existence, noisome as most of them must be. I am vaguely acquainted with theology, not by any means being one of those chess ignoramuses of whom you have often read who knows little beyond the confines of the board. I know that many of those who have been enlisted now in the cause of evil do not think of themselves as evil at all but have merely been arbitrarily assigned, unhappily caught up in circumstance. These creatures, being no less sentient than those whom
I
represent, have just cause for concern. In any event it has occurredto me at various points of our tour to make this proposal to Louis.
“Look,” I could say to him, sitting in a rather plush, Earth-type lobby on a far star (the winking globes and lights above giving hideous reminders of what it was like to stay in the Hotel Lucerne in New York during one endless week’s tournament twenty years ago), “we can work this out together. We can draw games indefinitely. I They know little of the intricacies of master chess, I these Overlords, and in any event, it would be entirely fair by the rules of the game. Why not extend this?”
“I won’t even think of it,” he would say (I know Louis so well that the conversation uncoils itself as easily as the moving out of Knight-and-Bishop preparatory to a castle). “Why should I collaborate with you at all? I’m going to destroy you.”
“But you don’t understand, you fool, that I’m going to destroy
you
and in any event, whoever wins, many, many billions of creatures are going to die. Think of all the suffering.”
“There will be no suffering. Anyway, that’s hardly my problem, is it? I’m merely doing a job.”
“Listen, Louis, I’m trying to be reasonable about this. The fate of the universe is still in our hands, regardless of what the Overlords say. Besides, wouldn’t you like to extend the matches indefinitely? There are whole sectors of the universe I that we can see; it’s hardly an experience available to most Earthmen.”
“I’m not interested in that,” he says stubbornly. Really, the man is impossible; a rigid, authoritarian personality, reaction-formation I think they call it. “That’s not my problem at all; my duty isto play out the match, represent the forces at my command, demolish you and bring an end to this.”
“Really, Louis, you’re being most unreasonable. Don’t you understand that I’m going to beat you? Besides that, you represent the forces of evil.”
“It’s not a question of what I represent. Remember, the Overlords have instructed us that it’s completely arbitrary: What we think of as good and evil mean nothing to them. Anyway, David, you haven’t got a chance in these matches. I’m already leading five games to two and I haven’t even attempted anything original yet.”
“We could at least draw a couple of matches, couldn’t we? There hasn’t been a draw so far, which is very unusual in grandmaster chess. If you change your mind and come around to my way of thinking, it’s going to look strange to the Overlords if we start to draw without having established precedent. Let’s stalemate a few, anyway.”
“I’m sorry, David, but you do not understand the conditions.” A certain pomposity overtakes Louis at odd moments; it would assault him now. “You’re asking us to cheat by prior agreement and that’s against the rules. We could even be brought up on charges.”
“By whom?”
“By—”
“There’s no governing body, there’s no federation, it’s all going to end.”
“I’m sorry, David. You’re counseling collaboration. I have half a mind to go to the Overlords on this. They’d take strong action; in fact, you might be disqualified. You wouldn’t like that. You’d be in worse trouble than you are already.”
“You’re impossible.”
“No, you are.”
“You’re a pompous, officious fool. Don’t you have any loyalty to a fellow grandmaster?”
“I’ll report you to the Overlords, David. I really will.”
“I
I
represent, have just cause for concern. In any event it has occurredto me at various points of our tour to make this proposal to Louis.
“Look,” I could say to him, sitting in a rather plush, Earth-type lobby on a far star (the winking globes and lights above giving hideous reminders of what it was like to stay in the Hotel Lucerne in New York during one endless week’s tournament twenty years ago), “we can work this out together. We can draw games indefinitely. I They know little of the intricacies of master chess, I these Overlords, and in any event, it would be entirely fair by the rules of the game. Why not extend this?”
“I won’t even think of it,” he would say (I know Louis so well that the conversation uncoils itself as easily as the moving out of Knight-and-Bishop preparatory to a castle). “Why should I collaborate with you at all? I’m going to destroy you.”
“But you don’t understand, you fool, that I’m going to destroy
you
and in any event, whoever wins, many, many billions of creatures are going to die. Think of all the suffering.”
“There will be no suffering. Anyway, that’s hardly my problem, is it? I’m merely doing a job.”
“Listen, Louis, I’m trying to be reasonable about this. The fate of the universe is still in our hands, regardless of what the Overlords say. Besides, wouldn’t you like to extend the matches indefinitely? There are whole sectors of the universe I that we can see; it’s hardly an experience available to most Earthmen.”
“I’m not interested in that,” he says stubbornly. Really, the man is impossible; a rigid, authoritarian personality, reaction-formation I think they call it. “That’s not my problem at all; my duty isto play out the match, represent the forces at my command, demolish you and bring an end to this.”
“Really, Louis, you’re being most unreasonable. Don’t you understand that I’m going to beat you? Besides that, you represent the forces of evil.”
“It’s not a question of what I represent. Remember, the Overlords have instructed us that it’s completely arbitrary: What we think of as good and evil mean nothing to them. Anyway, David, you haven’t got a chance in these matches. I’m already leading five games to two and I haven’t even attempted anything original yet.”
“We could at least draw a couple of matches, couldn’t we? There hasn’t been a draw so far, which is very unusual in grandmaster chess. If you change your mind and come around to my way of thinking, it’s going to look strange to the Overlords if we start to draw without having established precedent. Let’s stalemate a few, anyway.”
“I’m sorry, David, but you do not understand the conditions.” A certain pomposity overtakes Louis at odd moments; it would assault him now. “You’re asking us to cheat by prior agreement and that’s against the rules. We could even be brought up on charges.”
“By whom?”
“By—”
“There’s no governing body, there’s no federation, it’s all going to end.”
“I’m sorry, David. You’re counseling collaboration. I have half a mind to go to the Overlords on this. They’d take strong action; in fact, you might be disqualified. You wouldn’t like that. You’d be in worse trouble than you are already.”
“You’re impossible.”
“No, you are.”
“You’re a pompous, officious fool. Don’t you have any loyalty to a fellow grandmaster?”
“I’ll report you to the Overlords, David. I really will.”
“I
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