Afterward, Hal had time to thank Sigmen that he had not followed his impulse.
Instead of becoming paralyzed with terror, he had considered whirling swiftly and attacking the Uzzite. The officer, though he wore no visible arms, undoubtedly had a gun in a holster under his robes. If Hal could knock him out and get the weapon, he might be able to take Macneff as a hostage. With him as a shield, Hal could flee.
Where?
He had no idea. To Israel or the Malay Federation? Both were a long way off, though distance meant little if he could steal or commandeer a ship. Even if he succeeded in doing that, he had no chance of getting past the antimissile stations. Unless he could fool the guards, and he did not know enough of military usage or codes to do that.
Meanwhile, thinking of the possibilities, he felt the impulse die. It would be more intelligent to wait until he found out what he was accused of. Perhaps, he could prove that he was innocent.
Macneff's thin lips curved slightly in a smile that Hal was to know well. He said, 'That is good, Yarrow.'
Hal did not know if he had been given an implication to speak, but he took a chance of not offending the Urielite.
'What is good, Sandalphon?'
'That you turned red instead of pale. I am a reader of selves, Yarrow. I can see into a man within a few seconds after meeting him. And I saw that you were not ready to faint with terror, as many would have done if they had just heard my first words to you. No, you became flushed with the hot blood of aggresiveness. You were ready to deny, to argue, to fight against anything I might say.
'Now, some might say that that would not be a favorable reaction, that your attitude showed wrong thinking, a leaning toward unreality.
'But I say, What is reality? That was the question propounded by the Forerunner's evil brother in the great debate. The answer is the same, that only the real man can tell.
'I am real; otherwise, I would not be a Sandalphon. Shib?
Hal, trying to keep from breathing noisily, nodded. He was thinking that Macneff must not be able to read as clearly as he thought he could, for he had said nothing about knowing Hal's first intention to resort to violence.
Or did Macneff know but was wise enough to forgive?
'When I asked you how you would like to leave this life,' said Macneff, 'I was not suggesting that you were a candidate for H.'
He frowned, and he said, 'Though your M.R. suggests that if you keep on your present level, you may soon be. However, I am certain that if you volunteer for what I propose, you will soon straighten out. You would then be in close contact with many shib men; you could not escape their influence. "Reality breeds reality." So said Sigmen.
'However, I may be rushing things. First, you must swear on this book' – he picked up a copy of The Western Talmud – 'that nothing that we say in this office will be divulged to any person under any circumstances. You will die or undergo any torture before you betray the Sturch.'
Hal put his left hand on the book (Sigmen used his left hand because of the early loss of his right), and he swore by the Forerunner and all the levels of reality that his lips would be locked forever. Otherwise, he cut himself off forever from any hope of the glory of seeing the Forerunner face to face and of some day having his own universe to rule.
Even as he swore, he began to feel guilty because he had thought of striking an Uzzite and using force on a Sandalphon. How could he have given in to his dark self so suddenly? Macneff was the living representative of Sigmen while Sigmen was voyaging through time and space to prepare the future for his disciples. To refuse to obey Macneff in any degree was to strike the Forerunner in the face, and that was a thing so terrible he could not bear to think of it.
Macneff put the book back on the desk, and he said, 'First, I must tell you that your getting that order to investigate the word woggle in Tahiti was a mistake. Probably because certain departments of the Uzzites were not working as closely together as they should. The reason for the mistake is even now being researched, and effective measures will be taken to make sure similar errors do not occur in the future.'
The Uzzite behind Hal sighed heavily, and Hal knew that he was not the only man in the room capable of feeling fear.
'One of the hierarchy noticed, while going over his reports, that you had applied for permission to travel to Tahiti. Knowing how high a security rating the island has, he investigated. As a result, we were able to intercept you. And I, after examining your record, concluded that you might be just the one we needed to fill a certain position on the ship.'
By now, Macneff had walked from behind his desk and was pacing back and forth, his hands clasped behind him, his body stooped forward. Hal could see how pale yellow Macneff's skin was, much the same color as the elephant tusk Hal had once seen in the Museum of Extinct Animals. The purple of the cowl over his head brought out the sallowness.
'You will be asked to volunteer,' said Macneff, 'because we want none but the most dedicated men aboard. However, I hope you do join us, because I would feel uneasy about leaving on Earth any civilian who knew the existence and destination of the Gabriel. Not that I doubt your loyalty, but the Israeli spies are very clever, and they might trick you into revealing what you know. Or kidnap you and use drugs to make you talk. They are devoted followers of the Backrunner, those Israeli.'
