Sten felt a sickening void in his stomach as they marched past the officer. Surely the man suspected. Would it all end right here, before they even had a chance to get started? He felt the reassuring pressure of the knife inside his belt, the one weapon that Franz had advised, and resolved that, if it should be necessary, their lives would be sold dearly.

After a while they turned into a series of side passage-ways and Franz stopped before the door to one of the cubicles. The corridor was empty, and they were out of range of the view-screens. Johnathon relaxed against the wall and sighed. "What a sight. I never expected it to be as bad as this. Did you notice the look in most of their eyes? It's a dull, glazed almost dead look. They're nothing more than beaten animals."

"Easy," Franz cautioned, "wait till we get inside."

He pressed the button on the door. A woman's voice came through the door panel. "What do you want?"

"Open. In the name of The Leader. It is a Provost."

Slowly the door swung open and the men saw a small brunette standing before them. "What do you want?" she repeated in the same monotone.

"Interrogation!" Franz pushed his way inside. The others followed.

The woman stood against the wall cowering from the soldiers. Franz searched around the apartment carefully, then confronted the woman.

"Do you not know me?"

The woman stared into his eyes. Finally she said, "No, no, I don't know you."

"Do you not remember Jeannine? The girl you worked with? Remember the plans? The plans to leave here and go outside to build a new life?"

Her chin quivered as she tried to speak. "Yes, now I remember. You are Franz, Jeannine's lover. That was before The Leader found out and ... and sent Jeannine away. You disappeared, I thought you had been sent away, too. It is hard to remember. You know we are ordered to forget the past. What ... what do you want of me?"

Franz motioned to the men with him, "We are from the outside."

The woman recoiled with a gasp and backed even closer to the wall. "Root-Diggers!"

Sten stepped forward. "No, we're not Root-Diggers. We're the men of Boru. We've come to lead you and others like you to freedom."

"Barbarians!" the woman snarled. "You're planning to overthrow Panamia!" She lunged wildly at the switch that would have turned on her view-screen. Sten caught her and pushed her back against the wall. The woman screamed once before Sten slapped her, then she sobbed into her hands.

"Shut up!" Sten commanded. "We mean no harm. We have come only to lead out to freedom those who wish to go."

"You are against The Leader."

Franz laughed. "Let's say we hope to outwit him."

The woman drew back. "That is impossible, he cannot be outwitted. The Leader is all."

Johnathon looked up from the corner where he was examining the view-screen. "That may be, but we intend to have a try at it."

Karl, who had been leaning against the door, suddenly sat down on a hard bench against the wall. "Damn," he complained, "this whining noise gives me a headache."

The woman allowed herself a moment of curiosity. "What whining noise? There is no noise."

"They are conditioned to it," Franz spoke to Sten. "It's a part of their lives. We never hear the pounding of our hearts."

The woman sat down on the bench and buried her face in her hands.

"Tell me," Sten said, "Has she no husband?"

"Husband? In Panamia there is no such thing. Everyone lives alone. When they reach maturity, they are summoned to a meeting with The Leader, and mated with him or one of his representatives. That is all. The child is raised by The Leader's nurses. It is all a very impersonal business. They never speak of it."

The lights in the apartment dimmed. Immediately the woman rose and walked mechanically to a bunk set in the wall, curled up, and was asleep almost before the men could notice her.

"What was that?"

"Just The Leader's signal that it is time for sleep," Franz said. "Did you see how she obeyed?"

"They live like clockwork," Sten muttered.

Several hours later the lights came on again. The woman rose without speaking to the men, who had slept on the floor, and sat down at the table to eat.

"Hey, don't we get invited to breakfast?" asked Karl, sitting up in the corner.

Johnathon sniffed the air. "From the smell of it I don't think I want any."

The woman looked up annoyed. "When are you going to leave? I have to go to my work. It's important to Panamia." This last was said with a fierce pride.

"Will she be missed?" Sten asked Franz.

"Yes, but they allow one day away for illness. The second day they check."

