Tom Purdom

“ Everybody's afraid of everybody else."
"Are you an artist?" Sordman asked.
"What?"
"Are you an artist?"
"What's that got to do with it? No, I'm not. My husband paints."
He felt her stall and evade. She would grab at any subject to distract them. He decided he would let his mind probe at random.
"Is he a professional painter?" Lee asked.
"No, he's an engineer. They wouldn't let him go to art school. He's trying to teach himself." She shrugged and ogled the ceiling.
Her emotions said, Men are like that.
"What does your husband think of Talent?" Sordman asked. "Does he share your prejudice?" ”

“ We've abolished international violence. We've conquered poverty and disease. We've explored the Solar System out to Saturn and if we haven't gone further, it's because nobody thinks it's worth the effort. Where do we go now? We can't stand still. We've developed psychological techniques that turn men into brainless slaves and the pressures of international competition are forcing us to use them. To stay free, the human race has to expand. ”

“ OUR PREMIER, WE WILL DESTROY YOU.
"They know we don't have any big weapons," Read said. "They know we have only gas grenades and small arms."
He looked nervously from side to side. They couldn't bring the copter in with that thing squatting out there.
A few feet away, sprawled behind a barricade of tables, lay a man in advanced shock. His deadly white skin shone like ivory. They wouldn't even look like that. One nuclear shell from that gun and they'd be vaporized. Or perhaps the tank had sonic projectors; then the skin would peel off their bones. ”

“ A rifleman shuffled uneasily. "It's the only way. Mind killers use their Talent to tie their tongues and confuse us. Only pain can break their control."
"That's a fairy tale," Sordman said. "Without drugs a Talent is helpless."
"We've got the girl," John Dyer said. "She can't hurt us while we're waiting."
"He can!" the young man screamed. "Are you a plain fool? He can go outside and kill us all." ”

“ A glass-walled waiting room surrounded the bank of transmitter booths. Read looked out the door and saw his first battlefield.
Directly in front of him, his head shattered by a bullet, a dead inspector lay behind an overturned couch.
Read had seen dozens of training films taken during actual battles or after atomic attacks. He had laughed when other recruits complained. "That's the way this world is. You people with the weak stomachs better get used to it." ”

“ Doctor Warren said. "Wouldn't a club be more humane?"
Two Belderkan trucks were parked behind the line. Technicians came out of them and set up lights which neutralized the lights of the invaders.
A jet screamed into a runway at the far end of the airport. MacFarland watched it taxi to the terminal building. It was the flight the scientists were supposed to leave on. He glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes.
This was where the human imagination met its test. The mind struggled to invent alternatives to violence. There could be no appeal to the enemy's reason. ”

“ For two years Read had served under Sergeant Rashid. To him, the sergeant was everything a UN inspector should be. Rashid's devotion to peace had no limits.
Read's psych tests said pride alone drove him on. That was good enough for the UN; they only rejected men whose loyalties might conflict with their duties. But an assault on the tank required something more than a hunger for self-respect. ”

“ Doctor Warren asked.
"I can challenge them to a duel. They won't refuse. No one ever refuses a duel."
All night the two sides harassed each other. Crawford Bell's technicians went up and down the enemy line, waking up any Belderkan who was sleeping on his feet. Sirens wailed. The crowd pleaded with the scientists, insulted the invaders and sang to itself. The girls, not yet battle fatigued, tried to tempt the Belderkan troops. ”

“ Sordman said. "My Talent has its limits. I can't deep-probe everybody's mind, any more than a baseball pitcher can pitch all day."
Lee said, "Even if he could, our warrant says we can't probe more than four suspects."
"Now can you tell us why you think the killer is a woman?" George asked.
The girl held out her glass and George filled it. "Because he was the kind of man who made you want to kill him. He was understanding and loving. He made me feel like a princess all the time I lived with him. But he can't keep to one girl." ”

“ At least two men per girl forgot their patriotic fervor and yielded to opportunity. Other men forgot the invaders and tried to drag their comrades back to duty. Women, probably jealous, screamed curses at MacFarland's shock troops.
The personnel carriers, all their girls dropped, turned and swept along the rear of the crowd. On each deck a man tossed coins and bills at the Belderkans.
The loudspeaker above the crowd exhorted them to remember their country. The loudspeaker above the convoy shamed the scientists for using such tactics.
"Now!" Crawford Bell shouted at his mike. ”

