by Ben Bova
Linc shook his head. “Peta has decided to give himself up to your justice, Magda. Monel and his guards came on us in the tube-tunnel just as he agreed to return to you and ask for mercy.”
Magda tapped her wand against her knee for a moment. “What do you have to do with all this, Linc? Were you there when it happened?”
“No. I was off duty.” No sense telling everybody about the Ghost Place. Or how close the yellow star’s getting. It would only scare them. “Peta and I met by accident in a tube-tunnel.” Monel edged his chair slightly in front of Linc. “Peta is a lazy clod. And stupid. His laziness and stupidity ruined half the farm tanks. Ask Slav if it’s not so!”
“Are they really ruined?” Magda asked. “Yes,” came Slav’s heavy voice from the rear of the crowd. She looked down at Peta. “All that food—ruined. How can we live without food?”
Before the frightened youth could answer, Linc said, “I brought Peta to you for justice. And mercy.”
She almost smiled at Linc. For an instant their eyes were locked together as if no one else was in the room with them. Linc could feel his own lips part in a slight grin.
“But worst of all,” Monel shouted, “is that Peta is violent! He attacked my guard. He could attack anyone, at any time. Any one of you!” He waved his arm at the crowd.
They muttered and stared at Peta. He hung his head so low that no one could see his face. The guards alongside him tensed and watched Monel, not Magda.
“We all know the punishment for violence,” Monel went on, still speaking to the crowd rather than the priestess. “Violence is the one crime we cannot tolerate.”
“Cast him into outer darkness!” someone shouted. “Cast him out!” one of the guards echoed.
“Yes… yes—” The crowd picked up the vibration.
Monel turned back toward Magda, his thin face flushed with success, his crooked smile triumphant.
Magda raised her arms for silence, and the crowd settled down to a dull murmur. She waited a moment longer, staring at the people, and they became absolutely still. Peta sat unmoving, his head sunk low.
“Peta,” she said softly. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
He raised his face high enough to look at her. With a miserable shrug he let his head droop again.
“Peta,” Magda said, but now it was a voice of command, “get to your feet.”
He slowly stood up.
“Is it your fault that the pump is dead?” she asked.
He nodded dumbly.
“Did you strike the guard?”
“He…they said—”
“Did you strike him?”
Peta’s voice broke. He nodded.
Monel rubbed the wheels of his chair. “He admits it.”
“He came here for justice and mercy,” Linc said.
“The punishment for violence is to be cast into the outer darkness!” Monel raged. He turned back to the crowd again. “Everybody knows that. Right?”
Before they could respond, Magda raised her slim arms.
“The punishment for violence,” she said in a steel-cold voice, “will be decided by the priestess, and no one else.”
“Give me a chance to look at the broken pump,” Linc said. “Maybe I can fix it.”
“Fix it?” Monel almost laughed. “You mean—make it work again, so that the crops won’t die?”
“Yes,” Linc said.
“Madness! You know it’s against Jerlet’s law to touch such a machine. And even if you could, how would you fix it? It’s not like a cut finger that can be healed—”
“Or a bruised face that will be normal in a little while?”
Monel’s face darkened. “That’s something else again. But the farm pump is a machine. Once it’s dead, it’s dead. It can’t be healed, or fixed.”
Turning to Magda, Linc said, “Let me try to fix the pump. Maybe we can save the crops. I’ve fixed other things before… wires, some of the electrical machines. Maybe—”
But Magda shook her head. “It’s forbidden to touch that kind of machine. You know Jerlet’s laws.”
“But…”
“It is forbidden.”
And she closed her eyes for meditation. Everyone in the crowd did the same. Linc sat down on the floor and shut his eyes.
