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diff --git a/59224-0.txt b/59224-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66e2fb7 --- /dev/null +++ b/59224-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,724 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59224 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + they were different + + BY NEIL J. KENNEY + + _Such magnificent gifts as these were undoubtedly + intended for Mankind. But those who possess them are + rare indeed, while those who fear the unknown are legion_ + + [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from + Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1955. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that + the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +_As secretary, receptionist and general nursemaid to them I took it +upon myself to dig back through the news files and get enough clips to +tell their history from birth until they opened the school. You've all +read it so there's no need to go into details about their strange life +and still stranger birth. Nor their magnificent education or still more +magnificent gifts. It's true, every bit of it; their telepathic and +ESPing powers WORKED. They were the only births like them to survive +to maturity and beyond._ + +_During the last contact I had with them (I was their first and most +advanced pupil) it came as pure inspiration to take down their +transmissions in the special short, shorthand we developed for use +among the pupils and ourselves. What follows may be added to the story +told by the news clips, differing only in person. I have added nothing +in translation of the notes, leaving the narrative as disjointed as +they gave it. The events are as they transmitted them, as they lived +them. I was in contact with them until--but read, and when you're +through reading do as I do every night._ + +_Pray._ + +_And hope--for mankind._ + + * * * * * + +Well, Kitten, it seems impossible that three grand, successful years of +work could end so suddenly with us lying in a ditch or anticipating, +ESPwise, an occasional bullet fired from the guns of friends but there +it is. God, what a complicated being this so-called modern man is! He +seems to be born cloaked with complexities which get even more complex +as he grows. No wonder he has been so long on the road, being engaged +in a continual battle between ethics and emotions as he has. + +So here we are, the bridge, the first rungs of a ladder leading to a +new and delightful plane of existence for all mankind, wallowing in +the mud of an irrigation ditch instead of glorying in the divine world +of the mind. If we can but make them see! Maybe the professors were +right when they told us to teach under the protection of the university +instead of hardheadedly going out on our own. + +Princess, do you remember Lucille? She was our best pupil, after you, +of course. She's the one who turned over the stone that freed our +personal gremlin. Oh, it's not really her fault, though she did break +our one and only cardinal rule by bringing in an outsider herself +instead of leaving such choices to us. Actually the fault was ours +because--well, who knows? That wonderful control we practiced for so +many years slipped, no matter the reason. It was just one of those +inexplicably foolish things people will do when they think they're in +love. Guess we thought we could save her some embarrassment or some +such thing. + +You had just left on a long vacation when _that_ one showed up. He was +the man that Lucille brought up with her as a prospective pupil, the +one that--one wing of them is closing in on us now, Kitten. We'll have +to try for the swamp ahead of us. We'll have to lose them for a while +if we want time to figure a way out, though we aren't really very good +at this sort of cat and mouse game. We can give our own boys a little +credit, though. They aren't really trying to hit us. They shoot well +enough to be able to make it look very good. All we really have to +worry about is Thurlow and his trained deputy, Trainor. + +There, that was nice. The sheriff himself just spotted us and started +a pincer movement--fifty yards in back of us. Good old boy. Hope he +doesn't get in trouble over us. + +At last! If this patch of swampy brush is really as thick as we ESP it +we're made, providing the highway troopers of this state don't get too +smart and take over the operation. Our sheriff is in charge so far. +Lord, if we only weren't so tired! + +Anyhow, Lucy brought Thurlow in and we gave him the usual treatment. +The only trouble is we overdid it slightly and it scared him. Besides +telling him what he had for breakfast we ESPed his wallet and told him +its contents and when he reached for it in a sort of stunned reflex +action we levitated it into his hand. It was a pretty big mistake +in view of the fact that he was one of that bunch that was fairly +sensitive mentally, but whom we couldn't read thoroughly. We could +telepath only the very surface of his mind. He would have made a +wonderful adept with the proper training. + +He was awed but shocked and scared, too. It was outside his realm of +experience and he was superstitious in spite of his fine education. +Some folks don't let learning sink in to open the rusty locks of +prejudice and inhibition. + +He said things that bared his mind as surely as if we had