Hal wondered why the use of drugs by the Israeli was so unrealistic and by the Haijac Union so shib, but he forgot about that when he heard Macneff's next words.
'A hundred years ago, the first interstellar spaceship of the Union left Earth for Alpha Centaurus. About the same time, an Israeli ship left. Both returned in twenty years and reported they had found no habitable planets. A second Haijac expedition came back ten years after that and a second Israeli vessel twelve years after it. None found a star with any planets human beings could colonize.'
'I never knew that,' murmured Hal Yarrow.
'Both governments have kept the secret well from their people, though not from each other,' said Macneff. 'The Israeli, as far as we know, have sent no more interstellar craft out since the second one. The expense and time involved are astronomical. However, we sent a third vessel out, a much smaller and faster one than the first two. We have learned much about interstellar drives since a hundred years ago; that is all I can tell you about them.
'But the third ship came back several years ago and reported–'
'That it had found a planet on which human beings could live and which was already inhabited by sentient beings!' said Hal, forgetting in his enthusiasm that he had not been asked to speak.
Macneff stopped pacing to stare at Hal with his раle blue eyes.
'How did you know?' he said sharply.
'Forgive me, Sandalphon,' said Hal. 'But it was inevitable! Did not the Forerunner predict in his Time and the World Line that such a planet would be found? I believe it was on page five seventy-three!'
Macneff smiled and said, 'I am glad that your scriptural lessons have left such an impression.'
How could they not? Hal thought. Besides, they were not the only impressions. Pornsen, my gapt, whipped me because I had not learned my lessons well enough. He was a good impresser, that Pornsen. Was? Is! As I grew older and was promoted, so was he, always where I was. He was my gapt in the creche. He was the dormitory gapt when I went to college and thought I was getting away from him. He is now my block gapt. He is the one responsible for my getting such low M.R.'s.
Swiftly came the revulsion, the protest. No, not he, for I, and I alone, am responsible for whatever happens to me. If I get a low M.R., I do so because I want it that way, or my dark self does. If I die, I die because I willed it so. So, forgive me, Sigmen, for the contrary-to-reality thoughts!
'Please pardon me again, Sandalphon,' said Hal. 'But I did the expedition find any records of the Forerunner having been on this planet? Perhaps, even, though this is too much to wish, find the Forerunner himself?'
'No,' said Macneff. Though that does not mean that there may not be such records there. The expedition was under orders to make a swift survey of conditions and then to return to Earth. I can't tell you now the distance in light-years or what star this was, though you can see it with the naked eye at night in this hemisphere. If you volunteer, you will be told where you're going after the ship leaves. And it leaves very soon.'
'You need a linguist?' said Hal.
'The ship is huge,' said Macneff, 'But the number of military men and specialists we are taking limits the linguists to one. We have considered several of your professionals because they were lamedhians and above suspicion. Unfortunately . . .'
Hal waited. Macneff paced some more, frowning. Then, he said, 'Unfortunately, only one lamedhian joat exists, and he is too old for this expedition. Therefore–'
'A thousand pardons,' said Hal. 'But I have just thought of one thing. I am married.'
'No problem at all,' said Macneff. 'There will be no women aboard the Gabriel. And, if a man is married, he will automatically be given a divorce.'
Hal gasped, and he said, 'A divorce?'
Macneff raised his hands apologetically and said, 'You are horrified, of course. But, from our reading of The Western Talmud, we Urielites believe that the Forerunner, knowing this situation would arise, made reference to and provision for divorce. It's inevitable in this case, for the couple will be separated for, at the least, eighty objective years. Naturally, he couched the provision in obscure language. In his great and glorious wisdom, he knew that our enemies the Israelites must not be able to read therein what we planned.'
'I volunteer,' said Hal. 'Tell me more, Sandalphon.'
Six months later, Hal Yarrow stood in the observation dome of the Gabriel and watched the ball of Earth dwindle above him. It was night on this hemisphere, but the light blazed from the megalopolises of Australia, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, India, Siberia. Hal, the linguist, saw the glittering disks and necklaces in terms of the languages spoken therein. Australia, the Philippine Islands, Japan, and northern China were inhabited by those members of the Haijac Union that spoke American.
Southern China, all of southeast Asia, southern India, and Ceylon, these states of the Malay Federation spoke Bazaar.
Siberia spoke Icelandic.