"Good! We're bringing out a new sensation pill in a few weeks and we'd
like to coincide the opening of this show with the release of the pill.
Big promotion and all that. And, by the way, don't forget the show
schedule for the annual Playground Festival."
Benton turned back to the work on his desk as Brant left the office.
* * * * *
Men and women were crowded into the smoke-filled living room of
Professor Corbett's farmhouse, and conversations were being carried on
in hushed whispers. Nancy stood talking to Dan. Professor Corbett was
near them busily engaged in conversation with two women and a man whose
clothes looked as if they had seen many years of hard wear.
Dan left Nancy and walked to the center of the room. His voice rang out
vibrant and clear as he called for the attention of the gathered crowd.
"I believe we are all here now. If everyone will sit down we'll begin
the meeting."
When everyone was seated Dan nodded to Professor Corbett.
"You all know by now," Professor Corbett began, "that Ben's group was
discovered and probably destroyed. We've been able to find no trace of
them. Things have been going pretty badly for us, friends, and that is
why we asked you all to make the effort to come here tonight. For many
of you it's been hard; you've come a long way. But we have to make a
stand and we must make that stand together."
Applause greeted Professor Corbett's introduction and, after hesitating
a moment, he continued.
"It is likely that Ben and the others were taken to Dreamtown and
psychwashed. In the past few days we have received no word from
Jennings either. It is possible that he has been found out and is
unable to contact us. At any rate, we must operate on that assumption
until we hear from him again.--If we do," he added solemnly.
Every eye in the group was fixed on Professor Corbett and every ear
strained to hear each word he spoke.
"The Watchers have been patrolling an increasingly wider area around
Dreamtown, which necessitates moving our outposts farther away. This
will make communications between our groups more difficult, but it is
a necessary maneuver. Another thing. Take your books and music and
paintings and anything else which might give you away, and hide them
in some safe place. It is most important that we preserve what we have
left. It must not fall into the hands of the Watchers."
A woman in the group spoke. "We can't just keep running and hiding! We
should do something!"
"That is exactly the reason I asked you here tonight," Professor
Corbett replied. "Dan and I have formulated a plan and we submit it to
you for your consideration, approval, and cooperation. Dan, will you
explain what we have worked out?"
Dan rose and came to stand beside the Professor.
"First of all," he began, "we need four volunteers to go into
Dreamtown, get jobs, and wait for the raid. These four people will have
to be in strategic positions on the day we raid the city. Two of them
will open the North gates of the city. One will dynamite the warehouses
where the sensation drugs are stored. And the fourth must in some way
gain control of the Watcher's barracks and arsenal."
There was excitement on the faces of the people who listened to Dan's
words. They began to see a ray of hope and a course of action, and they
leaned eagerly forward as Dan continued speaking.
"Our first target when we raid the city, will be the Council Building.
If we can get control of the Council we have the heart of the city in
our hands."
Two men stood up. "We want to volunteer to go to Dreamtown," they said.
A woman rose and joined them. "If you can use a woman, I'd like to go
too." Two other men volunteered, and there was much excited discussion
in the small room.
Dan held up his hands and asked for quiet. "Since four men have
volunteered," he said to the woman, "we'd best use them. And now, if
those four men will stay here with me, the rest of you can leave. You
will be notified of details by runner, as in the past."
The group broke up into smaller groups. Some went into the kitchen,
where Nancy had prepared a lunch for them. Others prepared to leave for
their own outposts.
Professor Corbett was talking to an elderly man who had been a
scientist in one of Dreamtown's first laboratories.
"It's a copy of a research project done by a colleague of mine on the
Relativity Theory. An astute paper, I'd say. I've been saving it for
you," Professor Corbett told the scientist. "I have it hidden with most
of my other books up on the hillside by the spring. Wait just a minute
and I'll get it for you."
