facts on him. You can’t succeed without understanding the essence of this man. You’ll be in his body, so you also have to be inside his head.”
The previous information was replaced by his personality profile.
“Everything about him is a paradox. His areas of strength, and he does have some—as I know you appreciated from the interview—are like islands surrounded by an almost infinite ocean of weaknesses and failures. A variety of tests demon-strate above average, even bordering on superior, intellect. As I already mentioned, he scored in the high upper-normal range on their standard intelligence tests. When it’s his desire, and obviously when it’s to his advantage, he can appear erudite, logical, and intelligent. As you heard from the tape, because he is so well read, he can provide alert, detailed replies to almost all questions.
“But in his personal contacts, and thus in his functioning in society, he is an utter failure. The most telling and chilling observation that we could find was that he was ‘a puppy that everybody loved to kick.’ ”
Ouch, thought Hoken, as he visibly winced. He even mouthed, “How pathetic,” as he cringed at the thought. He had never really heard that type of a comment applied to anyone. He was going to have to think about that for a while.
“He’s never really satisfied with anything—his situation in life, his friends, or his coworkers. He is completely alienated from the world. His entire existence is characterized by isolation, frustration, and failures—almost all of his own doing. Of course, everything that goes wrong is always someone else’s fault, never his. He lacks introspection, compassion, empathy, or guilt. In spite of being married and having two children, a mother and brothers, he has no personal relationships of significance with anyone inside or outside of his family. He demonstrates perpetual hostility to his surroundings with ideations of grandeur and thoughts of oppression. He likes no one and distrusts—really despises—everyone.”
Hoken just shook his head as Gunnerr continued on with the narrative.
“We thought there would be nothing that surprised us about this man, but there actually was one thing we all expected and didn’t find: substance abuse, drug addiction. Fortunately, on Oria we’ve almost done away with that, but as you know, in less advanced, more backwards societies, it is much more common. Substance abuse on Earth is rampant,” said Gunnerr is a not-so-disguised disdainful tone. “Not only are illegal drugs easy to obtain, but two of the most addictive, namely nicotine and alcohol, are legally available—and are even promoted. Human #1’s personality seems to beg that he would be addicted to something, but from all the data we’ve gathered so far, he’s, as they say, clean, and always has been.”
“Huh, thought Hoken with a laugh of resignation. I might end up being a real jerk, but at least I won’t be a junkie.
Gunnerr continued on. “He continually, routinely and habitually rebels against authority, yet he feels he should be able to exercise it. His entire life—in school, in the Armed Services, in his employment—is characterized by disagreements with his superiors, with anyone in a position of authority. In almost every circumstance it is initiated by him. He seems to know no other way. He is a truly disagreeable man.
“In spite of this, he has fantasies of power. Although he is at the lowest end of the socioeconomic scale, he is sure he will have a place in history. He’s even gone so far as to state, to proclaim, that in ten thousand years he’ll be considered a man ahead of his time.
“Lying is an integral component of his personality. As already mentioned, he left the Armed Services under false pretenses. He lives almost in a fantasy world, like his life is part of a “cops and robbers” movie, as they would call it on Earth. Although to our knowledge he is not being actively followed or pursued by any government agency, law enforcement, or any others who might wish to do him harm, he routinely employs aliases. So far we’ve been able to document five, although, of course there could be, and probably are, more. These include A. J. Hidell, Alex J. Hidell, he has a second passport in this name, L. Osborne, D. F. Drittal and O. H. Lee. He’s registered under the last alias at the boarding house.”
Hoken continued to scan the data as Gunnerr talked.
“Many of the official government forms he has completed are riddled with falsehoods. It’s clear, Major, that these are not errors due to his spelling difficulties and dyslexia; they are overt, intentional lies. Even when he doesn’t make an outright lie, he exaggerates or doesn’t describe events accurately. To take this even further, many times, in situations or circumstances of no significance whatsoever—where there is nothing at all to be gained by lying—he still lies.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that he has the capacity to risk all in cruel and irresponsible actions, anything to gain his place in history. He is intelligent. He handles weapons well. Lying and deceit are part of his personality. He was chosen as the one whose body you will possess because his personality is so contradictory and unpredictable, sometimes bordering on the bizarre, that no action you take prior to ambushing Rennedee will surprise anyone. Everyone avoids him because he is so unpleasant. He is the perfect cover for your operation on Earth.”
“Computer, pause transmission,” said Hoken.
Hoken remembered General Ribbert’s comments from the Special Missions Lab when they originally discussed #1. “Major, this man’s an idiot. You must look stupid, act stupid, and say as little as possible. You must act dumber than you ever imagined you could be. Fortunately, it’s infinitely easier for a person of intelligence, dignity, and civility to act beneath themselves, to be coarse, uncouth, and uncivilized, than it is for a stupid person to raise themselves to a higher level. Just as you must not allow your super-human strength and senses to betray you, you must not allow a show of intelligence to raise suspicion. In addition, an act of compassion or empathy, anything suggesting consideration for the feelings of others, would be so out of character for this man that it would blow your cover completely. Major, this man is a stupid, dumb, cruel, worthless being. You must act the part.”
When I decided on a military career, thought Hoken, I would have never believed I would receive orders like that.
“Computer, resume report from Captain Gunnerr. Display files of Human #2.”
“Major, this is the information on Human #2, the human that Rennedee will possess.”
Even before Hoken could question in his mind how and why Gunnerr knew this would be Rennedee’s target, Gunnerr said, “Major, General Raton himself told me this would be the person that Rennedee possessed; this was where we were to direct all of our efforts. He didn’t tell me how he knew and I wasn’t about to ask any questions. He told me just to get to it. The minute we started to investigate #2, we knew the general was right.”
(The information was from Rodomontade, Rennedee’s number two, himself. Part of the deal for his “Get Out of Jail Free Card,” if Rennedee failed in his mission to Earth, was that he had to cough up the name of the human that Rennedee would possess.)
The files and pictures of #2 came on the screen.
“What a difference, isn’t it, Major?” said Gunnerr, “He’s at the opposite end of the spectrum of humanity from #1. He’s literally the flower of manhood. Born into a good family. Bright. Successful from the beginning. He is intelligent and ambitious. He attended the best schools. Distinguished military career: he received one medal for bravery and one for being wounded. From our study of the action, he deserved them.”
Hoken of course, was impressed with that. This man risked his life for his country—for the men he commanded, and what he believed in—just as Hoken was doing.
“He
