It was Harry Starbuck who met them when they emerged from a long,
winding defile overgrown with vegetation. The defile opened into a
depression, perhaps half a mile wide, surrounded on all sides by low
hills, steep-sloped and blue green with pine. Unless the Robots
happened upon the almost hidden defile, Diane's Shining Ones could not
have selected a better hiding place for their present encampment.
Starbuck greeted Diane with, "In this case you had more luck than
brains. I see he has survived."
"He's one of us now."
When she said that, Johnny looked down at his silver knees
self-consciously. In time, he hoped, he would grow accustomed to it.
But right now he felt himself somehow between two worlds, divorced from
his own people but not ready to accept the nomadic existence of the
Shining Ones.
Starbuck grinned without humor. "Well, then he's in time to help us
move, although I'm opposed to it."
"To what?" Diane demanded angrily. "To Johnny? That's just too bad."
"Will you let me finish? Not to Johnny, if that's his name. To the
move. Keleher has decided we have to move because a band of Robots
trooped through earlier today. Maybe you saw them."
"We certainly did," Diane informed him.
"Well, I don't like it. Every time the Robots pass we have to start all
over. What's so bad about the Robots anyway? They never bother us, do
they?"
"They conscript us, whether we like it or not."
"Well, what of it? Rumor has it the conscriptees live like kings
anyhow. We've got nothing to fear from the Robots."
"That's a matter of opinion, Harry."
At that moment, another man joined them. Johnny hardly had time to
realize that he did not like the man named Harry. The newcomer was a
big man, bigger than DeReggio, with huge shoulders almost three feet
across and a long mane of graying hair almost reaching them. He wore a
beard, spade-shaped and also gray, and covered his legs not with the
expected buckskin but with khaki trousers he had probably stolen from
one of the villages.
He greeted Diane briefly, then said, "Starbuck here told me how you
were going to nurse a Plague victim back to health. Is this the man?"
Diane nodded and Keleher stuck out a powerful hand which Johnny pumped
vigorously. "Glad to have you with us, son. In time you'll learn we're
not the monsters you were led to believe all your life. But mark
me--you owe your allegiance to us henceforth--provided you decide to
stay." Johnny did not have to be introduced. Starbuck had mentioned a
man named Keleher as their leader, and the newcomer spoke not with the
bluster and arrogance of a leader unsure of his position, but with
the calm self-assurance of a respected and powerful chieftain. Keleher
would make a first-rate friend but a terrible enemy.
"He'll stay," Diane spoke for Johnny. "He doesn't look like a hermit,
does he?"
"Never can tell. Where are you from, son?"
"Hamilton Village."
Keleher's smile was wry, almost rueful. "Will you put in with us?"
"I guess so."
Keleher shrugged, then took Diane aside and whispered to her. After
that the big man turned and walked away. Diane was quiet.
"What's the matter?" Johnny wanted to know. "Does he always smile like
that?"
"No, Johnny."
"Then tell me."
"We're going to leave this area because of the Robots. Starbuck already
told you that. We're going to travel light but we're still going to
restock some of our supplies for the journey."
"I still don't see--"
"I don't know how to tell you this. The nearest village is Hamilton."
"So?"
"So we're going to raid it. We're going to raid your village, Johnny."
* * * * *
Starbuck's laughter carried through the entire encampment of conical
tents, each flying its clan-standard from the central ridge pole.
Johnny wanted to hit the man, then realized he would be striking out
at his own mixed up emotions. Diane was staring at him with genuine
sympathy, but that hardly helped. She said, "What are you going to do,
Johnny?"
"I'm not sure yet. I have to think."
"Remember, you're one of us now. Any time you doubt that, look at your
knees or elbows. You are a Shining One, make no mistake."
"Yes, a Shining One." But Hamilton Village had been his home.
"We don't harm anyone," Diane explained. "I told you I take no part in
the raids. I don't know why, for they're harmless."
"I saw one once, when I was a young boy. Before my people came to
Hamilton Village to build their homes. The Shining Ones came down from
the hills and simply walked into the village. There was no resistance.