"Don't worry," Sten told the woman. "We will leave when we have what we came for."

"And what is that?"

"Freedom."

"But you say freedom is outside. Why didn't you stay?"

"Because there must be freedom for our children—and for their children."

"You have children?" she looked interested.

"We shall soon."

"Yes," she said scornfully, "freedom for the children of the Root-Diggers. But you come to Panamia for that freedom!"

"We told you we're not Root-Diggers," Johnathon said. "You can hardly compare us with that tribe of poor devils. But even their state is better than living like a slave in Panamia."

The woman laughed bitterly. "If you are not Root-Diggers, why do you come to hurt Panamia and The Leader? It is because of you people that we are warred upon and must always sacrifice."

Franz rose and faced the woman. "Kathryn, you're wrong," he said. "The Root-Diggers are not warring with Panamia. They are only men and women like ourselves who have been banned from Panamia. The Leader had them purged before they were forced outside so that they are sterile and have only half their wits. They have to live like animals, eating roots and berries and bugs and insects. Those are the Root-Diggers your Leader uses to frighten you."

The woman clenched her fists until the knuckles showed white. "You lie!" she screamed. "The Leader tells the truth."

"No, it's not a lie. We have all seen them," Sten said quietly.

The men sat in silence while the woman wept.

Karl reached out and ate a bit of the woman's food. "What sort of gruel is this stuff, I wonder. It needs salt."

"Salt," commented Franz, "is the greatest luxury in the city. Because of the Root-Diggers, you know. There is a grave shortage. The people crave it more than anything else and will go to any lengths to get an extra ration of it."

Sten shook his head. "And they blame it on those poor beasts outside." He rose and began nervously pacing the floor. "Franz, we have to move quickly. The others will leave if we don't meet them on time. Do you think she will go with us? Will she help us get others?"

"Who knows about her?" Franz shrugged. "I know some others here who may want to go. We can see them now, but someone has to stay here with Kathryn."

Sten watched the hungry eyes of Karl and Johnathon as they looked at the now silent woman, sitting dejectedly at the table.

"I'll stay," he said.

The two men moved reluctantly as they followed Franz from the room. Sten sat in silence after they were gone, watching the woman, who was staring sullenly at the table top. He felt the pressure of the room close in on him, and wished he were back in the openness of the mountains. With a start he realized that he no longer noticed the whine unless he listened for it, and that the sound somehow created a feeling of warmth within him. He rose, slammed his fist into his open palm, and shook the woman vigorously.

"Kathryn, how would you like to leave here? Go to a new land, a valley that is still green and fertile? There you could look up at the sky and live and feel free—and raise your children free."

Kathryn looked up dumbfounded. "I couldn't leave here. What would I do? Don't you know that this is real freedom? Here where we have The Leader to take care of everything for us?"

"No! This is bondage. Being told when to sleep and when to eat and what to eat, and slaving for a grain of salt."

"Do you have salt?" she seemed incredulous.

"Out there, Kathryn, you can have as much as you want. Believe me, this is no good. Where is the purpose of your life? Man wasn't born to be a slave to anyone or anything, but to build his own life. You're a woman, meant to have children, to mother them, and teach them, and love them, doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"I ... I don't know. I've never thought about it before."

"You must think about it! Would you have it all end here? Living always at the command of an unknown voice?"

The woman's eyes searched the room, as if seeking some sign of reassurance. "But ... I've never thought of any other kind of life. I'm happy here!"

"Happy? Being a living robot? You've never touched real happiness. Think, Kathryn. Think hard about this. It's the most important thing in the world."

She turned from the man and looked at the wall.

It was several hours before Franz and the others returned. Kathryn was in her bunk, her eyes shut, an instrument clamped to her temples.

Franz breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them. "Whew, that's not good for the nerves! Every time we turned a corner we ran into that officer we met yesterday. I think he's watching us."

"Sten," Johnathon said excitedly, "you should have gone with us. Most of the people wouldn't even listen, but there was a girl who was interested. I've never seen anything like her, Sten. She's so soft and small and...."

