Favored   By   Circumstance

 

 

        Ralph Deenshaw likes to tell people, "I got halfway through The Magic Mountain."  It always works.  They begin to talk about the novels they haven't finished reading.  In these minor social gatherings one person has labeled him a theoretician. 

        But there has to be more to his life.  He's tired of hearing about glorious potential.  One day he makes a decision when he takes his eyes off a magazine and looks out at the rain that covers the sprawling orchard of the family estate.

        He actually feels he needs a break from his world of opulence.  He's thirty-two years old and he lives where he's always lived.  It's the sort of place that most children might prefer to remain at.  But now, after taking care of some dreary business there, he sets out to spend time in a distant part of the country.

        He experiences a kind of shock as he drives through vast areas that figure in stories about frontiersmen.  Not that he'd be surprised by it, exactly.  Most of the small towns are still small towns in the middle of nowhere.  He can't imagine living out here.

        Of course he telecommunicates with certain people as he moves from one state to the next.  These acquaintances have an idea what he's up to.  He arrives at a town on the lower course of the Columbia River, and he takes a temporary, modest lodging.  He expects to be seeing a few persons associated with Tyler Colson, a radio talk show host.

        The nightly broadcast of COSMIC  STANDARD amuses quite a few listeners.  The show features the mystical or nightmarish realm, and the wealthy scion wants to hear firsthand accounts of the creepiest episodes.  He wants more detail from the original source.  

        In the studio one afternoon Tyler talks to an old man named John Lembert.  The radio commentator doffs his haughtiness for the time being.  If there's someone around here that he answers to, it's John Lembert.  They spend fifteen minutes in the manager's office, and some things are agreed to.

        This leads to a warning.  John reminds him that his job as commentator is precarious.  He says, "You have the show two nights a week.  The guy in Chicago has it five nights a week, and you could be trimmed back to one night."   

        Ralph's about to hear some narratives that resemble what he's been told by an acquaintance named Gary Feist.  In a tactful way Gary's been urging him to get involved with a problem that baffles people.  The talk show has been harping on the same subject.

        By means of his talk show Tyler cultivates fiction, presenting it as fact.  He postulates that we're 'managed and inspired' by a social class which is more talented, as well as more secretive, than the rest of us.  He tries to sound positive but he still inflames the voices of paranoia.

        He sometimes reads on the air a paragraph taken from a well-known volume.  It goes, "The hand of dread in history and interstellar space constantly threatens the social fabric, and wise people know that they must give way to the transformation, to the rise of new cultures and astonishing mandates.  They have to accept the order which is contained in space-time itself." 

        His two evenings a week have a purity not found in the other five evenings.  He propounds a conservatism that somehow encourages the belief in reincarnation.  As trite as that belief seems, Tyler Colson's message brings imagination with it.  He scores points as a narrator.  In his case the intensity of audience reaction equals that for any talk show.  Ralph's intrigued with the show as well as the studio even though he doesn't accept their world view.  Gary sometimes comments on the show.  Ralph's a bit careless when he talks with John Lembert, leading the old man to believe there could be more money coming his way.  The notion is tenuous.  Though he's had opportunities, Ralph hasn't made a vigorous attempt at being a businessman. 

        Gwen Doole, successful and provocative organizer of celebrations, appears on the show.  She claims to have elite information about people who have disappeared.  This topic is Gary's bugbear.     

        She says to Tyler, "One example is a man who lived not far from you - Willis Barnes."  The example is embarrassing to Tyler, because he hasn't gotten around to interviewing the nearby citizens who remember Willis.

        But he has an adroit response.  He declares, "He's the one who told people he found something in the national forest."

        "That's right, it's east of here a few miles.  On his way there he stopped and met someone in Cabin Park."  The woman makes a helpful statement about the mentality of Willis Barnes - her most interesting statement.

        The man in question had always been considered a very sensible person, serious and never flamboyant.  He was president of one of the region's colleges.  There's uncertainty about his actions in the last week before his disappearance.  Various persons claim that Willis escaped from the human condition without having to die.

        Tyler comments, "You've been telling us what to expect in the festival that's coming up.  I imagine there's something about Willis."

        The woman admits, "We might have too many dressed in a way that reminds you of the poor guy.  Well, we don't have rules about it."

        Several days after hearing him mentioned for the first time Ralph says, "You've got this man who resembles Enoch.  What's the real story about him?"

        "Willis Barnes," Tyler answers.  "Last known to be living in Hockinson.  Can't prove anything about what happened to him, that's all."

        Tyler doesn't berate Ralph to his face or behind his back, but he doesn't level with him, either.

        The next evening he gets a call from someone who believes the earth is flat.  The person is well-known, but on this occasion he doesn't identify himself.  The call gives the flavor of the show's discourse.

