To anyone who the room the man there did not very formidable. In he might have been a little above average, but not to make him noticeable. His was conservatively; his boy's was not one to be remembered—unless one was to note those light-gray and catch a chilling, now and then for an in their depths.
Neatly and dressed, in this last of the century his like was to be on any of the city ten below—to all appearances. But that other person under the so touch of and which Murdock himself did not and was only just learning to use as a against a world he had always hostile.
He was aware, though he gave no of it, that a was him. The on was an old hand—he some other than from the prisoner. But he was not going to it. The law had Ross up tight this time. Why didn't they about the of him off? Why had he had that session with the thumper? Ross had been on the then, and he had not liked it. He had to the other's questions all the attention his mind muster, but a faint, very faint, still to the memory of that meeting.
The door of the room opened. Ross did not turn his head, but the his as if their hour of had his cords. "On your feet, Murdock! The judge wants to see you."
Ross rose smoothly, with every under control. It paid to talk back, to allow any of to show. He would go through the as if he were a little boy who had his errors. It was a meek-and-mild act that had paid off more than once in Ross's past. So he the man seated the in the other room with an uncertain, smile, with awkwardness, waiting for the other to speak first.
Judge Ord Rawle. It was his luck to old Eagle Beak on his case. Well, he would have to take it when the old boy it out. Not that he had to with it later....
"You have a record, man."
Ross allowed his to fade; his slumped. But under his an of cold defiance.
"Yes, sir," he in a voice to shake about the edges. Then all Ross's in the skill of his act was away. Judge Rawle was not alone; that was there, the with the same he had the other day.
"A very record for the years you have had to make it." Eagle Beak was at him, too, but without the same look of penetration, for Ross. "By rights, you should be over to the new Rehabilitation Service...."
Ross inside. That was the "treatment," of which had spread his particular world. For the second time since he had entered the room his self-confidence was jarred. Then he with a of to the of that last sentence.
"Instead, I have been to offer you a choice, Murdock. One which I shall state—and on record—I do not in the least approve."
Ross's of faded. If the judge didn't like it, there must be something in it to the of Ross Murdock. He'd it for sure!
"There is a government project in need of volunteers. It that you have out as possible material for this assignment. If you for it, the law will the time on it as part of your sentence. Thus you may the country which you have disgraced——"
"And if I refuse, I go to this rehabilitation. Is that right, sir?"
"I you a fit candidate for rehabilitation. Your record—" He through the papers on his desk.
"I choose to for the project, sir."
The judge and pushed all the papers into a folder. He spoke to a man waiting in the shadows. "Here then is your volunteer, Major."
Ross in his relief. He was over the hump. And since his luck had so far, he might be about to win all the way....
The man Judge Rawle called "Major" moved into the light. At the Ross, to his annoyance, himself uneasy. To up to Eagle Beak was all part of the game. But somehow he one did not play such with this man.
"Thank you, your honor. We will be on our way at once. This weather is not very promising."
Before he what was happening, Ross himself walking to the door. He trying to give the major the when they left the building, himself in a storm-darkened city. But they did not take the downstairs. Instead, they two or three up the stairs. And to his Ross himself and slowing, while the other man, who must have been a good dozen years his senior, no of discomfort.
They came out into the on the roof, and the major a skyward, in a dark which touched them. A helicopter! For the time Ross to the of his choice.
"On your way, Murdock!" The voice was enough, but that very got under one's skin.
Bundled into the machine the major and an pilot in uniform, Ross was over the city, he as well as he the lines on his own palm, into the unknown he was already to dubiously. The and buildings, their by the soft wet snow, out of sight. Now they mark the highways. Ross to ask any questions. He take this treatment; he had taken a of in the past.
The of light disappeared, and the country opened out. The plane banked. Ross, with all the familiar of his world gone, not have said if they were north or south. But moments later not the thick of out the pattern of red lights on the ground, and the settled down.
"Come on!"
