The woman drew back. "That is impossible, he cannot be outwitted. The
Leader is all."
Johnathon looked up from the corner where he was examining the
view-screen. "That may be, but we intend to have a try at it."
Karl, who had been leaning against the door, suddenly sat down on a
hard bench against the wall. "Damn," he complained, "this whining noise
gives me a headache."
The woman allowed herself a moment of curiosity. "What whining noise?
There is no noise."
"They are conditioned to it," Franz spoke to Sten. "It's a part of
their lives. We never hear the pounding of our hearts."
The woman sat down on the bench and buried her face in her hands.
"Tell me," Sten said, "Has she no husband?"
"Husband? In Panamia there is no such thing. Everyone lives alone.
When they reach maturity, they are summoned to a meeting with The
Leader, and mated with him or one of his representatives. That is all.
The child is raised by The Leader's nurses. It is all a very impersonal
business. They never speak of it."
The lights in the apartment dimmed. Immediately the woman rose and
walked mechanically to a bunk set in the wall, curled up, and was
asleep almost before the men could notice her.
"What was that?"
"Just The Leader's signal that it is time for sleep," Franz said. "Did
you see how she obeyed?"
"They live like clockwork," Sten muttered.
Several hours later the lights came on again. The woman rose without
speaking to the men, who had slept on the floor, and sat down at the
table to eat.
"Hey, don't we get invited to breakfast?" asked Karl, sitting up in the
corner.
Johnathon sniffed the air. "From the smell of it I don't think I want
any."
The woman looked up annoyed. "When are you going to leave? I have to
go to my work. It's important to Panamia." This last was said with a
fierce pride.
"Will she be missed?" Sten asked Franz.
"Yes, but they allow one day away for illness. The second day they
check."
"Don't worry," Sten told the woman. "We will leave when we have what we
came for."
"And what is that?"
"Freedom."
"But you say freedom is outside. Why didn't you stay?"
"Because there must be freedom for our children--and for their
children."
"You have children?" she looked interested.
"We shall soon."
"Yes," she said scornfully, "freedom for the children of the
Root-Diggers. But you come to Panamia for that freedom!"
"We told you we're not Root-Diggers," Johnathon said. "You can hardly
compare us with that tribe of poor devils. But even their state is
better than living like a slave in Panamia."
The woman laughed bitterly. "If you are not Root-Diggers, why do you
come to hurt Panamia and The Leader? It is because of you people that
we are warred upon and must always sacrifice."
Franz rose and faced the woman. "Kathryn, you're wrong," he said.
"The Root-Diggers are not warring with Panamia. They are only men and
women like ourselves who have been banned from Panamia. The Leader had
them purged before they were forced outside so that they are sterile
and have only half their wits. They have to live like animals, eating
roots and berries and bugs and insects. Those are the Root-Diggers your
Leader uses to frighten you."
The woman clenched her fists until the knuckles showed white. "You
lie!" she screamed. "The Leader tells the truth."
"No, it's not a lie. We have all seen them," Sten said quietly.
The men sat in silence while the woman wept.
Karl reached out and ate a bit of the woman's food. "What sort of gruel
is this stuff, I wonder. It needs salt."
"Salt," commented Franz, "is the greatest luxury in the city. Because
of the Root-Diggers, you know. There is a grave shortage. The people
crave it more than anything else and will go to any lengths to get an
extra ration of it."
Sten shook his head. "And they blame it on those poor beasts outside."
He rose and began nervously pacing the floor. "Franz, we have to move
quickly. The others will leave if we don't meet them on time. Do you
think she will go with us? Will she help us get others?"
"Who knows about her?" Franz shrugged. "I know some others here who
may want to go. We can see them now, but someone has to stay here with
Kathryn."
Sten watched the hungry eyes of Karl and Johnathon as they looked at
the now silent woman, sitting dejectedly at the table.
"I'll stay," he said.
The two men moved reluctantly as they followed Franz from the room.
Sten sat in silence after they were gone, watching the woman, who
was staring sullenly at the table top. He felt the pressure of the
room close in on him, and wished he were back in the openness of the
mountains. With a start he realized that he no longer noticed the
whine unless he listened for it, and that the sound somehow created a
feeling of warmth within him. He rose, slammed his fist into his open
palm, and shook the woman vigorously.
"Kathryn, how would you like to leave here? Go to a new land, a valley
that is still green and fertile? There you could look up at the sky and
live and feel free--and raise your children free."