        The man tells Tyler, "Your so-called NASA photographs are a joke.  Everyone knows how they got that imagery.  It's a method they've used for a long time in motion pictures."

        Tyler says, "You people always use this argument because you can't come up with anything.  All the top scientists in the world refute your position."

        "Top scientists!  That's what you call Jim Gaussoin?"

        The man referred to is the scientist most often interviewed on COSMIC  STANDARD.  Ralph's another person who's unimpressed with Gaussoin.

        Tyler and the flat earth guy try to speak at the same time, jarringly, until Tyler gives way and lets the other one continue.

        The caller says, "The subject needs to be discussed by someone besides you low-life show business people.  How much is the network paying you, anyway?"

        Tyler begins to adulate those who work in the mass media.  The caller gets pretty nasty.  He's incensed when they cut him off. 

        The investors who promote such talk shows have something against a person like Ralph Deenshaw, the sort of man they regard as unaccomplished and privileged.  Ralph's father might ignore this unflattering opinion about himself, since he's quite happy not claiming to be brilliant.  The investors are moved by their hatred of his family's presumed corruption, and they conduct extraordinary slander against Ralph.  Lots of people suddenly get to know Deenshaw's name and his new reputation in this, his closest approach to celebrity status. 

        Not knowing what's being said about him in some circles, he enjoys his temporary hobnobbing with sponsors and associates of COSMIC  STANDARD.  He has a fleeting delusion about these people.

        Tyler and Gwen both mention a social theory that's been formulated by others.  The 'Primacy Trust' is their fictitious name for something real : a corporate arrangement that was established in recent decades.  They believe it brings in utopia.  Tyler talks every week about the group that founded the Trust, but he's able to be sufficiently vague regarding their identity.  Any number of esteemed famous persons are said to be members, but no names are given.  Tyler makes a dazzling announcement : leaders of the Trust have been receiving messages that come from a world some three hundred light years distant.

        He also tells everyone that the organization is hugely philanthropic, and legitimate by the standards of business law.  Something he doesn't mention on the air is that he's trying to write a book.

        One evening Gwen says to the show's listeners, "Let me tell you about the observations made by Reba Simmons.  Before she died she left a fabulous memoir.  It's our most compelling evidence of the arrangement."

        Reba was a onetime office worker who lived in Florida.  Towards the end of her life she was running with oddball activists and having some colorful traits as an individual.  Without embarrassment Gwen describes her as a purveyor of quack medications, animal rights extremist and FBI informant. 

        What Ralph learns about Reba is like what he learns about anything else : it's something that comes in scraps.  He knows this pattern of learning can be held against him.  He's told some people that another book he didn't finish reading is The Late George Apley.  It's a slender book to have not finished reading.  Eventually Ralph will be credited with popularizing the genre that makes use of this failure to complete one's homework.  He can boast of a marginal feat.  He may seem to be without consequence, but no one says he's unintelligent.  Someday a man will remark about Ralph Deenshaw that "He isn't lucky, he's favored by circumstance."  You might say this about someone if he's perceived as an achiever, but then again you might say it only because he escaped from something. 

        Tyler begins a new narrative, a series of allegations to the effect that Willis Barnes was abducted and probably murdered.  He dismisses the idea that the Trust was responsible for the crime, and he still denies the listeners' request that he exactly identify the organization.  To develop the fiction further, he introduces the audience to one of Gwen's cobelievers, another young woman.

        Ralph sees melodramatic flavor in the developing fiction.  According to the woman, a bachelor becomes involved with a widow.  This widow strongly resembles a person Ralph has been hearing about - Reba Simmons.

        She takes her new boyfriend to meet the leaders of the Trust.  These are men who have resisted the temptations of the corporate world and the market place.  As a person being initiated, the bachelor seems to have a commoner's financial background but a very high level of education.

        He's hesitant.  They ask him, "Why don't you feel at home here?"

        The young man's initiation is described in a way that suggests what Tyler is constantly suggesting : multitudes are bound to see the light before long.

        Not necessarily accepting the talk show's narrative, someone publishes a biographical sketch of John Lembert, on the basis of which he's deplored as a spineless promoter - a person who does the bidding of some nefarious kingpin.  There's more than a little truth to the scorn.

        Without great sincerity, John's remarks to most people, including Ralph, echo the saga.

        This worldview produced by Tyler Colson and Gwen Doole seems to gibe sufficiently with a storyline established by other fantasists around the country.  The new permissible saga tells of unresolved class warfare - a struggle encompassing numerous murders and kidnappings that often appear to be isolated.  According to the storyline this travail is bound to be much greater than any previous bout of anarchy. 

        In addition to being referenced by talk show sophists across North America, the name and basic anecdote of Willis Barnes are set for inclusion in several upcoming books.  One book actually quotes Gary Feist, a man who inadvertently, and without Ralph knowing about it, contributed to the Barnes legend.  It's the briefest of literary flurries, but quite a few persons take notice. 

