“Dear me, yes. ” El Hoska linked his arm in Feliz’s, and began to lead off down toward the city. Feliz’s legs carried him right along with the old man. "I have thought of the very thing to occupy your time while you are getting to know us better here. For a long time—”
"Just a minute," said Feliz. "I just thought of something. Have you two been introduced?” And he nodded from El Hoska to the girl, who was walking along at his other side and looking mournful.
"I beg your pardon?" said El Hoska, peering around Feliz at that side of him where the girl was.
“Her!” shouted Feliz, jerking a thumb at the girl. “The one you disintegrated, remember?”
“But there is nobody here but the two of us,” said El Hoska. The girl began to sob quietly. "Oh! ” said the mayor suddenly. “You wouldn’t—you haven’t possibly happened to hear about Kai Miri, the little girl we were forced to disintegrate a few days ago? Is that who you mean?”
“That’s right. Her,” said Feliz.“The one walking right here beside me right now.”
“There, there,” said the mayor. “You are obviously a badly maladjusted young man. Think now. Look at the matter logically. When that poor girl was disintegrated, the atoms of her mortal body were scattered over a tremendous area, and the natural currents of the air will have dispersed them even further. Don’t you see how impossible it would be to collect them all in one spot? Even if by doing so you could restore them to their original order and restore her to life. ”
Kai Miri began to sob louder—probably, thought Feliz, at the thought of the wide areas over which the natural currents of the air had dispersed the atoms of her mortal body.
"Never mind!" growled Feliz, patting her shoulder clumsily. “Forget it!”
"Tch, tch, ” said the mayor, observing. “You must really let me give you some special counseling, my boy, when we have the opportunity.
“I’m leaving,” said Feliz. He continued, however, to march toward the city. They were at its outskirts now.
“No, no,” said the mayor. “In your present precarious state of mental balance, it would be dangerous, extremely dangerous. Besides, wait until you see what I have for you to do.”
“What?” demanded Feliz.
El Hoska folded his hands benignly together as he strode along.
“How beautiful is nature!” he said.
“What do you have for me to do?” said Feliz, staring at him.
“We who have passed beyond the stage of a mechanical civilization,” he said, “have little use for the city’s ancient appurtenances, beyond those required for basic shelter. There is, however, one exception. That is the public square. The ideal gathering place for social meeting and discussion—except for one thing.”
He paused and paced along with his eyes closed. Felizs tubbornly kept his own mouth in closed position. If he thinks, thought Feliz, that I’m going to play straight man by asking him ...
“That is,” said El Hoska, opening his eyes again, with no visible sign of irritation, “a lack of water. The sun, the air, the good earth is there—”
"Where?" asked Feliz, thinking of the unbroken expanse of black and white plastic pavement.
"But," said El Hoska, ignoring the interruption, "there is no water. What the spirit craves in this ideal gathering place is a tinkling fountain rising in its midst. It would be a refreshment to the souls of all who gather there. Besides, the nearest good well is five city blocks away, if one happens to be thirsty."
“I see,” said Feliz.
“Yes. And you," Eli Hoska said, “being a more primitive man, used to fumbling with mechanical tilings, are the ideal one to construct such a fountain for us.”
"And if I don’t, you'll disintegrate me?" said Feliz, with a sudden ray of hope.
“How can you think of such a thing!” said El Hoska, shocked. “No, no, my boy. Someday you may basically wish to be disintegrated, and then, of course we may have to oblige you. But that day is not yet.”
“It isn’t?”
“Dear me, no. You can trust me. I’ll let you know when you want to be disintegrated.”
“Thanks,” said Feliz.
“Not at all. Within this city,” said the mayor as they left the last of the buildings behind and stepped out into the square itself, “you will come face to face with the reality your warped and primitive mind has heretofore denied. And, basically, you want this. Basically, you do not want to leave, I can tell that. Basically, your desire is so great that right now I do not believe you could find it in you to tear yourself from my side for any reason. With me, you will find inspiration."
