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Kekkonshiki . . ."
The door opened and a wheeled cart was pushed in by a small boy.
"I have brought your dinner, Headmaster," he said, then saw me behind the
desk. His expression did not alter in the slightest. "That is the prisoner who
escaped."
Only fatigue kept me in the chair; I had been through a lot this day and my
mind was as tired as my body. What was I to do with this child?
"You are correct, Yoru," Hanasu said. "Come in and watch him while I go for
help-"
I was on my feet when I beard that, ready to knock some heads together. But
Hanasu did not leave the room. Instead he stepped behind Yoru and silently
closed the door. Then he took a black metal device from a shelf and touched it
lightly to the back of the boy's neck. The boy froze, eyes open, immobile.
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"There is no danger now," Hanasu said. "I will remove a few minutes of the
lad's memory, that is all."
My throat closed and I felt the disgust--mixed with hatred and, yes,
fear--rising within me.
"That thing in your hand. What is it"
"The axion feed. You will have seen it many times, though of course you have
no memory of that. It can remove memories and replace them with others. Now if
you will step behind the door to the gallery the boy will enter again and
leave."
Did I have a choice? I don't know. Perhaps the sight of the brain-tramping
machine along with my fatigue was making me simple. I did not question; I just
obeyed. Though I did leave the door open a crack to watch. Hanasu made some
adjustments on the machine and pressed it to the boy's neck again. Nothing
appeared to happen. Then he opened the door and regained his seat. A few
seconds later the boy moved, pushing the cart further into the room.
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"I have brought your dinner, Headmaster," he said.
"Leave it and do not return tonight. I do not wish to be disturbed."
"Yes, Headmaster." He turned and left and I emerged from my hiding place.
"That machine--it's the one they used on me?" I asked.
"Yes."
"It's the foulest, most disgusting thing I have ever heard of."
"It is just a machine," be said emotionlessly, then replaced it on the shelf.
"I do not need food now and you will be hungry after your exposure. Help
yourself."
Too many things had been happening too quickly for me to think about my
appetite. But now that he had mentioned it I realized that I was hungry enough
to eat a cow, raw. I threw back the cover on the plate and there was a rush of
saliva at the sight of the food. It was the same tasteless dried fish ration I
had had on the spacer, but was the finest dinner imaginable at that moment. I
shoveled and chomped and listened to Hanasu.
"I am trying to understand your reasons for saying that the machine is
disgusting. You mean the uses it is put to, don't you?" I nodded, my mouth too
full to talk. "I can understand your reasoning. 'Mat is my trouble. I am very
intelligent or I would not have been first in my classes and then first on the
Committee. During the years I have given this much thought and have concluded
that most of the people on this planet are both stupid and unimaginative.
Intelligence and imagination are handicaps to basic survival in an environment
as harsh as ours. We have selectively bred them out. Which means I am a sport,
a mutant. These differences lay dormant during my early years. I believed
everything I was taught and excelled in my studies. I did not question then
because questioning is unknown here. Obedience is all. Now I question. We are
not superior to all of the rest of mankind--just different. Our attempts to
destroy or rule them all were wrong. Our liaison with the aliens to war on our
own specie the biggest crime of all."
"You're right," I said, swallowing the last bite regretfully. I could have
started all over again. Hanasu went on as though he had not heard me.
"When I discovered these facts I tried to change our aims. But it is
impossible. I cannot even change one word of the training these children
get--and I am in charge of the school."
"I can change everything," I told him.
"Of course," he said, turning to face me. Then his immobile face cracked, the
comers of his mouth turned up. He smiled, ever so slightly--but it was still a
smile. "Why do you think I wanted to get you here? You can do what I have
labored my lifetime to accomplish. Save the people of this chill planet from
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themselves."
"One message would do it. Just the location of this planet."
"And then--your League would come and destroy us. It is tragic but
inevitable."
"No. Wouldn't harm a hair of your heads."
"That is a jest and I do not like it! Do not mock me!" There was almost a
trace of anger in his voice.
"It's the truth. You just don't know how a civilized society will react. I
admit that a lot of people, if they knew who you were, would relish dropping a
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