"Never mind, Dad," Nancy said. She had been passing and overheard her
father's remark. "I'll get it. You stay here and talk. I know you're
having more fun than you've had in months and I wouldn't see you spoil
it for the world."
"But--," Professor Corbett tried to protest.
"Hush, now. Be back in a jiffy," Nancy said as she slipped out the door
into the darkness outside.
Professor Corbett and the scientist continued talking. Others joined
them and the discussion became heated. It touched on science, art,
literature, and many other topics that had been important and common in
the old days. A few minutes passed and Dan joined the group.
"Where's Nancy, Alan?" he asked.
Professor Corbett turned to Dan to explain Nancy's errand when the
sound of a shrill scream from somewhere outside the house caused
everyone to stiffen in fright.
"It's Nancy!" Dan shouted and sprang for the door. He wrenched it
open and, as he did so, a burst of flame seared out of the blackness,
missing him by inches. Another scream followed the first.
The people in the room were galvanized into action. Professor Corbett
ran to a chest in a corner of the room. He unlocked it quickly and
handed a ray gun to Dan. He distributed guns to most of the other men.
The guns had been smuggled out of Dreamtown by Jennings and others over
a period of years. Soon men were stationed at every window of the house
firing out into the blackness.
"It's the Watchers!" a woman shouted.
"Be careful of your fire," Dan yelled, "they've got Nancy!"
The firing continued, while Professor Corbett and some of the others
struggled to smother a fire that had been started by a blast from a
Watcher's ray gun.
"I'm going out after them!" Dan shouted.
Professor Corbett grabbed for Dan in an effort to stop him, but he was
too late. The Professor left the others to battle the fire and raced
after Dan.
As he stumbled along in the darkness, he could barely discern Dan's
figure racing in the direction from which the shots had come. There
was no firing now and the hillside was quiet. Dan had stopped,
and Professor Corbett joined him in the darkness. Both men looked
frantically in every direction.
"There's no trace of them. They got away, Alan. We held them off, but
they've taken Nancy with them!"
Professor Corbett put his arm around Dan's shoulder. His eyes filled
with tears and he gripped Dan tightly. For a few seconds neither of
them spoke and then Professor Corbett turned to Dan.
"We'd better go back to the house."
The two men turned and walked slowly back to the farmhouse where the
others still battled the fire.
* * * * *
Lisa and Brant walked down the street toward the Playground.
"Benton liked your script for the Council show, Brant," Lisa said as
they walked along.
"It was a hard card to handle, I'll tell you," Brant said. "No one
actually knows anything about the Council. We don't even know how many
members there are. It was hard trying to get enough information to fill
the show time, so I just reworked the old stories about the Council and
added a few new ones."
Lisa slipped her arm through Brant's. "I'm proud of you, honey. It must
have been good to set Benton hopping like that. What'd you put in it?"
"Just said the Council was Dreamtown's protector, provider and
producer. Said the same thing twenty times in twenty different ways;
but didn't answer any of the real questions about the Council."
"No one asks any questions, Brant. Who cares how many men are on the
Council or how they operate? So long as we have our flip food and
parties--who cares? You worry too much."
Brant laughed and patted Lisa's hand. "You're right. Jennings worried
too much and look what happened to him!"
They continued down the street, standing aside once as a group of
Watchers in semi-military formation passed them. As they turned a
corner they saw the solid red wall that surrounded the Playground
rising in the distance.
"Will you be able to get the information you want here, Brant?" Lisa
asked.
"If they let us in," he replied.
"I've never been in the Playground before, have you?" Lisa asked.
"Once. A long time ago when it was first put into operation, but they
say things have changed a lot since then," Brant replied.
A Watcher halted them as they approached the gate. Brant explained
about coming to gather material for the forthcoming Playground Festival
show and displayed his official Sensory Communications card. The
Watcher directed them to wait and stepped into a booth at one side
of the gate. Brant and Lisa saw him talking to someone on the video
phone. A moment later he returned, unlocked the gate, and motioned them
inside. Once in, they were met by another Watcher who led them down
a long hall to a door at the far end. The silence of the hall was in
direct contrast to the cacophony that met their ears as they stepped
through the door into the Playground.