“ The helicopter didn't drop psycho-active gas. Instead, it marked them with its light so that far off the crowd would know where its quarry was. A loudspeaker begged the scientists to remember the humble people of Belderkan.
We taxed the labor of our people to give you luxury. We built you beautiful homes. We gave you women, if you wanted them, and all the laboratory equipment you desired. We gave you old age pensions. Remember the labors of our people!
A line of automobile headlights raced across the plain. MacFarland gave an order. The lights of the convoy jumped on. ”

“ Esponito had been a Catholic, and that faith still called short-term marriages a mortal sin.
For a moment Sordman wondered what it would be like to know only one woman your entire life. He loved the infinite variety of God's creation and wanted to sample as much of it as he could.
"Mylady Widow, our apologies." Lee bowed, hands before her chest, and Sordman and George Aaron bowed with her. "We intrude on you," Lee said, "only because we have to find the real killer. Other people may be in danger." ”

“ He had belonged to a gang called The Golden Spacemen. "Nobody fools with me," he bragged. "When Harry Read's out, there's a tiger running loose." No one knew how many times he nearly ran from other clubs, how carefully he picked the safest spot on the battle line.
"A man ought to be a man," he once told a girl. "He ought to do a man's work. Did you ever notice how our fathers look, how they sleep so much? I don't want to be like that. I want to be something proud."
He joined the UN Inspector Corps at eighteen, in 1978. ”

“ The other half broke into three-man squads which hunted for a path through the Belderkan squads.
The Belderkans stood up in the grass. There were about fifty of them. They tried to form a line in front of the convoy, but Sabo's men jumping and blocking among them thwarted that maneuver. A leader shouted an order and the Belderkans converged on the convoy, obviously trying to place one or two men so close to each vehicle movement would be impossible.
The Belderkans were as disciplined and agile as Sabo's troops. Men danced and jumped in the tall grass. ”

“ He ran his hands along the rough bark and smelled the cool water of the stream. Most of the big park was wilderness, but here and there were pavilions, an outdoor theatre, open playing fields and beautifully planned gardens. A man could have a home surrounded by the shops and pleasures of civilized living and yet only be a ten-minute elevator ride from God's bounty.
"The fact the killer used the newspaper picture doesn't prove Bedler was the real victim," George said. "But it indicates it."
"Let's assume it's true," Sordman said, "and see where it leads us."
"Bedler was married," Lee said. ”

“ Read didn't know much about the complicated political reasons for the arrest. He liked the Corp and he liked being in the Corp. He went where they sent him and did what they told him to do.
The car skimmed above the tree-tops. The driver and his two passengers scanned the sky.
A plane would have been a faster way to get out of the country. But then they would have spent hours flying over Africa, with Belderkan fighters in hot pursuit, other nations joining the chase and the world uproar gaining volume. By transmitter, if all went well, they could have Umluana in Geneva in an hour. ”

“ It's easy to stand in line and look heroic and patriotic when you know I don't dare run you over with my vehicles. But how brave are you? Are you really willing to suffer for your country? I think the men of Belderkan are cowards. I think you would still be running if we had fought an old fashioned war last night."
He paused and stroked his mustache. Then he gestured and Crawford Bell rolled the instrument forward. It was a pole on a wheeled platform. Four handles stuck out from the pole; above each handle was a set of four dials.
"Do you know what a duel is?" ”

“ I wanted to build rockets and ride to the planets. But the Voc people told me I was too weak in math. So I became a healer of the psyche and I learned my love for rockets was a hunger for power. But still I love the brutes and now I'm an old man I still sometimes wish I'd been an engineer."
"That's too bad," the girl said politely.
"Yes. I suppose your husband feels that way about art?"
"He gets drunk about it sometimes."
"Double motive!" Sordman said.
"One conscious," George said, "plain jealousy. The other half-conscious—resentment. Nobody kills at random. ”

“ Rashid said.
"Then I'll speak English." Umluana was a small man with wrinkled brow, glasses and a mustache. His skin was a shade lighter than Read's. "The Inspector General doesn't have the power to arrest a head of state—especially the Premier of Belderkan. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return to my party."
In the other room people laughed and talked. Glasses clinked in the late afternoon. Read knew two armed men stood just outside the door. "If you leave, Premier, I'll have to shoot you."
"I don't think so," Umluana said. "No, if you kill me, all Africa will rise against the world. ”

“ He didn't like the danger created when heated men from different nations faced each other on the battle field. So far no one had forgotten the discipline of the non-violent fighter, but the old beast still lived in the human psyche. One shove by a Belderkan or a mercenary and the tiger would roar on the plain. ”