“That’s not all I’ll find,” said Feliz, beginning to sweat. Two of the black-uniformed men in the square had already recognized him and now they were approaching at a run. The order had evidently gone out to take no chances, for they were letting their night sticks dangle from their belt, and drawing sidearms as they came.
“Halt, spy!” shouted the nearer of the two. “Make a move and you will be shot. Surrender yourself, and come with us!”
“True,” El Hoska was.saying reflectively as they strolled along, "you will undoubtedly find this city making its impact upon you in many different ways. Come along, my boy, and do not stare so wildly at the empty air.”
Chapter VII
"Halt, spy!” shouted the taller of the two black-clad men as they galloped up. They were, Feliz recognized without any great happiness, the two who had night-sticked him the day before. “Halt or you will be shot. Come with us!”
“Shoot him in the leg, Harry,” said the small one with halitosis. “Just to show him we mean business.”
“Wait,” said Feliz hastily. He grinned reassuringly, revealing his mouthful of teeth in such a large way that the small man slowed immediately and ducked behind his larger companion. “I'll go. I’d like to go. But this old gentleman here—”
"Silence!" shouted the tall one, waving his sidearm under Feliz’s nose now. “What nonsense is this? What deviationist, obstructionist tactics are you engaging in now! Come at once, and with no more excuses!”
“Excuse me,” said Feliz to El Hoska. “But I’m afraid I have to go.”
“Go where?” asked the mayor.
"Wherever these two characters with the guns want to take me!” cried Feliz.
“Dear, dear, dear me!” said El Hoska, sadly shaking his head.
“What do you mean, dear me?” exploded Feliz.
"That one so young should be so badly maladjusted. That such a healthy-appearing individual should suffer the persecution of such marked delusions. Sit down, my boy.” Feliz tried with all his might to fight the mental pressure upon him, but his knees folded and he sank to the ground.
“What new obstructionist tactics are these?” said the tall man in black. “Get up at once.”
"Shoot him, Harry."
"You shut up, Upi. Stand up, spy, or you will be shot."
“Think,” said El Hoska, “of relaxing, soothing things. Beds of meadow flowers, a sunny day in spring, drowsy with the hum of useful insects—”
“Kai!" bellowed Feliz, in desperation.
“What?” quavered the girl who was standing just a few feet away.
“Can you see these boys with the guns?”
“Alas, yes,” she said sadly.
“Well, they’re going to shoot me if I don’t go with them. I’ve got to get loose!" Feliz beckoned her toward him. "Can you hit this ancient demon here with something and at least distract him for a minute or two?”
Doubtfully, Kai looked at the mayor, looked around her, and then down at one of her sandals. Doubtfully, she took this off. Timidly, she tapped El Hoska on the head with its hard wooden sole, with about as much force as might break a normally-shelled egg.
“Ouch!” said El Hoska, putting his hand to his head and looking uncomfortable. “Dear me, my sinuses...”
Kai’s face lit up. She beamed. She took a good, two-handed grip on the sandal and swung from left field. There was a painful-sounding
thud, and the mayor folded up like a pole-axed grasshopper.
“That’s enough. That’s enough!” barked Feliz. Kai, looking happier than he had ever seen her, was just heaving up the sandal for another blow. Reluctantly, at Feliz’s shout, she checked herself.
"Let’s go," said FeHz to his black-clad would-be captors, and, jumping to his suddenly free feet, he hurried off.
“Stop!” said the tall one, catching up with him. “This way, spy! ” He grabbed Feliz by the elbow and whisked him around the comer of a building near the square and in through its large but age-battered doorway, up an escalator that was not moving to a second floor hallway, and into a lofty and over-furnished apartment.
Within the apartment, the city controller, Taki Manoai, sat in a comfortable chair with his feet up on a beet-red hassock. The feet were encased in slippers; the rest of the controller was wrapped in a battered dressing robe, and there was a glass in his hand and an ice bag on his head.
