diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842-h.zip | bin | 444456 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842-h/51842-h.htm | 3136 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 112598 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842-h/images/illus1.jpg | bin | 74284 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842-h/images/illus2.jpg | bin | 73645 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842-h/images/illus3.jpg | bin | 33594 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842-h/images/illus4.jpg | bin | 47736 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842-h/images/illus5.jpg | bin | 45301 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842.txt | 2971 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51842.zip | bin | 55434 -> 0 bytes |
13 files changed, 17 insertions, 6107 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81e0718 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51842 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51842) diff --git a/old/51842-h.zip b/old/51842-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f29bf06..0000000 --- a/old/51842-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51842-h/51842-h.htm b/old/51842-h/51842-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 076e500..0000000 --- a/old/51842-h/51842-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3136 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Beyond Bedlam, by Wyman Guin. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1, .ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: xx-large; margin: .67em auto; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - -.poetry .stanza -{ - margin: 1em auto; -} - -.poetry .verse -{ - padding-left: 3em; -} - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond Bedlam, by Wyman Guin - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Beyond Bedlam - -Author: Wyman Guin - -Release Date: April 23, 2016 [EBook #51842] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND BEDLAM *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="364" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>BEYOND BEDLAM</h1> - -<p>By WYMAN GUIN</p> - -<p>Illustrated by DAVID STONE</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Galaxy Science Fiction August 1951.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="398" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph3">However fantastic it may seem, the society<br /> -so elaborately described in this story has<br /> -its seeds in ours. Just check the data....</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The opening afternoon class for Mary Walden's ego-shift was almost -over, and Mary was practically certain the teacher would not call on -her to recite her assignment, when Carl Blair got it into his mind to -try to pass her a dirty note. Mary knew it would be a screamingly -funny Ego-Shifting Room limerick and was about to reach for the note -when Mrs. Harris's voice crackled through the room.</p> - -<p>"Carl Blair! I believe you have an important message. Surely you will -want the whole class to hear it. Come forward, please."</p> - -<p>As he made his way before the class, the boy's blush-covered freckles -reappeared against his growing pallor. Haltingly and in an agonized -monotone, he recited from the note:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">"There was a young hyper named Phil,</div> - <div class="verse">Who kept a third head for a thrill.</div> - <div class="verse">Said he, 'It's all right,</div> - <div class="verse">I enjoy my plight.</div> - <div class="verse">I shift my third out when it's chill.'"</div> -</div></div> - -<p>The class didn't dare laugh. Their eyes burned down at their laps in -shame. Mary managed to throw Carl Blair a compassionate glance as he -returned to his seat, but she instantly regretted ever having been kind -to him.</p> - -<p>"Mary Walden, you seemed uncommonly interested in reading something -just now. Perhaps you wouldn't mind reading your assignment to the -class."</p> - -<p>There it was, and just when the class was almost over. Mary could have -scratched Carl Blair. She clutched her paper grimly and strode to the -front.</p> - -<p>"Today's assignment in Pharmacy History is, 'Schizophrenia since the -Ancient Pre-pharmacy days.'" Mary took enough breath to get into the -first paragraph.</p> - -<p>"Schizophrenia is where two or more personalities live in the -same brain. The ancients of the 20th Century actually looked upon -schizophrenia as a disease! Everyone felt it was very shameful to have -a schizophrenic person in the family, and, since children lived right -with the same parents who had borne them, it was very bad. If you were -a schizophrenic child in the 20th Century, you would be locked up -behind bars and people would call you—"</p> - -<p>Mary blushed and stumbled over the daring word—"crazy." "The ancients -locked up strong ego groups right along with weak ones. Today we would -lock up those ancient people."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The class agreed silently.</p> - -<p>"But there were more and more schizophrenics to lock up. By 1950 the -<i>prisons</i> and hospitals were so full of schizophrenic people that -the ancients did not have room left to lock up any more. They were -beginning to see that soon everyone would be schizophrenic.</p> - -<p>"Of course, in the 20th Century, the schizophrenic people were almost -as helpless and 'crazy' as the ancient Modern men. Naturally they did -not fight wars and lead the silly life of the Moderns, but without -proper drugs they couldn't control their Ego-shiftability. The -personalities in a brain would always be fighting each other. One -personality would cut the body or hurt it or make it filthy, so that -when the other personality took over the body, it would have to suffer. -No, the schizophrenic people of the 20th Century were almost as 'crazy' -as the ancient Moderns.</p> - -<p>"But then the drugs were invented one by one and the schizophrenic -people of the 20th Century were freed of their troubles. With the -drugs the personalities of each body were able to live side by side in -harmony at last. It turned out that many schizophrenic people, called -overendowed personalities, simply had so many talents and viewpoints -that it took two or more personalities to handle everything.</p> - -<p>"The drugs worked so well that the ancients had to let millions of -schizophrenic people out from behind the bars of 'crazy' houses. That -was the Great Emancipation of the 1990s. From then on, schizophrenic -people had trouble only when they criminally didn't take their drugs. -Usually, there are two egos in a schizophrenic person—the hyperalter, -or prime ego, and the hypoalter, the alternate ego. There often were -more than two, but the Medicorps makes us take our drugs so that won't -happen to us.</p> - -<p>"At last someone realized that if everyone took the new drugs, the -great wars would stop. At the World Congress of 1997, laws were passed -to make everyone take the drugs. There were many fights over this -because some people wanted to stay Modern and fight wars. The Medicorps -was organized and told to kill anyone who wouldn't take their drugs as -prescribed. Now the laws are enforced and everybody takes the drugs and -the hyperalter and hypoalter are each allowed to have the body for an -ego-shift of five days...."</p> - -<p>Mary Walden faltered. She looked up at the faces of her classmates, -started to turn to Mrs. Harris and felt the sickness growing in her -head. Six great waves of crescendo silence washed through her. The -silence swept away everything but the terror, which stood in her frail -body like a shrieking rock.</p> - -<p>Mary heard Mrs. Harris hurry to the shining dispensary along one -wall of the classroom and return to stand before her with a swab of -antiseptic and a disposable syringe.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Harris helped her to a chair. A few minutes after the expert -injection, Mary's mind struggled back from its core of silence.</p> - -<p>"Mary, dear, I'm sorry. I haven't been watching you closely enough."</p> - -<p>"Oh, Mrs. Harris...." Mary's chin trembled. "I hope it never happens -again."</p> - -<p>"Now, child, we all have to go through these things when we're young. -You're just a little slower than the others in acclimatizing to the -drugs. You'll be fourteen soon and the medicop assures me you'll be -over this sort of thing just as the others are."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Harris dismissed the class and when they had all filed from the -room, she turned to Mary.</p> - -<p>"I think, dear, we should visit the clinic together, don't you?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Mrs. Harris." Mary was not frightened now. She was just ashamed -to be such a difficult child and so slow to acclimatize to the drugs.</p> - -<p>As she and the teacher walked down the long corridor to the clinic, -Mary made up her mind to tell the medicop what she thought was wrong. -It was not herself. It was her hypoalter, that nasty little Susan -Shorrs. Sometimes, when Susan had the body, the things Susan was doing -and thinking came to Mary like what the ancients had called <i>dreams</i>, -and Mary had never liked this secondary ego whom she could never really -know. Whatever was wrong, it was Susan's doing. The filthy creature -never took care of her hair, it was always so messy when Susan shifted -the body to her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Harris waited while Mary went into the clinic.</p> - -<p>Mary was glad to find Captain Thiel, the nice medicop, on duty. But she -was silent while the X-rays were being taken, and, of course, while he -got the blood samples, she concentrated on being brave.</p> - -<p>Later, while Captain Thiel looked in her eyes with the bright little -light, Mary said calmly, "Do you know my hypoalter, Susan Shorrs?"</p> - -<p>The medicop drew back and made some notes on a pad before answering. -"Why, yes. She's in here quite often too."</p> - -<p>"Does she look like me?"</p> - -<p>"Not much. She's a very nice little girl...." He hesitated, visibly -fumbling.</p> - -<p>Mary blurted, "Tell me truly, what's she like?"</p> - -<p>Captain Thiel gave her his nice smile. "Well, I'll tell you a secret if -you keep it to yourself."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I promise."</p> - -<p>He leaned over and whispered in her ear and she liked the clean odor of -him. "She's not nearly as pretty as you are."</p> - -<p>Mary wanted very badly to put her arms around him and hug him. Instead, -wondering if Mrs. Harris, waiting outside, had heard, she drew back -self-consciously and said, "Susan is the cause of all this trouble, the -nasty little thing."</p> - -<p>"Oh now!" the medicop exclaimed. "I don't think so, Mary. She's in -trouble, too, you know."</p> - -<p>"She still eats sauerkraut." Mary was defiant.</p> - -<p>"But what's wrong with that?"</p> - -<p>"You told her not to last year because it makes me sick on my shift. -But it agrees in buckets with a little pig like her."</p> - -<p>The medicop took this seriously. He made a note on the pad. "Mary, you -should have complained sooner."</p> - -<p>"Do you think my father might not like me because Susan Shorrs is my -hypoalter?" she asked abruptly.</p> - -<p>"I hardly think so, Mary. After all, he doesn't even know her. He's -never on her Ego shift."</p> - -<p>"A little bit," Mary said, and was immediately frightened.</p> - -<p>Captain Thiel glanced at her sharply. "What do you mean by that, child?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, nothing," Mary said hastily. "I just thought maybe he was."</p> - -<p>"Let me see your pharmacase," he said rather severely.</p> - -<p>Mary slipped the pharmacase off the belt at her waist and handed it -to him. Captain Thiel extracted the prescription card from the back -and threw it away. He slipped a new card in the taping machine on his -desk and punched out a new prescription, which he reinserted in the -pharmacase. In the space on the front, he wrote directions for Mary to -take the drugs numbered from left to right.</p> - -<p>Mary watched his serious face and remembered that he had complimented -her about being prettier than Susan. "Captain Thiel, is your hypoalter -as handsome as you are?"</p> - -<p>The young medicop emptied the remains of the old prescription from the -pharmacase and took it to the dispensary in the corner, where he slid -it into the filling slot. He seemed unmoved by her question and simply -muttered, "Much handsomer."</p> - -<p>The machine automatically filled the case from the punched card on its -back and he returned it to Mary. "Are you taking your drugs exactly as -prescribed? You know there are very strict laws about that, and as soon -as you are fourteen, you will be held to them."</p> - -<p>Mary nodded solemnly. Great straitjackets, who didn't know there were -laws about taking your drugs?</p> - -<p>There was a long pause and Mary knew she was supposed to leave. She -wanted, though, to stay with Captain Thiel and talk with him. She -wondered how it would be if he were appointed her father.</p> - -<p>Mary was not hurt that her shy compliment to him had gone unnoticed. -She had only wanted something to talk about. Finally she said -desperately, "Captain Thiel, how is it possible for a body to change as -much from one Ego shift to another as it does between Susan and me?"</p> - -<p>"There isn't all the change you imagine," he said. "Have you had your -first physiology?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. I was very good...." Mary saw from his smile that her inadvertent -little conceit had trapped her.</p> - -<p>"Then, Miss Mary Walden, how do <i>you</i> think it is possible?"</p> - -<p>Why did teachers and medicops have to be this way? When all you wanted -was to have them talk to you, they turned everything around and made -you think.</p> - -<p>She quoted unhappily from her schoolbook, "The main things in an -ego shift are the two vegetative nervous systems that translate the -conditions of either personality to the blood and other organs right -from the brain. The vegetative nervous systems change the rate at which -the liver burns or stores sugar and the rate at which the kidneys -excrete...."</p> - -<p>Through the closed door to the other room, Mrs. Harris's voice raised -at the visiophone said distinctly, "<i>But, Mr. Walden....</i>"</p> - -<p>"Reabsorb," corrected Captain Thiel.</p> - -<p>"What?" She didn't know what to listen to—the medicop or the distant -voice of Mrs. Harris.</p> - -<p>"It's better to think of the kidneys as reabsorbing salts and nutrients -from the filtrated blood."</p> - -<p>"Oh."</p> - -<p>"<i>But, Mr. Walden, we can overdo a good thing. The proper amount of -neglect is definitely required for full development of some personality -types and Mary certainly is one of those....</i>"</p> - -<p>"What about the pituitary gland that's attached to the brain and -controls all the other glands during the shift of egos?" pressed -Captain Thiel distractingly.</p> - -<p>"<i>But, Mr. Walden, too much neglect at this critical point may cause -another personality to split off and we can't have that. Adequate -personalities are congenital. A new one now would only rob the present -personalities. You are the appointed parent of this child and the Board -of Education will enforce your compliance with our diagnosis....</i>"</p> - -<p>Mary's mind leaped to a page in one of her childhood storybooks. It -was an illustration of a little girl resting beneath a great tree that -overhung a brook. There were friendly little wild animals about. Mary -could see the page clearly and she thought about it very hard instead -of crying.</p> - -<p>"Aren't you interested any more, Mary?" Captain Thiel was looking at -her strangely.</p> - -<p>The agitation in her voice was a surprise. "I have to get home. I have -a lot of things to do."</p> - -<p>Outside, when Mrs. Harris seemed suddenly to realize that something was -wrong, and delicately probed to find out whether her angry voice had -been overheard, Mary said calmly and as if it didn't matter, "Was my -father home when you called him before?"</p> - -<p>"Why—yes, Mary. But you mustn't pay any attention to conversations -like that, darling."</p> - -<p><i>You can't force him to like me</i>, she thought to herself, and she was -angry with Mrs. Harris because now her father would only dislike her -more.</p> - -<p>Neither her father nor her mother was home when Mary walked into the -evening-darkened apartment. It was the first day of the family shift, -and on that day, for many periods now, they had not been home until -late.</p> - -<p>Mary walked through the empty rooms, turning on lights. She passed -up the electrically heated dinner her father had set out for her. -Presently she found herself at the storage room door. She opened it -slowly.</p> - -<p>After hesitating a while she went in and began an exhausting search for -the old storybook with the picture in it.</p> - -<p>Finally she knew she could not find it. She stood in the middle of the -junk-filled room and began to cry.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The day which ended for Mary Walden in lonely weeping should have been, -for Conrad Manz, a pleasant rest day with an hour of rocket racing in -the middle of it. Instead, he awakened with a shock to hear his wife -actually <i>talking</i> while she was <i>asleep</i>.</p> - -<p>He stood over her bed and made certain that she was asleep. It was as -though her mind thought it was somewhere else, doing something else. -Vaguely he remembered that the ancients did something called <i>dreaming</i> -while they slept and the thought made him shiver.</p> - -<p>Clara Manz was saying, "Oh, Bill, they'll catch us. We can't pretend -any more unless we have drugs. Haven't we any drugs, Bill?"</p> - -<p>Then she was silent and lay still. Her breathing was shallow and even -in the dawn light her cheeks were deeply flushed against the blonde -hair.</p> - -<p>Having just awakened, Conrad was on a very low drug level and the -incident was unpleasantly disturbing. He picked up his pharmacase -from beside his bed and made his way to the bathroom. He took his -hypothalamic block and the integration enzymes and returned to the -bedroom. Clara was still sleeping.</p> - -<p>She had been behaving oddly for some time, but there had never been -anything as disturbing as this. He felt that he should call a medicop, -but, of course, he didn't want to do anything that extreme. It was -probably something with a simple explanation. Clara was a little -scatterbrained at times. Maybe she had forgotten to take her sleeping -compound and that was what caused <i>dreaming</i>. The very word made his -powerful body chill. But if she was neglecting to take any of her drugs -and he called in a medicop, it would be serious.</p> - -<p>Conrad went into the library and found the <i>Family Pharmacy</i>. He -switched on a light in the dawn-shrunken room and let his heavy -frame into a chair. <i>A Guide to Better Understanding of your Family -Prescriptions. Official Edition, 2831.</i> The book was mostly Medicorps -propaganda and almost never gave a practical suggestion. If something -went wrong, you called a medicop.</p> - -<p>Conrad hunted through the book for the section on sleeping compound. It -was funny, too, about that name Bill. Conrad went over all the men of -their acquaintance with whom Clara had occasional affairs or with whom -she was friendly and he couldn't remember a single Bill. In fact, the -only man with that name whom he could think of was his own hyperalter, -Bill Walden. But that was naturally impossible.</p> - -<p>Maybe dreaming was always about imaginary people.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>SLEEPING COMPOUND: An official mixture of soporific and -hypnotic alkaloids and synthetics. A critical drug; an essential -feature in every prescription. Slight deviations in following -prescription are unallowable because of the subtle manner in which -behavior may be altered over months or years. The first sleeping -compound was announced by Thomas Marshall in 1986. The formula has -been modified only twice since then.</p></div> - -<p>There followed a tightly packed description of the chemistry and -pharmacology of the various ingredients. Conrad skipped through this.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>The importance of Sleeping Compound in the life of every individual -and to society is best appreciated when we recall Marshall's words -announcing its initial development:</p> - -<p>"It is during so-called <i>normal</i> sleep that the vicious unconscious -mind responsible for wars and other symptoms of unhappiness develops -its resources and its hold on our conscious lives.</p> - -<p>"In this <i>normal</i> sleep the critical faculties of the cortex are -paralyzed. Meanwhile, the infantile unconscious mind expands -misinterpreted experience into the toxic patterns of neurosis and -psychosis. The conscious mind takes over at morning, unaware that -these infantile motivations have been cleverly woven into its very -structure.</p> - -<p>"Sleeping Compound will stop this. There is no unconscious activity -after taking this harmless drug. We believe the Medicorps should at -once initiate measures to acclimatize every child to its use. In these -children, as the years go by, infantile patterns unable to work during -sleep will fight a losing battle during waking hours with conscious -patterns accumulating in the direction of adulthood."</p></div> - -<p>That was all there was—mostly the Medicorps patting its own back for -saving humanity. But if you were in trouble and called a medicop, you'd -risk getting into real trouble.</p> - -<p>Conrad became aware of Clara standing in the doorway. The flush of -her disturbed emotions and the pallor of her fatigue mixed in ragged -banners on her cheeks.</p> - -<p>Conrad waved the <i>Family Pharmacy</i> with a foolish gesture of -embarrassment.</p> - -<p>"Young lady, have you been neglecting to take your sleeping compound?"</p> - -<p>Clara turned utterly pale. "I—I don't understand."</p> - -<p>"You were talking in your sleep."</p> - -<p>"I—was?"</p> - -<p>She came forward so unsteadily that he helped her to a seat. She stared -at him. He asked jovially, "Who is this 'Bill' you were so desperately -involved with? Have you been having an affair I don't know about? -Aren't my friends good enough for you?"</p> - -<p>The result of this banter was that she alarmingly began to cry, -clutching her robe about her and dropping her blonde head on her knees -and sobbing.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Children cried before they were acclimatized to the drugs, but Conrad -Manz had never in his life seen an adult cry. Though he had taken his -morning drugs and certain disrupting emotions were already impossible, -nevertheless this sight was completely unnerving.</p> - -<p>In gasps between her sobs, Clara was saying, "Oh, I can't go back to -taking them? But I can't keep this up! I just can't!"</p> - -<p>"Clara, darling, I don't know what to say or do. I think we ought to -call the Medicorps."</p> - -<p>Intensely frightened, she rose and clung to him, begging, "Oh, no, -Conrad, that isn't necessary! It isn't necessary at all. I've only -neglected to take my sleeping compound and it won't happen again. All -I need is a sleeping compound. Please get my pharmacase for me and it -will be all right."</p> - -<p>She was so desperate to convince him that Conrad got the pharmacase and -a glass of water for her only to appease the white face of fright.</p> - -<p>Within a few minutes of taking the sleeping compound, she was calm. As -he put her back to bed, she laughed with a lazy indolence.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Conrad, you take it so seriously. I only needed a sleeping -compound very badly and now I feel fine. I'll sleep all day. It's a -rest day, isn't it? Now go race a rocket and stop worrying and thinking -about calling the medicops."</p> - -<p>But Conrad did not go rocket racing as he had planned. Clara had been -asleep only a few minutes when there was a call on the visiophone; they -wanted him at the office. The city of Santa Fe would be completely out -of balance within twelve shifts if revised plans were not put into -operation immediately. They were to start during the next five days -while he would be out of shift. In order to carry on the first day of -their next shift, he and the other three traffic managers he worked -with would have to come down today and familiarize themselves with the -new operations.</p> - -<p>There was no getting out of it. His rest day was spoiled. Conrad -resented it all the more because Santa Fe was clear out on the edge of -their traffic district and could have been revised out of the Mexican -offices just as well. But those boys down there rested all five days of -their shift.</p> - -<p>Conrad looked in on Clara before he left and found her asleep in the -total suspension of proper drug level. The unpleasant memory of her -behavior made him squirm, but now that the episode was over, it no -longer worried him. It was typical of him that, things having been set -straight in the proper manner, he did not think of her again until late -in the afternoon.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As early as 1950, the pioneer communications engineer Norbert -Wiener had pointed out that there might be a close parallel between -disassociation of personalities and the disruption of a communication -system. Wiener referred back specifically to the first clear -description, by Morton Prince, of multiple personalities existing, -together in the same human body. Prince had described only individual -cases and his observations were not altogether acceptable in Wiener's -time. Nevertheless, in the schizophrenic society of the 29th Century, -a major managerial problem was that of balancing the communicating and -non-communicating populations in a city.</p> - -<p>As far as Conrad and the other traffic men present at the conference -were concerned, Santa Fe was a resort and retirement area of 100,000 -human bodies, alive and consuming more than they produced every -day of the year. Whatever the representatives of the Medicorps and -Communications Board worked out, it would mean only slight changes in -the types of foodstuffs, entertainment and so forth moving into Santa -Fe, and Conrad could have grasped the entire traffic change in ten -minutes after the real problem had been settled. But, as usual, he and -the other traffic men had to sit through two hours while small wheels -from the Medicorps and Communications acted big about rebalancing a -city.</p> - -<p>For them, Conrad had to admit, Santa Fe was a great deal more complex -than 100,000 consuming, moderately producing human bodies. It was -200,000 human personalities, two to each body. Conrad wondered -sometimes what they would have done if the three and four personality -cases so common back in the 20th and 21st Centuries had been allowed to -reproduce. The 200,000 personalities in Santa Fe were difficult enough.</p> - -<p>Like all cities, Santa Fe operated in five shifts, A, B, C, D, and E.</p> - -<p>Just as it was supposed to be for Conrad in his city, today was rest -day for the 20,000 hypoalters on D-shift in Santa Fe. Tonight at around -6:00 P.M. they would all go to shifting rooms and be replaced by their -hyperalters, who had different tastes in food and pleasure and took -different drugs.</p> - -<p>Tomorrow would be rest day for the hyperalters on E-shift and in the -evening they would turn things over to their hyperalters.</p> - -<p>The next day it would be rest for the A-shift hyperalters and three -days after that the D-shift hyperalters, including Bill Walden, would -rest till evening, when Conrad and the D-shift hypoalters everywhere -would again have their five day use of their bodies.</p> - -<p>Right now the trouble with Santa Fe's retired population, which worked -only for its own maintenance, was that too many elderly people on the -D-shift and E-shift had been dying off. This point was brought out by a -dapper young department head from Communications.</p> - -<p>Conrad groaned when, as he knew would happen, a Medicorps officer -promptly set out on an exhaustive demonstration that Medicorps -predictions of deaths for Santa Fe had indicated clearly that -Communications should have been moving people from D-shift and E-shift -into the area.</p> - -<p>Actually, it appeared that someone from Communications had blundered -and had overloaded the quota of people on A-shift and B-shift moving -to Santa Fe. Thus on one rest day there weren't enough people working -to keep things going, and later in the week there were so many -available workers that they were clogging the city.</p> - -<p>None of this was heated exchange or in any way emotional. It was just -interminably, exhaustively logical and boring. Conrad fidgeted through -two hours of it, seeing his chance for a rocket race dissolving. When -at last the problem of balanced shift-populations for Santa Fe was -worked out, it took him and the other traffic men only a few minutes -to apply their tables and reschedule traffic to coordinate with the -population changes.</p> - -<p>Disgusted, Conrad walked over to the Tennis Club and had lunch.</p> - -<p>There were still two hours of his rest day left when Conrad Manz -realized that Bill Walden was again forcing an early shift. Conrad -was in the middle of a volley-tennis game and he didn't like having -the shift forced so soon. People generally shifted at their appointed -regular hour every five days, and a hyperalter was not supposed to use -his power to force shift. It was such an unthinkable thing nowadays -that there was occasional talk of abolishing the terms hyperalter and -hypoalter because they were somewhat disparaging to the hypoalter, and -really designated only the antisocial power of the hyperalter to force -the shift.</p> - -<p>Bill Walden had been cheating two to four hours on Conrad every -shift for several periods back. Conrad could have reported it to the -Medicorps, but he himself was guilty of a constant misdemeanor about -which Bill had not yet complained. Unlike the sedentary Walden, Conrad -Manz enjoyed exercise. He overindulged in violent sports and put off -sleep, letting Bill Walden make up the fatigue on his shift. That was -undoubtedly why the poor old sucker had started cheating a few hours on -Conrad's rest day.</p> - -<p>Conrad laughed to himself, remembering the time Bill Walden had -registered a long list of sports which he wished Conrad to be -restrained from—rocket racing, deepsea exploration, jet-skiing. It -had only given Conrad some ideas he hadn't had before. The Medicorps -had refused to enforce the list on the basis that danger and violent -exercise were a necessary outlet for Conrad's constitution. Then poor -old Bill had written Conrad a note threatening to sue him for any -injury resulting from such sports. As if he had a chance against the -Medicorps ruling!</p> - -<p>Conrad knew it was no use trying to finish the volley-tennis game. He -lost interest and couldn't concentrate on what he was doing when Bill -started forcing the shift. Conrad shot the ball back at his opponent in -a blistering curve impossible to intercept.</p> - -<p>"So long," he yelled at the man. "I've got some things to do before my -shift ends."</p> - -<p>He lounged into the locker rooms and showered, put his clothes and -belongings, including his pharmacase, in a shipping carton, addressed -them to his own home and dropped them in the mail chute.</p> - -<p>He stepped with languid nakedness across the hall, pressed his -identifying wristband to a lock-face and dialed his clothing sizes.</p> - -<p>In this way he procured a neatly wrapped, clean shifting costume from -the slot. He put it on without bothering to return to his shower room.</p> - -<p>He shouted a loud good-bye to no one in particular among the several -men and women in the baths and stepped out onto the street.</p> - -<p>Conrad felt too good even to be sorry that his shift was over. After -all, nothing happened except you came to, five days later, on your -next shift. The important thing was the rest day. He had always said -the last day of the shift should be a work day; then you would be glad -it was over. He guessed the idea was to rest the body before another -personality took over. Well, poor old Bill Walden never got a rested -body. He probably slept off the first twelve hours.