American Science Fiction Five Classic Novels 1956-58 (30 page)

But every so often . . . once or twice a week (or perhaps once or twice a year) came the muffled thud of a distant explosion. The concussions were startling enough to distract Foyle from the furnace of vengeance that he stoked all through the silences. He whispered questions to the invisible figures around him in Sanitation.

“What’s them explosions?”

“Explosions?”

“Blow-ups. Hear ’em a long way off, me.”

“Them’s Blue Jauntes.”

“What?”

“Blue Jauntes. Every sometime a guy gets fed up with old

Jeffrey. Can’t take it no more, him. Jauntes into the wild blue yonder.”

“Jesus.”

“Yep. Don’t know where they are, them. Don’t know where they’re going. Blue Jaunte into the dark . . . and we hear ’em exploding in the mountains. Boom! Blue Jaunte.”

He was appalled, but he could understand. The darkness, the silence, the monotony destroyed sense and brought on desperation. The loneliness was intolerable. The patients buried in Gouffre Martel prison hospital looked forward eagerly to the morning Sanitation period for a chance to whisper a word and hear a word. But these fragments were not enough, and desperation came. Then there would be another distant explosion.

Sometimes the suffering men would turn on each other and then a savage fight would break out in Sanitation. These were instantly broken up by the goggled guards, and the morning lecture would switch on the Moral Fiber record preaching the Virtue of Patience.

Foyle learned the records by heart, every word, every click and crack in the tapes. He learned to loathe the voices of the lecturers: the Understanding Baritone, the Cheerful Tenor, the Man-to-Man Bass. He learned to deafen himself to the therapeutic monotony and perform his occupational therapy mechanically, but he was without resources to withstand the endless solitary hours. Fury was not enough.

He lost count of the days, of meals, of sermons. He no longer whispered in Sanitation. His mind came adrift and he began to wander. He imagined he was back aboard “Nomad,” reliving his fight for survival. Then he lost even this feeble grasp on illusion and began to sink deeper and deeper into the pit of catatonia: of womb silence, womb darkness, and womb sleep.

There were fleeting dreams. An angel hummed to him once. Another time she sang quietly. Thrice he heard her speak: “Oh God . . .” and “God damn!” and “Oh . . .” in a heart-rending descending note.

He sank into his abyss, listening to her.

“There is a way out,” his angel murmured in his ear, sweetly, comforting. Her voice was soft and warm, yet it burned with anger. It was the voice of a furious angel. “There is a way out.”

It whispered in his ear from nowhere, and suddenly, with the logic of desperation, it came to him that there was a way out of Gouffre Martel. He had been a fool not to see it before.

“Yes,” he croaked. “There’s a way out.”

There was a soft gasp, then a soft question: “Who’s there?”

“Me, is all,” Foyle said. “You know me.”

“Where are you?”

“Here. Where I always been, me.”

“But there’s no one. I’m alone.”

“Got to thank you for helping me.”

“Hearing voices is bad,” the furious angel murmured. “The first step off the deep end. I’ve got to stop.”

“You showed me the way out. Blue Jaunte.”

“Blue Jaunte! My God, this must be real. You’re talking the gutter lingo. You must be real. Who are you?”

“Gully Foyle.”

“But you’re not in my cell. You’re not even near. Men are in the north quadrant of Gouffre Martel. Women are in the south. I’m South-900. Where are you?”

“North-111.”

“You’re a quarter of a mile away. How can we— Of course! It’s the Whisper Line. I always thought that was a legend, but it’s true. It’s working now.”

“Here I go, me,” Foyle whispered. “Blue Jaunte.”

“Foyle, listen to me. Forget the Blue Jaunte. Don’t throw this away. It’s a miracle.”

“What’s a miracle?”

“There’s an acoustical freak in Gouffre Martel . . . they happen in underground caves . . . a freak of echoes, passages and whispering galleries. Old-timers call it the Whisper Line. I never believed them. No one ever did, but it’s true. We’re talking to each other over the Whisper Line. No one can hear us but us. We can talk, Foyle. We can plan. Maybe we can escape.” *

Her name was Jisbella McQueen. She was hot-tempered, independent, intelligent, and she was serving five years of cure in Gouffre Martel for larceny. Jisbella gave Foyle a cheerfully furious account of her revolt against society.

“You don’t know what jaunting’s done to women, Gully. It’s locked us up, sent us back to the seraglio.”

