He stepped out of the office, glancing around furtively. The outer
office was busy: half a dozen girls were answering calls, opening
letters, coordinating activities. Walton slipped quickly past them into
the hallway.
There was a knot of fear in his stomach as he turned toward the
lift tube. Six weeks of pressure, six weeks of tension since Popeek
was organized and old man FitzMaugham had tapped him for the
second-in-command post ... and now, a rebellion. The sparing of a
single child was a small rebellion, true, but he knew he was striking
as effectively at the base of Popeek this way as if he had brought
about repeal of the entire Equalization Law.
Well, just one lapse, he promised himself. I'll spare Prior's child,
and after that I'll keep within the law.
He jabbed the lift tube indicator and the tube rose in its shaft. The
clinic was on the twentieth floor.
"Roy."
At the sound of the quiet voice behind him, Walton jumped in surprise.
He steadied himself, forcing himself to turn slowly. The director stood
there.
"Good morning, Mr. FitzMaugham."
The old man was smiling serenely, his unlined face warm and friendly,
his mop of white hair bright and full. "You look preoccupied, boy.
Something the matter?"
Walton shook his head quickly. "Just a little tired, sir. There's been
a lot of work lately."
As he said it, he knew how foolish it sounded. If anyone in Popeek
worked harder than he did, it was the elderly director. FitzMaugham
had striven for equalization legislature for fifty years, and now, at
the age of eighty, he put in a sixteen-hour day at the task of saving
mankind from itself.
The director smiled. "You never did learn how to budget your strength,
Roy. You'll be a worn-out wreck before you're half my age. I'm glad
you're adopting my habit of taking a coffee break in the morning,
though. Mind if I join you?"
"I'm--not taking a break, sir. I have some work to do downstairs."
"Oh? Can't you take care of it by phone?"
"No, Mr. FitzMaugham." Walton felt as though he'd already been tried,
drawn, and quartered. "It requires personal attention."
"I see." The deep, warm eyes bored into his. "You ought to slow down a
little, I think."
"Yes, sir. As soon as the work eases up a little."
FitzMaugham chuckled. "In another century or two, you mean. I'm afraid
you'll never learn how to relax, my boy."
The lift tube arrived. Walton stepped to one side, allowed the Director
to enter, and got in himself. FitzMaugham pushed _Fourteen_; there was
a coffee shop down there. Hesitantly, Walton pushed _twenty_, covering
the panel with his arm so the old man would be unable to see his
destination.
As the tube began to descend, FitzMaugham said, "Did Mr. Prior come to
see you this morning?"
"Yes," Walton said.
"He's the poet, isn't he? The one you say is so good?"
"That's right, sir," Walton said tightly.
"He came to see me first, but I had him referred down to you. What was
on his mind?"
Walton hesitated. "He--he wanted his son spared from Happysleep.
Naturally, I had to turn him down."
"Naturally," FitzMaugham agreed solemnly. "Once we make even one
exception, the whole framework crumbles."
"Of course, sir."
The lift tube halted and rocked on its suspension. The door slid back,
revealing a neat, gleaming sign:
_FLOOR 20_
_Euthanasia Clinic and Files_
Walton had forgotten the accursed sign. He began to wish he had avoided
traveling down with the director. He felt that his purpose must seem
nakedly obvious now.
The old man's eyes were twinkling amusedly. "I guess you get off here,"
he said. "I hope you catch up with your work soon, Roy. You really
should take some time off for relaxation each day."
"I'll try, sir."
Walton stepped out of the tube and returned FitzMaugham's smile as the
door closed again. Bitter thoughts assailed him as soon as he was alone.
_Some fine criminal you are. You've given the show away already! And
damn that smooth paternal smile. FitzMaugham knows! He must know!_
Walton wavered, then abruptly made his decision. He sucked in a deep
breath and walked briskly toward the big room where the euthanasia
files were kept.
* * * * *
The room was large, as rooms went nowadays--thirty by twenty, with deck
upon deck of Donnerson micro-memory-tubes racked along one wall and a
bank of microfilm records along the other. In six weeks of life Popeek
had piled up an impressive collection of data.
While he stood there, the computer chattered, lights flashed. New facts
poured into the memory banks. It probably went on day and night.
