She was a tall, lovely Negro girl, brilliant and cultivated, but handicapped by the fact that she was a telesend, a one-way telepath. She could broadcast her thoughts to the world, but could receive nothing.
This was a disadvantage that barred her from more glamorous careers, yet suited her for teaching.
Despite her volatile temperament, Robin Wednesbury was a thorough and methodical jaunte instructor.
The men were brought down from General War Hospital to the jaunte school, which occupied an entire building in the Hudson Bridge at 4?nd Street. They started from the school and marched in a sedate crocodile to the vast Times Square jaunte stage, which they earnestly memorized. Then they all jaunted to the school and back to Times Square. The crocodile re-formed and they marched up to Columbus Circle and memorized its coordinates. Then all jaunted back to school via Times Square and returned by the same route to Columbus Circle. Once more the crocodile formed and off they went to Grand Army Plaza to repeat the memorizing and the jaunting.Robin was re-educating the patients (all head injuries who had lost the power to jaunte) to the express stops, so to speak, of the public jaunte stages. Later they would memorize the local stops at street intersections. As their horizons expanded (and their powers returned) they would memorize jaunte stages in widening circles, limited as much by income as ability; for one thing was certain: you had to actually see a place to memorize it, which meant you first had to pay for the transportation to get you there. Even j-D photographs would not do the trick. The Grand Tour had taken on a new significance for the rich.
"Location. Elevation. Situation," Robin Wednesbury lectured, and the cla.s.s jaunted by express stages from Washington Heights to the Hudson Bridge and back again in primer jumps of a quarter mile each; following their lovely Negro teacher earnestly.
The little technical sergeant with the platinum skull suddenly spoke in the gutter tongue: "But there ain"t no elevation, m"am. We"re on the ground, us."
"Isn"t, Sgt. Logan. "Isn"t any" would be better. I beg your pardon. Teaching becomes a habit and I"m having trouble controlling my thinking today. The war news is so bad. We"ll get to Elevation when we start memorizing the stages on top of skysc.r.a.pers, Sgt. Logan."
The man with the rebuilt skull digested that, then asked: "We hear you when you think, is a matter you?"
"Exactly."
"But you don"t hear us?"
"Never. I"m a one-way telepath."
"We all hear you, or just I, is all?"
"That depends, Sgt. Logan. When I"m concentrating, just the one I"m thinking at; when I"m at loose ends, anybody and everybody... poor souls. Excuse me." Robin turned and called: "Don"t hesitate before jaunting, Chief Harris. That starts doubting, and doubting ends jaunting. Just step up and bang off."
"I worry sometimes, m"am," a chief petty officer with a tightly bandaged head answered. He was obviously stalling at the edge of the jaunte stage.
"Worry? About what?"
"Maybe there"s gonna be somebody standing where I arrive. Then there"ll be a h.e.l.l of a real bang, m"am.
Excuse me."
"Now I"ve explained that a hundred times. Experts have gauged every jaunte stage in the world to accommodate peak traffic. That"s why private jaunte stages are small, and the Times Square stage is two hundred yards wide. It"s all been worked out mathematically and there isn"t one chance in ten million of a simultaneous arrival. That"s less than your chance of being killed in a jet accident."
The bandaged C.P.O. nodded dubiously and stepped up on the raised stage. It was of white concrete, round, and decorated on its face with vivid black and white patterns as an aid to memory. In the center was an illuminated plaque which gave its name and jaunte co-ordinates of lat.i.tude, longitude, and elevation.
At the moment when the bandaged man was gathering courage for his primer jaunte, the stage began to flicker with a sudden flurry of arrivals and departures. Figures appeared momentarily as they jaunted in, hesitated while they checked their surroundings and set new co-ordinates, and then disappeared as theyjaunted off. At each disappearance there was a faint "Pop" as displaced air rushed into the s.p.a.ce formerly occupied by a body.
"Wait, cla.s.s," Robin called. "There"s a rush on. Everybody off the stage, please."
Laborers in heavy work clothes, still spattered with snow, were on their way south to their homes after a shift in the north woods. Fifty white clad dairy clerks were headed west toward St. Louis. They followed the morning from the Eastern Time Zone to the Pacific Zone. And from eastern Greenland, where it was already noon, a horde of white-collar office workers was pouring into New York for their lunch hour.
The rush was over in a few moments. "All right, cla.s.s," Robin called. "We"ll continue. Oh dear, where is Mr. Foyle? He always seems to be missing."
"With a face like he"s got, him, you can"t blame him for hiding it, m"am. Up in the cerebral ward we call him Boogey."