</p> - -<p>Walking unhurriedly through the street crowds, Conrad entered a public -shifting station and found an empty room. As he started to open the -door, a girl came out of the adjoining booth and Conrad hastily averted -his glance. She was still rearranging her hair. There were so many rude -people nowadays who didn't seem to care at all about the etiquette of -shifting, women particularly. They were always redoing their hair or -makeup where a person couldn't help seeing them.</p> - -<p>Conrad pressed his identifying wristband to the lock and entered the -booth he had picked. The act automatically sent the time and his shift -number to Medicorps Headquarters.</p> - -<p>Once inside the shifting room, Conrad went to the lavatory and turned -on the faucet of makeup solvent. In spite of losing two hours of his -rest day, he decided to be decent to old Bill, though he was half -tempted to leave his makeup on. It was a pretty foul joke, of course, -especially on a humorless fellow like poor Walden.</p> - -<p>Conrad creamed his face thoroughly and then washed in water and -used the automatic dryer. He looked at his strong-lined features in -the mirror. They displayed a less distinct expression of his own -personality with the makeup gone.</p> - -<p>He turned away from the mirror and it was only then that he remembered -he hadn't spoken to his wife before shifting. Well, he couldn't -decently call up and let her see him without makeup.</p> - -<p>He stepped across to the visiophone and set the machine to deliver -his spoken message in type: "Hello, Clara. Sorry I forgot to call you -before. Bill Walden is forcing me to shift early again. I hope you're -not still upset about that business this morning. Be a good girl and -smile at me on the next shift. I love you. Conrad."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For a moment, when the shift came, the body of Conrad Manz stood -moronically uninhabited. Then, rapidly, out of the gyri of its brain, -the personality of Bill Walden emerged, replacing the slackly powerful -attitude of Conrad by the slightly prim preciseness of Bill's bearing.</p> - -<p>The face, just now relaxed with readiness for action, was abruptly -pulled into an intellectualized mask of tension by habitual patterns of -conflict in the muscles. There were also acute momentary signs of clash -between the vegetative nervous activity characteristic of Bill Walden -and the internal homeostasis Conrad Manz had left behind him. The face -paled as hypersensitive vascular beds closed down under new vegetative -volleys.</p> - -<p>Bill Walden grasped sight and sound, and the sharp odor of makeup -solvent stung his nostrils. He was conscious of only one clamoring, -terrifying thought: <i>They will catch us. It cannot go on much longer -without Helen guessing about Clara. She is already angry about Clara -delaying the shift, and if she learns from Mary that I am cheating on -Conrad's shift.... Any time now, perhaps this time, when the shift is -over, I will be looking into the face of a medicop who is pulling a -needle from my arm, and then it'll all be over.</i></p> - -<p>So far, at least, there was no medicop. Still feeling unreal but -anxious not to lose precious moments, Bill took an individualized kit -from the wall dispenser and made himself up. He was sparing and subtle -in his use of the makeup, unlike the horrible makeup jobs Conrad Manz -occasionally left on. Bill rearranged his hair. Conrad always wore it -too short for his taste, but you couldn't complain about everything.</p> - -<p>Bill sat in a chair to await some of the slower aspects of the shift. -He knew that an hour after he left the booth, his basal metabolic rate -would be ten points higher. His blood sugar would go down steadily. -In the next five days he would lose six to eight pounds, which Conrad -later would promptly regain.</p> - -<p>Just as Bill was about to leave the booth, he remembered to pick up -a news summary. He put his wristband to the switch on the telephoto -and a freshly printed summary of the last five days in the world fell -into the rack. His wristband, of course, called forth one edited for -hyperalters on the D-shift.</p> - -<p>It did not mention by name any hypoalter on the D-shift. Should one -of them have done something that it was necessary for Bill or other -D-shift hyperalters to know about, it would appear in news summaries -called forth by their wristbands—but told in such fashion that the -personality involved seemed namelessly incidental, while names and -pictures of hyperalters and hypoalters on any of the other four -shifts naturally were freely used. The purpose was to keep Conrad -Manz and all other hypoalters on the D-shift, one-tenth of the total -population, non-existent as far as their hyperalters were concerned. -This convention made it necessary for photoprint summaries to be on -light-sensitive paper that blackened illegibly before six hours were -up, so that a man might never stumble on news about his hypoalter.</p> - -<p>Bill did not even glance at the news summary. He had picked it up only -for appearances. The summaries were essential if you were going to -start where you left off on your last shift and have any knowledge of -the five intervening days. A man just didn't walk out of a shifting -room without one. It was failure to do little things like that that -would start them wondering about him.</p> - -<p>Bill opened the door of the booth by applying his wristband to the lock -and stepped out into the street.</p> - -<p>Late afternoon crowds pressed about him. Across the boulevard, a -helicopter landing swarmed with clouds of rising commuters. Bill had -some trouble figuring out the part of the city Conrad had left him -in and walked two blocks before he understood where he was. Then he -got into an idle two-place cab, started the motor with his wristband -and hurried the little three-wheeler recklessly through the traffic. -Clara was probably already waiting and he first had to go home and get -dressed.</p> - -<p>The thought of Clara waiting for him in the park near her home was a -sharp reminder of his strange situation. He was in a left you with -shame, and a fear that the other fellow would tell people you seemed to -have a pathological interest in your alter and must need a change in -your prescription.</p> - -<p>But the most flagrant abuser of such morbid little exchanges would have -been horrified to learn that right here, in the middle of the daylight -traffic, was a man who was using his antisocial shifting power to meet -in secret the wife of his own hypoalter!</p> - -<p>Bill did not have to wonder what the Medicorps would think. Relations -between hyperalters world was literally not supposed to exist for -him, for it was the world of his own hypoalter, Conrad Manz.</p> - -<p>Undoubtedly, there were people in the traffic up ahead who knew both -him and Conrad, people from the other shifts who never mentioned the -one to the other except in those guarded, snickering little confidences -they couldn't resist telling and you couldn't resist listening to. -After all, the most important person in the world was your alter. If he -got sick, injured or killed, so would you.</p> - -<p>Thus, in moments of intimacy or joviality, an undercover exchange went -on ... <i>I'll tell you about your hyperalter if you'll tell me about -my hypoalter.</i> It was orthodox bad manners that and hypoalters of -opposite sex were punishable—drastically punishable.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When he arrived at the apartment, Bill remembered to order a dinner for -his daughter Mary. His order, dialed from the day's menu, was delivered -to the apartment pneumatically and he set it out over electric warmers. -He wanted to write a note to the child, but he started two and threw -both in the basket. He couldn't think of anything to say to her.</p> - -<p>Staring at the lonely table he was leaving for Mary, Bill felt his -guilt overwhelming him. He could stop the behavior which led to -the guilt by taking his drugs as prescribed. They would return him -immediately to the sane and ordered conformity of the world. He would -no longer have to carry the fear that the Medicorps would discover he -was not taking his drugs. He would no longer neglect his appointed -child. He would no longer endanger the very life of Conrad's wife Clara -and, of course, his own.</p> - -<p>When you took your drugs as prescribed, it was impossible to experience -such ancient and primitive emotions as guilt. Even should you -miscalculate and do something wrong, the drugs would not allow any -such emotional reaction. To be free to experience his guilt over the -lonely child who needed him was, for these reasons, a precious thing -to Bill. In all the world, this night, he was undoubtedly the only man -who could and did feel one of the ancient emotions. People felt shame, -not guilt; conceit, not pride; pleasure, not desire. Now that he had -stopped taking his drugs as prescribed, Bill realized that the drugs -allowed only an impoverished segment of a vivid emotional spectrum.</p> - -<p>But however exciting it was to live them, the ancient emotions did not -seem to act as deterrents to bad behavior. Bill's sense of guilt did -not keep him from continuing to neglect Mary. His fear of being caught -did not restrain him from breaking every rule of inter-alter law and -loving Clara, his own hypoalter's wife.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Bill got dressed as rapidly as possible. He tossed the discarded -shifting costume into the return chute. He retouched his makeup, trying -to eliminate some of the heavy, inexpressive planes of muscularity -which were more typical of Conrad than of himself.</p> - -<p>The act reminded him of the shame which his wife Helen had felt when -she learned, a few years ago, that her own hypoalter, Clara, and his -hypoalter, Conrad, had obtained from the Medicorps a special release -to marry. Such rare marriages in which the same bodies lived together -on both halves of a shift were something to snicker about. They verged -on the antisocial, but could be arranged if the batteries of Medicorps -tests could be satisfied.</p> - -<p>Perhaps it had been the very intensity of Helen's shame on learning -of this marriage, the nauseous display of conformity so typical of -his wife, that had first given Bill the idea of seeking out Clara, -who had dared convention to make such a peculiar marriage. Over the -years, Helen had continued blaming all their troubles on the fact that -both egos of himself were living with, and intimate with, both egos of -herself.</p> - -<p>So Bill had started cutting down on his drugs, the curiosity having -become an obsession. What was this other part of Helen like, this -Clara who was unconventional enough to want to marry only Bill's own -hypoalter, in spite of almost certain public shame?</p> - -<p>He had first seen Clara's face when it formed on a visiophone, the -first time he had forced Conrad to shift prematurely. It was softer -than Helen's. The delicate contours were less purposefully, set, gayer.</p> - -<p>"Clara Manz?" Bill had sat there staring at the visiophone for several -seconds, unable to continue. His great fear that she would immediately -report him must have been naked on his face.</p> - -<p>He had watched an impish suspicion grow in the tender curve of her lips -and her oblique glance from the visiophone. She did not speak.</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Manz," he finally said, "I would like to meet you in the park -across from your home."</p> - -<p>To this awkward opening he owed the first time he had heard Clara -laugh. Her warm, clear laughter, teasing him, tumbled forth like a -cloud of gay butterflies.</p> - -<p>"Are you afraid to see me here at home because my husband might <i>walk -in on us</i>?"</p> - -<p>Bill had been put completely at ease by this bantering indication that -Clara knew who he was and welcomed him as an intriguing diversion. -Quite literally, the one person who could not <i>walk in on them</i>, as the -ancients thought of it, was his own hypoalter, Conrad Manz.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Bill finished retouching his makeup and hurried to leave the apartment. -But this time, as he passed the table where Mary's dinner was set out, -he decided to write a few words to the child, no matter how empty they -sounded to himself. The note he left explained that he had some early -work to do at the microfilm library where he worked.</p> - -<p>Just as Bill was leaving the apartment, the visiophone buzzed. In his -hurry Bill flipped the switch before he thought. Too late, his hand -froze and the implications of this call, an hour before anyone would -normally be home, shot a shaft of terror through him.</p> - -<p>But it was not the image of a medicop that formed on the screen. The -woman introduced herself as Mrs. Harris, one of Mary's teachers.</p> - -<p>It was strange that she should have thought he might be home. The -shift for children was half a day earlier than that for adults, so -the parents could have half their rest day free. This afternoon would -be for Mary the first classes of her shift, but the teacher must have -guessed something was wrong with the shifting schedules in Mary's -family. Or had the child told her?</p> - -<p>Mrs. Harris explained rather dramatically that Mary was being -neglected. What could he say; to her? That he was a criminal breaking -drug regulations in the most flagrant manner? That nothing, not even -the child appointed to him, meant more to him than his wife's own -hypoalter? Bill finally ended the hopeless and possibly dangerous -conversation by turning off the receiver and leaving the apartment.</p> - -<p>Bill realized that now, for both him and Clara, the greatest joy had -been those first few times together. The enormous threat of a Medicorps -retaliation took the pleasure from their contact and they came together -desperately because, having tasted this fantastic non-conformity and -the new undrugged intimacy, there was no other way for them. Even now -as he drove through the traffic toward where she would be waiting, he -was not so much concerned with meeting Clara in their fear-poisoned -present as with the vivid, aching remembrance of what those meetings -once had really been like.</p> - -<p>He recalled an evening they had spent lying on the summer lawn of the -park, looking out at the haze-dimmed stars. It had been shortly after -Clara joined him in cutting down on the drugs, and the clear memory of -their quiet laughter so captured his mind now that Bill almost tangled -his car in the traffic.</p> - -<p>In memory he kissed her again and, as it had then, the newly cut grass -mixed with the exciting fragrance of her skin. After the kiss they -continued a mock discussion of the ancient word "sin." Bill pretended -to be trying to explain the meaning of the word to her, sometimes with -definitions that kept them laughing and sometimes with demonstrational -kisses that stopped their laughter.</p> - -<p>He could remember Clara's face turned to him in the evening light -with an outrageous parody of interest. He could hear himself saying, -"You see, the ancients would say we are not <i>sinning</i> because they -would disagree with the medicops that you and Helen are two completely -different people, or that Conrad and I are not the same person."</p> - -<p>Clara kissed him with an air of tentative experimentation. "Mmm, no. I -can't say I care for that interpretation."</p> - -<p>"You'd rather be sinning?"</p> - -<p>"Definitely."</p> - -<p>"Well, if the ancients did agree with the medicops that we are -distinct from our alters, Helen and Conrad, then they would say we are -sinning—but not for the same reasons the Medicorps would give."</p> - -<p>"That," asserted Clara, "is where I get lost. If this sinning business -is going to be worth anything at all, it has to be something you can -identify."</p> - -<p>Bill cut his car out of the main stream of traffic and toward the park, -without interrupting his memory.</p> - -<p>"Well, darling, I don't want to confuse you, but the medicops would -say we are sinning only because you are my wife's hypoalter, and I am -your husband's hyperalter—in other words, for the very reason the -ancients would say we are <i>not</i> sinning. Furthermore, if either of us -were with anyone else, the medicops would think it was perfectly all -right, and so would Conrad and Helen. Provided, of course, I took a -hyperalter and you took a hypoalter only."</p> - -<p>"Of course," Clara said, and Bill hurried over the gloomy fact.</p> - -<p>"The ancients, on the other hand, would say we are sinning because we -are making love to someone we are not married to."</p> - -<p>"But what's the matter with that? Everybody does it."</p> - -<p>"The ancient Moderns didn't. Or, that is, they often did, but...."</p> - -<p>Clara brought her full lips hungrily to his. "Darling, I think the -ancient Moderns had the right idea, though I don't see how they ever -arrived at it."</p> - -<p>Bill grinned. "It was just an invention of theirs, along with the wheel -and atomic energy."</p> - -<p>That evening was long gone by as Bill stopped the little taxi beside -the park and left it there for the next user. He walked across the -lawns toward the statue where he and Clara always met. The very thought -of entering one's own hypoalter's house was so unnerving that Bill -brought himself to do it only by first meeting Clara near the statue. -As he walked between the trees, Bill could not again capture the spirit -of that evening he had been remembering. The Medicorps was too close. -It was impossible to laugh that way now.</p> - -<p>Bill arrived at the statue, but Clara was not there. He waited -impatiently while a livid sunset coagulated between the branches of the -great trees. Clara should have been there first. It was easier for her, -because she was leaving her shift, and without doing it prematurely.</p> - -<p>The park was like a quiet backwater in the eddying rush of the evening -city. Bill felt conspicuous and vulnerable in the gloaming light. Above -all, he felt a new loneliness, and he knew that now Clara felt it, too. -They needed each other as each had been, before fear had bleached their -feeling to white bones of desperation.</p> - -<p>They were not taking their drugs as prescribed, and for that they would -be horribly punished. That was the only unforgivable <i>sin</i> in their -world. By committing it, he and Clara had found out what life could be, -in the same act that would surely take life from them. Their powerful -emotions they had found in abundance simply by refusing to take the -drugs, and by being together briefly each fifth day in a dangerous -breach of all convention. The closer their discovery and the greater -their terror, the more desperately they needed even their terror, and -the more impossible became the delight of their first meetings.</p> - -<p>Telegraphing bright beads of sound, a night bird skimmed the sunset -lawns to the looming statue and skewed around its monolithic base. The -bird's piping doubled and then choked off as it veered frantically from -Bill. After a while, far off through the park, it released a fading -protest of song.</p> - -<p>Above Bill, the towering statue of the great Alfred Morris blackened -against the sunset. The hollowed granite eyes bore down on him out -of an undecipherable dark ... the ancient, implacable face of the -Medicorps. As if to pronounce a sentence on his present crimes by a -magical disclosure of the weight of centuries, a pool of sulfurous -light and leaf shadows danced on the painted plaque at the base of the -statue.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>On this spot in the Gregorian year 1996, Alfred Morris announced to -an assembly of war survivors the hypothalamic block. His stirring -words were, "This new drug selectively halts at the thalamic brain -the upward flow of unconscious stimuli and the downward flow of -unconscious motivations. It acts as a screen between the cerebrum and -the psychosomatic discharge system. Using hypothalamic block, we will -not act emotively, we will initiate acts only from the logical demands -of situations."</p> - -<p>This announcement and the subsequent wholehearted action of the -war-weary people made the taking of hypothalamic block obligatory. -This put an end to the powerful play of unconscious mind in the public -and private affairs of the ancient world. It ended the great paranoid -wars and saved mankind.</p></div> - -<p>In the strange evening light, the letters seemed alive, a centuries-old -condemnation of any who might try to go back to the ancient -pre-pharmacy days. Of course, it was not really possible to go back. -Without drugs, everybody and all society would fall apart.</p> - -<p>The ancients had first learned to keep endocrine deviates such as the -diabetic alive with drugs. Later they learned with other drugs to -"cure" the far more prevalent disease, schizophrenia, that was jamming -their hospitals. The big change came when the ancients used these same -drugs on everyone to control the private and public irrationality of -their time and stop the wars.</p> - -<p>In this new, drugged world, the schizophrene thrived better than any, -and the world became patterned on him. But, just as the diabetic was -still diabetic, the schizophrene was still himself, plus the drugs. -Meanwhile, everyone had forgotten what it was the drugs did to -you—that the emotions experienced were blurred emotions, that insight -was at an isolated level of rationality because the drugs kept true -feelings from ever emerging.</p> - -<p>How inconceivable it would be to Helen and the other people of his -world to live on as little drug as possible ... to experience the -conflicting emotions, the interplay of passion and logic that almost -tore you apart! Sober, the ancients called it, and they lived that way -most of the time, with only the occasional crude and clublike effects -of alcohol or narcotics to relieve their chronic anxiety.</p> - -<p>By taking as little hypothalamic block as possible, he and Clara were -able to desire their fantastic attachment, to delight in an absolutely -illogical situation unheard of in their society. But the society would -judge their refusal to take hypothalamic block in only one sense. The -weight of this judgment stood before him in the smoldering words, "<i>It -ended the great paranoid wars and saved mankind</i>."</p> - -<p>When Clara did appear, she was searching myopically in the wrong -vicinity of the statue. He did not call to her at once, letting the -sight of her smooth out the tensions in him, convert all the conflicts -into this one intense longing to be with her.</p> - -<p>Her halting search for him was deeply touching, like that of a tragic -little puppet in a darkening dumbshow. He saw suddenly how like puppets -the two of them were. They were moved by the strengthening wires of a -new life of feeling to batter clumsily at an implacable stage setting -that would finally leave them as bits of wood and paper.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly in his arms Clara was at the same time hungrily moving -and tense with fear of discovery. Little sounds of love and fear choked -each other in her throat. Her blonde head pressed tightly into his -shoulder and she clung to him with desperation.</p> - -<p>She said, "Conrad was disturbed by my tension this morning and made me -take a sleeping compound. I've just awakened."</p> - -<p>They walked to her home in silence and even in the darkened apartment -they used only the primitive monosyllables of apprehensive need. Beyond -these mere sounds of compassion, they had long ago said all that could -be said.</p> - -<p>Because Bill was the hyperalter, he had no fear that Conrad could force -a shift on him. When later they lay in darkness, he allowed himself to -drift into a brief slumber. Without the sleeping compound, distorted -events came and went without reason. Dreaming, the ancients had called -it. It was one of the most frightening things that had begun to happen -when he first cut down on the drugs. Now, in the few seconds that he -dozed, a thousand fragments of incidental knowledge, historical reading -and emotional need melded and, in a strange contrast to their present -tranquility, he was dreaming a frightful moment in the 20th century. -<i>These are the great paranoid wars</i>, he thought. And it was so because -he had thought it.</p> - -<p>He searched frantically through the glove compartment of an ancient -automobile. "Wait," he pleaded. "I tell you we have sulfonamide-14. -We've been taking it regularly as directed. We took a double dose back -in Paterson because there were soft-bombs all through that part of -Jersey and we didn't know what would be declared Plague Area next."</p> - -<p>Now Bill threw things out of his satchel onto the floor and seat of -the car, fumbling deeper by the flashlight Clara held. His heart beat -thickly with terror. Then he remembered his pharmacase. Oh, why hadn't -they remembered sooner about their pharmacases. Bill tore at the belt -about his waist.</p> - -<p>The Medicorps captain stepped back from the door of their car. He -jerked his head at the dark form of the corporal standing in the -roadway. "Shoot them. Run the car off the embankment before you burn -it."</p> - -<p>Bill screamed metallically through the speaker of his radiation mask. -"Wait. I've found it." He thrust the pharmacase out the door of the -car. "This is a pharmacase," he explained. "We keep our drugs in one of -these and it's belted to our waist so we are never without them."</p> - -<p>The captain of the Medicorps came back. He inspected the pharmacase and -the drugs and returned it. "From now on, keep your drugs handy. Take -them without fail according to radio instructions. Do you understand?"</p> - -<p>Clara's head pressed heavily against Bill's shoulder, and he could hear -the tinny sound of her sobbing through the speaker of her mask.</p> - -<p>The captain stepped into the road again. "We'll have to burn your -car. You passed through a Plague Area and it can't be sterilized on -this route. About a mile up this road you'll come to a sterilization -unit. Stop and have your person and belongings rayed. After that, keep -walking, but stick to the road. You'll be shot if you're caught off it."</p> - -<p>The road was crowded with fleeing people. Their way was lighted by -piles of cadavers writhing in gasoline flames. The Medicorps was -everywhere. Those who stumbled, those who coughed, the delirious and -their helping partners ... these were taken to the side of the road, -shot and burned. And there was bombing again to the south.</p> - -<p>Bill stopped in the middle of the road and looked back. Clara clung to -him.</p> - -<p>"There is a plague here we haven't any drug for," he said, and realized -he was crying. "We are all mad."</p> - -<p>Clara was crying too. "Darling, what have you done? Where are the -drugs?"</p> - -<p>The water of the Hudson hung as it had in the late afternoon, ice -crystals in the stratosphere. The high, high sheet flashed and glowed -in the new bombing to the south, where multicolored pillars of flame -boiled into the sky. But the muffled crash of the distant bombing was -suddenly the steady click of the urgent signal on a bedside visiophone, -and Bill was abruptly awake.</p> - -<p>Clara was throwing on her robe and moving toward the machine on -terror-rigid limbs. With a scrambling motion, Bill got out of the -possible view of the machine and crouched at the end of the room.</p> - -<p>Distinctly, he could hear the machine say, "Clara Manz?"</p> - -<p>"Yes." Clara's voice was a thin treble that could have been a shriek -had it continued.</p> - -<p>"This is Medicorps Headquarters. A routine check discloses you have -delayed your shift two hours. To maintain the statistical record of -deviations, please give us a full explanation."</p> - -<p>"I ..." Clara had to swallow before she could talk. "I must have taken -too much sleeping compound."</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Manz, our records indicate that you have been delaying your shift -consistently for several periods now. We made a check of this as a -routine follow up on any such deviation, but the discovery is quite -serious." There was a harsh silence, a silence that demanded a logical -answer. But how could there be a logical answer?</p> - -<p>"My hyperalter hasn't complained and I—well, I have just let a bad -habit develop. I'll see that it—doesn't happen again."</p> - -<p>The machine voiced several platitudes about the responsibilities of one -personality to another and the duty of all to society before Clara was -able to shut it off.</p> - -<p>Both of them sat as they were for a long, long time while the tide of -terror subsided. When at last they looked at each other across the dim -and silent room, both of them knew there could be at least one more -time together before they were caught.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Five days later, on the last day of her shift, Mary Walden wrote the -address of her appointed father's hypoalter, Conrad Manz, with an -indelible pencil on the skin just below her armpit.</p> - -<p>During the morning, her father and mother had spoiled the family rest -day by quarreling. It was about Helen's hypoalter delaying so many -shifts. Bill did not think it very important, but her mother was angry -and threatened to complain to the Medicorps.</p> - -<p>The lunch was eaten in silence, except that at one point Bill said, "It -seems to me Conrad and Clara Manz are guilty of a peculiar marriage, -not us. Yet they seem perfectly happy with it and you're the one who is -made unhappy. The woman has probably just developed a habit of taking -too much sleeping compound for her rest day naps. Why don't you drop -her a note?"</p> - -<p>Helen made only one remark. It was said through her teeth and very -softly. "Bill, I would just as soon the child did not realize her -relationship to this sordid situation."</p> - -<p>Mary cringed over the way Helen disregarded her hearing, the -possibility that she might be capable of understanding, or her feelings -about being shut out of their mutual world.</p> - -<p>After the lunch Mary cleared the table, throwing the remains of the -meal and the plastiplates into the flash trash disposer. Her father had -retreated to the library room and Helen was getting ready to attend -a Citizen's Meeting. Mary heard her mother enter the room to say -good-bye while she was wiping the dining table. She knew that Helen was -standing, well-dressed and a little impatient, just behind her, but she -pretended she did not know.</p> - -<p>"Darling, I'm leaving now for the Citizen's Meeting."</p> - -<p>"Oh ... yes."</p> - -<p>"Be a good girl and don't be late for your shift. You only have an hour -now." Helen's patrician face smiled.</p> - -<p>"I won't be late."</p> - -<p>"Don't pay any attention to the things Bill and I discussed this -morning, will you?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>And she was gone. She did not say good-bye to Bill.</p> - -<p>Mary was very conscious of her father in the house. He continued to sit -in the library. She walked by the door and she could see him sitting in -a chair, staring at the floor. Mary stood in the sun room for a long -while. If he had risen from his chair, if he had rustled a page, if he -had sighed, she would have heard him.</p> - -<p>It grew closer and closer to the time she would have to leave if Susan -Shorrs was to catch the first school hours of her shift. Why did -children have to shift half a day before adults?</p> - -<p>Finally, Mary thought of something to say. She could let him know she -was old enough to understand what the quarrel had been about if only it -were explained to her.</p> - -<p>Mary went into the library and hesitantly sat on the edge, of a couch -near him. He did not look at her and his face seemed gray in the midday -light. Then she knew that he was lonely, too. But a great feeling of -tenderness for him went through her.</p> - -<p>"Sometimes I think you and Clara Manz must be the only people in the -world," she said abruptly, "who aren't so silly about shifting right -on the dot. Why, I don't <i>care</i> if Susan Shorrs <i>is</i> an hour late for -classes!"