A Woman a Day

by Philip José Farmer

  Leif seemed preoccupied. As they went down the rickety steps of the boardinghouse, he was muttering, “I was the only one around who was in any kind of contact with Jim, even if it was just mental sympathy. The techs couldn’t see what he was thinking. They were just feeding him a prepared story and watching his reactions on meters.

  “But when that... vision... came to him, I saw part of it. Not through the ’picker but directly. Energy, mental or otherwise, flows from a higher charged body to a lesser if there is a conductor. Our first connection was the machine and our second was our sympathy. And of the two of us I was the lesser charged.”

  He shook his head as if to throw out something that clung leechlike.

  “Somehow, I saw what he saw. I’m sure it wasn’t real, not as this flesh and blood that surround my bones are real. The mind works in signs and symbols, and Jim Crew’s whole being was summed up in that last flare of energy, that psychosomatic nova. What he, and I, witnessed was a symbol he projected to himself. It was... essence, not existence.”

  He shook his head again and mumbled, “But who was that dark and bearded man stepping through the light, holding out his hand to Jim? Was there a man, or did I just think I saw...?”

  And he ran his hand through his hair and tugged at the roots and knew that, though he could explain it away, he would never be sure.

  Chapter 22

  In THE HTDE-OUT of the Bantus, two watchers met them and conducted them through the darkness. Ava had started to protest that he didn’t want to go along, but Leif had told him that he was forcing him. If both disappeared, Roe might think they’d been arrested and sent to H. If Ava took the news to him of what had happened, Roe might put obstacles in Leif’s path. Once the man and the woman were on the ship to Africa, Ava could go.

  When they arrived, they greeted the Primitives and then were fed. A parley was held; its result was the agreement that an exodus to a new HQ would have to be set up. Meanwhile, Leif and several others would go to the ship. They were lucky, for in one more day the vessel would leave, and another one wouldn’t be in for a month.

  Prayers were offered for Jim Crew after the meal. Leif and Halla chafed, though they appreciated the sentiment. And then, about three in the morning, just as they were to leave, a watcher came in. His face was twisted with alarm and with bad news.

  Candleman and Dannto knew now that Halla had run away with Barker. The Uzzite had launched the biggest manhunt of them all, one he’d been preparing for a long time and that was ready to move when he was stung into action.

  He was not only using all of his Parisian force, but had borrowed thousands from surrounding areas. They had dogs and firethrowers and poison gases.

  Leif talked to some of the watchers. They said the Uzzite chief had tried to bring in his men quietly and under cover of night, but. it was impossible to conceal that number, especially from the supersensitive Bantus. It would be some time before the hunters reached the vicinity of their hideout. Candleman had started from the periphery with a huge army that would close in towards the center. The idea was that the underground dwellers would be driven like rabbits in a big beat.

  Leif didn’t think it would be that easy. Paris was tremendous, twice as large as the twentieth century city, and the labyrinth beneath was many-leveled and tortuous. It would be several days before the hunters even got close to the Bantus, and it would be impossible for indivduals to slip through the lines.

  There was another council. The Bantus hoped they would be able to think of some place to go above ground while the hunt was on.

  Leif killed that hope by telling them that Uzzites would also be prowling the streets and subways now in use for just such a maneuver. There were only two things to do. One, hope they’d not be found. Or, two, take the ship that rested in the mud at the bottom of the Seine. The first was rather hopeless; once found they’d have no chance to escape. The second was dangerous, for there was no way of knowing whether or not Candleman had tortured the truth from Jim Crew about the ship. It was probable that he had.

  Leif’s own advice was to take the ship. He hoped he and Halla could live for a while in Bantuland, that perhaps he could begin negotiations for reinstatement in March. If that proved hopeless, the two of them could either remain in Africa or go to one of the Israeli Republics.