"Can I help--oh, it's you, Mr. Walton," a white-smocked technician
said. Popeek employed a small army of technicians, each one faceless
and without personality, but always ready to serve. "Is there anything
I can do?"
"I'm simply running a routine checkup. Mind if I use the machine?"
"Not at all, sir. Go right ahead."
Walton grinned lightly and stepped forward. The technician practically
backed out of his presence.
_No doubt I must radiate charisma_, he thought. Within the building he
wore a sort of luminous halo, by virtue of being Director FitzMaugham's
protégé and second-in-command. Outside, in the colder reality of the
crowded metropolis, he kept his identity and Popeek rank quietly to
himself.
Frowning, he tried to remember the Prior boy's name. Ah ... Philip,
wasn't it? He punched out a request for the card on Philip Prior.
A moment's pause followed, while the millions of tiny cryotronic
circuits raced with information pulses, searching the Donnerson
tubes for Philip Prior's record. Then, a brief squeaking sound and a
yellow-brown card dropped out of the slot:
_3216847AB1_
_PRIOR, Philip Hugh. Born 31 May 2232, New York General Hospital,
New York. First son of Prior, Lyle Martin and Prior, Ava Leonard.
Wgt. at birth 5lb. 3oz._
An elaborate description of the boy in great detail followed, ending
with blood type, agglutinating characteristic, and gene-pattern,
codified. Walton skipped impatiently through that and came to the
notification typed in curt, impersonal green capital letters at the
bottom of the card:
_EXAMINED AT N Y EUTH CLINIC 10 JUNE 2332_
_EUTHANASIA RECOMMENDED_
He glanced at his watch: the time was 1026. The boy was probably still
somewhere in the clinic lab, waiting for the figurative axe to descend.
Walton had set up the schedule himself: the gas chamber delivered
Happysleep each day at 1100 and 1500. He had about half an hour to save
Philip Prior.
He peered covertly over his shoulder; no one was in sight. He slipped
the baby's card into his breast pocket.
That done, he typed out a requisition for explanation of the
gene-sorting code the clinic used. Symbols began pouring forth,
and Walton puzzledly correlated them with the line of gibberish on
Phillip Prior's record card. Finally he found the one he wanted: _3f2,
tubercular-prone_.
He scrapped the guide sheet he had and typed out a message to the
machine. _Revision of card number 3216847AB1 follows. Please alter in
all circuits._
He proceeded to retype the child's card, omitting both the fatal symbol
_3f2_ and the notation recommending euthanasia from the new version.
The machine beeped an acknowledgement. Walton smiled. So far, so good.
Then, he requested the boy's file all over again. After the customary
pause, a card numbered 3216847AB1 dropped out of the slot. He read it.
The deletions had been made. As far as the machine was concerned,
Philip Prior was a normal, healthy baby.
He glanced at his watch. 1037. Still twenty-three minutes before this
morning's haul of unfortunates was put away.
Now came the real test: could he pry the baby away from the doctors
without attracting too much attention to himself in the process?
* * * * *
Five doctors were bustling back and forth as Walton entered the main
section of the clinic. There must have been a hundred babies there,
each in a little pen of its own, and the doctors were humming from one
to the next, while anxious parents watched from screens above.
The Equalization Law provided that every child be presented at its
local clinic within two weeks of birth, for an examination and a
certificate. Perhaps one in ten thousand would be denied a
certificate ... and life.
"Hello, Mr. Walton. What brings you down here?"
Walton smiled affably. "Just a routine investigation, Doctor. I try to
keep in touch with every department we have, you know."
"Mr. FitzMaugham was down here to look around a little while ago. We're
really getting a going-over today, Mr. Walton!"
"Umm. Yes." Walton didn't like that, but there was nothing he could
do about it. He'd have to rely on the old man's abiding faith in his
protégé to pull him out of any possible stickiness that arose.
"Seen my brother around?" he asked.
"Fred? He's working in room seven, running analyses. Want me to get him
for you, Mr. Walton?"
"No--no, don't bother him, thanks. I'll find him later." Inwardly,
Walton felt relieved. Fred Walton, his younger brother, was a doctor in
the employ of Popeek. Little love was lost between the brothers, and
Roy did not care to have Fred know he was down there.
Strolling casually through the clinic, he peered at a few plump,
squalling babies, and said, "Find many sour ones today?"
