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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58883 ***
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+                            THE MEN OF BORU
+
+                           BY JACK A. NELSON
+
+
+                _There is always a breed immune to mass
+                hypnosis, and to them falls the duty of
+              rebellion.... The story, by a Brigham Young
+             University senior, that won the second award
+           of $500 in IF's College Science Fiction Contest_
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+              Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1955.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+A swirl of dust licked at the grass sandals of the men standing on
+the hill. There were eight men, and they stood looking west over the
+burned, gutted land that lay barren before them--barren except for a
+series of huge mounds that lay in a depression far out from the hills
+on the rocky plains.
+
+"Do you still think we can make it?" asked a stocky man with a livid
+scar that ran from his upper lip to his forehead. "I for one would
+rather live alone and meagerly than not live at all."
+
+The speaker received a stern glance from a tall hawk-nosed man wearing
+a finely-worked leather belt, apparently a symbol of leadership.
+
+"We have already agreed, remember, Franz? We have to succeed or
+disappear off the face of the Earth. You may turn back if you wish. We
+are going on."
+
+Franz scowled, rubbed his scar and contemplated the mounds in the
+distance. "You forget I have lived there. You have not. Well, maybe to
+be a slave is not so bad after all. Or to die."
+
+"If we die we will not go alone," said Sten, the leader. He turned to
+the others. "Let's go. It will be dark soon."
+
+The men moved single-file down through the hills without speaking.
+
+As it grew dark they could feel the heat radiate from the sand. They
+felt the heat press against them and silently praised Sten's wisdom in
+waiting for the cold time of year before making the attempt. They wore
+a tunic of coarse-woven cloth that hung loose from their shoulders, and
+even that single garment was too warm here. They moved in silence, Sten
+in the lead, followed by his brother, Johnathon, a smaller man with
+wide shoulders and a quick smile.
+
+A gibbous moon was showing over the mountains when they stopped.
+Solemnly they gathered in a circle.
+
+"We will separate now," Sten spoke softly. "Franz and Johnathon and
+Karl and I will enter from the south. Bradley, you and the others will
+find the way in from the north. You can find the place. If we're not
+back at our last camp by morning of the third day, go on without us.
+You have the map where the valley lies?"
+
+The leader of the other group nodded.
+
+"Then hurry. Until three days, then. Remember, the only hope lies in
+us. Some of us have to make it!" The men separated with only a wave of
+farewell and the two groups moved in opposite directions across the hot
+sands.
+
+Clouds covered the moon and it grew darker as the four men approached
+the edge of the mounds. An ominous sense of foreboding fell over them.
+It seemed they could feel the vibration of the city that lay beneath
+them. Beneath them lay life--stilted, twisted, enslaved life, but life
+nevertheless.
+
+"Are you sure they don't post a guard?" Johnathon asked.
+
+"Against what, the Root-Diggers?" Franz spat contemptuously. "No, they
+are secure. They need fear nothing."
+
+It was another hour before they found the tunnel and entered in single
+file. Groping their way through the darkness, they finally felt a solid
+wall rise in front of them. Franz made his way to the left, feeling his
+way along the wall until he found a large box in a niche in the rock.
+
+"It's here! It's still here after all."
+
+"Good," Sten said. "All right, everybody up against the wall and push."
+
+Karl, the biggest of the men, laughed as he eased his bulk against the
+obstruction. "It would be real sport," he said, "to move this wall and
+find one of their Steel-heads waiting for us."
+
+Franz snickered. "It wouldn't be sport long, my friend. They're trained
+from birth to be trigger-happy and there's nothing anyone in Panamia
+fears more than the outside, or anything connected with it. And we're
+outsiders."
+
+The wall suddenly gave before them and they moved into a half-darkened
+room. Carefully, in a sort of frozen silence, they moved the wall
+back into place. The box had contained city clothes; and now the men
+worked swiftly in the semi-darkness. When they were ready Franz walked
+up and down making final adjustments in each of their uniforms. As he
+finished, Sten laid his hand on his shoulder. "Franz, you'll take over
+now. You know what everything is like here. We're placing ourselves in
+your hands."
+
+Franz shrugged his shoulders almost as if he were disinterested in the
+drama in which they were taking part. His eyes searched the faces of
+the men.
+
+"So you want women, eh? You want to preserve our race--the glorious
+animal, Man. Ha! I ask you to ponder for a moment, before it is too
+late, whether this race is worth preserving. Men have been furthering
+the race for milleniums and what has it come to? Consider if the earth
+wouldn't prosper better without Man."