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="377" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Those first moments when he seized her in his arms, it seemed her heart -would shake loose. It was as though she had uttered some magic formula, -one that had abruptly opened the doors to his love. It was only after -he had explained to her why he was always late on the first day of the -family shift that she knew something was wrong. He <i>did</i> tell her, over -and over, that he knew she was unhappy and that it was his fault. But -he was at the same time soothing her, petting her, as if <i>he was afraid -of her</i>.</p> - -<p>He talked on and on. Gradually, Mary understood in his trembling body, -in his perspiring palms, in his pleading eyes, that he was afraid of -dying, that he was afraid <i>she</i> would kill him with the merest thing -she said, with her very presence.</p> - -<p>This was not painful to Mary, because, suddenly, something came with -ponderous enormity to stand before her: <i>I would just as soon the child -did not realize her relationship to this sordid situation.</i></p> - -<p>Her relationship. It was some kind of relationship to Conrad and Clara -Manz, because those were the people they had been talking about.</p> - -<p>The moment her father left the apartment, she went to his desk and -took out the file of family records. After she found the address of -Conrad Manz, the idea occurred to her to write it on her body. Mary was -certain that Susan Shorrs never bathed and she thought this a clever -idea. Sometime on Susan's rest day, five days from now, she would try -to force the shift and go to see Conrad and Clara Manz. Her plan was -simple in execution, but totally vague as to goal.</p> - -<p>Mary was already late when she hurried to the children's section of a -public shifting station. A Children's Transfer Bus was waiting, and -Mary registered on it for Susan Shorrs to be taken to school. After -that she found a shifting room and opened it with her wristband. She -changed into a shifting costume and sent her own clothes and belongings -home.</p> - -<p>Children her age did not wear makeup, but Mary always stood at the -mirror during the shift. She always tried as hard as she could to -see what Susan Shorrs looked like. She giggled over a verse that was -scrawled beside the mirror ...</p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Rouge your hair and comb your face;</div> - <div class="verse">Many a third head is lost in this place.</div> -</div></div> - -<p>... and then the shift came, doubly frightening because of what she -knew she was going to do.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Especially if you were a hyperalter like Mary, you were supposed to -have some sense of the passage of time while you were out of shift. Of -course, you did not know what was going on, but it was as though a more -or less accurate chronometer kept running when you went out of shift. -Apparently Mary's was highly inaccurate, because, to her horror, she -found herself sitting bolt upright in one of Mrs. Harris's classes, not -out on the playgrounds, where she had expected Susan Shorrs to be.</p> - -<p>Mary was terrified, and the ugly school dress Susan had been wearing -accented, by its strangeness, the seriousness of her premature shift. -Children weren't supposed to show much difference from hyperalter to -hypoalter, but when she raised her eyes, her fright grew. Children did -change. She hardly recognized anyone in the room, though most of them -must be the alters of her own classmates. Mrs. Harris was a B-shift and -overlapped both Mary and Susan, but otherwise Mary recognized only Carl -Blair's hypoalter because of his freckles.</p> - -<p>Mary knew she had to get out of there or Mrs. Harris would eventually -recognize her. If she left the room quietly, Mrs. Harris would not -question her unless she recognized her. It was no use trying to guess -how Susan would walk.</p> - -<p>Mary stood and went toward the door, glad that it turned her back to -Mrs. Harris. It seemed to her that she could feel the teacher's eyes -stabbing through her back.</p> - -<p>But she walked safely from the room. She dashed down the school -corridor and out into the street. So great was her fear of what she was -doing that her hypoalter's world actually seemed like a different one.</p> - -<p>It was a long way for Mary to walk across town, and when she rang the -bell, Conrad Manz was already home from work. He smiled at her and she -loved him at once.</p> - -<p>"Well, what do you want, young lady?" he asked.</p> - -<p>Mary couldn't answer him. She just smiled back.</p> - -<p>"What's your name, eh?"</p> - -<p>Mary went right on smiling, but suddenly he blurred in front of her.</p> - -<p>"Here, here! There's nothing to cry about. Come on in and let's see if -we can help you. Clara! We have a visitor, a very sentimental visitor."</p> - -<p>Mary let him put his big arm around her shoulder and draw her, crying, -into the apartment. Then she saw Clara swimming before her, looking -like her mother, but ... no, not at all like her mother.</p> - -<p>"Now, see here, chicken, what is it you've come for?" Conrad asked when -her crying stopped.</p> - -<p>Mary had to stare hard at the floor to be able to say it. "I want to -live with you."</p> - -<p>Clara was twisting and untwisting a handkerchief. "But, child, we have -already had our first baby appointed to us. He'll be with us next -shift, and after that I have to bear a baby for someone else to keep. -We wouldn't be allowed to take care of you."</p> - -<p>"I thought maybe I was your real child." Mary said it helplessly, -knowing in advance what the answer would be.</p> - -<p>"Darling," Clara soothed, "children don't live with their natural -parents. It's neither practical nor civilized. I have had a child -conceived and borne on my shift, and this baby is my exchange, so you -see that you are much too old to be my conception. Whoever your natural -parents may be, it is just something on record with the Medicorps -Genetic Division and isn't important."</p> - -<p>"But you're a special case," Mary pressed. "I thought because it was a -special arrangement that you were my real parents." She looked up and -she saw that Clara had turned white.</p> - -<p>And now Conrad Manz was agitated, too. "What do you mean, we're a -special case?" He was staring hard at her.</p> - -<p>"Because...." And now for the first time Mary realized how special this -case was, how sensitive they would be about it.</p> - -<p>He grasped her by the shoulders and turned her so she faced his -unblinking eyes. "I said, what do you mean, we're a special case? -Clara, what in thirty heads does this kid mean?"</p> - -<p>His grip hurt her and she began to cry again. She broke away. "You're -the hypoalters of my appointed father and mother. I thought maybe when -it was like that, I might be your real child ... and you might want me. -I don't want to be where I am. I want somebody...."</p> - -<p>Clara was calm now, her sudden fear gone. "But, darling, if you're -unhappy where you are, only the Medicorps can reappoint you. Besides, -maybe your appointed parents are just having some personal problems -right now. Maybe if you tried to understand them, you would see that -they really love you."</p> - -<p>Conrad's face showed that he did not understand. He spoke with a stiff, -quiet voice and without taking his eyes from Mary. "What are you doing -here? My own hyperalter's kid in my house, throwing it up to me that -I'm married to his wife's hypoalter!"</p> - -<p>They did not feel the earth move, as she fearfully did. They sat there, -staring at her, as though they might sit forever while she backed away, -out of the apartment, and ran into her collapsing world.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Conrad Manz's rest day fell the day after Bill Walden's kid showed -up at his apartment. It was ten days since that strait jacket of a -conference on Santa Fe had lost him a chance to blast off a rocket -racer. This time, on the practical knowledge that emergency business -conferences were seldom called after lunch, Conrad had placed his -reservation for a racer in the afternoon. The visit from Mary Walden -had upset him every time he thought of it. Since it was his rest day, -he had no intention of thinking about it and Conrad's scrupulously -drugged mind was capable of just that.</p> - -<p>So now, in the lavish coolness of the lounge at the Rocket Club, Conrad -sipped his drink contentedly and made no contribution to the gloomy -conversation going on around him.</p> - -<p>"Look at it this way," the melancholy face of Alberts, a pilot from -England, morosely emphasized his tone. "It takes about 10,000 economic -units to jack a forty ton ship up to satellite level and snap it around -the course six times. That's just practice for us. On the other hand, -an intellectual fellow who spends his spare time at a microfilm library -doesn't use up 1,000 units in a year. In fact, his spare time activity -may turn up as units gained. The Economic Board doesn't argue that all -pastime should be gainful. They just say rocket racing wastes more -economic units than most pilots make on their work days. I tell you the -day is almost here when they ban the rockets."</p> - -<p>"That's just it," another pilot put in. "There was a time when you -could show that rocket races were necessary for better spaceship -design. Design has gone way beyond that. From their point of view we -just burn up units as fast as other people create them. And it's no use -trying to argue for the television shows. The Board can prove people -would rather see a jet-skiing meet at a cost of about one-hundredth -that of a rocket race."</p> - -<p>Conrad Manz grinned into his drink. He had been aware for several -minutes that pert little Angela, Alberts' soft-eyed, husky-voiced wife, -was trying to catch his eye. But stranded as she was in the buzzing -traffic of rockets, she was trying to hail the wrong rescuer. He had -about fifteen minutes till the ramp boys would have a ship ready for -him. Much as he liked Angela, he wasn't going to miss that race.</p> - -<p>Still, he let his grin broaden and, looking up at her, he lied -maliciously by nodding. She interpreted this signal as he knew she -would. Well, at least he would afford her a graceful exit from the -boring conversation.</p> - -<p>He got up and went over and took her hand. Her full lips parted a -little and she kissed him on the mouth.</p> - -<p>Conrad turned to Alberts and interrupted him. "Angela and I would like -to spend a little time together. Do you mind?"</p> - -<p>Alberts was annoyed at having his train of thought broken and rather -snapped out the usual courtesy. "Of course not. I'm glad for both of -you."</p> - -<p>Conrad looked the group over with a bland stare. "Have you lads ever -tried jet-skiing? There's more genuine excitement in ten minutes of it -than an hour of rocket racing. Personally, I don't care if the Board -does ban the rockets soon. I'll just hop out to the Rocky Mountains on -rest days."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Conrad knew perfectly well that if he had made this assertion before -asking Alberts for his wife, the man would have found some excuse to -have her remain. All the faces present displayed the <i>aficionado's</i> -disdain for one who has just demonstrated he doesn't <i>belong</i>. What the -straitjacket did they think they were—some ancient order of noblemen?</p> - -<p>Conrad took Angela's yielding arm and led her serenely away before -Alberts could think of anything to detain her.</p> - -<p>On the way out of the lounge, she stroked his arm with frank -admiration. "I'm so glad you were agreeable. Honestly, Harold could -talk rockets till I died."</p> - -<p>Conrad bent and kissed her. "Angela, I'm sorry, but this isn't going -to be what you think. I have a ship to take off in just a few minutes."</p> - -<p>She flared and dug into his arm now. "Oh, Conrad Manz! You ... you made -me believe...."</p> - -<p>He laughed and grabbed her wrists. "Now, now. I'm neglecting you to -<i>fly</i> a rocket, not just to talk about them. I won't let you die."</p> - -<p>At that she could not suppress her husky musical laugh. "I found that -out the last time you and I were together. Clara and I had a drink the -other day at the Citizen's Club. I don't often use dirty language, but -I told Clara she must be keeping you in a <i>straitjacket</i> at home."</p> - -<p>Conrad frowned, wishing she hadn't brought up the subject. It worried -him off and on that something was wrong with Clara, something even -worse than that awful <i>dreaming</i> business ten days ago. For several -shifts now she had been cold, nor was it just a temporary lack of -interest in himself, for she was also cold to the men of their -acquaintance of whom she was usually quite fond. As for himself, he had -had to depend on casual contacts such as Angela. Not that they weren't -pleasant, but a man and wife were supposed to maintain a healthy -love life between themselves, and it usually meant trouble with the -Medicorps when this broke down.</p> - -<p>Angela glanced at him. "I didn't think Clara laughed well at my remark. -Is something wrong between you?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, no," he declared hastily. "Clara is sometimes that way ... doesn't -catch a joke right off."</p> - -<p>A page boy approached them where they stood in the rotunda and advised -Conrad that his ship was ready.</p> - -<p>"Honestly, Angela, I'll make it up, I promise."</p> - -<p>"I know you will, darling. And at least I'm grateful you saved me from -all those rocket jets in there." Angela raised her lips for a kiss and -afterward, as she pushed him toward the door, her slightly vacant face -smiled at him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Out on the ramp, Conrad found another pilot ready to take off. They -made two wagers—first to reach the racing course, and winner in a -six-lap heat around the six-hundred-mile hexagonal course.</p> - -<p>They fired together and Conrad blasted his ship up on a thunderous -column of flame that squeezed him into his seat. He was good at this -and he knew he would win the lift to the course. On the course, -though, if his opponent was any good at all, Conrad would probably -lose because he enjoyed slamming the ship around the course in his -wasteful, swashbuckling style much more than merely winning the heat.</p> - -<p>Conrad kept his drive on till the last possible second and then shot -out his nose jets. The ship shuddered up through another hundred miles -and came to a lolling halt near the starting buoys. The other pilot -gasped when Conrad shouted at him over the intership, "The winner by -all thirty heads!"</p> - -<p>It was generally assumed that a race up to the course consisted of -cutting all jets when you had enough lift, and using the nose brakes -only to correct any over-shot. "What did you do, just keep your power -on and flip the ship around?" The other racer coasted up to Conrad's -level and steadied with a brief forward burst.</p> - -<p>They got the automatic signal from the starting buoy and went for the -first turn, nose and nose, about half a mile apart. Conrad lost 5000 -yards on the first turn by shoving his power too hard against the -starboard steering Jets.</p> - -<p>It made a pretty picture when a racer hammered its way around a turn -that way with a fan of outside jets holding it in place. The Other -fellow made his turns cleanly, using mostly the driving jets for -steering. But that didn't look like much to those who happened to -flip on their television while this little heat was in progress. On -every turn, Conrad lost a little in space, but not in the eye of the -automatic televisor on the buoy marking the turn. As usual, he cut -closer to the buoys than regulations allowed, to give the folks a show.</p> - -<p>Without the slightest regret, Conrad lost the heat by a full two sides -of the hexagon. He congratulated his opponent and watched the fellow -let his ship down carefully toward earth on its tail jets. For a while -Conrad lolled his ship around near the starting buoy and its probably -watching eye, flipping through a series of complicated maneuvers with -the steering jets.</p> - -<p>Conrad did not like the grim countenance of outer space. The lifeless, -gemlike blaze of cloud upon cloud of stars in the perspectiveless black -repelled him. He liked rocket racing only because of the neat timing -necessary, and possibly because the knowledge that he indulged in it -scared poor old Bill Walden half to death.</p> - -<p>Today the bleak aspect of the Galaxy harried his mind back upon its -own problems. A particularly nasty association of Clara with Bill -Walden and his sniveling kid kept dogging Conrad's mind and, as soon as -stunting had exhausted his excess of fuel, he turned the ship to earth -and sent it in with a short, spectacular burst.</p> - -<p>Now that he stopped to consider it, Clara's strange behavior had begun -at about the same time that Bill Walden started cheating on the shifts. -That kid Mary must have known something was going on, or she would not -have done such a disgusting thing as to come to their apartment.</p> - -<p>Conrad had let the rocket fall nose-down, until now it was screaming -into the upper ionosphere. With no time to spare, he swiveled the ship -on its guiding jets and opened the drive blast at the up-rushing earth. -He had just completed this wrenching maneuver when two appalling things -happened together.</p> - -<p>Conrad suddenly knew, whether as a momentary leak from Bill's mind to -his, or as a rapid calculation of his own, that Bill Walden and Clara -shared a secret. At the same moment, something tore through his mind -like fingers of chill wind. With seven gravities mashing him into the -bucket-seat, he grunted curses past thin-stretched lips.</p> - -<p>"Great blue psychiatrists! What in thirty straitjackets is that -three-headed fool trying to do, kill us both?"</p> - -<p>Conrad just managed to raise his leaden hand and set the plummeting -racer for automatic pilot before Bill Walden forced him out of the -shift. In his last moment of consciousness, and in the shock of his -overwhelming shame, Conrad felt the bitter irony that he could not cut -the power and kill Bill Walden.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When Bill Walden became conscious of the thunderous clamor of the -braking ship and the awful weight of deceleration into which he had -shifted, the core of him froze. He was so terrified that he could not -have thought of reshifting even had there been time.</p> - -<p>His head rolled on the pad in spite of its weight, and he saw the -earth coming at him like a monstrous swatter aimed at a fly. Between -his fright and the inhuman gravity, he lost consciousness without ever -seeing on the control panel the red warning that saved him: <i>Automatic -Pilot</i>.</p> - -<p>The ship settled itself on the ramp in a mushroom of fire. Bill -regained awareness several seconds later. He was too shaken to do -anything but sit there for a long time.</p> - -<p>When at last he felt capable of moving, he struggled with the door till -he found how to open it, and climbed down to the still-hot ramp he had -landed on. It was at least a mile to the Rocket Club across the barren -flat of the field, and he set out on foot. Shortly, however, a truck -came speeding across to him.</p> - -<p>The driver leaned out. "Hey, Conrad, what's the matter? Why didn't you -pull the ship over to the hangars?"</p> - -<p>With Conrad's makeup on, Bill felt he could probably get by. "Controls -aren't working," he offered noncommittally.</p> - -<p>At the club, a place he had never been to before in his life, Bill -found an unused helicopter and started it with his wristband. He flew -the machine into town to the landing station nearest his home.</p> - -<p>He was doomed, he knew. Conrad certainly would report him for this. -He had not intended to force the shift so early or so violently. -Perhaps he had not intended to force it at all this time. But there was -something in him more powerful than himself ... a need to break the -shift and be with Clara that now acted almost independently of him and -certainly without regard for his safety.</p> - -<p>Bill flew his craft carefully through the city traffic, working his way -between the widely spaced towers with the uncertain hand of one to whom -machines are not an extension of the body. He put the helicopter down -at the landing station with some difficulty.</p> - -<p>Clara would not be expecting him so early. From his apartment, as soon -as he had changed makeup, he visiophoned her. It was strange how long -and how carefully they needed to look at each other and how few words -they could say.</p> - -<p>Afterward, he seemed calmer and went about getting ready with more -efficiency. But when he found himself addressing the package of -Conrad's clothes to his home, he chuckled bitterly.</p> - -<p>It was when he went back to drop the package in the mail chute that he -noticed the storage room door ajar. He disposed of the package and went -over to the door. Then he stood still, listening. He had to stop his -own breathing to hear clearly.</p> - -<p>Bill tightened himself and opened the door. He flipped on the light and -saw Mary. The child sat on the floor in the corner with her knees drawn -up against her chest. Between the knees and the chest, the frail wrists -were crossed, the hands closed limply like—like those of a fetus. The -forehead rested on the knees so that, should the closed eyes stray -open, they would be looking at the placid hands.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus3.jpg" width="600" height="198" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The sickening sight of the child squeezed down on his heart till the -color drained from his face. He went forward and knelt before her. His -dry throat hammered with the words, <i>what have I done to you</i>, but he -could not speak. The question of how long she might have been here, he -could not bear to think.</p> - -<p>He put out his hand, but he did not touch her. A shudder of revulsion -shook him and he scrambled to his feet. He hurried back into the -apartment with only one thought. He must get someone to help her. Only -the Medicorps could take care of a situation like this.</p> - -<p>As he stood at the visiophone, he knew that this involuntary act of -panic had betrayed all that he had ever thought and done. He had to -call the Medicorps. He could not face the result of his own behavior -without them. Like a ghostly after-image, he saw Clara's face on the -screen. She was lost, cut off, with only himself to depend on.</p> - -<p>A part of him, a place where there were no voices and a great tragedy, -had been abruptly shut off. He stood stupidly confused and disturbed -about something he couldn't recall. The emotion in his body suddenly -had no referent. He stood like a badly frightened animal while his -heart slowed and blood seeped again into whitened parenchymas, while -tides of epinephrine burned lower.</p> - -<p>Remembering he must hurry, Bill left the apartment. It was an apartment -with its storage room door closed, an apartment without a storage room.</p> - -<p>From the moment that he walked in and took Clara in his arms, he was -not worried about being caught. He felt only the great need for her. -There seemed only one difference from the first time and it was a good -difference, because now Clara was so tense and apprehensive. He felt -a new tenderness for her, as one might feel for a child. It seemed to -him that there was no end to the well of gentleness and compassion that -was suddenly in him. He was mystified by the depth of this feeling. -He kissed her again and again and petted her as one might a disturbed -child.</p> - -<p>Clara said, "Oh, Bill, we're doing wrong! Mary was here yesterday!"</p> - -<p>Whoever she meant, it had no meaning for him. He said, "It's all right. -You mustn't worry."</p> - -<p>"She needs you, Bill, and I take you away from her."</p> - -<p>Whatever it was she was talking about was utterly unimportant beside -the fact that she was not happy herself. He soothed her. "Darling, you -mustn't worry about it. Let's be happy the way we used to be."</p> - -<p>He led her to a couch and they sat together, her head resting on his -shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Conrad is worried about me. He knows something is wrong. Oh, Bill, if -he knew, he'd demand the worst penalty for you."</p> - -<p>Bill felt the stone of fear come back in his chest. He thought, too, -of Helen, of how intense her shame would be. Medicorps action would be -machinelike, logical as a set of equation; they were very likely to -take more drastic steps where the complaints would be so strong and no -request for leniency forthcoming. Conrad knew now, of course. Bill had -felt his hate.</p> - -<p>It was nearing the end. Death would come to Bill with electronic -fingers. A ghostly probing in his mind and suddenly....</p> - -<p>Clara's great unhappiness and the way she turned her head into his -shoulder to cry forced him to calm the rising panic in himself, and -again to caress the fear from her.</p> - -<p>Even later, when they lay where the moonlight thrust into the room -an impalpable shaft of alabaster, he loved her only as a succor. -Carefully, slowly, smoothing out her mind, drawing it away from all the -other things, drawing it down into this one thing. Gathering all her -mind into her senses and holding it there. Then quickly taking it away -from her in a moaning spasm so that now she was murmuring, murmuring, -palely drifting. Sleeping like a loved child.</p> - -<p>For a long, long time he watched the white moon cut its arc across -their window. He listened with a deep pleasure to her evenly breathing -sleep. But slowly he realized that her breath had changed, that the -body so close to his was tensing. His heart gave a great bound and tiny -moths of horror fluttered along his back. He raised himself and saw -that the eyes were open in the silver light. Even through the makeup he -saw that they were Helen's eyes.</p> - -<p>He did the only thing left for him. He shifted. But in that terrible -instant he understood something he had not anticipated. In Helen's eyes -there was not only intense shame over shifting into her hypoalter's -home; there was not only the disgust with himself for breaking -communication codes. He saw that, as a woman of the 20th Century might -have felt, Helen hated Clara as a sexual rival. She hated Clara doubly -because he had turned not to some other woman, but to the other part of -herself whom she could never know.</p> - -<p>As he shifted, Bill knew that the next light he saw would be on the -adamant face of the Medicorps.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Major Paul Grey, with two other Medicorps officers, entered the -Walden apartment about two hours after Bill left it to meet Clara. -Major Grey was angry with himself. Important information on a case -of communication-breaks and drug-refusal could be learned by letting -it run its course under observation. But he had not intended Conrad -Manz's life to be endangered, and certainly he would not have taken the -slightest chance on what they found in the Walden apartment if he had -expected it this early.</p> - -<p>Major Grey blamed himself for what had happened to Mary Walden. He -should have had the machines watching Susan and Mary at the same time -that they were relaying all wristband data for Bill and Conrad and for -Helen and Clara to his office.</p> - -<p>He had not done this because it was Susan's shift and he had not -expected Mary to break it. Now he knew that Helen and Bill Walden -had been quarreling over the fact that Clara was cheating on Helen's -shifts, and their conversations had directed the unhappy child's -attention to the Manz couple. She had broken shift to meet them ... -looking for a loving father, of course.</p> - -<p>Still—things would not have turned out so badly if Captain Thiel, -Mary's school officer, had not attributed Susan Shorrs' disappearance -only to poor drug acclimatization. Captain Thiel had naturally known -that Major Grey was in town to prosecute Bill Walden, because the major -had called on him to discuss the case. Yet it had not occurred to him, -until 18 hours after Susan's disappearance, that Mary might have forced -the shift for some reason associated with her aberrant father.</p> - -<p>By the time the captain advised him, Major Grey already knew that Bill -had forced the shift on Conrad under desperate circumstances and he had -decided to close in. He fully expected to find the father and daughter -at the apartment, and now ... it sickened him to see the child's -demented condition and realize that Bill had left her there.</p> - -<p>Major Grey could see at a glance that Mary Walden would not be -accessible for days even with the best treatment. He left it to the -other two officers to hospitalize the child and set out for the Manz -apartment.</p> - -<p>He used his master wristband to open the door there, and found a woman -standing in the middle of the room, wrapped in a sheet. He knew that -this must be Helen Walden. It was odd how ill-fitting Clara Manz's -softly sensual makeup seemed, even to a stranger, on the more rigidly -composed face before him. He guessed that Helen would wear color higher -on her cheeks and the mouth would be done in severe lines. Certainly -the present haughty face struggled with its incongruous makeup as well -as the indignity of her dress.</p> - -<p>She pulled the sheet tighter about her and said icily, "I will not wear -that woman's clothes."</p> - -<p>Major Grey introduced himself and asked, "Where is Bill Walden?"</p> - -<p>"He shifted! He left me with.... Oh, I'm so ashamed!"</p> - -<p>Major Grey shared her loathing. There was no way to escape the -conditioning of childhood—sex relations between hyperalter and -hypoalter were more than outlawed, they were in themselves disgusting. -If they were allowed, they could destroy this civilization. Those -idealists—they were almost all hypoalters, of course—who wanted the -old terminology changed didn't take that into account. Next thing -they'd want children to live with their actual parents!</p> - -<p>Major Grey stepped into the bedroom. Through the bathroom door beyond, -he could see Conrad Manz changing his makeup.</p> - -<p>Conrad turned and eyed him bluntly. "Would you mind staying out of here -till I'm finished? I've had about all I can take."</p> - -<p>Major Grey shut the door and returned to Helen Walden. He took a -hypothalamic block from his own pharmacase and handed it to her. "Here, -you're probably on very low drug levels. You'd better take this." He -poured her a glass of pop from a decanter and, while they waited for -Conrad, he dialed the nearest shifting station on the visiophone and -ordered up an emergency shifting costume for her.</p> - -<p>When at last they were both dressed, made up to their satisfaction and -drugged to his satisfaction, he had them sit on a couch together across -from him. They sat at opposite ends of it, stiff with resentment at -each other's presence.</p> - -<p>Major Grey said calmly, "You realize that this matter is coming to a -Medicorps trial. It will be serious."</p> - -<p>Major Grey watched their faces. On hers he saw grim determination. On -Conrad's face he saw the heavy movement of alarm. The man loved his -wife. That was going to help. "It is necessary in a case such as this -for the Medicorps to weigh your decisions along with the scientific -evidence we will accumulate. Unfortunately, the number of laymen -directly involved in this case—and not on trial—is only two, due -to your peculiar marriage. If the hypoalters, Clara and Conrad, were -married to other partners, we might call on as many as six involved -persons and obtain a more equitable lay judgment. As it stands, the -entire responsibility rests on the two of you."</p> - -<p>Helen Walden was primly confident. "I don't see how we can fail to -treat the matter with perfect logic. After all, it is not <i>we</i> who -neglect our drug levels.... They <i>were</i> refusing to take their drugs, -weren't they?" she asked, hoping for the worst and certain she was -right.</p> - -<p>"Yes, this is drug refusal." Major Grey paused while she relished the -answer. "But I must correct you in one impression. Your proper drug -levels do not assure that you will act logically in this matter. The -drugged mind <i>is</i> logical. However, its fundamental datum is that the -drugs and drugged minds must be protected before everything else." He -watched Conrad's face while he added, "Because of this, it is possible -for you to arrive logically at a conclusion that ... death is the -required solution." He paused, looking at their white lips. Then he -said, "Actually, other, more suitable solutions may be possible."