Our sentries gave us warning, but it hardly helped. We packed what we
could and fled, leaving most of our supplies and equipment behind,
leaving an entire village which we had called home but which we could
never see again. The Shining Ones contaminate."
"Yes--we do. You do. The villagers can't fight us. We could walk down
there unarmed and take what we want. Maybe that's why I prefer to hunt
instead. I'm not sure, Johnny. What are _you_ going to do?" She took
his hand impulsively in hers and squeezed it. They hardly knew each
other but they had saved each other's life.
"I wish I knew." He withdrew his hand awkwardly. He liked Diane,
perhaps too much. But until he made up his mind she was a potential
enemy.
Soon Keleher returned to them, not alone this time. A dozen men crowded
behind him and others were leaving the tents of the various clans to
join them. "Did you tell me his name?" Keleher asked Diane.
"No. He's Johnny Hope."
"Well, Hope, get a good meal under your belt and we're off. We leave
for Hamilton Village later this afternoon. You ought to be able to tell
us exactly where to find whatever we want once we get there."
Could a man change his allegiance overnight because he now was
different physically? Johnny's heart was still in Hamilton, even if he
had been stoned from the Village and his parents had been burned, as
prescribed by law. But the rest of his life he would be a Shining One.
For a time he watched while Diane fixed his venison dinner, savoring
the rich, gamey aroma. Then he slipped silently from the encampment.
* * * * *
Often DeReggio would come to the large boulder half a mile north of
Hamilton Village and sun himself contentedly, forgetting for the time
at least the problems of his office. This rock was no secret. Any
villager, not finding DeReggio in Hamilton itself, would know where to
look for him.
Now he had almost drifted off into slumber. He always found this
half-awake time most pleasant for dreaming. Then he could conjure
visions of the old days, of the lost cities with the beat of their
traffic pulse and the winking kaleidoscope of their electric lights,
and the driving madness of their people which kept them seething with
activity around the clock. He never traveled to the deserted cities
himself as youngsters like Johnny Hope did, because their crumbling
masonry and bomb-scarred streets saddened him. And besides, the Robots
had taken over many of the cities and since no one had ever bothered to
tabulate them, you were never sure when a city was deserted and when it
was not. Better to dream of the old days....
"DeReggio! Wake up."
It was Sheldon Hope, his old comrade-in-arms, who had fought halfway
across a world with him while civilization crumbled to ruin all about
them.
"Shel ... Shell, boy."
"Wake up, DeReggio. It's Johnny Hope."
DeReggio sat bolt-upright, circles of light floating on blackness
before his eyes from too much sun. "Johnny! Go away. They'll kill you
if they find you here. Are you crazy? Keep away from me." DeReggio
stood up and backed off, watching Johnny. "You have no business coming
here. You--"
DeReggio saw the shining knees, the silver elbows. "The Plague. You
survived it. You're a--"
"Shining One," Johnny finished for him as the mayor's voice trailed off.
"A carrier, that's even worse."
"I was hoping I would find you here. I knew I couldn't go down into
Hamilton. You haven't much time."
"What are you talking about?"
"Shining Ones," Johnny said quickly. "Hundreds of them coming to raid
Hamilton Village. They are on their way now. You'll have to leave,
but I thought if I warned you you could have some time to take your
belongings."
* * * * *
DeReggio accepted the fact without question but with sadness. He shook
his head from side to side, thinking of the neatly laid out streets,
the small, compact bungalows, the field planted with hay for the
cattle, with grain, asparagus, beans and tall corn waving green in the
summer sun, ready for harvest.
"How much time do we have?"
"Four or five hours, I think."
"We'll have to hurry." DeReggio was already trotting back down the
trail toward Hamilton, Johnny maintaining the pace with him but hanging
back half a dozen long strides.
"I want to see the village once more, then I'll go."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. The Shining Ones want me to stay with them, but I had to
warn you. If they find out...."
"For my people, I thank you, Johnny."
First person plural. My people. Johnny no longer was included. If the
Shining Ones discovered his treachery, he would indeed be homeless. He
wondered what Diane would think.
"Look at the Village and then go, Johnny. If they find you, I won't be
able to do a thing. And I wanted to tell you, I said the prayer."
