Shikasta

Right.

End of good tidings.

Begi

There we all were, on the sixth day, all so far from our usual silly selves that it made us positively sick to remember them. And then, there appeared at breakfast a man who did not introduce himself, but he just sat there. The Chinese did not know who he was either. That was clear. Though they pretended after first surprise that he was not a surprise. Or at least some of them did. As usual, we were saved by the fact that it is quite impossible to brainwash everyone to the same degree all the time. Some of our mentors were able instantly to put on a good face, offer a united front, but others not. And this was how we knew this particular Benevolence was unknown to them.

But what a creep. Type international technocrat, enough said.

The Bland Man at once introduced himself into one of our discussions, the one I was at, as it happened. He came in smiling. He sat smiling. I tell you, I have long since reached the point that when I see a Certain Smile I wish only to reach for my gun.

The atmosphere was... not the same.

It thickened. We all of us kept starting topics, and in the spirit of the last few days, but anything said fell flat. Literally. That is exactly what happened. Words sent up like kites into the air of expectation guided by the string of concord went clunk. As if shot by an airgun.

Right?

We all sat there struggling to rise again like kites foundering on the hill of disappointment and inability.

Before lunch, I made the rounds and found, as I expected, that all the artefacts you had given me had gone.

At lunch there was a peevish and irritable spirit in the dining room. The Bland One sat there, as at breakfast, by himself.

Again the Chinese were obviously disturbed by his presence, though pretending not. Unmistakable however that emanation: this-is-incorrect-and-I'm-going-to-catch-it-if-I-don't-watch-out, if only because one has been so often conscious of emanating it oneself.

After lunch I did not stay in one room, but went from one group to another. The Smiling One was with a different group from the one he had honoured in the morning.

The atmosphere had gone completely. Drained away. Accurate, no?

Sucked away?

We did not see His Blandness again. That is, he graced our deliberations for exactly one day. The Chinese, when asked, keep repeating, Oh, everything is in order, this was a Visiting Comrade.

Next day, our "informal discussions" were back to normal, the usual brawling jargon-filled idiocies.

Our particular three friends have simply disappeared. They are not here. Did His Malevolence spirit them away? I ca

Meanwhile, it is clear that people ca

And I myself have more than once found my mind going dim as I try to recall exactly that atmosphere, or even that it all did happen.

It did happen.

It happened.

What happened?

At least one knows what is possible.

I have recollected what you said to me as you left that morning: Well, you can't win them all!

Ah, what nonchalance! What insouciance!

Of course there is a question which you can't expect us at the very least not to adumbrate. Which is, Why take so much trouble if you know in advance it is a write-off? At the most a 1,000-1 chance?

No, don't bother to answer.

Just as you said when I told you about Rachel, Well, better luck next time.

O.K., O.K., I am joking.

But only just.

I babble. Of necessity. Forgive me.

I have not been able to find anyone to bring this before. We are coming to the end of the Friendship and Learning Month, which is tedious beyond belief. The usual interminable meaningless bickering discussions about things that will never happen. The Leadership of the Youth Armies has passed a resolution agreeing to "attempt to adjust their activities with the administration of Pan-Europe."

I have several times mentioned His Nastiness to our Benefactors, if for no other reason than that it is amusing to see their hasty, embarrassed and overcorrect ma

Ah, but by whom, that is the question.

So, what do you want me to do next.

COMRADE CHEN LIU, to PEKING, COMMITTEE of PUBLIC DIRECTION and COMPREHENSIVE CO-ORDINATION

I have yet again to report hardship due to insufficient food supplies allocated to European sector. The levies on farm produce have caused the predicted passive resistance by farmers throughout the area. Over-ardour on the part of the Local Administration in fulfilling the laudable and legitimate demands of the Centre is counterproductive. From Ireland to the Urals, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean (the area for which I have the honour to be responsible) the people are suffering famine. I took the liberty of saying in my last Report that in my view the inelastic attitude towards the Pan-European area is due to an un-verbalised desire for revenge for centuries of colonial oppression. I humbly begged that the Council should consider ways of making representations to the Aligned Committees for the Emergent Nations to consider well the results of their policy. If it is desired to exterminate the peoples of Pan-Europe, then this should be formulated and steps taken to put plans into action. I have been informed by my envoy to you that my words on this subject were considered offensive. I hope that my record of Service to the People will speak for me. It has never been part of our policy to inflict wholesale suffering on the countries we have taken under our Benevolent Tutelage. It has always been our aim to re-educate where possible even those recalcitrant sections of the population who show little signs of understanding. Therefore I took the liberty - and do again in this Report - to ask if it is the considered policy of our Council to support the Aligned Committees for the Emergent Nations? - if it is, in fact, the intention to empty Europe for colonisation from the South? If this is the aim, then I find myself impelled to protest, and purely on the grounds of expediency. Whatever happens in Europe will be ascribed to our Beneficent Guidance. All eyes are upon us. The fact that local representatives have ceased resistance due to our re-education, of various degrees of stringency, and have mostly been replaced by our guidance, adds weight to the argument in favour of making sure that the policies followed by the Aligned Committees for the Emergent Nations will add to our reputation as the true Elder Brother of the Deprived peoples of the world.

Letter enclosed with this Report to CHEN LIU'S friend, Chairman of the Council, KUYUANC

I have not heard from you. Does that mean you did not get my last letter? Or that you did - I do not know which thought is worse.

If you did, you will not need to read this.

I beg of you to do what you can. Even in the camps and townships of the Youth Armies, which are at least regularly if insufficiently supplied, there is hardship. The suffering generally is offensive and severe. Is it that our Council now bows before the Emergent Nations? The Centre is dominated by the limbs? Is it that this is not weakness but policy? Do we no longer feel able even to express an opinion? Or we protest, but privately? Out here in the colonies of course it is hard to keep adequately informed. But I do what I can: for instance, an analysis of the i