        One person who's been referred to, but not in books, has a question for someone he's just met.  They converse on the sidewalk outside the studio.

        Ralph says to John Lembert, "Someone brought my name into this.  I'm not saying it was you, and I'm not saying it matters.  But I wonder why it happened."

        John provides a lengthy explanation that doesn't clarify much.  His redundant phrasing is accompanied by mannerisms that annoy and perplex.

        That evening the old man huddles with a few scoundrels in a ranch house not far from Washougal.  They make flippant remarks about the shadow government, seeming to mock the very concept, but perhaps they have their own form of it.  John is involved in something that used to go against his grain.  

        Two days later an equally serious discussion involves Gary Feist with some rather intimidating characters.  They talk about urgent matters of 'commerce.'  It's not the sort of thing that Gary had ever mentioned to Ralph, or vice versa.

        The Trust has its own philosophy about the disappearance of citizens.  The professed belief is that most of the abductees are gradually improved as persons and eventually returned to our planet with altered mentalities.  A few of the missing persons have darker destinies.  A very few, such as Willis, enjoy something too glorious to be understood by those who continue to live as we always have.  One morning a massive, hard-bound volume of enlightenment makes its way, by means of the postal service, to the group responsible for producing COSMIC  STANDARD.

        Before long another person elaborates the mythical narrative.  He's a frequent guest on talk shows, more conspicuous than Gwen Doole.  This man claims to be an explorer.   

        He calls in to the man at COSMIC  STANDARD and he announces, "I've been trained in the long-standing methodology of the Peruvian sages."  He makes a number of extraordinary claims about their society.

        The host answers, "Your books really do convey the secret wisdom that's been handed down from the forefathers in that mountain imperial culture - the culture we can learn so much from.  Who knows how much they've already contributed to our movement of environmentalism?  I congratulate you on your achievements."

        The explorer does a lot of name-dropping, with physicists and astronomers getting mentioned more often than historians or social critics.  He agrees to participate with Tyler at a convention in Las Vegas.

        Finally he predicts, "You'll be hearing more about my brother, and he'll convince you if I haven't." 

        Gary Feist, undergoing a tremendous change in lifestyle, sends an email proclamation to Ralph.  The statement is too hard to understand, at least for someone who's taking a vacation of sorts.

        Ralph has enjoyed his two weeks in southwest Washington, and before leaving he spends the morning in Cabin Park, talking to a man who knew Willis Barnes.  Ralph drives a suitably impressive sedan, a tolerably comfortable means of transport on the return journey home.  It's a slow trip with a half dozen overnight stops intended.

        The next day one of the show's investors comes to see the man that Ralph visited in Cabin Park.  Before he enters the man's house he stands out front, studying the landscape.  In one direction is the swale, to the other side a stand of Douglas Fir.  The trees edge the clearing that was established a century ago.  A small group of commercial buildings fills the view to the south.  As a person who's here for the first time - and probably the last - the investor is quite a sight.  It's his physique, demeanor and clothing.  If he has a bodyguard this is not obvious, and there's no need for an introduction when he talks to the resident.  He learns what Ralph said to this man the previous day.  Then they talk at length about the concerns of Willis Barnes.

        The man with clout is aggressively seeking what he calls 'The Answer.'  He's very intrigued about the factors that motivated Willis.  He wants to identify the relevant psychological characteristic, and he wants to hear about everyone who knew the missing man.

        Regarding the decisive influence he says, "There's someone around here who eats and sleeps comfortably knowing full well that he told Willis the thing that made him snap.  Willis chose to disappear, and God knows what became of him."

        The visitor has a way of getting too personal.  At last the resident confesses, "Who do you think told him to go look in the forest?  Call me guilty if you insist."

        After he wrings a few more nuggets from his midlevel, captive audience, the investor takes a stroll through much of the settlement.  He fantasizes about a time when he would install something drastic here - something to change their lives forever.  He would let them know who did it.

        He gives his peers a message that has results.  One of John's superiors talks to Gwen, telling her that she'll have to fill in for Tyler when he spends time on the road, which will be very soon.  At twenty-nine years of age Gwen has long been ready for such an assignment.  She's being told she'll have moderate leeway for giving the discussion a new slant.

        She has very serious ambitions as a writer.  Now maybe she'll have enough time on the air to relate her papers and her one volume to the spoken content of COSMIC  STANDARD.  She's been developing profiles of half a dozen outlandish characters who extol the paranormal.  She's determined to push the subject matter far enough that even Tyler might squirm a little.  In addition Gwen is looking forward to the establishment of a unique, organized gala, something better than what's happening now with a 'Willis Commemoration.'

        Points of view keep adjusting.  One afternoon Tyler and a man from the network have a long chat.  The name of the visitor is Fred Stefanelli.