Karl interrupted enthusiastically. "And she has a friend that's coming with her! Her name's Stella—I touched her and she's smoother than anything I ever felt. I ... I think she may go with us."

Sten and Franz stood soberly watching the child-like joy of the two men, a new joy, something unquenchable that burned deep within them.

"These people are mindless fools," Franz snorted. "Most of them didn't even remember me. The Leader's forgetting treatments are pretty strong stuff, I guess. 'The Past is Forgotten, the Future is the Glory of The Leader', that's the motto."

"No wonder the poor souls seem mindless," said Sten soberly. "But what about the girls they're so happy about?" he motioned to the table where Karl and Johnathon were glibly comparing notes on the girls they had met.

"They didn't remember me either, but they seemed to be able to think independently. They also thought of some others who might be interested. What will we do if we get too many?"

"We'll take anyone who wants to go. At least, as many as we can. The important thing is that we get enough to start again outside." He pointed to the nook where Kathryn was still curled in the foetal position.

"What's Kathryn doing, Franz? She's been like that for an hour."

Franz's eyes held a look of pity. "It is the one recreation that The Leader allows them. It's hard to explain exactly what it is, but you are carried away by it. It's something like a drug, yet it's mechanical. Something like music or sweet voices washes over you and you dream. For a time, you actually live."

Sten shuddered. "The only reality is dreams then, eh? Tell me, are these people actually capable of love?"

"It's completely foreign to them, but they are human beings, and I suppose love is innate in us all. I found it here once, you know." Sten looked away as Franz stared hard at the floor.

The tension was broken by a knock at the door, and three women followed by a single man entered. When they had exchanged greetings and been seated, Sten stood up in the middle of the room. Kathryn, who had wakened from her dreaming, sat watching wide-eyed.

"Franz has told you why we are here. We believe the human race is doomed to slavery and annihilation unless some of us break away. My father left us a treasure of books that his father before him had salvaged from the holocaust. They tell of a way of life before the land was ravaged. It was a better way, believe me. We men have lived in Boru, a small valley back in the hills. But now we're leaving there. Long ago our father told us of a green valley to the east, high in the mountains where things grow as they did in the time before all this. We have a map; and we're going there to find freedom. We need you to keep this freedom."

A hush of silence held the room for a moment, and was broken finally by the man who had come with the three girls. "Will The Leader be there?"

Sten stared hard at the man. "You will be your own leader. Can't you see that? Your Leader is only an illusion! There is no leader but yourself, and perhaps the God in my father's books."

The man sat a moment, then shook his head. "Not without The Leader—I couldn't face it."

"You have your choice," Franz said coldly.

The man rose and grasped the arm of the tall woman that had come in with him. "Then we have no business with you," he said as he led the woman to the door. The woman looked back hopelessly as she followed the man out.

"And you?" Sten asked the remaining women.

The blonde girl smiled and took hold of Johnathon's arm. "I will go."

They all turned to the shy-looking girl who sat next to Karl. She looked hard at the man next to her before speaking. "Yes, me too," she almost whispered.

"Good. That's two. Kathryn, what about you?"

She looked Sten squarely in the eye. "I've decided to stay. Why should I leave this good life to be devoured by beasts or Root-Diggers on the outside?"

Sten sighed. "Then we need more. And quickly. We must leave by tomorrow night at the latest."

After the women had been escorted to their cubicles, Franz led the men through the corridors toward the center of the city. In each great square they passed squads of soldiers dressed like themselves, staring straight ahead in the same unconscious way.

When they paused in the middle of a hall to plan their strategy, Karl turned to Franz. "Something's bothering me, Franz. Just where do they put their dead? We haven't passed anything like a graveyard."

Franz laughed. "Death is rare in Panamia, my friend. When a person grows old or very ill, he is summoned by The Leader. He never comes back. I never knew anyone to come back. As far as any one knows they're still at the headquarters of The Leader."