read him. +It wasn't a pretty mind, either. It made us sick physically and the +impulses that did come through were deep and angry, giving us a +terrific headache and making it hard to concentrate. Later we followed +him but still couldn't read him for the anger flashes blotted out his +thought stream thoroughly. + +To him, what we were doing just couldn't happen in good old 1983. +We were dealing in the black arts and he told us as much, refusing +to listen to reason in any shape. The fact that everyone has these +capabilities latent was altogether lost on him. Our licenses, diplomas +and degrees meant less than nothing and the longer he went on the +more rabid he got, frothing obscenely about such things as tampering +with forces better left alone and man thinking with his brains instead +of letting the Prince of Darkness do it for him. Had it not been so +serious it would have been almost slapstick. Instead he was tragic. + +When he got to the part about us eventually filling the minds of +children with our loathsome disease he ran out of expletives and +stormed out of the office in a cloud of anger and fright, muttering +that we hadn't heard the last of _him_. + +Lucy, of course, was heartsick. We didn't have to tell her what +the meeting had meant. Nor did we tell her what else we'd ESPed in +Thurlow's wallet. She found that out during the rather abortive lesson +we tried to give her for she read as we interrupted it (that shows how +much off beam we were because we just don't do that) to take a phone +call from Casey down at the sheriff's office. Our visitor, Thurlow, +was District Judge Thurlow of District Two, a very high man on the law +enforcement pole. + +Casey was good. He'd listened in while Thurlow was complaining to the +sheriff and apparently heard the sheriff read the judge off politely +but nonetheless firmly, telling him first how valuable we were to the +force when it came to interrogating hard-to-crack suspects and as long +as we hadn't committed murder or rape or passed any bum checks there +was nothing to be done. Especially since the judge His Honor was out +of his district! Fortunately we were in District One over which our +mutual friend, Judge Kimball, presides. + +Incidentally, Kimball was still under doctor's care at the time due to +his latest heart attack. He was getting along quite well but he was old +and his days on the bench were pretty well numbered. Casey thought that +District One might conceivably have to appoint a new judge to hold them +over until election due to the fall court calendar. As it turned out +that didn't happen. + +Br-r-r! Princess, don't ever let anyone tell you that swamp water +can't get cold in summertime. We've got the shakes pretty bad both +from our ordeal and from chill. Getting uncomfortably hungry, too. +That's what comes of letting an inferior enemy panic you. We certainly +haven't acted as though we had better sense. It's just another of those +imponderables to chalk up for study. + +After Casey's call the air seemed to be cleared and under that driving +compulsion which has never left us we went on about the business of +trying to succeed with nature since she had succeeded so well with us. +The study of the deep processes of the mind eclipsed the next two days +and only the terrible jangle of that outmoded telephone brought us to +the surface again. It's too bad that we had to converse orally with the +great masses of the untrained. It's so slow and they could learn so +easily. + +It was Casey again, telling us we were needed down at the station. He +was apparently calling us on blind orders, for he couldn't tell us +what was up. Figuring that we had another prisoner to crack we closed +classes and drove down. The sheriff seemed mystified, too, and just +slightly troubled. We could read that much off the surface of his mind, +but he was upset enough to make the rest of his thoughts a meaningless +jumble of impulses. All he knew was that we were wanted in the judge's +chambers. + +You guessed it, Honey. It was Judge Thurlow filling in for Kimball +on an emergency hearing and he figured it was his duty to mankind to +give us a little talking to while he was there. After all, the good of +the community was his concern now, and he chose to interpret that as +the opportunity to place his narrow little views on record. Trainor, +the sheriff's deputy faithful only to the judge, because of a favor +granted while he served in Thurlow's district, was very busy signing +his name to something when we walked into the chambers. It gave us a +peculiar feeling to see Thurlow sitting at Kimball's desk. It bore out +our theory about a room taking on the personality of its occupant. This +room was no longer warm and friendly. + +The only thing we could read from Thurlow was a selfrighteous anger and +a solemn, nasty vow to fight us to the last ditch--which, incidentally, +he has done for that irrigation ditch is the last one we ever wish to +occupy. That water was miserably cold. + +Three guesses what Trainor was signing. Of all things, a complaint +charging us with questionable educational technique! The one thing not +covered by license, as Thurlow made haste to confirm through the State +House, and by Trainor's complaint, the one way we could legally come +into his hands. It was a dainty little frame but unbreakable. Spreading +a sweet legal shovel he asked us questions that minutely covered