  The family members scanned each other for the general feeling. There was no question of splitting up. They either stayed as a unit or left as one. Leif, watching them, could not help thinking that here was a democracy undreamed of. No votes had to be cast, no ballots written, no speeches, no bribing, no appeals to emotional issues. They held hands, though it wasn’t necessary, and felt their way to a decision.

  The whole thing took less than a minute. Unanimously, they agreed to go. If they were to stay, their martyrdom would mean nothing, for the people of the Haijac would not see and benefit by it. It was true that once they left Paris it would be very difficult to get back in. But it could be done. Besides, they had great confidence that the plans of the Marchers would eventually succeed and that the Haijac would fall.

  Preparations got underway at once. Clothes were put on and food stored in baskets. Within twenty minutes, the whole group was ready.

  Leif asked about the Timbuktumen and was told they had lost contact with them ever since they’d offended Dr. Djouba. Doubtless, unless they, too, had very good avenues of escape, they would be flushed out and killed or sent to H.

  A watcher entered breathlessly and said that a number of men had come underground through the entrance in the lavatory wall, the very place which Leif and Crew had used the first time. Another watcher came in after the first to say that a second party was coming from the opposite direction.

  “Evidently they’re going to grind us between them,” said Leif. He strode through a door into the room whose wall concealed an exit. They planted a bomb and set it to be triggered by the brainwaves of the fourth person to enter the room.

  Leif, Ava, and Halla were the only ones of the hunted who were armed; the Bantus would rather die than have the blood of others on their hands.

  When Leif walked by the others on his way back to the head of the line, he passed Anadi, the child on whom he’d operated. Pale but brighteyed, she was being carried in the arms of one of her fathers. Her face seemed small compared to the big white basketwork enclosing her skull. He slowed for a second to accompany her.

  “Anadi, it’s hard to believe you’re alive.”

  “Yes,” she answered, smiling feebly. “I stayed alive so I might die with all of us.”

  He didn’t ask her what she meant; it was obvious.

  He said, “I’ve been too busy to find out just why you happened to be at the scene of the first Halla’s death. Tell me, what did Jim Crew mean when he said you knew she was going to be in an accident? And that you’d be hurt, and I’d save you?”

  “How can I explain? I knew Mrs. Dannto because I was the one who converted her to our faith. I loved her; I baptised her.”

  “Ah, if the CWC had known that, it’d have courtmartialed her, too.”

  “Yes. But that day she was killed, I had a feeling that she was making a move she shouldn’t. I hurried to warn her, but I was too late. I was in the way; the taxi drove over me. As for you, we found out who you really were a long time ago.”

  He touched her hand and, for some reason, felt stronger.

  “You’re a strange little girl.”

  “Not half as strange as you are, Lev-Leif Baruch-Barker.”

  That was the last time he saw her...

  They threaded very narrow tunnels with low roofs. Leif had to help Halla at several places, for the ceilings or sides had caved in and partially blocked them.

  At one of them, they paused as a low rumble came from behind and the ground shook.

  “The bomb!” remarked Leif grimly. “There’ll be more along soon. But they’ll be cautious.”

  Presently they came to a broad room, an excavation shored up in many places by
timbers and stone pillars. There the Africans insisted the three agents take another tunnel. If the hunters caught up, they said, they could at least delay them while the three went on to the ship. As for the group, it would live or die as a unit.

  Leif didn’t argue. He wanted to live. He was surprised, however, when the girl he’d thought of as Brindled Beatrice said she’d leave the others to guide. He was touched, for he knew it was because of her feeling for him that she was sundering herself from the group, a gesture which was almost like tearing off her flesh.

  Leif said, “Thank you. This is a great sacrifice on your part.”

  “Not so much. We’ll meet again at the ship.”

  It was then that Leif got the feeling that they would not meet the others, that the group had decided, with their soundless balloting, that the hunters would probably catch them and that they could, at least, give their lives for the two men and woman. Beatrice, doubtless, had been informed of this.

