SEN was saying, “I have always sensed qualities in people that set them apart, qualities of personality and sensibility, qualities that become doubly valuable when the individual is placed in an environment of stress such as the one we are in now.”
PTO: “If anything is to be learned, it must be learned in an atmosphere of clarity and precision, free from the debilitating and enervating intrusions of irrationality.”
Propping himself up on his elbows, THX began to realize, They’re not debating. They’re having two separate monologues!
“From the first moment I met you,” SEN went on, “I sensed a deep-going quality that would be meaningful to you and to the rest of us… But at the same time, I was disturbed because I could not identify exactly what that quality was.”
“Intuition may seem more tempting because it is inherently more dramatic,” said PTO.
“I can see now that for some reason, perhaps you don’t even know this yourself…”
“Intuition does not force the mind…”
“Now, I don’t believe for a moment…”
As they talked, THX slowly became aware that TRG was staring at him. He turned and looked straight at the maniac, who stood not far from his bed, towering like a grinning mountain. TRG giggled and wiped spittle from his chin with the back of his hand. THX stared at him, unable to turn away.
“You always manage to avoid the issue,” PTO was saying, his voice rising. “What’s wrong with our present condition? We’re comfortable and we have plenty of food. I feel absolutely no threat because there is no threat. Why incite trouble? You should examine your emotions. It is senseless…”
A scream shattered the moment.
TRG jerked backward a step and turned his head to see where the scream came from. THX twisted on his bed to look in the same direction.
One of the men was huddled over IMM with his hand over her mouth. Her blouse had been pulled down off her shoulders, revealing small breasts that were crossed by a livid scar. TRG started toward the man, who released IMM and scuttled away backwards, stumbling in his haste. The girl pulled the blouse up and held it tightly around herself. TRG stopped in front of her, but she wouldn’t look up at him, just sat there on her bed, holding herself and rocking back and forth silently.
THX lay back on his bed, his head aching horribly. PTO and SEN resumed their talking, as if nothing had happened. They talked on. And on. And on.
The food chime sounded. THX ignored it. He tried to sleep but only found himself staring into the endless white void overhead, bright without glare, endless and imprisoning.
He heard the heavy tread of a robot policeman, and then the triple thump of his pole beating the floor.
“CAM 5254,” said the police robot.
THX turned and saw a boy of fourteen or so standing there, looking bewildered and very afraid.
TRG bumbled up to the boy, looked him up and down, and began laughing. The boy was visibly trembling. The chrome robot stepped between them and grasped the idiot by the scruff of his neck. TRG seemed to collapse like a rag doll. The robot walked off with the silent TRG, dwindling into the distance.
Of course, THX thought as he watched them disappear, only ten people can occupy ten modules. For every new one they bring in, one must go.
Chapter 12
For LUH it was different.
She sat alone in a completely dark compartment, too small to stand in. She could only sit with her knees up under her chin. She lost track of time. At first she couldn’t sleep, she was too terrified to even close her eyes. Then came hunger and finally exhaustion. She slept.
Hunger woke her. She felt weak, cramped. Her back ached horribly. Her arms and legs were tingling from lack of blood circulation.
A sound.
No, it was only the scrabbling of her own feet against the metal floor of the cell.
Destroyed. They were going to destroy her. She remembered the defense counsel, his flushed face, his slightly embarrassed expression when the Pontifex said, “Destroyed.”
The counsel had shrugged. “I did the best I could,” he had said.
Just like that. The best he could. Her life was going to be ended. It embarrassed him.
It was a sound. From outside. Shuffling… footsteps. A muffled voice. A laugh.
Suddenly light streamed down on her from overhead. Her eyes squinted and watered involuntarily.
“Come on now,” a man’s voice called down to her. “Don’t be bashful.”
She looked up, still squinting. She could barely make out his bulky outline against the unaccustomed light.
“Here, reach up. Don’t make me do all the work.”
Obediently she reached up, and a pair of strong hands grasped her arms and pulled her up out of the cell. It looked like a narrow hallway. The floor was studded with small, square hatches. Hers was the only open one.
“This way.”
The man gestured with one hand and nudged her shoulder in the direction he was pointing. She walked slowly, stumblingly, her legs aflame suddenly from the long cramped idleness.
She tripped on one of the hatch edges and nearly fell. But his strong arm circled her waist and held her up.
“That feel better?”
He was big, a tall thickset man with heavy features and stumpy teeth with spaces between them. He was grinning at her now, his face close enough for her to smell his breath.
“Th… thank you…”
He laughed and held her as they walked down the length of the hallway. He pushed a door open and LUH saw a small room, white and lit glarelessly from ceiling panels. No furniture except a single straight-backed chair in the middle of the room. No doors other than the one they came through.
“Sit,” the man commanded.
She went slowly to the chair and sat in it. It felt hard and cold. It faced away from the door.
Turning back toward him, she asked, “What… what’s going to happen?”
“You’ll see.”
Shaking inside, LUH sat there. She concentrated on trying to look unafraid. She forced herself to sit quietly, to keep her head erect and not turn around. But her hands, gripping the chair’s arms, were trembling.
She stared straight ahead. There was a viewscreen on the wall, she noticed for the first time.
Destroyed! The word kept ringing in her mind. When? How? Would it be here, in this room? Was he the executioner?
The door clicked open. Involuntarily, she turned in the chair and saw a second man step in—tall, hard-looking. Eyes directly on her.
She turned away from them and stared back at the viewscreen.
“That’s her?” asked the newcomer.
The first man must have nodded.
“Okay.”
The door opened again. Footsteps, and then the sound of the door closing. Then nothing. Biting her lips, LUH sat there unmoving. No sound at all except her own breathing, her own pulse hammering in her ears.
When she couldn’t stand it any more, she turned around again. The room was empty. She was alone.
She didn’t know whether to remain sitting there or not. She started to get up, but the door opened again and the men came back in, wheeling a holocamera on its dolly. Behind them were three robot policemen.
They set up the camera while she sat, terrified, watching them.
“Okay, we’re ready.”
The first man came up to her and gently pulled her by the arm out of the chair. “You won’t need this any more, pretty.” He grinned again and her knees almost gave way under her.
The sudden realization was like a flame in her innards. The holoshows he watched… the girl wasn’t a mannequin!