every +phase and method of our teaching, then smiled a nasty smile, the while +fixing his own signature to another wisp of terribly binding paper. A +restraining order. + +The words of which forbade us to teach! We were to suspend our life's +work or suffer the punishment for contempt of court because of a +narrow-minded, righteously wrathful mental prude! + +How can you fight something like that? Thurlow was the last and highest +branch of authority in the area unless we took it to Supreme Court. +For a while we were tempted to do that but on what were we to base a +case? Public opinion would throw us out of court if the Supreme Justice +didn't. + +We talked to the sheriff when we came down and he and his boys were on +our side--emotionally. Legally they had to carry out the judge's orders +to place us under institutional restraint if we transgressed. In short, +we would be tossed in the pokey if we thumbed our noses at the order. + +The sheriff's advice was to suspend operations until Supreme Court +sat and take it to them. When we asked if he and his staff would be +witnesses for us--well, that's water under the oft mentioned bridge. +There are some ugly facets of politics that force the men playing them +to act as they do. Otherwise we surely wouldn't have been refused. +So there we were; no witnesses--no case; because we couldn't bring +our pupils into it. It was an uncertain mess at best and we didn't +want them to get it in the neck along with us. For the same reason +we couldn't involve our former teachers at the university. What poor +payment for hours of drudgery to be dragged into a court battle! + +So with the sheriff's advice to go into another business ringing in our +ears, we came back home to sweat it out and think. It took a while, +but the only answer we felt was right under the circumstances was to +go underground. That makes it sound like the dark ages, doesn't it, +Princess, when knowledge has to hide and creep and skulk instead of +flowering under the sun? Our gifts couldn't be let go to waste, not +after the preparation and development that went into expanding them +into a workable set of psychic senses. We _had_ to give Man the benefit +of our awakening by waking him in turn. + +It's much too bad that we were so sheltered at the university. We might +have had some practical experience with the world and its people. +We might also have known what to do about this awful hunger that is +gradually tearing us down. It's getting to be a serious problem in our +untrained condition. The prof's wouldn't even let us play handball for +fear of injury so consequently we're nothing but a living cliche, skin +and bones. Donald feels it strongly. We shall have to try to buoy each +other and go on our combined reserves. Pray that we don't get too weak. +It's been almost 24 hours since we've eaten, as there wasn't time for +breakfast. Our clothes seem to be drying slightly though it's still +cool enough to make it uncomfortable and dangerous. This is the way +colds grab you. + +We did pretty well in our choice of an underground location--we +thought. Our mistake was in overlooking the police trained mind of our +bloodhound friend, Trainor. He's a shrewd man and not unintelligent +though sadly misguided. How we should like to have him on our side! + +In five days of sniffing around he had us located, and in another, he +had enough proof of activity to report to Thurlow and come after us +with a bench warrant of arrest. It's peculiar that we couldn't stall +him or dodge him some way with our much touted IQ, but probably we +were still too naive about human relations and most assuredly unversed +in the devious twistings of the police mind. After all, though we're +twenty-six years old, our experience with people put us in about the +three year old class. So you see? Were it to begin all over again the +outcome would be different. We would be more practical and worldly. You +learn. + +There was no sense fighting him, because he had the law enforcement +agencies of the whole state in back of him. All he had to do was +whisper "Sic 'em" and we were dead. So we went along quietly to see +Thurlow and that dear man took a singularly fiendish delight in +imposing an impossible fine on us for contempt of court. Our particular +transgression wasn't definitively covered by law so neither was the +fine. The fact that Thurlow was fining us for teaching methods instead +of the contempt charge didn't dawn on us until just yesterday. How +completely ignorant can you get? + +He gave us a pretty, selfrighteous speech about the good of the +community and a judge's place in it, mentioning in passing that +everything wasn't covered by law so it was up to the judge to handle +matters as he saw fit. That was what he was trained and elected for +and that was what he was doing. Nothing personal, understand. As it +was, and well he knew it, we couldn't begin to pay the fine so we were +informed that we'd have to sit it out in the county jail at the rate of +two dollars a day. + +The fine was five hundred dollars. + +The sheriff almost cried when he found we were to be taking advantage +of his hospitality. Very likely the full injustice of the judge's +complacent little scheme finally got through to him. At any rate, +sympathy or not, we had eight months and ten days to serve with time +off possible for good behavior. That's where you found us when you +finished your vacation and discovered you were temporarily out of a job. + +Donald took quick advantage of a prisoner's rights to telephone +Judge Kimball. He was still in bed but sounded fairly strong. His +consternation over our new address was touching and real, but we were +sadly informed that ethically the whole matter was beyond him. When +Thurlow sat in for him in his district, then Thurlow was law and no +reversal could be had outside of the due process of that law through a +higher court. He, Kimball, could do nothing until he could get back on +the bench. That might be several weeks yet as he wasn't to get out of +bed or get excited in any way. + +We hung up and had our first look at the familiar cells from the +prisoner's viewpoint. The change in outlook was subtle but definite. +The walls looked grayer. + +Hope we're not boring you with all this, Kitten, but we must tell it to +someone and you are closest and dearest to us. You missed out on nearly +all our doings after we closed the school so call it a filling-in +process. Someone should have the full story although what good it will +ever do is debatable. Perhaps at some future time we can do something +with it--if we get out of the present jackpot. + +Got to move. The state police have taken over the operation and our +sheriff is relegated to the role of visiting fireman. It's lamentable +that we aren't in his bailiwick. Things might work out better. + +These troopers are very efficient. Donald ESPs them folding a cordon +around our end of the swamp. All we can do is head through its length +now. Trainor is with them. Thurlow has joined them also. We get a tiny +jab of pain as we pass over him. That impossible man! + +Naturally our pupils fell off, thinking the school completely shut +down, until you visited us and were able to pass the word that discreet +visits wouldn't go unrewarded. Only a few drifted back for deeper +learning and expansion, as you know. One happy thing about the others +who were afraid to come back is that they would still make progress, +having once been awakened, though it would be infinitely slow and +groping. The nucleus that sat with us on those once a week school +days grew stronger very rapidly, for knowledge is cumulative and +progressive, and they began to realize what they in turn had to do when +they were ready. Credit must be given their strength of mind for seeing +and accepting such a responsibility with the enthusiasm they showed. + +It was too good to last. Trainor's turn at afternoon shift came around +and lasted the usual month which gave him plenty of opportunity to +watch us like a hawk. He did. We were cautious but we couldn't know +what he was watching for, because he didn't know either. He found out +one afternoon. Visitors just don't come around and merely sit--staring +at each other or the walls. + +We learned another lesson from that: men with as much training as he +had don't always consciously think things out with their surface minds. +Their reactions became instinctive and as such, untraceable by the most +adept telepath. We knew he was there to spy but that's about all. + +The net result was a direct order from Thurlow cutting off not only +all visitors, but as Trainor gleefully advised us, cancelling all +accrued days off for good behavior. That's five days a month in this +state and it was almost unbearable. The thorough injustice of the whole +affair was beginning to gall mightily, getting under our rather thin +skin in many places. + +What seemed the final crushing blow was the news that filtered in to us +from Judge Kimball's court reporter. He'd taken word to the sick man +about our latest loving treatment by Thurlow and it angered Kimball +enough to make him get out of bed--too soon. He died on the floor +of his bedroom. So, not only do we lose a dear friend, but also any +chance of his assistance. Thurlow would now sit for District One until +election time. That put us entirely on our own resources. + +After much deliberation, we decided to give in and go back to the +university when our sentence was up and take advantage of its +sheltering walls for our teaching. We would be absorbed into the +faculty and soon all this unpleasantness would pass over. + +How we passed the time until our release is unimportant to anyone but +us. During the remaining months, we delved farther and farther into the +mind and gained a much deeper insight into the workings of these gifts +we had. Man could be so powerful and work so much for his own good--if +he could only be made to realize the potential in his mind! He could +even be happy. + +The bright day came at last, and we walked out of our cell free to +begin again. It was raining a gray rain outside, but to us the weather +had never looked brighter. As we reached for the sheriff's phone to +call the university, Trainor sidled up and laid a scrap of paper on the +desk. A glance was enough to make us hang up on the uncompleted call. + +It was another restraining order. + +After that we tried to find work on the outside, but it was a sorry +failure. The curse of being different is a mighty one indeed. No one +seemed to care that we had feelings the same as others and that we +could get just as hungry and thirsty without funds to buy. + +Ahh! There it is again. Those words. Hunger and thirst. As if we needed +a reminder. Donald is getting weaker in perception. He has always been +the