+
+The men shifted uneasily. "Forget all that, Franz," Sten snapped.
+"You know there must be an answer somewhere. This is our only chance.
+Everything can't be dead."
+
+Franz looked away. "As you wish. If you're determined to go through
+with it, then let's start. But first, remember that you're Steel-heads,
+bred and raised with no other thought than to carry out the will of
+Him--The Leader. His will is your will. You do not think, you only act
+according to orders. Don't look intelligent, that is suspect. Just
+stare straight ahead and do what I tell you--or what any other officer
+might tell you, for that matter. Remember, don't question anything!
+Just follow orders."
+
+He laid his hand on the door that led to the city, hesitated for
+a brief instant, then swung it open. As the men entered, walking
+stiffly with eyes coldly searching for the unknown, they were hit by a
+high-pitched whine that filled the corridor and seemed to pierce deep
+within them. The three men covered their ears with their hands and
+cringed. But Franz stood straight and moved his head around to catch
+the noise from all angles. His mouth opened and closed slowly as if he
+were trying to pull the shrill noise deep within him. Finally he shook
+his head, as a dog shakes off water, and gathered command of himself.
+
+"It is The Leader," he said in a loud voice to overcome the whine.
+"Soon you will not notice it. It is everywhere."
+
+Sten removed his hands from his ears and felt the noise creep over him.
+He shuddered, and felt beads of sweat form on his forehead as the sound
+seemed to gnaw at his consciousness. Soon the others were able to bear
+the noise with their ears uncovered, but they felt restless and uneasy.
+
+"We're lucky not to have been seen," said Franz. "Come on."
+
+They moved down the corridor in military formation, Franz leading and
+the others following dumbly. The corridor was small and well-lighted.
+Doors opened into cubicles every few feet, and the wall was lined
+with wide view-screens that stared out, like probing and sullen
+eyes. The men kept their eyes straight ahead, but occasionally they
+flicked a glance sideways at the people that were passing them in both
+directions. They halted as they reached the main corridor.
+
+A loud buzzer rose above the whine, and people emerged from the doors
+along the walls and passed them in silence. Eyes fixed on the ground. A
+few talked as they went by, but none noticed the soldiers standing at
+the edge of the corridor.
+
+Three girls, walking in silence, paused before the men for a brief
+instant, then passed on. Sten felt his eyes following the girls
+hungrily. Catching himself, he pulled back to attention and nudged his
+brother at his side. "Steel-head, Johnathon, remember?" Johnathon again
+looked straight ahead and stifled the beginnings of a grin that tugged
+at the corners of his mouth. Franz also stared after the girls, but his
+eyes wore an amused expression, rather than the longing look of the
+other men.
+
+Franz spat out a curt order and they began to march down the corridor
+again, the crowd making room for them automatically. Everywhere posters
+glared at them from the walls. Some pictured a huge eye that stared out
+with the words, "The Leader is watching." Others showed the smiling
+faces of a throng of people. Underneath, in scarlet lettering was
+emblazoned: "Panamia and The Leader March On--PROGRESS."
+
+For an hour they marched through the city, ignored by the people
+and apparently unaware of all that was happening around them. They
+passed thousands of men and women, a milling mass, each immersed in a
+grim stupor. Where the main corridors intersected they entered great
+assembly places where huge view-screens were set up. They were always
+turned on.
+
+A shrill emotional voice blared out a constant stream of propaganda.
+"People of Panamia, unite, work! The Root-Diggers must be repulsed! For
+the glory of The Leader, for the glory of Panamia, we must accomplish
+our utmost. We must give our all!"
+
+"For The Leader! For Panamia!" the people shouted, rising momentarily
+from their dull world, their eyes glazed with emotion. Banners beneath
+the screens announced in large crimson letters: Service to The Leader
+is glory to yourself and Panamia.
+
+The soldiers stood watching tight-lipped. Franz's nostrils quivered as
+the tumult of the demonstration thundered about them. His face took on
+an eager look as he watched the people shouting in exaltation, a curt
+movement of Sten's hand brought him back to the task at hand. He gave a
+short barked order and the group moved on.
+
+They had just reached an intersection and were standing awaiting
+directions from Franz when a shout rang out. "Stop, Provost. You! What
+are you doing here?" A short, ruddy-faced officer in thick-lensed
+glasses strode up the corridor toward them, scowling. Sten cautiously
+moved his head around to face the danger.
+
+"Sten, attention! He'll know," Franz hissed from the side of his mouth.
+
+Sten snapped back to attention, staring straight ahead.
+
+The squat officer confronted Franz. "Who assigned you to this block?"
