"Phonograph records?"
"Gossip?"
"Newsfilm?"
"Who"s the heavyweight champ?"
"We lick those Commies in Burma yet?"
"Step back! Watch that man. Maybe he"s your replacement."
"Replacement. Ha-ha. That"s good."
All types of men. All ages. In torn, tattered clothing, mostly. In rags. Even if a man seemed more well-groomed than the rest, on closer examination Temple could see the careful st.i.tching, the patches, the fades and stains. No one seemed to mind.
"Hey, bud. What do you hear about rotation? They pa.s.sed any laws yet?"
"I been here ten years. When do _I_ get rotated?"
"Ain"t that something? Dad Jenks came here with the first ship. Don"t you talk about rotation. Ask Dad."
"Better not mention that word to Dad Jenks. He sees red."
"This whole d.a.m.n planet is red."
"Want a guided tour of nowhere, men? Step right up."
Arkalion grinned. "They seem so well-adjusted," he said, then shuddered against the cold and followed Temple, with the others, through the crowd.
They were inoculated against nameless diseases. (Watch for the needle with the hook.)
They were told again they had arrived on the planet Mars. (No kidding?)
Led to a drab underground city, dimly lit, dank, noisome with mold and mildew. (Quick, the chlorophyll.)
a.s.signed bunks in a dormitory, with four men to a room. (Be it ever so humble--bah!)
Told to keep things clean and a.s.signed temporarily to a garbage pickup detail. (For this I left Sheboygan?)
Read to from the Declaration of Independence, the Const.i.tution and Public Law 1182 (concerned with the Nowhere Journey, it told them nothing they did not already know).
Given as complete a battery of tests, mental, emotional and physical, as Temple ever knew existed. (Cripes, man! How the h.e.l.l should I know what the cube root of -5 is? I never finished high school!)
Subjected to an exhaustive, overlong, and at times meaningless personal interview. (No, doc, honest. I never knew I had a--uh--anxiety neurosis. Is it dangerous?)
"How do you do, Temple? Sit down."
"Thank you."
"Thought you"d like to know that while your overall test score is not uncanny, it"s decidedly high."
"So what?"
"So nothing--not necessarily. Except that with it you have a very well balanced personality. We can use you, Temple."
"That"s why I"m here."
"I mean--elsewhere. Mars is only a way station, a training center for a select few. It takes an awful lot of administrative work to keep this place going, which explains the need for all the station personnel."
"Listen. The last few weeks I had everything thrown at me.
Everything, the works. Mind answering one question?"
"Shoot."
"What"s this all about?"
"Temple, I don"t know!"
"You what?"
"I know you find it hard to believe, but I don"t. There isn"t a man here on Mars who knows the whole story, either--and certainly not on Earth. We know enough to keep everything in operation. And we know it"s important, all of it, everything we do."
"You mentioned a need for some men elsewhere. Where?"
The psychiatrist shrugged. "I don"t know. Somewhere. Anywhere." He spread his hands out eloquently. "That"s where the Nowhere Journey comes in."
"Surely you can tell me something more than--"
"Absolutely not. It isn"t that I don"t want to. I can"t. I don"t know."
"Well, one more question I"d like you to answer."
The psychiatrist lit a cigarette, grinned. "Say, who is interviewing whom?"
"This one I think you can tackle. I have a brother, Jason Temple.
Embarked on the Nowhere Journey five years ago. I wonder--"
"So that"s the one factor in your psychograph we couldn"t figure out--anxiety over your brother."
"I doubt it," shrugged Temple. "More likely my fiancee."
"Umm, common enough. You were to be married?"
"Yes." _Stephanie, what are you doing now? Right now?_
"That"s what hurts the most.... Well, yes, I can find out about your brother." The psychiatrist flicked a toggle on his desk. "Jamison, find what you can on Temple, Jason, year of--"