first to feel such things and we've never been able to trace the +reason. We certainly have no-- + + * * * * * + +_I interject at this point, for telepathic contact with them broke +unexplainably. I prayed for their safety for I suddenly knew what it +would mean to lose them. What a drab, dreary, bigoted world it would be +without them to teach us and help us._ + + * * * * * + +God, that was a bad half hour, Puss. These troopers are so well trained +that they're more telepathically dead than you can imagine. First, +Donald was so weak he let one of them sneak up close enough for a quick +rifle shot. It missed, but of course it told exactly where we were. +Donald exerted himself and ESPed locations, finding that we had enough +time to work on the trooper if we hurried. Normally we'd be no match +for him but desperation can work wonders. We resorted to a base form +of trickery by affecting to surrender to him. When he came up to put +the cuffs on us, we played dirtier by offering him a knee that will +keep him from attending his wife for a few days. Rotten trick, but we +couldn't afford to let him get his hands on us or it would have been +all finished. That makes another count against us. We left his rifle +out of reach and ran. + +Fortunately the others milled around for a precious minute or two when +they found him, giving us still more time. Before they got moving +again, we broke cover and made it across a county road into a farmer's +barn where we burrowed into the hay. We'll stay here a while to rest. +Not being the athletic type we sure need it. + +To go back, our small supply of money was running dangerously low +in spite of miserly budgeting. We didn't know what to do outside of +robbing a bank to get more. Then it happened. + +We were browsing through the library one day, when Donald ESPed a stack +of returned books not yet filed hoping to turn up something new. The +stack was mixed, holding such things as a treatise on grinding optical +lenses, a copy of "Gone With the Wind", a couple of western novels, +a thin edition of "The Purloined Letter" and several volumes for the +home craftsman. Evidently some newlyweds were doing things to their +well mortgaged dream house. + +On the way home, Donald's idea burst in on both of us like some +monstrous flashbulb. With our minds being so perfectly tuned through +constant work during the years, what one ESPed the telepath had +immediately and what one telepathed the ESPer received at once. It was +a fine working agreement and became as habitual as breathing. Donald's +idea was beautiful for all that it was lifted from another man. Its +application was what burnished it to that bright luster of originality. + +We would go to work in a carnival! If a man could hide a letter in an +open letter rack, where better could we be hidden but in a carnival? It +was wonderful. + +We had no trouble getting into one. The owner took one look at what we +could do and told us the answer mentally by wondering how little he +could offer and still get us. It gave us a certain bargaining point but +at our stage of the game all we wanted was in. The thought crossed our +minds that we might be lowering our station in life but we were past +caring. + +And of course we found out how wrong we were, that "station in life" is +just a point of view. To outsiders carnies are a hard lot, interested +in nothing but the quickest way to part the suckers from a dollar. +Well, they _were_ hard, to outsiders, but to those inside there is a +difference. We found some mighty fine people and some very fertile +minds. + +We enjoyed the first real security we'd known for a long time. We found +friendship and a certain amount of fame as moneymakers for the show. We +got a raise after working on the boss for a while. Best of all we lost +ourselves in the bustle of the show. + +Shortly after our admission into the ranks of the carnies, we felt safe +enough to put out feelers (we were out of the state by then), mental +this time, prodding small ideas into the best minds, giving them the +urge to ask us questions of a leading nature and so eventually we began +another class in telepathy, ESP, and their related subjects. As we +traveled from state to state we picked up new pupils from other shows +and lost others to the same shows, but the running count was about +twenty most of the time. + +We had to be so very careful in our selections for fear of a repetition +of our former mishaps, but it went well. We made no mistakes and turned +out some fine pupils, one in particular. He progressed fast enough in +the short time we had him to become acutely adept, and when we told him +he was ready to teach he accepted it by leaving the carnival to settle +down with a home and wife. It was good to see the fruit of our work +being put into practice. + +Next season, we found that in the first pass across the country we +were booked for the north end of our home state. For the first time in +nearly two years we would be on almost familiar ground. + +You know what happened then, Baby. You ought to. You were the one we +contacted. Telepathy _is_ a lot better than a telephone, isn't it? + +What you might not know is that our contact with you was another step +in this whole sickening drama. How were we to suspect that the train +ticket agent was one of those tenacious, bespectacled fellows who +doggedly chewed on an idea until it made sense to him? Who