Control (37 page)

“
Not quite. Please. All right—altering a major event is a no-no, we
’
ve just decided that. On the other hand, altering an inconsequential happening—if we could, for example—change the life of some unimportant person of long ago, that wouldn
’
t do us any good either: because we wouldn
’
t know if we
’
d truly
done any
thing or not. What we need—what
everything
depends on—is finding something that was important enough for us
to monitor
the change, but something also in which there would be no undesirable effects. In all history, I
’
ve found one event that truly satisfies my needs.
”

Beulah said nothing.

But Kilgore could sense a rise of energy.
Trude
turned toward the percolator. Let the coffee the hell alone, Kilgore thought. Get on with it now!

“
Have you ever heard of Elisha Gray?
”
Trude
asked then.

Beulah had not.

“
Odd,
”
Trude
said.
“
Since he invented the telephone.
”

“
I believe it was Alexander Graham Bell,
”
Beulah replied.

“
In point of fact,
both
Bell and Gray did,
”
Trude
said then.
“
In the single greatest scientific coincidence in history, they
both
patented the telephone on precisely the same day. Gray, alas for posterity, did it
two hours
after Bell. Had he been just that much earlier, it would have been the Gray phone we talked of today.

Beulah was sleepy no longer. He put. his pipe down as
Trude
poured three cups of coffee, passed them around.

“
Now
what if
Bell were delayed?
What if
Gray got his telephone patent in first on that long ago February day? Mr. Beulah, do you know in one word what we
’
re after here?
”

“
I await your brevity.
”

“
Control.
”

“
Expand that please.
”

“
We are trying to control the future by controlling the past-Bell was in this city just before his patent was applied
for—and so was Theo Duncan
—
and that
’
s why William Winslow is everything—he is not just an ordinary traveling clairvoyant, he doesn
’
t just move across space, he moves across time.
”

R.E.L. Beulah closed his eyes.

“
When I said Winslow made contact with Duncan, I meant not just down in a Gramercy Park mansion, I meant a mansion in February one hundred and five years age—Theo Duncan was a poet surviving as a tutor. Nelson Stewart was enormously rich— he was old and single, Charlotte
Bridgeman was young and beauti
ful. Her father was his lawyer. A marriage was arranged—all perfectly standard for the time. The marriage produced two sons but evidently little passion. The children were tutored as rich children were then. Theo arrived. One thing, as I
’
m sure they said
even in those days, led to another. Theo and Charlotte had intercourse—Winslow described it clearly to me.
Thoughts were exchanged
I
’
ve never come this far before, it was the breakthrough. That
’
s why your appearing now from Washington was not greeted with more cheer.
”

“
Thoughts were exchanged—is there more?
’’

“
Of course—Bell took a walk in Central Park on the thirteenth of February, one day before the patent application. Winslow will direct Duncan to the park. And once he meets with Bell, he will detain him.
”

“
And if Bell chooses not to be detained?
”

“
By any means possible,
”
Trude
said.
“
And if we
’
re successful, the world will be unchanged except The Gray System
’
will be doing a lot of advertising on television.
”

“
Winslow
is
Duncan,
”
Kilgore said quietly.
“
That
’
s the key to
everything
Trude
’
s doing. Everyone has been here before, but
people like Winslow remember it all.
Trude
is simply trying to put
a use to reincarnation. He
’
s not only our leader in this field, he
’
s
our only practitioner. Our pioneer.
”

“
And if it
’
s successful?
”
Beulah asked.
“
The benefits would be how immediate?
”

“
No telling,
”
Trude
answered.
“
Depends on who else we find that can do what Winslow can do. When I said control the future by controlling the past you could rephrase that to our winning the future by damaging our enemies in the past. What if we found someone today who could control someone who was around Stalin? What if Stalin was disposed of as a young man?
”

“
I
’
ve always been a student of Leon Trotsky myself,
”
Beulah said.
“
Vastly underrated figure.
”
Then he put his coffee cup down.
“
All right, do it.
”

“
I
’
m free to do what I want then?
”
Trude
said.
“
There
’
ll be no interference?
”
He sounded, Kilgore thought, almost happy.

