The demolished man (28 page)

The stars are gone."

"What's gone?"

"The stars. Don't you see? They're gone."

"I don't know what you're talking about, pilot. Cmon. Let's have us a ball."

He tore himself away from her claws and ran. Halfway down the footway was a

public v-phone alcove. He stepped in and dialed information. The screen lit and

a robot voice spoke: "Question?"

"What's happened to the stars?" Reich asked. "When did it happen? It must have

been noticed by now. What's the explanation?"

There was a click, a pause, then another click. "Will you spell the word,

please."

"Star!" Reich roared. "S-T-A-R. Star!"

Click, pause, click. "Noun or verb?"

"God damn you! Noun!"

Click, pause, click. "There is no information listed under that heading," the

canned voice announced.

Reich swore, then fought to control himself. "Where's the nearest Observatory to

the city?"

"Kindly specify city."

"This city. New York."

Click, pause, click. "The Lunar Observatory at Croton Park is situated thirty

miles north. It may be reached by Jumper Route North Coordinate 227. The Lunar

Observatory was endowed in the year two thousand---"

Reich slammed down the phone. "No information listed under that heading! My God!

Are they all crazy?" He ran out into the streets, searching for a Public Jumper.

A piloted machine cruised past and Reich signalled. It swooped to pick him up.

"Northco 227," he snapped as he stepped into the cabin. "Thirty miles. The Lunar

Observatory."

"Premium trip," the driver said.

"I'll pay it. Jet!"

The cab jetted. Reich restrained himself for five minutes, then began casually:

"Notice the sky?"

"Why, mister?"

"The stars are gone."

Sycophantic laugh.

"It's not supposed to be a joke," Reich said. "The stars are gone."

"If it ain't a joke, it needs explaining," the driver said. "What the hell are

stars?"

A blasting reply trembled on Reich's lips. Before it could erupt, the cab landed

him on the observatory grounds close to the domed roof. He snapped: "Wait for

me," and ran across the lawns to the small stone entrance.

The door was ajar. He entered the observatory and heard the low whine of the

dome mechanism and the quiet click of the observatory clock. Except for the low

glow of the clock-light, the room was in darkness. The twelve-inch refractor was

in operation. He could see the observer, a dim outline, crouched over the

eyepiece of the guiding telescope.

Reich walked toward him, nervous, strained, flinching at the loud clack of his

footsteps in the silence. There was a chill in the air.

"Listen," Reich began in a low voice. "Sorry to bother you but you must have

noticed. You're in the star business. You have noticed, haven't you? The stars.

They're gone. All of them. What's happened? Why hasn't there been any alarm?

Why's everybody pretending? My God! The stars! We always take them for granted.

And now they're gone. What's happened? Where are the stars?"

The figure straightened slowly and turned toward Reich. "There are no stars," it

said.

It was the Man With No Face.

Reich cried out. He turned and ran. He flew out of the door, down the steps and

across the lawn to the waiting cab. He blundered against the crystal cabin wall

with a crack that dropped him to his knees.

The driver pulled him to his feet. "You all right, Mac?"

"I don't know," Reich groaned. "I wish I did."

"None of my business," the driver said, "but I think you ought to see a peeper.

You're talkin' crazy."

"About the stars?"

"Yeah."

Reich gripped the man. "I'm Ben Reich," he said, "Ben Reich of Monarch."

"Yeah, Mac. I recognized you."

"Good. You know what I can do for you if you do me a favor? Money... New Job...

Anything you want..."

"You can't do nothin' for me, Mac. I already been adjusted at Kingston."

"Better. An honest man. Will you do me a favor for the love of God or anything

you love?"

"Sure, Mac."

"Go into that building. Take a look at the man behind the telescope. A good

look. Come back and describe him to me."

The driver departed, was gone five minutes, then returned.

"Well?"