For the second time Ross obeyed. He shivering, in a blizzard. His clothing, protection in the city, did little good against the push of the wind. A hand his upper arm, and he was to a low building. A door and Ross and his came into a region of light and very welcome heat.
"Sit down—over there!"
Too to orders, Ross sat. There were other men in the room. One, a of clothing, a over his arm, was reading a paper. The major to speak to him and after they for a moment, the major Ross with a finger. Ross the officer into an room with lockers.
From one of the the major a like the pilot's, and to measure it against Ross. "All right," he snapped. "Climb into this! We haven't all night."
Ross into the suit. As soon as he the last his one of the on his head. The pilot looked in the door. "We'd scramble, Kelgarries, or we may be for the duration!"
They to the field. If the had been a mode of travel, this new machine was something out of the future—a needle-slim ship on fins, its nose into the heavens. There was a along one side, which the pilot to enter the ship.
Unwillingly, Ross the same and that he must himself in on his back, his up almost under his chin. To make it worse, as those were, he had to them with the major. A and was secured, them in.
During his lifetime Ross had often been afraid, afraid. He had to his mind and against such fears. But what he now was no ordinary fear; it was panic so that it him sick. To be in this small place with the knowledge that he had no over his him to with every terror he had known, all of them into one whole.
How long a last? A moment? An hour? Ross not time his. But at last the weight of a hand on his chest, and he for until the world about him.
He came to slowly. For a second he he was blind. Then he to out one of light from another. Finally, Ross aware that he no longer rested on his back, but was in a seat. The world about him was with a that in turn through his body.
Ross Murdock had at as long as he had he was able to a quickly. Seldom in the past five years had he been at a to with any person or action. Now he was aware that he was on the and was being there. He into the dark and hard and furiously. He was that that was to him this day was designed with only one end in view—to shake his self-confidence and make him pliable. Why?
Ross had an in his own and he also a of to one so young. He that while Murdock was to Murdock, he was none too in the of as a whole. He had a record—a record so that Rawle might easily have the book at him. But it in one way from that of many of his fellows; until now he had been able to most of the raps. Ross this was he had always alone and taken pains to plan a job in advance.
Why now had Ross Murdock so to someone that they would do all this to shake him? He was a volunteer—for what? To be a pig for some they wanted to learn how to kill and easily? They'd been in a big to push him off base. Using the treatment, this around in planes, they were to keep him groggy. So, all right, he'd give them a boy all set up for their job, it was. Only, was his act good to the major? Ross had a that it might not be, and that hurt.
It was night now. Either they had out of the path of the or were above it. There were through the of the cockpit, but no moon.
Ross's education was sketchy, but in his own fashion he had a range of knowledge which would have many of the who had had to with him. All the of a big city library had been his to explore, and he had much time there, up in many odd of learning. Facts were very useful things. On at least three occasions of knowledge had Ross's freedom, once, his life.
Now he to fit together the he about his present into some proper pattern. He was some new type of super-super atomjet, a machine so in design that it would not have been used for anything that was not an mission. Which meant that Ross Murdock had necessary to someone, somewhere. Knowing that should give him a in the future, and he might well need such an edge. He'd just have to wait, play dumb, and use his and ears.
At the they were along they ought to be out of the country in a of hours. Didn't the Government have over the world to keep the "cold peace"? Well, there was nothing for it. To be planted might with plans for escape, but he'd that detail when he was to it.
Then Ross was on his once more, the hand into his and middle. This time there were no lights on the ground to them in. Ross had no that they had their until they set with a which his teeth together.
The major out, and Ross was able to his body. But the other's hand was already on his shoulder, him along. Ross free and to a structure.
Below there were no lights, only an of open snow. Men were moving across that blank area, at the of the ladder. Ross was and very tired. If the major wanted to play games, he that such action wait until the next morning.
In the meantime he must learn where "here" was. If he had a to run, he wanted to know the territory. But that hand was on his arm, him along toward a door that half-open. As as Ross see, it to the of a of snow. Either the or men had done a very good cover-up job, and somehow Ross the was intentional.