A figure appeared on the path up ahead. As he came closer the man's
face was familiar, but his name eluded Johnny. "Mayor DeReggio!" he
called. "I wanted to tell you my wife thinks...." His voice trailed
off. He scuffed his feet in the dust of the path and squinted. "Johnny
Hope!" he cried. "By the Robots, keep away. I have a wife and children."
"I only wanted to see Hamilton once more."
"We don't care what you wanted."
"He brought a warning," Mayor DeReggio explained. "The Shining Ones are
coming."
The man held his distance, but spat on the ground in disgust. "Look at
him? You heed his warning? Look. He's a Shining One himself. It's some
kind of a trick you've fallen for."
DeReggio shrugged hopelessly. "You'll have to go, Johnny."
Already the man was sprinting back down the path toward Hamilton. "I'll
bring some of my friends," he called back over his shoulder. "We'll see
about this. We'll see if a damned Shining One can go parading around
Hamilton Village any time he wants. And you've got some explaining to
do, DeReggio."
Then the man was gone. DeReggio turned to Johnny, almost shaking hands
with him from force of habit, then drawing away in self-conscious
confusion. "Good luck, boy. We'll be moving, despite what Lawford
said. Don't try to follow us."
"I hope I haven't got you into any trouble."
"It won't be the first time."
"Thanks for the prayer. They would have liked that."
When DeReggio looked up, Johnny Hope had vanished into the woods.
* * * * *
Starbuck led one party of Shining Ones toward Hamilton from the north
while Keleher took the main band in from the east. They never reached
the Village though. Each leader saw the black pall of smoke rising long
before he reached Hamilton. Each knew the Village had been put to the
torch.
They met on high ground north-east of the flaming town and watched the
fire, fanned by a strong summer wind, burn itself to embers and leave
the charred skeleton of a village behind it.
"They got word," Starbuck said, waiting for Keleher to draw his own
conclusions.
"It's happened before, but now--has anybody seen the new man, Johnny
Hope?"
None of their followers had even heard of him.
"Diane would know," Starbuck suggested.
"She rarely joins our raiding parties." And Keleher checked, but as
he suspected, Diane was not present. "Well, we move on empty handed.
Starbuck, you take your men back to the encampment and round up
stragglers or anyone who remained behind. We'll wait here."
"You're as bad as the people of Hamilton. Always on the run. I don't
mean to argue, but--"
"Then don't. Men who want to be conscripted by the Robots are free to
leave our encampment at any time, get that straight. But I don't want
forced conscription of all of us, Starbuck. Understand? The Robots are
around."
"Well, I was just letting you know how I felt. What about Johnny Hope?"
"Time enough to see about him later, if he's still with the encampment.
Naturally, if he's guilty he won't go unpunished."
"_If_ he's guilty?"
"That's what I said."
"You're growing soft, Keleher."
"Yes? We don't elect our leaders, Starbuck. Any time you think you want
the job, you can try to take it."
Starbuck blanched. "I didn't mean it that way. I was only giving my
opinion."
"Don't, unless you're prepared to defend it--and yourself."
"I'm sorry." But Starbuck's eyes were smouldering.
"Get back to the encampment, then. I'll expect you here with the
rest of our people day after tomorrow. Can't make up your mind where
you belong, can you?" Keleher pointed with amusement to the buckskin
kneepads.
"I know you're trying to goad me," Starbuck whined.
"Maybe."
"You don't like me."
"As a type, Starbuck. Personally, I'm indifferent."
That was goading of a more subtle sort, but it was lost on Starbuck.
Diane's indifference would irk him; Keleher's indifference was at times
preferable. "We ought to be friends," Starbuck boomed. "I'm generally
recognized as your second in command."
"Only because I want it that way. Amos Westler, for example has
forgotten more than you will ever learn."
"That's clever," declared Starbuck. "That's expert. You play us off one
against another and keep the power for yourself."
Keleher shrugged massive shoulders. "It wasn't original with me. But
you're unusually perceptive today, Starbuck. And I'll say this: you've
got more spunk than Westler, for all his brains."
"He's soft."
