Methuselah's Children Page 6

  "Get to the point, Zack," Lazarus insisted. "Any reasonable chance that all of them will make it home safe?"

  "Absolutely none."

  "Why?"

  "Because three of them are known to be in public conveyances between here and the Moon, traveling under their revealed identities. Others we don't know about are almost certainly caught in similar predicaments."

  "Question!" A cocky little man near the front stood up and pointed his finger at the Chief Trustee. "Were all those Members now in jeopardy protected by hypnotic injunction?"

  "No. There was no-"

  "I demand to know why not!"

  "Shut up!" bellowed Lazarus. "You're out of order. Nobody's on trial here and we've got no time to waste on spilled milk. Go ahead, Zack."

  "Very well. But I will answer the question to this extent: everyone knows that a proposal to protect our secrets by hypnotic means was voted down at the Meeting which relaxed the 'Masquerade.' I seem to recall that the cousin now objecting helped then to vote it down."

  "That is not true! And I insist that-"

  "PIPE DOWN!" Lazarus glared at the heckler, then looked him over carefully. "Bud, you strike me as a clear proof that the Foundation should 'a' bred for brains instead of age." Lazarus looked around at the crowd. "Everybody will get his say, but in order as recognized by the chair. If he butts in again, I'm going to gag him with his own teeth-is my ruling sustained?"

  There was a murmur of mixed shock and approval; no one objected. Zaccur Barstow went on, "On the advice of Ralph Schultz the trustees have been proceeding quietly for the past three months to persuade revealed Members to undergo hypnotic instruction. We were largely successful." He paused.

  "Make it march, Zack," Lazarus urged. "Are we covered? Or not?"

  "We are not. At least two of our cousins certain to be arrested are not so protected."

  Lazarus shrugged. "That tears it. Kinfolk, the game's over. One shot in the arm of babble juice and the 'Masquerade' is over. It's a new situation-or will be in a few hours. What do you propose to do about it?"

  In the control room of the Antipodes Rocket Wallaby, South Flight, the telecom hummed, went spung! and stuck out a tab like an impudent tongue. The copilot rocked forward in his gymbals, pulled out the message and tore it off.

  He read it, then reread it. "Skipper, brace yourself."

  "Trouble?"

  "Read it."

  The captain did so, and whistled. "Bloody! I've never arrested anybody. I don't believe I've even seen anybody arrested. How do we start?"

  "I bow to your superior authority."

  "That so?" the captain said in nettled tones. "Now that you're through bowing you can tool aft and make the arrest."

  "Uh? That's not what I meant. You're the bloke with the authority. I'll relieve you at the conn."

  "You didn't read me. I'm delegating the authority. Carry out your orders."

  "Just a moment, Al, I didn't sign up for-"

  "Carry out your orders!"

  "Aye aye, sir!"

  The copilot went aft. The ship had completed its reentry, was in its long, flat, screaming approach-glide; he was able to walk-he wondered what an arrest in free-fall would be like? Snag him with a butterfly net? He located the passenger by seat check, touched his arm. "Service, sir. There's been a clerical error. May I see your ticket?"

  "Why, certainly."

  "Would you mind stepping back to the reserve stateroom? Ifs quieter there and we can both sit down."

  "Not at all."

  Once they were in the private compartment the chief officer asked the passenger to sit down, then looked annoyed. "Stupid of me!-I've left my lists in the control room." He turned and left. As the door slid to behind him, the passenger heard an unexpected click. Suddenly suspicious, he tried the door. It was locked.

  Two proctors came for him at Melbourne. As they escorted him through the skyport he could hear remarks from a curious and surprisingly unfriendly crowd: "There's one of the laddies now!"

  "Him? My word, he doesn't look old." "What price ape glands?" "Don't stare, Herbert." "Why not? Not half bad enough for him."

  They took him to the office of the Chief Provost, who invited him to sit down with formal civility. "Now then, sir," the Provost said with a slight local twang, "if you will help us by letting the orderly make a slight injection in your arm-"

  "For what purpose?"