+
+Franz saluted. "Security sent us to check on a disturbance near here."
+
+The officer's eyes narrowed. "Disturbance? I have heard of no
+disturbance."
+
+"That is of no matter. We were sent."
+
+The squat officer stared hard at Franz. "Hmm, I see. And what is your
+rank number, Provost?"
+
+Franz told him a number that he remembered.
+
+The officer looked them over searchingly, his lower lip protruding in
+obvious contempt. "Very well, carry on. But Provost, I'll remember
+you!" He stood watching as they marched away, rubbing his chin
+thoughtfully with the palm of his hand.
+
+Sten felt a sickening void in his stomach as they marched past the
+officer. Surely the man suspected. Would it all end right here, before
+they even had a chance to get started? He felt the reassuring pressure
+of the knife inside his belt, the one weapon that Franz had advised,
+and resolved that, if it should be necessary, their lives would be sold
+dearly.
+
+After a while they turned into a series of side passage-ways and Franz
+stopped before the door to one of the cubicles. The corridor was empty,
+and they were out of range of the view-screens. Johnathon relaxed
+against the wall and sighed. "What a sight. I never expected it to be
+as bad as this. Did you notice the look in most of their eyes? It's
+a dull, glazed almost dead look. They're nothing more than beaten
+animals."
+
+"Easy," Franz cautioned, "wait till we get inside."
+
+He pressed the button on the door. A woman's voice came through the
+door panel. "What do you want?"
+
+"Open. In the name of The Leader. It is a Provost."
+
+Slowly the door swung open and the men saw a small brunette standing
+before them. "What do you want?" she repeated in the same monotone.
+
+"Interrogation!" Franz pushed his way inside. The others followed.
+
+The woman stood against the wall cowering from the soldiers. Franz
+searched around the apartment carefully, then confronted the woman.
+
+"Do you not know me?"
+
+The woman stared into his eyes. Finally she said, "No, no, I don't know
+you."
+
+"Do you not remember Jeannine? The girl you worked with? Remember the
+plans? The plans to leave here and go outside to build a new life?"
+
+Her chin quivered as she tried to speak. "Yes, now I remember. You are
+Franz, Jeannine's lover. That was before The Leader found out and ...
+and sent Jeannine away. You disappeared, I thought you had been sent
+away, too. It is hard to remember. You know we are ordered to forget
+the past. What ... what do you want of me?"
+
+Franz motioned to the men with him, "We are from the outside."
+
+The woman recoiled with a gasp and backed even closer to the wall.
+"Root-Diggers!"
+
+Sten stepped forward. "No, we're not Root-Diggers. We're the men of
+Boru. We've come to lead you and others like you to freedom."
+
+"Barbarians!" the woman snarled. "You're planning to overthrow
+Panamia!" She lunged wildly at the switch that would have turned on her
+view-screen. Sten caught her and pushed her back against the wall. The
+woman screamed once before Sten slapped her, then she sobbed into her
+hands.
+
+"Shut up!" Sten commanded. "We mean no harm. We have come only to lead
+out to freedom those who wish to go."
+
+"You are against The Leader."
+
+Franz laughed. "Let's say we hope to outwit him."
+
+The woman drew back. "That is impossible, he cannot be outwitted. The
+Leader is all."
+
+Johnathon looked up from the corner where he was examining the
+view-screen. "That may be, but we intend to have a try at it."
+
+Karl, who had been leaning against the door, suddenly sat down on a
+hard bench against the wall. "Damn," he complained, "this whining noise
+gives me a headache."
+
+The woman allowed herself a moment of curiosity. "What whining noise?
+There is no noise."
+
+"They are conditioned to it," Franz spoke to Sten. "It's a part of
+their lives. We never hear the pounding of our hearts."
+
+The woman sat down on the bench and buried her face in her hands.
+
+"Tell me," Sten said, "Has she no husband?"
+
+"Husband? In Panamia there is no such thing. Everyone lives alone.
+When they reach maturity, they are summoned to a meeting with The
+Leader, and mated with him or one of his representatives. That is all.
+The child is raised by The Leader's nurses. It is all a very impersonal
+business. They never speak of it."
+
+The lights in the apartment dimmed. Immediately the woman rose and
+walked mechanically to a bunk set in the wall, curled up, and was
+asleep almost before the men could notice her.
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"Just The Leader's signal that it is time for sleep," Franz said. "Did
+you see how she obeyed?"
+
+"They live like clockwork," Sten muttered.
+
+Several hours later the lights came on again. The woman rose without
+speaking to the men, who had slept on the floor, and sat down at the
+table to eat.