“What’s seraglio, girl?”

“A harem. A place where women are kept on ice. After a thousand years of civilization (it says here) we’re still property. Jaunting’s such a danger to our virtue, our value, our mint condition, that we’re locked up like gold plate in a safe. There’s nothing for us to do . . . nothing respectable. No jobs. No careers. There’s no getting out, Gully, unless you bust out and smash all the rules.”

“Did you have to, Jiz?”

“I had to be independent, Gully. I had to live my own life, and that’s the only way society would let me. So I ran away from home and turned crook.” And Jiz went on to describe the lurid details of her revolt: the Temper Racket, the Cataract Racket, the Honeymoon and Obituary Robs, the Badger Jaunte, and the Glim-Drop.

Foyle told her about “Nomad” and “Vorga,” his hatred and his plans. He did not tell Jisbella about his face or the twenty millions in platinum bullion waiting out in the asteroids.

“What happened to ‘Nomad’?” Jisbella asked. “Was it like that man, Dagenham, said? Was she blasted by an O.S. raider?”

“I don’t know, me. Can’t remember, girl.”

“The blast probably wiped out your memory. Shock. And being marooned for six months didn’t help. Did you notice anything worth salvaging from ‘Nomad’?”

“No.”

“Did Dagenham mention anything?”

“No,” Foyle lied.

“Then he must have another reason for hounding you into Gouffre Martel. There must be something else he wants from ‘Nomad.’ ”

“Yeah, Jiz.”

“But you were a fool trying to blow up ‘Vorga’ like that. You’re like a wild beast trying to punish the trap that injured it. Steel isn’t alive. It doesn’t think. You can’t punish ‘Vorga.’ ” “Don’t know what you mean, girl. ‘Vorga’ passed me by.”

“You punish the brain, Gully. The brain that sets the trap. Find out who was aboard ‘Vorga.’ Find out who gave the order to pass you by. Punish him.”

“Yeah. How?”

“Learn to think, Gully. The head that could figure out how to get ‘Nomad’ under way and how to put a bomb together ought to be able to figure that out. But no more bombs; brains instead. Locate a member of ‘Vorga’s’ crew. He’ll tell you who was aboard. Track them down. Find out who gave the order. Then punish him. But it’ll take time, Gully . . . time and money; more than you’ve got.”

“I got a whole life, me.”

They murmured for hours across the Whisper Line, their voices sounding small yet close to the ear. There was only one particular spot in each cell where the other could be heard, which was why so much time had passed before they discovered the miracle. But now they made up for lost time. And Jisbella educated Foyle.

“If we ever break out of Gouffre Martel, Gully, it’ll have to be together, and I’m not trusting myself to an illiterate partner.”

“Who’s illiterate?”

“You are,” Jisbella answered firmly. “I have to talk gutter a you half the time, me.”

“I can read and write.”

“And that’s about all . . . which means that outside of brute strength you’ll be useless.”

“Talk sense, you,” he said angrily.

“I am talking sense, me. What’s the use of the strongest chisel in the world if it doesn’t have an edge? We’ve got to sharpen your wits, Gully. Got to educate you, man, is all.”

He submitted. He realized she was right. He would need training not only for the bust-out but for the search for “Vorga” as well. Jisbella was the daughter of an architect and had received an education. This she drilled into Foyle, leavened with the cynical experience of five years in the underworld. Occasionally he rebelled against the hard work, and then there would be whispered quarrels, but in the end he would apologize and submit again. And sometimes Jisbella would tire of teaching, and then they would ramble on, sharing dreams in the dark. “I think we’re falling in love, Gully.”

“I think so too, Jiz.”

“I’m an old hag, Gully. A hundred and five years old. What are you like?”

“Awful.”

“How awful?”

“My face.”

“You make yourself sound romantic. Is it one of those exciting scars that make a man attractive?”

“No. You’ll see when we meet, us. That’s wrong, isn’t it, Jiz? Just plain: ‘When we meet.’ Period.”

“Good boy.”

“We will meet some day, won’t we, Jiz?”

“Soon, I hope, Gully.” Jisbella’s faraway voice became crisp and businesslike. “But we’ve got to stop hoping and get down to work. We’ve got to plan and prepare.”

From the underworld, Jisbella had inherited a mass of information about Gouffre Martel. No one had ever jaunted out of the cavern hospitals, but for decades the underworld had been collecting and collating information about them. It was from this data that Jisbella had formed her quick recognition of the Whisper Line that joined them. It was on the basis of this information that she began to discuss escape.

