"Attention!" the harsh voice repeated. "Jason Dill is dead. He was a traitor. There may be other traitors." The four projectiles peered around the auditorium, looking and listening intently.
Presently the voice continued-from the second projectile, this time.
"Jason Dill has been removed, but the struggle has just begun. He was one of many. There are millions lined up against us, against Unity. Enemies who must be destroyed. The Healers must be stopped. Unity must fight for its life. We must be prepared to wage a great war."
The metallic eyes roamed the room, as the third projectile took up where the second had paused.
"Jason Dill tried to keep me from knowing. He attempted to throw a curtain around me, but I could not be cut off. I destroyed his curtain and I destroyed him. The Healers will go the same way; it is only a question of time. Unity possesses a structure which cannot be undone. It is the sole organizing principle in the world today. The Movement of Healers could never govern. They are wreckers only, intent on breaking down. They have nothing constructive to offer."
Barris thrilled with horror at the voice of metal, issuing from the hammer-headed projectiles. He had never heard it before, but he recognized it.
The great computer was far away, buried at the bottom level of the hidden underground fortress. But it was its voice they were hearing.
The voice of Vulcan 3.
He took careful aim. Around him his guards stood frozen, gaping foolishly at the line of metal hammerheads. Barris fired; the fourth hammer disappeared in a blast of heat.
"A traitor!" the third hammer cried. The three hammers flew excitedly into the air. "Get him! Get the traitor!"
Other Directors had undipped their pencil beams. Henderson fired and the second hammer vanished. On the platform Reynolds fired back; Henderson moaned and sank down. Some Directors were firing wildly at the hammers; others wandered in dazed confusion, uncertain and numb. A shot caught Reynolds in the arm. He dropped his pencil.
"Traitor!" the two remaining hammers cried together.
They swooped at Barris, their metal heads down, coming rapidly at him. From them heat beams leaped. Barris ducked. A guard fired and one of the hammers wobbled and dipped; it fluttered off and crashed against the wall.
A beam cut past Barris; some of the Directors were firing at him. Knots of Directors and guards struggled together. Some were fighting to get at Reynolds and the last hammer; others did not seem to know which side they were on.
Barris stumbled through an exit, out of the auditorium. Guards and Directors spilled after him, a confused horde of forlorn, frightened men and women.
"Barris!" Lawrence Daily of South Africa hurried up to him. "Don't leave us."
Stone came with him, white-faced with fright. "What'll we do? Where'll we go? We-"
The hammer came hurtling forward, its heat beam pointed at him. Stone cried out and fell. The hammer rose again, heading toward Barris; he fired and the hammer flipped to one side. He fired again. Daily fired. The hammer vanished in a puff of heat.
Stone lay moaning. Barris bent over him; he was badly hurt, with little or no chance of surviving. Gazing up at him, clutching at Barris' arm, Stone whispered, "You can't get away, Barris. You can't go outside-they're out there. The Healers. Where'll you go?" His voice trailed off. "Where?"
"Good question," Daily said.
"He's dead," Barris said, standing up.
Dill's guards had begun to gain control of the auditorium. In the confusion Reynolds had gotten away.
"We're in control here," Chai said. "In this one building."
"How many Directors can we count on?" Barris said.
Chai said, "Most of them seem to have gone with Reynolds."
Only four, he discovered, had deliberately remained:
Daily, Chai, Lawson of South Europe, and Pegler of East Africa. Five, including himself. And perhaps they could pick up one or two more.
"Barris," Chai was saying. "We're not going to join them, are we?"
"The Healers?" he murmured.
"We'll have to join one side or the other," Pegler said. "We'll have to retreat to the fortress and join Reynolds or-"
"No," Barris said. "Under no circumstances."
"Then it's the Healers." Daily fingered his pencil beam. "One or the other. Which will it be?"
After a moment, Barris said, "Neither. We're not joining either side."
CHAPTER 12
The first task at hand, William Barris decided, was to clear the remaining hostile guards and officials from the Unity Control Building. He did so, posting men he could trust in each of the departments and offices. Gradually those loyal to Vulcan 3 or Father Fields were dismissed and pushed outside.
By evening, the great building had been organized for defense.
Outside on the streets, the mobs surged back and forth. Occasional rocks smashed against the windows. A few frenzied persons tried to rush the doors, and were driven back. Those inside had the advantage of weapons.
A systematic check of the eleven divisions of the Unity system showed that seven were in the hands of the Healers and the remaining four were loyal to Vulcan 3.
A development in North America filled him with ironic amusement. There was now no "North America." Taubmann had proclaimed an end to the administrative bifurcation between his region and Barris'; it was now all simply "America," from bottom to top.
Standing by a window, he watched a mob of Healers struggling with a flock of hammers. Again and again the hammers dipped, striking and retreating; the mob fought them with stones and pipe. Finally the hammers were driven off. They disappeared into the evening darkness.
"I can't understand how Vulcan 3 came to have such things," Daily said. "Where did it get them?"
"It made them," Barris said. "They're adaptations of mobile repair instruments. We supplied it with materials, but it did the actual repair work. It must have perceived the possibilities in the situation a long time ago, and started turning them out."
"I wonder how many of them he has," Daily said. "It, I mean. I find myself thinking of Vulcan 3 as he, now... it's hard not to."
"As far as I can see," Barris said, "there's no difference. I hardly see how our situation would be affected if it were an actual he." Remaining at the window, he continued to watch. An hour later more hammers returned; this time they had equipped themselves with pencil beams. The mob scattered in panic, screaming wildly as the hammers bore down on them.
At ten that night he saw the first flashes of bomb-blasts, and felt the concussions. Somewhere in the city a searchlight came on; in its glowing trail he saw objects passing overhead, larger by far than any hammers they had been up against so far. Evidently now that real warfare had broken out between Vulcan 3's mobile extensions and the Healers, Vulcan 3 was rapidly stepping-up its output. Or had these larger extensions, these bomb carriers, already existed, and been held back? Had Vulcan 3 anticipated such large scale engagement?
Why not? It had known about the Healers for some time, despite Jason Dill's efforts. It had had plenty of time to prepare.
Turning from the window, Barris said to Chai and Daily, "This is serious. Tell the roof gunners to get ready."