The fire at the monorail station was dying bit by bit, and greasy smoke masked some of its glow. But it was no longer alone — we could see a dozen such fires now, some of them large and brilliant. A second rocket battery had opened up and was lobbing its missiles at random into the town; one of them by chance fell near the cathedral in the Plaza del Oeste and knocked the three-hundred-foot cross to a canting angle. A mob carrying huge flaming crosses (whose idea was that, I wondered) had descended on the shantytown on the Puerto Joaquín road to wreck and burn, and it was clear even from our height there were thousands of people in the crowd.

“Madre de Dios,” said my pilot simply and flatly. “Ah, madre de Dios!”

And then, as he disgustedly drove the aircraft into a fast, steep climb, another crowd began to detach itself from the lights of the city, like a snake winding slowly from an egg. This one was flowing up the hill to Presidential House.

So there was an end to the rules of the game. Now there would simply be slaughter.

The city grew smaller behind us. The height ticked up on the altimeter — five hundred, eight hundred, a thousand meters. I thought of everything I was carrying away with me — all the burden of knowledge that weighted me down. Knowledge without which any man, anywhere, any time, might be turned into a chesspiece and moved across some vast imaginary board, behaving and reacting with all the predictability of a lump of carved wood.

So maybe no one would believe me. So probably the files which detailed the incredible game played on the squares of Ciudad de Vados were buried under rubble in Presidential House. So maybe I’d have to carry that burden of knowledge by myself. Was that a good reason why I should also carry the burden of guilt? And I was guilty without realizing it. Anyone is guilty who has so far renounced his right to think and act rationally that someone else can press his buttons and make him dance.

I reached across, and tapped the pilot on the shoulder. I said, “If you wish, you may turn back.”

There were phones in the lobby of the airport reception building; fortunately the system was still in full operation. I dialed with fingers that felt more like thumbs, and with a surge of relief I heard Maria Posador’s own voice, tense and urgent at my ear.

“Listen,” I said. “You’ve got to listen. You’re not going to want to believe me, but you’ve got to listen, because what I’m going to sav is very, very important.”

“Boyd!” she said, recognizing the voice. “Yes, go ahead. Please go ahead. I’m listening.”

Author’s Note

The persons, places, and events described in The Squares of the City are, of course, entirely imaginary.

The techniques whereby the human “chessmen” are described as having been moved are — regrettably — not entirely imaginary. Certainly they do not exist today as they are pictured here. Nonetheless, they are foreshadowed in the methods of present-day advertising, which are being more and more often applied to politics, and history is full of what one might call nonprofessional application of tricks like the Big Lie and guilt by association which in the hands of accomplished and determined men have served to direct and control the thoughts and actions of large’ populations.

The game of chess itself is not imaginary at all. It is Steinitz-Tchigorin (Havana) 1892, precisely as recorded in the Penguin handbook The Game of Chess by H. Golombek. Every move of the game has a counterpart in the action of the story, with the partial exception that castling is implied and not overt. The individuals who correspond to the “pieces” have powers roughly commensurate with those of the pawns and officers they represent.

Naturally, since none of the “pieces” are aware that they are being “moved,” including the narrator Boyd Hakluyt, many events not directly equivalent to the moves of the game are recorded in the story. But the moves are all there, in their correct order and — so far as possible — in precise correspondence with their effect on the original game. That is to say, support of one piece by another on its own side, threatening of one or more pieces by a piece on the other side, indirect threats and the actual taking of pieces, are all as closely represented as possible in the development of the action.

The game is three moves short as played in the story, owing to the failure of Maria Posador to kill Boyd Hakluyt and Hakluyt’s discovery of the truth. As originally continued, Black resigned on move 38.

For the benefit of the curious reader, I append a table of the “pieces” involved in the game, with a note — where applicable — of their ultimate fate.

White:

QR Bishop Cruz

QKt Luis Arrio

QB Judge Romero

Q Alejandro Mayor

QBP Estrelita Jaliscos

QKtPDr. Alonzo Ruiz

QBP Nicky Caldwell

QP Andres Lucas

K Juan Sebastian Vados

KP Mario Guerrero

KB Donald Angers

KBP Seixas

KKt Boyd Hakluyt

KKtPIsabela Cortes

KR Professor Cortes

KRP Enrique Rioco

Black:

QR General Molinas

QKt Maria Posador

QB Jose Dalban

Q Cristoforo Mendoza

K Esteban Diaz

KB Felipe Mendoza

KKt Miguel Dominguez

KR Tomas O’Rourke (el Jefe)

QRP Fernando Sigueiras

QKtP Fats Brown

QBP Pedro Murieta

QP Sam Francis

KP Juan Tezol

KBP Guyiran

KKtP Castaldo

KRP Gonzales

Taken in the course of play — White

QKt (Luis Arrio) denounced to police by Pedro Murieta for killing Felipe Mendoza in a duel.

QB (Judge Romero) removed from office for incompetence at instigation of Miguel Dominguez.

Q (Alejandro Mayor) burned to death in television station following threats by Jose Dalban.

QRP (Estrelita Jaliscos) killed in fall from window in apartment belonging to Fats Brown.

QBP (Nicky Caldwell) suffered mental breakdown following exposure of his false charges against Pedro Murieta.

QP (Andres Lucas) imprisoned on charges of complicity in blackmailing of Fats Brown brought by Miguel Dominguez.

KP (Mario Guerrero) killed by Sam Francis for insulting the color of his skin.

Taken in the course of play — Black

QB (Jose Dalban) bankrupted and driven to suicide by Luis Arrio.

Q (Cristoforo Mendoza) jailed for contempt by Judge Romero following the closing of his newspaper Tiempo.

KB (Felipe Mendoza) killed in duel with Luis Arrio.

QRP (Fernando Sigueiras) jailed after moving peasant family into Angers’ apartment.

QKtP (Fats Brown) shot by Angers when under suspicion of murdering Estrelita Jaliscos.

QP (Sam Francis) said to have committed suicide in jail while awaiting trial for murder of Mario Guerrero.

KP (Juan Tezol) jailed by Judge Romero for nonpayment of fine.