"We are the Thinkers, my son. We were there." As he spoke, more of the
creatures materialized. It was completely unnerving as if they were
popping from another dimension.
They were a handsome, sprightly race. There wasn't a stick of clothing
or an ornament in the crowd. Then Joel saw a familiar figure emerge
from the undergrowth.
"Thorp!" he cried. "Nick Thorp!"
The battered amiable ex-spaceman came forward, hand outstretched. "Not
so loud, lad. We're too close to Eriss' headquarters."
The uproar from the rebels' camp was muted by the dense jungle, but it
was still audible. Joel asked, "Have you seen Tamis?"
"Look around, lad!"
Joel heard a giggle, spun about. Tamis was standing at his elbow,
laughing at him. Then she quit laughing. Her elfin features sobered.
"Joel," she said, "we didn't know about the mutants."
"Why did the Ganelons withdraw from the attack?" he asked in a puzzled
voice.
"It was horrible," she said. "We--we unleashed a force we couldn't
control. It's beyond description, the scenes of rapine and carnage that
are being enacted in Eden. The police have gone over to the rebels...."
"The palace?" Joel interrupted harshly. "What has happened to the
palace?"
"The palace has fallen."
Joel felt the blood drain from his face. He said, "Then what is Walt
Eriss doing in the jungle?"
"He doesn't know, yet. His men are mopping up. Many of the free
planters have barricaded themselves in their houses."
Joel clenched his fists. He stared at the circle of kindly troubled
faces.
"The Unfit must be wiped out!" His voice trembled with suppressed
fury. "Don't you know what it will mean to have homicidal maniacs, the
mentally unbalanced, in power?"
The Ganelons gave him a pitying look. "My son," interposed the old man
who'd freed him, "as you say, they should be exterminated. They are
like the nigel trees--senseless brutes with an instinct to kill."
"Then why don't you stop them?"
"We can't."
"You can't!" said Joel. The words were like a blow to his solar plexus.
"You can't...."
"We are not a numerous people," the old Ganelon explained softly.
"Moreover we have a repugnance towards killing that amounts to a
psychological block...."
"But you started the attack!"
"No. It was someone else who ordered the attack, someone else who
planned the strategy. We went along to try to stop the bloodshed. But
it was useless. We had less control over them than we have over the
nigel trees."
Joel's eyes widened. He stared at the old Ganelon's saddened mien.
There could be no doubt but that he was telling the truth.
"Who?" Joel breathed.
The naked Ganelon shook his head. "We don't know. He's like a puppeteer
hiding behind the scene. And Walt Eriss is only one of his puppets!"