"He's just an ordinary guy, Mac. Sixtyish. Bald. Got lines in his face kinda

deep. His ears stick out and he's got what they call a weak chin. You know. It

kinda backslides."

"It's nobody... nobody," Reich muttered.

"What?"

"About those stars," Reich said. "You never heard of them? You never saw them?

You don't know what I'm talking about?"

"Nope."

"Oh God..." Reich moaned. "Sweet God..."

"Now don't warp your orbit, Mac." The driver thumped him powerfully on the back.

"Tell you something. They taught me plenty up at Kingston. One of them things

was... Well, sometimes you get a crazy notion. It's brand new, see? But you

think you always had it. Like... oh... for instance, that people always had one

eye and now all of a sudden they got two."

Reich stared at him.

"So you run around yellin': `For Chrissakes, where did they all of a sudden get

two eyes everybody?' And they say: `They always got two eyes.' And you say: `The

hell they did. I distinctly remember everybody got one eye.' And by God you

believe it. And they have a hell of a time knockin' the notion outa you." The

driver thumped him again. "Seems to me, Mac, like you're on a one-eye kick."

"One eye," Reich muttered. "Two eyes. Tension, apprehension, and dissension have

begun."

"What?"

"I don't know. I don't know. I've had a rough time the last month. Maybe...

Maybe you're right. But---"

"You want to go to Kingston?"

"No!"

"You want to stay here and mope about them stars?"

Abruptly, Reich shouted: "What the hell do I care about the stars!" His fear

turned to hot rage. Adrenalin flooded his system, bringing with it a surge of

courage and high spirits. He leaped into the cab. "I've got the world. What do I

care if a few delusions go with it?"

"That's the way, Mac. Where to?"

"The Royal Palace."

"The which?"

Reich laughed. "Monarch," he said, and roared with laughter all the flight

through the dawn to Monarch's soaring tower. But it was a semi-hysterical

laughter.

The office ran around-the-clock shifts, and the night staff was in the last

drowsy stages of the 12-8 shift when Reich bustled in. Although they had not

seen much of him in the past month, the staff was accustomed to these visits,

and shifted smoothly into high gear. As Reich went to his desk he was followed

by secretaries and sub-secretaries carrying the urgent agenda of the day.

"Let all that wait," he snapped. "Call in the entire staff... all department

heads and organizational supervisors. I'm going to make an announcement."

The flutter soothed him and recaptured his frame of reference. He was alive

again, real again. All this was the only reality... the hustle, the bustle, the

annunciator bells, the muted commands, the quick filling of his office with so

many awed faces. All this was a preview of the future when bells would ring on

planets and satellites and world supervisors would scuttle to his desk with awe

on their faces.

"As you all know," Reich began, pacing slowly and darting piercing glances into

the faces that watched him, "We of Monarch have been locked in a death-struggle

with the D'Courtney Cartel. Craye D'Courtney was killed some time ago. There

were complications that have just been ironed out. You'll be pleased to hear

that the road is open for us now. We can commence operation of Plan AA to take

over the D'Courtney Cartel."

He paused, waiting for the excited murmur that should respond to his

announcement. There was no response.

"Perhaps," he said, "some of you do not comprehend the size of the job and the

importance of the job. Let me put it this way... in terms you'll understand.

Those of you that are city supervisors will become continental supervisors.

Continental supervisors will become satellite chiefs. Present satellite chiefs

will become planetary chiefs. From now on, Monarch will dominate the solar

system. From now on all of us must think in terms of the solar system. From now

on..."

Reich faltered, alarmed by the blank looks around him. He glanced around, then

singled out the chief secretary. "What the hell's the matter?" he growled.

"There been news I haven't heard yet? Bad news?"

"N-No, Mr. Reich."

"Then what's eating you? This is something we've all been waiting for. What's

wrong with it?"

The chief secretary stammered: "We... I... I'm s-sorry, sir. I d-don't know what

y-you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the D'Courtney Cartel."