He tried to squeeze out all thoughts and let his mind float free. But he kept seeing the frozen ghosts at the Ghost Place. He shuddered. The cold is getting worse; it’s coming into the living section. Even some of the crops in the farm tanks are dying of the cold. Then he remembered the yellow star approaching. Strange that we’ll all die in fire. If only we could use that star to warm us and drive away the cold…
But such thoughts were not helping him to meditate. Linc tried to get his mind free. The world is only a temporary illusion, he chanted to himself. The world is --
“I have decided,” Magda announced.
Everyone looked up at her.
She pointed the wand at Peta. “No one has committed the sin of violence among us since Jerlet left us, back when we were all children. We must ask Jerlet for judgment, because the punishment for violence is too heavy even for the priestess to bear alone.”
Peta’s thin chest was rising and falling in rapid, choking gasps. Magda touched the colored buttons on the desk top where she sat. The big wall screen behind her glowed to a silvery-shimmery gray.
Jerlet’s face filled the screen, huge, dominating the whole assembly, bigger than Linc’s own height, mighty and powerful.
He was old, far older than anyone in the Living Wheel. His face was strong and square, with deep creases around the eyes and mouth. His hair was long and thick, streaked with gray as it curled over his ears and down to his shoulders. His voice was a thundering command, saying the words of the law just as he always said them:
“I’ve tried to set you kids up as well as possible. The servomechs ought to last long enough for you to grow up enough to take care of yourselves. There’s nobody left now except me… and all of you. I can’t stay any longer, but I think you’ll be okay. You can make it. I’m sure of it.”
Most of the people sitting on the floor were mouthing the ancient words along with Jerlet’s image on the screen. Everyone knew the words by heart, they had heard them so often since childhood.
“I’ll come back whenever I can to see how you’re doing… and I’ll watch you on the TV intercom. But I’ve got to get up to the zero-g section now. My heart can’t take any more of this load.”
Linc had to shift his position on the floor to see around Magda. She sat transfixed on the desk top, her slim body a dark silhouette against the massive presence of Jerlet.
“Now remember,” Jerlet was saying, “all the rules I’ve set down. They’re for your own safety. Especially, don’t mess around with the machines that I haven’t shown you how to handle. Let the servomechs take care of the machines; that’s what they’re for. You’ll only hurt yourselves if you touch the machines. It’s going to be tough enough for you, alone down here, without fooling around with the machinery.
“And above all—don’t hurt each other. Violence and anger and hate have killed almost everybody on this ship. You’re the only chance left for survival. Don’t throw everything away… everything that we’ve worked for, for so many generations. You have a tough road ahead of you. Violence will make it tougher… you could easily wipe yourselves out. So…” his eyes squeezed shut, as if he were in sudden pain, “…above all… don’t hurt one another. Violence is the greatest enemy you face. Never hurt one another. Never!”
The image disappeared, leaving only an empty glowing screen. Linc heard a few of the girls crying softly in the crowd.
“Jerlet has spoken,” Madga said.
“But—” Peta found his voice. “But, that’s what he always says—”
Magda nodded gravely. “He has not changed his rules for you, Peta. There is no forgiveness for the sin of violence. You must be cast out.”
Peta tried to scramble to his feet.
The guards grabbed him roughly and he screamed out, “No! Please!”
Linc yelled at Magda, “Show him mercy!”
“He deserves none,” Magda said, her gaze flicking from Linc to Monel and back again. Peta was standing now, no longer struggling, head down. The two guards had a firm grip on his arms.
“But,” Magda went on, “we have never seen the sin of violence before, and it would take even more violence to cast Peta into the outer darkness. That is the nature of the sin; violence breeds more violence.”
Linc wondered what she was leading up to.
“Therefore,” she said, “Peta will not be pushed through the deadlock into outer darkness. Instead, he will be given enough food and water for three meals, and sent into the tube-tunnel to seek Jerlet’s domain. Let Jerlet take him and make the final judgment.”
The crowd was stunned. No one moved.
Magda uttered the magic words that made her decision final:
“Quod erat Demonstrandum.”
4
Slowly everyone left the meeting room, leaving only Magda and Linc there.
