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The Unnecessary Man
by
The colonel walked over toward the couch and stood over the young man. “Someone? You keep referring to ‘someone.’ Ever since you asked me to help you, you’ve been mysterious about this someone. Whom do you suspect?”
Senesin looked up at the colonel for a long moment before he answered. Then: “I suspect the Emperor himself,” he said, half defiantly.
The colonel raised his finely-drawn brows just a fraction of an inch, as though he hadn’t known what the answer would be. “The Emperor? Hannikar IV? Isn’t that a little far-fetched?”
Senesin shook his head vehemently. “Don’t you see? Legally, the Emperor is powerless; the Throne hasn’t had any say-so in the Government for over a century–except to sign state papers and such. But suppose an Emperor came along who wanted power–power such as the old Emperors used to have. How would he go about getting it? By controlling the Government! He could slowly force them to give him back the powers that the people of the Empire have taken so many centuries to obtain.”
The colonel shook his head. “Impossible. Not even the Emperor could control the votes of the whole File for that purpose. It simply couldn’t be done.”
“Not that way; of course not,” the young man said irritably. “But there is a way. It’s been used before. Are you up on your history?”
“Reasonably well,” the colonel said dryly.
“How did Julius Caesar get dictatorial powers? And, after him, Augustus? Rome was threatened by war, and then actually engaged in it, and the patricians were glad to give power to a strong man.”
“That was in a state ruled by the few patricians,” the colonel pointed out, “not in a democracy.”
“Very well, then; what about the United States, during World War II? Look at the extraordinary powers granted to the President–first to stop a depression, then to win a war. What might have happened if he hadn’t died? Would he have gone on to a fifth and a sixth term? How much more power could he have usurped from the hands of Congress?”
The colonel wondered vaguely what history texts young Senesin had read, but he didn’t ask. “All right,” he said, “now tie your examples up with His Majesty.”
“It’s very simple. By controlling the mind of the Prime Portfolio, the Emperor can plunge the Empire into war with the Gehan Federation. Once that has been done, he can begin to ask for extraordinary powers from the File. If he has a few key men under his thumb, he can swing the majority of the File any way he wants to. Don’t you see that?”
The colonel said: “It does make a certain amount of sense.” He paused, looking at the young man speculatively. “Tell me, son: why did you pick me to tell this tale to?”
Senesin’s sensitive face betrayed his anxiety. “Because you have been my father’s best and oldest friend. If he’s really being made a puppet of, I should think you’d want to help him. Do you like to see him being destroyed this way?”
“No,” said the colonel honestly. “And if he is actually being controlled illegally, if he is actually being blamed for things he did not do of his own free will, I’ll do everything in my power to expose the plot–that I promise you.”
Jon Senesin’s eyes lit up; his face broke into a smile. “I knew I could depend on you, my lord! I knew it!”
“Just how do you propose to go about this?” asked Colonel Lord Sorban.
* * * * *
There was fire in young Senesin’s eyes now. “I’ll turn the whole case over to the people! I have some evidence, of course; the queer changes in behavior that Dad has exhibited during the past few years, and such things as that. The things that made me suspect in the first place. But that isn’t acceptable evidence.” He finished his brandy and got up excitedly to walk over and pour himself another. He glanced at the colonel’s goblet, but the colonel had three-quarters of his own drink left.