ellison, harlan - paingod other(bookos.org)

8/13/2019 Ellison, Harlan - Paingod Other(Bookos.org)

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PAINGOD

AND OTHER DELUSIONS

HARLAN ELLISON


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The first edition of this book was dedicated to a friend of fourteen years brotherhood. He is now a friend of twenty-

nine years shared joys and agonies. If anything, this rededication is even more appropriate, tagged as it is for

R!"RT #I$%"R!"R&


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Contents

'ew Introduction( )our !asic *rown of Thorns

Introduction to +irst "dition( SPERO MELIORA: From the Vicinity of Alienationaingod

Repent, Hare/uin01 #aid the TicktockmanThe *rackpots

#eeping 2ogs

!right "yes

The 2iscarded

3anted in #urgery

2eeper Than the 2arkness


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New Introduction:

Your Basic Crown of Thorns

'" 'I&HT, #4" )"5R# 5&, maybe five or si6, I woke up in the darkness and saw words burning bright-red

on the ceiing of my bedroom.

5R" )7 535R" + H3 47*H5I' TH"R" I# I' TH" 3R$28

I crawed out of the rack and fet my way through the house to my office, sat down at the typewriter, put onthe ight and-sti aseep-typed the words on paper. I went back to bed and forgot a about it. That night I had

programmed my dreams for a #ergio $eone spaghetti western with score by 4orricone. 'o cartoon, no short

subjects.

The ne6t morning, coffee cup in hand, I went to my typewriter and found the /uestion waiting for me, a

aone on a sheet of yeow fooscap. Rhetorica. f course I knew how much pain there was in the word.. .is in the

word.

!ut I coudnt /uite bring mysef to ripping the sheet off the roer and getting on with what I shoud have

been working at. I sat and stared at it for the ongest time.7nderstand something( I am not a humanitarian. I distrust sefess phianthropists and doers of good deeds.

3hen you discover that the back natives of $amborene hated #chweit9er, you begin to suspect nobe individuas

have some secret need in them to be oved, to ook good in others eyes, to succor themseves or dissipate their guits

with benevoent gestures. Rather than the sanctimonious bushit of poiticians about the good peope of this fair

state1 I woud joyousy vote for any candidate who had the courage to stand 7p and say, $ook, Im going to stea

from you. Im going to ine my pockets and those of my friends, but Im not going to stea too much. !ut in the dea

I give you better roads, safer schoos, better education and a happier condition of ife. Im not going to do it out of

compassion or dedication to the good peope of this fair state: Im going to do it because if I do these things, you

eect me again and I can stea a itte bit more.1 That joker has my vote, no arguments.

;Rue of thumb( whenever you hear a poitician ca it the 7nited #tates of 5merica1< instead ofsimpy..the 7.#.1-you know hes bushitting you. Its ike the convouted synta6 of coege te6tbooks. 3hen they

start writing in a proi6 manner that makes you read a paragraph seven times to get the message See Dic and !ane

run" oh oh oh# you know someone is trying to fummo6 you. #ame for poiticians: if they start running a fastramadooah past you, instead of speaking simpy and directy, theyre trying to wease. This esson in good

government comes to you through the courtesy of a man who was snookered by "ugene 4c*arthy and &eorge

4c&overn.=

#o what Im trying to te you is that Im ast in the ine of nobe, unsefish, goden humanitarians. 3hat I

do for the commonwea I do formyself I am a sefish sonofabitch who contributes to good causes1 because I feeshitty if I dont. !ut if the truth be tod, Im the same as you( the deaths of a hundred thousand food victims in some

banana repubic doesnt touch me one one-miionth as much as the death of my dog did. If you get wiped out on a

freeway somewhere and I dont know you personay, I may go tsk-tsk, but the fact that I havent had a good bowe

movement in two days is more painfu to me.

#o those words burning on my ceiing reay threw me.

They reay got to me.

I had them printed on big yeow cards so theyd pop, and I started giving them to friends. I had one framed

for my office. Its up on the wa to the right of my typewriter as I sit here teing you about it.!ut if Im not this terrific concerned human being, whats it a in aid on 3e, its in aid of my coming to

terms with my own mortaity, something that happen to a of you if it hasnt aready. 5nd it speaks to what this

coection of stories is a about, in a way. #o we tak about pain.

Here are a few different kinds of pain I think are worthy of our attention.

The other night I had dinner with a good friend, a woman writer whom Ive known for about ten years.

Though weve never had a romantic reationship, I ove her deary and care about her( shes a $oodperson, and a

taented writer, and those two /uaities put her everastingy on my ist of 3hen )ou 'eed Hep, "ven In The 2ead

f 'ight, Im n *a. ver dinner, we taked about an anguish she has been e6periencing for a number of years.

#hes afraid of dying aone and unoved.


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#ome of you are nodding in understanding. 5 few of you are smiing. The former understand pain, the atter

are asshoes. r very ucky. 3eve all dreaded that moment when we pack it in, get a fast roback of days and

nights, and reai9e were about to go down the hoe never having beonged to anyone. If youve never fet it, youre

either an aien from far 5rcturus or so insensitive your demise wont matter. r very ucky.

Her probem is best summed up by something Theodore #turgeon once said( Theres no absence of ove inthe word, ony worthy paces to put it.1 4y friend gets invoved with guys who do her in. 'ot a her faut. #ome of

it is-were never whoy victims, we hep construct the tiger traps fied with spikes-but not a of it. #hesvunerabe. 3hie not naive, she is innocent. 5nd thats a dangerous, but audabe capacity( to wander through a

word that can be very uncaring and amoray crue, and sti be astonished at the way the sunight catches the edge

of a coeus eaf. 5nybody puts her down for that has to go through me first.

#o she keeps trying, and the ones with ong teeth sense her vunerabiity and they move in for the sow ki.

;Thats evi( ony the human predator destroys sowy, any decent hunting anima rips out the throat and feeds, and

thats that. The more I see of peope, the better I ike animas.=#he is a woman who needs a man. There are men who need a good woman. Theres nothing se6ist in saying

that, its a condition of the anima. ;5nd just so I dont get picketed by &ay $ib, there are men who need a good man

and women who need a good woman. There are aso men who need a good chicken and women who need a big dog,

and thats nobodys business but their own, you get my meaning, so ets cut the crap and move on.= "verybody

needs to beong to somebody. #ometime. +or an hour, a day, a year, forever...its a the same. 5nd when youve paid

dues on a bunch of decades without having made the proper inkup, you come to ive with a pain that is a du ache,

unocai9ed, suffusing every inch of your skin and throbbing ike a bruise down on the bone.

3hat to te her, what to say8 Theres nothing. I try to find her someone who cares, but its a pain shehave to either overcome by guerria attacks on the singes bars and young-marrieds parties, or earn to ove hersef

sufficienty we that she becomes more accessibe to the men shes turning off by unspoken words and invisibevibes. eope sense the pain, and they shy away from it, because theyve fet it themseves, and they dont want to

get contaminated. 3hen you need a job and hunger for one openy, you never get hired because they sme

desperation on you ike panther sweat.

!ut its a pain you cant ignore. I cant ignore.

Heres another one.

3hat foows is one of hundreds of etters I get from readers. I hate getting mai, because I dont have the

time to answer it, and I get a ot of it-probaby due to writing introductions ike this where I e6pose my viscera-but

more of that and what 5vram 2avidson says about it ater on-and most of the time I send out a form etter, otherwiseI woudnt have time to write stories. !ut occasionay I get a etter that simpy cannot be ignored( This is one of

them.

I wont use the young womans name for reasons of ibe that wi become cear as you read the etter. Thestory to which she makes reference is tited $oneyache1 and it appears in my coection I H5%" ' 47TH

5'2 I 47#T #*R"54 >yramid !ooks, ?@ABC. It is about a man who comes to unhappy terms with his own

overpowering guit about being a oveess individua. The 2iscon1 reference is to the 3ord #+ *onvention hed on

$abor 2ay ?@AB in 3ashington 2.*.

Dear %arlan:

&e s'oe (riefly at Discon concernin$ readin$ sf to the mentally ill)your sf amon$ others*. Somethin$

ha''ened the other day that I thou$ht mi$ht interest you.

I am 'resently +orin$ in the one medical)sur$ical (uildin$ that ) ) has. Since most of my 'atients are in

here for only ,ery short stays" there has not (een much o''ortunity for me to continue the readin$-thera'y that I had(een doin$ in another" uieter (uildin$. /Also" ha,in$ IV (ottles and (ouncin$ E 01*s to (a(y)sit lea,es little time

for other 'astimes" ho+e,er thera'eutic2. /And furthermore" I*m +orin$ midni$ht shift no+)+hich cuts do+n

some+hat on 'eo'le interested in (ein$ read to2.Any+ay. In this madhouse of a (uildin$ +e ha,e" amon$ +ards intended to hold u' to t+enty)fi,e" one

+hich cannot house more than se,en3 &ard 4A3 other+ise no+n as &ounded 0nee /from a time +hen +e had fi,e

fractured 'atellas u' here at once2. A fracture +ard" as it +ere" +hich also houses dia(etics (ein$ ne+ly)re$ulated"

and sta'h infections" and ne+ heart attacs +ho*re healin$. Rather a uiet 'lace as contrasted to most of this

madhouse /'ardon unintentional 'un2" and since I came (ac from Discon" my ,ery o+n +ard /on ni$hts2.&e ha,e u' here at 'resent a 'atient +ho has 'ut more em'loyees of ,arious sorts out on com'ensation for

,arious in5uries of ,arious sorts than any other 'atient in the hos'ital.