        Tyler says, "On the surface it looks like our business avoids the toxic forms of competition.  It looks like we have a nice little comfortable niche, and people say to me, 'Tyler, you've got it made'.  But they have no concept of what it's like - the things we have to go through."

        The network man agrees.

        Tyler continues, "The panic mongers keep coming after us.  We don't screen our own guests very effectively."

        Fred says, "At least we don't have to work in television."  

        They talk for a while about John Lembert - why it's all right that he works into his seventies.  They praise him for his lack of bigotry. 

        Tyler states, "He keeps quiet about so many things.  He knows the masses couldn't handle it."

        Fred replies, "One time over coffee and waffles he told me what I wish he hadn't told me.  I wonder about that.  He may have been drinking before we had breakfast."

        This man from the network has an unusual streak of malice.  He makes it a point to revere the many spokemen that Tyler publicizes.  But he's most of all the hard-bitten organization man.  He goes along with what the network promotes.  He has no illusions about his own supposed loyalties.  He'd be willing to get rid of this person or that person.  And he can still enjoy traveling and breaking bread with such as Tyler. 

        They discuss a range of banalities that have to do with MK-Ultra, Frank Church and the Grateful Dead.  It's a topic they're more comfortable with compared to the strange realities they've brushed against.

        Towards the end of the conversation Tyler says, "I think you were going to tell me about the state of the art."

        His visitor has genuine peace of mind.  He's been to the popular conventions in the big cities, and though the typical dangers have been evident, he knows he doesn't have to worry.

        He declares, "You've got problems here in the county, but not like they have elsewhere.  In most of the big cities the pattern is uniform.  You convince a hundred people you've been contacted by extraterrestrials, and suddenly you have a bunch of groupies.  Then if you get that far you become a bigger target."

        "You're talking about some of the persons I interview?"

        "Several."

        "I wouldn't say many of the people are phonies," Tyler insists.

        Fred replies, "We're too soft on the psychics as well as the skeptics.  From what I've heard about this Deenshaw character, he can't be trusted, no matter what sort of critic he is."

        "He seems pretty detached about what we do here," Tyler says.

        Tyler and Fred have been tasked by the investors to create policy.  They spend some time coming up with suggestions, and then Fred has to return home.

        When they get to PDX he reminds Tyler, "We found someone to help you write that book.  He'll call you next week."

        "Thanks, Fred."

        The talk show investors and the Trust have a continuous interaction.  John Lembert's colleagues urge the great organization to attack the Deenshaw family.  The response is disappointing.

        Still, the slander against Ralph is given a clever adjustment.  The new story's an attempt to implicate him in whatever dreadful thing happened to Willis.  Fine points of the story are provided with help from the informer in Cabin Park.  Allegations will offend Ralph through the coming decades.  John is somewhat to blame for the harmful stories that circulate.

        Ralph learns of these allegations before he reaches home and before he talks to his relatives.

        As a mass media sensation the family doesn't last.  You hear the well-worn charge of capitalistic vanity, though Ralph can't be blamed for his baronial dwelling, a structure built by his grandfather.  TV commentators glorify the Deenshaw females by contrast with Ralph and the other men.  It's just as well that these men have never been outspokenly political.  Agents working for the Trust make a skillful approach to the Deenshaws.  One of these men gains acceptance in a kind of partnership.  This move is for the purpose of recruitment as much as for fundraising, and these developments are secret.  Finally, Ralph's return to the palace is done under cover of night, so to speak.  Before the attention ceases, a few critics portray him as the aristocratic playboy, drug addict and all-purpose degenerate.  

        He tries to follow public discussion of literature and wealth, but he has to guess about ulterior motives.  According to a spokesman for the Primacy Trust, "In the present stage of social development there's a familiar sort of businessman who hides his grave, insidious nature beneath a cloak of supposed imaginative desire - a longing for the exotic, the marginal subcultures and even the wilderness."  

        Ralph learns more about the strange world of writers.  There's an author living in upstate New York who hasn't heard of Deenshaw but still reflects the patrician's influence.  His unpublished novel - eight hundred pages and projected to be much longer - is a big deal in the circles that cultivate fantasy-as-fact.  The author glories in his inability to complete the novel.

        Federal officials begin prosecution of several online and radio pundits, charging them with fraud.  The accused are persons who claim that what they present to the public is entertainment, even though it's presented as fact.  

        The Trust enjoys a great coup in terms of judicial resource.  A defense attorney comes to the aid of the media performers and emerges into national prominence.  He adulates the performers, likening them to champions of the downtrodden.  He says the talk show celebrities are 'tottering at the edge of martyrdom.'  Their anguish recalls 'the darkest days of the civil rights movement.'  He's allowed more TV appearances than he can handle.  He has a frightening influence.

