d'Alembert 06 Purity Plot by E.E. "Doc" Smith

Author:E.E. "Doc" Smith
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780586043394
Publisher: Panther
Published: 1980-06-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Panic In the Hall

On Purity, in the main offices of Tresa Clunard, there was little cause for happiness. Elspeth FitzHugh, the counselor’s chief assistant, was presenting the weekly figures for recruitment into their Army of the Just. “As you can see, Sister Tresa,” FitzHugh said, “the figures show a decline for the third straight week.”

Clunard took the papers from her aide’s hand and skimmed the columns of numbers quickly. The drop in recruits was all too obvious. What was worse, the figures were dropping by larger amounts every week. If this trend were to continue unabated, within two weeks there would be virtually no new recruits joining her army.

She looked up from her chair at the woman standing before her. “Would you care to venture any opinions about why this is happening, Sister Elspeth?” she asked. “Is it because they’re getting tired of listening to me? Am I asking the impossible of them?”

“You’re asking no more than you’re willing to give yourself,” FitzHugh soothed. “And as for getting tired of listening, I’d have to say that the crowds seem to be as enthusiastic as they ever were.”

“Yes, but they’re smaller. Even I can see that, despite the lights shining in my eyes.”

FitzHugh could not deny such an unquestionable fact. Instead, she nudged the subject in a slightly new direction. “I think it’s because of this new counselor, this Cromwell Hanrahan. His dress and his manner of. speech are outrageous, and his exhortations refute every principle you stand for. He uses the twisted logic of Satan himself to make sin sound holy and tells people that their wicked thoughts and deeds are ordained by God. He preys upon the weakness in people’s minds, whereas you try to build up the strengths. The sinners want to believe him because he offers them the easy path. He offers them pleasure; you only offer them hard work and devotion to God.”

Clunard nodded. “That’s true. God must have placed him in my path as a further test of my faith. I’ll have to work even harder to prove myself and my cause.”

“I think you should do more than that.”

Clunard stopped and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that Hanrahan is our enemy. You are right, God sent him to us as a test of your faith and your will. You have spoken out well against sinners like Hanrahan. Perhaps it’s time to be more specific.”

“You mean mention him by name, single him out as a symptom of the evil that’s infected the galaxy as a whole?”

FitzHugh shrugged. “If that’s what’s necessary to rid us of the plague, then I say yes.”

“You don’t fight evil by shouting at it, Sister Elspeth. I’ve told you that many times before. All I would be doing is advertising his heresies even further, spreading them in places he himself cannot teach.” “Yet you must do something.”

Clunard stood up and walked to the far end of the room. She had her back turned to FitzHugh and, for a long moment, was lost in deep thought.

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