up.So she pretended to take sides against you."
"Why, Don!" Patricia protested.
"Come off it, kid. You probably hate my guts worse than the others. Youwere the one who thought this _particular_ average man was a slob. Thatall common people were slobs."
Patricia's face went expressionless, but Ross, knowing her well, couldsense her dismay. Crowley was right. She had been trying to play acareful game but their supposedly average man had seen through her.
Crowley's voice went thoughtful. "I been doing a lot of thinking thisweek. A lot of it. And you want to know something? You know what Idecided? I decided that everybody talks a lot about the Common Man butactually he's never had a chance to, like, express himself. He's neverbeen able to put over the things he's always wanted."
"Haven't you ever heard of democracy?" Ross said sourly. "Who do youthink elects our officials?"
"Shut up, I told you. I'm talking now. Sure, every four years the lousypoliticians come around and they stick coonskin caps on their heads orIndian bonnets and start saying ain't when they make their speeches.Showing they're just folks, see? They go out into the country, and sticka straw in their mouth and talk about crops to the farmers, all thatsort of thing. But they aren't _really_ common folks. Most of them arelawyers or bankers or something. They run those political parties andmake all the decisions themselves. The Common Man never really hasanything to say about it."
Braun said reasonably, "You have your choice. If you think one candidateis opposed to your interests you can elect the other."
Crowley grunted his contempt. "But they're both the same. No, therehasn't been no common man in Washington since Lincoln, and maybe hewasn't. Well, I'll tell you something. The kind of talk I hear down inthe corner saloon from just plain people makes a lot more sense to methan all this stuff the politicians pull."
Dr. Braun cleared his throat and stared at the seemingly empty chairfrom whence came the other's belligerent voice. "Are you thinking ofentering politics, Don?"
"Maybe I am."
"Good heavens," Patricia ejaculated.
"Oh, I'm not smart enough, eh? Well, listen baby, the eggheads don'tseem to be so great in there. Maybe it's time the Common Man took over."
Dr. Braun said reasonably, "But see here, Crowley, the ability toachieve invisibility doesn't give you any advantages in swingingelections or...." He broke off in mid-sentence and did a mental doubletake.
Crowley laughed in contempt. "The biggest thing you need to winelections, Doc, is plenty of dough. And I'll have that. But I'll alsohave the way to do more muck-raking than anybody in history. _I'll_ sitin on every important private get-together those crook politicians have.I'll get the details of every scheme they cook up. I'll get into anysafe or safe deposit box. I'll have the common people, you sneer so muchabout, screaming for their blood."
Ross rumbled, "What do you expect to accomplish in office, Crowley?"
The voice became expansive. "Lots of things. Take this Cold War. If youdrop into any neighborhood bar, you'll hear what the common man thinksabout it."
The three of them stared at the seemingly empty chair.
"Drop the bomb first!" Crowley snapped. "Finish those reds off beforethey start it. In fact, I'm not even sure they've got the bomb. They'renot smart enough to...."
"There was sputnik, you know," Ross interrupted sourly.
"Yeah, but built by those captured German scientists. We're way ahead ofthose Russkies in everything. Hit 'em now. Finish 'em off. The eggheadsin Washington are scared of their own shadows. Another thing I'd end isgetting suckered in by those French and English politicians. What doesAmerica need with those countries? They always start up these wars andget us to bail them out. And I say stop all this foreign aid and keepthe money in our own country.
"And we can do a lot of cleaning up right here, too. We got to kick allthe commies out of the government. Make all the commies and socialistsand these egghead liberals, illegal. In fact, I'm in favor of shootingthem. When you got an enemy, finish him off. And take the Jews. I'm notanti-Semitic, like, understand. Some of my best friends are Jews. Butyou got to realize that wherever they go they cause trouble. They sticktogether and take over the best businesses and all. O.K., you know whatI say? I say kick them out of the country. And they all came over herepoor and made their money here. So let them leave the way they came.We'll, like, confiscate all their property except like personalthings."