+
+"Hey, don't we get invited to breakfast?" asked Karl, sitting up in the
+corner.
+
+Johnathon sniffed the air. "From the smell of it I don't think I want
+any."
+
+The woman looked up annoyed. "When are you going to leave? I have to
+go to my work. It's important to Panamia." This last was said with a
+fierce pride.
+
+"Will she be missed?" Sten asked Franz.
+
+"Yes, but they allow one day away for illness. The second day they
+check."
+
+"Don't worry," Sten told the woman. "We will leave when we have what we
+came for."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"Freedom."
+
+"But you say freedom is outside. Why didn't you stay?"
+
+"Because there must be freedom for our children--and for their
+children."
+
+"You have children?" she looked interested.
+
+"We shall soon."
+
+"Yes," she said scornfully, "freedom for the children of the
+Root-Diggers. But you come to Panamia for that freedom!"
+
+"We told you we're not Root-Diggers," Johnathon said. "You can hardly
+compare us with that tribe of poor devils. But even their state is
+better than living like a slave in Panamia."
+
+The woman laughed bitterly. "If you are not Root-Diggers, why do you
+come to hurt Panamia and The Leader? It is because of you people that
+we are warred upon and must always sacrifice."
+
+Franz rose and faced the woman. "Kathryn, you're wrong," he said.
+"The Root-Diggers are not warring with Panamia. They are only men and
+women like ourselves who have been banned from Panamia. The Leader had
+them purged before they were forced outside so that they are sterile
+and have only half their wits. They have to live like animals, eating
+roots and berries and bugs and insects. Those are the Root-Diggers your
+Leader uses to frighten you."
+
+The woman clenched her fists until the knuckles showed white. "You
+lie!" she screamed. "The Leader tells the truth."
+
+"No, it's not a lie. We have all seen them," Sten said quietly.
+
+The men sat in silence while the woman wept.
+
+Karl reached out and ate a bit of the woman's food. "What sort of gruel
+is this stuff, I wonder. It needs salt."
+
+"Salt," commented Franz, "is the greatest luxury in the city. Because
+of the Root-Diggers, you know. There is a grave shortage. The people
+crave it more than anything else and will go to any lengths to get an
+extra ration of it."
+
+Sten shook his head. "And they blame it on those poor beasts outside."
+He rose and began nervously pacing the floor. "Franz, we have to move
+quickly. The others will leave if we don't meet them on time. Do you
+think she will go with us? Will she help us get others?"
+
+"Who knows about her?" Franz shrugged. "I know some others here who
+may want to go. We can see them now, but someone has to stay here with
+Kathryn."
+
+Sten watched the hungry eyes of Karl and Johnathon as they looked at
+the now silent woman, sitting dejectedly at the table.
+
+"I'll stay," he said.
+
+The two men moved reluctantly as they followed Franz from the room.
+Sten sat in silence after they were gone, watching the woman, who
+was staring sullenly at the table top. He felt the pressure of the
+room close in on him, and wished he were back in the openness of the
+mountains. With a start he realized that he no longer noticed the
+whine unless he listened for it, and that the sound somehow created a
+feeling of warmth within him. He rose, slammed his fist into his open
+palm, and shook the woman vigorously.
+
+"Kathryn, how would you like to leave here? Go to a new land, a valley
+that is still green and fertile? There you could look up at the sky and
+live and feel free--and raise your children free."
+
+Kathryn looked up dumbfounded. "I couldn't leave here. What would I do?
+Don't you know that this is real freedom? Here where we have The Leader
+to take care of everything for us?"
+
+"No! This is bondage. Being told when to sleep and when to eat and what
+to eat, and slaving for a grain of salt."
+
+"Do you have salt?" she seemed incredulous.
+
+"Out there, Kathryn, you can have as much as you want. Believe me, this
+is no good. Where is the purpose of your life? Man wasn't born to be a
+slave to anyone or anything, but to build his own life. You're a woman,
+meant to have children, to mother them, and teach them, and love them,
+doesn't that mean anything to you?"
+
+"I ... I don't know. I've never thought about it before."
+
+"You must think about it! Would you have it all end here? Living always
+at the command of an unknown voice?"
+
+The woman's eyes searched the room, as if seeking some sign of
+reassurance. "But ... I've never thought of any other kind of life. I'm
+happy here!"
+
+"Happy? Being a living robot? You've never touched real happiness.
+Think, Kathryn. Think hard about this. It's the most important thing in
+the world."