"You bring our people. I'll wait. Tell your men that since they have to
pack our tents and cart our belongings, they'll be able to rest when
we reach our new encampment. My group will set the place up."
"He ought to be a hermit, that Amos Westler."
Keleher shook his head. "Too scholarly. No outdoor know-how. Give him
a book and he's happy. He wouldn't last a week. But he's still a good
man, Starbuck. We need men like Amos Westler."
"And we need men like me."
Keleher grinned. "You should have let me say that. Trouble with you is
you try to ape me. I'm always a step ahead of you, though. And don't
forget it."
"Maybe someday I'll catch up."
"That would be interesting," admitted Keleher, dismissing Starbuck with
a shrug and issuing instructions as his men began to assemble their
bivouac.
Starbuck sensed he had been bested in the verbal battle, but was too
petulantly egotistical to admit it even to himself. Instead, he made
plans for his return to the encampment. He hoped the new Shining One,
that Johnny Hope kid who Diane had nursed back to health, would be
foolish enough to return. Without Keleher around to steal the show,
Starbuck might make himself a hero.
* * * * *
If it weren't for the tawny-haired girl who had saved his life, Johnny
Hope never would have returned to the encampment of the Shining Ones.
He left DeReggio with the intention of again heading north toward New
York, but his way led him close by the encampment and he remembered the
sudden touch of the girl's hand and before that the vision of her face,
lovely and comforting, while he burned with the fever. Calling himself
a fool, he entered the encampment warily, half-expecting a dozen men to
leap at him with the word traitor on their lips.
But the camp was almost deserted and no one paid him any heed. He found
Diane returning from the hunt with a small deer, its antlers not yet
branching, slung across her shoulders. She dropped the dead animal with
a happy shout and ran to Johnny.
"I'm so glad you're back."
"I'm glad to see you, too."
Then the smile left her face. "Did you--warn them?"
Johnny considered his answer. Well, he had returned because he wanted
to see the girl. It would be senseless if he were not honest with her.
"I had to," he said.
She nodded slowly. "It isn't hard for me to understand. They were your
people. But tell me, does anyone know?"
"I'm not sure. When they find the village deserted and probably burned,
though, they'll know."
"Yes," Diane agreed with him, then snapped her fingers. "But not if I
say you were with me all the time. See, you even went out hunting with
me. We caught this fawn together."
"You'd be lying to protect me. You may get yourself into trouble."
"How? It's my word against a lot of guessing."
"I can't let you take the chance."
"It's no chance at all. I want to do it. I want you to be one of us,
Johnny. We all don't raid the villages. I don't raid them, do I?"
"No, but I--"
"But nothing. You came back here, didn't you? No one forced you."
"I came back to see you, I guess."
"Well, you're going to stay with us. A man wasn't meant to live alone
like a hermit. Here." Diane took his hand and led him forward, "you can
stay in my tent for now. It would be silly to build yourself one since
we're going to move the encampment as soon as Keleher returns from the
raid."
"I can't--I mean--"
"Can't, nothing. I'm a good girl, Johnny Hope. Make no mistakes. Touch
me at night and I'll scream. But I trust you. I like you."
Her frankness was both charming and unnerving. He wanted to say he
liked her too, but could not bring himself to utter the words. Instead
he slipped his arm about her waist and walked with her to the tent,
where she skinned the fawn expertly and prepared it for cooking. By
then Johnny was sound asleep and did not wake up until Diane stirred
him and offered him a platter of tender young venison.
* * * * *
Shortly after noon the next day, Starbuck returned with his men. Those
who had remained behind were disappointed because the raiding party
had come back empty-handed. Starbuck wasted no time adding fuel to the
fire. "Has anyone seen that traitor, Johnny Hope?" he demanded.
"You mean the new man, the one Diane brought?" someone asked him. "He's
here."
"The ingrate, the dirty ingrate," Starbuck boomed so all the encampment
heard him. "One of us saved his life and first chance he gets he turns
traitor. Next thing you know he'll want us to be conscripted by the
Robots."
"You should talk," Diane cried as she and Johnny emerged from her tent.
