Revelation

Olaf B. Yates shambled in behind Dodds. The Arkansas congressman looked like, and probably was, a dirt farmer. He was a small, burly man with a rough complexion and a squat nose like a boxer's.

Alvarez was tall and stooped. He had a slightly asymmetric mouth, one corner being pulled down. It soon emerged that this corner of the mouth gave an occasional nervous twitch, which would also contract the senator's cheek. Instinctively, Petrosian felt that he could handle Dodds and the dirt farmer, that he had the intellectual edge over them; but the same instinct made him fear Alvarez, the travelling inquisitor from Washington. Alvarez had fixed a steady, hostile stare on Petrosian, as if he was reading the scientist's mind.

The man from Arkansas, Olaf B. Yates, tapped the gavel. 'This hearing will come to order in the matter of Lev Baruch Paytrojan.'

A few mysterious preliminaries over, mainly to do with the empty lawyer's chair next to Petrosian, Dodds alias Himmler fired the opening salvo. He had a methodical, clipped way of speaking and a slightly nasal, high-pitched voice which soon became irritating to listen to. 'Doctor Petrosian. It has been determined by the Attorney General, and by the Director of the FBI, that institutions throughout America are being penetrated by persons whose purposes are subversive, that is to say, broadly speaking, inimical to the American way of life. Unconstitutional means are being employed, in clandestine fashion, by these people — communists and their fellow travellers — to overthrow the state.'

From the corner of his eye Petrosian was aware that Alvarez's cheek had twitched. It was to become an increasing distraction throughout the long interrogation.

Dodds continued, 'They have infiltrated every level and every type of organization and institution. They have infested educational, scientific, governmental, labour and communications establishments, the latter including the entertainment world. The House Committee on Un-American Activities has been active in attempting to root out these subversive elements from American life. Young, idealistic people in educational establishments are especially vulnerable when exposed to dangerous and alien ideas. We in the Greers Ferry Community College are anxious to play our full part in this patriotic enterprise. The purpose of these hearings is to establish the loyalty to America of our staff members. Testimony has been given in closed session to this committee which may tend to call your loyalty into question. You are here to satisfy us that your loyalties do indeed lie with the country to which you now belong. Do you understand?'

Petrosian nodded.

'Please answer yes or no for the record.'

'Understood, sure.'

The Arkansas congressman asked, 'Doctor Paytrojan, where was you borned at?' The voice was almost comically hillbilly.

'Armenia.'

'That's Russia, right?'

'It is now. But Armenia is a country with its own culture, language and even script. The Armenian Church is the oldest established Christian Church. It goes back to 300 AD.'

'You don't say? But yo're still a Russian.'

'I became an American citizen in 1945.'

Dodds picked up the questioning. 'I have here the reading list you give to your sophomore students. It includes a book called Through Rugged Ways to the Stars, by Professor Harlow Shapley, Director of Harvard College Observatory.'

'Yes, It's on my recommended reading list.'

Dodds stared at Petrosian through his spectacles. 'Are you aware that Shapley has been co-chairman of the Progressive Citizens of America? That he has asked scientists to, I quote, "answer to a higher cause, and increase the importance of their world citizenship over their local loyalties"? What do you think he meant by that, Doctor Petrosian?'

'I know he has left-wing convictions.'

The hint of a sneer. 'You might say. HUAC have listed him as affiliated to between eleven and twenty communist front organizations.'

Alvarez interjected. He had a heavy, commanding voice, over-loud for the cramped little room and the microphones. 'Let me put it directly, sir. Do you think it right that impressionable young minds should be exposed to ideas from the minds of communists and their fellow travellers?'

'Yes.'

The answer took the panel by surprise. Petrosian added, 'But then, I'm not imposing an opinion, simply exposing students to a range of ideas.'

Alvarez changed tack abruptly. 'How are the Brooklyn Dodgers doing just now?'

It was Petrosian's turn to be surprised. 'I have no idea.'

'And the Cardinals?'

Lev shrugged, bewildered.

'Do you play baseball?'

'No, sir.'

'Football? Basketball?' Alvarez was adopting a tone of incredulity.

'No.'

'Are you physically prevented from so doing?'

'No, I'm in good health. I'm just not interested in sport.'

'Meaning you have no sense of belonging to a team. Don't you think that good American citizenship involves you in social as well as legal obligations?'

'You mean, I should answer to the higher cause of social conformity, like the communists?'

Alvarez glared at Petrosian. 'Before we go any further in this enquiry, sir, let me make one thing clear. Smart talk of that sort is unwelcome at this hearing.'

The Congressman said, 'Y'see, it's like this, Mister Paytrojan. I never knew a ballplayer who was a Communist. Good loyal Americans are team players.'

'Do you attend church?' Alvarez wanted to know, clearly rattled by Lev's defiant reply.

'No.'

'What is your religion exactly?'

'I was brought up as a Christian Armenian.'

'And now?'

'I'm no longer active.'

Mister Arkansas grinned. 'You admit to being an aytheeist?'

'Agnostic is the word. There are things in the natural world I can't explain, like why it exists at all.'

'And do you expose students to this aytheeism of yours?'

'I don't expose them to classroom propaganda of any sort, unless you consider doing your own thinking to be propaganda. All they get from me are the ideas and concepts of modern physics.'

'You have a problem with God, country and flag?' Senator Alvarez wanted to know.

'Not at all. But I also think it's my duty to make young people do their own thinking. I don't know how to do that except by exposing them to new ideas. And all new ideas are subversive to some extent.' A light sweat was forming on Lev's brow.

Alvarez again: 'So while our boys are out there in Korea meatgrinding their way back to the 38th parallel, you're back here nice and cosy telling our young people to go easy on the loyalty thing?'

'Did I say that?'

'No sir, you did not. Not in so many words.'

Alvarez leaned back. Mister Arkansas had a mock-puzzled look on his face. 'Did I hear you just admit you teach subversive ideas to students?'

'The syllabus includes some discussion of new ideas in physics. I said that all new ideas are subversive.'

'Subversive.' The congressman paused, to give the impression he was thinking about that, and also to focus attention on himself. 'Subversive. Doan that word mean undercutting the established order of things?'

'Yes.'

'And doan disloyalty involve the same thang?'

'Yes.'

'Well pardon me if I've missed somethang. I ain't had the privilege of a higher education. It seems to me that you doan give your impressionable young students classroom propaganda but you do just happen to expose them to disloyal ideas.' A triumphant, yellow-toothed grin spread over the Arkansas farmer's face: he had outwitted an atomic scientist, delivered a crushing blow. He noted with approval the busy scribbling of the reporters.

The logic was so unbelievable that Petrosian couldn't answer it. He sat, literally speechless, until Alvarez stepped in. The senator now asked the ritual, and deadly, question: 'Doctor Petrosian, are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States?'