6he reason for this is hardly any fault of hers3 the fault lies +ith the aforementioned em'loyees" +ho


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+ored constantly /may(e un+ittin$ly" (ut that doesn*t e7cuse them2 to dri,e her a $ood deal more insane than she

e,er +as to (e$in +ith. 6he syndrome is easily descri(ed: A2 Some facet of our enli$htened state hos'ital system

/the Earth should only s+allo+ it2 enra$es-tortures an already hurtin$ mind to the 'oint +here it can no lon$er

control itself and the 'erson attacs the first thin$ that comes to hand. E,entually" an em'loyee ste's in to halt the

mayhem" and $ets mayhemmed himself 82 6he +ord $oes around from staff to staff" from staff to 'atients" e,entuallyis ,oiced ri$ht in front of the sic 'erson in,ol,ed: 96hat one is nuts" +ill ill you if you turn your (ac" $oes

(ananas at the dro' of a hat" etc. ad nauseam... ;2 6he 'erson thins" 9I ha,en*t (een too +ell lately" these areattendants and nurses and such" they say I*m cra


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ta(ula rosa" as the sayin$ $oes" and feelin$ ho'eless. And I o'ened my mouth" no+in$ full +ell that nothin$

+orth+hile +ould come out" and the tail of my eye cau$ht si$ht of an idea" sittin$ on to' of a 'ile of (oos on

calli$ra'hy that I had (rou$ht +ith me: a co'y of I %AVE @O MOG6% A@D I MGS6 S;REAM. I said" 9;ome on

in" sit do+n" let*s tal a(out it. I ha,e somethin$ here that may interest you. And +e sat do+n" and I too my life in

my hands and read her 9Lonelyache.?ou 'roclaimed the story to (e thera'y in the introduction" of course. I ha,e often +ondered after readin$ it

5ust ho+ far your +on e7'erience 'aralleled it. Merely clinical interest)all the +onderin$ +ent out of me that ni$ht.I +as +atchin$ my lady.

A(out half+ay throu$h she 'ut the $lass aside and shut her eyes and istened. I shoo and e't readin$.

&hen it +as nearly finished" I 'aniced: the endin$ +as too do+ney: the 'rota$onist commits suicide# I

didn*t no+ if I could turn her mood u'+ard a$ain.

I finished it" and she looed at me hard for a fe+ seconds" and I said" 9&ell" +hat does it do for you= She

+as uiet for a moment and then said" 9%e +anted to (e (ra,e on the +ay out" didn*t he=9I thin so" I said.

She thou$ht some more. 98ut he did$o out.

I nodded. It +as all that +as left in me: I +as $ettin$ the (e$innin$s of h-&od-I-2id-The-3rong-Thing0

and I +as holdin$ hard to ee' it from sho+in$.

9Is that the only +ay to $o" then= she ased" and oh# 6he des'air. I +anted to cry and couldn*t. I said"

9(ut consider first: whydid he $o=

98ecause he +as all alone. And she looed at me" and fed me the strai$ht line I had (een 'rayin$ for:

9I*m all alone too" thou$h)aren*t I=9Do you thin you*re all alone=

She looed at me" and at the $lass" and at me a$ain" and stood u' rocin$ on her casts a$ain. She tossedthe ans+er off so casually: 9@o" I $uess not. She clum'ed (ac to her room" $ot (ac in (ed" and rolled herself u'

in the co,ers and +ent to slee'. So casually.

So e,en if you +eren*t here in the (ody" %arlan" you hel'ed. @o tellin$ +hether this +ill ha''en a$ain" or

ho+ many times" or +hat mi$ht tri$$er it" (ut this time you hel'ed. I than you for ha,in$ the $uts to 'ut your o+n

fear and loneliness do+n on 'a'er and then allo+in$ it to (e 'u(lished: it taes coura$e. And has done someone

some $ood.

6hou$ht you mi$ht lie to no+.

Thats another kind of pain, and its rea, and if that etter didnt hurt you where you hurt best, then nothin$

in this book wi touch you, and maybe you ought to be vounteering for something ike the &enocide *orps in

!ra9i.Heres another pain that crushes. I went to 2river #urviva #choo ast #aturday. Id gotten a ticket I didnt

deserve ;are there any other kinds8= and the judge at my tria suggested if I wanted to take a days worth of traffic

schoo the ticket woud be dismissed. #o I did the deed.

Traffic #urviva #choo, what a ripoff, I thought. *ynica and smartass ike the other fifty peope booked

for that day. #even and a haf hours of bushit from some redneck cop.

#ure. !ut something happened. #omething that turned me around. )ouve got to know, I dont ike cops.

Its a gut reaction Ive had since I was a tiny tot. 4y first encounter with the 4an is recorded in a story caed +ree

3ith This !o61 and you be abe to read it in a few months when yramid reissues &"'T$"45' D7'EI". The

story was written a ong time ago, and the event happened even onger ago, but the reaction is as fresh in me as if it

had happened yesterday. #o I went with a snar on my ips and a oathing for the $aws that !onnie and *yde woudhave envied.

!ut the two *aifornia Highway atro officers who ectured the cass were sharp and open and knew they

had a captive audience, and course-corrected for it. !ut sti everyone in the room was cynica, taking it a as a ark,dragged by the waste of having to spend a dynamite #aturday in a sma room in the #portsmens $odge, sitting on a

hard chair and earning the whysFwherefores of the new *aifornia 7-turn aw.

7nti they showed the obigatory highway safety horror fim. Ive seen them before, so have you. "ndess

scenes of maimed and crushed men and women being crowbarred out of burning wrecks: women with their beads

spit open ike pomegranates, their brains on the tarmac: guys whod been hit by trains at crossings, egs over here,arms over there: shots of cars that demonstrate the simpe truth that the human body is ony a !aggie fied with

fuid-the tuckFro interiors eveny coated with bood and meat. 5nd it sickens you, and you turn your head away,

and sensitive stomachs heave, and no one makes cever remarks, and you want to puke. !ut it somehow has no more


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effect in totaity than the A(GG 'ews with fim of burned %ietnamese babies. )ou never think it happen to you.

7nti they came to the fina scene of the fim, and it was so hairy even the *a Highway officers grew

weak( a si6-year-od back kid had been hit by a car. !ack ghetto neighborhood. Hundreds of peoope ining the

street rubbernecking. #ma shape covered by a banket in the midde of the street. *ops a over the pace.

5ccording to the fim it wasnt the drivers faut, kid had run ut from between parked cars, driver hadnt had timeto stop, centerpunched the kid doing .

#hot of the car. 5 tiny dent. 'ot enough to even "ar #cheib it. #ma shape under a banket.Then they brought the mother out to identify the kid. Two men supporting her between them. They

staggered forward with her and a cop ifted the edge of the banket.

They must have had someone there with a directiona mike. I got every breath, every moan, every whisper

of air. h my &od. The sound of that womans scream. The pain. +rom out of the center of the earth. 'o human

throat was ever meant to produce such a terribe sound. #he coapsed, just sank away ike imp meat between the

supporting men. 5nd the fim ended. 5nd I sti heard that scream.Its five days ater as I write this. I cannot bock that scream from my mind. I never wi. I now drive more

sowy, I now fasten my safety bet, I now take no chances. I have aways been a fast driver, some say a cra9y driver:

though Ive never had an accident and used to race sports cars, I aways thought I was a fucking !arney dfied.

'o more. *hucke if you wi, friends, but Im on the wagon. 5nd that wagon gonna move ,ery carefuy. I dont

e,er want to hear that scream outside my head.

5re you aware of how much pain there is in the word8 )eah, Im aware. 'ow. !ecause Ive been writing

for eighteen years and I keep getting these etters, and I keep istening to peope, and at times its too much to

hande. If you dont know what Im taking about, go read 'athanae 3ests 4I## $'"$)H"5RT#.5nd so I write these introductions, what my friend and the briiant writer 5vram 2avidson cas going

naked in the word.1 5vram wrote me recenty and, in the course of taking me to task for something he beieved Ihad done wrong, he more-than-midy castigated me for dumping it a on paper. 3e, hes not the first, and from

time to time Ive considered never writing another of these sef-e6aminations. !ut Irwin #haw said, 5 man does not

write one nove at a time or one pay at a time or even one /uatrain at a time. He is engaged in the ong process of

putting his whoe ife on paper. He is on a journey and he is reporting in(


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Introduction to First Edition: SPERO MELIORA: From the Vicinity of

Alienation

THI# I# 4) "$"%"'TH !E. ;It shoud have been thirteen, counting the one I did under a pseudonym for a

schlocpubisher because I needed the money some years ago, but number tweve was a fase start 5vram 2avidsonand mysef wish had never happened and fortunatey never got into print, and thirteen is a book of short stories no

one seems constitutionay capabe of pubishing, and which seems we on its way to becoming an underground

cassic1 for those who have read it in manuscript form.= That doesnt seem too bad, for thirty years: twenty of which

were spent in earning on which end of this particuar body the head was attached.

%ery neary a of the past ten books have had some sort of introduction or proogue by mysef. I have the

feeing it is necessary to know what a writer stands for, in what he beieves, what it takes to make him beed, before

a reader shoud be asked to care about what the writer has written. This is patenty fooish. !. Traven writeseo/uenty, feeingy, briianty, yet he is an unknown /uantity. 3ides ife contradicts most of what he wrote. #haw

and 2ickens and #tendah were virtuay anonymous in their semina, important years, yet what they wrote remains

keen and true and vaid. &ranted, the phiosophy of ove me, ove my writing1 is my probem. #ti, it is the one to

which I pander, and so each of my books has had some viscera-reveaing treatise at the opening, from which the

usua reader reaction has been tota revusion and a mind-bogging reeing-back in disbeief. I have the unseemy

habit of going naked into the word. It comes from a seamy desire on my part not ony to be a &reat 3riter, but to!e 5dored as we.