</p> - -<p>"But they <i>were</i> refusing their drugs," she said. "You talk as if you -are defending them. Aren't you a Medicorps prosecutor?"</p> - -<p>"I do not prosecute <i>people</i> in the ancient 20th Century sense, Mrs. -Walden. I prosecute the <i>acts</i> of drug refusal and communication -breaks. There is quite a difference."</p> - -<p>"Well!" she said almost explosively. "I always knew Bill would get -into trouble sooner or later with his wild, antisocial ideas. I never -<i>dreamed</i> the Medicorps would take <i>his</i> side."</p> - -<p>Major Grey held his breath, almost certain now that she would walk into -the trap. If she did, he could save Clara Manz before the trial.</p> - -<p>"After all, they have broken every communication code. They have -refused the drugs, a defiance aimed at our very lives. They—"</p> - -<p>"Shut up!" It was the first time Conrad Manz had spoken since he sat -down. "The Medicorps spent weeks gathering evidence and preparing their -recommendations. You haven't seen any of that and you've already made -up your mind. How logical is that? It sounds as if you <i>want</i> your -husband dead. Maybe the poor devil had some reason, after all, for what -he did." On the man's face there was the nearest approach to hate that -the drugs would allow.</p> - -<p>Major Grey let his breath out softly. They were split permanently. She -would have to trade him a mild decision on Clara in order to save Bill. -And even there, if the subsequent evidence gave any slight hope, Major -Grey believed now that he could work on Conrad to hang the lay judgment -and let the Medicorps' scientific recommendation go through unmodified.</p> - -<p>He let them stew in their cross-purposed silence for a while and then -nailed home a disconcerting fact.</p> - -<p>"I think I should remind you that there are few advantages to having -your alter extinguished in the <i>mnemonic eraser</i>. A man whose -hyperalter has been extinguished must report on his regular shift days -to a hospital and be placed for five days in suspended animation. This -is not very healthy for the body, but necessary. Otherwise, everyone's -natural distaste for his own alter and the understandable wish to spend -twice as much time living would generate schemes to have one's alter -sucked out by the eraser. That happened extensively back in the 21st -Century before the five day suspension was required. It was also used -as a 'cure' for schizophrenia, but it was, of course, only the brutal -murder of innocent personalities."</p> - -<p>Major Grey smiled grimly to himself. "Now I will have to ask you both -to accompany me to the hospital. I will want you, Mrs. Walden, to shift -at once to Mrs. Manz. Mr. Manz, you will have to remain under the close -observation of an officer until Bill Walden tries to shift back. We -have to catch him with an injection to keep him in shift."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The young medicop put the syringe aside and laid his hand on Bill -Walden's forehead. He pushed the hair back out of Bill's eyes.</p> - -<p>"There, Mr. Walden, you don't have to struggle now."</p> - -<p>Bill let his breath out in a long sigh. "You've caught me. I can't -shift any more, can I?"</p> - -<p>"That's right, Mr. Walden. Not unless we want you to." The young man -picked up his medical equipment and stepped aside.</p> - -<p>Bill noticed then the Medicorps officer standing in the background. The -man was watching as though he contemplated some melancholy distance. "I -am Major Grey, Bill. I'm handling your case."</p> - -<p>Bill did not answer. He lay staring at the hospital ceiling. Then he -felt his mouth open in a slow grin.</p> - -<p>"What's funny?" Major Grey asked mildly.</p> - -<p>"Leaving my hypoalter with my wife," Bill answered candidly. It had -already ceased to be funny to him, but he saw Major Grey smile in -spite of himself.</p> - -<p>"They were quite upset when I found them. It must have been some -scramble before that." Major Grey came over and sat in the chair -vacated by the young man who had just injected Bill. "You know, Bill, -we will need a complete analysis of you. We want to do everything we -can to save you, but it will require your cooperation."</p> - -<p>Bill nodded, feeling his chest tighten. Here it came. Right to the end, -they would be tearing him apart to find out what made him work.</p> - -<p>Major Grey must have sensed Bill's bitter will to resist. His resonant -voice was soft, his face kindly. "We must have your sincere desire to -help. We can't force you to do anything."</p> - -<p>"Except die," Bill said.</p> - -<p>"Maybe helping us get the information that might save your life at the -trial isn't worth the trouble to you. But your aberration has seriously -disturbed the lives of several people. Don't you think you owe it to -them to help us prevent this sort of thing in the future?" Major Grey -ran his hand through his whitening hair. "I thought you would like -to know Mary will come through all right. We will begin shortly to -acclimatize her to her new appointed parents, who will be visiting her -each day. That will accelerate her recovery a great deal. Of course, -right now she is still inaccessible."</p> - -<p>The brutally clear picture of Mary alone in the storage room crashed -back into Bill's mind. After a while, in such slow stages that the -beginning was hardly noticeable, he began to cry. The young medicop -injected him with a sleeping compound, but not before Bill knew he -would do whatever the Medicorps wanted.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The next day was crowded with battery after battery of tests. The -interviews were endless. He was subjected to a hundred artificial -situations and every reaction from his blood sugar to the frequency -ranges of his voice was measured. They gave him only small amounts of -drugs in order to test his reaction to them.</p> - -<p>Late in the evening, Major Grey came by and interrupted an officer who -was taking an electroencephalogram for the sixth time after injection -of a drug.</p> - -<p>"All right, Bill, you have really given us cooperation. But after -you've had your dinner, I hope you won't mind if I come to your room -and talk with you for a little while."</p> - -<p>When Bill finished eating, he waited impatiently in his room for the -Medicorps officer. Major Grey came soon after. He shook his head at -the mute question Bill shot at him.</p> - -<p>"No, Bill. We will not have the results of your tests evaluated until -late tomorrow morning. I can't tell you a thing until the trial in any -case."</p> - -<p>"When will that be?"</p> - -<p>"As soon as the evaluation of your tests is in." Major Grey ran his -hand over his smooth chin and seemed to sigh. "Tell me, Bill, how do -you feel about your case? How did you get into this situation and what -do you think about it now?" The officer sat in the room's only chair -and motioned Bill to the cot.</p> - -<p>Bill was astonished at his sudden desire to talk about his problem. He -had to laugh to cover it up. "I guess I feel as if I am being condemned -for trying to stay sober." Bill used the ancient word with a mock tone -of righteousness that he knew the major would understand.</p> - -<p>Major Grey smiled. "How do you feel when you're sober?"</p> - -<p>Bill searched his face. "The way the ancient Moderns did, I guess. I -feel what happens to me the <i>way</i> it happens to me, not the artificial -way the drugs let it happen. I think there is a way for us to live -without the drugs and really enjoy life. Have you ever cut down on your -drugs. Major?"</p> - -<p>The officer shook his head.</p> - -<p>Bill smiled at him dreamily. "You ought to try it. It's as though a new -life has suddenly opened up. Everything looks different to you.</p> - -<p>"Look, with an average life span of 100 years, each of us only lives -50 years and our alter lives the other 50. Yet even on half-time we -experience only about half the living we'd do if we didn't take the -drugs. We would be able to feel the loves and hatreds and desires -of life. No matter how many mistakes we made, we would be able -occasionally to live those intense moments that made the ancients -great."</p> - -<p>Major Grey said tonelessly, "The ancients were great at killing, -cheating and debasing one another. And they were worse sober than -<i>drunk</i>." This time he did not smile at the word.</p> - -<p>Bill understood the implacable logic before him. The logic that had -saved man from himself by smothering his spirit. The carefully achieved -logic of the drugs that had seized upon the disassociated personality, -and engineered it into a smoothly running machine, where there was no -unhappiness because there was no great happiness, where there was no -crime except failure to take the drugs or cross the alter sex line. -Without drugs, he was capable of fury and he felt it now.</p> - -<p>"You should see how foolish these communication codes look when you -are undrugged. This stupid hide-and-seek of shifting! These two-headed -monsters simpering, about their artificial morals and their endless -prescriptions! They belong in <i>crazy</i> houses! What use is there in such -a world? If we are all this sick, we should die...."</p> - -<p>Bill stopped and there was suddenly a ringing silence in the barren -little room.</p> - -<p>Finally Major Grey said, "I think you can see, Bill, that your desire -to live without drugs is incompatable with this society. It would -be impossible for us to maintain in you an artificial need for the -drugs that would be healthy. Only if we can clearly demonstrate that -this aberration is not an inherent part of your personality can we do -something medically or psycho-surgically about it."</p> - -<p>Bill did not at first see the implication in this. When he did, he -thought of Clara rather than of himself, and his voice was shaken. "Is -it a localized aberration in Clara?"</p> - -<p>Major Grey looked at him levelly. "I have arranged for you to be with -Clara Manz a little while in the morning." He stood up and said good -night and was gone.</p> - -<p>Slowly, as if it hurt him to move, Bill turned off the light and lay on -the cot in the semi-dark. After a while he could feel his heart begin -to take hold and he started feeling better. It was as though a man who -had thought himself permanently expatriated had been told, "Tomorrow, -you walk just over that hill and you will be home."</p> - -<p>All through the night he lay awake, alternating between panic and -desperate longing in a cycle with which finally he became familiar. At -last, as a rusty light of dawn reddened his silent room, he fell into a -troubled sleep.</p> - -<p>He started awake in broad daylight. An orderly was at the door with his -breakfast tray. He could not eat, of course. After the orderly left, he -hastily changed to a new hospital uniform and washed himself. He redid -his makeup with a trembling hand, straightened the bedclothes and then -he sat on the edge of the cot.</p> - -<p>No one came for him.</p> - -<p>The young medicop who had given him the injection that caught him in -shift finally entered, and was standing near him before Bill was aware -of his presence.</p> - -<p>"Good morning, Mr. Walden. How are you feeling?"</p> - -<p>Bill's wildly oscillating tensions froze at the point where he could -only move helplessly with events and suffer a constant, unchangeable -longing.</p> - -<p>It was as if in a dream that they moved in silence together down the -long corridors of the hospital and took the elevator to an upper floor. -The medicop opened the door to a room and let Bill enter. Bill heard -the door close behind him.</p> - -<p>Clara did not turn from where she stood looking out the window. Bill -did not care that the walls of the chill little room were almost -certainly recording every sight and sound. All his hunger was focused -on the back of the girl at the window. The room seemed to ring with his -racing blood. But he was slowly aware that something was wrong, and -when at last he called her name, his voice broke.</p> - -<p>Still without turning, she said in a strained monotone, "I want you to -understand that I have consented to this meeting only because Major -Grey has assured me it is necessary."</p> - -<p>It was a long time before he could speak. "Clara, I need you."</p> - -<p>She spun on him. "Have you no shame? You are married to my -hyperalter—don't you understand that?" Her face was suddenly wet with -tears and the intensity of her shame flamed at him from her cheeks. -"How can Conrad ever forgive me for being with his hyperalter and -talking about him? Oh, how can I have been so <i>mad</i>?"</p> - -<p>"They have done something to you," he said, shaking with tension.</p> - -<p>Her chin raised at this. She was defiant, he saw, though not toward -himself—he no longer existed for her—but toward that part of herself -which once had needed him and now no longer existed. "They have cured -me," she declared. "They have cured me of everything but my shame, and -they will help me get rid of that as soon as you leave this room."</p> - -<p>Bill stared at her before leaving. Out in the corridor, the young -medicop did not look him in the face. They went back to Bill's room and -the officer left without a word. Bill lay down on his cot.</p> - -<p>Presently Major Grey entered the room. He came over to the cot. "I'm -sorry it had to be this way, Bill."</p> - -<p>Bill's words came tonelessly from his dry throat. "Was it necessary to -be cruel?"</p> - -<p>"It was necessary to test the result of her psycho-surgery. Also, it -will help her over her shame. She might otherwise have retained a seed -of fear that she still loved you."</p> - -<p>Bill did not feel anything any more. Staring at the ceiling, he knew -there was no place left for him in this world and no one in it who -needed him. The only person who had really needed him had been Mary, -and he could not bear to think of how he had treated her. Now the -Medicorps was efficiently curing the child of the hurt he had done her. -They had already erased from Clara any need for him she had ever felt.</p> - -<p>This seemed funny and he began to laugh. "Everyone is being cured of -me."</p> - -<p>"Yes, Bill. That is necessary." When Bill went on laughing Major -Grey's voice turned quite sharp. "Come with me. It's time for your -trial."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The enormous room in which they held the trial was utterly barren. -At the great oaken table around which they all sat, there were three -Medicorps officers in addition to Major Grey.</p> - -<p>Helen did not speak to Bill when they brought him in. He was placed on -the same side of the table with an officer between them. Two orderlies -stood behind Bill's chair. Other than these people, there was no one in -the room.</p> - -<p>The great windows were high above the floor and displayed only the -blissful sky. Now and then Bill saw a flock of pigeons waft aloft on -silver-turning wings. Everyone at the table except himself had a copy -of his case report and they discussed it with clipped sentences. -Between the stone floor and the vaulted ceiling, a subtle echolalia -babbled about Bill's problem behind their human talk.</p> - -<p>The discussion of the report lulled when Major Grey rapped on the -table. He glanced unsmiling from face to face, and his voice hurried -the ritualized words: "This is a court of medicine, co-joining the -results of medical science and considered lay judgment to arrive -at a decision in the case of patient Bill Walden. The patient is -hospitalized for a history of drug refusal and communication breaks. We -have before us the medical case record of patient Walden. Has everyone -present studied this record?"</p> - -<p>All at the table nodded.</p> - -<p>"Do all present feel competent to pass judgment in this case?"</p> - -<p>Again there came the agreement.</p> - -<p>Major Grey continued, "It is my duty to advise you, in the presence -of the patient, of the profound difference between a trial for simple -drug refusal and one in which that aberration is compounded with -communication breaks.</p> - -<p>"It is true that no other aberration is possible when the drugs are -taken as prescribed. After all, the drugs <i>are</i> the basis for our -schizophrenic society. Nevertheless, simple drug refusal often is a -mere matter of physiology, which is easy enough to remedy.</p> - -<p>"A far more profound threat to our society is the break in -communication. This generally is more deeply motivated in the patient, -and is often inaccessible to therapy. Such a patient is driven to -emotive explorations which place the various ancient passions, and the -infamous art of <i>historical gesture</i>, such as 'give me liberty or give -me death,' above the welfare of society."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Bill watched the birds flash down the sky, a handful of heavenly -coin. Never had it seemed to him so good to look at the sky. <i>If they -hospitalize me</i>, he thought, <i>I will be content forever to sit and look -from windows.</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus4.jpg" width="382" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"Our schizophrenic society," Major Grey was saying, "holds together and -runs smoothly because, in each individual, the personality conflicts -have been compartmentalized between hyperalter and hypoalter. On -the social level, conflicting personalities are kept on opposite -shifts and never contact each other. Or they are kept on shifts where -contact is possible no more than one or two days out of ten. Bill -Walden's break of shift is the type of behavior designed to reactivate -these conflicts, and to generate the destructive passions on which -an undrugged mind feeds. Already illness and disrupted lives have -resulted."</p> - -<p>Major Grey paused and looked directly at Bill. "Exhaustive tests -have demonstrated that your entire personality is involved. I might -also say that the aberration to live without the drugs and to break -communication codes <i>is</i> your personality. All these Medicorps officers -are agreed on that diagnosis. It remains now for us of the Medicorps -to sit with the laymen intimately involved and decide on the action -to be taken. The only possible alternatives after that diagnosis are -permanent hospitalization or ... total removal of the personality by -mnemonic erasure."</p> - -<p>Bill could not speak. He saw Major Grey nod to one of the orderlies -and felt the man pushing up his sleeve and injecting his nerveless arm. -They were forcing him to shift, he knew, so that Conrad Manz could sit -on the trial and participate.</p> - -<p>Helplessly, he watched the great sky blacken and the room dim and -disappear.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Major Grey did not avert his face, as did the others, while the shift -was in progress. Helen Walden, he saw, was dramatizing her shame at -being present during a shift, but the Medicorps officers simply stared -at the table. Major Grey watched the face of Conrad Manz take form -while the man who was going to be tried faded.</p> - -<p>Bill Walden had been without makeup, and as soon as he was sure Manz -could hear him, Major Grey apologized. "I hope you won't object to this -brief interlude in public without makeup. You are present at the trial -of Bill Walden."</p> - -<p>Conrad Manz nodded and Major Grey waited another full minute for the -shift to complete itself before he continued. "Mr. Manz, during the -two days you waited in the hospital for us to catch Walden in shift, I -discussed this case quite thoroughly with you, especially as it applied -to the case of Clara Manz, on which we were already working.</p> - -<p>"You will recall that in the case of your wife, the Medicorps diagnosis -was one of a clearly localized aberration. It was quite simple to apply -the mnemonic eraser to that small section without disturbing in any way -her basic personality. Medicorps agreement was for this procedure and -the case did not come to trial, but simply went to operation, because -lay agreement was obtained. First yourself and eventually—" Major Grey -paused and let the memory of Helen's stubborn insistence that Clara die -stir in Conrad's mind—"Mrs. Walden agreed with the Medicorps."</p> - -<p>Major Grey let the room wait in silence for a while. "The case of -Bill Walden is quite different. The aberration involves the whole -personality, and the alternative actions to be taken are permanent -hospitalization or total erasure. In this case, I believe that -Medicorps opinion will be divided as to proper action and—" Major Grey -paused again and looked levelly at Conrad Manz—"this may be true, -also, of the lay opinion."</p> - -<p>"How's that, Major?" demanded the highest ranking Medicorps officer -present, a colonel named Hart, a tall, handsome man on whom the -military air was a becoming skin. "What do you mean about Medicorps -opinion being divided?"</p> - -<p>Major Grey answered quietly, "I'm holding out for hospitalization."</p> - -<p>Colonel Hart's face reddened. He thrust it forward and straightened his -back. "That's preposterous! This is a clear-cut case of a dangerous -threat to our society, and we, let me remind you, are <i>sworn</i> to -protect that society."</p> - -<p>Major Grey felt very tired. It was, after all, difficult to understand -why he always fought so hard against erasure of these aberrant cases. -But he began with quiet determination. "The threat to society is -effectively removed by either of the alternatives, hospitalization -or total erasure. I think you can all see from Bill Walden's medical -record that his is a well rounded personality with a remarkable -mind. In the environment of the 20th Century, he would have been an -outstanding citizen, and possibly, if there had been more like him, our -present society would have been better for it.</p> - -<p>"Our history has been one of weeding out all personalities that did not -fit easily into our drugged society. Today there are so few left that I -have handled only 136 in my entire career...."</p> - -<p>Major Grey saw that Helen Walden was tensing in her chair. He realized -suddenly that she sensed better than he the effect he was having on the -other men.</p> - -<p>"We should not forget that each time we erase one of these -personalities," he pressed on relentlessly, "society loses irrevocably -a certain capacity for change. If we eliminate all personalities who -do not fit, we may find ourselves without any minds capable of meeting -future change. Our direct ancestors were largely the inmates of mental -hospitals ... we are fortunate <i>they</i> were not erased. Conrad Manz," he -asked abruptly, "what is your opinion on the case of Bill Walden?"</p> - -<p>Helen Walden started, but Conrad Manz shrugged his muscular shoulders. -"Oh, hospitalize the three-headed monster!"</p> - -<p>Major Grey snapped his eyes directly past Colonel Hart and fastened -them on the Medicorps captain. "Your opinion, Captain?"</p> - -<p>But Helen Walden was too quick. Before he could rap the table for -order, she had her thin words hanging in the echoing room. "Having been -Mr. Walden's wife for 15 years, my sentiments naturally incline me to -ask for hospitalization. That is why I may safely say, if Major Grey -will pardon me, that the logic of the drugs does not entirely fail us -in a situation like this."</p> - -<p>Helen waited while all present got the idea that Major Grey had accused -them of being illogical. "Bill's aberration has led to our daughter's -illness. And think how quickly it contaminated Clara Manz! I cannot ask -that society any longer expose itself, even to the extent of keeping -Bill in the isolation of the hospital, for my purely sentimental -reasons.</p> - -<p>"As for Major Grey's closing remarks, I cannot see how it is fair to -bring my husband to trial as a threat to society, if some future chance -is expected, in which a man of his behavior would benefit society. -Surely such a change could only be one that would ruin our present -world, or Bill would hardly fit it. I would not want to save Bill or -anyone else for such a future."</p> - -<p>She did not have to say anything further. Both of the other Medicorps -officers were now fully roused to their duty. Colonel Hart, of course, -"humphed" at the opinions of a woman and cast his with Major Grey. But -the fate of Bill Walden was sealed.</p> - -<p>Major Grey sat, weary and uneasy, as the creeping little doubts began. -In the end, he would be left with the one big stone-heavy doubt ... -could he have gone through with this if he had not been drugged, and -how would the logic of the trial look without drugs?</p> - -<p>He became aware of the restiveness in the room. They were waiting for -him, now that the decision was irrevocable. Without the drugs, he -reflected, they might be feeling—what was the ancient word, <i>guilt</i>? -No, that was what the criminal felt. <i>Remorse?</i> That would be what they -should be feeling. Major Grey wished Helen Walden could be forced to -witness the erasure. People did not realize what it was like.</p> - -<p>What was it Bill had said? "You should see how foolish these -communication codes took when you are undrugged. This stupid -hide-and-seek of shifting...."</p> - -<p>Well, wasn't that a charge to be <i>inspected</i> seriously, if you were -taking it seriously enough to kill the man for it? As soon as this case -was completed, he would have to return to his city and blot himself out -so that his own hyperalter, Ralph Singer, a painter of bad pictures and -a useless fool, could waste five more days. To that man he lost half -his possible living days. What earthly good was Singer?</p> - -<p>Major Grey roused himself and motioned the orderly to inject Conrad -Manz, so that Bill Walden would be forced back into shift.</p> - -<p>"As soon as I have advised the patient of our decision, you will all be -dismissed. Naturally, I anticipated this decision and have arranged for -immediate erasure. After the erasure, Mr. Manz, you will be instructed -to appear regularly for suspended animation."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For some reason, the first thing Bill Walden did when he became -conscious of his surroundings was to look out the great window for the -flock of birds. But they were gone.</p> - -<p>Bill looked at Major Grey and said, "What are you going to do?"</p> - -<p>The officer ran his hand back through his whitening hair, but he looked -at Bill without wavering. "You will be erased."</p> - -<p>Bill began to shake his head. "There is something wrong," he said.</p> - -<p>"Bill...." the major began.</p> - -<p>"There is something wrong," Bill repeated hopelessly. "Why must we be -split so there is always something missing in each of us? Why must we -be stupefied with drugs that keep us from knowing what we should feel? -I was trying to live a better life. I did not want to hurt anyone."</p> - -<p>"But you <i>did</i> hurt others," Major Grey said bluntly. "You would do so -again if allowed to function in your own way in this society. Yet it -would be insufferable to you to be hospitalized. You would be shut off -forever from searching for another Clara Manz. And—there is no one -else for you, is there?"</p> - -<p>Bill looked up, his eyes cringing as though they stared at death. "No -one else?" he asked vacantly. "No one?"</p> - -<p>The two orderlies lifted him up by his arms, almost carrying him into -the operating room. His feet dragged helplessly. He made no resistance -as they lifted him onto the operating table and strapped him down.</p> - -<p>Beside him was the great panel of the mnemonic eraser with its thousand -unblinking eyes. The helmetlike prober cabled to this calculator was -fastened about his skull, and he could no longer see the professor who -was lecturing in the amphitheater above. But along his body he could -see the group of medical students. They were looking at him with great -interest, too young not to let the human drama interfere with their -technical education.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus5.jpg" width="600" height="236" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>The professor, however, droned in a purely objective voice. "The -mnemonic eraser can selectively shunt from the brain any identifiable -category of memory, and erase the synaptic patterns associated with its -translation into action. Circulating memory is disregarded. The machine -only locates and shunts out those energies present as permanent memory. -These are there in part as permanently echoing frequencies in closed -cytoplasmic systems. These systems are in contact with the rest of the -nervous system only during the phenomenon of remembrance. Remembrance -occurs when, at all the synapses in a given network 'y,' the -permanently echoing frequencies are duplicated as transient circulating -frequencies.</p> - -<p>"The objective in a total operation of the sort before us is to -distinguish all the stored permanent frequencies, typical of the -personality you wish to extinguish, from the frequencies typical of the -other personality present in the brain."</p> - -<p>Major Grey's face, very tired, but still wearing a mask of adamant -reassurance, came into Bill's vision. "There will be a few moments of -drug-induced terror, Bill. That is necessary for the operation. I hope -knowing it beforehand will help you ride with it. It will not be for -long." He squeezed Bill's shoulder and was gone.</p> - -<p>"The trick was learned early in our history, when this type of total -operation was more often necessary," the professor continued. "It is -really quite simple to extinguish one personality while leaving the -other undisturbed. The other personality in the case before us has -been drug-immobilized to keep this one from shifting. At the last -moment, this personality before us will be drug-stimulated to bring -it to the highest possible pitch of total activity. This produces -utterly disorganized activity, every involved neuron and synapse being -activated simultaneously by the drug. It is then a simple matter for -the mnemonic eraser to locate all permanently echoing frequencies -involved in this personality and suck them into its receiver."</p> - -<p>Bill was suddenly aware that a needle had been thrust into his arm. -Then it was as though all the terror, panic and traumatic incidents of -his whole life leaped into his mind. All the pleasant experiences and -feelings he had ever known were there, too, but were transformed into -terror.</p> - -<p>A bell was ringing with regular strokes. Across the panel of the -mnemonic eraser, the tiny counting lights were alive with movement.</p> - -<p>There was in Bill a fright, a demand for survival so great that it -could not be felt.</p> - -<p>It was actually from an island of complete calm that part of him saw -the medical students rising dismayed and white-faced from their seats. -It was apart from himself that his body strained to lift some mountain -and filled the operating amphitheater with shrieking echoes. And all -the time the thousand eyes of the mnemonic eraser flickered in swift -patterns, a silent measure of the cells and circuits of his mind.</p> - -<p>Abruptly the tiny red counting lights went off, a red beam glowed with -a burr of warning. Someone said, "Now!" The mind of Bill Walden flashed -along a wire as electrical energy and, converted on the control panel -into mechanical energy, it spun a small ratchet counter.</p> - -<p>"Please sit down," the professor said to the shaken students. "The drug -that has kept the other personality immobilized is being counteracted -by this next injection. Now that the sickly personality has been -dissipated, the healthy one can be brought back rapidly.</p> - -<p>"As you are aware, the synapse operates on the binary 'yes-no' choice -system of an electronic calculator. All synapses which were involved in -the diseased personality have now been reduced to an atypical, uniform -threshold. Thus they can be re-educated in new patterns by the healthy -personality remaining.... There, you see the countenance of the healthy -personality appearing."