  The four took the tunnel to the right. They had gone a hundred yards when they heard the distant barking of dogs and shouting of men. They hurried on, knowing that soon enough the pursuers would be on their heels.

  When they slowed down because Halla was reeling from the pace, they stopped for a second at the juncture of four tunnels and heard, dimly, the firing of many guns.

  Beatrice stiffened and cried out, “They’re killing us! They’re not giving us a chance!”

  She put her head on Leif’s chest and wept. He patted her bare back and said, “There’s nothing to be done. Let’s go, or we’ll be caught, too”

  Sobbing, the girl turned and trotted on.

  Halla, in the lead, suddenly fell. Before she could rise, she screamed. Leif leaped at the man lying on the ground, ready to shoot him, when he saw he was wounded and a Bantu. He put his automatic down and was going to help the man when he understood why she had been so frightened.

  He was one of the Men In The Dark.

  Injured as he was, with blood flowing from a shoulder-wound, he was still able to catch Halla’s mindimages, amplify them, and hurl them back. As fear was uppermost in her mind, he’d probably shown her something that had really terrified her.

  Beatrice bent over him and said, “Come along, brother. We’ll help you.”

  Drooling, lips hanging open, blue eyes staring into the roots of Beatrice’s mind, he staggered to his feet and followed her.

  Leif wanted to protest, for he thought the presence of a crazy and wounded man would hinder them. Moreover, the fellow’s essence was evil. Let him die. Beatrice, however, had put her arm around him and was helping him along. Watching her, Leif felt ashamed that he’d allowed his fear to overcome him and tried to excuse himself by saying he was more worried about Halla than anything. But he had to admit to himself he was rationalizing. It had been the brutal panic of the beast in flight that had affected him.

  The clamor behind them was getting louder. They came to another junction. Beatrice halted them.

  “From here on,” she said, “take every other exit on the right. Got it? First left, then right. Then left, then right.”

  Leif said, “If you’ve some fantastic notion of staying here and luring them down another tunnel, forget it. We’ll stick together.”

  “I’m half dead now,” she replied. “When my people died, I died. So it’s only a little step to join them. You go on. You can’t stop me.”

  Barker didn’t hesitate. He embraced her and said, “We’ll never forget you, Beatrice—and —we love you.”

  “You’ll find me a million times over in Bantuland,” she said. “I’ll live in all my people.”

  Leif didn’t believe that, but despite himself he was overwhelmed. He turned and said, “Let’s go.”

  Ava and Halla touched the splotched skin of the girl and then followed him. The Man In The Dark hung his head for a moment, muttered something in Swahili, and staggered off after the three.

  Beatrice waited for the hounds...

  Ten minutes later, Leif knew that she must at least have split the party that was tracking them. He caught a glimpse of the comparatively small group as they came down a very long subway route. There was one dog and twenty men. Candleman’s thin bent-forward figure and Dannto’s hogfat body were side by side in the lead. In the brief glimpse he got of them before he ducked through an archway, he saw that most of them carried the minimatics which could spray hundreds of slugs, without stopping to cool off. Each one of the bullets was explosive and would blow a hole an inch wide and an inch deep in the flesh of a man.

  Leif had his own weapon, but be didn’t want to let the trackers know they were close. He ran to join the others and found that Halla was limping. In reply to his alarmed questions, she said she’d hurt her ankle when she tripped over the Man In The Dark. She was trying to hide her pain, but both men could see she would soon be reduced to a hobble.

  Leif put his arm around her waist and let her lean on him. They found that the hopping hurt her almost as much as the walking by herself did and that they could not go much faster.

  He stopped and picked her up, despite her protests, and carried her in his arms. He was large and very strong, but she, too, was tall and no lightweight and was bound to be a burden even to a Samson. Leif tried half-running, half-walking. He made good time. Not good enough, however, for the barking and shouting behind them increased in volume. Hampered as he was, he would inevitably be caught.

  Ava said, “Stop, Leif.”

  Leif obeyed, for he was beginning to pant.

