As he went down the steps, he saw that the others had gathered again and were gaping at him.
“You were in the machine?” Simit asked.
“I was in the machine,” said Skagg.
“It killed her but not you?” Derk wanted to know.
“She used it. I didn’t. First she used it a little, and then she used it too much, and the second time it killed her.” Skagg kept walking as he spoke. They followed him.
“It is death simply to go inside the machine,” Prewger said.
“This is wrong,” said Skagg. “You can enter safely. Death comes only from using the machine. From using it wrongly.”
“She was a fool,” said Glorr. “She was punished.”
“Maybe so,” Skagg said. “But the machine gives us love. The machine gives us goodness.”
He put the girl on the ground and summoned a Service Machine. Skagg gave it the girl’s pack, asking that it be outfitted with a Water Machine and a Food Machine and a Shelter Machine. The Service Machine went away and came back a short while later. After inspecting the pack, Skagg strapped it over his shoulder. Then he picked up the girl again and began to walk.
“Where are you going with her?” Glorr asked.
“Out of the city. I will find a place for her body to rest in the desert.”
“When you return, will you go into the Knowing Machine again?” Simit asked.
“I won’t return for a long time,” said Skagg. “I have some traveling to do. First to River City, and then to other places, maybe. And then, when I’ve found my courage, when I know who I really am and what I really want to be, I’ll come back here and go into the machine and use it as it was meant to be used. And nothing will ever be the same in Shining City again.”
He walked more quickly away from them, out toward the Empty Buildings, toward the plain of purple sand. He wondered how long it would take him to reach that other city beside the River Without Fish, and whether he would meet anyone like Fa Sol La when he got there.
His friends stood watching him until he was out of sight.
“He has become a madman,” said Prewger.
“A dangerous madman,” Glorr said.
“Would you do such a thing?” Simit asked.
“Do you mean, go into the machine, or go to another city?” said Derk.
“Either one.”
“Of course not,” said Derk.
“Of course not,” said Glorr as well. “I know who I am. I know what I want to be.”
“Yes,” Simit said, shuddering. “Why should we do such things? We know who we are.”
“We know what we want to be,” said Prewger.
Robert Silverberg, The Robert Silverberg Science Fiction Megapack(r)
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