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was Conrad Manz who looked up at them with a wry grin. He rotated -his shoulders to loosen them. "How many of you pushed old Bill Walden -around? He left me with some sore muscles. Well, I did that often -enough to him...."</p> - -<p>Major Grey stood over him, face sick and white with the horror of -what he had seen. "According to law, Mr. Manz, you and your wife are -entitled to five rest days on your next shift. When they are over, you -will, of course, report for suspended animation for what would have -been your hyperalter's shift."</p> - -<p>Conrad Manz's grin shrank and vanished. "<i>Would</i> have been? Bill -is—gone?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"I never thought I'd miss him." Conrad looked as sick as Major Grey -felt. "It makes me feel—I don't know if I can explain it—sort of -<i>amputated</i>. As though something's wrong with me because everybody else -has an alter and I don't. Did the poor son of a straitjacket suffer -much?"</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid he did."</p> - -<p>Conrad Manz lay still for a moment with his eyes closed and his mouth -thin with pity and remorse. "What will happen to Helen?"</p> - -<p>"She'll be all right," Major Grey said. "There will be Bill's -insurance, naturally, and she won't have much trouble finding another -husband. That kind never seems to."</p> - -<p>"Five rest days?" Conrad repeated. "Is that what you said?" He sat up -and swung his legs off the table, and he was grinning again. "I'll get -in a whole shift of jet-skiing! No, wait—I've got a date with the wife -of a friend of mine out at the rocket grounds. I'll take Clara out -there; she'll like some of the men."</p> - -<p>Major Grey nodded abstractedly. "Good idea." He shook hands with -Conrad Manz, wished him fun on his rest shift, and left.</p> - -<p>Taking a helicopter back to his city, Major Grey thought of his own -hyperalter, Ralph Singer. He'd often wished that the silly fool -could be erased. Now he wondered how it would be to have only one -personality, and, wondering, realized that Conrad Manz had been -right—it <i>would</i> be like amputation, the shameful distinction of -living in a schizophrenic society with no alter.</p> - -<p>No, Bill Walden had been wrong, completely wrong, both about drugs -and being split into two personalities. What one made up in pleasure -through not taking drugs was more than lost in the suffering of -conflict, frustration and hostility. And having an alter—any kind, -even one as useless as Singer—meant, actually, <i>not being alone</i>.</p> - -<p>Major Grey parked the helicopter and found a shifting station. He took -off his makeup, addressed and mailed his clothes, and waited for the -shift to come.</p> - -<p>It was a pretty wonderful society he lived in, he realized. He wouldn't -trade it for the kind Bill Walden had wanted. Nobody in his right mind -would.</p> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond Bedlam, by Wyman Guin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND BEDLAM *** - -***** This file should be named 51842-h.htm or 51842-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/8/4/51842/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/51842-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/51842-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 05c86e1..0000000 --- a/old/51842-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51842-h/images/illus1.jpg b/old/51842-h/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5878dc8..0000000 --- a/old/51842-h/images/illus1.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51842-h/images/illus2.jpg b/old/51842-h/images/illus2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8d97b9b..0000000 --- a/old/51842-h/images/illus2.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51842-h/images/illus3.jpg b/old/51842-h/images/illus3.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0a9a3b5..0000000 --- a/old/51842-h/images/illus3.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51842-h/images/illus4.jpg b/old/51842-h/images/illus4.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1522af8..0000000 --- a/old/51842-h/images/illus4.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51842-h/images/illus5.jpg b/old/51842-h/images/illus5.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bed75c9..0000000 --- a/old/51842-h/images/illus5.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/51842.txt b/old/51842.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 05577a7..0000000 --- a/old/51842.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2971 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond Bedlam, by Wyman Guin - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Beyond Bedlam - -Author: Wyman Guin - -Release Date: April 23, 2016 [EBook #51842] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND BEDLAM *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - BEYOND BEDLAM - - By WYMAN GUIN - - Illustrated by DAVID STONE - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Galaxy Science Fiction August 1951. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - However fantastic it may seem, the society - so elaborately described in this story has - its seeds in ours. Just check the data.... - - -The opening afternoon class for Mary Walden's ego-shift was almost -over, and Mary was practically certain the teacher would not call on -her to recite her assignment, when Carl Blair got it into his mind to -try to pass her a dirty note. Mary knew it would be a screamingly -funny Ego-Shifting Room limerick and was about to reach for the note -when Mrs. Harris's voice crackled through the room. - -"Carl Blair! I believe you have an important message. Surely you will -want the whole class to hear it. Come forward, please." - -As he made his way before the class, the boy's blush-covered freckles -reappeared against his growing pallor. Haltingly and in an agonized -monotone, he recited from the note: - - "There was a young hyper named Phil, - Who kept a third head for a thrill. - Said he, 'It's all right, - I enjoy my plight. - I shift my third out when it's chill.'" - -The class didn't dare laugh. Their eyes burned down at their laps in -shame. Mary managed to throw Carl Blair a compassionate glance as he -returned to his seat, but she instantly regretted ever having been kind -to him. - -"Mary Walden, you seemed uncommonly interested in reading something -just now. Perhaps you wouldn't mind reading your assignment to the -class." - -There it was, and just when the class was almost over. Mary could have -scratched Carl Blair. She clutched her paper grimly and strode to the -front. - -"Today's assignment in Pharmacy History is, 'Schizophrenia since the -Ancient Pre-pharmacy days.'" Mary took enough breath to get into the -first paragraph. - -"Schizophrenia is where two or more personalities live in the -same brain. The ancients of the 20th Century actually looked upon -schizophrenia as a disease! Everyone felt it was very shameful to have -a schizophrenic person in the family, and, since children lived right -with the same parents who had borne them, it was very bad. If you were -a schizophrenic child in the 20th Century, you would be locked up -behind bars and people would call you--" - -Mary blushed and stumbled over the daring word--"crazy." "The ancients -locked up strong ego groups right along with weak ones. Today we would -lock up those ancient people." - - * * * * * - -The class agreed silently. - -"But there were more and more schizophrenics to lock up. By 1950 the -_prisons_ and hospitals were so full of schizophrenic people that -the ancients did not have room left to lock up any more. They were -beginning to see that soon everyone would be schizophrenic. - -"Of course, in the 20th Century, the schizophrenic people were almost -as helpless and 'crazy' as the ancient Modern men. Naturally they did -not fight wars and lead the silly life of the Moderns, but without -proper drugs they couldn't control their Ego-shiftability. The -personalities in a brain would always be fighting each other. One -personality would cut the body or hurt it or make it filthy, so that -when the other personality took over the body, it would have to suffer. -No, the schizophrenic people of the 20th Century were almost as 'crazy' -as the ancient Moderns. - -"But then the drugs were invented one by one and the schizophrenic -people of the 20th Century were freed of their troubles. With the -drugs the personalities of each body were able to live side by side in -harmony at last. It turned out that many schizophrenic people, called -overendowed personalities, simply had so many talents and viewpoints -that it took two or more personalities to handle everything. - -"The drugs worked so well that the ancients had to let millions of -schizophrenic people out from behind the bars of 'crazy' houses. That -was the Great Emancipation of the 1990s. From then on, schizophrenic -people had trouble only when they criminally didn't take their drugs. -Usually, there are two egos in a schizophrenic person--the hyperalter, -or prime ego, and the hypoalter, the alternate ego. There often were -more than two, but the Medicorps makes us take our drugs so that won't -happen to us. - -"At last someone realized that if everyone took the new drugs, the -great wars would stop. At the World Congress of 1997, laws were passed -to make everyone take the drugs. There were many fights over this -because some people wanted to stay Modern and fight wars. The Medicorps -was organized and told to kill anyone who wouldn't take their drugs as -prescribed. Now the laws are enforced and everybody takes the drugs and -the hyperalter and hypoalter are each allowed to have the body for an -ego-shift of five days...." - -Mary Walden faltered. She looked up at the faces of her classmates, -started to turn to Mrs. Harris and felt the sickness growing in her -head. Six great waves of crescendo silence washed through her. The -silence swept away everything but the terror, which stood in her frail -body like a shrieking rock. - -Mary heard Mrs. Harris hurry to the shining dispensary along one -wall of the classroom and return to stand before her with a swab of -antiseptic and a disposable syringe. - -Mrs. Harris helped her to a chair. A few minutes after the expert -injection, Mary's mind struggled back from its core of silence. - -"Mary, dear, I'm sorry. I haven't been watching you closely enough." - -"Oh, Mrs. Harris...." Mary's chin trembled. "I hope it never happens -again." - -"Now, child, we all have to go through these things when we're young. -You're just a little slower than the others in acclimatizing to the -drugs. You'll be fourteen soon and the medicop assures me you'll be -over this sort of thing just as the others are." - -Mrs. Harris dismissed the class and when they had all filed from the -room, she turned to Mary. - -"I think, dear, we should visit the clinic together, don't you?" - -"Yes, Mrs. Harris." Mary was not frightened now. She was just ashamed -to be such a difficult child and so slow to acclimatize to the drugs. - -As she and the teacher walked down the long corridor to the clinic, -Mary made up her mind to tell the medicop what she thought was wrong. -It was not herself. It was her hypoalter, that nasty little Susan -Shorrs. Sometimes, when Susan had the body, the things Susan was doing -and thinking came to Mary like what the ancients had called _dreams_, -and Mary had never liked this secondary ego whom she could never really -know. Whatever was wrong, it was Susan's doing. The filthy creature -never took care of her hair, it was always so messy when Susan shifted -the body to her. - -Mrs. Harris waited while Mary went into the clinic. - -Mary was glad to find Captain Thiel, the nice medicop, on duty. But she -was silent while the X-rays were being taken, and, of course, while he -got the blood samples, she concentrated on being brave. - -Later, while Captain Thiel looked in her eyes with the bright little -light, Mary said calmly, "Do you know my hypoalter, Susan Shorrs?" - -The medicop drew back and made some notes on a pad before answering. -"Why, yes. She's in here quite often too." - -"Does she look like me?" - -"Not much. She's a very nice little girl...." He hesitated, visibly -fumbling. - -Mary blurted, "Tell me truly, what's she like?" - -Captain Thiel gave her his nice smile. "Well, I'll tell you a secret if -you keep it to yourself." - -"Oh, I promise." - -He leaned over and whispered in her ear and she liked the clean odor of -him. "She's not nearly as pretty as you are." - -Mary wanted very badly to put her arms around him and hug him. Instead, -wondering if Mrs. Harris, waiting outside, had heard, she drew back -self-consciously and said, "Susan is the cause of all this trouble, the -nasty little thing." - -"Oh now!" the medicop exclaimed. "I don't think so, Mary. She's in -trouble, too, you know." - -"She still eats sauerkraut." Mary was defiant. - -"But what's wrong with that?" - -"You told her not to last year because it makes me sick on my shift. -But it agrees in buckets with a little pig like her." - -The medicop took this seriously. He made a note on the pad. "Mary, you -should have complained sooner." - -"Do you think my father might not like me because Susan Shorrs is my -hypoalter?" she asked abruptly. - -"I hardly think so, Mary. After all, he doesn't even know her. He's -never on her Ego shift." - -"A little bit," Mary said, and was immediately frightened. - -Captain Thiel glanced at her sharply. "What do you mean by that, child?" - -"Oh, nothing," Mary said hastily. "I just thought maybe he was." - -"Let me see your pharmacase," he said rather severely. - -Mary slipped the pharmacase off the belt at her waist and handed it -to him. Captain Thiel extracted the prescription card from the back -and threw it away. He slipped a new card in the taping machine on his -desk and punched out a new prescription, which he reinserted in the -pharmacase. In the space on the front, he wrote directions for Mary to -take the drugs numbered from left to right. - -Mary watched his serious face and remembered that he had complimented -her about being prettier than Susan. "Captain Thiel, is your hypoalter -as handsome as you are?" - -The young medicop emptied the remains of the old prescription from the -pharmacase and took it to the dispensary in the corner, where he slid -it into the filling slot. He seemed unmoved by her question and simply -muttered, "Much handsomer." - -The machine automatically filled the case from the punched card on its -back and he returned it to Mary. "Are you taking your drugs exactly as -prescribed? You know there are very strict laws about that, and as soon -as you are fourteen, you will be held to them." - -Mary nodded solemnly. Great straitjackets, who didn't know there were -laws about taking your drugs? - -There was a long pause and Mary knew she was supposed to leave. She -wanted, though, to stay with Captain Thiel and talk with him. She -wondered how it would be if he were appointed her father. - -Mary was not hurt that her shy compliment to him had gone unnoticed. -She had only wanted something to talk about. Finally she said -desperately, "Captain Thiel, how is it possible for a body to change as -much from one Ego shift to another as it does between Susan and me?" - -"There isn't all the change you imagine," he said. "Have you had your -first physiology?" - -"Yes. I was very good...." Mary saw from his smile that her inadvertent -little conceit had trapped her. - -"Then, Miss Mary Walden, how do _you_ think it is possible?" - -Why did teachers and medicops have to be this way? When all you wanted -was to have them talk to you, they turned everything around and made -you think. - -She quoted unhappily from her schoolbook, "The main things in an -ego shift are the two vegetative nervous systems that translate the -conditions of either personality to the blood and other organs right -from the brain. The vegetative nervous systems change the rate at which -the liver burns or stores sugar and the rate at which the kidneys -excrete...." - -Through the closed door to the other room, Mrs. Harris's voice raised -at the visiophone said distinctly, "_But, Mr. Walden...._" - -"Reabsorb," corrected Captain Thiel. - -"What?" She didn't know what to listen to--the medicop or the distant -voice of Mrs. Harris. - -"It's better to think of the kidneys as reabsorbing salts and nutrients -from the filtrated blood." - -"Oh." - -"_But, Mr. Walden, we can overdo a good thing. The proper amount of -neglect is definitely required for full development of some personality -types and Mary certainly is one of those...._" - -"What about the pituitary gland that's attached to the brain and -controls all the other glands during the shift of egos?" pressed -Captain Thiel distractingly. - -"_But, Mr. Walden, too much neglect at this critical point may cause -another personality to split off and we can't have that. Adequate -personalities are congenital. A new one now would only rob the present -personalities. You are the appointed parent of this child and the Board -of Education will enforce your compliance with our diagnosis...._" - -Mary's mind leaped to a page in one of her childhood storybooks. It -was an illustration of a little girl resting beneath a great tree that -overhung a brook. There were friendly little wild animals about. Mary -could see the page clearly and she thought about it very hard instead -of crying. - -"Aren't you interested any more, Mary?" Captain Thiel was looking at -her strangely. - -The agitation in her voice was a surprise. "I have to get home. I have -a lot of things to do." - -Outside, when Mrs. Harris seemed suddenly to realize that something was -wrong, and delicately probed to find out whether her angry voice had -been overheard, Mary said calmly and as if it didn't matter, "Was my -father home when you called him before?" - -"Why--yes, Mary. But you mustn't pay any attention to conversations -like that, darling." - -_You can't force him to like me_, she thought to herself, and she was -angry with Mrs. Harris because now her father would only dislike her -more. - -Neither her father nor her mother was home when Mary walked into the -evening-darkened apartment. It was the first day of the family shift, -and on that day, for many periods now, they had not been home until -late. - -Mary walked through the empty rooms, turning on lights. She passed -up the electrically heated dinner her father had set out for her. -Presently she found herself at the storage room door. She opened it -slowly. - -After hesitating a while she went in and began an exhausting search for -the old storybook with the picture in it. - -Finally she knew she could not find it. She stood in the middle of the -junk-filled room and began to cry. - - * * * * * - -The day which ended for Mary Walden in lonely weeping should have been, -for Conrad Manz, a pleasant rest day with an hour of rocket racing in -the middle of it. Instead, he awakened with a shock to hear his wife -actually _talking_ while she was _asleep_. - -He stood over her bed and made certain that she was asleep. It was as -though her mind thought it was somewhere else, doing something else. -Vaguely he remembered that the ancients did something called _dreaming_ -while they slept and the thought made him shiver. - -Clara Manz was saying, "Oh, Bill, they'll catch us. We can't pretend -any more unless we have drugs. Haven't we any drugs, Bill?" - -Then she was silent and lay still. Her breathing was shallow and even -in the dawn light her cheeks were deeply flushed against the blonde -hair. - -Having just awakened, Conrad was on a very low drug level and the -incident was unpleasantly disturbing. He picked up his pharmacase -from beside his bed and made his way to the bathroom. He took his -hypothalamic block and the integration enzymes and returned to the -bedroom. Clara was still sleeping. - -She had been behaving oddly for some time, but there had never been -anything as disturbing as this. He felt that he should call a medicop, -but, of course, he didn't want to do anything that extreme. It was -probably something with a simple explanation. Clara was a little -scatterbrained at times. Maybe she had forgotten to take her sleeping -compound and that was what caused _dreaming_. The very word made his -powerful body chill. But if she was neglecting to take any of her drugs -and he called in a medicop, it would be serious. - -Conrad went into the library and found the _Family Pharmacy_. He -switched on a light in the dawn-shrunken room and let his heavy -frame into a chair. _A Guide to Better Understanding of your Family -Prescriptions. Official Edition, 2831._ The book was mostly Medicorps -propaganda and almost never gave a practical suggestion. If something -went wrong, you called a medicop. - -Conrad hunted through the book for the section on sleeping compound. It -was funny, too, about that name Bill. Conrad went over all the men of -their acquaintance with whom Clara had occasional affairs or with whom -she was friendly and he couldn't remember a single Bill. In fact, the -only man with that name whom he could think of was his own hyperalter, -Bill Walden. But that was naturally impossible. - -Maybe dreaming was always about imaginary people. - - SLEEPING COMPOUND: An official mixture of soporific and - hypnotic alkaloids and synthetics. A critical drug; an essential - feature in every prescription. Slight deviations in following - prescription are unallowable because of the subtle manner in which - behavior may be altered over months or years. The first sleeping - compound was announced by Thomas Marshall in 1986. The formula has - been modified only twice since then. - -There followed a tightly packed description of the chemistry and -pharmacology of the various ingredients. Conrad skipped through this. - - The importance of Sleeping Compound in the life of every individual - and to society is best appreciated when we recall Marshall's words - announcing its initial development: - - "It is during so-called _normal_ sleep that the vicious unconscious - mind responsible for wars and other symptoms of unhappiness - develops its resources and its hold on our conscious lives. - - "In this _normal_ sleep the critical faculties of the cortex are - paralyzed. Meanwhile, the infantile unconscious mind expands - misinterpreted experience into the toxic patterns of neurosis and - psychosis. The conscious mind takes over at morning, unaware that - these infantile motivations have been cleverly woven into its very - structure. - - "Sleeping Compound will stop this. There is no unconscious activity - after taking this harmless drug. We believe the Medicorps should at - once initiate measures to acclimatize every child to its use. In - these children, as the years go by, infantile patterns unable to - work during sleep will fight a losing battle during waking hours - with conscious patterns accumulating in the direction of - adulthood." - -That was all there was--mostly the Medicorps patting its own back for -saving humanity. But if you were in trouble and called a medicop, you'd -risk getting into real trouble. - -Conrad became aware of Clara standing in the doorway. The flush of -her disturbed emotions and the pallor of her fatigue mixed in ragged -banners on her cheeks. - -Conrad waved the _Family Pharmacy_ with a foolish gesture of -embarrassment. - -"Young lady, have you been neglecting to take your sleeping compound?" - -Clara turned utterly pale. "I--I don't understand." - -"You were talking in your sleep." - -"I--was?" - -She came forward so unsteadily that he helped her to a seat. She stared -at him. He asked jovially, "Who is this 'Bill' you were so desperately -involved with? Have you been having an affair I don't know about? -Aren't my friends good enough for you?" - -The result of this banter was that she alarmingly began to cry, -clutching her robe about her and dropping her blonde head on her knees -and sobbing. - - * * * * * - -Children cried before they were acclimatized to the drugs, but Conrad -Manz had never in his life seen an adult cry. Though he had taken his -morning drugs and certain disrupting emotions were already impossible, -nevertheless this sight was completely unnerving. - -In gasps between her sobs, Clara was saying, "Oh, I can't go back to -taking them? But I can't keep this up! I just can't!" - -"Clara, darling, I don't know what to say or do. I think we ought to -call the Medicorps." - -Intensely frightened, she rose and clung to him, begging, "Oh, no, -Conrad, that isn't necessary! It isn't necessary at all. I've only -neglected to take my sleeping compound and it won't happen again. All -I need is a sleeping compound. Please get my pharmacase for me and it -will be all right." - -She was so desperate to convince him that Conrad got the pharmacase and -a glass of water for her only to appease the white face of fright. - -Within a few minutes of taking the sleeping compound, she was calm. As -he put her back to bed, she laughed with a lazy indolence. - -"Oh, Conrad, you take it so seriously. I only needed a sleeping -compound very badly and now I feel fine. I'll sleep all day. It's a -rest day, isn't it? Now go race a rocket and stop worrying and thinking -about calling the medicops." - -But Conrad did not go rocket racing as he had planned. Clara had been -asleep only a few minutes when there was a call on the visiophone; they -wanted him at the office. The city of Santa Fe would be completely out -of balance within twelve shifts if revised plans were not put into -operation immediately. They were to start during the next five days -while he would be out of shift. In order to carry on the first day of -their next shift, he and the other three traffic managers he worked -with would have to come down today and familiarize themselves with the -new operations. - -There was no getting out of it. His rest day was spoiled. Conrad -resented it all the more because Santa Fe was clear out on the edge of -their traffic district and could have been revised out of the Mexican -offices just as well. But those boys down there rested all five days of -their shift. - -Conrad looked in on Clara before he left and found her asleep in the -total suspension of proper drug level. The unpleasant memory of her -behavior made him squirm, but now that the episode was over, it no -longer worried him. It was typical of him that, things having been set -straight in the proper manner, he did not think of her again until late -in the afternoon. - - * * * * * - -As early as 1950, the pioneer communications engineer Norbert -Wiener had pointed out that there might be a close parallel between -disassociation of personalities and the disruption of a communication -system. Wiener referred back specifically to the first clear -description, by Morton Prince, of multiple personalities existing, -together in the same human body. Prince had described only individual -cases and his observations were not altogether acceptable in Wiener's -time. Nevertheless, in the schizophrenic society of the 29th Century, -a major managerial problem was that of balancing the communicating and -non-communicating populations in a city. - -As far as Conrad and the other traffic men present at the conference -were concerned, Santa Fe was a resort and retirement area of 100,000 -human bodies, alive and consuming more than they produced every -day of the year. Whatever the representatives of the Medicorps and -Communications Board worked out, it would mean only slight changes in -the types of foodstuffs, entertainment and so forth moving into Santa -Fe, and Conrad could have grasped the entire traffic change in ten -minutes after the real problem had been settled. But, as usual, he and -the other traffic men had to sit through two hours while small wheels -from the Medicorps and Communications acted big about rebalancing a -city. - -For them, Conrad had to admit, Santa Fe was a great deal more complex -than 100,000 consuming, moderately producing human bodies. It was -200,000 human personalities, two to each body. Conrad wondered -sometimes what they would have done if the three and four personality -cases so common back in the 20th and 21st Centuries had been allowed to -reproduce. The 200,000 personalities in Santa Fe were difficult enough. - -Like all cities, Santa Fe operated in five shifts, A, B, C, D, and E. - -Just as it was supposed to be for Conrad in his city, today was rest -day for the 20,000 hypoalters on D-shift in Santa Fe. Tonight at around -6:00 P.M. they would all go to shifting rooms and be replaced by their -hyperalters, who had different tastes in food and pleasure and took -different drugs. - -Tomorrow would be rest day for the hyperalters on E-shift and in the -evening they would turn things over to their hyperalters. - -The next day it would be rest for the A-shift hyperalters and three -days after that the D-shift hyperalters, including Bill Walden, would -rest till evening, when Conrad and the D-shift hypoalters everywhere -would again have their five day use of their bodies. - -Right now the trouble with Santa Fe's retired population, which worked -only for its own maintenance, was that too many elderly people on the -D-shift and E-shift had been dying off. This point was brought out by a -dapper young department head from Communications. - -Conrad groaned when, as he knew would happen, a Medicorps officer -promptly set out on an exhaustive demonstration that Medicorps -predictions of deaths for Santa Fe had indicated clearly that -Communications should have been moving people from D-shift and E-shift -into the area. - -Actually, it appeared that someone from Communications had blundered -and had overloaded the quota of people on A-shift and B-shift moving -to Santa Fe. Thus on one rest day there weren't enough people working -to keep things going, and later in the week there were so many -available workers that they were clogging the city. - -None of this was heated exchange or in any way emotional. It was just -interminably, exhaustively logical and boring. Conrad fidgeted through -two hours of it, seeing his chance for a rocket race dissolving. When -at last the problem of balanced shift-populations for Santa Fe was -worked out, it took him and the other traffic men only a few minutes -to apply their tables and reschedule traffic to coordinate with the -population changes. - -Disgusted, Conrad walked over to the Tennis Club and had lunch. - -There were still two hours of his rest day left when Conrad Manz -realized that Bill Walden was again forcing an early shift. Conrad -was in the middle of a volley-tennis game and he didn't like having -the shift forced so soon. People generally shifted at their appointed -regular hour every five days, and a hyperalter was not supposed to use -his power to force shift. It was such an unthinkable thing nowadays -that there was occasional talk of abolishing the terms hyperalter and -hypoalter because they were somewhat disparaging to the hypoalter, and -really designated only the antisocial power of the hyperalter to force -the shift. - -Bill Walden had been cheating two to four hours on Conrad every -shift for several periods back. Conrad could have reported it to the -Medicorps, but he himself was guilty of a constant misdemeanor about -which Bill had not yet complained. Unlike the sedentary Walden, Conrad -Manz enjoyed exercise. He overindulged in violent sports and put off -sleep, letting Bill Walden make up the fatigue on his shift. That was -undoubtedly why the poor old sucker had started cheating a few hours on -Conrad's rest day. - -Conrad laughed to himself, remembering the time Bill Walden had -registered a long list of sports which he wished Conrad to be -restrained from--rocket racing, deepsea exploration, jet-skiing. It -had only given Conrad some ideas he hadn't had before. The Medicorps -had refused to enforce the list on the basis that danger and violent -exercise were a necessary outlet for Conrad's constitution. Then poor -old Bill had written Conrad a note threatening to sue him for any -injury resulting from such sports. As if he had a chance against the -Medicorps ruling! - -Conrad knew it was no use trying to finish the volley-tennis game. He -lost interest and couldn't concentrate on what he was doing when Bill -started forcing the shift. Conrad shot the ball back at his opponent in -a blistering curve impossible to intercept. - -"So long," he yelled at the man. "I've got some things to do before my -shift ends." - -He lounged into the locker rooms and showered, put