there arose a great hue and cry at the disappearance of charles jingle, who had been a registered, scheduled passenger on the eastbound rocket. what had happened to him? what mystery cloaked his disappearance? galaxy films made it known that charles jingle suspected an attempt on his life. why? asked a conscientious columnist. who might have reason enough to threaten the life of a robot-trainer? mischa hannigan, innocently and in a moment of anger at what he thought must be vengeful murder, stated that attempts had been made to intimidate charles jingle into selling out tanker bell. who had done so? mischa hannigan would not say, though hinting darkly that a "well-known fixer" was at the bottom of it.
the press probed deeper into the mystery. what about charles jingle's property, tanker bell? was it so valuable that the proprietor should be murdered for not parting with it? if it was, why had there been no offer of a match from the champion?
it was then that some bright reporter conceived the idea of questioning the fight commission as to its views on the shamefully clandestine affair. what had it to say? nothing, was the reply. the bright reporter launched an attack on the commission. the fight public wanted to know what the fight commission thought its function was, if not to expose underground tactics in the game?
commissioner jergen addressed the citizenry via television. he admitted that charles jingle had been to see him. he admitted he was unable to move due to a lack of tangible evidence. he would not name the parties accused by charles jingle because there was no real evidence at this date. he would further investigate the situation, using every resource at his command.
when charlie jingle arrived in new york two days later the lid was off the town. everyone was fuming at what had been perpetrated against him. everyone understood why he had come into town unobtrusively.
what charlie jingle had sought to avoid had happened anyway. the play was in motion. there was no stopping it.
he watched the day-to-day developments in a state of paralyzed horror. it was a nightmare in which he was the principal, and yet, the bystander, the spectator. he had no choice but to follow. rabbit markey had shown him the truth, so that all things now had a double meaning, a reality and an unreality, another dimension, another depth.
when the press came to question him, charlie fought the only way he knew. he denounced pugs, inc. as cheats, liars, and fixers. he denounced commissioner jergen, harry belok, the press, the hollywood people, the prize-fight game, and the public in an attempt to break the whole business wide open.
but everyone understood.
"mister jingle is justified in his bitterness," said a reporter.
"of course charlie's sore. he's got a right to be sore!" said commissioner jergen.
"a horrible injustice. we were concerned over our reputation," said kort gassel of pugs, inc.
"the guy deserves a break!" said the fight public.
and hollywood said, "we don't understand what prompted this unwarranted attack."
so there it was. charlie jingle spoke the truth, but nobody believed him. tanker bell was granted a match. the fix was in.
as a last resort, charlie jingle refused to let the tanker fight. an uproar went up from the public. it was a matter of ethics. tanker bell was now their champion. he was the embodiment of everyman against the organization, against injustice. tanker bell must fight!
it was then that charlie jingle understood. this was not simply a fight. this was part of a long-range plan to bring the public man to heel. this was part of a scheme to break the mass-individual spirit, because if everyman stood with tanker bell as the champion of independant justice, and tanker bell were beaten—so would the public-independent spirit be.
but charlie jingle had his hands tied.