"He does look dreadful, doesn"t he, Sgt. Logan. Can"t they get those marks off?"
"They"re trying, Miss Robin, but they don"t know how yet. It"s called "tattooing" and it"s sort of forgotten, is all."
"Then how did Mr. Foyle acquire his face?"
"n.o.body knows, Miss Robin. He"s up in cerebral because he"s lost his mind, him. Can"t remember nothing. Me personal, if I had a face like that I wouldn"t want to remember nothing too."
"It"s a pity. He looks frightful. Sgt. Logan, d"you suppose I"ve let a thought about Mr. Foyle slip and hurt his feelings?"
The little man with the platinum skull considered. "No, m"am. You wouldn"t hurt n.o.body"s feelings, you.
And Foyle ain"t got none to hurt, him. He"s just a big, dumb ox, is all."
"I have to be so careful, Sgt. Logan. You see, no one likes to know what another person really thinks about him. We imagine that we do, but we don"t. This telesending of mine makes me loathed. And lonesome. I- Please don"t listen to me. I"m having trouble controlling my thinking. Ah! There you are, Mr. Foyle. Where in the world have you been wandering?"
Foyle had jaunted in on the stage and stepped off quietly, his hideous face averted. "Been practicing, me," he mumbled.
Robin repressed the shudder of revulsion in her and went to him sympathetically. She took his arm. "You really should be with us more. We"re all friends and having a lovely time. Join in."
Foyle refused to meet her glance. As he pulled his arm away from her sullenly, Robin suddenly realized that his sleeve was soaking wet. His entire hospital uniform was drenched.
"Wet? He"s been in the rain somewhere. But I"ve seen the morning *weather reports. No rain east of St. Louis. Then he must have jaunted further than that. But he"s not supposed to be able. He"s supposed to have lost all memory and ability to jaunte. He"s malingering."
Foyle leapt at her. "Shut up, you!" The savagery of his face was terrifying.
"Then you are malingering."
"How much do you know?""That you"re a fool. Stop making a scene."
"Did they hear you?"
"I don"t know. Let go of me." Robin turned away from Foyle. "All right, cla.s.s. We"re finished for the day. All back to school for the hospital bus. You jaunte first, Sgt. Logan. Remember: L-E-S. Location.
Elevation. Situation..."
"What do you want?" Foyle growled, "A pay-off, you?"
"Be quiet. Stop making a scene. Now don"t hesitate, Chief Harris. Step up and jaunte off."
"I want to talk to you."
"Certainly not. Wait your turn, Mr. Peters. Don"t be in such a huny."
"You going to report me in the hospital?"
"Naturally."
"I want to talk to you."
"No."
"They gone now, all. We got time. I"ll meet you in your apartment."
"My apartment?" Robin was genuinely frightened.
"In Green Bay, Wisconsin."
"This is absurd. I"ve got nothing to discuss with this-"
"You got plenty, Miss Robin. You got a family to discuss."
Foyle grinned at the terror she radiated. "Meet you in your apartment," he repeated.
"You can"t possibly know where it is," she faltered.
"Just told you, didn"t I?"
"Y-You couldn"t possibly jaunte that far. You-"
"No?" The mask grinned. "You just told me I was mal-that word. You told the truth, you. We got half an hour. Meet you there."
Robin Wednesbury"s apartment was in a ma.s.sive building set alone on the sh.o.r.e of Green Bay. The apartment house looked as though a magician had removed it from a city residential area and abandoned it amidst the Wisconsin pines. Buildings like this were a commonplace in the jaunting world. With self-contained heat and light plants, and jaunting to solve the transportation problem, single and multiple dwellings were built in desert, forest, and wilderness.
The apartment itself was a four-room flat, heavily insulated to protect neighbors from Robin"s telesending. It was crammed with books, music, paintings, and prints... all evidence of the cultured and lonely life of this unfortunate wrong-way telepath.
Robin jaunted into the living room of the apartment a few seconds after Foyle who was waiting for herwith ferocious impatience.
"So now you know for sure," he began without preamble. He seized her arm in a painful grip. "But you ain"t gonna tell n.o.body in the hospital about me, Miss Robin. n.o.body."
"Let go of me!" Robin lashed him across his face. "Beast! Savage! Don"t you dare touch me!"
Foyle released her and stepped back. The impact of her revulsion made him turn away angrily to conceal his face.
"So you"ve been malingering. You knew how to jaunte. You"ve been jaunting all the while you"ve been pretending to learn in the primer cla.s.s... taking big jumps around the country; around the world, for all I know."