There is no introduction this time. Im tired.This is my first hook in over two years. ;In eary ?@JK I came out to Hoywood, as part of a package dea

that invoved dismembering a marriage and fracturing a sma but intense group of ives. Ive been here over three

years, as this is written, and Ive been busy making a decent iving in teevision and feature fims to do much book

work. 5nd I cry a ot.=

I hit thirty-one ast 4ay: I turned around, and Id grown up. I knew #anta *aus was a winehead who spent

the other eeven months sopping up watery chicken soup with brown bread in a #avation 5rmy kitchen: the "aster

!unny was ony 3esh Rarebit mispronounced: good women1 e6ist in their idyic state mosty in weak noves by

Irving 3aace, Dohn Hara, +annie Hurst and $eon 7rine ;my misspe, not the typesetters=: 4ariyn 4onroe,*amus and D+E got cut off in their prime, and the eggsucking monsters who buried those three *ivi Rights workers

twenty-one feet down are running oose: and the sense of wonder has been reegated to buying od comic books and

catching The #hadow on #unday radio, trying to find out where that innocence of chidhood or nature went.#o there is no introduction. It has made this book incrediby beated in appearing aready. #even times I

tried to start an introduction to it, whie 2on !ensen ;an incrediby patient, ongsuffering, e6tremey fine editor= was

stunned by the hammers of deadines, pubishers, schedues and irresponsibe authors. 5nd seven times I came to

ass-grinding hats.

The first few times it was a compendium of bitter, cynica comment on writing for the science fiction fied.

Then there was a ighthearted roicking essay on $ife In ur Times, but by the time I had hit the thirty-si6 ba-ess

wonders who watched *atherine &enovese get knifed to death in 'ew )ork, my roick was a bit strained. #o Iattempted a more serious assaying of the contemporary scene. It touched on such matters as the afternoon I was

caed a *ommunist by the bag-boy in the Thriftimart because I objected to the &odwater pamphets at point-of-

sae: the impertinence and nosiness of credit checks for job appications or credit cards: the shocking bastardi9ation

of news media and ack of responsibiity thereof: the fetish for stye and u6ury, not safety, in new cars....

h, I went the route. 5nd when I was done, it took three cose friends to keep me from dashing into the

bathroom and opening an important vein with the new beep-beep Erona edge.

#o I tried a si6th attempt. 5 persona statement about how crummy it was writing for teevision, and seeing

your best work masticated and grab-assed and garbaged-out by no-taents afraid of their shadows. !ut that was onya repeat of a speech I made at the 3ord #+ *onvention ast $abor 2ay, and my attorney warned me if I put it into

print ;instead of paying it via tape at parties=, Id (e sued for roughy eeven miion beans. #o there was a seventh

attempt, in which I commented sagey on the stories in this book.

!ut ets face it, friends, this book simpy aint gonna change the course of 3estern *ivii9ation, and

rvie rescott is too busy simpering over 7pdike to find time for a paperback noveist, so what the he.

#o there is no introduction to this book. There are some pretty fair science fiction and fantasy stories here,

and one or two I particuary ike because they say something more than The 4utants Is *oming: if !ensen can


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Late in March of 4C" I +as com'elled to 5oin t+enty)fi,e thousand others" from all corners of the Gnited States"

+ho marched on the then)(astion of (i$otry" the then)ca'itol of corru'tion" Mont$omery" Ala(ama /thou$h South

8oston no+ holds undis'uted title to the desi$nation" Mont$omery is still no flo+er(ed of racial sanity2 /(ut the

myth of the 9li(eral @orth sure $ot the hell shot out of it (y the Southies from Irish)rednec 8oston2.

I +as 'art of the human floodtide they called a 9freedom march that +as tryin$ to tell 1o,ernor 1eor$e&allace that Ala(ama +as not an island" that it +as 'art of the ci,ili


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Paingod

Tears were impossibe, yet tears were his heritage. #orrow was beyond him, yet sorrow was his birthright. 5nguish

was denied him: even so, anguish was his stock in trade. +or Trente, there was no unhappiness: nor was there joy,concern, discomfort, age, time, feeing.

5nd this was as the "thos had panned it.

+or Trente had been appointed by the "thos-the race of somewhereLsomewhen beings who moray and

ethicay rued the universes-as their aingod. To Trente, who knew neither the tug of time nor the cripping

demands of the emotions, fe the forever task of dispensing pain and sorrow to the myriad mutitudes of creaturesthat inhabited the universe. 3hether sentient or barey capabe of the feebest uniceuar reaction-formation, Trente

passed aong from his faceted cubice invisibe against the backdrop of the changing stars, unhappiness and misery

in proportions too compe6y arrived at to be verbai9ed.

He was aingod for the universes, the one who deat out the tears and the anguish and the sou-wrenching

terrors that bighted ife from its first moment to its ast. !eyond age, beyond death, beyond feeing-oney and aone

in his cubice-Trente went about his business without concern or pause.

Trente was not the first aingod: there had been others. They had come before, not too many of them, but a

few, and why they no onger hed their post was a /uestion Trente had never asked. He was the chosen one from arace that ived amost indefinitey, and his job was to pass aong the caibrated and measured doops of meanchoy

as prescribed by the "thos. It invoved no feeing and no concern, ony attention to duty. It was his position, and itwas his obigation. How pecuiar it was that he fet concern, after a this time.

It had begun so ong before-and of time he had no conception-that the ony marking date with vaidity was

that in the great ocean soon to become the &obi 2esert, paramecia had become more prevaent than amoebae. It had

grown in him through the centimetered centuries as ayers and ayers of forever setted down ike mist to form the

strata of the past.

'ow, it was now.

2espite the strange ache in his nerve-gand, his central nerve-gand: despite the progressive duing of his

eye gobes: despite the mad thoughts that spat and stuttered through his tripe-domed cerebrum, thoughts of which

he knew he was incapabe, Trente performed his now functions as he was re/uired(

He dispensed unbearabe anguish to the residents of a thirdpower panet in the #nai *uster, supportabeagony to a farm coony that had sprung up on Dacopettii 7, incredibe suffering to a parentess spider-chid on

Hiydyg IM, and reentess torment to a bameess race of mute aborigines on a nameess, arid panet circing a dying

sun of the AGA #ystem.

5nd through it a, Trente suffered for his charges.

3hat coud not be, was. 3hat coud not come to pass, had. The souess, emotioness, regimented creature

that the "thos had named aingod had contracted a sickness. *oncern. 5t ast, after centuries too fied away to

unearth and codify, Trente had reached a 'ow in which he coud no onger support his acts. He cared.

The physica manifestations of his menta upheava were numerous. His obong head throbbed and his eye

gobes were duing, a itte more each decade: the interinked duodena ucers so necessary to his endocrina

systems norma function had begun to misfire ike fauty pugs in an od car: the th+ac# of his saamander tai hadgrown weaker, indicating his motor responses to nerve endings were feeber. Trente-who had aways been

considered rather a handsome e6ampe of his race-had sowy come to ook fororn, weary, even a touch pathetic.

5nd he sent down woe to an armored, fying creature with a mite-si9ed brain on a dark panet at the edge of

the *oasack: he dispatched fear and trembing to a smoke-ike wraith that was the ony visibe remains of a great

race that had earned to dispense with its bodies centuries before, in the sun known as %erte: he conscientiousy

winged terror and unhappiness and misery and sadness to a group of murdering pirates, a ci/ue of shrewd

poiticians and a brothefu of unregenerate whores-a on a fifth-power panet of the 3hite Horse *onsteation.

#topped aone there, in the night of space, his mind spiraing now for the first time down a strange anddis/uieting chamber of thought, Trente twisted within himsef. I was seected because I acked the certain difficuties

I now manifest. 3hat is this torment8 3hat is this unpeasant, unhappy, unreenting feeing that gnaws at me, tears

at me, corrupts my thoughts, coors darky my every desire8 5m I going mad8 4adness is beyond my race: it is a

something we have never known. Have I been at this post too ong, have I faied in my duties8 If there was a &od


13/83

stronger than the &od that I am, or a &od stronger than the "thos &ods, then I woud appea to that &od. !ut there is

ony sience and the night and the stars, and Im aone, so aone, so &od a aone here, doing what I must, doing my

best.

5nd then, finay( I must know. I must no+#

...whie he spun a fiber of meanchoy down to a doube-thora6ed insect-creature on Io, speared with dreada bob of barey sentient mud on 5caras III, pain-goaded into suicide an eectrica wave-being capabe of producing

e6/uisite fifteen-toned harmonics on #yndon !eta %, reduced by haf the peasures of a pitiabe sug thing in themethane caves of Ekk I%, enshrouded in bitterness and misery a man named *oin 4arshack on an insignificant

panet caed #o III, "arth, Terra, the word...

5nd then, finay( I +ill know. I wi no+#

Trente removed the scae mode of "arth from the dispay crate, and stared at it. #uch a tiny thing, such a

hepess thing, to support the nightwak of a aingod.

He seected the most recent recipient of his attentions, through no more invoved method than that, andused the means of trave his race had ong since perfected to eave his encased cubice hanging transucent against

the stars. Trente, aingod of the universes, for the first time in a the centuries he had ived that ife of giving, never

receiving, eft his pace, and eft his 'ow, and went to find out. To find out...what8 He had no way of knowing.

+or the aingod, it was the first nightwak.

ieter Eosek had been born in a dwarf province of a minuscue *entra "uropean country ong since

swaowed up by a tiny power now a member of the *ommon 4arket. He had eft "urope eary in the ?@KGs, had

shipped aboard a freighter to !oivia and, after working his way as common deckhand and aborer through haf a

do9en banana repubics, had been washed up on an inand shore of the 7nited #tates in ?@B. He had prompty gone

to earth, gone to seed, and gone to fat. 5 short stint in a *** camp, a shorter stint as a bouncer in a Eansas *ity

speak, a term in the Iinois #tate 3orkhouse, a ong run on the ontiac assemby ine making an obscure part for an

obscure segment of a !-?As innards, a brief fing as owner of a raspberry farm, and an e6tended period as a skid

row-fre/uenting wino summed up his ife. 'ow, as no+ woud be reckoned by any sane mans ephemeris, ieterEosek was a wetbrain-an acohoic so sunk in the fumes and vapors of his own i/uor need that he was barey

recogni9abe as a human being. $ying soddeny, but /uiety, in an aey two bocks up from the &reyhound bus

station in downtown $os 5ngees, ieter Eosek, age fifty-nine, weight K?G, hair fith gray, eyes red and moist and

cosed, unceremoniousy died. That simpy, that unconcernedy, that uneventfuy for a the young-od men in

overong &I surpus overcoats who passed by that aey mouth unseeing, uncaring-ieter Eosek died. His brain

gave out, his ungs ceased to beow, his heart refused to pump, his bood sid to a hat in his veins, and breath no

onger passed his ips. He died. "nd of story, beginning of story. 5s he ay there, haf-propped against the brick wa

with its shredded reminder of a ightweight bo6ing match between two stumbebums ong since passed intoobscurity and the fies ofRin$ Ma$a


14/83


15/83

knew, and no+in$" had to $o further. For he +as Pain$od. not a transient tourist in the country of 'ain. %e dre+

forth the mind of Marshac" of that +ea and trem(lin$ ;olin Marshac" and fled +ith it. Out. Out there. Further.