He walked up and stood beside her. She touched the control button that turned off the wall screen, then put down her symbols and let her robe slip off her shoulders.
Linc didn’t try to touch her, even though she was now no longer acting in her office as priestess.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Nodding. “Yes…”
“For sure?”
“Well,” she smiled and the room seemed to glow brighter, “it always shakes me when Jerlet speaks to us. His voice… I have dreams about it sometimes.”
“That’s why you’re the priestess.”
With the two of them alone in the big empty room, with no one and nothing there except the few remaining books on the bare shelves, Magda was less the priestess and more of a normal human being.
She looked up at Linc, her dark eyes questioning. “Are you angry with me?”
“Angry? Why?”
“You wanted me to show mercy to Peta.”
Linc felt his teeth clench slightly. Peta. I’d nearly forgotten about him. A few moments alone with her and I forget everything.
“Jerlet will take him,” Linc said.
“But you think I should have gone easier on him.”
Is she trying to start a fight? “You could have, if you wanted to. Peta isn’t really a violent person.”
“No; I could see that he acted out of panic.”
Linc felt puzzled. “Yet you sent him out into the tubes. He might never make it as far as Jerlet’s domain. The rats, and who knows what else—”
“Do you know why I had to send him away?”
Linc shook his head.
“Because of Monel,” Magda admitted.
“You thought he was right and I was wrong.”
She laughed suddenly, and reached out to touch Linc’s cheek. “No, you silly fool! And stop looking so grim. I wanted to let Peta go free. It would have been fun to watch Monel turn purple. And besides—”
Linc waited for her to go on. When she didn’t, he asked, “Besides…?”
She walked away a few steps, toward the room’s big double doors. “Besides, it would have pleased you.”
Linc rocked back on his heels. Magda turned away from him and hurried toward the door.
“Hey… wait. Magda!” He raced across the worn floor tiles after her. His long legs gobbled the distance in a few strides, and he jumped in front of her, leaning his back against the closed doors.
“You wanted to please me?”
“Yes.”
Truly puzzled, he asked, “Then… why didn’t you? Why cast Peta out? Why ask Jerlet to speak? You knew he’d just say the same old things… he never says anything else.”
Her smile faded and the troubled look returned to her eyes. “Linc.,. Monel wants power. He’s a bully. I’m sure he frightened Peta terribly; why else would the poor boy strike one of his guards? Peta never harmed anyone in any way before.”
“But then—”
She put a finger over his lips, silencing him. “Hear me. The real reason why I’m priestess is that I’m sensitive to the way people think. Monel wants to rule. He wants to be the leader and tell everyone what to do. He would make a terrible leader; he would hurt people. So I’ve got to stay ahead of him. I’ve got to make sure that he doesn’t gain more power.”
Linc felt as fluttery inside as he did up on the second level, where the gravity was lower. But now it wasn’t a happy feeling.
“Monel wants… how do you know…?”
She shrugged her slim shoulders. “I know. I can hear him thinking about it. I can smell his hunger.”
Linc muttered, “Monel likes to boss people around.”
“He’s made it clear that he’d love to have an alliance with me. I stay priestess and he tells me what to do.”
In his mind, Linc saw himself facing Monel, and for the first time in his life he wanted to be violent.
“You’re shaking!” Magda said.
He grasped her shoulders. “I haven’t liked Monel since we were all children together and Jerlet lived with us. When he had the fall and his legs were crippled, well… I tried to forget that I didn’t like him. But now… now—”
“It’s all right,” Magda soothed, stepping close enough to Linc to lean her cheek against his chest. “I know how to handle Monel. Don’t fear—”
“It’s not fear that I feel,” Linc said tightly. His arms slid around her. Then a new thought struck him. “But… why did you do what Monel wanted? Why did you send Peta away?”
She pulled away from Linc slightly and looked up into his eyes. “Suppose I let Peta go free. And suppose somebody was attacked afterward? What then?”