"You're always talking about how nice it would be to live with the
Robots. Johnny Hope isn't like that at all."
Starbuck raised a finger to his lips and whispered, "Keep it quiet. If
they hear about this, they'll lynch Johnny."
"All of a sudden you want to keep it quiet," Diane hissed at him.
"That's right, softly."
"Well, for your information, Johnny was with me all along. We went
hunting yesterday, just the two of us. Didn't we, Johnny?"
Johnny mumbled something under his breath and waited for Starbuck to
speak. Suddenly the man was shouting again. He slapped Diane on the
shoulder, smiled, roared: "Thank you, Diane, thank you. I thought so.
Did you all hear her? Diane told me she saw this man sneak off to warn
Hamilton Village yesterday."
"That's a rotten lie!" Diane cried.
But Starbuck smiled blandly. "That's all right. I know you didn't want
him to know you told me, but there's nothing to worry about. You all
heard her, didn't you?"
"We heard her whispering something to you," one of the men admitted.
"She whispered because she didn't want the traitor to hear. She was
afraid. She should have known we'd protect her. I'm surprised at you,
Diane."
For answer, she flew at him with her knife. He laughed softly, so
softly that only she heard it. A shocked look appeared on his face as
he parried the blow, twisted her arm up, spun her around and held her
that way while she writhed helplessly and dropped the knife to the
ground. "I don't know what's the matter with you," he said. He still
looked shocked.
"That should be proof enough," she panted. "I never told Starbuck what
he claims."
"If you're covering up I can only assume you went with him. I am deeply
shocked."
"I did not go with him. I was hunting."
"Then you admit he went!"
"I didn't admit anything. You are hurting me."
Starbuck's big hand had twisted her wrist painfully. He gave no
indication of letting her go.
"She said you're hurting her," Johnny snarled. "Let her go!"
"I'm all right," Diane said.
Starbuck was going to let her go, but Johnny did not wait. He circled
Starbuck's arm with his hand and wrenched until the bigger man bellowed
and released Diane.
"Good," Johnny said. "I have no fight with you, but--" He had turned to
look at Diane when Starbuck's balled fist slammed against the side of
his jaw, knocking him down.
* * * * *
He sat there dazed, uncomprehending because he had not seen the blow
coming. But Starbuck stood above him, fists clenched, and that was
enough to tell him. "I still have no fight with you," Johnny said
softly. He thought he could have taken the bigger man and at this
moment could think of nothing he would rather do, but Starbuck had
already accused Diane of being his accomplice and he did not want to
involve the girl further. He hoped Starbuck would be content to boast
about this one-punch victory instead.
"Scared?" Starbuck leered down at him, prodding his ribs with one foot.
"Get up and punch his teeth in," Diane pleaded.
But Johnny remained sitting on the ground, and shook his head. He
explored his jaw gingerly with the fingers of one hand as if the
thought of rising to take more of the same frightened him. His time of
reckoning with Starbuck would come, he promised himself but now wasn't
the time, not when it might involve Diane.
"You're not going to sit there?" Diane insisted. "Don't just sit there!"
Johnny shrugged. "Fighting him won't prove anything." He climbed to
his feet and retreated out of Starbuck's range. He was the picture of
abject cowardice and hoped it would inflate Starbuck's ego sufficiently
to make him forget the charges he had brought against Diane. Starbuck
was smiling smugly and booming something about letting Keleher decide
what to do about Johnny Hope after they moved the encampment. But
when Johnny stalked away from him toward Diane, calling her name,
she presented him only with a stiff, haughty back and by the time he
reached the tent the flap was down and tied securely. Johnny heard
sobbing from within.
A few moments later Starbuck and another man came and led him to a
different tent where he remained under guard until the encampment had
been broken, the tents and equipment packed and ready to move, the
people assembled in the square clearing which now was dotted with
folded tents and bedding rolls.
"Let's move it!" Starbuck roared in his booming voice. The men stooped
for their burdens, the few horses carried three and four times their
normal loads. Starbuck waved the group forward dramatically, aware of
his moment and making the most of it. They marched double-file into
the narrow ravine and were soon well on their way toward where Keleher
waited.