Much further. 6ill time came to a slitherin$ halt and s'ace +as no lon$er of any conseuence. And he +hirled ;olin

Marshac throu$h the uni,erses. 6hrou$h the infinite allness of the s'ace and time and motion and meanin$ that

+as the cre,ice into +hich Life had sun itself %e sa+ the (lo(s of mud and the +hirlin$ +in$ed thin$s and the tallhumanoids and the cleat)treaded half)men-half)machines that ruled one and another sector of o'en s'ace. %e

sho+ed it all to ;olin Marshac" drenched him in +onder" filled him lie the most ,ital $o(let the Ethos had e,ercreated" 'oured him full of lo,e and life and the sta$$erin$ (eauty of the cosmos. And ha,in$ done that" he +hirled

the soul and s'irit of ;olin Marshac do+n do+n and do+n to the fi(rous shell that +as his (ody" and 'oured that

soul (ac inside. 6hen he +aled the shell to the home of ;olin Marshac...and turned it loose. And...

3hen the scuptor awoke, ying face down amidst the marbe chips and powder-fine dust of the statue, he

saw the base first: and not having recaed even buying a chunk of stone that arge, raised himsef on his hands, and

his knees, and his haunches, and sat there, and his eyes went up toward the summit, and seemed to go on forever,

and when he finay saw what it was he had created-this thing of such incredibe oveiness and meaning and

wisdom-he began to sob. #ofty, never very oud, but deepy, as though each whimper was drawn from the very core

of him.

He had done it this once, but as he saw his hands sti trembing, sti murmuring to themseves in spasms,he knew it was the one time he woud ever do it. There was no memory of how, or why, or even of when...but it was

his work, of that he was certain. The pain in his wrists tod him it was.

The moment of truth stood high above him, respendent in marbe, but there woud be no other moments.

This was *oin 4arshacks ife, in its totaity, now. The sound of sobbing was ony broken periodicay, as

he began to drink.

3aiting. The "thos waited. Trente had known they woud. It was inevitabe. +ooish for him to conceive of

a situation of which they woud not have an awareness.

A+ay. From your 'ost" a+ay.

I had to know. It has been growing in me, a ive thing in me. I had to know. It was the ony way. I went to

a panet, and ived within what they ca


16/83

of it a, the creature who woud never die, the creature who had ived within the rotting body of ieter Eosek and

for a few moments in the sou and taent of *oin 4arshack, that creature caed aingod, earned one more thing, as

he stared at the tiny mode of the panet "arth he had known.

Trente knew the fee of a tear formed in a duct and turned free from an eye gobe-coo on his face.

Trente knew happiness.


17/83

@o+ it can he told: my secret ,ice. 8uried dee' in the anthracite core of my (ein$ is a 'ersonal trait so hideous" so

confoundin$" a conceit so terri(le in its re'ercussions" that it maes sodomy" 'ederasty and (arratry on the hi$h

seas seem as tame as a Frances Parinson 0eyes no,el. I am al+ays late. In,aria(ly. ;onsistently. If I tell you I*ll

(e there to 'ic u' you at J:B" e7'ect me 6hursday. A 'ositi,e $enius for tardiness. Paramount sends a car to 'ic

me u' +hen I*m scri'tin$" other+ise they no+ I*ll (e off looin$" at the flo+ers" or +atchin$" the ocean" or readin$"a co'y of The 5ma9ing #pider-4anin the (athroom. I ha,e (een (rou$ht to tas for this" on innumera(le occasions.

It 'rom'ted se,eral courts)martial +hen I +as in the Army. I*,e lost $irl friends (ecause of it. So I +ent to a doctor"to see if there +as somethin$" +ron$ +ith my medulla o(lon$ata" or somesuch. %e told me I +as al+ays late. %is

(ill +as se,enty)fi,e dollars. I*,e decided that unlie most other fol +ith hi$hly de,elo'ed senses of the fluidity of

time" the 'ermanence of humanity in the chronostream" et al" I $ot no tictoc $oin$ u' there on to'. So I had to

e7'lain it to the +orld" to co' out" as it +ere" in ad,ance. I +rote the follo+in$ story as my 'lea for understandin$"

e7tra'olatin$ the /to me2 $hastly state of the +orld around me)in +hich e,eryone scam'ers here and there to (e

'laces on time)to a time not too far a+ay /(y my +atch2 in +hich you $et your life doced e,ery time you*re late. Itis not entirely coincidental that the name of the hero in this minor master'iece closely resem(les that of the author"

to +it:

Repent, Hare!uin"#

$aid the Tic%toc%&an

TH"R" 5R" 5$35)# TH#" 3H 5#E, what is it a about8 +or those who need to ask, for those who need

points sharpy made, who need to know where its at,1 this(

The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainy, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standingarmy, and the miitia, jaiors, constabes, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free e6ercise whatever of the

judgment or of the mora sense: but they put themseves on a eve with wood and earth and stones: and wooden men canperhaps be manufactured that wi serve the purpose as we. #uch command no more respect than men of straw or a umpof dirt. They have the same sort of worth ony as horses and dogs. )et such as these even are commony esteemed goodciti9ens. thers-as most egisators, poiticians, awyers, ministers, and office-hoders-serve the state chiefy with their

heads: and, as they rarey make any mora distinctions, they are as ikey to serve the 2evi, without intending it, as &od. 5very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men" serve the state with their consciences aso, andso necessariy resist it for the most part: and they are commony treated as enemies by it.

H"'R) 25%I2 THR"57

;i,il Diso(edience

That is the heart of it. 'ow begin in the midde, and ater earn the beginning: the end wi take care of

itsef.

!ut because it was the very word it was, the very word they had aowed it to (ecome" for months his

activities did not come to the aarmed attention of The nes 3ho Eept The 4achine +unctioning #moothy, the

ones who poured the very best butter over the cams and mainsprings of the cuture. 'ot unti it had become obvious

that somehow, someway, he had become a notoriety, a ceebrity, perhaps even a hero for ;what fficiadom

inescapaby tagged= an emotionay disturbed segment of the popuace,1 did they turn it over to the Ticktockmanand his ega machinery. !ut by then, because it was the very word it was, and they had no way to predict he woud

happen-possiby a strain of disease ong-defunct, now, suddeny, reborn in a system where immunity had been

forgotten, had apsed-he had been aowed to become too rea. 'ow he had form and substance.

He had become a'ersonality" something they had fitered out of the system many decades before. !ut there

it was, and there he was, a very definitey imposing personaity. In certain circes-midde-cass circes-it was thought

disgusting. %ugar ostentation. 5narchistic. #hamefu. In others, there was ony snickering, those strata where

thought is subjugated to form and ritua, niceties, proprieties. !ut down beow, ah, down beow, where the peope

aways needed their saints and sinners, their bread and circuses, their heroes and viains, he was considered a!oivar: a 'apoeon: a Robin Hood: a 2ick !ong ;5ce of 5ces= : a Desus: a Domo Eenyatta.

5nd at the top-where, ike sociay attuned #hipwreck Eeys, every tremor and vibration threatening to


18/83

disodge the weathy, powerfu and tited from their fagpoes-he was considered a menace: a heretic: a rebe: a

disgrace: a peri. He was known down the ine, to the very heartmeat core, but the important reactions were high

above and far beow. 5t the very top, at the very bottom.

#o his fie was turned over, aong with his time card and his cardiopate, to the office of the Ticktockman.

The Ticktockman( very much over si6 feet ta, often sient, a soft purring man when things went timewise.The Ticktockman.

"ven in the cubices of the hierarchy, where fear was generated, sedom suffered, he was caed theTicktockman. !ut no one caed him that to his mask.

)ou dont ca a man a hated name, not when that man, behind his mask, is capabe of revoking the

minutes, the hours, the days and nights, the years of your ife. He was caed the 4aster Timekeeper to his mask. It

was safer that way.

This is +hat he is,1 said the Ticktockman with genuine softness, but not +ho he is. This time-card Im

hoding in my eft hand has a name on it, but it is the name of +hat he is, not +ho he is. The cardiopate here in myright hand is aso named, but not whom named, merey what named. !efore I can e6ercise proper revocation, I have

to know who this what is.1

To his staff, a the ferrets, a the oggers, a the finks, a the comme6, even the minee9, he said, 3ho is

this Hare/uin81

He was not purring smoothy. Timewise, it was jange.

However, it +as the ongest singe speech they had ever heard him utter at one time, the staff, the ferrets,

the oggers, the finks, the comme6, but not the minee9, who usuay werent around to know, in any case. !ut even

they scurried to find out3ho is the Hare/uin8

High above the third eve of the city, he crouched on the humming auminum-frame patform of the air-

boat ;foof0 airboat, indeed, swi99eskid is what it was, with a tow-rack jerry-rigged= and stared down at the neat

4ondrian arrangement of the buidings.#omewhere nearby, he coud hear the metronomic eft-right-eft of the K(BA .4. shift, entering the Timkin

roerbearing pant, in their sneakers. 5 minute ater, precisey, he heard the softer right-eft-right of the (GG 5.4.

formation, going home.

