It was Colonel Huxley, head of the Department of Applied Miracles when I was a cadet-and almost my only friend among the officers at that time. Many was the Sunday afternoon that I had relaxed in his quarters, my stock unhooked, free for the moment from the pressure of discipline.
I took his hand. ‘Colonel-I mean “General”, sir . I thought you were dead!’
‘Dead colonel into live general, eh! No, Lyle, though I was listed as dead when I went underground. They usually do that when an officer disappears; it looks better. You’re dead, too-did you know?’
‘Uh, no, I didn’t, sir. Not that it matters. This is wonderful, sir!’
‘Good.’
‘But-I mean, how did you ever-well-‘ I shut up.
‘How did I land here and in charge at that? I’ve been a Brother since I was your age, Lyle. But I didn’t go underground until I had to-none of us do. In my case the pressure for me to join the priesthood became a bit too strong; the Superintendent was quite restless about having a lay officer know too much about the more abstruse branches of physics and chemistry. So I took a short leave and died. Very sad.’ He smiled. ‘But sit down. I’ve been meaning to send for you all day, but it’s been a busy day. They all are. It wasn’t until now that I’ve had time to listen to the record of your report.’
We sat down and chatted, and I felt that my cup runneth over. Huxley I respected more than any officer I had ever served under. His very presence resolved any residual doubts I might have-if the Cabal was right for him, it was right for me, and never mind the subtleties of doctrine.
At last he said, ‘I didn’t call you in at this late hour just to chat, Lyle. I’ve a job for you.’
‘Yes, sir?’
‘No doubt you’ve already noticed what a raw militia we have here. This is between ourselves and I’m not criticizing our comrades-every one of them has pledged his life to our cause, a harder thing for them to do than for you and me, and they have all placed themselves under military discipline, a thing still harder. But I haven’t enough trained soldiers to handle things properly. They mean well but I am tremendously handicapped in trying to turn the organization into an efficient fighting machine. I’m swamped with administrative details. Will you help me?’
I stood up. ‘1 shall be honored to serve with the General to the best of my ability.’
‘Fine! We’ll call you my personal aide for the time being. That’s all for tonight, Captain. I’ll see you in the morning.’
I was halfway out the door before his parting designation sunk in-then I decided that it was a slip of the tongue.
But it was not. I found my own office the next morning by the fact that a sign had been placed on it reading: ‘CAPTAIN LYLE’. From the standpoint of a professional military man there is one good thing about revolutions: the opportunities for swift promotion are excellent . . . even if the pay is inclined to be irregular.
My office adjoined General Huxley’s and from then on I almost lived in it-eventually I had a cot installed back of my desk. The very first day I was still fighting my way down a stack of papers in my incoming basket at ten at night. I had promised myself that I would find the bottom, then write a long letter to Judith. But it turned out to be a very short note, as there was a memorandum addressed to me personally, rather than to the General, at the bottom.
It was addressed to ‘Legate J. Lyle,’ then someone had scratched out ‘Legate’ and written ‘Captain’. It went on:
MEMORANDUM FOR ALL PERSONNEL NEWLY REPORTED
SUBJECT:Personal Conversion Report
1. You are requested and directed to write out, as fully as possible, all of the events, thoughts, considerations, and incidents which led up to your decision to join our fight for freedom. This account should be as detailed as possible and as subjective as possible. A report written hastily, too briefly, or to superficially will be returned to be expanded and corrected and may be supplemented by hypno examination.