feelings, emotions and rivalries. There wasnothing strange about these people of Russia--they were dead,spiritually dead.
The country that could have been a cultural and industrial center of theworld was a robot-land of nine million square miles, getting ready forwar, getting ready to take over the dreams of Hitler and make them cometrue.
I came out with a promise of ten thousand American dollars for every oneof the future formulas I had assured them I could get to. I came outwith the knowledge that I'd be a watched man from now on.
In Switzerland, Jean said, "Well--?"
"I'm ready to go home," I told her.
"America, you mean?"
"Where else?"
"I've been alone," she said, "and thinking. I've gone back to Sunset andPacific Coast Highway and traced it all forward from there. And I don'tthink America's your home."
Very cool her voice, very tense her face. I smiled at her.
She didn't smile in return. "Fred--we're married."
"I'm glad," I said. "Aren't you?"
"It's no time for the light touch." Tears in her eyes. "Fred, are youa--a Russian spy?"
I shook my head.
"But--"
It was a clear night, and I went to the window. How it shone, in thatclear air. Jean came over to stand next to me.
I pointed, and said, "There's my home."
"Venus," she said. "Fred, for heaven's sake--_I'm serious_!"
"Some day," I said, "this planet will learn how to see through ourmanufactured fog. Some day they will develop the vision we developed acentury ago. And--"
"Damn it, Fred, be serious. If you'd know what I've gone through, alonehere, thinking back on all the crazy things you've said and done. Whathave you told me about yourself, what do I know?"
"Nothing," I said. "And what have I asked you about yourself? It's amatter of faith, Jean."
"Faith? Running all over the country like fugitives, financed by thosedamned diamonds, nosing into this and into that, and then running off toRussia, all alone. _With what you'd learned, Fred?_"
I shook my head, resentment stirring in me.
"Remember when we met? In Santa Monica--right there, next to the beach.You didn't have a thing but the clothes on your back and a bagful ofdiamonds. Was it a sub that brought you that far, Fred?"
"No," I said, "and you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me, and see," she said. She was rigid, and near hysteria.
"All right. I came there in a space sphere from Venus."
She started to sob, a wild, lonely sound and I moved forward to take herin my arms.
Her fingers clawed my face, her high heel smashed my instep. "Get out,"she screamed, "get out, get out, get out--"
I got out. I went to the first floor washroom and cleaned up my bloodyface, and then went into the bar. This was one habit I'd picked up onthe planet.
When I came up to the suite, later, I didn't even check to see if shewas in the washroom. I flopped down on the davenport and didn't knowanything for the next twelve hours.
She was gone, when I came to. She'd checked out before I'd come back tothe room, the night before.
I missed the plane she took from France. I missed her by a day in NewYork. I went back to the big house with the high pillars on SunsetBoulevard.
And she wasn't there.
She'd come back to it, I knew. I moved in, to wait. I wasn't going homewithout her; I wasn't even sure I was going home with her. I wasinvolved, now, in this planet, almost as crazy as the rest of them.
I sat. I did some drinking, but mostly I sat, going back over all ourdays, reading nothing, enjoying nothing, just remembering.
The Korean business started and the headlines grew uglier, and thejackals screamed and the people grew more confused.
One day, the maid told me I had a visitor. I was in the library and Itold her to send him back.
When he came in, he closed the door behind him. I'd never seen him,before, but he said, "We've been looking for three weeks."
"We?"
"Thirty of us," he said. "What happened? Jars sent me."
"Oh," I said. "I can't come, now. I'm--married--"
He smiled. "If you knew what a mess it's been. We've got men all overthe planet. Does your wife--know?"
"She thinks I'm crazy," I said. "Look, I--"
"I'm not going to argue," he said. "Just make your report, and I'll pickit up, tonight."
Five minutes after he was gone, I was packing. I knew he wasn't comingback for any report. He was coming back for _me_, and it didn't muchmatter to him if I wanted to come, or not. I was coming, or stayinghere--dead.
What I didn't realize is that they wanted me to run, to get out where Icould be taken with a minimum of interference.
They got me the other side of Blythe, in the middle of nowhere. A clearnight in the desert, and headlights coming up from behind and then thebig, black car crowding me off the flat road, into the sand.... Anddarkness.
* * * * *
Deering sighed and shook his head. "Corruption, Werig? Was it thecorruption, or the girl?"
"I've made my report," I said. "Don't worry about them. They've gotenough to worry about without worrying about us."
"Another war, it looks like," Deering said. "It could be the last one,you know. What was the girl--your wife like, Fred? Was she pretty?"
"Beautiful," I said.
"And the people--fear, is it fear?"
"I don't know. Their vice is fear, but they have some virtues."
Deering's voice was quiet. "Jars wanted me to ask you--about your wife.Where is she? Is she coming with you? It was forbidden."
"I don't know where she is, she's not coming with me, and I know it wasforbidden. But where is Jars? He has been avoiding me, hasn't he? Why?"
"He has been pleading for you, before the assembly." Deering rose, andwent to the window, to look out. "Who will win this war that's shapingup among the huddlers, Fred?"
"I don't know. I'm not sure I give a damn."
Deering continued to look out the window. "The gray nation, the mixednation, this America; they have some promise of the light, have theynot?"
"Some."
"But this black nation, this nation of robots, there is no chance of oflight there?"
"Not under their present leaders. If they should win the war the planetwould be set back five hundred years."
Deering shook his head, and turned to face me sadly. "It would be worsethan that. If they should win this war shaping up, there would be noplanet for them to rule."
I stared at him, not believing, still so bound up in my trip I couldn'tbelieve his words. _Love,--faith, fear, Jean_--were running through mymind. And Jean...?
Deering answered everything for me. "We can't take the chance," he said."We will abolish the planet. The assembly so decided this morning."
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