would know +that he was one of those spiteful, small people who enjoyed doing his +civic duty as he saw it? + +He wondered why so many people were taking the same train on the same +day to the same place, when it had never happened before. People just +don't travel three hundred miles to take in a one horse carnival. + +Being a small town he knew most of the folks by name--or at least by +sight--and he recalled that you, sweet, were once our secretary. + +Imagine the excitement he felt at having such a momentous thing happen +in his dull and uneventful life. How best to savour the taste of it? +Why, call the sheriff, naturally. Oh, it must have been delicious. +Let's hope he enjoys the memory. + +With our luck it was out of the question to have anyone but Trainor +answer the phone--and swing into high gear. Apparently Judge Thurlow +had run for District One during the election and made it, giving up his +own stamping grounds for some reason. It hardly seems possible that +he'd do it just on the hope that we might decide to come home and set +up shop. No man could be that vindictive, could he? Or are we still +much too naive to be allowed out without a keeper? Who knows? + +We do know that the group was followed by Trainor and another man at +Thurlow's orders; and when they saw all of you meet at a certain tent +in back of the midway all they had to do was sneak close enough to +hear that there was exactly nothing going on! We were all so excited +at seeing each other that their presence went unnoticed. Besides, what +need to exercise caution when there wasn't an unfriendly face within +miles? + +When Trainor made his telephone call to get the permission to arrest +us on the strength of another bench warrant Thurlow prepared in a +hurry, his emotions penetrated our little circle; but not soon enough +for everyone to get out safely. It all happened so suddenly that our +lifelong control snapped. The persecution was so sneaking and so +needless! + +It didn't take long to dispose of the two deputies. Desperation again +and thick anger. We lost no time in trussing them solidly and leaving +them unconscious. After it was over, we realized what a deadly game it +had suddenly become. We were in deep trouble again--deeper than any +that had gone before. And we needed time, lots of it. + +Take our word for it, Kitten, and stay underground during any time +you and the others may teach. It's your duty to use care, because you +certainly won't be able to advance your state of learning or help +others while under detention. Keep in touch with the others. Your ranks +will fill, if you can succeed undetected until it's time to come into +the open. + +Don't get into our fix; don't be forced into breaking the law. We +didn't break it by teaching supposedly Satanic courses but by ignoring +the restraining order, then by beating up the police and running. +Running wasn't too bad in itself, but it made it tougher when in our +shocked haste we took a car that didn't belong to us. Then, too, we +shouldn't have taken it across the state line. That made it a federal +offense. Even if the troopers get us, we shall first be guests of the +FBI. Sweet mess, isn't it? + +Lordy, this hay is dry. It's sweet smelling and comfortable lying +here but it's dry and dusty. It'll be too bad if nature gives us away +through a tickling nose. We can do without her tricks now. + +Donald has just ESPed a water trough in back of the barn. We must take +a chance on it. This raging thirst is as crippling as the lack of food. + +We drove in a huge circle and left the car well before morning; +continuing on foot in the general direction of our friend who had left +the carnival to teach. It was our hope to be able to stay there until +things cooled down. + +We finally made it, tired and hungry, and got the welcome we expected. +He was overjoyed to see us. You'll never know how cosy and warm that +house felt or how utterly _good_ was the smell of baking bread. His +wife is a jewel. + +We received a jolt the next morning before breakfast. The neighbor's +little girl came bursting into the house in what apparently was her +normal fashion while we were teaching a small class that our friend had +collected. She was extraordinarily sensitive and our combined minds +made a terrific impact on her perception before we could control it. + +Her eyes opened and she was all for broadcasting to every child in the +block, but Donald got us through a sticky moment. He made it her own +personal secret in a way that only children can appreciate and then +showed her one of the simpler tricks of ESP. She grasped it at once for +children are extraordinarily susceptible to instruction. Their minds +haven't had the chance to get cluttered by inhibitions and conventional +thoughts. She was wide-eyedly delighted and promised her cross-my-heart +promise that no one would ever know about us. + +But of course, they did. Parents being what they are, it was foolish to +assume that an untrained child could keep the signs of her adventure +from them. The signs pointed to a story and it didn't take them long +to pry it out of her. It wasn't the girl's fault. The adult odds were +against her. + +They poked and prodded at her for the cause of her overly bright eyes +and animated spirit, until the poor child was overwrought and blurted +out the details of her immense find. The mother was at once sympathetic +to her and