“ Lee studied the painting. "Why does your husband hate Talent?"
"Is this a survey?"
Lee grinned. "I'm the lobbyist for the Guggenheim Foundation. Asking that kind of question is a reflex."
The girl walked around the room. She looked out the window and stretched. Sordman bellowed lust at her flanks and the long curve of her hips.
"Why do men do anything?" Raven yawned. "When he was in Voc school some kid took him in the back room and showed him some tricks. Maybe that did it. Is there a psycher in the house?"
"There is," George said. "Is Citizen Smith an astronautical engineer?" ”

“ How's your ammunition?"
"A dozen grenades. Half a barrel of shells."
"The copter will be here in half an hour. We'll put Umluana on, then try to save ourselves. Once he's gone, I think we ought to surrender."
"How do you think they'll treat us?"
"That we'll have to see."
An occasional bullet cracked and whined through the misty room. Near him a man gasped frantically for air. On the sunny field a wounded man screamed for help.
"There's a garage downstairs," Rashid said. "In case the copter doesn't get here on time, I've got a man filling wine bottles with gasoline." ”

“ You'd better have full stomachs and big bladders if you want to keep me out of that airport."
"A fine speech," the helicopter answered, "but we don't care if you stay or not, aggressor. Only the five doctors count. You're of no importance."
Doctor Umbana raised his fist. "I won't be forced."
"Doctor Umbana," the helicopter said, "no one is forcing you to stay. How can one force a creative mind to work? We only want you to consider what you are doing. We only want you to see how much we are willing to suffer."
The jets of the airliner whined. MacFarland glanced at his watch. ”

“ Lee said.
"The world is filled with it," George said. "I favor short-term marriages. They're the only way a person can practice a difficult art and make mistakes without committing himself for life. But about half the mental breakdowns I used to get were due to the insecurities caused by a temporary contract. One party almost always hopes the marriage will somehow become permanent."
"Let's talk to Bedler's ex-wife," Sordman said. ”

“ The line of enemy cars was long and moving fast. He couldn't go around their rear and they were moving fast enough to head him off and hold him for as long as the crowd needed to surround the convoy.
He switched on his mike. "Sabo, can you break their line?"
"Right. Allenby, attack the cars!"
A personnel carrier, sixty men standing on its deck, charged the enemy vehicles. MacFarland grinned when he heard the bagpipes wail. ”

“ The power to arrest any head of state whose country violated international law. Could the World Court try and imprison a politician who had conspired to attack another nation?
For years Africa had been called "The South America of the Old World." Revolution followed revolution. Colonies became democracies. Democracies became dictatorships or dissolved in civil war. Men planted bases on the moon and in four years, 1978-82, ringed the world with matter transmitters; but the black population of Africa still struggled toward political equality.
Umluana took control of Belderkan in 1979. ”

“ Sordman said. "Who's the leader of your group?"
The young man said, "We don't have a leader. Here we're all equals."
Sordman studied the young man's emotions. He was frightened, but only a little more than the others. There was something else there, too. Something very strong. Sex frustration! The young man had an athletic body and a handsome, chiselled face. On his yellow vest he wore the emblem of a Second Class Technician. But even a young man with adequate finances could be frustrated. Keeping the stone in his mind, he undressed a certain actress. ”

“ Do you want to be without a country? This is the best country in the world. All my life I've made a good living. Haven't you had everything you ever wanted? I've been a king compared to people overseas. ”

“ Crawford Bell mumbled.
Men jumped out of the helicopters. MacFarland's driver reversed his engine. The convoy screamed to a halt. The men jumping from the copters hit the ground and threw themselves prostrate. In the tall grass they could be anywhere. The helicopter overhead switched off its light.
Another helicopter landed on their left flank. A dozen Belderkans climbed out and ran toward the scientists. "Don't leave us. Great men that you are, think of our needs." ”

“ From Sabo's second personnel carrier, a squad ran to intercept the pleaders before they made it impossible for the scientists to move. The drivers of the threatened cars pulled out of the line. Arms linked, Sabo's men managed to keep the pleaders away from the scientists.
The two cars carrying the scientists parked next to MacFarland. "No wonder you like your work," Lauchstein, the genetic engineer shouted. The other scientists didn't act so enthusiastic.
MacFarland switched on his mike. "Sabo, clear us a path through that gang up ahead. If you work fast, we can still outrun the crowd." ”