"I... I've n-never heard of the organization, Mr. Reich, sir. I... we..." The

chief secretary turned around for support. Before Reich's unbelieving eyes the

entire staff shook their heads in mystification.

"D'Courtney on Mars!" Reich shouted.

"On where, sir?"

"Mars! Mars! M-A-R-S. One of the ten planets. Fourth from the sun." Gripped by

the returning terror, Reich bellowed incoherently. "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,

Jupiter, Saturn, Mars! Mars! Mars! A hundred and forty-one million miles from

the sun, Mars!"

Again the staff shook their heads. There was a rustle and they backed away

slightly from Reich. He darted at the secretaries and tore the sheafs of

business papers from their hands. "You've got a hundred memos about D'Courtney

on Mars there. You've got to. My God, we've been battling it out with D'Courtney

for the last ten years. We---"

He clawed through the papers, throwing them wildly in all directions, filling

the office with fluttering snow. There was not one reference to D'Courtney or

Mars. There was neither any reference to Venus, Jupiter, the Moon, nor the other

satellites.

"I've got memos in my desk," Reich shouted. Hundreds of them. You lousy liars!

Look in my desk..."

He darted to the desk and yanked out drawers. There was a stunning explosion.

The desk burst asunder. Fragments of flying fruit-wood slashed the staff, and

Reich was hurled back against the window by the desk top which smacked him like

a giant's hand.

"The Man With No Face!" Reich cried. "Christ Almighty!" He shook his head

feverishly, and clung to the paramount obsession. "Where are the files? I'll

show you in the files... D'Courtney and Mars and all the rest. And I'll show

him, too. The Man With No Face... Come on!"

He ran out of his office and burst into the file vaults. He tore out rack after

rack; scattering papers, clusters of piezo crystals, ancient wire recordings,

microfilm, molecular transcripts. There was no reference to D'Courtney or Mars.

There was no reference to Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, the asteroids, the

satellites.

And now indeed the office was alive with hustle and bustle, annunciator bells,

strident commands. Now the office was stampeding, and three burly gentlemen from

`Recreation' came trotting into the vaults directed by the bleeding secretary

who urged: "You must! You must! I'll take the responsibility!"

"Easy now, easy now, easy now, Mr. Reich," they said with the hissing noise with

which hostlers soothe savage stallions. "Easy... easy...easy..."

"Get away from me, you sons of bitches."

"Easy, sir. Easy. It's all right, sir."

They deployed strategically while the hustle and the bustle increased and the

bells sounded and voices far off called: "Who's his doctor? Get his doctor.

Somebody call Kingston. Did you notify the police? No, don't. No scandal. Get

the legal department, will you! Isn't the Infirmary open yet?"

Reich's breath came and went in snarls. He overturned files in the path of the

burly gentlemen, put his head down and bulled straight through them. He raced

through the office to the outside corridor and the Pneumatique. The door opened;

he punched Science-city 57. He stepped into the air-shuttle and was shot over to

Science where he stepped out.

He was on the laboratory floor. It was in darkness. Probably the staff imagined

he had dropped to the street level. He would have time. Still breathing heavily,

he trotted to the lab library, snapped on the lights and went to the reference

alcove. A sheet of frosted crystal, cocked like a draft-board, was set before a

desk chair. There was a complicated panel of control buttons alongside it.

Reich seated himself and punched READY. The sheet lit up and a canned voice

spoke from an overhead speaker.

"Topic?"

Reich punched SCIENCE.

"Section?"

Reich punched ASTRONOMY.

"Question?"

"The universe."

Click-pause-click. "The term universe in its complete physical sense applies to

all matter in existence."

"What matter is in existence?"

Click-pause-click. "Matter is gathered into aggregates ranging in size from the

smallest atom to the largest collection of matter known to astronomers,"

"What is the largest collection of matter known to astronomers?" Reich punched

DIAGRAM.

Click-pause-click. "The sun." The crystal plate displayed a dazzling picture of