his clothes and -belongings, including his pharmacase, in a shipping carton, addressed -them to his own home and dropped them in the mail chute. - -He stepped with languid nakedness across the hall, pressed his -identifying wristband to a lock-face and dialed his clothing sizes. - -In this way he procured a neatly wrapped, clean shifting costume from -the slot. He put it on without bothering to return to his shower room. - -He shouted a loud good-bye to no one in particular among the several -men and women in the baths and stepped out onto the street. - -Conrad felt too good even to be sorry that his shift was over. After -all, nothing happened except you came to, five days later, on your -next shift. The important thing was the rest day. He had always said -the last day of the shift should be a work day; then you would be glad -it was over. He guessed the idea was to rest the body before another -personality took over. Well, poor old Bill Walden never got a rested -body. He probably slept off the first twelve hours. - -Walking unhurriedly through the street crowds, Conrad entered a public -shifting station and found an empty room. As he started to open the -door, a girl came out of the adjoining booth and Conrad hastily averted -his glance. She was still rearranging her hair. There were so many rude -people nowadays who didn't seem to care at all about the etiquette of -shifting, women particularly. They were always redoing their hair or -makeup where a person couldn't help seeing them. - -Conrad pressed his identifying wristband to the lock and entered the -booth he had picked. The act automatically sent the time and his shift -number to Medicorps Headquarters. - -Once inside the shifting room, Conrad went to the lavatory and turned -on the faucet of makeup solvent. In spite of losing two hours of his -rest day, he decided to be decent to old Bill, though he was half -tempted to leave his makeup on. It was a pretty foul joke, of course, -especially on a humorless fellow like poor Walden. - -Conrad creamed his face thoroughly and then washed in water and -used the automatic dryer. He looked at his strong-lined features in -the mirror. They displayed a less distinct expression of his own -personality with the makeup gone. - -He turned away from the mirror and it was only then that he remembered -he hadn't spoken to his wife before shifting. Well, he couldn't -decently call up and let her see him without makeup. - -He stepped across to the visiophone and set the machine to deliver -his spoken message in type: "Hello, Clara. Sorry I forgot to call you -before. Bill Walden is forcing me to shift early again. I hope you're -not still upset about that business this morning. Be a good girl and -smile at me on the next shift. I love you. Conrad." - - * * * * * - -For a moment, when the shift came, the body of Conrad Manz stood -moronically uninhabited. Then, rapidly, out of the gyri of its brain, -the personality of Bill Walden emerged, replacing the slackly powerful -attitude of Conrad by the slightly prim preciseness of Bill's bearing. - -The face, just now relaxed with readiness for action, was abruptly -pulled into an intellectualized mask of tension by habitual patterns of -conflict in the muscles. There were also acute momentary signs of clash -between the vegetative nervous activity characteristic of Bill Walden -and the internal homeostasis Conrad Manz had left behind him. The face -paled as hypersensitive vascular beds closed down under new vegetative -volleys. - -Bill Walden grasped sight and sound, and the sharp odor of makeup -solvent stung his nostrils. He was conscious of only one clamoring, -terrifying thought: _They will catch us. It cannot go on much longer -without Helen guessing about Clara. She is already angry about Clara -delaying the shift, and if she learns from Mary that I am cheating on -Conrad's shift.... Any time now, perhaps this time, when the shift is -over, I will be looking into the face of a medicop who is pulling a -needle from my arm, and then it'll all be over._ - -So far, at least, there was no medicop. Still feeling unreal but -anxious not to lose precious moments, Bill took an individualized kit -from the wall dispenser and made himself up. He was sparing and subtle -in his use of the makeup, unlike the horrible makeup jobs Conrad Manz -occasionally left on. Bill rearranged his hair. Conrad always wore it -too short for his taste, but you couldn't complain about everything. - -Bill sat in a chair to await some of the slower aspects of the shift. -He knew that an hour after he left the booth, his basal metabolic rate -would be ten points higher. His blood sugar would go down steadily. -In the next five days he would lose six to eight pounds, which Conrad -later would promptly regain. - -Just as Bill was about to leave the booth, he remembered to pick up -a news summary. He put his wristband to the switch on the telephoto -and a freshly printed summary of the last five days in the world fell -into the rack. His wristband, of course, called forth one edited for -hyperalters on the D-shift. - -It did not mention by name any hypoalter on the D-shift. Should one -of them have done something that it was necessary for Bill or other -D-shift hyperalters to know about, it would appear in news summaries -called forth by their wristbands--but told in such fashion that the -personality involved seemed namelessly incidental, while names and -pictures of hyperalters and hypoalters on any of the other four -shifts naturally were freely used. The purpose was to keep Conrad -Manz and all other hypoalters on the D-shift, one-tenth of the total -population, non-existent as far as their hyperalters were concerned. -This convention made it necessary for photoprint summaries to be on -light-sensitive paper that blackened illegibly before six hours were -up, so that a man might never stumble on news about his hypoalter. - -Bill did not even glance at the news summary. He had picked it up only -for appearances. The summaries were essential if you were going to -start where you left off on your last shift and have any knowledge of -the five intervening days. A man just didn't walk out of a shifting -room without one. It was failure to do little things like that that -would start them wondering about him. - -Bill opened the door of the booth by applying his wristband to the lock -and stepped out into the street. - -Late afternoon crowds pressed about him. Across the boulevard, a -helicopter landing swarmed with clouds of rising commuters. Bill had -some trouble figuring out the part of the city Conrad had left him -in and walked two blocks before he understood where he was. Then he -got into an idle two-place cab, started the motor with his wristband -and hurried the little three-wheeler recklessly through the traffic. -Clara was probably already waiting and he first had to go home and get -dressed. - -The thought of Clara waiting for him in the park near her home was a -sharp reminder of his strange situation. He was in a left you with -shame, and a fear that the other fellow would tell people you seemed to -have a pathological interest in your alter and must need a change in -your prescription. - -But the most flagrant abuser of such morbid little exchanges would have -been horrified to learn that right here, in the middle of the daylight -traffic, was a man who was using his antisocial shifting power to meet -in secret the wife of his own hypoalter! - -Bill did not have to wonder what the Medicorps would think. Relations -between hyperalters world was literally not supposed to exist for -him, for it was the world of his own hypoalter, Conrad Manz. - -Undoubtedly, there were people in the traffic up ahead who knew both -him and Conrad, people from the other shifts who never mentioned the -one to the other except in those guarded, snickering little confidences -they couldn't resist telling and you couldn't resist listening to. -After all, the most important person in the world was your alter. If he -got sick, injured or killed, so would you. - -Thus, in moments of intimacy or joviality, an undercover exchange went -on ... _I'll tell you about your hyperalter if you'll tell me about -my hypoalter._ It was orthodox bad manners that and hypoalters of -opposite sex were punishable--drastically punishable. - - * * * * * - -When he arrived at the apartment, Bill remembered to order a dinner for -his daughter Mary. His order, dialed from the day's menu, was delivered -to the apartment pneumatically and he set it out over electric warmers. -He wanted to write a note to the child, but he started two and threw -both in the basket. He couldn't think of anything to say to her. - -Staring at the lonely table he was leaving for Mary, Bill felt his -guilt overwhelming him. He could stop the behavior which led to -the guilt by taking his drugs as prescribed. They would return him -immediately to the sane and ordered conformity of the world. He would -no longer have to carry the fear that the Medicorps would discover he -was not taking his drugs. He would no longer neglect his appointed -child. He would no longer endanger the very life of Conrad's wife Clara -and, of course, his own. - -When you took your drugs as prescribed, it was impossible to experience -such ancient and primitive emotions as guilt. Even should you -miscalculate and do something wrong, the drugs would not allow any -such emotional reaction. To be free to experience his guilt over the -lonely child who needed him was, for these reasons, a precious thing -to Bill. In all the world, this night, he was undoubtedly the only man -who could and did feel one of the ancient emotions. People felt shame, -not guilt; conceit, not pride; pleasure, not desire. Now that he had -stopped taking his drugs as prescribed, Bill realized that the drugs -allowed only an impoverished segment of a vivid emotional spectrum. - -But however exciting it was to live them, the ancient emotions did not -seem to act as deterrents to bad behavior. Bill's sense of guilt did -not keep him from continuing to neglect Mary. His fear of being caught -did not restrain him from breaking every rule of inter-alter law and -loving Clara, his own hypoalter's wife. - - * * * * * - -Bill got dressed as rapidly as possible. He tossed the discarded -shifting costume into the return chute. He retouched his makeup, trying -to eliminate some of the heavy, inexpressive planes of muscularity -which were more typical of Conrad than of himself. - -The act reminded him of the shame which his wife Helen had felt when -she learned, a few years ago, that her own hypoalter, Clara, and his -hypoalter, Conrad, had obtained from the Medicorps a special release -to marry. Such rare marriages in which the same bodies lived together -on both halves of a shift were something to snicker about. They verged -on the antisocial, but could be arranged if the batteries of Medicorps -tests could be satisfied. - -Perhaps it had been the very intensity of Helen's shame on learning -of this marriage, the nauseous display of conformity so typical of -his wife, that had first given Bill the idea of seeking out Clara, -who had dared convention to make such a peculiar marriage. Over the -years, Helen had continued blaming all their troubles on the fact that -both egos of himself were living with, and intimate with, both egos of -herself. - -So Bill had started cutting down on his drugs, the curiosity having -become an obsession. What was this other part of Helen like, this -Clara who was unconventional enough to want to marry only Bill's own -hypoalter, in spite of almost certain public shame? - -He had first seen Clara's face when it formed on a visiophone, the -first time he had forced Conrad to shift prematurely. It was softer -than Helen's. The delicate contours were less purposefully, set, gayer. - -"Clara Manz?" Bill had sat there staring at the visiophone for several -seconds, unable to continue. His great fear that she would immediately -report him must have been naked on his face. - -He had watched an impish suspicion grow in the tender curve of her lips -and her oblique glance from the visiophone. She did not speak. - -"Mrs. Manz," he finally said, "I would like to meet you in the park -across from your home." - -To this awkward opening he owed the first time he had heard Clara -laugh. Her warm, clear laughter, teasing him, tumbled forth like a -cloud of gay butterflies. - -"Are you afraid to see me here at home because my husband might _walk -in on us_?" - -Bill had been put completely at ease by this bantering indication that -Clara knew who he was and welcomed him as an intriguing diversion. -Quite literally, the one person who could not _walk in on them_, as the -ancients thought of it, was his own hypoalter, Conrad Manz. - - * * * * * - -Bill finished retouching his makeup and hurried to leave the apartment. -But this time, as he passed the table where Mary's dinner was set out, -he decided to write a few words to the child, no matter how empty they -sounded to himself. The note he left explained that he had some early -work to do at the microfilm library where he worked. - -Just as Bill was leaving the apartment, the visiophone buzzed. In his -hurry Bill flipped the switch before he thought. Too late, his hand -froze and the implications of this call, an hour before anyone would -normally be home, shot a shaft of terror through him. - -But it was not the image of a medicop that formed on the screen. The -woman introduced herself as Mrs. Harris, one of Mary's teachers. - -It was strange that she should have thought he might be home. The -shift for children was half a day earlier than that for adults, so -the parents could have half their rest day free. This afternoon would -be for Mary the first classes of her shift, but the teacher must have -guessed something was wrong with the shifting schedules in Mary's -family. Or had the child told her? - -Mrs. Harris explained rather dramatically that Mary was being -neglected. What could he say; to her? That he was a criminal breaking -drug regulations in the most flagrant manner? That nothing, not even -the child appointed to him, meant more to him than his wife's own -hypoalter? Bill finally ended the hopeless and possibly dangerous -conversation by turning off the receiver and leaving the apartment. - -Bill realized that now, for both him and Clara, the greatest joy had -been those first few times together. The enormous threat of a Medicorps -retaliation took the pleasure from their contact and they came together -desperately because, having tasted this fantastic non-conformity and -the new undrugged intimacy, there was no other way for them. Even now -as he drove through the traffic toward where she would be waiting, he -was not so much concerned with meeting Clara in their fear-poisoned -present as with the vivid, aching remembrance of what those meetings -once had really been like. - -He recalled an evening they had spent lying on the summer lawn of the -park, looking out at the haze-dimmed stars. It had been shortly after -Clara joined him in cutting down on the drugs, and the clear memory of -their quiet laughter so captured his mind now that Bill almost tangled -his car in the traffic. - -In memory he kissed her again and, as it had then, the newly cut grass -mixed with the exciting fragrance of her skin. After the kiss they -continued a mock discussion of the ancient word "sin." Bill pretended -to be trying to explain the meaning of the word to her, sometimes with -definitions that kept them laughing and sometimes with demonstrational -kisses that stopped their laughter. - -He could remember Clara's face turned to him in the evening light -with an outrageous parody of interest. He could hear himself saying, -"You see, the ancients would say we are not _sinning_ because they -would disagree with the medicops that you and Helen are two completely -different people, or that Conrad and I are not the same person." - -Clara kissed him with an air of tentative experimentation. "Mmm, no. I -can't say I care for that interpretation." - -"You'd rather be sinning?" - -"Definitely." - -"Well, if the ancients did agree with the medicops that we are -distinct from our alters, Helen and Conrad, then they would say we are -sinning--but not for the same reasons the Medicorps would give." - -"That," asserted Clara, "is where I get lost. If this sinning business -is going to be worth anything at all, it has to be something you can -identify." - -Bill cut his car out of the main stream of traffic and toward the park, -without interrupting his memory. - -"Well, darling, I don't want to confuse you, but the medicops would -say we are sinning only because you are my wife's hypoalter, and I am -your husband's hyperalter--in other words, for the very reason the -ancients would say we are _not_ sinning. Furthermore, if either of us -were with anyone else, the medicops would think it was perfectly all -right, and so would Conrad and Helen. Provided, of course, I took a -hyperalter and you took a hypoalter only." - -"Of course," Clara said, and Bill hurried over the gloomy fact. - -"The ancients, on the other hand, would say we are sinning because we -are making love to someone we are not married to." - -"But what's the matter with that? Everybody does it." - -"The ancient Moderns didn't. Or, that is, they often did, but...." - -Clara brought her full lips hungrily to his. "Darling, I think the -ancient Moderns had the right idea, though I don't see how they ever -arrived at it." - -Bill grinned. "It was just an invention of theirs, along with the wheel -and atomic energy." - -That evening was long gone by as Bill stopped the little taxi beside -the park and left it there for the next user. He walked across the -lawns toward the statue where he and Clara always met. The very thought -of entering one's own hypoalter's house was so unnerving that Bill -brought himself to do it only by first meeting Clara near the statue. -As he walked between the trees, Bill could not again capture the spirit -of that evening he had been remembering. The Medicorps was too close. -It was impossible to laugh that way now. - -Bill arrived at the statue, but Clara was not there. He waited -impatiently while a livid sunset coagulated between the branches of the -great trees. Clara should have been there first. It was easier for her, -because she was leaving her shift, and without doing it prematurely. - -The park was like a quiet backwater in the eddying rush of the evening -city. Bill felt conspicuous and vulnerable in the gloaming light. Above -all, he felt a new loneliness, and he knew that now Clara felt it, too. -They needed each other as each had been, before fear had bleached their -feeling to white bones of desperation. - -They were not taking their drugs as prescribed, and for that they would -be horribly punished. That was the only unforgivable _sin_ in their -world. By committing it, he and Clara had found out what life could be, -in the same act that would surely take life from them. Their powerful -emotions they had found in abundance simply by refusing to take the -drugs, and by being together briefly each fifth day in a dangerous -breach of all convention. The closer their discovery and the greater -their terror, the more desperately they needed even their terror, and -the more impossible became the delight of their first meetings. - -Telegraphing bright beads of sound, a night bird skimmed the sunset -lawns to the looming statue and skewed around its monolithic base. The -bird's piping doubled and then choked off as it veered frantically from -Bill. After a while, far off through the park, it released a fading -protest of song. - -Above Bill, the towering statue of the great Alfred Morris blackened -against the sunset. The hollowed granite eyes bore down on him out -of an undecipherable dark ... the ancient, implacable face of the -Medicorps. As if to pronounce a sentence on his present crimes by a -magical disclosure of the weight of centuries, a pool of sulfurous -light and leaf shadows danced on the painted plaque at the base of the -statue. - - On this spot in the Gregorian year 1996, Alfred Morris announced to - an assembly of war survivors the hypothalamic block. His stirring - words were, "This new drug selectively halts at the thalamic brain - the upward flow of unconscious stimuli and the downward flow of - unconscious motivations. It acts as a screen between the cerebrum - and the psychosomatic discharge system. Using hypothalamic block, - we will not act emotively, we will initiate acts only from the - logical demands of situations." - - This announcement and the subsequent wholehearted action of the - war-weary people made the taking of hypothalamic block obligatory. - This put an end to the powerful play of unconscious mind in the - public and private affairs of the ancient world. It ended the - great paranoid wars and saved mankind. - -In the strange evening light, the letters seemed alive, a centuries-old -condemnation of any who might try to go back to the ancient -pre-pharmacy days. Of course, it was not really possible to go back. -Without drugs, everybody and all society would fall apart. - -The ancients had first learned to keep endocrine deviates such as the -diabetic alive with drugs. Later they learned with other drugs to -"cure" the far more prevalent disease, schizophrenia, that was jamming -their hospitals. The big change came when the ancients used these same -drugs on everyone to control the private and public irrationality of -their time and stop the wars. - -In this new, drugged world, the schizophrene thrived better than any, -and the world became patterned on him. But, just as the diabetic was -still diabetic, the schizophrene was still himself, plus the drugs. -Meanwhile, everyone had forgotten what it was the drugs did to -you--that the emotions experienced were blurred emotions, that insight -was at an isolated level of rationality because the drugs kept true -feelings from ever emerging. - -How inconceivable it would be to Helen and the other people of his -world to live on as little drug as possible ... to experience the -conflicting emotions, the interplay of passion and logic that almost -tore you apart! Sober, the ancients called it, and they lived that way -most of the time, with only the occasional crude and clublike effects -of alcohol or narcotics to relieve their chronic anxiety. - -By taking as little hypothalamic block as possible, he and Clara were -able to desire their fantastic attachment, to delight in an absolutely -illogical situation unheard of in their society. But the society would -judge their refusal to take hypothalamic block in only one sense. The -weight of this judgment stood before him in the smoldering words, "_It -ended the great paranoid wars and saved mankind_." - -When Clara did appear, she was searching myopically in the wrong -vicinity of the statue. He did not call to her at once, letting the -sight of her smooth out the tensions in him, convert all the conflicts -into this one intense longing to be with her. - -Her halting search for him was deeply touching, like that of a tragic -little puppet in a darkening dumbshow. He saw suddenly how like puppets -the two of them were. They were moved by the strengthening wires of a -new life of feeling to batter clumsily at an implacable stage setting -that would finally leave them as bits of wood and paper. - -Then suddenly in his arms Clara was at the same time hungrily moving -and tense with fear of discovery. Little sounds of love and fear choked -each other in her throat. Her blonde head pressed tightly into his -shoulder and she clung to him with desperation. - -She said, "Conrad was disturbed by my tension this morning and made me -take a sleeping compound. I've just awakened." - -They walked to her home in silence and even in the darkened apartment -they used only the primitive monosyllables of apprehensive need. Beyond -these mere sounds of compassion, they had long ago said all that could -be said. - -Because Bill was the hyperalter, he had no fear that Conrad could force -a shift on him. When later they lay in darkness, he allowed himself to -drift into a brief slumber. Without the sleeping compound, distorted -events came and went without reason. Dreaming, the ancients had called -it. It was one of the most frightening things that had begun to happen -when he first cut down on the drugs. Now, in the few seconds that he -dozed, a thousand fragments of incidental knowledge, historical reading -and emotional need melded and, in a strange contrast to their present -tranquility, he was dreaming a frightful moment in the 20th century. -_These are the great paranoid wars_, he thought. And it was so because -he had thought it. - -He searched frantically through the glove compartment of an ancient -automobile. "Wait," he pleaded. "I tell you we have sulfonamide-14. -We've been taking it regularly as directed. We took a double dose back -in Paterson because there were soft-bombs all through that part of -Jersey and we didn't know what would be declared Plague Area next." - -Now Bill threw things out of his satchel onto the floor and seat of -the car, fumbling deeper by the flashlight Clara held. His heart beat -thickly with terror. Then he remembered his pharmacase. Oh, why hadn't -they remembered sooner about their pharmacases. Bill tore at the belt -about his waist. - -The Medicorps captain stepped back from the door of their car. He -jerked his head at the dark form of the corporal standing in the -roadway. "Shoot them. Run the car off the embankment before you burn -it." - -Bill screamed metallically through the speaker of his radiation mask. -"Wait. I've found it." He thrust the pharmacase out the door of the -car. "This is a pharmacase," he explained. "We keep our drugs in one of -these and it's belted to our waist so we are never without them." - -The captain of the Medicorps came back. He inspected the pharmacase and -the drugs and returned it. "From now on, keep your drugs handy. Take -them without fail according to radio instructions. Do you understand?" - -Clara's head pressed heavily against Bill's shoulder, and he could hear -the tinny sound of her sobbing through the speaker of her mask. - -The captain stepped into the road again. "We'll have to burn your -car. You passed through a Plague Area and it can't be sterilized on -this route. About a mile up this road you'll come to a sterilization -unit. Stop and have your person and belongings rayed. After that, keep -walking, but stick to the road. You'll be shot if you're caught off it." - -The road was crowded with fleeing people. Their way was lighted by -piles of cadavers writhing in gasoline flames. The Medicorps was -everywhere. Those who stumbled, those who coughed, the delirious and -their helping partners ... these were taken to the side of the road, -shot and burned. And there was bombing again to the south. - -Bill stopped in the middle of the road and looked back. Clara clung to -him. - -"There is a plague here we haven't any drug for," he said, and realized -he was crying. "We are all mad." - -Clara was crying too. "Darling, what have you done? Where are the -drugs?" - -The water of the Hudson hung as it had in the late afternoon, ice -crystals in the stratosphere. The high, high sheet flashed and glowed -in the new bombing to the south, where multicolored pillars of flame -boiled into the sky. But the muffled crash of the distant bombing was -suddenly the steady click of the urgent signal on a bedside visiophone, -and Bill was abruptly awake. - -Clara was throwing on her robe and moving toward the machine on -terror-rigid limbs. With a scrambling motion, Bill got out of the -possible view of the machine and crouched at the end of the room. - -Distinctly, he could hear the machine say, "Clara Manz?" - -"Yes." Clara's voice was a thin treble that could have been a shriek -had it continued. - -"This is Medicorps Headquarters. A routine check discloses you have -delayed your shift two hours. To maintain the statistical record of -deviations, please give us a full explanation." - -"I ..." Clara had to swallow before she could talk. "I must have taken -too much sleeping compound." - -"Mrs. Manz, our records indicate that you have been delaying your shift -consistently for several periods now. We made a check of this as a -routine follow up on any such deviation, but the discovery is quite -serious." There was a harsh silence, a silence that demanded a logical -answer. But how could there be a logical answer? - -"My hyperalter hasn't complained and I--well, I have just let a bad -habit develop. I'll see that it--doesn't happen again." - -The machine voiced several platitudes about the responsibilities of one -personality to another and the duty of all to society before Clara was -able to shut it off. - -Both of them sat as they were for a long, long time while the tide of -terror subsided. When at last they looked at each other across the dim -and silent room, both of them knew there could be at least one more -time together before they were caught. - - * * * * * - -Five days later, on the last day of her shift, Mary Walden wrote the -address of her appointed father's hypoalter, Conrad Manz, with an -indelible pencil on the skin just below her armpit. - -During the morning, her father and mother had spoiled the family rest -day by quarreling. It was about Helen's hypoalter delaying so many -shifts. Bill did not think it very important, but her mother was angry -and threatened to complain to the Medicorps. - -The lunch was eaten in silence, except that at one point Bill said, "It -seems to me Conrad and Clara Manz are guilty of a peculiar marriage, -not us. Yet they seem perfectly happy with it and you're the one who is -made unhappy. The woman has probably just developed a habit of taking -too much sleeping compound for her rest day naps. Why don't you drop -her a note?" - -Helen made only one remark. It was said through her teeth and very -softly. "Bill, I would just as soon the child did not realize her -relationship to this sordid situation." - -Mary cringed over the way Helen disregarded her hearing, the -possibility that she might be capable of understanding, or her feelings -about being shut out of their mutual world. - -After the lunch Mary cleared the table, throwing the remains of the -meal and the plastiplates into the flash trash disposer. Her father had -retreated to the library room and Helen was getting ready to attend -a Citizen's Meeting. Mary heard her mother enter the room to say -good-bye while she was wiping the dining table. She knew that Helen was -standing, well-dressed and a little impatient, just behind her, but she -pretended she did not know. - -"Darling, I'm leaving now for the Citizen's Meeting." - -"Oh ... yes." - -"Be a good girl and don't be late for your shift. You only have an hour -now." Helen's patrician face smiled. - -"I won't be late." - -"Don't pay any attention to the things Bill and I discussed this -morning, will you?" - -"No." - -And she was gone. She did not say good-bye to Bill. - -Mary was very conscious of her father in the house. He continued to sit -in the library. She walked by the door and she could see him sitting in -a chair, staring at the floor. Mary stood in the sun room for a long -while. If he had risen from his chair, if he had rustled a page, if he -had sighed, she would have heard him. - -It grew closer and closer to the time she would have to leave if Susan -Shorrs was to catch the first school hours of her shift. Why did -children have to shift half a day before adults? - -Finally, Mary thought of something to say. She could let him know she -was old enough to understand what the quarrel had been about if only it -were explained to her. - -Mary went into the library and hesitantly sat on the edge, of a couch -near him. He did not look at her and his face seemed gray in the midday -light. Then she knew that he was lonely, too. But a great feeling of -tenderness for him went through her. - -"Sometimes I think you and Clara Manz must be the only people in the -world," she said abruptly, "who aren't so silly about shifting right -on the dot. Why, I don't _care_ if Susan Shorrs _is_ an hour late for -classes!" - -Those first moments when he seized her in his arms, it seemed her heart -would shake loose. It was as though she had uttered some magic formula, -one that had abruptly opened the doors to his love. It was only after -he had explained to her why he was always late on the first day of the -family shift that she knew something was