  “What do you want?” he asked. The question was a cover-up. He knew well enough what Ava was going to do.

  “I’ll hold them as long as I can,” said Ava. “You get a good head start, and I’ll come running later.”

  “Ava,” said Leif, “You know there’ll be no later.”

  Ava started to deny it, then shook his head and smiled slightly.

  “You’re right. But I look at it this way. I can’t go to Africa. How would I prove I didn’t desert my post and run with you? I’d be court-martialed and disgrace my wife and child and mother. If I die here, the CWC’ll proclaim me a hero. I have to die, anyway. Better a dead hero than a dead traitor.

  “You’ve something to live for, even though I wouldn’t under any conditions touch that... that womanthing. So get going, Leif, and best of luck to you. I don’t think you’ll be happy with that woman, but she seems to be what you want.”

  Leif said, “I’m sorry you still persist in thinking of Halla that way. But it can’t be helped. Shalom, Ava.”

  “If you’re ever admitted back to March, Leif, see my son and wife. He’s eleven now. Tell them I died well. Shalom.”

  Leif began to take off his wristbox to give to the little man. Ava refused it, saying Leif might have a better use for it. So the big man shrugged and picked Halla up and walked off without a backward look, though it hurt him to do so. The wounded Bantu lurched behind him.

  Presently, somewhere far behind them, guns chattered.

  There was an almost continuous noise and then a vast, shattering roar.

  “That’ll be Ava’s work,” said Leif. “He must have blown himself up.”

  After a while, lights and shouts came. Leif, deciding he could not carry Halla any more, put her down behind a half-fallen wall of brick. The Bantu also flopped. In a few seconds, his harsh breathing had ceased. Leif was glad, because he’d been worrying about the fellow’s mirror-mind. So far, he’d had little effect, probably because he was too intent on his wound and partly because, as Leif had learned, those who had little to hide were not affected so much. Halla had very few inhibitions to bring up, very few unconscious hates. She laughed and wept and loved easily and openly. Such people did not have a dark rotten humus in their psyche.

  Suddenly, men were shouting nearby. Leif aimed his minimatic at the party as they rounded a corner about twenty yards away. Two men fell; the others jumped back. He was disappointed because neither Candleman nor Dannto were among them, but he�
��d not expected them to be. Made cautious by their experience with Ava, they would send their men ahead to draw fire. It was satisfying to know they only had one man left to precede them.

  The lights around the corner went out. That meant that the Jacks were either going to rush in the dark, which he doubted, or that they had Darklight beams and goggles. The latter were fine for lightless fighting, but their disadvantage was that if an enemy turned a flash on them while they were wearing the goggles, they couldn’t see it.

  Why should he wait for them? He and the other two could crawl away and take up another position. He gave the order; they did so, stopping around another corner about thirty yards down the tunnel.

  Only a minute later, the tunnel was solid from one end to the other with a blinding light; a dazzlebomb. Had he stayed behind the wall, he would have been sightless.

  Chapter 23

  FOOTSTEPS POUNDED AS an Uzzite, holding a flash in one hand, ran to the wall, prepared to shoot down helpless victims. Leif waited until he was by the bricks, for he hoped the other two would follow. They didn’t, so he killed the attacker, and, before the man collapsed, was up and running to him. His plan was to seize the flash, which was lying on the ground, and pretend he was the Uzzite himself. If he could get the two to step around the corner...

  One did. Candleman. He shot first, and though Leif threw himself behind the wall, he felt the automatic blown out of his hand by the stream of tiny slugs. The weapon lay in front of the flash, where Candleman could see it.

  Leif’s hand was numb because the terrific force of the explosive bullet had communicated itself through the metal. He swore and held his wrist and felt helpless. He hoped Halla would shoot; no sooner the thought than the brrrrrrp of her automatic followed. Then it ceased, and her voice came, shrill and urgent, “Leif, I didn’t get him! He’s on the other side of the wall!”