5n efin grin spread across his tanned features, and his dimpes appeared for a moment. Then, scratching at

his thatch of auburn hair, he shrugged within his motey, as though girding himsef for what came ne6t, and threw

the joystick forward, and bent into the wind as the air-boat dropped. He skimmed over a sidewak, purposey

dropping a few feet to crease the tasses of the adies of fashion, and-inserting thumbs in arge ears-he stuck out his

tongue, roed his eyes and went wugga-wugga-wugga. It was a minor diversion. ne pedestrian skittered andtumbed, sending parces everywhichway, another wet hersef, a third keeed santwise and the wak was stopped

automaticay by the servitors ti she coud be resuscitated. It was a minor diversion.

Then he swired away on a vagrant bree9e, and was gone. Hi-ho.

5s he rounded the cornice of the Time-4otion #tudy !uiding, he saw the shift, just boarding the

sidewak. 3ith practiced motion and an absoute conservation of movement, they sidestepped up onto the sowstrip

and ;in a chorus ine reminiscent of a !usby !erkeey fim of the antideuvian ?@Gs= advanced across the strips

ostrich-waking ti they were ined up on the e6presstrip.

nce more, in anticipation, the efin grin spread, and there was a tooth missing back there on the eft side.

He dipped, skimmed, and swooped over them: and then, scrunching about on the air-boat, he reeased the hoding

pins that fastened shut the ends of the homemade pouring troughs that kept his cargo from dumping prematurey.5nd as he pued the trough-pins, the air-boat sid over the factory workers and one hundred and fifty thousand

doars worth of jey beans cascaded down on the e6presstrip.

Dey beans0 4iions and biions of purpes and yeows and greens and icorice and grape and raspberryand mint and round and smooth and crunchy outside and soft-meay inside and sugary and bouncing jouncing

tumbing cittering cattering skittering fe on the heads and shouders and hardhats and carapaces of the Timkin

workers, tinking on the sidewak and bouncing away and roing about underfoot and ruing the sky on their way

down with a the coors of joy and chidhood and hoidays, coming down in a steady rain, a soid wash, a torrent of

coor and sweetness out of the sky from above, and entering a universe of sanity and metronomic order with /uite-mad coocoo newness. Dey beans0

The shift workers howed and aughed and were peted, and broke ranks, and the jey beans managed to

work their way into the mechanism of the sidewaks after which there was a hideous scraping as the sound of a


19/83

miion fingernais rasp down a /uarter of a miion backboards, foowed by a coughing and a sputtering, and then

the sidewaks a stopped and everyone was summariy dumped thisawayandthataway in a jackstraw tumbe, sti

aughing and popping itte jey bean eggs of chidish coor into their mouths. It was a hoiday, and a joity, an

absoute insanity, a gigge. !ut...

The shift was deayed seven minutes.They did not get home for seven minutes.

The master schedue was thrown off by seven minutes.Ouotas were deayed by inoperative sidewaks for seven minutes.

He had tapped the first domino in the ine, and one after another, ike chik chik chik, the others had faen.

The #ystem had been seven minutes worth of disrupted. It was a tiny matter, one hardy worthy of note, but

in a society where the singe driving force was order and unity and promptness and cockike precision and attention

to the cock, reverence of the gods of the passage of time, it was a disaster of major importance.

#o he was ordered to appear before the Ticktockman. It was broadcast across every channe of thecommunications web. He was ordered to be there at A(GG dammit on time. 5nd they waited, and they waited, but he

didnt show up ti amost ten-thirty, at which time he merey sang a itte song about moonight in a pace no one

had ever heard of, caed %ermont, and vanished again. !ut they had a been waiting since seven, and it wrecked

hell with their schedues. #o the /uestion remained( 3ho is the Hare/uin8

!ut the unased /uestion ;more important of the two= was ( How did we get into this position, where a

aughing, irresponsibe japer of jabberwocky and jive coud disrupt our entire economic and cutura ife with a

hundred and fifty thousand doars worth of jey beans...

!elly for &ods sake (eans# This is madness0 3here did he get the money to buy a hundred and fiftythousand doars worth of jey beans8 ;They knew it woud have cost that much, because they had a team of

#ituation 5naysts pued off another assignment, and rushed to the sidewak scene to sweep up and count thecandies, and produce findings, which disrupted their schedues and threw their entire branch at east a day behind.=

Dey beans0 Dey...(eans='ow wait a second-a second accounted for-no one has manufactured jey beans for over

a hundred years. 3here did he get jey beans8

Thats another good /uestion. 4ore than ikey it wi never be answered to your compete satisfaction. !ut

then, how many /uestions ever are8

The midde you know. Here is the beginning. How it starts(

5 desk pad. 2ay for day, and turn each day. @(GG-open the mai. @ (B-appointment with panning

commission board. ?G(G-discuss instaation progress charts with D.$. ??(? pray for rain. ?K(GG-unch. And so it$oes.

Im sorry, 4iss &rant, but the time for interviews was set at K(G, and its amost five now. Im sorry

youre ate, but those are the rues. )ou have to wait ti ne6t year to submit appication for this coege again.1And so it $oes.

The ?G( ?G oca stops at *resthaven, &aesvie, Tonawanda Dunction, #eby and +arnhurst, but not at

Indiana *ity, $ucasvie and *oton, e6cept on #unday. The ?G( e6press stops at &aesvie, #eby and Indiana

*ity, e6cept on #undays F Hoidays, at which time it stops at.. .and so it $oes.

I coudnt wait, +red. I had to be at ierre *artains by (GG, and you said youd meet me under the cockin the termina at K(B, and you werent there, so I had to go on. )oure aways ate, +red. If youd been there, we

coud have sewed it up together, but as it was, we, I took the order aone...1And so it $oes.

2ear 4r. and 4rs. 5tterey( In reference to your son &erads constant tardiness, I am afraid we wi have

to suspend him from schoo uness some more reiabe method can be instituted guaranteeing he wi arrive at his

casses on time. &ranted he is an e6empary student, and his marks are high, his constant fouting of the schedues of

this schoo make it impractica to maintain him in a system where the other chidren seem capabe of getting where

they are supposed to be on time and so it $oes.

)7 *5''T %T" 7'$"## )7 5"5R 5T P(B 5.4.I dont care if the script is$ood. I need it Thursday01

*H"*E-7T TI4" I# K(GG .4.)ou got here ate. The jobs taken. #orry.1

)7R #5$5R) H5# !""' 2*E"2 +R T3"'T) 4I'7T"# TI4" $#T.

&od, what time is it, Ive gotta run01

5nd so it goes. 5nd so it goes. 5nd so it goes. 5nd so it goes goes goes goes goes tick tock tick tock tick

tock and one day we no onger et time serve us, we serve time and we are saves of the schedue, worshippers of the

suns passing, bound into a ife predicated on restrictions because the system wi not function if we dont keep the

schedue tight.


20/83

7nti it becomes more than a minor inconvenience to be ate. It becomes a sin. Then a crime. Then a crime

punishabe by this(

"++"*TI%" ? D7$) KP@, ?K(GG(GG midnight, the office of the 4aster Timekeeper wi re/uire a

citi9ens to submit their time-cards and cardiopates for processing. In accordance with #tatute A-#&H-@@@

governing the revocation of time per capita, a cardiopates wi be keyed to the individua hoder and3hat they had done was devise a method of curtaiing the amount of ife a person coud have. If he was ten

minutes ate, he ost ten minutes of his ife. 5n hour was proportionatey worth more revocation. If someone wasconsistenty tardy, he might find himsef, on a #unday night, receiving a communi/uQ from the 4aster Timekeeper

that his time had run out, and he woud be turned off1 at high noon on 4onday, pease straighten your affairs, sir.

5nd so, by this simpe scientific e6pedient ;utii9ing a scientific process hed deary secret by the

Ticktockmans office= the #ystem was maintained. It was the ony e6pedient thing to do. It was, after a, patriotic.

The schedues had to be met. 5fter a, there +as a war on0

!ut, wasnt there aways8'ow that is reay disgusting,1 the Hare/uin said, when pretty 5ice showed him the wanted poster.

2isgusting and hi$hly improbabe. 5fter a, this isnt the day of the desperado. 5 +antedposter01

)ou know,1 5ice noted, you speak with a great dea of infection.1

Im sorry,1 said the Hare/uin, humby.

'o need to be sorry. )oure aways saying


21/83

#he gasped, and hed it as though it was a gass side tinged with botuism, and prayed it was not for her. $et it be for

4arsh, she thought, brutay, reaisticay, or one of the kids, but not for me, pease dear &od, not for me. 5nd then

she opened it, and it +as for 4arsh, and she was at one and the same time horrified and reieved. The ne6t trooper in

the ine had caught the buet. 4arsha,1 she screamed, 4arsha0 Termination, 4arsha0 hmi&od, 4arsha,

whatt we do, whatt we do, 4arsha, omigodmarsha...1 and in their home that night was the sound of tearingpaper and fear, and the stink of madness went up the fue and there was nothing, absoutey nothing they coud do

about it. ;!ut 4arsha 2eahanty tried to run. 5nd eary the ne6t day, when turn-off time came, he was deep in the

forest two hundred mies away, and the office of the Ticktockman banked his cardiopate, and 4arsha 2eahanty

keeed over, running, and his heart stopped, and the bood dried up on its way to his brain, and he was dead thats a.

ne ight went out on his sector map in the office of the 4aster Timekeeper, whie notification was entered for fa6

reproduction, and &eorgette 2eahantys name was entered on the doe roes ti she coud remarry. 3hich is the end

of the footnote, and a the point that need be made, e6cept dont augh, because that is what woud happen to theHare/uin if ever the Ticktockman found out his rea name. It isnt funny.=

The shopping eve of the city was thronged with the Thursday-coors of the buyers. 3omen in canary

yeow chitons and men in pseudo-Tyroean outfits that were jade and eather and fit very tighty, save for the

baoon pants.