Patricia had closed her eyes in pain long before this. She said, softly,"I imagine somewhere along in here we'll get to the Negroes."
"I'm not against them. Just so they stay in their place. But thisintegration stuff is bunk. You got to face facts. Negroes aren't assmart as white people, neither are Chinks or Mexicans or Puerto Ricans.So, O.K., give them their own schools, up to high school is all theyneed, and let them have jobs like waiters and janitors and like that.They shouldn't take a white man's job and they shouldn't be allowed tomarry white people. It deteriorates the race, like."
Crowley was really becoming wound up now. Wound up and expansive."There's a lot of things I'd change, see. Take freedom of speech andpress and like that. Sure I believe in that, I'm one hundred per centAmerican. But you can't allow people to talk against the government.Freedom of speech is O.K., but you can't let a guy jump up in the middleof a theater and yell fire."
"Why not?" Ross growled. "Freedom of speech is more important than a fewmovie houses full of people. Besides, if one man is allowed to jump upand yell fire, then somebody else can yell out 'You're a liar, there isno fire.'"
"You're not funny," Crowley said ominously.
"I wasn't trying to be," Ross muttered, and then blurred into suddenaction. He shot to his feet, and then, arms extended, dashed toward thesource of the voice. He hit the chair without slowing, grappled crazily.
"I've got him!" He wrestled awkwardly, fantastically, seemingly in aninsane tumbling without opponent.
Patricia was on her feet. She grasped an antique bronze candle-holderand darted toward the now fallen chair and to where Ross was wrestlingdesperately on the floor. Crowley was attempting to shout, but waslargely smothered.
Patricia held the candlestick at the ready, trying to find an opening,trying to locate the invisible Crowley's head.
Frederick Braun staggered to his own feet, bewildered, shaking.
A voice from the door said flatly, "O.K., that's it." Then, sharper, "Isaid cut it out. You all right, Mr. Crowley?"
It was Larry. His thin black automatic was held almost negligently inhis right hand. He ran his eyes up and down Patricia, taking in thecandlestick weapon. His ordinarily empty face registered a flicker ofamused approval.
Patricia gasped, "Oh, no," dropped her bludgeon and sank into a chair,her head in her hands.
Ross, his face in dismay, came slowly to his feet. The redhead stared atthe gunman, momentarily considering further attack. Larry, ignoringboth Braun and Patricia, swung the gun to cover him exclusively. "Iwouldn't," he said emptily.
Of a sudden, Ross' head jerked backward. His nose flattened, crushingly,and then spurted blood. He reeled back, his head flinging this way andthat, bruises and cuts appeared magically.
Crowley's voice raged, "You asked for it, wise guy. How do you likethese apples?"
The saturnine Larry chuckled sourly. "Hey, take it easy, chief. You'llkill the guy."
Ross had crumpled to the floor. There were still sounds of blows.Crowley raged, "You're lucky I'm not wearing shoes, I'd break every ribin your body!"
Patricia was staring in hopeless horror. She said sharply, "Don,remember you need Ross! You need all of us! Without all of us there canbe no more serum."
The blows stopped.
"There will be no more serum anyway," Braun said shakily. The thinlittle man still stood before his chair having moved not at all sincethe action began.
Crowley's heavy breathing could be heard but he managed a snarl. "That'swhat you think, Doc."
Braun said, "By Caesar, I absolutely refuse to...."
Crowley interrupted ominously. "You know, Doc, that's where thisparticular common man has it all over you eggheads. You spend so muchtime reading, you don't take in the action shows on TV. Now what you'rethinking is that even if we were going to twist your arm a little, you'dstick to your guns. But suppose, like, it was Pat we was working on,while you had to sit and watch."
The elderly man's brave front collapsed and his thin shoulders slumped.
Crowley barked a