Kathryn looked up dumbfounded. "I couldn't leave here. What would I do?
Don't you know that this is real freedom? Here where we have The Leader
to take care of everything for us?"
"No! This is bondage. Being told when to sleep and when to eat and what
to eat, and slaving for a grain of salt."
"Do you have salt?" she seemed incredulous.
"Out there, Kathryn, you can have as much as you want. Believe me, this
is no good. Where is the purpose of your life? Man wasn't born to be a
slave to anyone or anything, but to build his own life. You're a woman,
meant to have children, to mother them, and teach them, and love them,
doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"I ... I don't know. I've never thought about it before."
"You must think about it! Would you have it all end here? Living always
at the command of an unknown voice?"
The woman's eyes searched the room, as if seeking some sign of
reassurance. "But ... I've never thought of any other kind of life. I'm
happy here!"
"Happy? Being a living robot? You've never touched real happiness.
Think, Kathryn. Think hard about this. It's the most important thing in
the world."
She turned from the man and looked at the wall.
* * * * *
It was several hours before Franz and the others returned. Kathryn was
in her bunk, her eyes shut, an instrument clamped to her temples.
Franz breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them. "Whew,
that's not good for the nerves! Every time we turned a corner we ran
into that officer we met yesterday. I think he's watching us."
"Sten," Johnathon said excitedly, "you should have gone with us. Most
of the people wouldn't even listen, but there was a girl who was
interested. I've never seen anything like her, Sten. She's so soft and
small and...."
Karl interrupted enthusiastically. "And she has a friend that's coming
with her! Her name's Stella--I touched her and she's smoother than
anything I ever felt. I ... I think she may go with us."
Sten and Franz stood soberly watching the child-like joy of the two
men, a new joy, something unquenchable that burned deep within them.
"These people are mindless fools," Franz snorted. "Most of them didn't
even remember me. The Leader's forgetting treatments are pretty strong
stuff, I guess. 'The Past is Forgotten, the Future is the Glory of The
Leader', that's the motto."
"No wonder the poor souls seem mindless," said Sten soberly. "But what
about the girls they're so happy about?" he motioned to the table where
Karl and Johnathon were glibly comparing notes on the girls they had
met.
"They didn't remember me either, but they seemed to be able to
think independently. They also thought of some others who might be
interested. What will we do if we get too many?"
"We'll take anyone who wants to go. At least, as many as we can.
The important thing is that we get enough to start again outside."
He pointed to the nook where Kathryn was still curled in the foetal
position.
"What's Kathryn doing, Franz? She's been like that for an hour."
Franz's eyes held a look of pity. "It is the one recreation that The
Leader allows them. It's hard to explain exactly what it is, but
you are carried away by it. It's something like a drug, yet it's
mechanical. Something like music or sweet voices washes over you and
you dream. For a time, you actually live."
Sten shuddered. "The only reality is dreams then, eh? Tell me, are
these people actually capable of love?"
"It's completely foreign to them, but they _are_ human beings, and I
suppose love is innate in us all. I found it here once, you know." Sten
looked away as Franz stared hard at the floor.
The tension was broken by a knock at the door, and three women followed
by a single man entered. When they had exchanged greetings and been
seated, Sten stood up in the middle of the room. Kathryn, who had
wakened from her dreaming, sat watching wide-eyed.
"Franz has told you why we are here. We believe the human race is
doomed to slavery and annihilation unless some of us break away. My
father left us a treasure of books that his father before him had
salvaged from the holocaust. They tell of a way of life before the land
was ravaged. It was a better way, believe me. We men have lived in
Boru, a small valley back in the hills. But now we're leaving there.
Long ago our father told us of a green valley to the east, high in the
mountains where things grow as they did in the time before all this. We
have a map; and we're going there to find freedom. We need you to keep
this freedom."
A hush of silence held the room for a moment, and was broken finally by
the man who had come with the three girls. "Will The Leader be there?"
Sten stared hard at the man. "You will be your own leader. Can't you
see that? Your Leader is only an illusion! There is no leader but
yourself, and perhaps the God in my father's books."
The man sat a moment, then shook his head. "Not without The Leader--I
couldn't face it."
"You have your choice," Franz said coldly.
The man rose and grasped the arm of the tall woman that had come in
with him. "Then we have no business with you," he said as he led the
woman to the door. The woman looked back hopelessly as she followed the
man out.
"And you?" Sten asked the remaining women.