3hen the Hare/uin appeared on the sti-being-constructed she of the new "fficiency #hopping *enter,

his buhorn to his efishy-aughing ips, everyone pointed and stared, and he berated them(

3hy et them order you about8 3hy et them te you to hurry and scurry ike ants or maggots8 Take your

time0 #aunter a whie0 "njoy the sunshine, enjoy the bree9e, et ife carry you at your own pace0 2ont be saves oftime, its a heuva way to die, sowy, by degrees...down with the Ticktockman01

3hos the nut8 most of the shoppers wanted to know. 3hos the nut oh wow Im gonna be ate I gotta run...5nd the construction gang on the #hopping *enter received an urgent order from the office of the 4aster

Timekeeper that the dangerous crimina known as the Hare/uin was atop their spire, and their aid was urgenty

needed in apprehending him. The work crew said no, they woud ose time on their construction schedue, but the

Ticktockman managed to pu the proper threads of governmenta webbing, and they were tod to cease work and

catch that nitwit up there on the spire with the buhorn. #o a do9en and more bury workers began cimbing into

their construction patforms, reeasing the a-grav pates, and rising toward the Hare/uin.

5fter the debace ;in which, through the Hare/uins attention to persona safety, no one was seriousy

injured=, the workers tried to reassembe and assaut him again, but it was too ate. He had vanished. It had attracted/uite a crowd, however, and the shopping cyce was thrown off by hours, simpy hours. The purchasing needs of the

system were therefore faing behind, and so measures were taken to acceerate the cyce for the rest of the day, but it

got bogged down and speeded up and they sod too many foatvaves and not neary enough waggers, which meantthat the popi ratio was off, which made it necessary to rush cases and cases of spoiing #mash- to stores that

usuay needed a case ony every three or four hours. The shipments were boi6ed, the trans-shipments were

misrouted, and in the end, even the swi99eskid industries fet it.

2ont come back ti you have him01 the Ticktockman said, very /uiety, very sincerey, e6tremey

dangerousy.They used dogs. They used probes. They used cardiopate crossoffs. They used teepers. They used bribery.

They used stiktytes. They used intimidation. They used torment. They used torture. They used finks. They used

cops. They used searchFsei9ure. They used faaron. They used betterment incentive. They used fingerprints. They

used !ertion. They used cunning. They used guie. They used treachery. They used Raou 4itgong, but he didnt

hep much. They used appied physics. They used techni/ues of criminoogy.

5nd what the he( they caught him.

5fter a, his name was "verett *. 4arm, and he wasnt much to begin with, e6cept a man who had no

sense of time.

Repent, Hare/uin1< said the Ticktockman.

&et stuffed1< the Hare/uin repied, sneering.

)ouve been ate a tota of si6ty-three years, five months, three weeks, two days, tweve hours, forty-one

minutes, fifty-nine seconds, point oh three si6 one one one microseconds. )ouve used up everything you can, andmore. Im going to turn you off.1

#care someone ese. Id rather be dead than ive in a dumb word with a bogey man ike you.1

Its my job.1


22/83

)oure fu of it. )oure a tyrant. )ou have no right to order peope around and ki them if they show up

ate.1

)ou cant adjust. )ou cant fit in.1

7nstrap me, and I fit my fist into your mouth.1

)oure a nonconformist.1That didnt used to be a feony.1

It is now. $ive in the word around you.1I hate it. Its a terribe word.1

'ot everyone thinks so. 4ost peope enjoy order.1

I dont, and most of the peope I know dont.1

Thats not true. How do you think we caught you81

Im not interested.1

5 gir named pretty 5ice tod us who you were.1Thats a ie.1

Its true. )ou unnerve her. #he wants to beong, she wants to conform, Im going to turn you off.1

Then do it aready, and stop arguing with me.1

Im not going to turn you off.1

)oure an idiot01

Repent, Hare/uin01 said the Ticktockman.

&et stuffed.1

#o they sent him to *oventry. 5nd in *oventry they worked him over. It was just ike what they did to3inston #mith in ?@PB, which was a book none of them knew about, but the techni/ues are reay /uite ancient, and

so they did it to "verett *. 4arm, and one day /uite a ong time ater, the Hare/uin appeared on thecommunications web, appearing efish and dimped and bright-eyed, and not at a brainwashed, and he said he had

been wrong, that it was a good, a very good thing indeed, to beong, and be right on time hip-ho and away we go,

and everyone stared up at him on the pubic screens that covered an entire city bock, and they said to themseves,

we, you see, he was just a nut after a, and if thats the way the system is run, then ets do it that way, because it

doesnt pay to fight city ha, or in this case, the Ticktockman. #o "verett *. 4arm was destroyed, which was a oss,

because of what Thoreau said earier, but you cant make an omeet without breaking a few eggs, and in every

revoution, a few die who shoudnt, but they have to, because thats the way it happens, and if you make ony a itte

change, then it seems to be worthwhie. r, to make the point ucidy(7h, e6cuse me, sir, I, uh, dont know how to uh, to uh, te you this, but you were three minutes ate. The

schedue is a itte, uh, bit off.1

He grinned sheepishy.Thats ridicuous01 murmured the Ticktockman behind his mask( *heck your watch.1 5nd then he went

into his office, going mrmee, mrmee, mrmee, mrmee.


23/83

Madness is in the eye of the (eholder.

%a,in$ done e7hausti,e research on socio'athic (eha,ior for a t+o)hour @8; dramatic s'ecial recently" I

+on*t $i,e you the faintest murmur of an o(5ection that there are freas and +hacos +alin$ the streets3 they*re as

lia(le to shoot you dead for chucles as they are to assist you in $ettin$ your stalled car mo,in$ out of the

intersection. One relia(le estimate of the num(er of 'otential 'sychomotor e'ile'tics undetected in our midst isCB"BBB in the Gnited States alone. And if you*,e read Michael ;richton*s 6%E 6ERMI@AL MA@ you no+ that the

9(rain storm caused (y 'sychomotor e'ile'sy can turn a normal human (ein$ into a 'sycho'athic iller inmoments. @o" I +on*t ar$ue: there are madfol amon$ us.

8ut the madness of +hich I s'ea is +hat the Late 1eor$e A'ley mi$ht ha,e called 9eccentricity. 6he

(eha,ioral 'attern outside the acce'ted norm. &hate,er the hell that mi$ht (e. 6he little old man sittin$ on the 'ar

(ench ha,in$ an animated con,ersation +ith himself. 6he $irl +ho lies to dress as an e7act re'lica of 8etty 8oo'.

6he youn$ $uy out on the side+al 'layin$ an ocarina and inters'ersin$ his recital +ith denunciations of the city

'o+er and +ater authority. 6he old lady +ho dies in her t+o)room flat and the co's find si7ty years* +orth of oldne+s'a'ers 'lus t+o hundred thousand dollars in a ci$ar (o7. /One of the +ooden ones" the old ones you sim'ly

can*t find any more (ecause they don*t mae them. 6hey*re $reat for storin$ old 'hotos and comic character

(uttons. If you ha,e one you don*t +ant" send it alon$ to me" +illya=2 6he staid (usinessman +ho $ets off (y

+earin$ his +ife*s 'antyhose. 6he little id +ho 'uts a (i$ 9S on a (ath to+el and" shoutin$" 9G'" u' and

a+aaayyy# 5um's of the $ara$e roof.

6hey*re not nuts" friends" they*re sim'ly seein$ it all throu$h different eyes. 6hey ha,e ima$ination" and

they no+ somethin$ a(out (ein$ alone" and in 'ain. 6hey*re alterin$ the real +orld to fit their fantasies. 6hat*s

oay.&e all do it. Don*t say you don*t. %o+ many of you ha,e come out of the mo,ie" ha,in$ seen !uittor The

+rench *onnectionor %anishing ointor The ast 5merican Heroor +reebie and the bean" $otten in your car" and5ust a(out done a +heelie" si7ty)fi,e m'h out of the 'arin$ lot= Don*t lie to me" $entle reader" +e aha,e +eird)

looin$ mannerisms that seem 'erfectly rational to us" (ut mae onlooers coc an eye(ro+ and cross to the other

side of the street.

I*,e $ro+n ,ery fond of 'eo'le +ho can let it out" +ho can ha,e the stren$th of com'ulsion to indul$e their

s'ecial affectations. 6hey seem to me more real than the faeless $ray hordes of side+al sliders +ho $o from there

to here +ithout so much as a ho'" si' or a 5um'.

One mornin$ in @e+ ?or last year" I +as ha,in$ a dru$ store (reafast +ith @ancy &e(er" +ho +rote 6%E

LIFE S&AP. &e +ere sittin$ u' at the counter" on re,ol,in$ stools" che+in$ do+n $reasy e$$s and salty (acon"talin$ a(out ho+ many dryads can li,e in a (anyan tree" +hen the front door of the dru$ store /the no+)ra


24/83

The Crac%pots

H" 35# #T5'2I'& ' 5 #TR""T *R'"R, wearing a ong orange nightgown and a red sumber-cap with atasse. He was studiousy picking his nose.

3atch him01 cried +urth. 3atch what he does0 &et the techni/ue accuratey01

+or this I studied four years to (ecome an e7'ert= thought Themus.+urth ooked at the younger man for the first time in severa minutes. 5re you watching him81 The eder

3atcher nudged his companion, causing Themus dictobo6 to bump unceremoniousy against his chest.

)es, yes, Im watching,1 answered Themus, but what possibe reason coud there be to watch a unatic

picking his nose on a pubic street comer81 5nnoyance rang in his voice.

+urth swung on him, his eyes cod-stee. )ou +atch them, thats your job. 5nd dont ever forget that0 5nddictate it into that bo6 strapped to your stupid shouders. If I ever catch you faiing to notice and dictate what theyre

doing, I have you shipped back to *entra and then into the 4ines. )ou understand what Im saying81

Themus nodded dumby, the attack having shocked and surprised him, so sudden and intensive was it.

He watched the *rackpot.

His stomach fet uneasy. His voice /uavered as he described in minute detai, as he had been taught, the

procedure. It made his nose itch. He ignored it. #oon the *rackpot gave a itte augh, did a sma dance step, and

skipped out of sight across the street and around the corner.

Themus spoke into the *ommunicator-5ttachment on his bo6( 3atcher, sector seventy, here. 4ae, orangenightgown, red sumber-cap, coming your way. ick him up, si6ty-nine. Hes a yours. ver.1

5n acknowedging bu99 came from the 5ttachment, Themus said, ut here,1 and turned the 5ttachment

off.