wrong. He _did_ tell her, over -and over, that he knew she was unhappy and that it was his fault. But -he was at the same time soothing her, petting her, as if _he was afraid -of her_. - -He talked on and on. Gradually, Mary understood in his trembling body, -in his perspiring palms, in his pleading eyes, that he was afraid of -dying, that he was afraid _she_ would kill him with the merest thing -she said, with her very presence. - -This was not painful to Mary, because, suddenly, something came with -ponderous enormity to stand before her: _I would just as soon the child -did not realize her relationship to this sordid situation._ - -Her relationship. It was some kind of relationship to Conrad and Clara -Manz, because those were the people they had been talking about. - -The moment her father left the apartment, she went to his desk and -took out the file of family records. After she found the address of -Conrad Manz, the idea occurred to her to write it on her body. Mary was -certain that Susan Shorrs never bathed and she thought this a clever -idea. Sometime on Susan's rest day, five days from now, she would try -to force the shift and go to see Conrad and Clara Manz. Her plan was -simple in execution, but totally vague as to goal. - -Mary was already late when she hurried to the children's section of a -public shifting station. A Children's Transfer Bus was waiting, and -Mary registered on it for Susan Shorrs to be taken to school. After -that she found a shifting room and opened it with her wristband. She -changed into a shifting costume and sent her own clothes and belongings -home. - -Children her age did not wear makeup, but Mary always stood at the -mirror during the shift. She always tried as hard as she could to -see what Susan Shorrs looked like. She giggled over a verse that was -scrawled beside the mirror ... - - Rouge your hair and comb your face; - Many a third head is lost in this place. - -... and then the shift came, doubly frightening because of what she -knew she was going to do. - - * * * * * - -Especially if you were a hyperalter like Mary, you were supposed to -have some sense of the passage of time while you were out of shift. Of -course, you did not know what was going on, but it was as though a more -or less accurate chronometer kept running when you went out of shift. -Apparently Mary's was highly inaccurate, because, to her horror, she -found herself sitting bolt upright in one of Mrs. Harris's classes, not -out on the playgrounds, where she had expected Susan Shorrs to be. - -Mary was terrified, and the ugly school dress Susan had been wearing -accented, by its strangeness, the seriousness of her premature shift. -Children weren't supposed to show much difference from hyperalter to -hypoalter, but when she raised her eyes, her fright grew. Children did -change. She hardly recognized anyone in the room, though most of them -must be the alters of her own classmates. Mrs. Harris was a B-shift and -overlapped both Mary and Susan, but otherwise Mary recognized only Carl -Blair's hypoalter because of his freckles. - -Mary knew she had to get out of there or Mrs. Harris would eventually -recognize her. If she left the room quietly, Mrs. Harris would not -question her unless she recognized her. It was no use trying to guess -how Susan would walk. - -Mary stood and went toward the door, glad that it turned her back to -Mrs. Harris. It seemed to her that she could feel the teacher's eyes -stabbing through her back. - -But she walked safely from the room. She dashed down the school -corridor and out into the street. So great was her fear of what she was -doing that her hypoalter's world actually seemed like a different one. - -It was a long way for Mary to walk across town, and when she rang the -bell, Conrad Manz was already home from work. He smiled at her and she -loved him at once. - -"Well, what do you want, young lady?" he asked. - -Mary couldn't answer him. She just smiled back. - -"What's your name, eh?" - -Mary went right on smiling, but suddenly he blurred in front of her. - -"Here, here! There's nothing to cry about. Come on in and let's see if -we can help you. Clara! We have a visitor, a very sentimental visitor." - -Mary let him put his big arm around her shoulder and draw her, crying, -into the apartment. Then she saw Clara swimming before her, looking -like her mother, but ... no, not at all like her mother. - -"Now, see here, chicken, what is it you've come for?" Conrad asked when -her crying stopped. - -Mary had to stare hard at the floor to be able to say it. "I want to -live with you." - -Clara was twisting and untwisting a handkerchief. "But, child, we have -already had our first baby appointed to us. He'll be with us next -shift, and after that I have to bear a baby for someone else to keep. -We wouldn't be allowed to take care of you." - -"I thought maybe I was your real child." Mary said it helplessly, -knowing in advance what the answer would be. - -"Darling," Clara soothed, "children don't live with their natural -parents. It's neither practical nor civilized. I have had a child -conceived and borne on my shift, and this baby is my exchange, so you -see that you are much too old to be my conception. Whoever your natural -parents may be, it is just something on record with the Medicorps -Genetic Division and isn't important." - -"But you're a special case," Mary pressed. "I thought because it was a -special arrangement that you were my real parents." She looked up and -she saw that Clara had turned white. - -And now Conrad Manz was agitated, too. "What do you mean, we're a -special case?" He was staring hard at her. - -"Because...." And now for the first time Mary realized how special this -case was, how sensitive they would be about it. - -He grasped her by the shoulders and turned her so she faced his -unblinking eyes. "I said, what do you mean, we're a special case? -Clara, what in thirty heads does this kid mean?" - -His grip hurt her and she began to cry again. She broke away. "You're -the hypoalters of my appointed father and mother. I thought maybe when -it was like that, I might be your real child ... and you might want me. -I don't want to be where I am. I want somebody...." - -Clara was calm now, her sudden fear gone. "But, darling, if you're -unhappy where you are, only the Medicorps can reappoint you. Besides, -maybe your appointed parents are just having some personal problems -right now. Maybe if you tried to understand them, you would see that -they really love you." - -Conrad's face showed that he did not understand. He spoke with a stiff, -quiet voice and without taking his eyes from Mary. "What are you doing -here? My own hyperalter's kid in my house, throwing it up to me that -I'm married to his wife's hypoalter!" - -They did not feel the earth move, as she fearfully did. They sat there, -staring at her, as though they might sit forever while she backed away, -out of the apartment, and ran into her collapsing world. - - * * * * * - -Conrad Manz's rest day fell the day after Bill Walden's kid showed -up at his apartment. It was ten days since that strait jacket of a -conference on Santa Fe had lost him a chance to blast off a rocket -racer. This time, on the practical knowledge that emergency business -conferences were seldom called after lunch, Conrad had placed his -reservation for a racer in the afternoon. The visit from Mary Walden -had upset him every time he thought of it. Since it was his rest day, -he had no intention of thinking about it and Conrad's scrupulously -drugged mind was capable of just that. - -So now, in the lavish coolness of the lounge at the Rocket Club, Conrad -sipped his drink contentedly and made no contribution to the gloomy -conversation going on around him. - -"Look at it this way," the melancholy face of Alberts, a pilot from -England, morosely emphasized his tone. "It takes about 10,000 economic -units to jack a forty ton ship up to satellite level and snap it around -the course six times. That's just practice for us. On the other hand, -an intellectual fellow who spends his spare time at a microfilm library -doesn't use up 1,000 units in a year. In fact, his spare time activity -may turn up as units gained. The Economic Board doesn't argue that all -pastime should be gainful. They just say rocket racing wastes more -economic units than most pilots make on their work days. I tell you the -day is almost here when they ban the rockets." - -"That's just it," another pilot put in. "There was a time when you -could show that rocket races were necessary for better spaceship -design. Design has gone way beyond that. From their point of view we -just burn up units as fast as other people create them. And it's no use -trying to argue for the television shows. The Board can prove people -would rather see a jet-skiing meet at a cost of about one-hundredth -that of a rocket race." - -Conrad Manz grinned into his drink. He had been aware for several -minutes that pert little Angela, Alberts' soft-eyed, husky-voiced wife, -was trying to catch his eye. But stranded as she was in the buzzing -traffic of rockets, she was trying to hail the wrong rescuer. He had -about fifteen minutes till the ramp boys would have a ship ready for -him. Much as he liked Angela, he wasn't going to miss that race. - -Still, he let his grin broaden and, looking up at her, he lied -maliciously by nodding. She interpreted this signal as he knew she -would. Well, at least he would afford her a graceful exit from the -boring conversation. - -He got up and went over and took her hand. Her full lips parted a -little and she kissed him on the mouth. - -Conrad turned to Alberts and interrupted him. "Angela and I would like -to spend a little time together. Do you mind?" - -Alberts was annoyed at having his train of thought broken and rather -snapped out the usual courtesy. "Of course not. I'm glad for both of -you." - -Conrad looked the group over with a bland stare. "Have you lads ever -tried jet-skiing? There's more genuine excitement in ten minutes of it -than an hour of rocket racing. Personally, I don't care if the Board -does ban the rockets soon. I'll just hop out to the Rocky Mountains on -rest days." - - * * * * * - -Conrad knew perfectly well that if he had made this assertion before -asking Alberts for his wife, the man would have found some excuse to -have her remain. All the faces present displayed the _aficionado's_ -disdain for one who has just demonstrated he doesn't _belong_. What the -straitjacket did they think they were--some ancient order of noblemen? - -Conrad took Angela's yielding arm and led her serenely away before -Alberts could think of anything to detain her. - -On the way out of the lounge, she stroked his arm with frank -admiration. "I'm so glad you were agreeable. Honestly, Harold could -talk rockets till I died." - -Conrad bent and kissed her. "Angela, I'm sorry, but this isn't going -to be what you think. I have a ship to take off in just a few minutes." - -She flared and dug into his arm now. "Oh, Conrad Manz! You ... you made -me believe...." - -He laughed and grabbed her wrists. "Now, now. I'm neglecting you to -_fly_ a rocket, not just to talk about them. I won't let you die." - -At that she could not suppress her husky musical laugh. "I found that -out the last time you and I were together. Clara and I had a drink the -other day at the Citizen's Club. I don't often use dirty language, but -I told Clara she must be keeping you in a _straitjacket_ at home." - -Conrad frowned, wishing she hadn't brought up the subject. It worried -him off and on that something was wrong with Clara, something even -worse than that awful _dreaming_ business ten days ago. For several -shifts now she had been cold, nor was it just a temporary lack of -interest in himself, for she was also cold to the men of their -acquaintance of whom she was usually quite fond. As for himself, he had -had to depend on casual contacts such as Angela. Not that they weren't -pleasant, but a man and wife were supposed to maintain a healthy -love life between themselves, and it usually meant trouble with the -Medicorps when this broke down. - -Angela glanced at him. "I didn't think Clara laughed well at my remark. -Is something wrong between you?" - -"Oh, no," he declared hastily. "Clara is sometimes that way ... doesn't -catch a joke right off." - -A page boy approached them where they stood in the rotunda and advised -Conrad that his ship was ready. - -"Honestly, Angela, I'll make it up, I promise." - -"I know you will, darling. And at least I'm grateful you saved me from -all those rocket jets in there." Angela raised her lips for a kiss and -afterward, as she pushed him toward the door, her slightly vacant face -smiled at him. - - * * * * * - -Out on the ramp, Conrad found another pilot ready to take off. They -made two wagers--first to reach the racing course, and winner in a -six-lap heat around the six-hundred-mile hexagonal course. - -They fired together and Conrad blasted his ship up on a thunderous -column of flame that squeezed him into his seat. He was good at this -and he knew he would win the lift to the course. On the course, -though, if his opponent was any good at all, Conrad would probably -lose because he enjoyed slamming the ship around the course in his -wasteful, swashbuckling style much more than merely winning the heat. - -Conrad kept his drive on till the last possible second and then shot -out his nose jets. The ship shuddered up through another hundred miles -and came to a lolling halt near the starting buoys. The other pilot -gasped when Conrad shouted at him over the intership, "The winner by -all thirty heads!" - -It was generally assumed that a race up to the course consisted of -cutting all jets when you had enough lift, and using the nose brakes -only to correct any over-shot. "What did you do, just keep your power -on and flip the ship around?" The other racer coasted up to Conrad's -level and steadied with a brief forward burst. - -They got the automatic signal from the starting buoy and went for the -first turn, nose and nose, about half a mile apart. Conrad lost 5000 -yards on the first turn by shoving his power too hard against the -starboard steering Jets. - -It made a pretty picture when a racer hammered its way around a turn -that way with a fan of outside jets holding it in place. The Other -fellow made his turns cleanly, using mostly the driving jets for -steering. But that didn't look like much to those who happened to -flip on their television while this little heat was in progress. On -every turn, Conrad lost a little in space, but not in the eye of the -automatic televisor on the buoy marking the turn. As usual, he cut -closer to the buoys than regulations allowed, to give the folks a show. - -Without the slightest regret, Conrad lost the heat by a full two sides -of the hexagon. He congratulated his opponent and watched the fellow -let his ship down carefully toward earth on its tail jets. For a while -Conrad lolled his ship around near the starting buoy and its probably -watching eye, flipping through a series of complicated maneuvers with -the steering jets. - -Conrad did not like the grim countenance of outer space. The lifeless, -gemlike blaze of cloud upon cloud of stars in the perspectiveless black -repelled him. He liked rocket racing only because of the neat timing -necessary, and possibly because the knowledge that he indulged in it -scared poor old Bill Walden half to death. - -Today the bleak aspect of the Galaxy harried his mind back upon its -own problems. A particularly nasty association of Clara with Bill -Walden and his sniveling kid kept dogging Conrad's mind and, as soon as -stunting had exhausted his excess of fuel, he turned the ship to earth -and sent it in with a short, spectacular burst. - -Now that he stopped to consider it, Clara's strange behavior had begun -at about the same time that Bill Walden started cheating on the shifts. -That kid Mary must have known something was going on, or she would not -have done such a disgusting thing as to come to their apartment. - -Conrad had let the rocket fall nose-down, until now it was screaming -into the upper ionosphere. With no time to spare, he swiveled the ship -on its guiding jets and opened the drive blast at the up-rushing earth. -He had just completed this wrenching maneuver when two appalling things -happened together. - -Conrad suddenly knew, whether as a momentary leak from Bill's mind to -his, or as a rapid calculation of his own, that Bill Walden and Clara -shared a secret. At the same moment, something tore through his mind -like fingers of chill wind. With seven gravities mashing him into the -bucket-seat, he grunted curses past thin-stretched lips. - -"Great blue psychiatrists! What in thirty straitjackets is that -three-headed fool trying to do, kill us both?" - -Conrad just managed to raise his leaden hand and set the plummeting -racer for automatic pilot before Bill Walden forced him out of the -shift. In his last moment of consciousness, and in the shock of his -overwhelming shame, Conrad felt the bitter irony that he could not cut -the power and kill Bill Walden. - - * * * * * - -When Bill Walden became conscious of the thunderous clamor of the -braking ship and the awful weight of deceleration into which he had -shifted, the core of him froze. He was so terrified that he could not -have thought of reshifting even had there been time. - -His head rolled on the pad in spite of its weight, and he saw the -earth coming at him like a monstrous swatter aimed at a fly. Between -his fright and the inhuman gravity, he lost consciousness without ever -seeing on the control panel the red warning that saved him: _Automatic -Pilot_. - -The ship settled itself on the ramp in a mushroom of fire. Bill -regained awareness several seconds later. He was too shaken to do -anything but sit there for a long time. - -When at last he felt capable of moving, he struggled with the door till -he found how to open it, and climbed down to the still-hot ramp he had -landed on. It was at least a mile to the Rocket Club across the barren -flat of the field, and he set out on foot. Shortly, however, a truck -came speeding across to him. - -The driver leaned out. "Hey, Conrad, what's the matter? Why didn't you -pull the ship over to the hangars?" - -With Conrad's makeup on, Bill felt he could probably get by. "Controls -aren't working," he offered noncommittally. - -At the club, a place he had never been to before in his life, Bill -found an unused helicopter and started it with his wristband. He flew -the machine into town to the landing station nearest his home. - -He was doomed, he knew. Conrad certainly would report him for this. -He had not intended to force the shift so early or so violently. -Perhaps he had not intended to force it at all this time. But there was -something in him more powerful than himself ... a need to break the -shift and be with Clara that now acted almost independently of him and -certainly without regard for his safety. - -Bill flew his craft carefully through the city traffic, working his way -between the widely spaced towers with the uncertain hand of one to whom -machines are not an extension of the body. He put the helicopter down -at the landing station with some difficulty. - -Clara would not be expecting him so early. From his apartment, as soon -as he had changed makeup, he visiophoned her. It was strange how long -and how carefully they needed to look at each other and how few words -they could say. - -Afterward, he seemed calmer and went about getting ready with more -efficiency. But when he found himself addressing the package of -Conrad's clothes to his home, he chuckled bitterly. - -It was when he went back to drop the package in the mail chute that he -noticed the storage room door ajar. He disposed of the package and went -over to the door. Then he stood still, listening. He had to stop his -own breathing to hear clearly. - -Bill tightened himself and opened the door. He flipped on the light and -saw Mary. The child sat on the floor in the corner with her knees drawn -up against her chest. Between the knees and the chest, the frail wrists -were crossed, the hands closed limply like--like those of a fetus. The -forehead rested on the knees so that, should the closed eyes stray -open, they would be looking at the placid hands. - -The sickening sight of the child squeezed down on his heart till the -color drained from his face. He went forward and knelt before her. His -dry throat hammered with the words, _what have I done to you_, but he -could not speak. The question of how long she might have been here, he -could not bear to think. - -He put out his hand, but he did not touch her. A shudder of revulsion -shook him and he scrambled to his feet. He hurried back into the -apartment with only one thought. He must get someone to help her. Only -the Medicorps could take care of a situation like this. - -As he stood at the visiophone, he knew that this involuntary act of -panic had betrayed all that he had ever thought and done. He had to -call the Medicorps. He could not face the result of his own behavior -without them. Like a ghostly after-image, he saw Clara's face on the -screen. She was lost, cut off, with only himself to depend on. - -A part of him, a place where there were no voices and a great tragedy, -had been abruptly shut off. He stood stupidly confused and disturbed -about something he couldn't recall. The emotion in his body suddenly -had no referent. He stood like a badly frightened animal while his -heart slowed and blood seeped again into whitened parenchymas, while -tides of epinephrine burned lower. - -Remembering he must hurry, Bill left the apartment. It was an apartment -with its storage room door closed, an apartment without a storage room. - -From the moment that he walked in and took Clara in his arms, he was -not worried about being caught. He felt only the great need for her. -There seemed only one difference from the first time and it was a good -difference, because now Clara was so tense and apprehensive. He felt -a new tenderness for her, as one might feel for a child. It seemed to -him that there was no end to the well of gentleness and compassion that -was suddenly in him. He was mystified by the depth of this feeling. -He kissed her again and again and petted her as one might a disturbed -child. - -Clara said, "Oh, Bill, we're doing wrong! Mary was here yesterday!" - -Whoever she meant, it had no meaning for him. He said, "It's all right. -You mustn't worry." - -"She needs you, Bill, and I take you away from her." - -Whatever it was she was talking about was utterly unimportant beside -the fact that she was not happy herself. He soothed her. "Darling, you -mustn't worry about it. Let's be happy the way we used to be." - -He led her to a couch and they sat together, her head resting on his -shoulder. - -"Conrad is worried about me. He knows something is wrong. Oh, Bill, if -he knew, he'd demand the worst penalty for you." - -Bill felt the stone of fear come back in his chest. He thought, too, -of Helen, of how intense her shame would be. Medicorps action would be -machinelike, logical as a set of equation; they were very likely to -take more drastic steps where the complaints would be so strong and no -request for leniency forthcoming. Conrad knew now, of course. Bill had -felt his hate. - -It was nearing the end. Death would come to Bill with electronic -fingers. A ghostly probing in his mind and suddenly.... - -Clara's great unhappiness and the way she turned her head into his -shoulder to cry forced him to calm the rising panic in himself, and -again to caress the fear from her. - -Even later, when they lay where the moonlight thrust into the room -an impalpable shaft of alabaster, he loved her only as a succor. -Carefully, slowly, smoothing out her mind, drawing it away from all the -other things, drawing it down into this one thing. Gathering all her -mind into her senses and holding it there. Then quickly taking it away -from her in a moaning spasm so that now she was murmuring, murmuring, -palely drifting. Sleeping like a loved child. - -For a long, long time he watched the white moon cut its arc across -their window. He listened with a deep pleasure to her evenly breathing -sleep. But slowly he realized that her breath had changed, that the -body so close to his was tensing. His heart gave a great bound and tiny -moths of horror fluttered along his back. He raised himself and saw -that the eyes were open in the silver light. Even through the makeup he -saw that they were Helen's eyes. - -He did the only thing left for him. He shifted. But in that terrible -instant he understood something he had not anticipated. In Helen's eyes -there was not only intense shame over shifting into her hypoalter's -home; there was not only the disgust with himself for breaking -communication codes. He saw that, as a woman of the 20th Century might -have felt, Helen hated Clara as a sexual rival. She hated Clara doubly -because he had turned not to some other woman, but to the other part of -herself whom she could never know. - -As he shifted, Bill knew that the next light he saw would be on the -adamant face of the Medicorps. - - * * * * * - -Major Paul Grey, with two other Medicorps officers, entered the -Walden apartment about two hours after Bill left it to meet Clara. -Major Grey was angry with himself. Important information on a case -of communication-breaks and drug-refusal could be learned by letting -it run its course under observation. But he had not intended Conrad -Manz's life to be endangered, and certainly he would not have taken the -slightest chance on what they found in the Walden apartment if he had -expected it this early. - -Major Grey blamed himself for what had happened to Mary Walden. He -should have had the machines watching Susan and Mary at the same time -that they were relaying all wristband data for Bill and Conrad and for -Helen and Clara to his office. - -He had not done this because it was Susan's shift and he had not -expected Mary to break it. Now he knew that Helen and Bill Walden -had been quarreling over the fact that Clara was cheating on Helen's -shifts, and their conversations had directed the unhappy child's -attention to the Manz couple. She had broken shift to meet them ... -looking for a loving father, of course. - -Still--things would not have turned out so badly if Captain Thiel, -Mary's school officer, had not attributed Susan Shorrs' disappearance -only to poor drug acclimatization. Captain Thiel had naturally known -that Major Grey was in town to prosecute Bill Walden, because the major -had called on him to discuss the case. Yet it had not occurred to him, -until 18 hours after Susan's disappearance, that Mary might have forced -the shift for some reason associated with her aberrant father. - -By the time the captain advised him, Major Grey already knew that Bill -had forced the shift on Conrad under desperate circumstances and he had -decided to close in. He fully expected to find the father and daughter -at the apartment, and now ... it sickened him to see the child's -demented condition and realize that Bill had left her there. - -Major Grey could see at a glance that Mary Walden would not be -accessible for days even with the best treatment. He left it to the -other two officers to hospitalize the child and set out for the Manz -apartment. - -He used his master wristband to open the door there, and found a woman -standing in the middle of the room, wrapped in a sheet. He knew that -this must be Helen Walden. It was odd how ill-fitting Clara Manz's -softly sensual makeup seemed, even to a stranger, on the more rigidly -composed face before him. He guessed that Helen would wear color higher -on her cheeks and the mouth would be done in severe lines. Certainly -the present haughty face struggled with its incongruous makeup as well -as the indignity of her dress. - -She pulled the sheet tighter about her and said icily, "I will not wear -that woman's clothes." - -Major Grey introduced himself and asked, "Where is Bill Walden?" - -"He shifted! He left me with.... Oh, I'm so ashamed!" - -Major Grey shared her loathing. There was no way to escape the -conditioning of childhood--sex relations between hyperalter and -hypoalter were more than outlawed, they were in themselves disgusting. -If they were allowed, they could destroy this civilization. Those -idealists--they were almost all hypoalters, of course--who wanted the -old terminology changed didn't take that into account. Next thing -they'd want children to live with their actual parents! - -Major Grey stepped into the bedroom. Through the bathroom door beyond, -he could see Conrad Manz changing his makeup. - -Conrad turned and eyed him bluntly. "Would you mind staying out of here -till I'm finished? I've had about all I can take." - -Major Grey shut the door and returned to Helen Walden. He took a -hypothalamic block from his own pharmacase and handed it to her. "Here, -you're probably on very low drug levels. You'd better take this." He -poured her a glass of pop from a decanter and, while they waited for -Conrad, he dialed the nearest shifting station on the visiophone and -ordered up an emergency shifting costume for her. - -When at last they were both dressed, made up to their satisfaction and -drugged to his satisfaction, he had them sit on a couch together across -from him. They sat at opposite ends of it, stiff with resentment at -each other's presence. - -Major Grey said calmly, "You realize that this matter is coming to a -Medicorps trial. It will be serious." - -Major Grey watched their faces. On hers he saw grim determination. On -Conrad's face he saw the heavy movement of alarm. The man loved his -wife. That was going to help. "It is necessary in a case such as this -for the Medicorps to weigh your decisions along with the scientific -evidence we will accumulate. Unfortunately, the number of laymen -directly involved in this case--and not on trial--is only two, due -to your peculiar marriage. If the hypoalters, Clara and Conrad, were -married to other partners, we might call on as many as six involved -persons and obtain a more equitable lay judgment. As it stands, the -entire responsibility rests on the two of you." - -Helen Walden was primly confident. "I don't see how we can fail to -treat the matter with perfect logic. After all, it is not _we_ who -neglect our drug levels.... They _were_ refusing to take their drugs, -weren't they?" she asked, hoping for the worst and certain she was -right. - -"Yes, this is drug refusal." Major Grey paused while she relished the -answer. "But I must correct you in one impression. Your proper drug -levels do not assure that you will act logically in this matter. The -drugged mind _is_ logical. However, its fundamental datum is that the -drugs and drugged minds must be protected before everything else." He -watched Conrad's face while he added, "Because of this, it is possible -for you to arrive logically at a conclusion that ... death is the -required solution." He paused, looking at their white lips. Then he -said, "Actually, other, more suitable solutions may be possible." - -"But they _were_ refusing their drugs," she said. "You talk as if you -are defending them. Aren't you a Medicorps prosecutor?" - -"I do not prosecute _people_ in the ancient 20th Century sense, Mrs. -Walden. I prosecute the _acts_ of drug refusal and communication -breaks. There is quite a difference." - -"Well!" she said almost explosively. "I always knew Bill would get -into trouble sooner or later with his wild, antisocial ideas. I never -_dreamed_ the Medicorps would take _his_ side." - -Major Grey held his breath, almost certain now that she would walk into -the trap. If she did, he could save Clara Manz before the trial. - -"After all, they have broken every communication code. They have -refused the drugs, a defiance aimed at our very lives. They--" - -"Shut up!" It was the first time Conrad Manz had spoken since he sat -down. "The Medicorps spent weeks gathering evidence and preparing their -recommendations. You haven't seen any of that and you've already made -up your mind. How logical is that? It sounds as if you _want_ your -husband dead. Maybe the poor devil had some reason, after all, for what -he did." On the man's face there was the nearest approach to hate that -the drugs would allow. - -Major Grey let his breath out softly. They were split permanently. She -would have to trade him a mild decision on Clara in order to save Bill. -And even there, if the