At the sight of Feliz, his face lit up.
“Ah, you got him. Get out! ” he said to the two captors. “And don’t slam the door! ”
“Yes, controller. Yes, sir,” said the tall one. They went out, closing the door as gently as a pair of mothers tiptoeing off from a sleeping baby. Left alone, Taki Manoai took the ice bag off his head, poured the water—which evidently was all it contained—out into a pail at the left of his chair, and poured fresh water into it from a container at his right.
“Well, spy,” he said, putting the cold water bag back on his forehead. “What have you to say for yourself? Jailbreakers are shot. Answer in non-loud tones, if you please."
“I know,” said Feliz. “Uh, by the way, if I should suddenly try to get away again, I’d like You to have me restrained gently, if you have to. I may not be able to help myself.”
Taki Manoai scowled.
“What farce is this?” he inquired. “If you don’t want to leave, why should you? If you do I will certainly have you shot.”
“Look, I tell you I may not be able to help it,” said Feliz desperately. I know you people don’t admit their presence, but these people in colored clothes have a mayor—”
“Stop!” shrieked Taki Manoai, and clutched at his head. "Stop," he whispered. "There is no such thing as people in non-black clothes. There is nobody in this city but”—the door behind Feliz, by which he had entered, suddenly opened and closed on “us.”
Feliz looked around. It was Kai; she came up to him, still carrying her sandal and walking unevenly.
“Oh, there you are,” she said. “I was afraid I wouldn’t find you. El Hoska thinks he has a migraine headache, and he’s gone to he down and rest until it goes away. Everybody else who’s real is out looking for you, but El Hoska can’t help them, he says, until his head feels better—and maybe not then. He thinks maybe it was talking to you that brought on the migraine. So you’re all right now.”
“All right!” said Feliz. “When these people may shoot me any time in the next sixty seconds?”
Kai Miri looked curiously at the controller.
“I guess they could, couldn’t they?” she said. “It’s hard to believe that mere hallucinations like that could really do anybody any real harm."
Taki Manoai had been shouting at Feliz for some time now. Feliz turned to see what it was the other wanted.
“ . . . and stop talking to empty air. I command you!” Taki was yelling, holding his head with both hands. “As if I didn’t have enough troubles! If I were a weak person, it would be very disturbing. Stop it. That is a direct order!"
"All right," said Feliz. Taki took his hands down from his head and looked at Feliz injuredly.
“You don’t know what the pressures are upon a controller,” he said. “All the troubles come home to me. All the responsibility. At this rate, I’ll bum myself out before I’m fifty. People think it’s an easy job, but it isn’t. No wonder I take an occasional drink.”
“You do?” said Feliz. Taki glared at him.
“Are you attempting to joke? People do not joke with controllers.”
“Oh,” said Feliz.
“Not if they know what’s good for them.”
Kai Miri had come up behind the controller’s chair. She brandished her sandal.
“Shall I clunk him?”
“Not now!” said Feliz, “Has this business of hitting people gone to your head?”
“I find I like it,” she said, taking a practice swipe a few inches above the crown of Taki’s skull. “Something that gives one so much self-satisfaction surely must be good for one’s personality.”
"Will you stop talking to empty air?" Taki barked. "This is your last warning.”
“I’m stopped,” said Feliz. “Just a slip of the tongue, there.”
"It better not slip again. Listen and obey. You told me you knew a number of mechanical skills and crafts we did not know. Right?”
“Correct,” said Feliz.
“Then I’m going to put you to work. Only when one works for the controller is one truly fulfilling a purpose in life. Now, I—”
“Why?” said Feliz curiously.
“Why?” said Taki.
“That’s right. Why does one have to work for the controller—”
"'Why?" said Taki, and made a grab for the water bag on his head. “Everyone knows that.”
“Nobody ever told me,” said Feliz. “And, frankly, I’m interested. You seem to have a pretty good setup here.”
“It is perfect,” said Taki. “Except, of course, for the occasional rotten apple in the barrel.”
