Barnes. Pdf

 
Chapters 
17
trying to distract their children by talking of home and Christmas and British football teams; while Franklin felt burdened by 
what he knew. He was scared and sickened; but isolation seemed to breed complicity with his captors. He tried thinking of his 
two wives and the daughter who must be - what? - fifteen now; he always had to remember the year of her birth and work it 
out from there. He should get down to see her more often. Perhaps he could take her with him when they filmed the next series. 
She could watch his famous walking shot in the Forum; she'd like that. Now where could he place the camera? Or perhaps a 
tracking shot. And some extras in toga and sandals - yes, he liked it ... 
Next morning Franklin was taken to the purser's office. The leader of the visitors waved him to sit down. `I have decided to 
take your advice.' 
`My advice?' 
`The negotiations, I fear, are going badly. That is to say, there are no negotiations. We have explained our position but they 
are extremely unwilling to explain their position.' 
`They?'
`They. So, unless things change very quickly, we shall be forced to put some pressure on them.' 
`Pressure?' Even Franklin, who could not have made a career in television without skill in trading euphemisms, was 
enraged. `You mean killing people.' 
`That is the only pressure, sadly, which they understand.'
`What about trying other sorts?' 
`But we have. We have tried sitting on our hands and waiting for world opinion to come to our help. We have tried being 
good and hoping that we would be rewarded by getting our land back. I can assure you that these systems do not work.' 
`Why not try something in between?' 
`An embargo on American goods, Mr Hughes? I do not think they would take us seriously. A lack of Chevrolets being 
imported to Beirut? No, regrettably there are people who only understand certain kinds of pressure. The world is only 
advanced ...' 
[p. 51] 
`... by killing people? A cheerful philosophy.' 
`The world is not a cheerful place. I would have thought your investigations into the ancient civilizations would have 
taught you that. But anyway ... I have decided to take your advice. We shall explain to the passengers what is happening. How 
they are mixed up in history. What that history is.' 
`I'm sure they'll appreciate that.' Franklin felt queasy. `Tell them what's going on.' 
`Exactly. You see at four o'clock it will become necessary to ... to start killing them. Naturally we hope it will not be 
necessary. But if it is ... You are right, things must be explained to them if it is possible. Even a soldier knows why he is 
fighting. It is fair that the passengers be told as well.' 
`But they're not fighting.' The Arab's tone, as much as what he said, riled Franklin. 'They're civilians. They're on holiday. 
They're not fighting.' 
`There are no civilians any more,' replied the Arab. 'Your governments pretend, but that is not the case. Those nuclear 
weapons of yours, they are only to be let off against an army? The Zionists, at least, understand this. All their people are 
fighting. To kill a Zionist civilian is to kill a soldier.' 
`Look, there aren't any Zionist civilians on the ship, for Christ's sake. They're people like poor old Mr Talbot who's lost his 
passport and has been turned into an American.' 
`All the more reason why things must be explained.' 
`I see,' said Franklin, and he let the sneer come through. `So you're going to assemble the passengers and explain to them 
how they're all really Zionist soldiers and that's why you've got to kill them.' 
`No, Mr Hughes, you misunderstand. I am not going to explain anything. They would not listen. No, Mr Hughes, you are 
going to explain things to them.' 
`Me?' Franklin didn't feel nervous. Indeed, he felt decisive. `Certainly not. You can do your own dirty work.' 
'But Mr Hughes, you are a public speaker. I have heard you, if only for a short time. You do it so well. You could introduce 
a 
[p. 52] 
historical view of the matter. My second-in-command will give you all the information you require.' 
`I don't require any information. Do your own dirty work.' 
`Mr Hughes, I really cannot negotiate in two directions at the same time. It is nine-thirty. You have half an hour to decide. 
At ten you will say that you do the lecture. You will then have two hours, three hours if that is required, with my second-in- 
command for the briefing.' Franklin was shaking his head, but the Arab continued regardless. `Then you have until three 
o'clock to prepare the lecture. I suggest that you make it last forty-five minutes. I shall listen to you, of course, with the greatest 
interest and attention. And at three forty-five, if I am satisfied with how you explain matters, we shall in return accept the Irish 
nationality of your recently married wife. That is all I have to say, you will send me your reply at ten o'clock.' 
Back in the stateroom with the Swedes and the Japanese, Franklin remembered a TV series about psychology he'd once 
been asked to present. It had folded directly after the pilot, a loss nobody much regretted. One item in that show reported an 
experiment for measuring the point at which self-interest takes over from altruism. Put like this, it sounded almost respectable; 
but Franklin had been revolted by the actual test. The researchers had taken a female monkey who had recently given birth and 
put her in a special cage. The mother was still feeding and grooming her infant in a way presumably not too dissimilar from the 
maternal behaviour of the experimenters' wives. Then they turned a switch and began heating up the metal floor of the 

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J
ULIAN 
B
ARNES
: A History of the World in 10 ½