“We can pull it off, Gully. Never doubt that for a minute. There must be dozens of loopholes in their security system.”

“No one’s ever found them before.”

“No one’s ever worked with a partner before. We’ll pool our information and we’ll make it.”

He no longer shambled to Sanitation and back. He felt the corridor walls, noted doors, noted their texture, counted, listened, deduced, and reported. He made a note of every separate step in the Sanitation pens and reported them to Jiz. The questions he whispered to the men around him in the shower and scrub rooms had purpose. Together, Foyle and Jisbella built up a picture of the routine of Gouffre Martel and its security system.

One morning, on the return from Sanitation, he was stopped as he was about to step back into his cell.

“Stay in line, Foyle.”

“This is North-111. I know where to get off by now.” “Keep moving.”

“But—” He was terrified. “You’re changing me?” “Visitor to see you.”

He was marched up to the end of the north corridor where it met the three other main corridors that formed the huge cross of the hospital. In the center of the cross were the administration offices, maintenance workshops, clinics, and plants. Foyle was thrust into a room, as dark as his cell. The door was shut behind him. He became aware of a faint shimmering outline in the blackness. It was no more than the ghost of an image with a blurred body and a death’s head. Two black discs on the skull face were either eye sockets or infrared goggles.

“Good morning,” said Saul Dagenham.

“You?” Foyle exclaimed.

“Me. I’ve got five minutes. Sit down. Chair behind you.”

Foyle felt for the chair and sat down slowly.

“Enjoying yourself?” Dagenham inquired.

“What do you want, Dagenham?”

“There’s been a change,” Dagenham said dryly. “Last time we talked your dialogue consisted entirely of ‘Go to hell.’ ”

“Go to hell, Dagenham, if it’ll make you feel any better.”

“Your repartee’s improved; your speech, too. You’ve changed,” Dagenham said. “Changed a damned sight too much and a damned sight too fast. I don’t like it. What’s happened to you?”

“I’ve been going to night school.”

“You’ve had ten months in this night school.”

“Ten months!” Foyle echoed in amazement. “That long?”

“Ten months without sight and without sound. Ten months in solitary. You ought to be broke.”

“Oh, I’m broke, all right.”

“You ought to be whining. I was right. You’re unusual. At this rate it’s going to take too long. We can’t wait. I’d like to make a new offer.”

“Make it.”

“Ten per cent of ‘Nomad’s’ bullion. Two million.”

“Two million!” Foyle exclaimed. “Why didn’t you offer that in the first place?”

“Because I didn’t know your caliber. Is it a deal?”

“Almost. Not yet.”

“What else?”

“I get out of Gouffre Martel.”

“Naturally.”

“And someone else, too.”

“It can be arranged.” Dagenham’s voice sharpened. “Anything else?”

“I get access to Presteign’s files.”

“Out of the question. Are you insane? Be reasonable.”

“His shipping files.”

“What for?”

“A list of personnel aboard one of his ships.”

“Oh.” Dagenham’s eagerness revived. “That, I can arrange. Anything else?”

“No.”

“Then it’s a deal.” Dagenham was delighted. The ghostly blur of light arose from its chair. “We’ll have you out in six hours. We’ll start arrangements for your friend at once. It’s a pity we wasted this time, but no one can figure you, Foyle.”

“Why didn’t you send in a telepath to work me over?”

“A telepath? Be reasonable, Foyle. There aren’t ten full telepaths in all the Inner Planets. Their time is earmarked for the next ten years. We couldn’t persuade one to interrupt his schedule for love or money.”

“I apologize, Dagenham. I thought you didn’t know your business.”

“You very nearly hurt my feelings.”

“Now I know you’re just lying.”

“You’re flattering me.”

“You could have hired a telepath. For a cut in twenty million you could have hired one easy.”

“The government would never—”

“They don’t all work for the government. No. You’ve got something too hot to let a telepath get near.”

The blur of light leaped across the room and seized Foyle. “How much do you know, Foyle? What are you covering? Who are you working for?” Dagenham’s hands shook. “Christ! What a fool I’ve been. Of course you’re unusual. You’re no common spaceman. I asked you: who are you working for?”

Foyle tore Dagenham’s hands away from him. “No one,” he said. “No one, except myself.”