8
Eight Months Earlier:
Saturday, December 18, 1976
IN THE COMPUTER CENTER of the sealed wing of the Greenwich house, seven days before Christmas, the monitor boards and systems bulbs and cathode-ray tubes and glowing scopes, although they were mostly red and green, had not reminded Salsbury of the holiday.
When he entered the room, his first time there in months, Klinger looked around at the lights and said, Very Christmasy.
Strangely enough, it was rather Christmasy.
However, because he hadnt perceived something which had registered with the general in mere seconds, Salsbury felt uneasy. For almost two years now, day and night, he had been telling himself that he must be quicker, sharper, more cunning, and more forward-thinking than either of his partnersif he was to keep his partners from eventually putting a bullet in his head and burying him at the southern end of the estate beside Brian Kingman. Which was surely what they had in mind for him. And for each other. Either that or slavery through the keylock program. Therefore, it was quite disturbing to him that Klinger-hairy, flat-faced gorilla that he wasshould make, of all things, an aesthetic observation before Salsbury himself had made it.
The Only way he could deal with his own uneasiness was to put the general off his stride as quickly as possible. You cant smoke in here.
Put that out at once.
Rolling the cheroot from the center of his thick lips to one side, Klinger said, Oh, surely
The delicate machinery, Salsbury said sharply, gesturing at the Christmasy lights.
Klinger took the slender cigar from his mouth and appeared to be about to drop it on the floor.
The waste can.
When he had disposed of the cheroot, the general said, Sorry.
Salsbury said, Thats all right. Youre not familiar with a place like this, with computers and all of that. You couldnt be expected to know.
And he thought: Score one for me.
Wheres Leonard? Klinger asked.
He wont be here.
For such an important test?
He wishes it werent necessary.
Pontius Pilate.
What?
Looking at the ceiling as if he could see through it, Klinger said, Up there washing his hands.
Salsbury wasnt about to take part in any conversation meant to dissect or analyze Dawson. He had taken every measure to protect himself from any attempt on Dawsons part to plant bugs in his work area. He didnt believe it was possible for anyone to spy on him while he was in here. But he couldnt be positively, absolutely certain of that. Under the circumstances, he felt that paranoia was a rational vantage point from which to view the world.
What all have you got to show me? Klinger asked. For a start, I thought youd want to see a few print-outs from the keylock program.
Im curious, the general admitted.
Picking up a sheet of computer paper that was folded like an accordion into dozens of eighteen-inch-long sections, Salsbury said, All three of our new employees
The mercenaries?
Yes. All three of them were given the drug and then shown a series of films, ostensibly as evening entertainment: The Exorcist, Jaws, and Black Sunday, on successive nights. These were, of course, very special copies of the films.
Processed right here on the estate. I did the work personally. Printed each of them over a different stage of the subliminal program.
Why those three movies in particular?
I could have used any I wanted, Salsbury said. I just chose them at random from Leonards film library. The movie is simply the package, not the content.
It merely establishes a reason for the subjects to stare at the screen for a couple of hours while the subliminal program is running below their recognition threshold. He handed the print-out to Klinger. This is a second-by-second verbal translation of the images appearing on the screen in the rheostatic film, which begins simultaneously with the movie. Wherever the computer prints This Legend it means that the visual subliminals have been interrupted by a block-letter message on the rheostatic film, a direct command to the viewer.
SUBJECT CODEDKEY LOCK
REVISED PROGRAM/STAGE ONE
STORAGE MATERIAL
PROGRAM STORED: 8/6/76
THIS PRINT: 12/18/76
SECONDS SUBLIMINAL CONTENT
0001 NO CONTENT