        Meanwhile the fervent Gwen Doole praises Ralph for his involvement with one of those short-lived literary movements.  This is one final burst of notoriety for the young man.  The investors haven't told Gwen what they really think of him, and on this question of esthetic preference they don't care if she speaks her mind.

        They do object when a person who used to work with Tyler starts relaying some allegations about Willis Barnes.  They've no clue that the person is using information he got from Fred Stefanelli, and Fred's unaware that the claims put some of John Lembert's superiors in a bad light.  They're uncomfortable with the claim that Willis ran afoul of his acquaintances, a few of whom give orders to Lembert.

        Fred converses with John by phone.

        John proclaims, "There's all the difference in the world between what we do and what most people think of as employment.  Life is more demanding the way we do it."  Most of the time John is able to instruct without being stern.  "It's not that treachery is very common, it's just that opportunity is rare.  People get desperate.  Some things were said that made the situation worse."

        Fred answers, "He thought he'd help that guy he knew in college.  Get him a job, or something, but like you say, too much was blurted.  As a matter of job searching the guy shot himself in the foot."

        It's hard to believe there was something volatile.

        "Tyler's friend can't come back here," John says, "and you better stay away, too."

        "Are we talking physical revenge?" Fred asks.

        "I can't honestly say what might happen, but why take chances?"

        "John, I don't believe they did something to Willis.  Nothing drastic, anyway."

        "I agree, but all it takes is one fool in the system who thinks you're putting it on his doorstep.  Who can tell what that person might do?"

        "Okay," Fred answers, "I get it.  We avoid this friend of Tyler, and what's more, we keep something in reserve.  Some statement that pins it on our friend Colson."

        "That also puts my ass in the wringer," the old man complains.  "My job at the station makes me responsible for that kid's behavior."

        "We can handle this.  We solve it by giving it plenty of thought." 

        John doesn't sound happy.  "I have to see a planning committee Thursday night.  I better have something they'll accept."

        They call each other several times in the next two days.  They try to justify the abusive statements made against Ralph Deenshaw. 

        The so-called Primacy Trust enjoys a degree of privilege at the expense of the network that employs Fred.  Up till now he's been blissfully ignorant of this.  One day he's approached by a network big shot as well as by a man from the Trust.  They tell him that his portion of the world has become a smaller portion.  The Trust officer describes one of his allies : a former professional wrestler who takes the lucrative assignments that come from corporate America.  Fred gets the point.  The VIPS leave the office building as quietly as they arrived.

        Later Fred looks at a rough draft of the book written by Tyler.  The point of view communicated isn't what he would expect, in light of what he's heard Tyler saying on the air.  It's as if the talk show host and his friends are determined to rival the Trust.  It seems ill-advised.  Fred thinks that, apart from this point it's lousy composition, even for a rough draft.  The intended collaborator tells Fred not to worry.  He'll make it ready for publication.  This new partner sends Tyler some phony, gushing emails.  He assures Tyler the composition is 'majestic and extremely perceptive.'  The collaborator says he can secure a profitable deal with people in New York City.   

        On Tyler's last evening before he begins his road trip he reveals his plans in more detail.

        He tells the listeners, "I'm going to be speaking at several conferences up and down the West Coast.  I gave some hints of this recently.  It's time for certain leaders in the movement to be speaking face to face.  The disinformation being used against us will keep increasing unless we give more attention to this problem.  I'm serious.  We as a nation are in trouble unless we do something about it."

        As in most times, anxious thoughts about the social system continue to be rife.  Somewhere a famous man declares in a commencement address, "The television and radio presenters are the new witch doctors."  At first there's no ripple of surprise in the audience.  Then he says, "The mass media fantasies threaten our survival, not just as a nation but also as a biological species." 

        In the following week Ralph hears about the speech and he comments, "I believe it."  It becomes obvious to him that the sojourn in Washington State couldn't have been productive.  He retains his dignity when backing away from COSMIC  STANDARD. 

        His father says to him, "What's it like, flirting with show business?"

        Ralph answers, "If you call that show business - comments without imagery.  Well, I guess it's a kind of show business in its own way."  He confesses, "It's like most flirting.  Nothing comes of it."

        "We don't have to bother much with publicity," his father says.  It's a comforting thought.

        The elder Deenshaw - serious man of the church - remembers making a decisive statement in Ralph's hearing when Ralph was a child.  The assertion gave much to the young man's beliefs, tying his thoughts of the occult with all his thoughts about divinity.  When he reached college age another person taunted him with the charge, "You can't handle religion," - a charge only partly true.  Since then he's felt deprived in terms of having a meaningful companion.  He feels that he's never had influence.  His Internet statement of world view has been sufficiently ignored.

        Another person to be slighted is the man at COSMIC  STANDARD.  The book written by him and his collaborator will be intercepted by editors who have a secret allegiance to the Trust.  Accordingly the book will be nixed.  A tension continues to exist between the Trust and the investors who promote such fare as the talk show.

