The 35th Golden Age of Science Fiction: Keith Laumer

by Keith Laumer

  Brett craned his neck, looking for TV cameras. The crowd lining the opposite side of the street stood in solid ranks, drably clad, eyes following the procession, mouths working. A fat man in a rumpled suit and a panama hat squeezed to the front, stood picking his teeth. Somehow, he seemed out of place among the others. Behind the spectators, the store fronts looked normal, dowdy brick and mismatched glass and oxidizing aluminum, dusty windows and cluttered displays of cardboard, a faded sign that read TODAY ONLY—PRICES SLASHED. To Brett’s left the sidewalk stretched, empty. To his right the crowd was packed close, the shout rising and falling. Now a rank of blue-suited policemen followed the majorettes, swinging along silently. Behind them, over them, a piece of paper blew along the street. Brett turned to the man on his right.

  “Pardon me. Can you tell me the name of this town?”

  The man ignored him. Brett tapped the man’s shoulder. “Hey! What town is this?”

  The man took off his hat, whirled it overhead, then threw it up. It sailed away over the crowd, lost. Brett wondered briefly how people who threw their hats ever recovered them. But then, nobody he knew would throw his hat…

  “You mind telling me the name of this place?” Brett said, as he took the man’s arm, pulled. The man rotated toward Brett, leaning heavily against him. Brett stepped back. The man fell, lay stiffly, his arms moving, his eyes and mouth open.

  “Ahhhhh,” he said. “Whum-whum-whum. Awww, jawww …”

  Brett stooped quickly. “I’m sorry,” he cried. He looked around. “Help! This man …”

  Nobody was watching. The next man, a few feet away, stood close against his neighbor, hatless, his jaw moving.

  “This man’s sick,” said Brett, tugging at the man’s arm. “He fell.”

  The man’s eyes moved reluctantly to Brett. “None of my business,” he muttered.

  “Won’t anybody give me a hand?”

  “Probably a drunk.”

  Behind Brett a voice called in a penetrating whisper: “Quick! You! Get into the alley…!”

  He turned. A gaunt man of about thirty with sparse reddish hair, perspiration glistening on his upper lip, stood at the mouth of a narrow way like the one Brett had come through. He wore a grimy pale yellow shirt with a wide-flaring collar, limp and sweat-stained, dark green knee-breeches, soft leather boots, scuffed and dirty, with limp tops that drooped over his ankles. He gestured, drew back into the alley. “In here.”

  Brett went toward him. “This man …”

  “Come on, you fool!” The man took Brett’s arm, pulled him deeper into the dark passage. Brett resisted. “Wait a minute. That fellow …” He tried to point.

  “Don’t you know yet?” The red-head spoke with a strange accent. “Golems… You got to get out of sight before the—”

  * * * *

  The man froze, flattened himself against the wall. Automatically Brett moved to a place beside him. The man’s head was twisted toward the alley mouth. The tendons in his weathered neck stood out. He had a three-day stubble of beard. Brett could smell him, standing this close. He edged away. “What—”

  “Don’t make a sound! Don’t move, you idiot!” His voice was a thin hiss.

  Brett followed the other’s eyes toward the sunny street. The fallen man lay on the pavement, moving feebly, eyes open. Something moved up to him, a translucent brownish shape, like muddy water. It hovered for a moment, then dropped on the man like a breaking wave, flowed around him. The body shifted, rotating stiffly, then tilted upright. The sun struck through the fluid shape that flowed down now, amber highlights twinkling, to form itself into the crested wave, flow away.

  “What the hell…!”

  “Come on!” The red-head turned, trotted silently toward the shadowy bend under the high grey walls. He looked back, beckoned impatiently, passed out of sight around the turn—

  Brett came up behind him, saw a wide avenue, tall trees with chartreuse springtime leaves, a wrought-iron fence, and beyond it, rolling green lawns. There were no people in sight.

  “Wait a minute! What is this place?!”

  His companion turned red-rimmed eyes on Brett. “How long have you been here?” he asked. “How did you get in?”