+urth, who had been dictating the detaied tying of a can on the tai of a four-egged Eyben dog by a ta,

bad *rackpot, concuded his report as the dog ran off barking widy, muttered, ff, into the dicto-bo6 and turned

once more to Themus. The younger 3atcher tightened inside.%ere it comes.

7ne6pectedy, the senior 3atchers voice was /uiet, amost gente. *ome with me, Themus, I want to tak

with you.1

They strode through the street of %aasah, capita of Eyba, watching the other branch of Eyben. The native

Eyben, those who put ight-tubes in their mouths and twisted their ears in e6pectation of fuorescence, those whopued their teeth with adjusto-wrenches, those who sat and scribbed odd messages on the sidewaks, caed the

armor-dressed Eyben #tuffed-#hirts.1 The governing Eyben, those with the armor and high-crested meta hemets

bearing the proud embem of the eye-and-eage, caed their charges, *rackpots,1

They were both Eyben.There was a vast difference.

+urth was about to deineate the difference to his new aide. The senior 3atchers great cape swired in a

rain of back as he turned into the ub-crawer.

5t a tabe near the front, +urth pued his cape about his thighs and sat down, motioning Themus to theother chair.

The waiter waked sowy over to them, yawning behind his hand, +urth dictated the fact briefy. The waiter

gave a high-pitched maniaca augh. Themus fet his bood chi. These peope were a mad, absoutey mad.

Two gasses of$reth" +urth said.

The waiter eft. +urth recorded the fact. The waiter had kicked him before he had gone behind the bar.

3hen the drinks arrived, +urth took a ong pu from the hei6-shaped gass, sumped back, foded his

hands on the tabe and said, 3hat did you earn at 5cademy-*entra81

The /uestion took Themus by surprise. 3h-what do you mean8 I earned a great many things.1

#uch as8 Te me.13e, there was primary snooping, both conscious and subconscious evauation: reportage-four fu years

of it-shorthand, appied dictoogy, history, manners, customs, authority evauation, mechanics, fact assembage...1

He found the subjects eaping to the front of his mind, tumbing from his ips. He had been second in his

cass of tweve hundred, and it had a stuck.

+urth cut him off with a wave of his hand. $ets take that history. *apsue it for me.1

+urth was a big man, eyes oddy set far back in hoows above deep yeow cheeks, hair white about the

tempes, a ean and eectric man, the type who radiates energy even when aseep. Themus suspected this was his

superiors way of testing him. He recited(


25/83

The *orps is dedicated to gathering data. It wi 3atch and detect, assimiate and fie. 'othing wi escape

the ga9e of the 3atcher. 5s the eage soars, so the eye of the 3atcher wi fy to a things.1

&od, no, man, I mean the%istory# The%istory. The eder 3atcher precision-tapped his fingers one after

another in irritation. 3hat is the story of the Eyben. f Eyba itsef. f your job here. 3hat is our reation to

these81He waved his hand, taking in the bar, the peope in the streets, the entire panet and its twin suns ba9ing

yeow in the afternoon sky.Themus icked his thin ips, The Eyben rue the &aa6y-is that what you want81 He breathed easier as the

oder man nodded. He continued, by rote( The Eyben rue the &aa6y. They are the organi9ers. 5 other races

reai9e the superior reasoning and administrative powers of the Eyben, and thus aow the Eyben to rue the

&aa6y.1

He stopped, biting his ower ip, 3ith your permission, #uperior, can I do this some other way8 !ack at

5cademy-*entra memori9ation was re/uired, even on enares it seemed apropos, but somehow-here-it soundsfooish to me. 'o disrespect intended, you understand. Id just ike to rambe it off /uicky. I gather a you want are

the basics.1

The oder man nodded his head for Themus to continue in any fashion he chose.

3e are a power, and a the others are too scared of us to try usurping because we run it a better than any

ten of them coud, and the ony troube is with the "arthmen and the 4awson *onfederation, with whom we are

negotiating right now. The ony thing we have against us is this panet of back sheep reatives. They happen to be

our peope. but we eft them some eeven hundred years ago because they were a pain in the neck and the Eyben

reai9ed they had a universe to con/uer, and we wish we coud get id of them, because theyre a /uite mad, and ifanyone finds out about them, we ose prestige, and besides theyre a nuisance.1

He found himsef out of breath after the ong string of phrases, and he stopped for a second. There isnt asane person on this panet, which isnt strange because a the B-+s were eft when our ancestors took to space. In the

eeven hundred years weve been running the &aa6y, these *rackpots have created a cuture of imbeciity for

themseves. The 3atcher garrison is maintained, to make sure the unatics dont escape and damage our position

with the other words around us.

If you have a back sheep reative, you either put him away under surveiance so he cant bother you, or

you have him e6terminated. #ince we arent barbarians ike the "arthmen, we keep the madmen here, and watch

them fu time.1

He stopped, reai9ing he had covered the subject /uite we, and because he saw the sour e6pression on+urths face.

Thats what they taught you at 5cademy-*entra81 asked the senior 3atcher.

Thats about it, e6cept that 3atcher units are aover the &aa6y, from enares to Eyba, from the homepanet to our furthest hoding, doing a job for which they were trained and which no other order coud do.

erforming an invauabe service to a Eyben, from Eyben-*entra outward to the edges of our e6poration.1

Then dont you ever forget it, hear81 snapped +urth, eaning /uicky across to the younger man. 2ont

you ever et it sip out of your mind. If anything happens whie youre awake and on the scene, and you miss it, no

matter how insignificant, you wind up in the 4ines.1 5s if to iustrate his point, he cicked the dicto-bo6 to on1and spoke briefy into it, keeping his eyes on a gir neaty pouring the contents of a row of gasses on the bars foor

and eating the gasses, a but the stems, which she eft ying in an orderyin pie.

He concuded, and eaned back toward Themus, pointing a stubby finger. )ouve got a soft job here, boy.

Ten years as a 3atcher and you can retire. !ack to a nice co9y apartment in a roject at Eyben-*entra or any other

panet you choose, with anyone you choose, doing anything you choose-within the bounds of the *ovenant, of

course. )oure ucky you made it into the *orps. 4any a mothers son woud $i,e his mother to be where you are.1

He ifted the hei6-gass to his ips and drained it.

Themus sat, scratched his nose, and watched the purpe i/uid disappear.It was his first day on Eyba, his #uperior had straightened him out, he knew his pace, he knew his job.

"verything was cean and top-notch.#omehow he was miserabe.

Themus ooked at himsef. 5t himsef as he knew he was, not as he thought he was. This was a time forreaities, not for wishfu thinking.

He was twenty-three, average height, bue hair, bue eyes, ight compe6ion-just a bit ighter than the

average god-coor of his peope-superior inteigence, and with the rigid, ogica mind of his kind. He was an


26/83

accepted 7ndercass member of the 3atcher *orps with a year of intern work at enares-!ase and an immediate

promotion to Eyba, which was acknowedged the soft spot before retirement. +or a man as new to the *orps as

Themus five years made him, this was a remarkabe thing, and e6painabe ony by his /uick and briiant

dictographic background.

He was a free man, a /uick mart with a dicto-bo6, a good-ooking man, and unfortunatey, an unhappy man.He was confused by it a.

His summation of himsef was suddeny shattered by the rest of his s/uads entrance into the common-room, voices pitched on a do9en different eves.

They came through the siding doors, josting and joking with one another, a ta and straight, a

handsome and inteigent.

)ou shoud have seen the one I got yesterday,1 said one man, 9ipping up his chest-armor. He was sitting

in the 2ogs-#ku-you know, that itte pace on the corner of !remen and &abrett-with a bow of noode soup in

front of him, tying the things together. The rest of the speakers sma group aughed uproariousy. 3hen I askedhim what he was doing, he said,


27/83

#he-she just taled to me for a short time, #uperior: I recorded the entire affair. It was-1

9Out. +urth pointed toward the door to the common-room. "i6 sumped visiby, turned out of the row,

waked up the aise, and out of the briefing-room.

5nd et that be an indication, gentemen, that we wi toerate no activities with these peope, be they

Eyben or not. 3e are here to watch, and there are enough femae-3atchers and *entra personne so that any desiresthat may be aroused in you may be /uenched without recourse to our wards. Is that /uite cear, gentemen81

He did not wait for an answer. They knew it was cear, and he knew it was cear. The message had beentransmitted in the most readiy understood manner.

'ow to the other business at hand,1 continued +urth. 3e are currenty ooking for a man named !oobak,

who, we are tod, pinches stee. I have no e6panation of this description, gentemen, merey that he


28/83

Themus snapped a brisk saute at the #uperior and eft /uicky.

His beat that day was the #eventh #ector, a tweve-bock coverage with five feow 3atchers, their rounds

overapping. It was a route from the docks to the minaret-viage. +rom the stock-pens near the &owa Institute to

the puebo-city.

%aasah, ike a cities on Eyba, was a wid meange of disorder. 5iry, fragie towers of transparent pastic

rose spiraing ne6t to s/uat /uonset-buidings. Teepees hunkered down ne6t to buidings, of muti-dimensionaeccentricity, whose arms twisted in on themseves ti the eye ost the track of their form.

#treets twisted and suddeny opened onto others. 4any stopped dead as though their buiders had tired of

the effort of continuing. $arge empty ots stood ne6t to stores in which customers fought to get at the merchandise.

The peope strutted, capered, hobbed, marched and waked backward on both hands and feet through the

streets, in the stores, across the tops of a hundred different styes of transportation.

Themus snapped his dicto-bo6 on and spoke, Record,1 into it. Then he waked sowy down one street, up

the ne6t, into an office buiding, through doors, past knots of peope, dictating anything and everything.

ccasionay he woud see a feow 3atcher and they woud e6change sautes, eyes never eaving their wards.

The *rackpots seemed obivious to his presence. 'o conversation woud sow or hat at his approach, no

one woud move from his path, a seemed to accept him somehow.

