"We're getting it. But I hope it makes more sense to you than it does
to us."
"Well, it doesn't."
Dan glanced around, noted the discreet word "DISPOSAL"
printed on the face of the small building where the bodies were shoved
through what looked like a furnace door. Dan thought he could see what
was going on here, but the reasons for the things that were happening
were totally obscure to him.
It was in the next block that he began to get some sort of an idea,
when he saw a large poster bearing a blue triangle standing point down.
Stamped over this triangle were large letters: VOTE YES!
Several blocks away was a big poster showing a green triangle, its base
down, and bearing the words: VOTE NO!
* * * * *
Both posters were dented, scratched, and spattered, as if stones
and rotten fruit had been thrown at them. But, though Dan watched
carefully as he walked on toward the center of the city, he saw no clue
as to what the voting was about. He was also puzzled to find that,
though there were many stores, and a fair number of what looked like
hotels, office buildings, and apartment houses, there seemed to be no
factories, large or small.
The people passing here were another source of uncertainty. As Dan
approached the center of the city, he began to sense the peculiar air
of freedom that he had noticed in resort towns on a dozen planets. And
yet this did not look to him like a resort town. Moreover, it was hard
to gauge the mood of the people passing by, because nearly all seemed
to react to his presence in some way. Some looked suddenly alarmed,
a few looked furtive, others seemed pleased and smiled at him. A
considerable number of the women had a thrilled look when they saw him.
Dan walked another block and saw part of the reason for the resort-town
atmosphere. Across the street was a sweeping expanse of green. In the
far end of this green was an enormous swimming pool, with floats and
concrete islands dotted through it to hold diving boards that were
almost constantly in use.
Dan, wanting to watch the passersby without their watching him,
stepped into a quiet, old-fashioned-looking bookstore that fronted on
the green. He looked out the many-paned front window and immediately
noticed a change in the people. Without his inexplicably disturbing
influence, nearly all of the people fell into two distinct categories.
One group had a depressed and angry look. The other group looked
cheerful and carefree. Aside from their mood, they didn't seem to
differ noticeably in dress, age, or any other way.
Dan glanced around the bookstore and saw that it, like the other
stores, could be transplanted to Earth, and--except for the unfamiliar
lettering on storefront and book titles--would hardly be noticed. He
nodded to an elderly woman working at a small desk to one side of the
store, then walked to the rear, where the stacks of books left a far
corner partially in shadow and out of sight from the front of the
store. Dan stooped, glanced at the dusty row of books on the bottom
shelf, and slid a mataform transceiver behind the books.
He walked back to the front of the store, stepped out on the sidewalk,
and saw a cart come slowly along in the street. This was the kind of
cart he had seen earlier. The outstretched figures of men lay bumping
loosely on the cart, metal cords with oblong tags tight around their
necks. Dan stepped over to note that the tags he could see all read:
--KILL--
UNAUTHORIZED
* * * * *
There was a buzz of indignation from the crowd on the sidewalk as the
cart went by.
Then there was a sudden silence.
Dan glanced around.
Walking along the sidewalk toward him was a man about his own height
and build, who moved with controlled catlike steps.