Stephen Marlowe

“ Flam-harol had taken the dead Mutant-maker's quarters for his own. Now he sat there with his lieutenants—two mutants, ridge-head variety, and Ker-jon—issuing directives.
"I've given it a lot of thought," he told them. "Sweeping changes must be made if we're to right a nasty situation."
They all agreed.
"First, the jobs of the highest skill will go to ridge-heads. Turnabout, eh, my friends? Henceforth, ridge-heads are bio-technicians." ”

“ Ker-jon said, remembering the dream.
"Then it's agreed. You and the girl will study the records, learn the location and function of each piece of machinery on the Ark. There are just a half dozen of us: Ab'nath, the two 'policemen', Cluny-ann, you, myself. When you're ready we'll do some fancy tinkering with the key mechanisms. And this is important, Ker-jon: we must be so thorough that, alone and without either additional education or aid from others, we won't be able to repair the damage. A danger, yes—but that's the only way it will work." ”

“ All I know is this: the revolutionaries are confined. Maybe they await death—thanks to you. I also know that more men and women each day are exposed forcibly in the Chamber of Change—which means that a new generation of mutants will be born. Any challenge on a purely abstract level sounds awful silly, ridiculously unimportant, pedantically trivial.... Umm-mm, never mind. You just don't understand."
"Wait," said the albino. "A compromise, Ker-jon. If you can rescue your fellows, what then?" ”

“ The machinery in the astro-room doesn't work. I don't know the function of that room, Ker-jon, but I've heard it's important."
"We've all heard that, but no one knows why. We could find out, though."
"How?"
"By studying the old books." Ker-jon wondered if it had been Ab'nath or the old albino who had tampered with the astro-mechanisms.
Flam-harol got up wearily. "Forget it; forget I called you. I can see you'll be no help at all. I've heard talk about studying the old records. All over the Ark. But man, think! You can't sit down in a hole someplace and read a book to solve anything. ”

“ Flam-harol laughed once, then cut him down with a needle-gun. The end of the Mutant-maker, the man who controlled the destiny of all those within the Ark. Simple, no theatrics. Smile and cut him down with a needle-gun. Could that one gesture usher in a new era? Ker-jon did not know, but more and more the words of the albino returned, swirling through his brain. Just a reversal of roles....
Flam-harol sat down on the plushly upholstered chair. "Will some of you take your clubs to the Chamber of Change and smash it? I'm a little tired—"
A week later. ”

“ An old albino, a cousin of Wi'son-gil, I think, discovered all the old books on astronomy. He says Urth was a big globe, really big, which moved around a star. We're going to another globe a lot like it, or our children are—and when we get there—"
"The best part of it all," Ker-jon said, "is that everyone's finding the job for which he's fit. Ab'nath tells me he thinks he wants to become an astronomer." ”

“ If you have the records, why don't you simply take control of the machinery and force Flam-harol and his crew to step down."
The albino shook his head. "That's precisely what we won't do. All the Ark has ever had to face was human challenge, one man usurping control from another. That extends down to all levels, Ker-jon. We have to make a complete break with that tradition, or we'll find ourselves right back where we started from, just as Flam-harol did. Psych-tech Ab'nath will stand behind me on that, and he knows what he's talking about." ”

“ Next, scaled mutants shall be astro-techs."
"You can't do that!" Ker-jon cried. "A man doesn't necessarily fit a job because he happens to be one type of mutant or another. I'd suggest a series of tests, instead; let each man fill the job for which he is qualified."
"Unfair," Flam-harol said. "The non-mutants have had training; they'd win all the top positions. Shall we vote?" ”

“ Ker-jon found himself in a wild melee. Needle-guns zipped; men fell. But always others surged forward, and the defenders' ranks thinned.
Ker-jon saw one of Flam-harol's lieutenants fall, mortally wounded. Three mutants took his place, and one of them had retrieved a needle-gun from a fallen guard. Other weapons appeared among the mutants, guns, knives, make-shift clubs. Nothing could stop them. ”

“ Ab'nath said, taking the slip of paper back from Ker-jon, "your subconscious mind couldn't accept the pending revolution. It felt something was lacking. In that sense, then, your dream was a flight from reality, a fugue. But it had a constructive aspect as well. It—"
"I know," Ker-jon scoffed. "Sure. You take one small, insignificant part of the dream, and because it ties in with your own theories, you blow it up out of all proportion."
The psych-tech shrugged. ”

“ Flam-harol smiled blandly. "If the police are weak, then the real power will remain in the hands of the bio-technicians. That will make for an era of peace and good-will, and it will assure one thing: we'll never have a military government."
"I hope you're right about that peace and good-will," one of the ridge-heads said. "All week long, there's been rioting in the 'low-decks area. Non-mutants on one side, mutants on the other."
"That will end," Flam-harol assured him. "I have confidence. Now, the job will be to get things going as quickly as possible. ”

“ Second scaled mutant: "The Mutant-maker's quarters. We take the reins of government at ten hours, thirty five minutes."
Lithely, Cluny-ann got to her feet. "The Chamber of Change, at ten hours, forty minutes. I lead my women there, and it is hoped that with so much confusion elsewhere, we'll be able to destroy the machinery. But—"
"But what?" Flam-harol said. "We appreciate the aid of you non-mutants. Yet if you have any doubts—"
"It's not that," Cluny-ann told him. "I don't think our revolution will be enough; that's all." ”

“ I think I'd still hate you and what you stand for, a tired old man with old, meaningless ideas—"
"Can you rescue your friends alone?"
"I don't know; I can try."
"And wind up wherever they are, awaiting death with them?" ”

“ More particularly, a physical-technician bent upon temporary destruction....
Wi'son-gil kept him informed of Flam-harol's new regime. Discontent everywhere. A riot in the 'ponics room—quelled. Another in astro—also quelled. But discontent hovered everywhere, with no adequate channel through which to manifest itself. It faded, became bickering; Flam-harol was more powerful every day. Probably, he considered himself benevolent—
Green-uniformed albinos shuffled about the corridors. ”

“ They pushed through a final portal, came upon a large apartment with strange, impossibly antique furniture. In a far corner cowered a little man, a little old man—smaller and more ancient than the albino. ”

“ Dream: (An objective description of the recurrent dream.)
Conclusions: a) Both Ker-jon and his betrothed, Cluny-ann, appear as mutants in the dream-sequence. Four votes for an unstable, neurotic personality; eleven for obvious feelings of sympathy with the mutants; one abstention. Alternative two is thus a logical certainty.
b) The bell-jar machinery is a meaningless bit of gadgetry which defies analysis. Sixteen votes for symbolic representation of the Mutant-making machinery, esoteric and unknown to all technicians save the bio-techs, mutant-making division. ”

“ So you destroy a budding revolt which could have restored equality to the Ark...."
All this time, the old albino man had been listening silently. Now he said: "The revolution was doomed to failure, Ker-jon; don't you see that? Even if it achieved its aim, what would have happened then? We live in a static environment, with no external challenges to keep our culture going. If you won, the mutants would have taken over ”

“ The little balding man with the watery eyes entered the room. "I'm here," he said. "Ah, I see you have Ker-jon," he smiled, handed a sheet of paper to the prisoner. "Here, you might be interested in this."
Ker-jon scanned it rapidly. Yesterday, yes, he'd have been interested. But not today—too much had happened since then.
Subjects: Bio-technician first class Ker-jon, hydroponics division. ”