This bothered Themus.&hy aren*t they an$ry at our ea,esdro''in$= he wondered. &hy do they tolerate us so= Is it fear of the

0y(en mi$ht= 8ut they are 0y(en" too. 6hey call us Stuffed)Shirts" (ut they are still 0y(en. r +ere once. &hat

ha''ened to the 0y(en ni$ht that +as (orn into each of them=

His thoughts were cut off by sight of an od woman, skin amost yeow-white from age, rapidy wieding a

three-pronged picka6e at the cement of a gutter. He stopped, began dictating, and watched as she broke through the

street, puing out huge gouts of cement-work and dirt from underneath. In a moment she was down on hands and

knees, feverishy digging with her gnared od hands at the dirt.

5fter thirty-nine minutes, her hands were raw and beeding, the hoe was /uite four feet deep, and shekneeed in it, dirt arcing away into the air.

The fifty-minute mark brought her to a hat. #he cimbed aboriousy out of the si6-foot hoe, grabbed the

picka6e and eaped back in. Themus moved nearer the edge. #he was hacking away mady at a sewer pipe some

three feet thick.

In a few moments she had driven a gaping hoe in the side of the pipe. #he reached into her bodice and

brought out a piece of what ooked ike dirty oicoth, strung with wires.

Themus was astounded to see both cear water and garbage running out of the pipe. !oth were running

together. 'o, they looed as though they were running together, but the fow of cean water came spurting out in onedirection, whie the muck and garbage sprayed forth from the opposite direction. They were running in opposite

directions in the same pipe0

#he camped the oicoth onto the pipe, immediatey stopping the escape of the water and refuse, and began

fiing the hoe in. Themus watched her ti the hoe was neaty packed in, ony sighty ower than the street eve.

#he had thrown dirt hapha9ardy in a directions, and some of it was sti evident on car tops and in doorways.

His curiosity coud be contained no onger.

He waked over to the od woman, who was sapping dirt off her poka-dotted dress, getting spots of bood

on it, from her rawed hands. "6cuse me-1 he began.

The od womans face suddeny assumed, h no, here they are again01 as its message in ife.

&arbage runs with the drinking water81 He asked the /uestion tremuousy, thinking of a the water hehad drunk since his arriva, of the number of deaths from botuism and ptomaine poisoning, of the madness of these

peope.

The od woman muttered something that sounded ike, *retinous #tuffed-#hift,1 and began to pick up abag of groceries obviousy dumped in a hurry before the e6cavating began.

5re there many deaths from this81 Themus asked, knowing it was a stupid /uestion, knowing the figures

must be staggering, wondering if he woud be one of the statistics.

Hmmph, man, they dont even bother up and back to fow that way in negative poari9ation of the garboh,

et me away from this maniac01 5nd she staked off, dirt dropping in sma cots from her poka-dotted dress.He shook his head severa times, trying to cear it, but the bu99ing of his brains trying to escape through his

ears prevented any comfort. He communicated her passage out of his sight through the *ommunicator-5ttachment,

received the word she had been picked up by someone ese, and started to make his rounds again.


29/83

He stopped in mid-stride. It dawned on him suddeny( why hadnt that bit of oicoth been s/uirted out of

the hoe from the pressure in the pipe8 3hat had hed it on8

He fet his tongue begin to swe in his mouth, and he reai9ed it had a been deceiving. There had been

wires attached to that scrap of oicoth, they had served some purpose. 7ndoubtedy that was it. 7ndoubtedy.

His fine Eyben mind pushed the probem aside.He waked on, watching, recording. 3ith a sudden headache.

The afternoon netted a continuous running commentary on the ordinary mundane habits of the *rackpots;biting each other on the eft earobe, which seemed to be a common activity: removing tires from andcars and

repacing them with wadded-up artices of cothing: munching oaves of the spira Eyben bread on the streets:

poking ong sticks through a many-hoed board, to no visibe purpose=, and severa items that Themus considered

off-beat even for these warped members of his race(

Item( a young man eaped from the seventeenth story of an office buiding, pummeted to the third, anded

on an awning, and after bouncing si6 times, owered himsef off the canvas, through the window, into the arms of anattractive bonde gir hoding a stenographic pad, who immediatey threw the pad away and began kissing him. He

did not seem to be hurt by the fa or the abrupt anding. Themus was not sure whether they had been tota strangers

before the eap, but he did record a break in their amours when his 5udio ickup caught her panting, 3hat was the

name81

Item( a bind beggar approached him on the street, crying for ams, and when he reached into a pocket to

give the feow a coin, the beggar drew himsef taer than Themus had thought he coud, and spat directy onto

Themus jump-boots. 'ot that coin, you cod, not that coin. The other one.1 Themus was ama9ed, for he had but

two coins in his pocket and the one intended had been a siver haf-kye and the one the beggar seemed to want wasa copper nark. The beggar became indignant at the deay and hurried away, carefuy sidestepping a group of men

who came hurrying out of an aey.Item( Themus saw a woman in a teevi9 booth, rapidy erasing the wa. %i9 numbers eft there by a

hundred occupants suddeny disappeared under the womans active hands. 3hen she had the was competey bare

she reached into a bag at her feet and brought out a tube of spray-paint.

In a few minutes the booth was repainted a cherry pink, and was competey dry.

Then she began writing new numbers in. 5fter an hour and a /uarter, she eft, and Themus did too.

Item( a young woman owered hersef by her egs from the sign above a bar-and-gri, swinging directy

into Themus path.

"ven upside down she ooked good to Themus. #he was wearing a pretty print dress and avender ace-undies. Themus averted his eyes and began to step around her.

Heo,1 she said.

Themus stopped and found himsef ooking up at her, hanging by her knees from the wooden sign that said,)7 *5' "5T H"R" T0

#he was a beautifu gir, indeed: bright bue hair, a fair goden compe6ion, high cheekbones, ovey egs,

deightfu

He drew himsef to attention, turning his eyes sighty away from her, 3atcher Themus at your service,

4iss.1I ike you,1 she said.

7mmm81asked Themus, not /uite beieving he had heard her correcty.

2o I stutter81

h-no-certainy not#

Then you heard what I said.

3e, yes, I suppose I did.1

Then why ask me to repeat it81

!ecause-because-you just don*t come down that way and te someone you ike them. It isnt-it isnt-we,it isnt-it just isnt ladylie#

#he did a doube-Hip in the air and came down ighty on the bas of her feet, directy in front of the3atcher. h, swi99egup0 Its adyike if I want to do it. If you cant te Im a ady just from ooking at me, then Id

better find someone who can te the difference between the se6es.1

Themus found himsef /uite enthraed. #omehow she was not ike the rest of the mad inhabitants of this

word. #he taked ogicay-athough a bit more forwardy than what he had become accustomed to-and she was

certainy deightfu to ook at. He began to ask her name, when a cear, bright picture of the damned "i6 came to

him. He turned to eave.

#he grabbed him roughy by the seeve, her fingernais tinking on his armor.


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3ait a minute, where are you going8 Im not finished taking to you.1

I cant tak to you. The #uperior doesnt approve.1 He nervousy ran a hand across the bridge of his nose,

whie ooking up and down the street for brother 3atchers.

h, urbbedoo90 Him01 #he gigged, He doesnt ike anything, thats his job. If you ha,e a 5o( to do" do

it" you understand= #he mimicked +urths voice faithfuy, and Themus grinned in spite of himsef. #he sei9ed onhis gesture of peasure and continued, hurriedy,


31/83

I cant1

9&haaaaaaat#

3hy shoud I8 Im cra9y, remember81 Themus fet his face turn to ava. 2amn you0 $ook what youve

done to me0 In five minutes youve taken me from my *orps and sentenced me to a ife that may be no onger than

at the brains you have, stretched end to end01h, stop being so meodramatic. #he was smiing, tinking again. 'ow you can come with me to meet

my unce. Theres no reason why you shoud stay here. There is a chance the bo6 wi pay, if you come back to itater, as I said it woud. !ut even if it doesnt, staying here is no hep, since it isnt functioning. I get a mechanic to

fi6 it, if that wi make you any happier.1

'o *rackpot mechanic can fi6 that, you foo0 Its a masterpiece of Eyben science. It took hundreds of men

thousands of hours to arrive at this-h, whats the use01 He sat down in the doorway, head in his hands.

#omehow, her ogic was sound. If the bo6 was broken, there was no reason for his refusing to go with her,

for staying there coud ony bring him troube sooner. It was sound, yes, but ony sound on the muggy foundation ofher ruining the machine in the first pace. He was beginning to fee ike a tom'ora-snake-the kind that swaows its

own tai. He didnt know which end was which.

*ome with me.1 Her voice had suddeny ost its youthfu happiness. It was suddeny strong, commanding.

He ooked up.

&et on your feet1

He arose sowy.

'ow, come with me. If you want to come back to your bo6, it wi be here, and it wi


32/83

ne,er ne,er ne,er#'othing to say against the ;*ick0= but hes def but def a stuffed one at east we now for a time

;*ick0=. *ave.1 #ame cucking, same cryptic tone when speaking of the *ave. Themus began to worry in direct

proportion to the number of surrounders.

$ets go,1 2arfa said over her shouder to Themus, not taking her eyes from 2eere.

3-where81 trembed Themus.*ave. 3here ese81

h, nowhere-I guess.1 He tried to be ighthearted about it. #omehow, he faied miseraby.They started off, the surrounders doing a masterfu job of surrounding: cutting Themus and the gir off from

anyone who might be ooking. They were a waking camoufage.

2arfa began to neede 2eere with caustic, and to Themus, cryptic remarks. 2eere ooked about to turn and

put his pudgy fist in her face, and Themus nudged the gir to stop.

3oof woof a godfish,1 she tossed off as a fina insut.

;*ick0=1 answered 2eere, sticking his tongue out.It was a huge, featureess bock in the midst of competey empty ground. #omething about it suggested that

it was an edifice of tota disinterest. Themus recaed buidings he had seen in his youth that had been vaguey

ellison, harlan - paingod other(bookos.org)

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