Join the party.“ The singer says, „Everybody join the „party.“ And a subtrack goes, „Is everybody at the party? Is everybody present at the party?“ Only if you listen carefully, they’re saying, „Is everybody president at the party“ at the same time the word „president“ is said – repeated, in fact, by an ensemble answer: „President, president, president, join -joined – the party,“ and so forth. I could make out that part. But the rest I couldn’t.”
“Wow,” I said. It terrified me; I could see how the sound-on-sound would be dubbed in as voice override.
“But this record,” Sadassa said, “which you at Progressive will create and release, contains only half the information. There is another record in production; I don’t know who by or where, but Valis will synchronize its release with yours, and together the information bits on the two records will add up to the total message. For instance, a song on the other record might begin, „In nineteen hundred and forty-one,“ which was the year Fremont teamed up with the Communist Party. Alone, that figure means nothing; but the DJs will be playing a track on first the Progressive disc and then the other one, and eventually people will be hearing all the information run together as a single total message. Random chance will join the two halves together on station after station.”