  “I came through a gate. Just about an hour ago.”

  “I knew you were a man as soon as I saw you talking to the golem,” said the red-head. “I’ve been here two months; maybe more. We’ve got to get out of sight. You want food? There’s a place …” He jerked his thumb. “Come on. Time to talk later.”

  * * * *

  Brett followed him. They turned down a side street, pushed through the door of a dingy cafe. It banged behind them. There were tables, stools at a bar, a dusty juke box. They took seats at a table. The red-head groped under the table, pulled off a shoe, hammered it against the wall. He cocked his head, listening. The silence was absolute. He hammered again. There was a clash of crockery from beyond the kitchen door. “Now don’t say anything,” the red-head said. He eyed the door behind the counter expectantly. It flew open. A girl with red cheeks and untidy hair, dressed in a green waitress’ uniform appeared, swept up to the table, pad and pencil in hand.

  “Coffee and a ham sandwich,” said the red-head. Brett said nothing. The girl glanced at him briefly, jotted hastily, whisked away.

  “I saw them here the first day,” the red-head said. “It was a piece of luck. I saw how the Gels started it up. They were big ones—not like the tidiers-up. As soon as they were finished, I came in and tried the same thing. It worked. I used the golem’s lines—”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Brett said. “I’m going to ask that girl—”

  “Don’t say anything to her; it might spoil everything. The whole sequence might collapse; or it might call the Gels. I’m not sure. You can have the food when it comes back with it.”

  “Why do you say ‘when “it” comes back’?”

  “Ah.” He looked at Brett strangely. “I’ll show you.”

  Brett could smell food now. His mouth watered. He hadn’t eaten for twenty-four hours.

  “Care, that’s the thing,” the red-head said. “Move quiet, and stay out of sight, and you can live like a County Duke. Food’s the hardest, but here—”

  The red-cheeked girl reappeared, a tray balanced on one arm, a heavy cup and saucer in the other hand. She clattered them down on the table.

  “Took you long enough,” the red-head said. The girl sniffed, opened her mouth to speak—and the red-head darted out a stiff finger, jabbed her under the ribs. She stood, mouth open, frozen.

  Brett half rose. “He’s crazy, miss,” he said. “Please accept—”

  “Don’t waste your breath.” Brett’s host was looking at him triumphantly. “Why do I call it ‘it’?” He stood up, reached out and undid the top buttons of the green uniform. The waitress stood, leaning slightly forward, unmoving. The blouse fell open, exposing round white breasts—unadorned, blind.

  “A doll,” said the red-head. “A puppet; a golem.”

  * * * *

  Brett stared at her, the damp curls at her temple, the tip of her tongue behind her teeth, the tiny red veins in her round cheeks, and the white skin curving…

  “That’s a quick way to tell ’em,” said the red-head. “The teat is smooth.” He rebuttoned the uniform, then jabbed again at the girl’s ribs. She straightened, patted her hair.

  “No doubt a gentleman like you is used to better,” she said carelessly. She went away.

  “I’m Awalawon Dhuva,” the red-head said.

  “My name’s Brett Hale.” Brett took a bite of the sandwich.

  “Those clothes,” Dhuva said. “And you have a strange way of talking. What county are you from?”

  “Jefferson.”

  “Never heard of it. I’m from Wavly. What brought you here?”

  “I was
on a train. The tracks came to an end out in the middle of nowhere. I walked…and here I am. What is this place?”

  “Don’t know.” Dhuva shook his head. “I knew they were lying about the Fire River, though. Never did believe all that stuff. Religious hokum, to keep the masses quiet. Don’t know what to believe now. Take the roof. They say a hundred kharfads up; but how do we know? Maybe it’s a thousand—or only ten. By Grat, I’d like to go up in a balloon, see for myself.”

  “What are you talking about?” Brett said. “Go where in a balloon? See what?”

  “Oh, I’ve seen one at the Tourney. Big hot-air bag, with a basket under it. Tied down with a rope. But if you cut the rope…! But you can bet the priests will never let that happen, no, sir.” Dhuva looked at Brett speculatively. “What about your county: Fession, or whatever you called it. How high do they tell you it is there?”