“But Peta wouldn’t—”
“No. But Monel would. And then say that Peta did it.”
The breath nearly left Linc’s body. “Now I understand.”
“I couldn’t let that happen; I couldn’t take the chance. It would mean that Monel would take charge of everything and everyone—even me. I will not have that. I am the priestess and I’m going to stay the priestess, no matter what Monel tries.”
“So Peta had to be sacrificed.”
“Punished,” Magda corrected. “He was lazy, and stupid, and violent. Showing him mercy would have been playing into Monel’s hands.”
For a long moment Linc said nothing. Finally, “I hope he makes it up to Jerlet’s area. It’s a long climb. And dangerous.”
Magda turned slightly in his arms to glance at the wall screen. “Let’s get out of here. I have the feeling that he sees and hears everything we do in here.”
“Jerlet?”
“No. Monel.”
They were walking down the corridor toward the living area when Linc told her about the yellow star.
“It’s bright enough now to cast shadows. It’s getting so close that you can’t look at it without hurting your eyes.”
“How long do we have?” Magda asked.
He shrugged. “Who can tell? Maybe only a few sleeps. Maybe so long that we’ll all grow as old as Jerlet.”
“No one could ever get that old!”
They laughed together.
Then Linc said, “Want to go up and see it?”
Magda hesitated only a moment. “Yes. Show me.”
They were almost at the hatch that led into the tube-tunnel when one of the farm workers called out to them. Magda and Linc waited at the hatch as he hurried along the passageway toward them. The overhead light panels were mostly dead in this section of the passageway, so the worker flashed from light to shadow, light to shadow, as he approached.
“Magda,” he puffed as he came to a stop before them, “Monel… wants to see you… right away.”
“He can wait,” Linc said.
“No… it’s about the crops. Now that there’s not enough food for everybody—”
Magda’s face set into a tight mask. Even so, she’s beautiful, Linc
thought.
“All right,” Magda said to the worker. “I’ll speak to Monel about the food.”
The three of them started down the passageway. Linc looked back over his shoulder at the hatch to the tube-tunnel. That must be the tunnel they put Peta into. I wonder if he’s a II right? Can he get to Jerlet before he needs food or sleep? Does the tunnel really go all the way up to Jerlet’s domain?
Monel was in a warm little compartment that had a rumpled bunk, a dead viewing screen on the far wall, and a desk studded with push buttons—also dead.
But on the bare part of the desk he had strewn lots and lots of colored chips of plastic. Where did he get them? Linc wondered.
He and Magda stood by the door of the little room. Monel sat behind the desk in his wheeled chair, his long skinny fingers toying with the plastic chips. Sitting on the bunk was Jayna, a girl who had worked as a farmer. Now, somehow, she seemed to work for Monel all the time.
“I’ve learned how to use these bits of plastic to solve our food problem,” Monel said.
“And I helped,” Jayna added.
“We’re going to eat plastic?” Linc asked.
“Of course not!” Monel snapped. “But these plastic pieces can show us how to give food to the right people.”
“The right people?” Magda echoed.
“Yes… look—” Monel touched a few of the chips, began lining them in straight files. “You see? Each piece stands for one of us.”
“The yellow ones are for the boys and the green ones are for the girls,” Jayna said, with a big smile of accomplishment on her face.
Linc watched Monel lining them up. “How do you know you’ve got the same number of chips as there are people?”
“That’s what I did,” Jayna said happily. “I picked out one chip for each person. I remembered everybody’s chip… see, they’re all shaped a little differently. So I can remember which chip belongs to which person. I’m good at remembering.” She jumped eagerly from the bunk and bounced to the desk. “See? This one is you, Magda… it’s the biggest green one. And this one is Monel, he’s right behind you. Each chip means somebody!”
Monel seemed to be smiling and frowning at once.
“Very interesting,” Magda said. It sounded to Linc as if she were trying to keep her voice as flat and calm as possible, and not quite succeeding. “But what does all this have to do with food?”