empire, and they don"t recognize the empress."Fara shifted his feet on the hard gra.s.s, disturbed. He didn"t like this kind of talk. It sounded-sacrilegious. And besides it was nonsense. It must be. Before he could speak, a man said somewhere behind him, "I"ve heard it said that that door will open only to those who cannot harm the people inside."
The words shocked Fara out of his daze. With a start, and for the first time, he saw that his failure had had a bad psychological effect. He said sharply, "That"s ridiculous! If there were doors like that, we"d all have them. We-"
The thought that stopped his words was the sudden realization that he had not seen anybody try to open the door; and with all this reluctance around him it was quite possible that- He stepped forward, grasped at the doork.n.o.b and pulled. The door opened with an unnatural weightlessness that gave him the fleeting impression that the k.n.o.b had come loose in his hand. With a gasp, Fara jerked the door wide open.
"Jor!" he yelled. "Get in!" The constable made a distorted movement-distorted by what must have been a will to caution, followed by the instant realization that he could not hold back before so many. He leaped awkwardly toward the open door-and it closed in his face. * * * Fara stared stupidly at his hand, which was still clenched. And then, slowly, a hideous thrill coursed along his nerves. The k.n.o.b had-withdrawn. It had twisted, become viscous and slipped amorphously from his straining fingers. Even the memory of that brief sensation gave him a feeling of abnormal things.
He grew aware that the crowd was watching with a silent intentness. Fara reached again for the k.n.o.b,
not quite so eagerly this time; and it was only a sudden realization of his reluctance that made him angry when the handle neither turned nor yielded in any way.
Determination returned in full force, and with it came a thought. He motioned to the constable. "Go
back, Jor, while I pull."
The man retreated, but it did no good. And tugging did not help. The door would not open. Somewhere in the crowd, a man said darkly, "It decided to let you in, then it changed its mind.""What foolishness are you talking!" Fara spoke violently. "It changed its mind. Are you crazy? A door has no sense."
But a surge of fear put a half-quaver into his voice. It was the sudden alarm that made him bold beyond all his normal caution. With a jerk of his body, Fara faced the shop.
The building loomed there under the night sky, in itself bright as day, huge in width and length, and
alien, menacing, no longer easily conquerable. The dim queasy wonder came as to what the soldiers of the empress would do if they were invited to act. And suddenly-a bare, flashing glimpse of a grim possibility-the feeling grew that even they would be able to do nothing.
Abruptly, Fara was conscious of horror that such an idea could enter his mind. He shut his brain tight,
said wildly, "The door opened for me once. It will open again."
It did. Quite simply it did. Gently, without resistance, with that same sensation of weightlessness, the strange, sensitive door followed the tug of his fingers. Beyond the threshold was dimness, a wide, darkened alcove. He heard the voice of Mel Dale behind him, the mayor saying, "Fara, don"t be a fool.
What will you do inside?"
Fara was vaguely amazed to realize that he had stepped across the threshold. He turned, startled, and stared at the blur of faces "Why-" he began blankly; then he brightened; he said, "Why, I"ll buy a gun, of course."
The brilliance of his reply, the cunning implicit in it, dazzled Fara for half a minute longer. The mood yielded slowly, as be found himself in the dimly lighted interior of the weapon shop.
* * * It was preternaturally quiet inside. Not a sound penetrated from the night from which he had come, and the startled thought came that the people of the shop might actually be unaware that there was a crowd outside.
Fara walked forward gingerly on a rugged floor that m.u.f.fled his footsteps utterly. After a moment, his eyes accustomed themselves to the soft lighting, which came like a reflection from the walls and ceilings. In a vague way, he had expected ultranormality; and the ordinariness of the atomic lighting acted like a tonic to his tensed nerves.
He shook himself angrily. Why should there be anything really superior? He was getting as bad as those
credulous idiots out in the street.
He glanced around with gathering confidence. The place looked quite common. It was a shop, almost scantily furnished. There were showcases on the walls and on the floor, glitteringly lovely things, but nothing unusual, and not many of them-a few dozens. There was in addition a double, ornate door leading to a back room-
Fara tried to keep one eye on that door, as he examined several showcases, each with three or four
weapons either mounted or arranged in boxes or holsters.
Abruptly, the weapons began to excite him. He forgot to watch the door, as the wild thought struck that he ought to grab one of those guns from a case, and then the moment someone came, force him outside where Jor would perform the arrest and-
Behind him, a man said quietly, "You wish to buy a gun?"
Fara turned with a jump. Brief rage flooded him at the way his plan had been wrecked by the arrival of the clerk.
The anger died as he saw that the intruder was a fine-looking, silver-haired man, older than himself.