“I see,” said Feliz.
“Absolutely. Since universal good is the universal desire of the populace, it follows that everybody wants to work for the good of all at all times. They need only orders, and for these they look to their controller. Which brings me, incidentally, to why I want your efforts. There is a limit to the number of orders even I can give to my eager and waiting people. It follows, therefore, that you are to build for me a sort of broadcasting unit that will take over the issuing of a great many routine orders, reminding the individual of his duties from minute to minute, so that the individual can work more efficiently.”
“That’s what you want?” said Feliz.
“Hear and obey.”
“Oh, sure,” said Feliz. “Just a suggestion, though.”
“No arguments!” snapped Taki Manoai. “To work, spy.” He picked up a sort of cowbell beside his chair and rang it. The door opened and Feliz’s two captors came back into the room. "Take the spy out and give him what he needs to build what I want.”
“Of course, if you don’t want something better . . .” said Feliz.
"Better?" The controller stopped the approaching captors with an upraised hand. “What is this?”
“Well, uh—” said Feliz. “I don’t suppose the news may have leaked over to you people yet, but there is a little-understood power source that seems able to control the individual’s body against even his own wishes. Make him come, for example, when he doesn’t even want to come. And so forth.”
Taki Manoai sat up straight in his chair.
“You personally know of such a power source?”
“You might put it that way, yes,” said Feliz.
"Build me one!" In his enthusiasm, the controller allowed the water bag to slide off his head. The damp black hair underneath stuck out over his ears like a crow’s nest. “Build me one immediately!”
“I thought you’d like the idea,” said Feliz.
“Men,” said Taki to the two in uniform. “Take the spy away and give him anything he desires to accomplish this great end.” He got to his feet. “I will come, spy, and see it immediately you have it finished!"
"Right," said Feliz. He went off toward the door with the other two men. Kai put her sandal back on and followed.
“Wait!” shouted the controller behind him. “When you get it done, what will it look like, spy?”
“Oh,” said Feliz. “Well, you might be a
little bit surprised by that. As a matter of fact, it’ll be in the public square; and when I get it done it may look a lot like a fountain.”
“Good. Look forward to being shot if it doesn’t.” And Taki genially waved them out of the room.
Chapter VIII
“Well, spy,” said the tall man, whose name appeared to be Harry, when they were all four once more in the street. “What sort of equipment do you need to begin work? Answer immediately.”
“You go,” said Feliz gently, “to blazes.”
Harry blinked at him.
“Be nice to me,” said Feliz, “or I’ll report you to the controller for not co-operating with me.” He leered at the two of them. They shrank visibly. “What about it?”
“Yes, sir,” said Harry.
“Yes, sir,” said the small one eagerly. "Harry was the one who hit you the second time. I told him not to, but he—"
“What’s your name?” said Feliz.
“Upi Havo, sir. I t-told him not to, but he—”
“Do you,” said Feliz, “know what the phrase ‘keep to windward’ means?”
“Oh, yes, sir!”
“All right. From now on, whenever you have anything to say to me, you will at all times keep to windward of me.”
“Oh." Upi Havo scuttled around to the other side of Feliz. “Like this, sir?”
“Yes. Now, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do, both of you. One of you—that’d better be Harry—is going to walk about ten yards ahead of me and point out the way. The other—Upi, that’s you—about ten yards behind and bring up the rear. You both may hear me talking to myself from time to time, but that’s just the way we technique traders are. You will pay no attention.”
They dispersed, almost cheerfully. Harry got about five yards off, thought of something, and came back. Feliz had been waiting.
“Sir?” Harry said. “Where to, sir?”
“Your tool warehouse, or wherever you keep tools and equipment.”
“Yes, sir.”
They took positions and moved out.
"Now, you," said Feliz, reaching back to take hold of Kai Miri’s costume and pull her up to walk alongside him. “It’s high time you and I had a constructive chat. How long have your bunch been ignoring this bunch in black—and vice versa?”
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