        Ralph keeps listening to the show.  Though he does, and though he has excellent protection in terms of attorneys, he's guilty of letting himself be vexed by certain thoughts.  He fears he'll be remembered, not for achievement, but only for his incidental proximity to the action.  He might be comforted if he knew that inheritance is only five years away.  

        He begins to participate in a group that assembles once every two weeks at a location near his home town.  The group is devoted to parapsychology.  Each member is expected to run his own series of tests in the community.  They give reports of their findings, and the different research efforts are coordinated by the group's leader.  He's impressive by himself.  He's been able to attract persons from so many backgrounds, and he doesn't talk too much. 

        One day after the gathering breaks up he says to Ralph, "Back there in the session you mentioned the Primacy Trust.  If I had their objectives I might have more things going for me by now."  He's resigned to a lower status.  "I never wanted to get in touch with those people."

        He does possess information that Ralph never would have guessed.  He speaks of a special agenda.  He names some persons Ralph hasn't heard of, describing their unpleasant reputations.  

        The Trust Officials don't know of this parapsychologist, or they don't care about him.  Their people interacting with Ralph's family continue their efforts.  As they talk to Ralph they're careful not to be obvious in their allegiance.  They don't make him suspicious.

        Gwen composes a long email and sends it to Ralph.  He answers reluctantly, then gets another one.  She seems unaware of the disparaging statements her colleagues have made about him.  She tells him about a book she published.  It's her opinion that he has much to contribute to the inclusive metaphysical movement.  But the correspondence is very sporadic.

        He begins to wonder why he hasn't heard from Gary Feist, and hasn't been able to reach him.  A big reason for the loss of communication is the thing that happened eight weeks ago : Gary's move to Las Vegas. 

        It fits in with Ralph's awareness that the interval at Cabin Park was one of delusion and manipulation.  His appointment to see the resident was made by Gwen, who did what she thought was right.  But the man's good will was unreliable.

        Visiting a bookstore, Ralph just now finds a copy of the volume by Gwen Doole, and he not only buys it, but reads it from cover to cover.  The book tells you that Willis disappeared four years ago.  Reba, who died eight months ago, began to learn of Willis in the last year of her life, and she claimed that she'd been 'hearing from him.'  The author's work on the book has been more strenuous than the work in most of the literature.  She controverts the impression that Reba thought of herself as a medium.

        Gwen writes, "This wasn't communication with the dead, because Willis never died."

        In the context of a political anthology one more surprising document is revealed.  This purports to be a text authored by Willis himself, and it's the summary, with opinions and philosophical arguments, given by a practical man.  He relates his experience in down-to-earth terms that make it disappointing to Tyler's audience.

        According to the belief of a very select few, Willis encountered a superhuman presence in Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  After he came back from the forest it was two days until he vanished.  In that time he told a couple of persons what had happened.  In the following days and weeks his entertaining story became somewhat garbled.

        The explorer's brother finally enters the limelight.  For some time now the brother's been posing as the man who speaks for a superhuman authority called Straldif.  He claims to occupy a secret, fortified location from which he sends enlightened messages.  He's about as talented as anyone with this rhetorical predilection.  But his statements are becoming desperate.  Even Tyler Colson admits on the air that he feels sorry for the man.  The problem has to do with more than the explorer's brother.  The fiction industry is undergoing something disastrous.  Several of the most notable performers are being jettisoned.  Before long the victims will include Straldif's mouthpiece.  The explorer makes himself scarce.

        Much of the confusion results from a public acknowledgment by the Trust.  The secret identity glorified by such persons as Tyler Colson is divested of secrecy.  Tyler and his ilk are being released from their contractual obligations regarding this.  Now they can name some names.

        About this time John suffers a very embarrassing lapse in his physical condition.  He receives appropriate medical treatment, and soon begins the interval of recovery.  By means of email he advises Tyler on what to be looking for as he travels.

        Tyler meets Gary - without expecting to - at the Las Vegas conference.  For a reason that stems from certain encounters in this town, Gary has begun to see the world in different terms.

        Somehow he knows more than Tyler does about Willis Barnes.  He states, "With Willis the only concern would be what he leaves behind for the people he cares about.  He'd never be afraid of leaving this life in the company of extraterrestrials, not as long as the destination promises to be the realm of eternal harmony."

        Tyler says, "That has the ring of truth."

        Gary adds, "But the main speaker today has another problem."

        "He sure does, " Tyler agrees.  "It's looking as if no one believes in Straldif."  

        But the gathering is worthwhile, Tyler concludes.  He acquires usable folklore at no charge.  Some of the attendees are good at mythmaking, not so good at raising funds.  He learns a great deal from a man who seems unaware of the Trust even though he's been 'taught' by it.  At the same time Tyler's pessimistic regarding the youngest men and women who came to the auditorium.  He can guess that many will soon be apostate. 