That was immeasurably disconcerting. Fara had an immense and almost automatic respect for age, and for a long second he could only stand there gaping. He said at last, lamely, "Yes, yes, a gun."
"For what purpose?" said the man in his quiet voice.
Fara could only look at him blankly. It was too fast. He wanted to get mad. He wanted to tell these people what he thought of them. But the age of this representative locked his tongue, tangled his emotions. He managed speech only by an effort of will:
"For hunting." The plausible word stiffened his mind. "Yes, definitely for hunting. There is a lake to the
north of here," he went on more fulsomely, glibly, "and-"
He stopped, scowling, startled at the extent of his dishonesty. He was not prepared to go so deeply into prevarication. He said curtly, "For hunting."
Fara was himself again. Abruptly, he hated the man for having put him so completely at a disadvantage.
With smoldering eyes he watched the old fellow click open a showcase, and take out a green-shining rifle.
As the man faced him, weapon in hand, Fara was thinking grimly, "Pretty clever, having an old man as a front." It was the same kind of cunning that had made them choose the property of Miser Harris. Icily furious, taut with his purpose, Fara reached for the gun; but the man held it out of his reach, saying, "Before I can even let you test this, I am compelled by the by-laws of the weapon shops to inform you under what circ.u.mstances you may purchase a gun."
So they had private regulations. What a system of psychology tricks to impress gullible fools! Well, let
the old scoundrel talk. As soon as he, Fara, got hold of the rifle, he"d put an end to hypocrisy.
"We weapons makers," the clerk was saying mildly, "have evolved guns that can, in their particular ranges, destroy any machine or object made of what is called matter. Thus whoever possesses one of our weapons is the equal and more of any soldier of the empress. I say more because each gun is the center of a field of force which acts as a perfect screen against immaterial destructive forces. That screen offers no resistance to clubs or spears or bullets, or other material substances, but it would require a small atomic cannon to penetrate the superb barrier it creates around its owner.
"You will readily comprehend," the man went on, "that such a potent weapon could not be allowed to fall, unmodified, into irresponsible hands. Accordingly, no gun purchased from us may be used for aggression or murder. In the case of the hunting rifle, only such specified game birds and animals as we may from time to time list in our display windows may be shot. Finally, no weapon can be resold without our approval. Is that clear?"
Fara nodded dumbly. For the moment, speech was impossible to him. The incredible, fantastically stupid words were still going round and around in his head. He wondered if he ought to laugh out loud, or curse the man for daring to insult his intelligence so tremendously.
So the gun mustn"t be used for murder or robbery. So only certain birds and animals could be shot. And as for reselling it, suppose-suppose he bought this thing, took a trip of a thousand miles, and offered it to some wealthy stranger for two credits-who would ever know?
Or suppose he held up the stranger. Or shot him. How could the weapon shop ever find out? The thing
was so ridiculous that- He grew aware that the gun was being held out to him stock first. He took it eagerly, and had to fight the impulse to turn the muzzle directly on the old man. Mustn"t rush this, he thought tautly. He said, "How does it work?"
"You simply aim it, and pull the trigger. Perhaps you would like to try it on a target we have."
Fara swung the gun up. "Yes," he said triumphantly, "and you"re it. Now, just get over there to the front door, and then outside."
He raised his voice: "And if anybody"s thinking of coming through the back door, I"ve got that covered,
too."
He motioned jerkily at the clerk. "Quick now, move! I"ll shoot! I swear I will."
The man was cool, unfl.u.s.tered. "I have no doubt you would. When we decided to attune the door so that
you could enter despite your hostility, we a.s.sumed the capacity for homicide. However, this is our party.
You had better adjust yourself accordingly, and look behind you-"
* * * There was silence. Finger on trigger, Fara stood motionless. Dim thoughts came of all the half-things he had heard in his days about the weapon shops: that they had secret supporters in every district, that they had a private and ruthless hidden government, and that once you got into their clutches, the only way out was death and- But what finally came clear was a mind picture of himself, Fara Clark, family man, faithful subject of the empress, standing here in this dimly lighted store, deliberately fighting an organization so vast and menacing that- He must have been mad.
Only-here he was. He forced courage into his sagging muscles. He said, "You can"t fool me with
pretending there"s someone behind me. Now, get to that door. And fast!"The firm eyes of the old man were looking past him. The man said quietly, "Well, Rad, have you all the data?"
"Enough for a primary," said a young man"s baritone voice behind Fara. "Type A-7 conservative. Good average intelligence, but a Monaric development peculiar to small towns. One-sided outlook fostered by the Imperial schools present in exaggerated form. Extremely honest. Reason would be useless.
Emotional approach would require extended treatment. I see no reason why we should bother. Let him live his life as it suits him."
"If you think," Fara said shakily, "that that trick voice is going to make me turn, you"re crazy. That"s the