  "You want to be socially cooperative, I'm sure. It won't hurt you."

  "That's beside the point. I insist on an explanation. I am a citizen of the United States."

  "So you are, but the Federation has concurrent jurisdiction in any member state-and I am acting under its authority. Now bare your arm, please."

  "I refuse. I stand on my civil rights."

  "Grab him, lads."

  It took four men to do it. Even before the injector touched his skin, his jaw set and a look of sudden agony came into his face. He then sat quietly, listlessly, while the peace officers waited for the drug to take effect. Presently the Provost gently rolled back one of the prisoner's eyelids and said, "I think he's ready. He doesn't weigh over ten stone; it has hit him rather fast. Where's that list of questions?"

  A deputy handed it to him; he began, "Horace Foote, do you hear me?"

  The man's lips twitched, he seemed about to speak. His mouth opened and blood gushed down his chest.

  The Provost bellowed and grabbed the prisoner's head, made quick examination. "Surgeon! He's bitten his tongue half out of his head!"

  The captain of the Luna City Shuttle Moonbeam scowled at the message in his hand. "What child's play is this?" He glared at his third officer. "Tell me that, Mister."

  The third officer studied the overhead. Fuming, the captain held the message at arm's length, peered at it and read aloud: "-imperative that subject persons be prevented from doing themselves injury. You are directed to render them unconscious without warning them." He shoved the flimsy away from him. "What do they think I'm running? Coventry? Who do they think they are?-telling me in my ship what I must do with my passengers! I won't-so help me, I won't! There's no rule requiring me to . . . is there, Mister?"

  The third officer went on silently studying the ship's structure.

  The captain stopped pacing. "Purser! Purser! Why is that man never around when I want him?"

  "I'm here, Captain."

  "About time!"

  "I've been here all along, sir."

  "Don't argue with me. Here-attend to this." He handed the despatch to the purser and left.

  A shipfitter, supervised by the purser, the hull officer, and the medical officer, made a slight change in the air-conditioning ducts to one cabin; two worried passengers sloughed off their cares under the influence of a non-lethal dose of sleeping gas.

  "Another report, sir."

  "Leave it," the Administrator said in a tired voice. "And Councilor Bork Vanning presents his compliments and requests an interview."

  "Tell him that I regret that I am too busy."

  "He insists on seeing you, sir."

  Administrator Ford answered snappishly, "Then you may tell the Honorable Mr. Vanning that he does not give orders in this office!" The aide said nothing; Administrator Ford pressed his fingertips wearily against his forehead and went on slowly, "No, Gerry, don't tell him that. Be diplomatic . . . but don't let him in."

  "Yes, sir."

  When he was alone, the Administrator picked up the report. His eye skipped over official heading, date line, and file number: "Synopsis of Interview with Conditionally Proscribed Citizen Arthur Sperling, full transcript attached. Conditions of Interview: Subject received normal dosage of neo-sco., having previously received unmeasured dosage of gaseous hypnotal. Antidote-" How the devil could you cure subordinates of wordiness? Was there something in the soul of a career civil servant that cherished red tape? His eye skipped on down:

  "-stated that his name was Arthur Sperling of the Foote Family and gave his age as one hundred thirty-seven yea
rs. (Subject's apparent age is forty-five plus-or-minus four: see bio report attached.) Subject admitted that he was a member of the Howard Families. He stated that the Families numbered slightly more than one hundred thousand members. He was asked to correct this and it was suggested to him that the correct number was nearer ten thousand. He persisted in his original statement."

  The Administrator stopped and reread this part.

  He skipped on down, looking for the key part: "-insisted that his long life was the result of his ancestry and had no other cause. Admitted that artificial means had been used to preserve his youthful appearance but maintained firmly that his life expectancy was inherent, not acquired. It was suggested to him that his elder relatives had subjected him without his knowledge to treatment in his early youth to increase his life span. Subject admitted possibility. On being pressed for names of persons who might have performed, or might be performing, such treatments he returned to his original statement that no such treatments exist.