That was Ross's to the base, and after his his view of the was limited. One day was in the most physical he had experienced. And after the doctors had and he was by a series of other no one to explain. Thereafter he was to solitary, that is, to his own company in a cell-like room with a that was more than it looked and an in a of the ceiling. So he had been told nothing. And so he had asked no questions, up his end of what he to be a of wills. At the moment, safely alone and on his he the announcer, a very man and one who to an inch.
"Now this...." The voice through that was metallic, but its of Kelgarries' voice. Ross's tightened. He had every of the and that there was no of the door which had him. With only his hands to work with he not out, and his only were the shirt, slacks, and a pair of soft-soled that they had him.
"... to identify ..." the voice. Ross that he must have missed something, not that it mattered. He was almost not to play along any more.
There was a click, that Kelgarries was through braying. But the did not close in again. Instead, Ross a clear, sweet which he with a bird. His with all life was limited to city and park pigeons, neither of which their voices in song, but surely those were bird notes. Ross from the in the to the opposite and what he saw there him up, with the response of an fighter.
For the was no longer there! Instead, there was a of ground from where the dark green of trees ran close to the line. Patches of to the earth in places, and the of those was in Ross's nostrils, as the wind him with its chill.
He as a and echoed, the age-old of a pack, and a-hunt. Ross had that before, but his it for what it was—death on four feet. Similarly, he was able to identify the about the nearest trees, and his hands into as he looked about him for some weapon.
The was under him and three of the four of the room him like a cave. But one of those had its and was looking directly at him, its alight. Ross the top off the with a half-formed idea of it at the animal when it sprang.
Stiff-legged, the advanced, a in its throat. To Ross the animal, larger than any dog he had and twice as vicious, was a monster. He had the he that the was not him after all, and that its attention was on a point out of his line of vision.
The in a snarl, long yellow-white teeth. There was a twang, and the animal into the air, back, and rolled on the ground, at a from just its ribs. It again, and blood from its mouth.
Ross was now. He himself together and got up, to walk toward the wolf. And he wasn't in the least when his hands against an barrier. Slowly, he his hands right and left, sure that he was the of his cell. Yet his told him he was on a side, and every sight, sound, and was making it to him.
Puzzled, he a moment and then, an that satisfied him, he once and to at on his bunk. This must be some of TV that odors, the of wind, and other touches to make it more vivid. The total was so that Ross had to keep himself that it was all just a picture.
The was dead. Its pack had into the brush, but since the picture remained, Ross that the was not yet over. He still a of sound, and he waited for the next of action. But the for his it still him.
A man came into view, Ross. He to the wolf, it by the and its off the ground. Comparing the beast's size with the hunter's, Ross saw that he had not been in his of the animal's large dimensions. The man over his shoulder, his enough, but to Ross.
The was dressed—too if one the by the and the cold. A of cloth, from his to about four above the knee, was about his and in at the by a belt. The belt, more than the wrapping, was of many small metal plates and supported a long which in front. The man also a cloak, now on his to free his arms, which was by a large pin under his chin. His footgear, which above his calves, was of animal hide, still of hair. His was beardless, though a line along his that he had not that particular day. A cap most of his dark-brown hair.
Was he an Indian? No, for although his skin was tanned, it was as as Ross's under that weathering. And his did not any Indian Ross had seen. Yet, in of his trappings, the man had such an of authority, of self-confidence, and that it was clear he was top dog in his own of the world.
Soon another man, much like the first, but with a rust-brown cloak, came along, him two very donkeys, rolled at of the wolf. Both animals on their by of hide. Then another man came along, with another of donkeys. Finally, a fourth man, skins for and with a of on his and chin, appeared. His head, a of hair, as he the beast, a knife with a dull-gray in his hand, and set to work the with skill. Three more of donkeys, all laden, were past the he his task. Finally, he rolled the skin into a and gave the a he ran after the train of pack animals.