Children of both sexes and of every age and size filled the Playground.
Nearly all were shouting at the tops of their voices. Scattered among
the group were men and women dressed in the briefest of costumes. Some
participated in the children's games, but most stood and watched, in
rather stony silence, the activity before them.
From one of the small buildings within the Playground, a young
man walked toward Lisa and Brant. The Watcher stepped aside as he
approached.
"I am Kirk Rodson," the man said to Brant and Lisa. "Director of the
Playground. Can I help you?"
Brant introduced himself and Lisa to the man, and explained their
purpose in coming to the Playground.
"I see," Rodson said. "There's not much to tell. Children are brought
here immediately after birth and are cared for in our laboratories.
Their instruction in walking and talking is accelerated by specially
trained personnel. As soon as an infant learns to walk he is released
into the Playground with the others for a specified time each day. He
is fed a specially prepared diet. As he grows older, he is left in the
Playground for increasingly longer periods of time in order that he may
adjust to its demands."
"When do the children leave here?" Brant asked.
"The program of the Playground is arranged to accommodate children
until they reach the age of eighteen," Rodson answered curtly.
"What generally becomes of the children then?" Lisa asked.
"Most of them become ordinary citizens. The best of the male group are
trained as Watchers. The females usually join a breeder group. It is
only the elect, with the highest qualifications, that can fill either
of these positions."
"Who are those men and women out there with the children?" Brant asked,
staring out into the crowded Playground.
"They are some of the older ones who work with the children. Those
young men are joining the Watchers when they finish here."
Brant, Lisa, and Rodson watched as one of the leaders called sharply
to a curly headed boy who had been playing with a pretty raven haired
girl. The boy leaped to his feet at the sound of his name and raced to
where the athletic young man stood. The man pointed to a group of two
boys and a girl who were engaged in a tussle on the ground before him.
Brant and Lisa repressed their surprise as the boy quickly leaped
into the melee and, by virtue of his superior strength and size, beat
the two boys and the girl until they fled before his brutal blows.
The boy stared after them a moment and then returned to the man whose
directions he had followed. Rodson laughed a short harsh laugh as the
man slapped the boy's face and sent him sprawling in the dust.
"These children must learn to be constantly on guard. The stronger the
person, the better chance he has for survival," Rodson explained.
"It's a rather hard way to learn, isn't it?" Lisa asked.
Rodson stared icily at her for a moment before he answered. "Lessons
learned the hard way are longest remembered," he said.
As Brant listened to Rodson talk about the Playground, the children, at
shouted commands from their instructors, assembled in a rank and file
in the center of the Playground.
"Listen!" Rodson ordered.
One of the briefly clad young women raised her arm. Music resembling a
primitive rhythmical chant filled the air. The children sang as Brant
and Lisa listened.
_We have fun.
We have sun.
We can fight.
We are right.
The Council leads us.
The Council feeds us.
Days of pleasure.
Full of treasure.
We are free!
We are free!_
As the song ended the children were dismissed by a wave of the song
leader's hand, and they raced wildly to the bright red barracks
surrounding the Playground. Several of the younger children were
knocked to the ground in the stampede, but they immediately scrambled
to their feet and joined the racing mob again.
Brant thanked Kirk Rodson and walked with him to the door where they
parted. The Watcher led them down the silent hall and they were soon
out on the street again.
"We have nothing to worry about if we train the kids that well," Lisa
remarked.
"It's kind of hard on them at first, I guess," Brant observed.
"They get used to it though. And anyway, we need strong people for
Dreamtown with some of those crazy Rebels still running around loose,"
Lisa said.
"We don't have to worry about them. After seeing those kids today, I
don't think we have to worry about anything," Brant said as they walked
down the street away from the Playground.
