Chapter Nineteen
Barrent recovered consciousness in a dim, high-ceilinged room. He waslying on a bed. Two people were standing near by. They seemed to bearguing.
"There simply isn't any more time to wait," a man was saying. "You failto appreciate the urgency of the situation."
"The doctor said he needs at least another three days of rest." It was awoman's voice. After a moment, Barrent realized that Moera was speaking.
"He can have three days."
"And he needs time for indoctrination."
"You told me he was bright. The indoctrination shouldn't take long."
"It might take weeks."
"Impossible. The ship lands in six days."
"Eylan," Moera said, "you're trying to move too fast. We can't do itthis time. On the next Landing Day we will be much better prepared--"
"The situation will be out of hand by then," the man said. "I'm sorry,Moera, we have to use Barrent immediately, or not use him at all."
Barrent said, "Use me for what? Where am I? Who are you?"
The man turned to the bed. In the faint light, Barrent saw a very tall,thin, stooped old man with a wispy moustache.
"I'm glad you're awake," he said. "My name is Swen Eylan. I'm in commandof Group Two."
"What's Group Two?" Barrent asked. "How did you get me out of the Arena?Are you agents of The Black One?"
Eylan grinned. "Not exactly agents. We'll explain everything to youshortly. First, I think you'd better have something to eat and drink."
* * * * *
A nurse brought in a tray. While Barrent ate, Eylan pulled up a chairand told Barrent about The Black One.
"Our Group," Eylan said, "can't claim to have started the religion ofEvil. That appears to have sprung up spontaneously on Omega. But sinceit was there, we have made occasional use of it. The priests have beenremarkably cooperative. After all, the worshipers of Evil set a highpositive value upon corruption. Therefore, in the eyes of an Omeganpriest, the appearance of a fraudulent Black One is not anathema. Quitethe contrary, for in the orthodox worship of Evil, a great deal ofemphasis is put upon false images--especially if they are big, fiery,impressive images like the one which rescued you from the Arena."
"How did you produce that?" Barrent asked.
"It has to do with friction surfaces and planes of force," Eylan said."You'd have to ask our engineers for more details."
"Why did you rescue me?" Barrent asked.
Eylan glanced at Moera, who shrugged her shoulders. Lookinguncomfortable, Eylan said, "We'd like to use you for an important job.But before I tell you about it, I think you should know something aboutour organization. Certainly you must have some curiosity about us."
"A great deal," Barrent said. "Are you some kind of criminal elite?"
"We're an elite," Eylan said, "but we don't consider ourselves criminal.Two entirely different types of people have been sent to Omega. Thereare the true criminals guilty of murder, arson, armed robbery, and thelike. Those are the people you lived among. And there are the peopleguilty of deviational crimes such as political unreliability, scientificunorthodoxy, and irreligious attitudes. These people compose ourorganization, which, for the purposes of identification, we call GroupTwo. As far as we can remember and reconstruct, our crimes were largelya matter of holding different opinions from those which prevailed uponEarth. We were nonconformists. We probably constituted an unstableelement, and a threat to the entrenched powers. Therefore we weredeported to Omega."
"And you separated yourselves from the other deportees," Barrent said.
"Yes, necessarily. For one thing, the true criminals of Group One arenot readily controllable. We couldn't lead them, nor could we allowourselves to be led by them. But more important than that, we had a jobto do that could only be performed in secrecy. We had no idea whatdevices the guardships employed to watch the surface of Omega. To keepour security intact, we went underground--literally. The room you're innow is about two hundred feet below the surface. We stay out of sight,except for special agents like Moera, who separate the political andsocial prisoners who belong in Group Two from the others."
"You didn't separate me," Barrent said.
"Of course not. You were allegedly guilty of murder, which put you inGroup One. However, your behavior was not typical of Group One. Youseemed like good potential material for us, so we helped you from timeto time. But we had to be sure of you before taking you into the Group.Your repudiation of the murder charge was strongly in your favor. Also,we questioned Illiardi after you had located him. There seemed no reasonto doubt that he performed the murder you were charged with. Even morestrongly in your favor were your high survival qualities, which hadtheir ultimate test in the Hunt and the Games. We were badly in need ofa man of your abilities."
"Just what is your work?" Barrent asked. "What do you want toaccomplish?"
"We want to go back to Earth," Eylan said.
"But that's impossible."
"We don't think so," Eylan said. "We've given the matter considerablestudy. In spite of the guardships, we think it's possible to return toEarth. We'll find out for certain in six days, when the breakout must bemade."
Moera said, "It would be better to wait another six months."
"Impossible. A six months' delay would be ruinous. Every society has apurpose, and the criminal population of Omega is bent upon its ownself-destruction. Barrent, you look surprised. Couldn't you see that?"
"I never thought about it," Barrent said. "After all, I was part of it."
"It's self-evident," Eylan said. "Consider the institutions--allcentered around legalized murder. The holidays are excuses for massmurders. Even the law, which governs the rate of murder, is beginning tobreak down. The population lives near the edge of chaos. And rightfullyso. There's no longer any security. The only way to live is to kill. Theonly way to rise in status is to kill. The only safe thing is tokill--more and more, faster and faster."
"You exaggerate," Moera said.
"I don't think so. I realize that there seems to be a certain permanenceto Omegan institutions, a certain inherent conservatism even to murder.But it's an illusion. I have no doubt that all dying societies projectedtheir illusion of permanence--right up to the end. Well, the end ofOmegan society is rapidly approaching."
"How soon?" Barrent asked.
"An explosion point will be reached in about four months," Eylan said."The only way to change that would be to give the population a newdirection, a different cause."
"Earth," Barrent said.
"Exactly. That's why the attempt must be made immediately."
"Well, I don't know much about it," Barrent said. "But I'll go alongwith you. I'll gladly be a part of any expedition."
Eylan looked uncomfortable again. "I suppose I haven't made myselfclear," he said. "_You_ are going to be the expedition, Barrent. You andonly you.... Forgive me if I've startled you."