A huge cavern-like room loomed ahead where all the main passage-ways intersected. In the middle of the square sat a great round building, forbidding, yet beautiful. Doors opened on all sides leading into the great domed structure.

"And this is where The Leader dwells. Nice, eh?" Franz said.

The men stood looking at the huge dome until it seemed to them that they were being noticed, then they passed on through the square. At the far edge, Franz suddenly stiffened. "Walk fast. Hurry," he muttered. Sten quickened his pace to keep up with the others, then felt a chill run over him as he saw the officer with the thick glasses watching them from a window in the dome.

"I wonder what would happen," Karl muttered, "if a guy could get into that dome for a few minutes to play with the machinery?"

"Perhaps it could be done," Franz replied. "But it would be your last act on earth. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see what would happen to the people if the machinery stopped."

Sten noted the thoughtful expression on Franz's face. The man's eyes searched the corridor, where, by listening carefully, he could hear the high whine of The Leader.

Kathryn was home from her job when they returned.

"Well, how is your enlistment program coming?" she asked when they entered.

Sten looked at her and felt his stomach pull tight within him.

"Not so well," Franz replied. "Those I knew when I was here have forgotten what they believed then or are gone. It's too dangerous to speak to many new ones."

"There aren't many fools in Panamia," she retorted.

Johnathon grasped Sten's arm entreatingly. "Sten, come with us, we'll see the girls. They have friends who may be interested. We only have a few more hours, let's not waste them."

"No, you go on. I'll stay here for a while."

"As for me," Franz said, rising, "I'll go with Karl and Johnathon. I have to check on something."

Kathryn sat at the table watching Sten as the others left. He looked away from her eyes. "You'll be alone again soon. Tell me, don't you ever get lonesome all by yourself all the time?"

"I have The Leader. He is always near."

"You have nothing then. Don't you realize it is nothing?" He rose and walked to the nook where her recreation machine sat on a shelf. Grasping it with both hands, he wrenched it from the wall and let it fall to the floor, smashed. She stared at it dumbly.

"See! There is your Leader—a smashed machine!" Sten shouted. He moved to her side and leaned close to her. "Kathryn, you're a woman. You're not stone! Don't you feel anything at all?" Her neck turned slowly red as he pulled her toward him.

"No, I feel nothing," she said woodenly. "Is this supposed to be something special, the touch of a man?"

"It can be." He put his face into her hair. Slowly he pulled her head back and looked into her eyes, then he kissed her, hard.

She fought free of him and began pacing back and forth. "I don't know. I don't know. Perhaps you are right, but I don't know if I can do it."

"Here, what's this?" Johnathon entered smiling. "Has there been a change of heart? Good. Then we can leave. Franz here tells me he found the lady he went looking for too."

Kathryn looked again at the dream machine lying on the floor, then at Sten. She seemed to gather up strength for a brief moment. "I'll go," she whispered.

"I'm glad," Sten said. "We can leave right away then. What about your girl, Franz?"

"She is waiting for me," Franz smiled. "I made sure of that. But it is a long way. Give me an hour. Better yet, I'll meet you at the tunnel in an hour and a half."

Franz laid his hand on Sten's shoulder and spoke in a low voice. "If I'm not there in an hour and a half, go on. I'll catch you outside." He squeezed Sten's shoulder. "Be careful, my friend. And good luck."

Sten looked at the door for an instant after Franz had gone. "We must be careful. We don't want to be noticed."

"Soon there will be nobody to notice us," Johnathon said exuberantly. "We can yell and run and laugh, and there will be nobody to care, not even The Leader."

A silence fell over the room as he mentioned the name. Sten broke it to issue an order for everyone to gather his things. Kathryn gazed longingly round the room as the others moved out. She bit her lip with the effort it took to keep from pulling back as Sten led her from the room.

They passed through the corridors without incident, stopping when they reached the intersection that led to the tunnel. They stood there at the edge of the intersection, anxiously awaiting Franz.

Sten stiffened as he saw the officer that had stopped them before approaching down the corridor, followed by a soldier. The men snapped to attention and stood as if guarding the women.

