Gina Heuff smiled, and gestured excitedly towards the speaker. "He's pretty sharp."
He watched as Woburn kept the opposition dancing on the edge of chaos for a while longer before resuming the conversation. "Yes, your theory," he said finally. "I've read your blog. If there's anything to it, or if I can convince the judge that there is, then I may be able to appeal Corwin Farragut's conviction."
As she watched parts of the crowd stir into agitation and then subside like waves caressing a beach, her face slowly softened, becoming as placid as it had seemed in the photo on her blog. Then her attention was drawn to a knot of people near the podium who were angrily waving their signs, and she bit her lip. Turning to face him, she nodded, and pointed towards the doors. "Outside."
He followed her through the gym door and towards the building exit, where she slowed, and then stopped. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.
"Let me ask you something, Mr. Katzmarek."
"Bernard. I'd like to keep this friendly."
She nodded. "Bernard, then. Do you honestly doubt that any drugs were involved, or is this just a means to an end for you?"
"Why? Does it make a difference?"
"Very much so. I do not appreciate being used. If you simply wanted to offer my insights to the court as a way to free Mr. Farragut, and do not sincerely believe the validity of them, then I'll have to ask you to refrain from doing so. What I see happening has serious consequences, and the possibility of a recurrence is growing, especially with people like Congressman Woburn beginning to counter the covert puppetry of the right-wing talking heads."
Katzmarek frowned. "I don't follow."
"Think about it like this. The meltdown mob was a fluke. The level of social feedback among the people in that crowd was balanced right on the edge of slipping into a chaotic mob mentality purely by accident. Both sides had prepped the attendees with memes --- viral talking points, if you will --- and sent them into the cauldron. The candidates then played to those memes, which kept the crowd in a perpetual froth, swaying back and forth over the abyss of mindless mob action. That was why it happened. Those people you've been investigating experienced what should have been a profound spiritual event, but because what they found there violated the precepts of their religion, to them it was as frightening as what H. P. Lovecraft's Randolph Carter found when he went through the Gates of the Silver Key."
Katzmarek's right hand rose, and he mouthed, "Lovecraft?"
"You've read 'The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath', then?"
He shook his head. "No. But Corwin Farragut just asked me to bring him a copy."
She smiled. "Good. He understands what happened."
"I don't think so. He wasn't too clear on why he even wanted to read it."
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