"Yeah. I go from Times Square to Columbus Circle by way of... most anywhere, Miss Robin."
"And that"s why you"re always missing. But why? Why? What are you up to?"
An expression of possessed cunning appeared on the hideous face. "I"m holed up in General Hospital, me. It"s my base of operations, see? I"m settling something, Miss Robin. I got a debt to pay off, me. I had to find out where a certain ship is. Now I got to pay her back. Not I rot you, "Vorga." I kill you, "Vorga." I kill you filthy!"
He stopped shouting and glared at her in wild triumph. Robin backed away in alarm.
"For G.o.d"s sake, what are you talking about?"
"Vorga." "Vorga-Tajjg." Ever hear of her, Miss Robin? I found out where she is from Bo"ness & Uig"s ship registry. Bo"ness & Uig are out in SanFran. I went there, me, the time when you was learning us the crosstown jaunte stages. Went out to SanFran, me. Found "Vorga," me. She"s in Vancouver shipyards.
She"s owned by Presteign of Presteign. Heard of him, Miss Robin? Presteign"s the biggest man on Terra, is all. But he won"t stop me. I"ll kill "Vorga" filthy. And you won"t stop me neither, Miss Robin."
Foyle thrust his face close to hers. "Because I cover myself, Miss Robin. I cover every weak spot down the line. I got something on everybody who could stop me before I kill "Vorga"... including you, Miss Robin."
"No."
"Yeah. I found out where you live. They know up at the hospital. I come here and looked around. I read your diary, Miss Robin. You got a family on Callisto, mother and two sisters."
"For G.o.d"s sake!"
"So that makes you alien-belligerent. When the war started you and all the rest was given one month to get out of the Inner Planets and go home. Any which didn"t became spies by law." Foyle opened his hand. "I got you right here, girl." He clenched his hand.
"My mother and sisters have been trying to leave Callisto for a year and a half. We belong here. We-"
"Got you right here," Foyle repeated. "You know what they do to spies? They cut information out of them. They cut you apart, Miss Robin. They take you apart, piece by piece-"
The Negro girl screamed. Foyle nodded happily and took her shaking shoulders in his hands. "I got you, is all, girl. You can"t even run from me because all I got to do is tip Intelligence and where are you?There ain"t nothing n.o.body can do to stop me; not the hospital or even Mr. Holy Mighty Presteign of Presteign."
"Get out, you filthy, hideous... thing. Get out!"
"You don"t like my face, Miss Robin? There ain"t nothing you can do about that either."
Suddenly he picked her up and carried her to a deep couch. He threw her down on the couch.
"Nothing," he repeated.
Devoted to the principle of conspicuous waste, on which all society is based, Presteign of Presteign had fitted his Victorian mansion in Central Park with elevators, house phones, dumb-waiters and all the other labor-saving devices which jaunting had made obsolete. The servants in that giant gingerbread castle walked dutifully from room to room, opening and closing doors, and climbing stairs.
Presteign of Presteign arose, dressed with the aid of his valet and barber, descended to the morning room with the aid of an elevator, and breakfasted, a.s.sisted by a butler, footman, and waitresses. He left the morning room and entered his study. In an age when communication systems were virtually extinct-when it was far easier to jaunte directly to a man"s office for a discussion than to telephone or telegraph-Presteign still maintained an antique telephone switchboard with an operator in his study.
"Get me Dagenham," he said.
The operator struggled and at last put a call through to Dagenham Couriers, Inc. This was a hundred million credit organization of bonded jaunters guaranteed to perform any public or confidential service for any princ.i.p.al. Their fee was $i i per mile. Dagenham guaranteed to get a courier around the world in eighty minutes.
Eighty seconds after Presteign"s call was put through, a Dagenham courier appeared on the private jaunte stage outside Presteign"s home, was identified and admitted through the jaunte-proof labyrinth behind the entrance. Like every member of the Dagenham staff, he was an M cla.s.s jaunter, capable of teleporting a thousand miles a jump indefinitely, and familiar with thousands of jaunte co-ordinates. He was a senior specialist in chicanery and cajolery, trained to the incisive efficiency and boldness that characterized Dagenham Couriers and reflected the ruthlessness of its founder.
"Presteign?" he said, wasting no time on protocol.
"I want to hire Dagenham."
"Ready, Presteign."
"Not you. I want Saul Dagenham himself."
"Mr. Dagenham no longer gives personal service for less than ^r 100,000."
"The amount will be five times that."
"Fee or percentage?"
"Both. Quarter of a million fee, and a quarter of a million guaranteed against 10 per cent of the total amount at risk."