“Tom?” she called.
He sauntered toward her. He seemed in no hurry at all. Looking beyond him, Elszabet saw a couple of figures sprawled on a pile of scattered timbers as though they were asleep. One was April. The other seemed to be the red-haired scratcher who had killed the cult leader on the steps of the bus. They lay motionless, not even stirring.
It seemed to Elszabet that she and Tom were the only two people on the grounds of the Center just now. A sphere of silence appeared to surround them.
“It’s Miss Elszabet,” Tom said. He was smiling in a weird exalted way. “I was hoping I’d find you, Elszabet. Do you know what’s been happening? This is the time I told you would come. When the Crossing begins to happen. As the Kusereen intended for us, all along.”
“What did you do to Ed Ferguson?”
Still the strange smile. “I helped him make the Crossing.”
“You killed him, is that what you’re saying?”
“Hey! Hey, you sound angry!”
“You killed Ed Ferguson? Answer me, Tom.”
“Killed? No. I guided him so that he would be able to drop his body. That’s all I did. And then I sent him to Sapiil.”
Elszabet felt a chill spreading along her arms and legs.
“And April?” she said. “You guided her the same way?”
“The fat woman, you mean? Yes, she’s gone up there too, just a minute or two ago. And the Indian man. And Stidge there, when he tried to kill me. And I’ve sent a lot of others, all morning long.”
She stared, not believing, not wanting to believe. “You killed all those people? My God… Nick, April, who else? Tell me, Tom, how many of my patients have you killed so far?”
“Killed?” He shook his head. “You keep saying killed. No. No, I haven’t killed anybody. I’ve just been sending them, that’s all.”
“Sending them,” Elszabet repeated in a flat voice.
“Sending them, yes. This is the day of the Crossing. At first I needed four helpers to do it. And then two. But now the power is very strong in me.”
Elszabet’s throat was dry and tight. There was a terrible pressure in her chest, a kind of silent shout fighting to escape. Ferguson, she thought. April. Nick Double Rainbow. All dead. And probably most of the others too. Her patients. Everyone she had tried to help. What had he done to them? Where were they now? She had never known such a crushing feeling of helplessness, of emptiness.
Quietly she said, “You’ve got to stop, Tom.”
He looked amazed. “Stop? How can I stop? What are you talking about, Elszabet?”
“You can’t do any more Crossings, Tom. That’s all, you just can’t. I forbid you. I won’t let you. Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m responsible for these people—for all the patients here—”
He appeared not to comprehend. “But don’t you want them to be happy, Elszabet? For the first time in their lives, happy? ” That strange ecstatic smile, still. “How can I stop? It’s what I was put on Earth to do.”
“To kill people?”
“To heal people,” Tom said. “Same as you. I never killed anyone, not even Stidge. The fat woman, she’s happy now. And Ed. And the Indian. And Stidge, him too. And you… I can make you happy, right now.” He leaned close to her and his smile grew even more intense. “I’ll send you now, Elszabet. Okay? Okay? That’s what you want, isn’t it? Will you let me send you now?”
“Keep away.”
“Don’t say that. Here. Give me your hand, Elszabet. I’ll send you to the Green World. I know that’s where you want to be. I know that’s where you could be happy. Not here. There’s nothing for you here. The Green World, Elszabet.”
He reached for her. She gasped and pulled back from him.
“Why are you afraid? It’s the Time of the Crossing. I want so much to send you. Because… because…” He hesitated, fumbling for words, looking down at his feet. Color blazed in his cheeks. She saw tears beginning to glisten in his eyes. “I wouldn’t hurt you.” His voice was thick and hesitant. “Not you. Not ever. I wouldn’t hurt anyone, but especially not you. I…” He faltered. “I love you, Elszabet. Let me send you. Please?”
“But I don’t want—” she started to say, and broke off in mid-sentence as a powerful wave of dizziness and numbness swept over her. She struggled for breath. Something had happened. His words, his tears, the wind, the rain, everything all at once came rushing in on her, sweeping her away. She felt herself swaying, the way so many times she had swayed when an earthquake went rumbling through the ground beneath her, that old familiar sensation of sudden astonishing motion, the world slipping loose from its moorings.
A great abyss was opening before her, and Tom was inviting her to jump. She caught her breath and stared bewilderedly at him, appalled and tempted, and appalled at how tempted she was.
“Please?” he said again.
There was a roaring in her ears. Make the Crossing? Drop the body? Let him do to her what he had done to Ferguson, to April, to Nick? Give him her hand, let him do his trick, topple at his feet, lie here dead and smiling in the mud?
No. No. No. No.
It was crazy. All this talk of other worlds, instantaneous journeys. How could any of it be real? When Tom sent people, they died. He had a power, a deadly one. They died. That must be what happens to them, right? Right? She didn’t want to die. That hadn’t ever been what she wanted. She wanted to live, to flourish, to open, to blossom. She wanted to feel some peace in her soul, just for once in her life. But not to die. Dying wasn’t any kind of answer.
And yet—and yet—what if what Tom offered wasn’t death at all, but life, new life, a second chance?
She felt an overwhelming pull, an irresistible temptation—the Green World, that wondrous place of joy and beauty, so vivid, so real. How could it not be real? The Project Starprobe photographs—the smile on Ed Ferguson’s face—that sense of absolute conviction and faith that Tom radiated—
So why not, why not, why not?
“All right. I’m not afraid,” she heard herself saying.
“Then give me your hand. This is the time. I’ll help you make your Crossing now, Elszabet.”
She nodded. It was like something happening in a dream. Just give him your hand, and let him send you to the Green World. Just yield, and float upward, and go. Yes. Yes. Why not? She thought of Ed Ferguson’s smile. Could there be any doubt? Tom had the power. The sky was breaking open, and all barriers were down. Suddenly she felt the closeness of that silent dark immensity that was interstellar space, just beyond the low heavy clouds, and it was not at all terrifying. Give him your hand, Elszabet. Let him send you. Go. Go. This poor tired world, this poor ruined place: why stay? Everything’s done for. Just say good-bye to the world and go. Look what’s happened to the Center. That was the last sanctuary, and now it’s gone too. You have no one left to care for here any more.
“You were so very good to me, you know,” Tom was saying. “There wasn’t anyone was ever that good to me before. You took me in, you gave me a place to stay, you talked to me, you listened to me. You listened to me. Everybody thinks I’m crazy, and that’s all right, because most people like to leave a crazy man alone. I was safer that way. But you knew I wasn’t crazy, didn’t you? You know it now. And now I’m going to give you what you want the most. Put your hand in mine. Will you do that, Elszabet?”
“Yes. Yes.”
She reached her hand toward his waiting hand.
She heard someone calling her name in a peculiarly desperate way, raggedly punching out the syllables, El Sza Bet, El Sza Bet The strange hypnotic moment was broken. She pulled her hand back from Tom and looked around. Dan Robinson came trotting up. He appeared exhausted, almost ready to collapse.