“
I don
’
t mean that at all,
”
Beulah said.
“
I mean
do it
.
Show me. Make contact Now.
”

R.E.L. Beulah was not overly impressed with the Infinity Room. For a man who had seen moonshots, who had dined with presidents and kings, who had been on reviewing stands with dictators living and dead, the Infinity Room was not such a much. Oh, the lights strung up and reflecting forever in the mirrored ceiling and walls were a nice enough decorating touch. And the
wind sounds were first-rate stereo. But the name
“
Infinity Room
”
was as pompous as
Trude
himself. And the rolling in
of
wave sounds could have made Beluah, had he allowed himself, just the least bit seasick, a disease to which he was prone. So he was, all in all, unimpressed.

He was also bored.

“
Where the hell
’
s
Trude
?
”
he said to Kilgore. They were standing together by the couch in the center, by the, box of toys.

Kilgore, bored himself and also worried, said,
“
First of all, preparing for a regression is not like throwing together a picnic hamper-—and you did spring this on the man—
”

“
—I suppose.
”

“
And besides, that,
Trude
is famous for his meticulousness.
”
Was that enough bluster, Kilgore wondered? He hadn
’
t the least idea where
Trude
was or why it was taking so goddam long to bring the killer in and put him under.
“
But I wouldn
’
t worry myself. I think we should stay cool and relaxed because I
’
ll guarantee you one thing: Leo
Trude
is.
”

In point of fact, Leo
Trude
was on the verge of panic. For two reasons mainly. First: Ever since the initial contact with Theo, Billy Boy had met with nothing but failure. Hours of waiting in the Infinity Room while the silence and the deep breathing dragged on and on and then the perspiration from the giant as he entered into severe head pain. Followed by: absolutely nothing. No success whatsoever. Boring failure following boring failure. And if that pattern continued now, if another failure transpired in front of Beulah, it might mean the end of everything, all of it over and done. So that was the first reason for
Trude
’
s keen sense of unease.

The second reason was a good deal more immediate: Billy Boy refused to do it anymore.

“
And you
can’t
make me,
”
Billy Boy shouted.

“
William,
”
Trude
said—
“
you
’
ve got to understand my position—
”

“
—fuck you and your position.
”
They were alone in Billy Boy
’
s plain hospital room. A barred window, a bed, a bureau, a mirror, a chair, all standard.

“
But very important people are here.
Crucial
to us.
”

And now Billy Boy was screaming—
“
It hurts/—it tears your head apart and Pm done!
”

There was a window in the door, a small square window, and
now the sound of his shouting brought faces there. Billy Boy saw them, the faces in the blue suits. They had guns. You had to be careful when they had guns. Until they weren
’
t looking. There was a speaker outside and now one of their voices came through loud:
“
Everything okay, Doctor Trude?
’’

Trude waved the two men away.
“
Everything
’
s fine here,
”
he said.
“
Don
’
t worry about William. He
’
ll come through for us.
”

“
I
’
m done,
”
Billy Boy repeated.
“
Believe that.
”

“
I need you one last time.
”

Billy Boy shook his head violently.

Trude glanced at his watch. This had been going on for far too long and God alone knew what kind of fuse Beulah possessed. The last thing helpful in the Infinity Room was anger.
“
Look,
”
Trude said finally.
“
I
’
ve got this fool down from Washington. We
’
re spending a lot of money and the government wants to see it
’
s getting it
’
s money
’
s worth. I don
’
t think you can object to just that.
”

“
Just what?
”

“
I
’
ll relax you, put you to sleep—and I
’
ll do the regression.
But tha
t’
s all
Once you
’
re a baby, that will be the end of it, I won
’
t take you any further. You know the pain only comes when I take you further.
”

“
I don
’
t know,
”
Billy Boy said.

“
It
’
s all for show! The regression is by far the most spectacular part of it. How can you object? He
’
ll be happy, you will have no pain.
”
Trude tried to say this as casually as he could, because if the answer was
“
no
”
there wasn
’
t much he could do—drugs were out of the question. You could put someone to sleep with drugs, but you could never segue into a successful regression. It all had to be natural or it was nothing. Trude looked at his watch again. There was simply no time for a decent relaxation. Billy Boy was in hospital whites.
“
You can go dressed as you are. No massage, no preparation. With any luck at all you can be back here in an hour. And I promise you, I
’
ll never ask anything of you again.
”

“
I
’
ll be free?
”