subsequent evidence gave any slight hope, Major -Grey believed now that he could work on Conrad to hang the lay judgment -and let the Medicorps' scientific recommendation go through unmodified. - -He let them stew in their cross-purposed silence for a while and then -nailed home a disconcerting fact. - -"I think I should remind you that there are few advantages to having -your alter extinguished in the _mnemonic eraser_. A man whose -hyperalter has been extinguished must report on his regular shift days -to a hospital and be placed for five days in suspended animation. This -is not very healthy for the body, but necessary. Otherwise, everyone's -natural distaste for his own alter and the understandable wish to spend -twice as much time living would generate schemes to have one's alter -sucked out by the eraser. That happened extensively back in the 21st -Century before the five day suspension was required. It was also used -as a 'cure' for schizophrenia, but it was, of course, only the brutal -murder of innocent personalities." - -Major Grey smiled grimly to himself. "Now I will have to ask you both -to accompany me to the hospital. I will want you, Mrs. Walden, to shift -at once to Mrs. Manz. Mr. Manz, you will have to remain under the close -observation of an officer until Bill Walden tries to shift back. We -have to catch him with an injection to keep him in shift." - - * * * * * - -The young medicop put the syringe aside and laid his hand on Bill -Walden's forehead. He pushed the hair back out of Bill's eyes. - -"There, Mr. Walden, you don't have to struggle now." - -Bill let his breath out in a long sigh. "You've caught me. I can't -shift any more, can I?" - -"That's right, Mr. Walden. Not unless we want you to." The young man -picked up his medical equipment and stepped aside. - -Bill noticed then the Medicorps officer standing in the background. The -man was watching as though he contemplated some melancholy distance. "I -am Major Grey, Bill. I'm handling your case." - -Bill did not answer. He lay staring at the hospital ceiling. Then he -felt his mouth open in a slow grin. - -"What's funny?" Major Grey asked mildly. - -"Leaving my hypoalter with my wife," Bill answered candidly. It had -already ceased to be funny to him, but he saw Major Grey smile in -spite of himself. - -"They were quite upset when I found them. It must have been some -scramble before that." Major Grey came over and sat in the chair -vacated by the young man who had just injected Bill. "You know, Bill, -we will need a complete analysis of you. We want to do everything we -can to save you, but it will require your cooperation." - -Bill nodded, feeling his chest tighten. Here it came. Right to the end, -they would be tearing him apart to find out what made him work. - -Major Grey must have sensed Bill's bitter will to resist. His resonant -voice was soft, his face kindly. "We must have your sincere desire to -help. We can't force you to do anything." - -"Except die," Bill said. - -"Maybe helping us get the information that might save your life at the -trial isn't worth the trouble to you. But your aberration has seriously -disturbed the lives of several people. Don't you think you owe it to -them to help us prevent this sort of thing in the future?" Major Grey -ran his hand through his whitening hair. "I thought you would like -to know Mary will come through all right. We will begin shortly to -acclimatize her to her new appointed parents, who will be visiting her -each day. That will accelerate her recovery a great deal. Of course, -right now she is still inaccessible." - -The brutally clear picture of Mary alone in the storage room crashed -back into Bill's mind. After a while, in such slow stages that the -beginning was hardly noticeable, he began to cry. The young medicop -injected him with a sleeping compound, but not before Bill knew he -would do whatever the Medicorps wanted. - - * * * * * - -The next day was crowded with battery after battery of tests. The -interviews were endless. He was subjected to a hundred artificial -situations and every reaction from his blood sugar to the frequency -ranges of his voice was measured. They gave him only small amounts of -drugs in order to test his reaction to them. - -Late in the evening, Major Grey came by and interrupted an officer who -was taking an electroencephalogram for the sixth time after injection -of a drug. - -"All right, Bill, you have really given us cooperation. But after -you've had your dinner, I hope you won't mind if I come to your room -and talk with you for a little while." - -When Bill finished eating, he waited impatiently in his room for the -Medicorps officer. Major Grey came soon after. He shook his head at -the mute question Bill shot at him. - -"No, Bill. We will not have the results of your tests evaluated until -late tomorrow morning. I can't tell you a thing until the trial in any -case." - -"When will that be?" - -"As soon as the evaluation of your tests is in." Major Grey ran his -hand over his smooth chin and seemed to sigh. "Tell me, Bill, how do -you feel about your case? How did you get into this situation and what -do you think about it now?" The officer sat in the room's only chair -and motioned Bill to the cot. - -Bill was astonished at his sudden desire to talk about his problem. He -had to laugh to cover it up. "I guess I feel as if I am being condemned -for trying to stay sober." Bill used the ancient word with a mock tone -of righteousness that he knew the major would understand. - -Major Grey smiled. "How do you feel when you're sober?" - -Bill searched his face. "The way the ancient Moderns did, I guess. I -feel what happens to me the _way_ it happens to me, not the artificial -way the drugs let it happen. I think there is a way for us to live -without the drugs and really enjoy life. Have you ever cut down on your -drugs. Major?" - -The officer shook his head. - -Bill smiled at him dreamily. "You ought to try it. It's as though a new -life has suddenly opened up. Everything looks different to you. - -"Look, with an average life span of 100 years, each of us only lives -50 years and our alter lives the other 50. Yet even on half-time we -experience only about half the living we'd do if we didn't take the -drugs. We would be able to feel the loves and hatreds and desires -of life. No matter how many mistakes we made, we would be able -occasionally to live those intense moments that made the ancients -great." - -Major Grey said tonelessly, "The ancients were great at killing, -cheating and debasing one another. And they were worse sober than -_drunk_." This time he did not smile at the word. - -Bill understood the implacable logic before him. The logic that had -saved man from himself by smothering his spirit. The carefully achieved -logic of the drugs that had seized upon the disassociated personality, -and engineered it into a smoothly running machine, where there was no -unhappiness because there was no great happiness, where there was no -crime except failure to take the drugs or cross the alter sex line. -Without drugs, he was capable of fury and he felt it now. - -"You should see how foolish these communication codes look when you -are undrugged. This stupid hide-and-seek of shifting! These two-headed -monsters simpering, about their artificial morals and their endless -prescriptions! They belong in _crazy_ houses! What use is there in such -a world? If we are all this sick, we should die...." - -Bill stopped and there was suddenly a ringing silence in the barren -little room. - -Finally Major Grey said, "I think you can see, Bill, that your desire -to live without drugs is incompatable with this society. It would -be impossible for us to maintain in you an artificial need for the -drugs that would be healthy. Only if we can clearly demonstrate that -this aberration is not an inherent part of your personality can we do -something medically or psycho-surgically about it." - -Bill did not at first see the implication in this. When he did, he -thought of Clara rather than of himself, and his voice was shaken. "Is -it a localized aberration in Clara?" - -Major Grey looked at him levelly. "I have arranged for you to be with -Clara Manz a little while in the morning." He stood up and said good -night and was gone. - -Slowly, as if it hurt him to move, Bill turned off the light and lay on -the cot in the semi-dark. After a while he could feel his heart begin -to take hold and he started feeling better. It was as though a man who -had thought himself permanently expatriated had been told, "Tomorrow, -you walk just over that hill and you will be home." - -All through the night he lay awake, alternating between panic and -desperate longing in a cycle with which finally he became familiar. At -last, as a rusty light of dawn reddened his silent room, he fell into a -troubled sleep. - -He started awake in broad daylight. An orderly was at the door with his -breakfast tray. He could not eat, of course. After the orderly left, he -hastily changed to a new hospital uniform and washed himself. He redid -his makeup with a trembling hand, straightened the bedclothes and then -he sat on the edge of the cot. - -No one came for him. - -The young medicop who had given him the injection that caught him in -shift finally entered, and was standing near him before Bill was aware -of his presence. - -"Good morning, Mr. Walden. How are you feeling?" - -Bill's wildly oscillating tensions froze at the point where he could -only move helplessly with events and suffer a constant, unchangeable -longing. - -It was as if in a dream that they moved in silence together down the -long corridors of the hospital and took the elevator to an upper floor. -The medicop opened the door to a room and let Bill enter. Bill heard -the door close behind him. - -Clara did not turn from where she stood looking out the window. Bill -did not care that the walls of the chill little room were almost -certainly recording every sight and sound. All his hunger was focused -on the back of the girl at the window. The room seemed to ring with his -racing blood. But he was slowly aware that something was wrong, and -when at last he called her name, his voice broke. - -Still without turning, she said in a strained monotone, "I want you to -understand that I have consented to this meeting only because Major -Grey has assured me it is necessary." - -It was a long time before he could speak. "Clara, I need you." - -She spun on him. "Have you no shame? You are married to my -hyperalter--don't you understand that?" Her face was suddenly wet with -tears and the intensity of her shame flamed at him from her cheeks. -"How can Conrad ever forgive me for being with his hyperalter and -talking about him? Oh, how can I have been so _mad_?" - -"They have done something to you," he said, shaking with tension. - -Her chin raised at this. She was defiant, he saw, though not toward -himself--he no longer existed for her--but toward that part of herself -which once had needed him and now no longer existed. "They have cured -me," she declared. "They have cured me of everything but my shame, and -they will help me get rid of that as soon as you leave this room." - -Bill stared at her before leaving. Out in the corridor, the young -medicop did not look him in the face. They went back to Bill's room and -the officer left without a word. Bill lay down on his cot. - -Presently Major Grey entered the room. He came over to the cot. "I'm -sorry it had to be this way, Bill." - -Bill's words came tonelessly from his dry throat. "Was it necessary to -be cruel?" - -"It was necessary to test the result of her psycho-surgery. Also, it -will help her over her shame. She might otherwise have retained a seed -of fear that she still loved you." - -Bill did not feel anything any more. Staring at the ceiling, he knew -there was no place left for him in this world and no one in it who -needed him. The only person who had really needed him had been Mary, -and he could not bear to think of how he had treated her. Now the -Medicorps was efficiently curing the child of the hurt he had done her. -They had already erased from Clara any need for him she had ever felt. - -This seemed funny and he began to laugh. "Everyone is being cured of -me." - -"Yes, Bill. That is necessary." When Bill went on laughing Major -Grey's voice turned quite sharp. "Come with me. It's time for your -trial." - - * * * * * - -The enormous room in which they held the trial was utterly barren. -At the great oaken table around which they all sat, there were three -Medicorps officers in addition to Major Grey. - -Helen did not speak to Bill when they brought him in. He was placed on -the same side of the table with an officer between them. Two orderlies -stood behind Bill's chair. Other than these people, there was no one in -the room. - -The great windows were high above the floor and displayed only the -blissful sky. Now and then Bill saw a flock of pigeons waft aloft on -silver-turning wings. Everyone at the table except himself had a copy -of his case report and they discussed it with clipped sentences. -Between the stone floor and the vaulted ceiling, a subtle echolalia -babbled about Bill's problem behind their human talk. - -The discussion of the report lulled when Major Grey rapped on the -table. He glanced unsmiling from face to face, and his voice hurried -the ritualized words: "This is a court of medicine, co-joining the -results of medical science and considered lay judgment to arrive -at a decision in the case of patient Bill Walden. The patient is -hospitalized for a history of drug refusal and communication breaks. We -have before us the medical case record of patient Walden. Has everyone -present studied this record?" - -All at the table nodded. - -"Do all present feel competent to pass judgment in this case?" - -Again there came the agreement. - -Major Grey continued, "It is my duty to advise you, in the presence -of the patient, of the profound difference between a trial for simple -drug refusal and one in which that aberration is compounded with -communication breaks. - -"It is true that no other aberration is possible when the drugs are -taken as prescribed. After all, the drugs _are_ the basis for our -schizophrenic society. Nevertheless, simple drug refusal often is a -mere matter of physiology, which is easy enough to remedy. - -"A far more profound threat to our society is the break in -communication. This generally is more deeply motivated in the patient, -and is often inaccessible to therapy. Such a patient is driven to -emotive explorations which place the various ancient passions, and the -infamous art of _historical gesture_, such as 'give me liberty or give -me death,' above the welfare of society." - - * * * * * - -Bill watched the birds flash down the sky, a handful of heavenly -coin. Never had it seemed to him so good to look at the sky. _If they -hospitalize me_, he thought, _I will be content forever to sit and look -from windows._ - -"Our schizophrenic society," Major Grey was saying, "holds together and -runs smoothly because, in each individual, the personality conflicts -have been compartmentalized between hyperalter and hypoalter. On -the social level, conflicting personalities are kept on opposite -shifts and never contact each other. Or they are kept on shifts where -contact is possible no more than one or two days out of ten. Bill -Walden's break of shift is the type of behavior designed to reactivate -these conflicts, and to generate the destructive passions on which -an undrugged mind feeds. Already illness and disrupted lives have -resulted." - -Major Grey paused and looked directly at Bill. "Exhaustive tests -have demonstrated that your entire personality is involved. I might -also say that the aberration to live without the drugs and to break -communication codes _is_ your personality. All these Medicorps officers -are agreed on that diagnosis. It remains now for us of the Medicorps -to sit with the laymen intimately involved and decide on the action -to be taken. The only possible alternatives after that diagnosis are -permanent hospitalization or ... total removal of the personality by -mnemonic erasure." - -Bill could not speak. He saw Major Grey nod to one of the orderlies -and felt the man pushing up his sleeve and injecting his nerveless arm. -They were forcing him to shift, he knew, so that Conrad Manz could sit -on the trial and participate. - -Helplessly, he watched the great sky blacken and the room dim and -disappear. - - * * * * * - -Major Grey did not avert his face, as did the others, while the shift -was in progress. Helen Walden, he saw, was dramatizing her shame at -being present during a shift, but the Medicorps officers simply stared -at the table. Major Grey watched the face of Conrad Manz take form -while the man who was going to be tried faded. - -Bill Walden had been without makeup, and as soon as he was sure Manz -could hear him, Major Grey apologized. "I hope you won't object to this -brief interlude in public without makeup. You are present at the trial -of Bill Walden." - -Conrad Manz nodded and Major Grey waited another full minute for the -shift to complete itself before he continued. "Mr. Manz, during the -two days you waited in the hospital for us to catch Walden in shift, I -discussed this case quite thoroughly with you, especially as it applied -to the case of Clara Manz, on which we were already working. - -"You will recall that in the case of your wife, the Medicorps diagnosis -was one of a clearly localized aberration. It was quite simple to apply -the mnemonic eraser to that small section without disturbing in any way -her basic personality. Medicorps agreement was for this procedure and -the case did not come to trial, but simply went to operation, because -lay agreement was obtained. First yourself and eventually--" Major Grey -paused and let the memory of Helen's stubborn insistence that Clara die -stir in Conrad's mind--"Mrs. Walden agreed with the Medicorps." - -Major Grey let the room wait in silence for a while. "The case of -Bill Walden is quite different. The aberration involves the whole -personality, and the alternative actions to be taken are permanent -hospitalization or total erasure. In this case, I believe that -Medicorps opinion will be divided as to proper action and--" Major Grey -paused again and looked levelly at Conrad Manz--"this may be true, -also, of the lay opinion." - -"How's that, Major?" demanded the highest ranking Medicorps officer -present, a colonel named Hart, a tall, handsome man on whom the -military air was a becoming skin. "What do you mean about Medicorps -opinion being divided?" - -Major Grey answered quietly, "I'm holding out for hospitalization." - -Colonel Hart's face reddened. He thrust it forward and straightened his -back. "That's preposterous! This is a clear-cut case of a dangerous -threat to our society, and we, let me remind you, are _sworn_ to -protect that society." - -Major Grey felt very tired. It was, after all, difficult to understand -why he always fought so hard against erasure of these aberrant cases. -But he began with quiet determination. "The threat to society is -effectively removed by either of the alternatives, hospitalization -or total erasure. I think you can all see from Bill Walden's medical -record that his is a well rounded personality with a remarkable -mind. In the environment of the 20th Century, he would have been an -outstanding citizen, and possibly, if there had been more like him, our -present society would have been better for it. - -"Our history has been one of weeding out all personalities that did not -fit easily into our drugged society. Today there are so few left that I -have handled only 136 in my entire career...." - -Major Grey saw that Helen Walden was tensing in her chair. He realized -suddenly that she sensed better than he the effect he was having on the -other men. - -"We should not forget that each time we erase one of these -personalities," he pressed on relentlessly, "society loses irrevocably -a certain capacity for change. If we eliminate all personalities who -do not fit, we may find ourselves without any minds capable of meeting -future change. Our direct ancestors were largely the inmates of mental -hospitals ... we are fortunate _they_ were not erased. Conrad Manz," he -asked abruptly, "what is your opinion on the case of Bill Walden?" - -Helen Walden started, but Conrad Manz shrugged his muscular shoulders. -"Oh, hospitalize the three-headed monster!" - -Major Grey snapped his eyes directly past Colonel Hart and fastened -them on the Medicorps captain. "Your opinion, Captain?" - -But Helen Walden was too quick. Before he could rap the table for -order, she had her thin words hanging in the echoing room. "Having been -Mr. Walden's wife for 15 years, my sentiments naturally incline me to -ask for hospitalization. That is why I may safely say, if Major Grey -will pardon me, that the logic of the drugs does not entirely fail us -in a situation like this." - -Helen waited while all present got the idea that Major Grey had accused -them of being illogical. "Bill's aberration has led to our daughter's -illness. And think how quickly it contaminated Clara Manz! I cannot ask -that society any longer expose itself, even to the extent of keeping -Bill in the isolation of the hospital, for my purely sentimental -reasons. - -"As for Major Grey's closing remarks, I cannot see how it is fair to -bring my husband to trial as a threat to society, if some future chance -is expected, in which a man of his behavior would benefit society. -Surely such a change could only be one that would ruin our present -world, or Bill would hardly fit it. I would not want to save Bill or -anyone else for such a future." - -She did not have to say anything further. Both of the other Medicorps -officers were now fully roused to their duty. Colonel Hart, of course, -"humphed" at the opinions of a woman and cast his with Major Grey. But -the fate of Bill Walden was sealed. - -Major Grey sat, weary and uneasy, as the creeping little doubts began. -In the end, he would be left with the one big stone-heavy doubt ... -could he have gone through with this if he had not been drugged, and -how would the logic of the trial look without drugs? - -He became aware of the restiveness in the room. They were waiting for -him, now that the decision was irrevocable. Without the drugs, he -reflected, they might be feeling--what was the ancient word, _guilt_? -No, that was what the criminal felt. _Remorse?_ That would be what they -should be feeling. Major Grey wished Helen Walden could be forced to -witness the erasure. People did not realize what it was like. - -What was it Bill had said? "You should see how foolish these -communication codes took when you are undrugged. This stupid -hide-and-seek of shifting...." - -Well, wasn't that a charge to be _inspected_ seriously, if you were -taking it seriously enough to kill the man for it? As soon as this case -was completed, he would have to return to his city and blot himself out -so that his own hyperalter, Ralph Singer, a painter of bad pictures and -a useless fool, could waste five more days. To that man he lost half -his possible living days. What earthly good was Singer? - -Major Grey roused himself and motioned the orderly to inject Conrad -Manz, so that Bill Walden would be forced back into shift. - -"As soon as I have advised the patient of our decision, you will all be -dismissed. Naturally, I anticipated this decision and have arranged for -immediate erasure. After the erasure, Mr. Manz, you will be instructed -to appear regularly for suspended animation." - - * * * * * - -For some reason, the first thing Bill Walden did when he became -conscious of his surroundings was to look out the great window for the -flock of birds. But they were gone. - -Bill looked at Major Grey and said, "What are you going to do?" - -The officer ran his hand back through his whitening hair, but he looked -at Bill without wavering. "You will be erased." - -Bill began to shake his head. "There is something wrong," he said. - -"Bill...." the major began. - -"There is something wrong," Bill repeated hopelessly. "Why must we be -split so there is always something missing in each of us? Why must we -be stupefied with drugs that keep us from knowing what we should feel? -I was trying to live a better life. I did not want to hurt anyone." - -"But you _did_ hurt others," Major Grey said bluntly. "You would do so -again if allowed to function in your own way in this society. Yet it -would be insufferable to you to be hospitalized. You would be shut off -forever from searching for another Clara Manz. And--there is no one -else for you, is there?" - -Bill looked up, his eyes cringing as though they stared at death. "No -one else?" he asked vacantly. "No one?" - -The two orderlies lifted him up by his arms, almost carrying him into -the operating room. His feet dragged helplessly. He made no resistance -as they lifted him onto the operating table and strapped him down. - -Beside him was the great panel of the mnemonic eraser with its thousand -unblinking eyes. The helmetlike prober cabled to this calculator was -fastened about his skull, and he could no longer see the professor who -was lecturing in the amphitheater above. But along his body he could -see the group of medical students. They were looking at him with great -interest, too young not to let the human drama interfere with their -technical education. - -The professor, however, droned in a purely objective voice. "The -mnemonic eraser can selectively shunt from the brain any identifiable -category of memory, and erase the synaptic patterns associated with its -translation into action. Circulating memory is disregarded. The machine -only locates and shunts out those energies present as permanent memory. -These are there in part as permanently echoing frequencies in closed -cytoplasmic systems. These systems are in contact with the rest of the -nervous system only during the phenomenon of remembrance. Remembrance -occurs when, at all the synapses in a given network 'y,' the -permanently echoing frequencies are duplicated as transient circulating -frequencies. - -"The objective in a total operation of the sort before us is to -distinguish all the stored permanent frequencies, typical of the -personality you wish to extinguish, from the frequencies typical of the -other personality present in the brain." - -Major Grey's face, very tired, but still wearing a mask of adamant -reassurance, came into Bill's vision. "There will be a few moments of -drug-induced terror, Bill. That is necessary for the operation. I hope -knowing it beforehand will help you ride with it. It will not be for -long." He squeezed Bill's shoulder and was gone. - -"The trick was learned early in our history, when this type of total -operation was more often necessary," the professor continued. "It is -really quite simple to extinguish one personality while leaving the -other undisturbed. The other personality in the case before us has -been drug-immobilized to keep this one from shifting. At the last -moment, this personality before us will be drug-stimulated to bring -it to the highest possible pitch of total activity. This produces -utterly disorganized activity, every involved neuron and synapse being -activated simultaneously by the drug. It is then a simple matter for -the mnemonic eraser to locate all permanently echoing frequencies -involved in this personality and suck them into its receiver." - -Bill was suddenly aware that a needle had been thrust into his arm. -Then it was as though all the terror, panic and traumatic incidents of -his whole life leaped into his mind. All the pleasant experiences and -feelings he had ever known were there, too, but were transformed into -terror. - -A bell was ringing with regular strokes. Across the panel of the -mnemonic eraser, the tiny counting lights were alive with movement. - -There was in Bill a fright, a demand for survival so great that it -could not be felt. - -It was actually from an island of complete calm that part of him saw -the medical students rising dismayed and white-faced from their seats. -It was apart from himself that his body strained to lift some mountain -and filled the operating amphitheater with shrieking echoes. And all -the time the thousand eyes of the mnemonic eraser flickered in swift -patterns, a silent measure of the cells and circuits of his mind. - -Abruptly the tiny red counting lights went off, a red beam glowed with -a burr of warning. Someone said, "Now!" The mind of Bill Walden flashed -along a wire as electrical energy and, converted on the control panel -into mechanical energy, it spun a small ratchet counter. - -"Please sit down," the professor said to the shaken students. "The drug -that has kept the other personality immobilized is being counteracted -by this next injection. Now that the sickly personality has been -dissipated, the healthy one can be brought back rapidly. - -"As you are aware, the synapse operates on the binary 'yes-no' choice -system of an electronic calculator. All synapses which were involved in -the diseased personality have now been reduced to an atypical, uniform -threshold. Thus they can be re-educated in new patterns by the healthy -personality remaining.... There, you see the countenance of the healthy -personality appearing." - - * * * * * - -It was Conrad Manz who looked up at them with a wry grin. He rotated -his shoulders to loosen them. "How many of you pushed old Bill Walden -around? He left me with some sore muscles. Well, I did that often -enough to him...." - -Major Grey stood over him, face sick and white with the horror of -what he had seen. "According to law, Mr. Manz, you and your wife are -entitled to five rest days on your next shift. When they are over, you -will, of course, report for suspended animation for what would have -been your hyperalter's shift." - -Conrad Manz's grin shrank and vanished. "_Would_ have been? Bill -is--gone?" - -"Yes." - -"I never thought I'd miss him." Conrad looked as sick as Major Grey -felt. "It makes me feel--I don't know if I can explain it--sort of -_amputated_. As though something's wrong with me because everybody else -has an alter and I don't. Did the poor son of a straitjacket suffer -much?" - -"I'm afraid he did." - -Conrad Manz lay still for a moment with his eyes closed and his mouth -thin with pity and remorse. "What will happen to Helen?" - -"She'll be all right," Major Grey said. "There will be Bill's -insurance, naturally, and she won't have much trouble finding another -husband. That kind never seems to." - -"Five rest days?" Conrad repeated. "Is that what you said?" He sat up -and swung his legs off the table, and he was grinning again. "I'll get -in a whole shift of jet-skiing! No, wait--I've got a date with the wife -of a friend of mine out at the rocket grounds. I'll take Clara out -there; she'll like some of the men." - -Major Grey nodded abstractedly. "Good idea." He shook hands with -Conrad Manz, wished him fun on his rest shift, and left. - -Taking a helicopter back to his city, Major Grey thought of his own -hyperalter, Ralph Singer. He'd often wished that the silly fool -could be erased. Now he wondered how it would be to have only one -personality, and, wondering, realized that Conrad Manz had been -right--it _would_ be like amputation, the shameful distinction of -living in a schizophrenic society with no alter. - -No, Bill Walden had been wrong, completely wrong, both about drugs -and being split into two personalities. What one made up in pleasure -through not taking drugs was more than lost in the suffering of -conflict, frustration and hostility. And having an alter--any kind, -even one as useless as Singer--meant, actually, _not being alone_. - -Major Grey parked the helicopter and found a shifting station. He took -off his makeup, addressed and mailed his clothes, and waited for the -shift to come. - -It was a pretty wonderful society he lived in, he realized. He wouldn't -trade it for the kind Bill Walden had wanted. Nobody in his right mind -would. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond Bedlam, by Wyman Guin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND BEDLAM *** - -***** This file should be named 51842.txt or 51842.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/8/4/51842/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/51842.zip b/old/51842.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c6cc5ce..0000000 --- a/old/51842.zip +++ /dev/null |
