Holy One. You may approach.’ He speaks excellent English, by the way.
“Well, I gave him a reasonably accurate version of what happened here — the official version, you understand — and he asked me a few questions.”
“What sort of questions?”
“In the first place he wanted to know if my religion recognized the authority of the Emperor. I assured him that it did, that our followers were absolutely bound to obey temporal authority in all temporal matters, but that our creed commanded us to worship the true gods in our own fashion. Then I gave him a long theological spiel. I told him that all men worshipped God, but that God had a thousand attributes, each one a mystery. God in his wisdom had seen fit to appear to different races in different attributes because it was not seemly for servant and master to worship in the same fashion. Because of that, the six attributes of Mota, of Shaam, of Mens, of Tamar, of Barmac, and of Dis had been set aside for the white men, just as the Heavenly Emperor was an attribute reserved for the race of Master.”
“How did he take it?”
“I gathered that he thought it was very sound doctrine — for slaves. He asked me what my church did besides holding services, and I told him that our principal desire is to minister to the poor and sick. He seemed pleased at that. I have an impression that our gracious overlords are finding relief a very serious problem.”
“Relief? Do they give any relief?”
“Not exactly. But if you load prisoners into concentration camps you have to feed them something. The internal economy has largely broken down and they haven’t got it straightened out yet. I think they would welcome a movement which would relieve them from worrying too much over how to feed the slaves. ”
“H-m-m-m. Anything else?”
“Nothing much. I assured him again that we, as spiritual leaders, were forbidden by our doctrines to have anything to do with politics, and he told me that we would not be molested in the future. Then he dismissed me. I repeated my benediction, turned my back on him, and stomped out.”
“It seems to me,” said Ardmore, “that you pretty thoroughly sold him a bill of goods.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure, Chief. That old scoundrel is shrewd and Machiavellian. I shouldn’t call him a scoundrel, because he’s not by his standards. He’s a statesman. I’ve got to admit he impressed me. Look — these PanAsians can’t be stupid; they’ve conquered and held half a world, hundreds of millions of people. If they tolerate local religions, it’s because they have found it to be smart politics. We’ve got to keep them thinking so in our case, in the face of smart and experienced administrators.”
“No doubt you’re right. We certainly must be careful not to underestimate them.”
“I hadn’t quite finished. Another escort picked me up on the way out of the palace and stayed with me. I walked along, paying no attention to them. My route out of town took me through the central market. There were hundreds of whites there, lined up in queues, waiting for a chance to buy food on their ration cards. I got an idea and decided to find out just how far my immunity extended. I stopped and climbed up on a box and started to preach to them.”
Ardmore whistled. “Cripes, Jeff, you shouldn’t have taken a chance like that!”
“But, Major, we needed to know, and I was fairly certain that the worst that could happen would be that they would make me stop.”
“Well…yes, I suppose so. Anyhow the job requires that we take chances and you have to use your own judgment. Boldness may be the safest policy. Sorry I spoke — what happened?”
“My escort seemed dumbfounded at first, and not certain what to do. I went right ahead, watching them out of the corner of my eye. Pretty soon they were joined by a chappie who seemed to be senior to them. They held a confab, and the senior cop went away. He came back in about five minutes, and just stood there, watching me. I gathered that he had phoned in and had received instructions to let me alone. “