        The main speaker is the explorer's brother, and yes, he's losing his edge.  As for what happened to Willis Barnes even the fantasy writers can't suspect the half of it.  They won't believe anything about his numinous deliverance. 

        Around the country there's a drastic increase in the number of radio station personnel being stalked by drug-afflicted sociopaths.  They're mentioned even by the man who does COSMIC  STANDARD five nights a week from Chicago.  He inveighs against the groups he thinks are making trouble for talk shows, but he's less interested in the paranormal and more interested in mainstream celebrities.

        With John still recovering from his illness, an executive comes to see him for a kind of planning session.  He has a good example of something they can blame on Ralph.  He got the idea from someone he knows in Texas.  A Fort Worth radio personality was roughed up by a man who was stalking him.  John and his colleague have to play with identities here.  Instead of whoever it really was, they'll say Ralph was the instigator - the one who encouraged the assailant.  John spends a lot of time in his recliner.  He waits for the news story.

        As an attempt to sully Ralph's reputation, the lies against him fizzle.

        The sociopath problem is treated more lightly by Tyler Colson when he returns to the studio.

        He begins, "I had a great time in Vegas, I love the people there.  Easy going, receptive to the new culture - the new cosmic vitality.  They don't try to manipulate, they just let you be yourself."  Then he adopts a slightly different tone.  "They're not impressed by alarmist, overstated reports of the madmen supposedly stalking us.  The system we have is alive and well, in the Southwest and even here in the other Clark County - our humble Clark County, Washington."

        After the broadcast he listens quietly as Gwen tells him about the surge of Reba Simmons anecdotes that she was getting from the callers.  These anecdotes give a new emphasis, rather typecast : the defiant woman, persecuted by globalists.  Now and then a man from one of the multinational business interests would approach Reba, trying to form a distraction.  These attempts always failed.  Oddly enough, everyone agrees that the woman's death was an accident.

        An agent for the Trust - the man who secured a working relationship with Ralph's family - has a little chat with Fred Stefanelli.  There are some deep reasons why these men, like others already mentioned, have come to Las Vegas.  In line with cinematic imagery, these men are poolside.

        The Trust officer declares, "We'll need something to bolster the message.  Nobody anticipated these casualties."

        "Some breed of prophets we've got," Fred complains, with a trace of sarcasm.

        Neither man is too affected by it.  The Trust won't punish its best agents, and Fred has a knack for avoiding the issues.

        The Trust agent says, "We've got a big resource in the Deenshaws.  You can't see that unless you get close to Ralph or one of the others."

        "And for you it's obvious how to use the resource?"

        "I'm learning how to do that," the agent says, "even though it means we're just another target for the Trump Administration.  They do a lot that doesn't support the President's opinons." 

        Fred comments, "I realize we're subordinate to the Trust."  He's uneasy.  "How can I work if I don't know what's expected of me?"

        The other man just barely shows the contour of an arrogant smile.  He has what he wants.  In the next few minutes he slowly and firmly gives instructions.

        As Fred walks away from the pool he's aware that yet another man - a prominent investor - studies him, gazing down from one of the windows in a high-rise.  The investor causes additional foreboding.

        Fred locates Gary.  He'd been informed by Tyler how to do that, and it takes no more than a half hour.  Gary's candid about the man he met at the convention.

        He states, "I told him to stay up there at Portland.  He wouldn't have a chance in this town."

        Tyler must have made known his ambitions.  Gary quotes one of his silly remarks.

        "I had no idea," Fred lies.  Then he has a sad expression.  "They always think they can make it to the top." 

        Fred spends time on the phone after he's done with Gary.  He talks with various persons as he prepares for his return home.  He'll have to stop at network headquarters before he goes to his house.  There's a conversation with John Lembert.  Fred is finally told about the latest conspiracy.  Instead of thinking it's too risky, he hopes they'll expand the operation by giving him a part to play.  John recommends patience.  Fred will have his chance before long.

        Later there's a decisive comparing of notes : two big shots in a luxurious room somewhere on the West Coast, night having fallen.  A blond, middle-aged man pigs out with a massive sandwich.  The other man is geriatric, and guzzles a very unwholesome beverage.  The blond man, with his feet propped up on a kind of night stand, contemplates the TV and radio programs he's been sponsoring.  He finances a few that have the feminists or the environmental pantheists, and he promotes a couple of televangelists.  It's amazing what people might pretend to believe as long as you let them have their own talk shows.  As for the older man in the room, he used to pretend he was a world-class lecher.  He's toned it down the last couple of years.  These men have never been prosecuted for anything.

        The blond man finishes the sandwich, and comments, "If the general population thinks that men like us are such monsters, we shouldn't disappoint them, should we?"

        Both men chuckle in a self-satisfied manner.