The officer swaggered up to Sten. "Here, what are you doing with these women?" He studied Sten's face. "Don't I know you? Ah yes, you were with that scar-faced provost that's been snooping around lately. Your actions are most out of the ordinary. I think we had better go along to The Leader's headquarters and check on this."

"We have other orders," Sten stated flatly.

"What! You dare disobey!"

"We have orders. But look, here comes our officer now. Ask him."

As the officer turned, Sten lunged forward and struck him a blow on the neck, knocking him to the floor. Instantly he fell on top of him. There was a fierce struggle as the officer tried to reach inside his tunic for his weapon. Suddenly the officer gasped. When his body was still, Sten slowly withdrew his knife from the man's chest. The soldier stood staring stupidly at his fallen officer until Karl clubbed him from behind.

"We've got to get out of here," panted Sten.

"Franz! What about Franz?"

"I don't know. He should be here by now. But he said he'd catch us."

As they fled down the corridor, the view-screens along the way were blaring the usual message of the glory of The Leader. Abruptly the voice died away, the whine faded to a diminishing hum, and there was an increasing stillness. The whine stopped and the corridors were silent. The women, terror stricken by the stillness, screamed and fell writhing on the floor. Shouts filled the corridors as panicked throngs left without the symbols of The Leader ran from their cubicles in terror.

"What is it?" Karl shouted above the din, shaking his head to clear it.

"The whining noise. It stopped." Sten gasped. "Franz! It's Franz! He must have gotten in and wrecked the dynamos." He pulled Kathryn to her feet and shook her to stop her sobbing.

Then, as suddenly as it had stopped, the whine began again, slowly gaining momentum until it reached its former pitch. With this, the sobs of the women subsided and calmness slowly crept back through the corridors.

"It's started again," Karl began running toward the tunnel. "They must have spare dynamos. Poor Franz, all for nothing."

Again the view-speakers were blaring, this time warning the people that a saboteur had made an attempt to destroy The Leader.

The women were gasping for breath when they reached the door to the tunnel. Sten plunged through the door, hurrying the others in after him, and then threw his weight against the wall. With three men pushing against it, the wall gave way and they entered the tunnel.

It was night outside. They walked slowly, consoling the women, who were sobbing again at the loss of the shrill god they had known for so long. The heat that radiated from the sand was suffocating.

"We have to hurry on," Sten told the women. "We can't be caught in this sand tomorrow. There are foothills ahead where we can rest."

It was morning when the men, carrying the women, entered a rocky canyon and wearily slumped down in the shade of a cliff. The women barely moved, sleeping the sleep of the exhausted.

"Lord, I'm tired," Karl groaned.

Sten laughed. "At least we accomplished our mission. Except ... for Franz."

The men sat silent.

"Maybe Franz fulfilled his purpose, too," Karl said. "That dynamo was the woman he had waiting for him. He probably got a lot of satisfaction out of knowing that for one minute, at least, Panamia was without The Leader."

The other men didn't answer. They were asleep.

They woke as the sun was going down. Sten climbed the cliffs to look out over the desert in search of the other party. He returned dejected.

"They're half a day overdue now," he said. "Our food's low so we'll have to go on and hope they catch up later. Bradley has another map."

He noticed the women sitting against the base of the cliff, terrified.

"What's wrong?"

Kathryn looked around them at the barren ground and at the clear sky stretching away to the horizon. "What's wrong? Look at this. I feel like I'm floating in air. There's nothing over us!"

The men laughed.

"Don't laugh," Marta wailed. "It's a horrible feeling. This emptiness is killing me. Sing, shout, do something! But let's not have such silence!"

Stella, the shy girl with the mouse-colored hair, began crying again. Karl gently pulled her head over on his shoulder.

They left at dark, winding up through the canyon and back into the hills where the scrub trees began. All night they traveled, tearing their flesh on the jagged limbs and rocks in the darkness. Only, the occasional muffled sob of the women broke the stillness.