+
+She turned from the man and looked at the wall.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was several hours before Franz and the others returned. Kathryn was
+in her bunk, her eyes shut, an instrument clamped to her temples.
+
+Franz breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them. "Whew,
+that's not good for the nerves! Every time we turned a corner we ran
+into that officer we met yesterday. I think he's watching us."
+
+"Sten," Johnathon said excitedly, "you should have gone with us. Most
+of the people wouldn't even listen, but there was a girl who was
+interested. I've never seen anything like her, Sten. She's so soft and
+small and...."
+
+Karl interrupted enthusiastically. "And she has a friend that's coming
+with her! Her name's Stella--I touched her and she's smoother than
+anything I ever felt. I ... I think she may go with us."
+
+Sten and Franz stood soberly watching the child-like joy of the two
+men, a new joy, something unquenchable that burned deep within them.
+
+"These people are mindless fools," Franz snorted. "Most of them didn't
+even remember me. The Leader's forgetting treatments are pretty strong
+stuff, I guess. 'The Past is Forgotten, the Future is the Glory of The
+Leader', that's the motto."
+
+"No wonder the poor souls seem mindless," said Sten soberly. "But what
+about the girls they're so happy about?" he motioned to the table where
+Karl and Johnathon were glibly comparing notes on the girls they had
+met.
+
+"They didn't remember me either, but they seemed to be able to
+think independently. They also thought of some others who might be
+interested. What will we do if we get too many?"
+
+"We'll take anyone who wants to go. At least, as many as we can.
+The important thing is that we get enough to start again outside."
+He pointed to the nook where Kathryn was still curled in the foetal
+position.
+
+"What's Kathryn doing, Franz? She's been like that for an hour."
+
+Franz's eyes held a look of pity. "It is the one recreation that The
+Leader allows them. It's hard to explain exactly what it is, but
+you are carried away by it. It's something like a drug, yet it's
+mechanical. Something like music or sweet voices washes over you and
+you dream. For a time, you actually live."
+
+Sten shuddered. "The only reality is dreams then, eh? Tell me, are
+these people actually capable of love?"
+
+"It's completely foreign to them, but they _are_ human beings, and I
+suppose love is innate in us all. I found it here once, you know." Sten
+looked away as Franz stared hard at the floor.
+
+The tension was broken by a knock at the door, and three women followed
+by a single man entered. When they had exchanged greetings and been
+seated, Sten stood up in the middle of the room. Kathryn, who had
+wakened from her dreaming, sat watching wide-eyed.
+
+"Franz has told you why we are here. We believe the human race is
+doomed to slavery and annihilation unless some of us break away. My
+father left us a treasure of books that his father before him had
+salvaged from the holocaust. They tell of a way of life before the land
+was ravaged. It was a better way, believe me. We men have lived in
+Boru, a small valley back in the hills. But now we're leaving there.
+Long ago our father told us of a green valley to the east, high in the
+mountains where things grow as they did in the time before all this. We
+have a map; and we're going there to find freedom. We need you to keep
+this freedom."
+
+A hush of silence held the room for a moment, and was broken finally by
+the man who had come with the three girls. "Will The Leader be there?"
+
+Sten stared hard at the man. "You will be your own leader. Can't you
+see that? Your Leader is only an illusion! There is no leader but
+yourself, and perhaps the God in my father's books."
+
+The man sat a moment, then shook his head. "Not without The Leader--I
+couldn't face it."
+
+"You have your choice," Franz said coldly.
+
+The man rose and grasped the arm of the tall woman that had come in
+with him. "Then we have no business with you," he said as he led the
+woman to the door. The woman looked back hopelessly as she followed the
+man out.
+
+"And you?" Sten asked the remaining women.
+
+The blonde girl smiled and took hold of Johnathon's arm. "I will go."
+
+They all turned to the shy-looking girl who sat next to Karl. She
+looked hard at the man next to her before speaking. "Yes, me too," she
+almost whispered.
+
+"Good. That's two. Kathryn, what about you?"
+
+She looked Sten squarely in the eye. "I've decided to stay. Why should
+I leave this good life to be devoured by beasts or Root-Diggers on the
+outside?"
+
+Sten sighed. "Then we need more. And quickly. We must leave by tomorrow
+night at the latest."
+
+After the women had been escorted to their cubicles, Franz led the men
+through the corridors toward the center of the city. In each great
+square they passed squads of soldiers dressed like themselves, staring
+straight ahead in the same unconscious way.
+
+When they paused in the middle of a hall to plan their strategy, Karl
+turned to Franz. "Something's bothering me, Franz. Just where do they
+put their dead? We haven't passed anything like a graveyard."
