Dr Ware, it won’t be enough for me, because it’s still too general and difficult to follow – or will be. I’m having a little trouble with my tenses. For one thing, it won’t be sufficiently attributable to me – many people have been working to bring that war about. This experiment will be on my initiative alone.’
‘Not an insuperable objection,’ Ware said. ‘A good many Renaissance artists didn’t object to collaborators – even journeymen.’
‘Well, the spirit of the times has changed, if you want an abstract answer. The real answer is that I
do
object. Furthermore, Dr Ware, I want to choose my own medium. War doesn’t satisfy me any more. It’s too sloppy, too subject to accident. It excuses too much.’
‘?’ Ware said with an eyebrow.
‘I mean that in time of war, especially in Asia, people expectthe worst and try to ride with the punches, no matter how terrible they are, In peacetime, on the other hand, even a small misfortune comes as a total surprise. People complain, “Why did this have to happen to me?” – as though they’d never heard of Job.’
‘Rewriting Job is the humanist’s favourite pastime,’ Ware agreed. ‘And his favourite political platform too. So in fact, Dr Baines, you
do
want to afflict people, just where they’re most sensitive to being afflicted, and just when they least expect it, right or wrong. Do I understand you correctly?’
Baines had the sinking feeling that he had explained too much, but there was no help for that now; and, in any event, Ware was hardly himself a saint.
‘You do,’ he said shortly.
Thank you. That clears the air enormously. One more question. How do you propose to pay for all this?’
Father Domenico surged to his feet with a strangled gasp of horror, like the death throes of an asthmatic.
‘You – you mean to do this!’
‘Hush. I haven’t said so. Dr Baines, the question?’
‘I know I couldn’t pay for it in cash,’ Baines said. ‘But I’ve got other assets. This experiment – if it works – is going to satisfy something for me that Consolidated Warfare Service hasn’t satisfied in years, and probably never will again except marginally. I’m willing to make over most of my CWS stock to you. Not all of it, but – well – just short of being a controlling interest. You ought to be able to do a lot with that.’
‘It’s hardly enough, considering the risks involved,’ Ware said slowly. ‘On the other hand, I’ve no particular desire to bankrupt you –’
‘Dr Ware,’ Father Domenico said in an iron voice. ‘Am I to conclude that you
are
going to undertake this fearful insanity?’
‘I haven’t said so,’ Ware replied mildly. ‘If I do, I shall certainly need your help –’
‘Never.
Never
!’
‘And everybody else’s. It isn’t really the money that attracts me, primarily. But without the money I should never be able to undertake an experiment like this in the first place, and I’m certain the opportunity will never come up again. If the wholething doesn’t blow up in my face, there’d be an enormous amount to learn from a trial like this.’
‘I think that’s right,’ Hess’s voice said. Baines looked towards him in surprise, but Hess seemed quite serious. ‘I’d be greatly interested in it myself.’
‘You’ll learn nothing,’ Father Domenico said, ‘but the shortest of all shortcuts to. Hell, probably in the body!’
‘A negative Assumption?’ Ware said, raising both eyebrows this time. ‘But now you’re tempting my pride, Father. There’ve been only two previous ones in Western history – Johannes Faustus and Don Juan Tenorio. And neither one was properly safeguarded or otherwise prepared. Well, now certainly I must undertake so great a work – provided that Dr Baines is satisfied that he’ll get what he’ll be paying for.’
‘Of course I’m satisfied,’ Baines said, quivering with joy.
‘Not so fast. You’ve asked me to let all the major demons out of
‘Not an insuperable objection,’ Ware said. ‘A good many Renaissance artists didn’t object to collaborators – even journeymen.’
‘Well, the spirit of the times has changed, if you want an abstract answer. The real answer is that I
do
object. Furthermore, Dr Ware, I want to choose my own medium. War doesn’t satisfy me any more. It’s too sloppy, too subject to accident. It excuses too much.’
‘?’ Ware said with an eyebrow.
‘I mean that in time of war, especially in Asia, people expectthe worst and try to ride with the punches, no matter how terrible they are, In peacetime, on the other hand, even a small misfortune comes as a total surprise. People complain, “Why did this have to happen to me?” – as though they’d never heard of Job.’
‘Rewriting Job is the humanist’s favourite pastime,’ Ware agreed. ‘And his favourite political platform too. So in fact, Dr Baines, you
do
want to afflict people, just where they’re most sensitive to being afflicted, and just when they least expect it, right or wrong. Do I understand you correctly?’
Baines had the sinking feeling that he had explained too much, but there was no help for that now; and, in any event, Ware was hardly himself a saint.
‘You do,’ he said shortly.
Thank you. That clears the air enormously. One more question. How do you propose to pay for all this?’
Father Domenico surged to his feet with a strangled gasp of horror, like the death throes of an asthmatic.
‘You – you mean to do this!’
‘Hush. I haven’t said so. Dr Baines, the question?’
‘I know I couldn’t pay for it in cash,’ Baines said. ‘But I’ve got other assets. This experiment – if it works – is going to satisfy something for me that Consolidated Warfare Service hasn’t satisfied in years, and probably never will again except marginally. I’m willing to make over most of my CWS stock to you. Not all of it, but – well – just short of being a controlling interest. You ought to be able to do a lot with that.’
‘It’s hardly enough, considering the risks involved,’ Ware said slowly. ‘On the other hand, I’ve no particular desire to bankrupt you –’
‘Dr Ware,’ Father Domenico said in an iron voice. ‘Am I to conclude that you
are
going to undertake this fearful insanity?’
‘I haven’t said so,’ Ware replied mildly. ‘If I do, I shall certainly need your help –’
‘Never.
Never
!’
‘And everybody else’s. It isn’t really the money that attracts me, primarily. But without the money I should never be able to undertake an experiment like this in the first place, and I’m certain the opportunity will never come up again. If the wholething doesn’t blow up in my face, there’d be an enormous amount to learn from a trial like this.’
‘I think that’s right,’ Hess’s voice said. Baines looked towards him in surprise, but Hess seemed quite serious. ‘I’d be greatly interested in it myself.’
‘You’ll learn nothing,’ Father Domenico said, ‘but the shortest of all shortcuts to. Hell, probably in the body!’
‘A negative Assumption?’ Ware said, raising both eyebrows this time. ‘But now you’re tempting my pride, Father. There’ve been only two previous ones in Western history – Johannes Faustus and Don Juan Tenorio. And neither one was properly safeguarded or otherwise prepared. Well, now certainly I must undertake so great a work – provided that Dr Baines is satisfied that he’ll get what he’ll be paying for.’
‘Of course I’m satisfied,’ Baines said, quivering with joy.
‘Not so fast. You’ve asked me to let all the major demons out of
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