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Read Ebook: The Men of Boru by Nelson Jack A Orban Paul Illustrator
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Ebook has 259 lines and 14803 words, and 6 pages
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."
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