The Winds of Limbo

CHAPTER NINETEEN

THE trial of Simon Powys and the trial of the Fireclown were held at the same time, but in different courts. The laservid stations and the news-sheets were torn between which should have most prominence.

The Pi-meson had been found, intact, in Wyoming. Scientists had already stripped it of its time mechanisms and were investigating them. The Fireclown offered them no help when asked.

The relationship between the late protagonists came out, and scandal blended with sensation to feed the news-sheets and laservid networks.

Simon Powys was not very entertaining, however. He admitted all charges and was found guilty on all charges.

Even the judge did not exercise that strange prerogative which judges seem to think themselves entitled to-his summing up contained no list of his personal biases. It was quick and clean. Simon Powys was banished to a confined bunk in one of the pressure domes in the asteroid belt.

The Fireclown was more verbose, his case harder to try since it had no precedent. He could not be tried for his philosophical beliefs, or even for his unique intentions to destroy intelligence. The charge, when it was finally decided, read: "Plotting to disrupt human society to a point where it could no longer function."

His long speeches in his defense-or rather in defense of his creed-agreed with the charge.

"I am the victim of crude intelligence," he told the bewildered jury.

"Intelligence which has no business to exist in the universe. I have been pulled down by it as it will pull down the human race in time. I tried to help you but, for all your vaunted minds, you could not understand. Perish, then, in spirit.

Set yourselves against the law of the universe! Your punishment will come soon enough and be well merited!"

Though still puzzled, the jury decided the Fireclown's own punishment soon enough. They found him guilty but insane. He would be sent to a mental hospital on Ganymede.

Meanwhile, the scientists continued to puzzle over his bizarre equations and could arrive at no conclusion. In time, perhaps, they would, for once on the track they would never leave it.

For the time being, public hysteria died down, and society once again settled into an ordered existence. Helen Curtis began to put her reforms to the assembly and they were accepted or rejected after discussion. Progress would be slow and would always follow behind the demands of the reformers, but at least in this manner it might retain its dynamism. Helen was comparatively satisfied. Their wedding date was fixed. And then came the final drama. Alan, once more looking for a job, scanned the list of specialist agencies, and sipped coffee. The laservid buzzed and he switched it to receive. Helen's face appeared on the screen.

"Alan-the Fireclown's escaped!"

He put down his cup with a clatter. "What! How?"

"You know how strong he was. He overpowered a guard, got hold of his gun and held up the entire Police Headquarters. He made them release Uncle Simon and they left in a stolen police car together."

"Where have they gone?"

"We don't know."

"I'm coming over. Are you at the House?"

"Yes."

When he reached the Presidential apartments Helen and some of her advisers were staring at the huge wall-screen. A commentary boomed:

"Our cameras have succeeded in tracking the escaping space-ship Pi-meson, containing convicts Manny Bloom, better known as the Fireclown, and Simon Powys!"

Deep space. The ship in clear focus.

"The ship, degutted of its weird time devices but retaining its ordinary drive, has so far outdistanced all pursuers."

"That answers my question," Alan said from behind Helen. "Where are they going?"

"They seem to be heading for Venus. They could just about survive there and certainly escape the police. The re-vitalization project is two-thirds complete."

"A strange pair to be traveling together," Helen reflected.

"They've got things in common," Alan pointed out. "In their different ways they were both reactionary idealists. They wanted things simpler than they in fact are."

The ship passed Venus.

"Where in the universe are they heading for?" Helen said, baffled.

Alan thought he knew.

He watched helplessly as the ship carrying his father and grandfather plunged on.

"Perhaps it's for the best-for them and for us," he whispered.

The Pi-meson passed the orbit of Mercury.

They watched as it wheeled and sailed in towards the sun.

It vanished, consumed almost immediately, as it followed its unveering course into the heart of Sol.

The watchers were silent. Helen turned her face up towards Alan and studied his expression. She glanced back at the screen.

In a few short weeks a new Age had come to Earth and gone as swiftly. It had left a strange mood behind it-and perhaps a new science. Sociologists and psychologists attempted to explain the sudden ebb of hysteria that had seized the people. There were a dozen theories, all complex, all with their merits. One attempted to explain it as the result of the transition period between "natural" (or biological) living and "artificial" (or machine) living. It concluded that until the "artificial" became the natural and human psychology altered accordingly we should experience many such disturbances.

It was a likely explanation. But there might have been another, far simpler explanation.

Perhaps the world had just been-bored.

THE END