        The next afternoon Gary Feist participates in a secret ceremony that's remarkably grotesque.  He's with a group whose members love their cosmetic ornamentation, and they welcome the newcomer.  They chant, they gesture, they apply a disgusting substance to his upper body.  They compel him to swallow some of the rank 'lotion.'

        He's told his relatives about the change in his philosophy of life.  They'd be horrified if they cared about him.  It's only a matter of time before he tells Ralph what he thinks, but he wants to formulate the perfect farewell.  He knows they won't see each other again. 

        Four days later a man who makes many statements about utopia leaves Las Vegas and travels to the county where Tyler lives.  He seeks out a key informant.   

        "I've seen him do the impossible," says the man in Cabin Park who was visited by Ralph.  He isn't talking about Ralph.  "We don't know for sure what he did after he went to Gifford Pinchot.  I think he's working with someone, but he wants the rest of us to think he's dead.  You say your people don't know where he is.  Then there's all this crap about his abduction by aliens."

        The Trust representative didn't learn anything about Willis when he spoke to Fred Stefanelli.

        He declares, "We have some men looking into the Barnes fiasco.  But I'm just trying to learn as much as I can about Ralph.  My position being what it is, there's only so much he'll tell me directly.  Families like his can do a great deal for us.  There's something for your own revenues, too."

        He's feeling very confident.  He knows that the investors behind COSMIC  STANDARD are being absorbed by the Trust.  He proposes a course of action that the other man in this room is bound to endorse.

        Tyler and Gwen keep finding new material supposedly based on Reba Simmons.  One of the deceased woman's friends had for some reason occupied a decrepit cottage near the town of Kalama.  The person is now living elsewhere but has left some intriguing videos at the cottage.  Gwen refers to the videos as journals.  Most viewers will think these records are merely quotidian, but they can be edited for a desired result.

        Of course the new material includes content they won't be talking about.  It seems that one of Reba's friends was advocating the assassination of some identified public officials.  For another thing Reba was enamored of Ayn Rand.  In one video she defends herself against a 'smear campaign' that she won't describe, though giving the impression that its details could be found in public records.  Tyler and Gwen are taking their chances. 

        They talk with John Lembert at his residence in the hills east of the studio.

        A few minutes after they arrive Tyler says, "For a long time we were struggling to discover the true message.  I think we have it now, and our potential is unlimited."

        John notes the younger man's enthusiasm.  He's always believed in Tyler.  The younger man perceives the approval.

        John assures him, "You can use Reba's journals as much as you want."

        Tyler's body language conveys elation.

        Gwen tells John, "You won't believe the festival we're setting up for this."

        "Excellent!" he says. 

        With his malady fading, he's feeling pretty good.  Now he begins a fit of rhetorical mischief.  He says, "Before long you can tell where a man is coming from, as in the case of Ralph Deenshaw - his background and his commitment to the prejudice of that coercive eastern establishment.  Well, didn't you see the swastikas in his car?"

        Tyler and Gwen both have quizzical expressions.  For the rest of the visit they refrain from making certain candid comments.  They're still bemused after they've left his house.

        Tyler points out, "His opinions aren't getting any more charitable."

        Gwen replies, "We have to make allowances for such things.  He's been through a lot."

        A small group of professionals who live and work in full view of Mt. Adams have not lost their confidence.  They adore the nearby, well-known colony of ufologists.

        The colony's leaders encourage people to submit whenever the galactic representatives descend from the sky.  The representatives proclaim wisdom, justice and bliss.  It's true that the colonists have their share of missing persons.  Most of these will eventually return to our planet.  There's nothing to fear.

        The outlook is definite : COSMIC  STANDARD persists.  This is obvious in one broadcast especially.

        Gwen tells the listening audience, "The journal in calligraphic handwriting, the video with monologue and, finally, the strange rock formations in Utah - it all comes back to the story told by a woman named Reba."

        Stanford researchers in psychology announce a major finding.  They've concluded that mass media doctrines and portrayals are increasingly conditioned by illegal or experimental drug use.  Newly available drugs are the subject of mania.  This factor accounts for most reports of extraterrestrial visitation, incubus or succubus, telepathic assaults and irreverent graveyard ceremonies.  Many reports of conspiracies are explained this way, as are paranoid social views in general.  Most bizarre of all is the tie-in with stories about missing persons.  There's a widespread fear that the oligarchs are harvesting or synthesizing problematic substances for the purpose of inflicting misery.  There's no immediate denial of this claim within academia. 

        Ralph becomes aware that Gary has done two very unfortunate things : renounced his commitments to the interest group he promoted, and then begun partaking in the misdeeds of organized crime.  This change confounds almost everything in Ralph's life.  

        Some of the Deenshaw family's business relations are beginning to suffer.  The objection that 'Ralph doesn't do anything' is replaced by more serious grievances.  He begins his open criticism of the Trust.