"Seven so far. They're scheduled for the 1100 chamber. Three tuberc,
two blind, one congenital syph."
"That only makes six," Walton said.
"Oh, and a spastic," the doctor said. "Biggest haul we've had yet.
Seven in one morning."
"Have any trouble with the parents?"
"What do you think?" the doctor asked. "But some of them seemed to
understand. One of the tuberculars nearly raised the roof, though."
Walton shuddered. "You remember his name?" he asked, with feigned calm.
Silence for a moment. "No. Darned if I can think of it. I can look it
up for you if you like."
"Don't bother," Walton said hurriedly.
He moved on, down the winding corridor that led to the execution
chamber. Falbrough, the executioner, was studying a list of names at
his desk when Walton appeared.
Falbrough didn't look like the sort of man who would enjoy his work. He
was short and plump, with a high-domed bald head and glittering contact
lenses in his weak blue eyes. "Morning, Mr. Walton."
"Good morning, Doctor Falbrough. You'll be operating soon, won't you?"
"Eleven hundred, as usual."
"Good. There's a new regulation in effect from now on," Walton said.
"To keep public opinion on our side."
"Sir?"
"Henceforth, until further notice, you're to check each baby that
comes to you against the main file, just to make sure there's been no
mistake. Got that?"
"_Mistake?_ But how--"
"Never mind that, Falbrough. There was quite a tragic slip-up at one
of the European centers yesterday. We may all hang for it if news gets
out." _How glibly I reel this stuff off_, Walton thought in amazement.
Falbrough looked grave. "I see, sir. Of course. We'll double-check
everything from now on."
"Good. Begin with the 1100 batch."
Walton couldn't bear to remain down in the clinic any longer. He left
via a side exit, and signaled for a lift tube.
Minutes later he was back in his office, behind the security of a
towering stack of work. His pulse was racing; his throat was dry. He
remembered what FitzMaugham had said: _Once we make even one exception,
the whole framework crumbles._
Well, the framework had begun crumbling, then. And there was little
doubt in Walton's mind that FitzMaugham knew or would soon know what he
had done. He would have to cover his traces, somehow.
The annunciator chimed and said, "Dr. Falbrough of Happysleep calling
you, sir."
"Put him on."
The screen lit and Falbrough's face appeared; its normal blandness had
given way to wild-eyed tenseness.
"What is it, Doctor?"
"It's a good thing you issued that order when you did, sir! You'll
never guess what just happened--"
"No guessing games, Falbrough. Speak up."
"I--well, sir, I ran checks on the seven babies they sent me this
morning. And guess--I mean--well, one of them shouldn't have been sent
to me!"
"No!"
"It's the truth, sir. A cute little baby indeed. I've got his card
right here. The boy's name is Philip Prior, and his gene-pattern is
fine."
"Any recommendation for euthanasia on the card?" Walton asked.
"No, sir."
Walton chewed at a ragged cuticle for a moment, counterfeiting great
anxiety. "Falbrough, we're going to have to keep this very quiet.
Someone slipped up in the examining room, and if word gets out that
there's been as much as one mistake, we'll have a mob swarming over us
in half an hour."
"Yes, sir." Falbrough looked terribly grave. "What should I do, sir?"
"Don't say a word about this to _anyone_, not even the men in the
examining room. Fill out a certificate for the boy, find his parents,
apologize and return him to them. And make sure you keep checking for
any future cases of this sort."
"Certainly, sir. Is that all?"
"It is," Walton said crisply, and broke the contact. He took a deep
breath and stared bleakly at the far wall.
The Prior boy was safe. And in the eyes of the law--the Equalization
Law--Roy Walton was now a criminal. He was every bit as much a criminal
as the man who tried to hide his dying father from the investigators,
or the anxious parents who attempted to bribe an examining doctor.
He felt curiously dirty. And, now that he had betrayed FitzMaugham and
the Cause, now that it was done, he had little idea why he had done
it, why he had jeopardized the Popeek program, his position--his life,
even--for the sake of one potentially tubercular baby.
Well, the thing was done.
No. Not quite. Later, when things had quieted down, he would have to
finish the job by transferring all the men in the clinic to distant
places and by obliterating the computer's memories of this morning's
activities.