+
+Franz laughed. "Death is rare in Panamia, my friend. When a person
+grows old or very ill, he is summoned by The Leader. He never comes
+back. I never knew anyone to come back. As far as any one knows they're
+still at the headquarters of The Leader."
+
+A huge cavern-like room loomed ahead where all the main passage-ways
+intersected. In the middle of the square sat a great round building,
+forbidding, yet beautiful. Doors opened on all sides leading into the
+great domed structure.
+
+"And this is where The Leader dwells. Nice, eh?" Franz said.
+
+The men stood looking at the huge dome until it seemed to them that
+they were being noticed, then they passed on through the square. At the
+far edge, Franz suddenly stiffened. "Walk fast. Hurry," he muttered.
+Sten quickened his pace to keep up with the others, then felt a chill
+run over him as he saw the officer with the thick glasses watching them
+from a window in the dome.
+
+"I wonder what would happen," Karl muttered, "if a guy could get into
+that dome for a few minutes to play with the machinery?"
+
+"Perhaps it could be done," Franz replied. "But it would be your last
+act on earth. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see what would
+happen to the people if the machinery stopped."
+
+Sten noted the thoughtful expression on Franz's face. The man's eyes
+searched the corridor, where, by listening carefully, he could hear the
+high whine of The Leader.
+
+Kathryn was home from her job when they returned.
+
+"Well, how is your enlistment program coming?" she asked when they
+entered.
+
+Sten looked at her and felt his stomach pull tight within him.
+
+"Not so well," Franz replied. "Those I knew when I was here have
+forgotten what they believed then or are gone. It's too dangerous to
+speak to many new ones."
+
+"There aren't many fools in Panamia," she retorted.
+
+Johnathon grasped Sten's arm entreatingly. "Sten, come with us, we'll
+see the girls. They have friends who may be interested. We only have a
+few more hours, let's not waste them."
+
+"No, you go on. I'll stay here for a while."
+
+"As for me," Franz said, rising, "I'll go with Karl and Johnathon. I
+have to check on something."
+
+Kathryn sat at the table watching Sten as the others left. He looked
+away from her eyes. "You'll be alone again soon. Tell me, don't you
+ever get lonesome all by yourself all the time?"
+
+"I have The Leader. He is always near."
+
+"You have nothing then. Don't you realize it is nothing?" He rose
+and walked to the nook where her recreation machine sat on a shelf.
+Grasping it with both hands, he wrenched it from the wall and let it
+fall to the floor, smashed. She stared at it dumbly.
+
+"See! There is your Leader--a smashed machine!" Sten shouted. He moved
+to her side and leaned close to her. "Kathryn, you're a woman. You're
+not stone! Don't you feel anything at all?" Her neck turned slowly red
+as he pulled her toward him.
+
+"No, I feel nothing," she said woodenly. "Is this supposed to be
+something special, the touch of a man?"
+
+"It can be." He put his face into her hair. Slowly he pulled her head
+back and looked into her eyes, then he kissed her, hard.
+
+She fought free of him and began pacing back and forth. "I don't know.
+I don't know. Perhaps you are right, but I don't know if I can do it."
+
+"Here, what's this?" Johnathon entered smiling. "Has there been a
+change of heart? Good. Then we can leave. Franz here tells me he found
+the lady he went looking for too."
+
+Kathryn looked again at the dream machine lying on the floor, then at
+Sten. She seemed to gather up strength for a brief moment. "I'll go,"
+she whispered.
+
+"I'm glad," Sten said. "We can leave right away then. What about your
+girl, Franz?"
+
+"She is waiting for me," Franz smiled. "I made sure of that. But it is
+a long way. Give me an hour. Better yet, I'll meet you at the tunnel in
+an hour and a half."
+
+Franz laid his hand on Sten's shoulder and spoke in a low voice. "If
+I'm not there in an hour and a half, go on. I'll catch you outside." He
+squeezed Sten's shoulder. "Be careful, my friend. And good luck."
+
+Sten looked at the door for an instant after Franz had gone. "We must
+be careful. We don't want to be noticed."
+
+"Soon there will be nobody to notice us," Johnathon said exuberantly.
+"We can yell and run and laugh, and there will be nobody to care, not
+even The Leader."
+
+A silence fell over the room as he mentioned the name. Sten broke it
+to issue an order for everyone to gather his things. Kathryn gazed
+longingly round the room as the others moved out. She bit her lip with
+the effort it took to keep from pulling back as Sten led her from the
+room.
