15
The observer ship, with an assistant attorney general aboard was,indeed, reporting directly to the attorney general's office--toGunderson in person. On their own secret channel, of course. Had to besecret. All right for them to know, because they were very specialpersons, but the people should not be told.
"Gray is coming out of the ship," the assistant was saying. "He isstarting down the ramp. He is alone. He has no apparent weapons. Makinga grandstand play of it. Far as we can tell, the crew isn't coveringhim. Now he is at the foot of the ramp. The three unclothed men aremoving toward him, spread out a little, crouching, obviously going toattack. The stupid fool doesn't seem to realize it. He's ...
"Wait a minute. I don't believe it...."
"Well, what?" Gunderson exploded from his end.
"Sir," the assistant gulped, "the ship disappeared, just like that."
"Nonsense!"
"No, sir. It did. The three crewmen are sprawled on the ground. Now twoof them are getting up. There isn't a sign of the ship, the ramp, oranything."
"Can't be. Has to be around somewhere."
"No, sir. Isn't. Sorry to contradict you, sir. It isn't anywhere."
"They probably set controls to send the ship back into space, andjumped out before it took off. Search space. You'll find it. Ships don'tjust disappear."
"I'll search, of course. But this ship just disappeared."
"All right, what's going on? What else?"
"They're naked. Naked as the day they were born. All four of them. Sameas the colonists."
"Keep track of where they put their clothes. Photograph it. Get theevidence."
"Sir, their clothes disappeared right off their bodies. First they werefully dressed, Gray was, anyhow. Maybe the crew could have undressedinside the ship, but Gray was fully dressed--and then he wasn't. Justlike that."
"Hm-m."
"Shall I land, sir? Place them under arrest?"
"Wait a minute. Let's think of a good charge. Something to stand up incourt. Have to make this airtight right from the beginning in case somestupid judge decides to make a show of independence."
"Indecent exposure, sir? Lewd public behavior?"
"Pretty weak, in view of what's involved."
"A suggestion, sir. Maybe a morals charge is the most effective weaponwe could have. Attack the E structure on the grounds of bad scientificjudgment, and every egghead on Earth will feel compelled to rise up intheir defense--except, of course, those employed by the government. Buton a morals charge there wouldn't be one voice raised--fear of beingtarred with the same brush. Except maybe a few radicals that are alreadydiscredited. Any other charge might get public sentiment aroused againstus, but a morals charge--think of the backing we'd get from the women'sclubs, P.T.A., all the pressure groups determined to dictate to the restof the world how it should behave. It's worked for hundreds of years,sir. Never fails."
"Hm-m," Gunderson mused. "You may be right."
"Shall I land, sir, make the arrest?"
"You've got plenty of photographic evidence?"
"All we'd need, sir, at least for the lewd, public indecent exposurecharge."
"Wait a minute. How about the colonists? Got pictures of them?"
"The three men, sir. No others."
"Let's don't rush into this," Gunderson said slowly. "Without a shipthey're not going to get far. Hold off, and keep taking pictures. Maybewe can get something stronger on Gray than just an indecent exposure, orat least get some pictures that could be interpreted as more than justthat. Get pictures of as many colonists as possible, too, in casethey've gone nudist."
"You'd want to prosecute the colonists, too?"
"Might be a smart idea. That way, nobody could claim we'd been gunningfor the Junior E. Make it impartial, play no favorites. Hm-m, even if wedecided not to prosecute, we'd have the pictures in their dossiers, sothat anytime in the future, for the rest of their lives, if any of themgave us any trouble, we could quietly let them know what we've got, andthey'll just fold up and quit. That's worked for hundreds of years,too."
"Yes, sir. Smart thinking, sir." The assistant knew that alreadyGunderson had adopted the idea as his own, and to hold his job he'dbetter let Gunderson go on thinking so. Of course, if the idea shouldbackfire, then Gunderson would remember quickly enough where it hadoriginated.
"Hm-m, you know," Gunderson was saying. "This could work out all right.If their ship's gone they're not communicating with E.H.Q. And ifthey're not communicating, E.H.Q. will send out another ship to see why.Maybe there'll be an E on it. I hear the only one available isMcGinnis--that guy who's planning to fight us on that injunction.
"Now suppose he landed. Suppose he went nudist, or we could makepictures look like he did. The guy would have to undress sometime, takea bath. Slap a morals charge on him. Nobody with a public reputationever fights a charge like that, guilty or innocent. They pay up orknuckle under to keep it quiet. Have, for hundreds of years; alwayswill, as long as a bunch of fat, old, ugly biddies, male and female, whonobody wants that way are viciously resentful that they can't have whatsomebody else is enjoying. Young ones, too, so twisted and warped withfrustrations they don't dare try what they daydream about. They're evenworse. Yeah, a morals charge is the way to get at him."
"But I understood there was a law, that we couldn't charge an E for anyoffense."
"We can try him in the newspapers, can't we? On the televiewers. That'sthe whole point. We can't charge an E now, but wait until we get thingsstirred up on a morals basis. That law'll be changed in a hurry, becauseany legislator that tried to hold out against changing it would be drawnand quartered by his constituents--and has enough sense to know it.
"Hm-m," he breathed in satisfaction. "That's the way to go about it.Don't know why I haven't thought of it before. If you guys would readyour history of how police enforcement officers got things back undercontrol each time some idealist started squawking about human rights,you'd think of these things, too.
"Now don't go off half-cocked. Just stand by. Keep me posted on everymove. If I've got to do the thinking on how to get those E's back underpolice control, the way scientists were before, I've got to haveinformation.
"And keep taking pictures!"