The General Practitioner coughed. "The Rightmen got him," he said. "Since Alfreed linked up the entire scientific council with what he calls the subversives, none of us have been able to appear in public safely. Denning's apartment was raided last night and I think he's been liquidated."
The Neuro-specialist drummed the table-top nervously. "It's incredible the way this psychopathia has spread all over the city. In three short months Alfreed and his followers have become so powerful that they do not need to intimidate opposition; they're a majority."
"You're wrong there," said the Historian. "They make a lot of noise. But the investigation has shown—well, let's hear it from first hand sources. Would you please repeat what you told me this morning, Gallacher?"
A tall, thin man arose. "Despite appearance to the contrary," he began, "Alfreed has only succeeded in winning over a certain part of the population. Those people who have succumbed, and become Rightmen, are those whose social position has been such as to require a minimum training in social consciousness and responsibility, those whose functions are such to require the minimum application of intelligence.
"These people, despite the facilities that the city offers, have been leading very narrow, cramped lives. Their emotional attainment has been very low, frustrated in many cases. Thus, the terrific emotional appeal of Alfreed's insane program has swept them away, made them willing followers."
"What," asked the Practitioner, "has been the actual range of violence and intimidation on the part of the Rightmen?"
"Enough to have a demoralizing effect upon the city as a whole. In fact, enough to make many feel insecure to such an extent that they would join the Rightmen sheerly for self-protection. The cases of violence against citizens, although still small in number, have been increasing, and have been sufficiently ferocious to paralyze, almost completely, any attempt at public opposition."
"Quite right," agreed the Historian. "You were correct in one sense," he said to the Neuro-specialist. "Alfreed does not need a majority to win an election, or to seize power now. He can either intimidate the citizens into voting for him, or to refrain from voting at all."
"What has been done to combat Alfreed, without using his own methods, of course?" asked an engineer.
"Rightmen have been captured by the ambulance squads, interrogated, then treated with Regulators. The interesting thing is that, once removed from Alfreed's influence, they return to normal very quickly, and a bit of Regulating makes them permanently immune."