The four prisoners sat glumly looking at the impenetrable squares
of darkness outside Grace Horton's windows, awaiting the arrival of
the Goon Squad. Madge Benedict, without needing to be told, had kept
Ultrablack from occurring in the Unit; it was the only area of visible
light in the entire nine cubic miles of the Hive. Stanton, his weapon
never wavering, lolled against the wall of Grace's parlor, watching
their discomfiture with amusement. Of all the group, Andra's pallor
was the worst, and Stanton noted this fact with relish.
"I don't expect to glean much from the minds of the others," he said,
addressing her directly, "but yours must be a veritable treasure trove
of interesting data."
"I don't know why you should think so," Andra said, knowing all the
while that fabrication was futile; five minutes under truth serum would
prove the President's contention beyond debate. "I'm only one small cog
in a wheel greater than your whole Goondom of force!"
"You almost convince me," Stanton said. "But--No matter. I'll know the
truth in a few more minutes."
"And then what?" asked Grace. "What happens to us once you've picked
our brains of knowledge? If it's death--"
"Grace--" Lloyd said warningly, taking her arm. She turned on him.
"Darling, if we're to die in _any_ event, let's die now! At least
we'll have the satisfaction that a hundred other people aren't dying
afterward, because of us!"
"She's right, Fred," Bodger said, smiling for the first time since
his arrival at Grace's Unit. "If you kill us now, you'll never find
anything out. At least our lives will have accomplished something, if
only continued secrecy about the movement."
"A Snapper Beam needn't kill, if used briefly enough," Stanton said
mildly. "If you four prefer dancing an agonized quadrille until the
arrival of the squad, you have only to come an inch closer. In fact,
unless you return to your chairs at once, I may just do it anyhow, for
my own diversion."
"A Snapper Beam," said Bodger, "is effective only so long as it's held
upon its victim. Can you play yours four ways at once, Fred? Because,
while you're gunning any one of us down, three will be diving for your
throat!"
* * * * *
Stanton, before Bodger's statement could bring the others in a unified
wave against him, pointed the muzzle of the Snapper directly at the
man's chest and pressed the firing stud. A whine of power came from the
weapon as the invisible forces lashed out.
And Bodger took two strides forward and smashed his fist into Stanton's
face. The President's head snapped back with the unexpected blow, and
cracked sharply against the wall. Then, the weapon falling from his
limp fingers, he slid to the floor and collapsed in an untidy heap.
Bodger, stumbling back from the fallen body, sagged into a chair,
gasping. Lloyd sprang to his side, dropped to one knee beside the
chair, staring in unbelief at the shaken man. "Dad!" he blurted, in
dazed joy. "You're alive! You're all right!"
"No ..." Bodger said, his eyes bulging as he shook his head, his lips
thickening over words that were becoming difficult to formulate. "No,
Lloyd. I'm--sicker than I thought."
"What are you talking about, Dad! You just took a dose of power that
would've destroyed a healthy human nervous system, and came _through_
it! How can you say--"
"Lloyd!" Bodger rasped, clutching his son's arm. "Don't you see? I
don't--don't _have_ a human nervous system, anymore. The thing I've
always feared has happened. I--" He coughed, and his skin took on a
sickly bluish tinge for a moment, then flushed into a ruddier tone as
he took a breath and held himself in rigid control. "The--The Brain.
You ... must go to the Brain, Lloyd. I--Can't talk more ... ask it ...
why is the Hive...." His voice trailed off, and his eyes closed.
"Dad," Lloyd said, shaking his father by the shoulders. "Why is the
Hive _what_?! Tell me!"
His father opened his eyes and stared unseeing beyond his son.
His lips, flecked with spume, worked silently, then he gurgled,
"M-medicine ... bathroom ... behind mirror ... I n-need--" His collapse
this time was total, his head hanging limply with chin on chest, his
arms sliding over the sides of the chair until his wrists touched the
carpet.
A thunderous pounding upon the front door brought Lloyd and the two
women up short, and they stood frozen with dread as the insistent sound
continued. The inner surface of the door was shaking with the blows.
"... Goons?" whimpered Grace. "What'll we do if it's the Goons?"
"Stanton's Voteplate!" Andra snapped. "Lloyd, take it, quick, out of
his pocket!" Lloyd caught her meaning instantly, and hurried to obey.
"Grace, count ten, then open the door. We can't delay longer than that.
Lloyd, think fast, and think smart! We're all in your hands, now!"
Lloyd, the plate in his hand, shoved his own into Stanton's pocket and
straightened up. "Let them in, Grace," he commanded. "Then both of you
keep still and let me talk!"
* * * * *
Grace unbolted the door and stepped back. The six metal bodies of
the Goon Squad rumbled loudly as they crossed over the sill and came
to a halt before the trio. The Goon in the fore-front of the group,
swiveling its glittering telelenses over them, spoke in its cold,
emotionless voice, "President Stanton."
Lloyd stepped forward and handed over the Voteplate. The eight-foot
metal creature took it, slipped it into its chest-slot and paused; then
returned the plate.
"Correct," it said. "Orders."
"Miss Madge Benedict, of my office, to be taken into custody at once,
and held incommunicado," said Lloyd, figuring Stanton would be helpless
with no contact at top level, so long as Ultrablack prevented his
leaving the unit.
The Goon stood silently as this information was relayed to the Brain
and thence to the Goon Squad nearest Stanton's office. "Accomplished,"
it said flatly, after a minute, its dull grey force-field pulsating
with incredible energies. "Orders."
"Secondary Speakster Bodger--the man in the chair--to be taken," Lloyd
flashed a glance at Grace, who nodded, "along with this woman on my
right, to his Unit on Hundred-Level, Unit B, and left there without
supervision, by all but one of your squad."
"Orders."
"One of you will escort me and this woman on my left to the Brain, in
Sub-Level Three, immediately."
"Orders."
"All orders conveyed," said Lloyd.