* * * * *
Professor Corbett, in response to a knock, opened the door of the cabin
to which he had moved after the Watcher's attack on his farmhouse and
greeted the man who stood outside.
"Jim. How are you?" the Professor asked as he motioned the young man to
a chair.
"I passed your old place on my way here, Professor. It's a good thing
you got out of there. The Watchers must have come back because the
place has been burned to the ground."
"We figured they'd be back once they knew our location. This cabin is
in bad shape but we were lucky to find it. And it's isolated. Be hard
to find, here in the middle of the woods. But now tell me Jim, what
progress has been made?"
"We've gotten a lot done in two weeks, Professor. I've just come from
Andy. He and his people have moved up to the summit of Thorny Mountain.
Joe and Ed have been in Dreamtown for almost the whole two weeks and
are working as laborers on the housing project in the West End. Bill
got himself a job as a messenger for the video control office and
Mike is working in the mess hall at the central headquarters of the
Watchers."
"Fine, fine. That's wonderful," Professor Corbett exclaimed happily. He
hesitated a moment.
"Mike," Jim said, "overheard one of the Watchers telling about the raid
on your place. He said they've got Nancy in one of the Detention Plants
near the Watcher's headquarters."
"Is--is she all right, Jim? Could you find out if she's all right?" the
Professor asked hurriedly.
"As far as we can tell, she's OK. They're holding her for questioning.
They'll probably try to find out as much as they can about our plans
before they--I mean--." Jim hesitated, embarrassed.
"I know, Jim. Wait a minute. I'll call Dan. He's upstairs taking a
nap. He worked almost all night on the plans for the raid." Professor
Corbett called up the steps to Dan, and within a few minutes he
appeared, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Jim," Dan said, "have they found Nancy? Is she all right?"
"She's being held for questioning, Dan," Jim replied.
Dan turned to Professor Corbett. "Alan, that means we've got to act
fast. What's the report from the others?"
Jim outlined the progress that had been made since the night of the
raid on the farmhouse. Together with Professor Corbett, they went over
the details of the new outposts of the Rebel groups. They counted up
the number of weapons possessed by each individual group, and checked
and rechecked the positions that each group and each individual was to
hold on the day of the raid.
Jim told Dan of the positions that the four volunteers had obtained
within Dreamtown, and Dan wrote out detailed instructions for them to
follow on the day of the raid.
"Get these instructions to Mike and the others within four days," Dan
ordered. "Wednesday of next week."
"This whole thing," Professor Corbett said, "depends on our ability to
coordinate our actions. If there is one slip anywhere along the line
the whole thing will fall to pieces. Jim, you and the other runners
have an important job on your hands. You've got to get this information
to all the outposts and to the four men in the city by Monday. That
will give everyone a day to prepare before Wednesday."
Jim took the sheets of paper from Dan, folded them, and placed them in
the inside pocket of his jacket.
"What are your plans for getting Nancy out?" Jim asked.
Dan answered him. "In Mike's instructions, I explained that he was to
open the Detention Plant and release Nancy and any of our other people
that might be there. He'll tell them what they're to do. If he hears of
anything happening before that time, we've got to depend on Mike to be
able to save her."
"But if--," Jim began.
Professor Corbett held up his hand.
"We cannot afford to jeopardize the whole plan for anyone's sake." He
looked down at the floor. "Not even for the sake of my daughter."
Dan placed his hand on the Professor's shoulder. "Nancy wouldn't want
it any other way, Alan," he said.
"Mike will have to handle any emergency that arises. He's a good man
and we can depend on him," Dan added.
"With the Playground Festival taking place next Wednesday it should be
easier for us to get control of the city. The Council has sent word
that every adult must attend the ceremonies. We'll have them all in one
place and they'll be easy to control."
"I'll get going," Jim said. "Got to be in a lot of places between now
and Monday." He stood up and the three men shook hands solemnly.
"Good luck, Jim," Professor Corbett said.