“Would you mind explaining that?” I let my hands fall, though I was still alert for trouble.

“Of course. As soon as I heard the radio report I tried to put myself in your place. If you went south or east you would end up among the buildings of the city where you would be quickly found. If you did not do this your course would take you west in the direction of this school. Of course if you headed north you would come to the sea very quickly and would then still have to go west. Operating on this theory I changed today’s schedules and decided that all of the boys needed more exercise. They are all hating me now because they missed hours of classroom study that will have to be made up tonight. But they all did a number of kilometers on skis. Their course, not by chance, took them first south then west, to return here in a large loop along the shore. This was designed so that if you did see any of them you would follow them here. Is that what you did?”

There was no point in lying. “Yes. Now what do you plan to do?”

“Do? Why, talk to you of course. You were not seen entering the building?”

“No.”

“Better than I expected. I was sure I would have to axion-feed some people. You are very ingenious, I should have remembered that. Now, the other end of this observation gallery leads to my office. Shall we go there?”

“Why? You’re going to turn me in?”

“No. I want to talk to you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Naturally, you have no reason to. But you have little choice. Since you did not kill me at once I doubt if you will do it now. Follow me.”

At that Hanasu turned and walked away. There was little else I could do except trot after him. And stay close. Maybe I couldn’t chop him down in the prime of his senile life, but I could certainly grab him and wrap him like a package if he tried to call in any alarms.

The gallery wound up and down by many other classes, and I had tantalizing glimpses of what they were doing. But no chance to stop. I was right behind him when he climbed a short flight of steps and reached for the door handle. I put my hand out and stopped him.

“What’s in here?” I asked.

“My office, as I said.”

“Is anyone in there?”

“I doubt it. They have no permission to enter when I am not there. But I can look—”

“I think I would prefer to do that myself.” Which I did, and he was right. I felt very much like a lizard as I searched the room trying to keep one eye on him and the other on the fixtures, both at the same time. A narrow window opening out onto blackness, shelves of books, a large desk, files, a few chairs. I waved him to the one furthest from the desk—where any buttons or alarms would not be located. He went quietly, sitting and folding his hands while I prowled a bit more. There was a jug of water and a glass on the sideboard and I suddenly realized how thirsty I was. I poured and glugged and managed to finish all of it. Then I dropped into the chair behind his desk, put my feet up on it.

“And you really want to help me?” I asked, in my most skeptical tone of voice.

“Yes, I do.”

“For openers you might show me how to take this collar off my neck.”

“Of course. You’ll find a key in the right hand drawer of the desk. The keyhole is just below the cable connection on the collar.”

It took a bit of fumbling, but the collar finally snapped open and I threw it into the corner. “Great. A wonderful feeling.” I looked around. “A nice office. Do you run this place?”

“I am the headmaster, yes. I was exiled here as punishment. They would have killed me, but they did not dare.”

“I haven’t the slightest idea what you are talking about. Would you care to explain?”

“Of course. The Committee of Ten rule this planet. I was on this committee for many years. I am an extremely good organizer. I originated and planned the entire Cliaand operation. When it was terminated, thanks to your efforts, I returned and became First of the Committee. That was when I attempted to alter our programs and they punished me for it. I have been at this school ever since. I cannot leave here nor can I change one word of the program which is fixed and immutable. It is a very safe prison.”

This was getting more and more interesting. “What changes did you try make?”

“Radical ones. I began to doubt all of our aims. I had been exposed to other cultures, corrupted they said, as I began to question ours more and more. But as soon as I tried to put my new ideas into force I was apprehended, removed, sent here. There can be no new ideas on Kekkonshiki…”

The door opened and a wheeled cart was pushed in by a small boy.

“I have brought your dinner, Headmaster,” he said, then saw me behind the desk. His expression did not alter in the slightest. “That is the prisoner who escaped.”

Only fatigue kept me in the chair; I had been through a lot this day and my mind was as tired as my body. What was I to do with this child?

“You are correct, Yoru,” Hanasu said. “Come in and watch him while I go for help.”

I was on my feet when I heard that, ready to knock some heads together. But Hanasu did not leave the room. Instead he stepped behind Yoru and silently closed the door. Then he took a black metal device from a shelf and touched it lightly to the back of the boy’s neck. The boy froze, eyes open, immobile.

“There is no danger now,” Hanasu said. “I will remove a few minutes of the lad’s memory, that is all.”

My throat closed and I felt the disgust—mixed with hatred and, yes, fear—rising within me. “That thing in your hand. What is it?”

“The axion feed. You will have seen it many times, though of course you have no memory of that. It can remove memories and replace them with others. Now if you will step behind the door to the gallery the boy will enter again and leave.”

Did I have a choice? I don’t know. Perhaps the sight of the braintramping machine along with my fatigue was making me simple. I did not question; I just obeyed. Though I did leave the door open a crack to watch. Hanasu made some adjustments on the machine and pressed it to the boy’s neck again. Nothing appeared to happen. Then he opened the door and regained his seat. A few seconds later the boy moved, pushing the cart further into the room.

“I have brought your dinner, Headmaster,” he said. “Leave it and do not return tonight. I do not wish to be disturbed.”

“Yes, Headmaster.” He turned and left and I emerged from my hiding place.

“That machine—it’s the one they used on me?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“It’s the foulest, most disgusting thing I have ever heard of.”

“It is just a machine,” he said emotionlessly, then replaced it on the shelf. “I do not need food now and you will be hungry after your exposure. Help yourself.”

Too many things had been happening too quickly for me to think about my appetite. But now that he had mentioned it I realized that I was hungry enough to eat a cow, raw. I threw back the cover on the plate and there was a rush of saliva at the sight of the food. It was the same tasteless dried fish ration I had had on the spacer, but was the finest dinner imaginable at that moment. I shoveled and chomped and listened to Hanasu.

“I am trying to understand your reasons for saying that the machine is disgusting. You mean the uses it is put to, don’t you?” I nodded, my mouth too full to talk. “I can understand your reasoning. That is my trouble. I am very intelligent or I would not have been first in my classes and then first on the Committee. During the years I have given this much thought and have concluded that most of the people on this planet are both stupid and unimaginative. Intelligence and imagination are handicaps to basic survival in an environment as harsh as ours. We have selectively bred them out. Which means I am a sport, a mutant. These differences lay dormant during my early years. I believed everything I was taught and excelled in my studies. I did not question then because questioning is unknown here. Obedience is all. Now I question. We are not superior to all of the rest of mankind—just different. Our attempts to destroy or rule them all were wrong. Our liaison with the aliens to war on our own specie the biggest crime of all.”