us, bless her, but not so the father. They both knew she +wasn't imagining it because of the stories they'd heard of us over +the years and the father blew up. We could sense the whole tableau +telepathically, dreading the outcome, knowing what it must be. + +The father stormed about the house crying death and destruction on +us, while the mother tried to get him to listen to reason. He was +mentally incapable of doing it. He, like so many of the others, was +terribly frightened at the unknown, fearsome thing in their midst. +It was unthinkable that we should stay free of captivity when there +were places for people like us! We shouldn't be allowed to mingle with +normal, decent folks. The upshot was a long distance, collect phone +call to the judge who doubtless accepted the charges quite happily. + +We couldn't stay, so we turned to run once more. + +That's about all there is, Princess. We've run until we can hardly run +any more. We're weak and hungry and sickened by the hatred and stupid, +active resistance surrounding us. We don't blame the police. They're +merely doing what they are paid to do. + +Donald has ESPed them filtering through the swamp in a wide semicircle +and a few thoughts are leaking through the jumble of shouted orders +and mixed impulses. Trainor and the judge are right with them. He +seems to be talking earnestly to Trainor but his hatred and anger blot +everything out--we can get nothing from him. Donald is getting weaker, +but we must stir to get water and try to leave before they see this +barn. + + * * * * * + +_Here the narrative broke once more for more than an hour, leaving me +in an agonized, hopeless suspense, knowing there was no way to help +them. Occasionally I sensed a faint stirring in my mind as though +they were trying to get through to me and once a deep stab of sorrow +amounting almost to pain. It was getting quite late in the evening +before they came through once more, weakly but still clearly and +coherently._ + + * * * * * + +It's hard to concentrate. The ambulance is jerking and bounding along +and the pain is frightful. Looking back, there was no other way for it +to end. They were too many and too dedicated, while we were only us and +on the run, not even on the defensive. + +Our physical weakness became painfully apparent when we cautiously +ventured out back to find the water trough, drank, and stumbled away +from our pursuers for a quarter of a mile right into the hands of six +waiting state policemen. We'd been so intent on the men in the swamp, +so blanketed by Thurlow's hate, and so tired that we didn't sense the +danger from another direction in the form of a flanking movement. The +operation was the end for us. They all had drawn weapons, but when they +saw our sad state they rather sheepishly put them away and took us +almost gently in hand. + +We're getting weaker. Unconsciousness is near again. Would that we +could have stayed with them! + +Instead, one picked up a walkie-talkie and called in our capture. Even +in the turmoil of the moment we could pick up flashes of amazed, +frightened and curious thoughts as many of them saw us for the first +time. Funny how the mind will act at times of stress, making one an +observer of one's own actions, so to speak. Another phase opened for +study! + +Thurlow thanked the state men brusquely and said he and his deputies +would take over, airily ignoring extradition procedure. The police +chief and our sheriff were dubious about the course events were taking, +but didn't want trouble so they offered no active resistance. + +We were too tired to care any more. That was our third mistake, to +lose our alertness completely. Had we been quick enough--but no, we +couldn't have avoided it. The old story of trained men reacting without +conscious thought. + +Apparently in accordance with previous instruction, Trainor and his +helper began jostling us viciously but expertly, making it appear as +though we were trying to escape. Before we realized our danger, we +heard a cry of warning from the sheriff and a vindictive shout from +Thurlow. It still rings in our ears. + +"Do your duty, Trainor. They're escaping!" + +Trainor's reflexes jarred him into action and it was over for us almost +before it began. It hurt then, but the pain is worse now and total +blackness is closing in once more. Fighting it off gets increasingly +difficult, alone as I am. + +You see, Donald has just died, quietly. He's escaped them, but that +leaves the fight to me. It won't last long. The load is too much for +one alone. The one bright feature is the fact that our work was begun. +Stay with it, darling, and carry on for us--please know that you had +all our love. + +Goodbye, Princess. + + * * * * * + +_Almost exactly one minute later they arrived at the hospital. I +was so numb with grief and sorrow that I didn't withdraw contact, +hoping against hope that they, he, would transmit once more. He did, +unconsciously. Seconds later the words of two interns drifted through +his open mind to mine._ + + * * * * * + +"One D. O. A., one dying fast. My God, Rex, why couldn't they leave the +poor devils alone? Why couldn't they--" + +Rex sounded bitter. "You know the answer to that, Tom. They were +different so they didn't belong." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of They Were Different, by Neil J. Kenney + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59224 *** |