Foreman turned back to the lady. "Now, then," he asked her again, "if I pulled this trigger, would you die?"

"You wouldn't," she said. She didn't look certain. The other trainees beside her looked nervous.

"You don't know that," said Foreman. "Are you willing to bet your life on it?"

"You're just trying to make a point," the woman guessed.

Foreman turned to face the rest of us. "As a matter of fact, I have the written permission of the President of the United States to take any actions I deem appropriate-up to and including the termination of any trainee in this room." He glanced to the back of the room. "Would you put the authorization up on the screens, please? Just in case anyone is doubting."

The screens flashed to display an official-looking document. I recognized the presidential seal and signature. "Thank you," said Foreman. "Now, I would prefer not to exercise that authority, for obvious reasons, but that is one of the options available to me." He turned back to the gray-haired colonel. "So you might be right that I'm only trying to make a point. The question is, how far will I go to make that point? You really don't know if I would pull this trigger or not, do you?"

"Uh, I would hope not."

"I didn't ask what you hope. Do you notice that you don't answer questions? You comment on them. That's how you avoid responsibility. All I'm asking from you are simple yes or no answers. Can you handle that?"

"I think so-"

Foreman looked annoyed.

"-I mean, yes," she corrected, hastily.

"Thank you." He pointed the gun at her again. "Now, if I pulled this trigger, would you die?"

"Probably."

"Probably. . . ?" Foreman said it with as much amusement as startlement. He looked around at us to share the joke. There was nervous laughter in the room.

"Well, it depends on where you hit me."

He looked at her again. "You see-you can't give me a simple yes or no answer, can you?"

"Well, you're not being precise. The chances are pretty good that I would die if you shot me-"

"I'm not being precise-?" Foreman gaped at her astonished. "This is a .45 caliber service revolver. The chances are one hundred percent if I shot you at point-blank range you would die. Do you see that?"

The lady still looked defiant. "Well, that's what you say."

"All right," sighed Foreman. "Let me make it even more precise for you-so that there is absolutely no doubt." He stepped abruptly forward and placed the barrel of the gun firmly in the colonel's mouth. Several of the men in the room were suddenly on their feet, shouting--

Foreman turned around, bellowing. "Sit down! You agreed to follow the instructions! If you don't follow the instructions, you won't get the results! Now, sit down!"

They sat.

I started shivering. I knew what was going to happen next. Foreman turned back to the colonel, put the gun in her mouth again and said, "Now, then-if I pulled this trigger, would you die?"

The colonel's eyes were wide. She stared down the barrel of the gun and there was terror in her face. She nodded her head as best she could and managed to get out a muffled, "Umh-hmh."

"Good. That was a very clear answer. So now we're clear about the consequences, right?"

"Umh-hmh. "

"Good. Now-if I told you that you had to keep your word and be in your seat on time every day, or else I was going to blow your brains out, would you keep your word?"

The woman hesitated. I was trembling for her.

"It's a simple question," said Foreman. "But take your time. I want you to be certain of your answer. Because that may be the agreement I'll ask you to make." He repeated it carefully. "If you knew that you had to be here, in your seat, on time, every day-or else I was going to blow your brains out-could you do it?"

The colonel nodded and said, "Umh-hmh!"

"Sure, you could-and you would too. You'll do whatever is necessary to ensure your survival. If you knew that keeping your

42DAVID GERROLD

word was absolutely necessary for your survival, you would keep your word, wouldn't you?"

"Umh-hmh!"

"Good. Thank you." Foreman took the gun out of her mouth. "So now we know that you can keep your word. The real question is will you?"

The woman didn't answer. She collapsed in a faint.

Foreman went down with her. He said quietly, "That won't work either, Colonel Irving! You don't get to hide out in here. The question is, will you keep your word?"

Colonel Irving was sobbing loudly. Two assistants started up the aisle toward the dais. Foreman held them back with a hand. "You agreed to follow the instructions. If you don't get up right now, Colonel Cop-out, I will blow your brains out!" The sound of the hammer cocking on the gun was loud in the room.

Colonel Irving scrambled to her feet so fast she looked jet-propelled.

"Thank you," said Foreman. He turned to the rest of us. "Do you see what it takes to get some of you to keep your word? Are you beginning to see what some of you do instead?"

I was shaking so hard now, I could barely stay in my chair. Foreman put the "integrity tester" back in the box. The Course Manager returned to the back of the room. Foreman turned to face the rest of us. "Do you get the point? You can keep your word-and you don't! You'll only keep your word when your survival is at stake. You think so little of the words that fall out of your mouth that you'll say anything, you don't care, just so you'll look good. Well, this course is not about looking good-"

"I thought this course was supposed to be about the nature of humanity!" someone called out.

Foreman turned to face the man. "You have an agreement not to speak unless you're called on. And this course is about the nature of humanity-but we can't even begin to have that discussion while you're still functioning at the level of chimpanzees."

"I was here on time!" the man insisted. He stood up. I craned my head to see. The man was on the opposite side of the room. He was thin and red-faced. And very angry.

Foreman looked unimpressed. "So you think your integrity is handled because you were on time? Well, it's not. Because there's another whole level of it in here that you're not experiencing. It's no accident," Foreman said to him, "that you're in a group that

A RAGE FOR REVENGE43

!can't be trusted ten percent of the time. That's you-that's your integrity on the level of group."

The thin man protested, "But I don't see how any of this relates 1to the war."

"It's very simple," Foreman said. "If we're going to defeat the Chtorr, then we need integrity at the level of species. Nothing less. We will not stop the Chtorran invasion by accident! If we do stop them, it will only be by concerted, direct, single-minded intention. Results only come from integrity. Pay attention now. This is so simple that most of you chimpanzees are going to miss it! Integrity is nothing more than keeping your word-and supporting the people around you in keeping theirs."

He let that sink in for a moment while he returned to his podium and put a throat lozenge in his mouth. When he turned back to us, his voice was easy again. The stridency was gone.

"So," he said brightly. "This part of the course is about telling the truth. Most of you don't know how to tell the truth-because you can't recognize it. There's a difference between what you believe and what's so in the physical universe. You'll have the opportunity to experience that difference in here. For most of you, that will be a revelation. I mean that; literally a revelation-"

And that's when I came out of my chair screaming. "No! Oh, no-not again!"

They grabbed me halfway to the door. It took six of them to pin me to the floor. And even then, I didn't stop fighting-