  “You mean the sky? Well, the air ends after a few miles and space just goes on—millions of miles—”

  Dhuva slapped the table and laughed. “The people in Fesseron must be some yokels! Just goes on up; now who’d swallow that tale?” He chuckled.

  “Only a child thinks the sky is some kind of tent,” said Brett. “Haven’t you ever heard of the Solar System, the other planets?”

  “What are those?”

  “Other worlds. They all circle around the sun, like the Earth.”

  “Other worlds, eh? Sailing around up under the roof? Funny; I never saw them.” Dhuva snickered. “Wake up, Brett. Forget all those stories. Just believe what you see.”

  “What about that brown thing?”

  “The Gels? They run this place. Look out for them, Brett. Stay alert. Don’t let them see you.”

  * * * *

  “What do they do?”

  “I don’t know—and I don’t want to find out. This is a great place—I like it here. I have all I want to eat, plenty of nice rooms for sleeping. There’s the parades and the scenes. It’s a good life—as long as you keep out of sight.”

  “How do you get out of here?” Brett asked, finishing his coffee.

  “Don’t know how to get out; over the wall, I suppose. I don’t plan to leave though. I left home in a hurry. The Duke—never mind. I’m not going back.”

  “Are all the people here… golems?” Brett said. “Aren’t there any more real people?”

  “You’re the first I’ve seen. I spotted you as soon as I saw you. A live man moves different than a golem. You see golems doing things like knitting their brows, starting back in alarm, looking askance, and standing arms akimbo. And they have things like pursed lips and knowing glances and mirthless laughter. You know: all the things you read about, that real people never do. But now that you’re here, I’ve got somebody to talk to. I did get lonesome, I admit. I’ll show you where I stay and we’ll fix you up with a bed.”

  “I won’t be around that long.”

  “What can you get outside that you can’t get here? There’s everything you need here in the city. We can have a great time.”

  “You sound like my Aunt Haicey,” Brett said. “She said I had everything I needed back in Casperton. How does she know what I need? How do you know? How do I know myself? I can tell you I need more than food and a place to sleep—”

  “What more?”

  “Everything. Things to think about and something worth doing. Why, even in the movies—”

  “What’s a movie?”

  “You know, a play, on film. A moving picture.”

  “A picture that moves?”

  “That’s right.”

  “This is something the priests told you about?” Dhuva seemed to be holding in his mirth.

  “Everybody’s seen movies.”

  Dhuva burst out laughing. “Those priests,” he said. “They’re the same everywhere, I see. The stories they tell, and people believe them. What else?”

  “Priests have nothing to do with it.”

  Dhuva composed his features. “What do they tell you about Grat, and the Wheel?”

  “Grat? What’s that?”

  “The Over-Being. The Four-eyed One.” Dhuva made a sign, caught himself. “Just habit,” he said. “I don’t believe that rubbish. Never did.”

  “I suppose you’re talking about God,” Brett said.

  “I don’t know about God. Tell me about it.”

  “He’s the creator of the world. He’s… well, superhuman. He knows everything that happens, and when you die, if you’ve led a good life, you meet God in Heaven.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “It’s …” Brett waved a hand vaguely, “up above.”

  “But you said there was just emptiness up above,” Dhuva recalled. “And some other worlds whirling around, like islands adrift in the sea.”

  “Well—”

  “Never mind,” Dhuva held up his hands. “Our priests are liars too. All that balderdash about the Wheel and the River of Fire. It’s just as bad as your Hivvel or whatever you called it. And our Grat and your Mud, or Gog: they’re the same—” Dhuva’s head went up. “What’s that?”

  “I didn’t hear anything.”

  * * * *

  Dhuva got to his feet, turned to the door. Brett rose. A towering brown shape, glassy and transparent, hung in the door, its surface rippling. Dhuva whirled, leaped past Brett, dived for the rear door. Brett stood frozen. The shape flowed—swift as quicksilver—caught Dhuva in mid-stride, engulfed him. For an instant Brett saw the thin figure, legs kicking, upended within the muddy form of the Gel. Then the turbid wave swept across to the door, sloshed it aside, disappeared. Dhuva was gone.