  "He gave the names (surprise association procedure) and in some cases the addresses of nearly two hundred members of his kin group not previously identified as such in our records. (List attached) His strength ebbed under this arduous technique and he sank into full apathy from which he could not be roused by any stimuli within the limits of his estimated tolerance (see Bio Report).

  "Conclusions under Expedited Analysis, Kelly-Holmes Approximation Method: Subject does not possess and does not believe in the Search Object. Does not remember experiencing Search Object but is mistaken. Knowledge of Search Object is limited to a small group, of the order of twenty. A member of this star group will be located through not more than triple-concatenation elimination search. (Probability of unity, subject to assumptions: first, that topologic social space is continuous and is included in the physical space of the Western Federation and, second, that at least one concatenative path exists between apprehended subjects and star group. Neither assumption can be verified as of this writing, but the first assumption is strongly supported by statistical analysis of the list of names supplied by Subject of previously unsuspected members of Howard kin group, which analysis also supports Subject's estimate of total size of group, and second assumption when taken negatively postulates that star group holding Search Object has been able to apply it with no social-space of contact, an absurdity.)

  "Estimated Time for Search: 71 hrs, plus-or-minus 20 hrs. Prediction but not time estimate vouched for by cognizant bureau. Time estimate will be re-"

  Ford slapped the report on a stack cluttering his old-fashioned control desk. The dumb fools! Not to recognize a negative report when they saw one-yet they called themselves psychographers!

  He buried his face in his hands in utter weariness and frustration.

  Lazarus rapped on the table beside him, using the butt of his blaster as a gavel. "Don't interrupt the speaker," he boomed, then added, "Go ahead but cut it short."

  Bertram Hardy nodded curtly. "I say again, these mayflies we see around us have no rights that we of the Families are bound to respect. We should deal with them with stealth, with cunning, with guile, and when we eventually consolidate our position . . . with force! We are no more obligated to respect their welfare than a hunter is obliged to shout a warning at his quarry. The-"

  There was a catcall from the rear of the room. Lazarus again banged for order and tried to spot the source. Hardy ploughed steadily on. "The so-called human race has split in two; it is time we admitted it On one side, Homo vivens, ourselves . . . on the other-Homo moriturus! With the great lizards, with the sabertooth tiger and the bison, their day is done. We would no more mix our living blood with theirs than we would attempt to breed with apes. I say temporize with them, tell them any tale, assure them that we will bathe them in the fountain of youth-gain time, so that when these two naturally antagonistic races join battle, as they inevitably must, the victory will be ours!"

  There was no applause but Lazarus could see wavering uncertainty in many faces. Bertram Hardy's ideas ran counter to thought patterns of many years of gentle living yet his words seemed to ring with destiny. Lazarus did not believe in destiny; he believed in . . . well, never mind-but he wondered how Brother Bertram would look with both arms broken.

  Eve Barstow got up. "If that is what Bertram means by the survival of the fittest," she said bitterly, "I'll go live with the asocials in Coventry. However, he has offered a plan; I'll have to offer another plan if I won't take his. I won't accept any plan which would have us live at the expense of our poor transient neighbors. Furthermore it is clear to me now that our mere presence, the simple fact of our rich heritage of life, is damaging to the spirit of our poor neighbor. Our longer years and richer opportunities make his best efforts seem futile to him-any effort save a hopeless struggle against an appointed death. Our mere presence saps his strength, ruins his judgment, fills him with panic fear of death.

  "So I propose a plan. Let's disclose ourselves, tell all the truth, and ask for our share of the Earth, some little corner where we may live apart. If our poor friends wish to surround it with a great barrier like that around Coventry, so be it-it is better that we never meet face to face."

  Some expressions of doubt changed to approval. Ralph Schultz stood up. "Without prejudice to Eve's basic plan, I must advise you that it is my professional opinion that the psychological insulation she proposes cannot be accomplished that easily. As long as we're on this planet they won't be able to put us out of their minds. Modern communications-"

  "Then we must move to another planet!" she retorted.

