MacArthur gave him a frosty took.
"I suppose that semantics are your profession, Pluto, aren't they?"
"Actually, Sir, I'm a mathematician," Pluto said.
MacArthur looked at him for a moment and then laughed "You're also a skilled semanticist, Pluto," he said with an airy wave of his hand.
"So it is your analysis that that situation no longer prevails," he went on, "and we may now expect from the Japanese more coordinated activity, more interservice cooperation, and less prideful, selfish rivalry?"
"Yes, Sir."
"And why would you come to that conclusion? What made them, so to speak, see the light?"
"They had to go to the Emperor and confess failure, Sir. And their worlds didn't come to an end."
"'They' being the senior officers of the Army and Navy?"
"And of the Imperial General Staff, Sir."
"They did do rather well in the opening days of this war, didn't they? Everything they set out to do, they did."
"Yes, Sir, they did."
"No confessions of failure were needed, were there?"
"No, Sir."
"And you think they led the Emperor to believe then that our Guadalcanal operation was something they could easily deal with?... almost certainly because they believed it themselves. "
"We have the intercepts to prove that, Sir. I could get them for you if you'd like to see them." MacArthur waved his hand grandly.
"I've seen them," he said.
The implication, Pluto thought, is that once he's read something, he is incapable of forgetting it.
"What I'm saying, Sir, is that the Guadalcanal landing was on 7 August. That was almost two months ago, and the Marines were not thrown back into the sea. Not only are they still there, but Henderson Field is operational. So the Japanese commanders had to confess that the American presence could not be easily dealt with. For all intents and purposes, the battle of Bloody Ridge simply wiped out Kawaguchi Butai.
Prisoners have reported that its commander, Major General Kiotake Kawaguchi, actually committed hara-kiri-"
"Has there been confirmation of that?" MacArthur interrupted.
"No, Sir. Not as far as I know." I wish to hell there was. MacArthur is fully aware that Kawaguchi Butai wiped out the last American resistance on Mindanao. He'd be pleased to know that their general has disemboweled himself after a defeat by Americans who are only slightly better fed and equipped than the Americans he had such an easy time with in the Philippines.
"It was a humiliating defeat for them, wasn't it?" MacArthur asked rhetorically.
"Yes, Sir. I think the senior people expected to relieved, Sir. They weren't. But now they're dealing with the changed situation."
"And this assessment of their change in attitude is based on what, Pluto?"
"On the language, Sir. In our judgment, there is less intentional obfuscation. That's based on word choice, Sir. I don't know if I'm making myself clear."
"You're doing fine," MacArthur said. "Go on."
"It's as if they've decided that their mission now is to regain Guadalcanal... as a national mission, not as a task the Army or Navy can handle by itself."
"And are they going to be more difficult to deal with? Is there a chance we will be thrown off Guadalcanal? That there will be more efficient resistance to our operations on New Guinea?"
"Yes, Sir. To a degree; we'll have to wait and see to what degree. But, yes, I think we can expect greater naval activity against Guadalcanal. I don't think they'll be able to throw us off, though."
MacArthur nodded, spun around in his chair, and for a moment stared thoughtfully at the huge map on the wall behind his desk. Then he turned around again.
"All right, Pluto, I would now like to hear how General Pickering's clandestine operation is going."
Christ, talk about getting taken by surprise!
What do I do now, lie? You can't lie to the Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Ocean Area!
"What would you like to know, Sir?"
"General Willoughby came to me a day or so ago, agitated.
He said that an impeccable source had informed him that a clandestine intelligence operation is being conducted here by people acting on Pickering's orders."
"Sir, I wouldn't define it as a clandestine intelligence operation," Pluto said. MacArthur waited for him to go on. "It's more on the order of support for the Coast watchers."
"The Coastwatcher Establishment is an intelligence operation. General Willoughby feels that anything connected with intelligence is his responsibility."
"General Pickering is attempting to relieve the Coastwatcher detachment on Buka, to replace it with fresh men and equipment."
"And he decided that this was none of General Willoughby's business?"
"I wouldn't know how to answer that, Sir."
MacArthur tilted his head toward Pluto and examined him carefully.
"I asked how the operation is going," he said.
"An attempt to land the replacement team and equipment from a submarine will be made as soon as possible. If that fails, an attempt will be made to make the insertion and extraction by airplane."
"Show me," MacArthur ordered, pointing at the map.
Pluto outlined the operation.
"Presumably thought has been given to a diversionary attack on Japanese air bases on Buka and New Ireland?"
"It was decided, Sir, that was not feasible."