  Brett stood rooted, staring at the doorway. A bar of sunlight fell across the dusty floor. A brown mouse ran along the baseboard. It was very quiet. Brett went to the door through which the Gel had disappeared, hesitated a moment, then thrust it open.

  He was looking down into a great dark pit, acres in extent, its sides riddled with holes, the amputated ends of water and sewage lines and power cables dangling. Far below light glistened from the surface of a black pool. A few feet away the waitress stood unmoving in the dark on a narrow strip of linoleum. At her feet the chasm yawned. The edge of the floor was ragged, as though it had been gnawed away by rats. There was no sign of Dhuva.

  Brett stepped back into the dining room, let the door swing shut. He took a deep breath, picked up a paper napkin from a table and wiped his forehead, dropped the napkin on the floor and went out into the street, his suitcase forgotten now. At the corner he turned, walked along past silent shop windows crowded with home permanents, sun glasses, fingernail polish, suntan lotion, paper cartons, streamers, plastic toys, vari-colored garments of synthetic fiber, home remedies, beauty aids, popular music, greeting cards…

  At the next corner he stopped, looking down the silent streets. Nothing moved. Brett went to a window in a grey concrete wall, pulled himself up to peer through the dusty pane, saw a room filled with tailor’s forms, garment racks, a bicycle, bundled back issues of magazines without covers.

  He went along to a door. It was solid, painted shut. The next door looked easier. He wrenched at the tarnished brass nob, then stepped back and kicked the door. With a hollow sound the door fell inward, taking with it the jamb. Brett stood staring at the gaping opening. A fragment of masonry dropped with a dry clink. Brett stepped through the breach in the grey facade. The black pool at the bottom of the pit winked a flicker of light back at him in the deep gloom.

  * * * *

  Around him, the high walls of the block of buildings loomed in silhouette; the squares of the windows were ranks of luminous blue against the dark. Dust motes danced in shafts of sunlight. Far above, the roof was dimly visible, a spidery tangle of trusswork. And below was the abyss.

  At Brett’s feet the stump of a heavy brass rail projected an inch from the floor. It was long enough,
Brett thought, to give firm anchor to a rope. Somewhere below, Dhuva—a stranger who had befriended him—lay in the grip of the Gels. He would do what he could—but he needed equipment—and help. First he would find a store with rope, guns, knives. He would—

  The broken edge of masonry where the door had been caught his eye. The shell of the wall, exposed where the door frame had torn away, was wafer-thin. Brett reached up, broke off a piece. The outer face—the side that showed on the street—was smooth, solid-looking. The back was porous, nibbled. Brett stepped outside, examined the wall. He kicked at the grey surface. A great piece of wall, six feet high, broke into fragments, fell on the sidewalk with a crash, driving out a puff of dust. Another section fell. One piece of it skidded away, clattered down into the depths. Brett heard a distant splash. He looked at the great jagged opening in the wall—like a jigsaw picture with a piece missing. He turned and started off at a trot, his mouth dry, his pulse thumping painfully in his chest.

  Two blocks from the hollow building, Brett slowed to a walk, his footsteps echoing in the empty street. He looked into each store window as he passed. There were artificial legs, bottles of colored water, immense dolls, wigs, glass eyes—but no rope. Brett tried to think. What kind of store would handle rope? A marine supply company, maybe. But where would he find one?

  Perhaps it would be easiest to look in a telephone book. Ahead he saw a sign lettered HOTEL. Brett went up to the revolving door, pushed inside. He was in a dim, marble-panelled lobby, with double doors leading into a beige-carpeted bar on his right, the brass-painted cage of an elevator directly before him, flanked by tall urns of sand and an ascending staircase. On the left was a dark mahogany-finished reception desk. Behind the desk a man stood silently, waiting. Brett felt a wild surge of relief.