+
+They passed through the corridors without incident, stopping when they
+reached the intersection that led to the tunnel. They stood there at
+the edge of the intersection, anxiously awaiting Franz.
+
+Sten stiffened as he saw the officer that had stopped them before
+approaching down the corridor, followed by a soldier. The men snapped
+to attention and stood as if guarding the women.
+
+The officer swaggered up to Sten. "Here, what are you doing with these
+women?" He studied Sten's face. "Don't I know you? Ah yes, you were
+with that scar-faced provost that's been snooping around lately. Your
+actions are most out of the ordinary. I think we had better go along to
+The Leader's headquarters and check on this."
+
+"We have other orders," Sten stated flatly.
+
+"What! You dare disobey!"
+
+"We have orders. But look, here comes our officer now. Ask him."
+
+As the officer turned, Sten lunged forward and struck him a blow on the
+neck, knocking him to the floor. Instantly he fell on top of him. There
+was a fierce struggle as the officer tried to reach inside his tunic
+for his weapon. Suddenly the officer gasped. When his body was still,
+Sten slowly withdrew his knife from the man's chest. The soldier stood
+staring stupidly at his fallen officer until Karl clubbed him from
+behind.
+
+"We've got to get out of here," panted Sten.
+
+"Franz! What about Franz?"
+
+"I don't know. He should be here by now. But he said he'd catch us."
+
+As they fled down the corridor, the view-screens along the way were
+blaring the usual message of the glory of The Leader. Abruptly the
+voice died away, the whine faded to a diminishing hum, and there was an
+increasing stillness. The whine stopped and the corridors were silent.
+The women, terror stricken by the stillness, screamed and fell writhing
+on the floor. Shouts filled the corridors as panicked throngs left
+without the symbols of The Leader ran from their cubicles in terror.
+
+"What is it?" Karl shouted above the din, shaking his head to clear it.
+
+"The whining noise. It stopped." Sten gasped. "Franz! It's Franz! He
+must have gotten in and wrecked the dynamos." He pulled Kathryn to her
+feet and shook her to stop her sobbing.
+
+Then, as suddenly as it had stopped, the whine began again, slowly
+gaining momentum until it reached its former pitch. With this, the
+sobs of the women subsided and calmness slowly crept back through the
+corridors.
+
+"It's started again," Karl began running toward the tunnel. "They must
+have spare dynamos. Poor Franz, all for nothing."
+
+Again the view-speakers were blaring, this time warning the people that
+a saboteur had made an attempt to destroy The Leader.
+
+The women were gasping for breath when they reached the door to the
+tunnel. Sten plunged through the door, hurrying the others in after
+him, and then threw his weight against the wall. With three men pushing
+against it, the wall gave way and they entered the tunnel.
+
+It was night outside. They walked slowly, consoling the women, who were
+sobbing again at the loss of the shrill god they had known for so long.
+The heat that radiated from the sand was suffocating.
+
+"We have to hurry on," Sten told the women. "We can't be caught in this
+sand tomorrow. There are foothills ahead where we can rest."
+
+It was morning when the men, carrying the women, entered a rocky canyon
+and wearily slumped down in the shade of a cliff. The women barely
+moved, sleeping the sleep of the exhausted.
+
+"Lord, I'm tired," Karl groaned.
+
+Sten laughed. "At least we accomplished our mission. Except ... for
+Franz."
+
+The men sat silent.
+
+"Maybe Franz fulfilled his purpose, too," Karl said. "That dynamo was
+the woman he had waiting for him. He probably got a lot of satisfaction
+out of knowing that for one minute, at least, Panamia was without The
+Leader."
+
+The other men didn't answer. They were asleep.
+
+They woke as the sun was going down. Sten climbed the cliffs to look
+out over the desert in search of the other party. He returned dejected.
+
+"They're half a day overdue now," he said. "Our food's low so we'll
+have to go on and hope they catch up later. Bradley has another map."
+
+He noticed the women sitting against the base of the cliff, terrified.
+
+"What's wrong?"
+
+Kathryn looked around them at the barren ground and at the clear sky
+stretching away to the horizon. "What's wrong? Look at this. I feel
+like I'm floating in air. There's nothing over us!"
+
+The men laughed.
+
+"Don't laugh," Marta wailed. "It's a horrible feeling. This emptiness
+is killing me. Sing, shout, do something! But let's not have such
+silence!"
+
+Stella, the shy girl with the mouse-colored hair, began crying again.
