This was indisputable.
Alan saw that Helen had decided to change her tactics, asking the President point-blank if it was not the Solar Referendum Party* s fixed intention to silence and get rid of the Fireclown who, though he represented no political threat, was in his own way revealing the sterility of the Government's policies in all aspects of life on Earth and beyond it?
Benjosef remained seated. His expression, as it had always been, was strangely affectionate, like an old patriarch who must sometimes chide his children. He spoke from his chair.
"You have heard Miss Curtis accuse my Government of underhand methods in an attempt to rid ourselves of this man who calls himself the Fireclown. I speak in honesty for myself, and for the majority of my Cabinet, when I say we have no interest whatsoever in the Fireclown or his activities so long as they remain within the law. Already"-he glanced at Helen with a half-smile on his face-"it is doubtful whether his supporters have kept within the law, though I have heard that the Fireclown did not encourage last night's riot."
Alan, looking down on the old man, felt glad that someone, at least, seemed to be keeping things in fair perspective.
Then, surprisingly, the House was shaken by a tremendous verbal roar and he saw that several thousand representatives had risen to their feet and were, for the second time in forty-eight hours, shouting the President down.
He saw his grandfather glance towards the Chief Mediator. His features hidden behind his mask, the Mediator nodded. Simon Powys got up and raised his hands, shouting to be heard. Very gradually, the noise died down.
"You do not disbelieve President Benjosef, surely?"
"We do!" Helen Gurus' voice was shrill, and it was echoed by hundreds of others.
"You think the Government is deliberately seeking to outlaw the Fireclown?"
"We do!" Again Helen Curtis' statement was taken up by many of the others.
"And you also think the Fireclown wanted last night's riot?"
There was a slight pause before Helen Curtis replied:
"It was the only way his friends could help him. Personally, he is an ingenuous man, unaware of the forces working against him in the Solar House and elsewhere!"
"So you think the rioters were justified?"
"We do!"
"Is this democracy?' Simon Powys said quietly. "Is this what my family and others fought to establish? Is this Law? No-it is anarchy. It is anarchy which the Fireclown has inspired, and you have been caught up in the mood. Why?
Because, perhaps, you are too unintelligent, too impatient, to see how mankind may profit from this Law we have created! The Fireclown's babblings are meaningless. He talks of our speech having no meaning and turns sensible individuals into a maddened mob with the choice of a few emotional phrases that say nothing to the mind and everything to the belly! The Fireclown has caught popular fancy. That much is obvious." He sighed and stared around the House.
"I am speaking personally now. For some time I have been aware of the Fireclown's potential ability to whip up the worst elements in human nature. I have seen him as a very great threat to the Solar nation's stability, to our progress, to our development and to individual liberty. And I note from last night's events that I was right…"
Alan saw in astonishment that his grandfather's level words had calmed the assembly, that they seemed to be having some effect. He had to admit that the old man seemed to be right, as he'd said. Yet, in a way, his words were too convincing. It was still a feeling he had-a feeling that no one in the assembly had as yet discussed anything.
Alan thought that, for them, the Fireclown had ceased to exist. He was witnessing a clash between different ways of thought, not a debate about the Clown at all. He remembered the old Russian technique of choosing a vague name for their enemies and then using it, specifically, to denounce them-attacking the Albanians instead of the Chinese had been one example. Everyone had known who the real enemies were, but there was never a direct reference to them.
Still, that had been a calculated technique, rather a good one for its purpose.
But Simon's angry relatives were now using it unconsciously. They were attacking and defending something they were unable to verbalize but which, perhaps wrongly, they were identifying with the Fireclown.
He looked down at the great assembly and for a moment felt pity, then immediately felt abashed by his own arrogance. Perhaps he misjudged them-perhaps they were not less aware but more hypocritical than he thought.
Helen Curtis was speaking again, staring directly into her uncle's eyes as he remained standing up on the platform.
"I have never doubted Minister Powys' sincerity in his denunciation of the Fireclown. But I do say he is a perfect example of the reactionary and conservative elements in the House who are unable to see a change as progress.
They see their kind of progress, a progress which is inherent in their policies.
I see a different kind. Theirs leads to sterility and decay. Ours, on the other hand, leads to an expansion of man's horizons. We wish to progress in many directions, not just one! That is why I see the Fireclown as a victim of the Solref Government. He offers scope and life and passion to human existence. The Solrefs merely offer safety and material comfort!"
"If Miss Curtis had studied the Solar Referendum manifesto in any detail," Simon Powys exclaimed, addressing the assembly, "she would have noted that we are pledged first to forming a strong basis upon which future society might work and expand. Evidently, from the mob-worship of this disgusting monster, the Fireclown, we have yet to succeed!"
"You see the Fireclown as a threat! You see him as a monster! You hound this man because, in his naive and simple manner, he has reawakened mankind's spirit!"
Helen spoke directly to Powys, her finger pointing up at him. "Then you are a hollow man with no conception of the realities!"
"So the Fireclown, Miss Curtis tells me, is a happy innocent, bereft of schemes or ambition, a prophet content only to be heard." Powys smiled at the assembly.
"I say the Fireclown is a tangible threat and that this madman intends to destroy the world!"
Alan craned forward. His grandfather would not possibly have made so categorical a statement without evidence to back it up.
"Prove it!" Helen Curtis sneered. "You have gone too far in your hatred-senseless and unfounded hatred-of the Fireclown! Prove it!"
Simon Powys' face took on a sterner expression as he turned to speak to the President.
"I have already alerted the City Police," he said calmly, "so there is no immediate danger if they work quickly. There is no question of it-I have been supplied with full proof that the Fireclown is planning to destroy the world by flame. In short, he intends to blow up the planet!"
CHAPTER SIX
ALAN was astounded. For a moment his mood of cynicism held and he was aware of a cool feeling of disbelief as the House, hushed for a second, began to murmur.
Helen suddenly looked frightened. She stared rapidly around the House then up at Powys, whose stern manner could not disguise his triumph.
"Acting on my information, the police have discovered a cache of plutonium war-heads…" he continued.