  "Where?" demanded Bertram Hardy. "Venus? I'd rather live in a steam bath. Mars? Worn-out and worthless."

  "We will rebuild it," she insisted.

  "Not in your lifetime nor mine. No, my dear Eve, your tenderheartedness sounds well but it doesn't make sense. There is only one planet in the System fit to live on-we're standing on it."

  Something in Bertram Hardy's words set off a response in Lazarus Long's brain, then the thought escaped him. Something . . . something that he had heard of said just a day or two ago . . . or was it longer than? Somehow it seemed to be associated with his first trip out into space, too, well over a century ago. Thunderation! it was maddening to have his memory play tricks on him like that-

  Then he had it-the starship! The interstellar ship they were putting the finishing touches on out there between Earth and Luna. "Folks," he drawled, "before we table this idea of moving to another planet, let's consider all the possibilities." He waited until he had their full attention. "Did you ever stop to think that not all the planets swing around this one Sun?"

  Zaccur Barstow broke the silence. "Lazarus . . . are you making a serious suggestion?"

  "Dead serious."

  "It does not sound so. Perhaps you had better explain."

  "I will." Lazarus faced the crowd. "There's a spaceship hanging out there in the sky, a roomy thing, built to make the long jumps between stars. Why don't we take it and go looking for our own piece of real estate?"

  Bertram Hardy was first to recover. "I don't know whether our chairman is lightening the gloom with another of his wisecracks or not, but, assuming that he is serious, I'll answer. My objection to Mars applies to this wild scheme ten times over. I understand that the reckless fools who are actually intending to man that ship expect to make the jump in about a century-then maybe their grandchildren will find something, or maybe they won't. Either way, I'm not interested. I don't care to spend a century locked up in a steel tank, nor do I expect to live that long. I won't buy it."

  "Hold it" Lazarus told him. "Where's Andy Libby?"

  "Here," Libby answered, standing up.

  "Come on down front. Slipstick, did you have anything to do with designing the new Centaurus ship?"

  "No. Neither this one nor the first one."

  Lazarus spoke to the crowd. "That settles it. If that ship didn't have Slipstick's finger in the drive design, then she's not as fast as she could be, not by a goo
d big coefficient. Slipstick, better get busy on the problem, son. We're likely to need a solution."

  "But, Lazarus, you mustn't assume that-"

  "Aren't there theoretical possibilities?"

  "Well, you know there are, but-"

  "Then get that carrot top of yours working on it."

  "Well . . . all right." Libby blushed as pink as his hair.

  "Just a moment, Lazarus." It was Zaccur Barstow. "I like this proposal and I think we should discuss it at length . . . not let ourselves be frightened off by Brother Bertram's distaste for it. Even if Brother Libby fails to find a better means of propulsion-and frankly, I don't think he will; I know a little something of field mechanics-even so, I shan't let a century frighten me. By using cold-rest and manning the ship in shifts, most of us should be able to complete one hop. There is-"

  "What makes you think," demanded Bertram Hardy, "that they'll let us man the ship anyhow?"

  "Bert," Lazarus said coldly, "address the chair when you want to sound off. You're not even a Family delegate. Last warning."

  "As I was saying," Barstow continued, "there is an appropriateness in the long-lived exploring the stars. A mystic might call it our true vocation." He pondered. "As for the ship Lazarus suggested, perhaps they will not let us have that . . . but the Families are rich. If we need a starship- or ships-we can build them, we can pay for them. I think we had better hope that they will let us do this . . . for it may be that there is no way, not another way of any sort, out of our dilemma which does not include our own extermination."

  Barstow spoke these last words softly and slowly, with great sadness. They bit into the company like damp chill. To most of them the problem was so new as not yet to be real; no one had voiced the possible consequence of failing to find a solution satisfactory to the short-lived majority. For their senior trustee to speak soberly of his fear that the Families might be exterminated-hunted down and killed-stirred up in each one the ghost they never mentioned.