+Karl gently pulled her head over on his shoulder.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They left at dark, winding up through the canyon and back into the
+hills where the scrub trees began. All night they traveled, tearing
+their flesh on the jagged limbs and rocks in the darkness. Only, the
+occasional muffled sob of the women broke the stillness.
+
+In the morning they rested in a small valley where a trickle of water
+coarsed through its head. They rested under a pinion tree, the women
+receiving some solace from the flimsy natural roof over their heads.
+
+Sten slept three hours, then rose without waking the others and scouted
+ahead. He consulted his map and climbed a tall hill to search for the
+mountain range they were seeking.
+
+When he returned, Johnathon and Marta were gone.
+
+"He said he had to go," Karl explained. "Marta couldn't take this, and
+he wouldn't go on without her. He said he knew he couldn't make you
+understand. And asked you to take care of your father's books. He hoped
+that someday he could join us in the valley."
+
+"Can he stand living there?" Sten asked glumly.
+
+"Franz said once that it had been done before. I guess they don't
+bother you much if you obey."
+
+Sten squatted on his heels and stared out over the desert where
+Johnathon and Marta had disappeared, sending them a silent God-speed.
+
+When they started out that afternoon, Stella was still sobbing. Karl
+tried to console her, but at every new turn they took, there was fresh
+terror in her eyes. Kathryn walked along with her, helping her over
+the rough places and trying to cheer her, but she couldn't conceal her
+own terror as she stared ahead at the vast distances.
+
+They rested at sundown. While the men were bringing water, Stella rose
+and started back down the hillside. Kathryn was thrown aside when she
+tried to stop her, and soon the girl was running madly down the hill,
+shrieking and sobbing wildly.
+
+Karl dropped his pack and ran after her, begging her to stop. But she
+ran on, heedless of obstacles. There was a sudden sharp wail of terror
+as she ran blindly off the edge of a cliff.
+
+Sten met Karl carrying her crushed body back up the hill. Karl hugged
+the dead girl close to him and did not look at the other man.
+
+That night, for the first time, they built a fire. Karl sat
+grief-stricken through most of the night staring into the flames.
+Kathryn sat leaning against Sten during the evening, fascinated by the
+flickering of the fire--the first she had ever seen.
+
+At dawn Sten awoke and nudged Kathryn. A grey squirrel was scolding
+them from a limb above. He laughed at Kathryn's wide-eyed surprise at
+the antics of the little animal.
+
+They rose without waking Karl, who was sleeping heavily in front of the
+burned-out fire, and walked down to the edge of the creek. A chipmunk
+scampered away in front of them and a blue-jay screeched from a near-by
+tree. A meadow-lark trilled its fine notes somewhere down the creek.
+They sat here at the edge of the creek-bank and leaned back on the
+grass.
+
+Kathryn stared to the west where a line of white clouds were playing
+along the horizon. "You know something, Sten? I don't notice the
+silence so much anymore, and the distance doesn't worry me now, either.
+I guess maybe there's something here after all."
+
+Sten pulled her close and smelled the good smell of green grass beneath
+them.
+
+The next afternoon they had nearly reached the top of the pass. They
+were just below timber-line. Finally, looking to the east, they saw
+a great empty space, with a tall mountain range rising jagged on the
+other side.
+
+"That's it," Sten exulted. "Fifty miles wide, and in the top of the
+mountains."
+
+"I'm glad," Karl said. "But you're on your own now, Sten. I'm going
+back."
+
+"Back? To Panamia?"
+
+"Yes. There's nothing for me here. Perhaps back there I can find
+something. Maybe I can take up where Franz left off. I don't know.
+There must be others who are not afraid of life."
+
+Silently Sten offered his hand. Karl squeezed it hard and looked
+into his eyes. "Good luck to you in your valley. I know where it is
+now, maybe some day I can return. And perhaps Bradley and the others
+will make it yet. Until another day then ..." he turned abruptly, and
+started back down the mountain.
+
+Sten and Kathryn, hand in hand, watched him disappear through the
+trees. When they could no longer see him, they lifted their eyes to
+the hidden valley. They saw, even from this distance, the lakes that
+lay scattered through it, and the winding lines of cottonwoods that
+grew along the rivers, and the plains where the green and grey of the
+sagebrush blended. Sten breathed deeply of the crisp air and let his
+breath escape in a low whistle.
+
+"It was worth it, wasn't it? It's ours. And we won't always be alone,
+Kathryn. Others will come. Man is not dead. It may take a while, but
+others will come."
+
+The woman slipped her arm around the man's waist and they stood for a
+time looking out over the valley. Then they started the long descent.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Men of Boru, by Jack A. Nelson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58883 ***