The Happy Man Read online

animalor a man. Cursing low and involuntarily, he managed to roll over sothat he fell on his back. He saw the form, a patch of irregularblackness in the darkness around him and knew it for a body. He got tohis feet glancing around, not knowing what this meant. He bent overthe form, keeping the furnace beam's muzzle only a few inches fromit, but too far back to be grabbed suddenly. He couldn't see the man'sclothing very plainly but he could tell it was a patrolman's uniform.Nelson reached down to feel for a heartbeat and drew his hand awaysticky with what he knew must be blood. Nelson was shaken for amoment; but he put aside the strange kinship he so often felt forpatrolmen because they were also wakers and drew back, peering roundinto the darkness, pretty certain that he knew what had happened tothis patrolman.

  He pushed himself erect and turned to see Glynnis, a dark figure butobviously her, standing near a clump of trees a few feet off.

  "You move quiet as a cat," he said. "You do this?"

  "Uh-huh." She came forward and stared down at the corpse. Nelson wasglad he couldn't see her face in the darkness. "There were two ofthem. They split up and I followed after this one and came up behindhim. I slit his throat. Then I went and got the other one the sameway."

  And it had been so simple, thought Nelson. He handed Glynnis the extrapack. "Take this." She accepted it wordlessly and slipped her armsinto the straps. "Oh," he added, as an afterthought. "Let me show yousomething." He reached into the pack and drew out a knife. A good onewith a long plasteel blade that would not chip or corrode like hers.He handed it to her and imagined her smiling face in the darkness.

  "It doesn't feel like metal," she said, after she had taken the knifefrom its scabbard.

  "It isn't. It's a kind of plastic, stronger than most metals. Do youlike it?" He was wasting time, he knew, and he cursed himself for it.But it didn't matter.

  "It's real nice," she answered.

  "I'm glad you like it," he said, taking her elbow in his hand. "We'dbetter go now. They'll be after us."

  They ran most of the night, although it wasn't always running. Nelsonpicked a lot of terrain that was too uneven or too thickly coveredwith growth for running. They kept to rocks and creekbeds as much asthey could, and they stopped only a few hours before dawn to get a fewhours sleep they were too exhausted to postpone any longer.

  When Nelson awoke the sun was a little higher than he had wanted it tobe. He got to his feet and scanned the morning sky but saw nothing toindicate sky patrol robots. He felt uneasy about not having made moreterritory; but the way had been erratic and uneven. A thorough searchpattern could find him easily; the further away he got from the depotthe better chance he stood of not being discovered by a robot. Hewondered, briefly, just how many would be called out, but there was noreason to wonder. Three patrolmen dead meant a lot of searching tofind the killers. He and Glynnis couldn't waste much time.

  He nudged the still sleeping girl with his foot to wake her. She awokesuddenly, her hand darting toward her new knife and a low butstartled cry came from her.

  "Quiet." He had dug two cans out of his pack and handed one to her."We overslept. Eat in a hurry."

  She opened her breakfast. "We'll be traveling most of the day?" sheasked. When he nodded, "yes," she said, "I can take it."

  "I know you can; but they'll have a search out for us by now and athorough one. If we hadn't met when we had they'd have picked you upfor sure after I raided that depot--if I could have pulled it offalone."

  She smiled.

  "You ever see an air robot?" he asked.

  "No."

  "I hope you never do. They'll fly out a search pattern, and they haveequipment that can detect a human being. They can send back signals totell where we are if they spot us. Our only hope is to get away beforethe search pattern gets this far. If we can get far enough away, westand a better chance, because they'll have to spread out more thinly.We'll have to run for a long time, but eventually they'll give up.Until then--Well--" He let it hang. But Glynnis caught on.

  * * * * *

  The rest of the day they traveled, stopping only briefly to eat andonce during the afternoon when they came to a small river. Nelson'sadmiration for Glynnis increased. She responded intelligently to hiscommands, and learned quickly. She was strong and athletic, with thereflexes of an animal.

  They made good time. When darkness came Nelson estimated they had madealmost fifty miles since the raid, even over rough terrain. He hopedthat that would be enough. He was tired, and though the girl attemptedto hide her own fatigue, her attempts were becoming more and moreexaggerated. He searched out a camp site.

  He found one on a hill, overlooking a river. There was protection fromthe wind. The moon was up and there was plenty of light from it; butNelson didn't think the searchers would be out at night.

  After they had eaten, Nelson leaned back against the thick bole of atree and found himself studying the girl. Her features were evenenough, but she was not a classically beautiful girl. Nor anunattractive one. It was her eyes, he decided. She was staring offinto the sky and forest. Her eyes were large, dark, enigmatic eyesthat expressed much; expressed it eloquently. But he had the feelingthere was much in the girl that those eyes hid. Her body was lean, butwhether from exercise or undernourishment he couldn't be sure. Herfigure was full, for all the leanness, and ample. She was strong,though she hardly looked muscular. She had been toughened by herenvironment. Edna had not been as tough as Glynnis.

  With sudden embarrassment, he realized he had been comparing Glynnisand Edna frequently. He didn't want to do that--but he couldn't helphimself.

  "Something wrong?" Glynnis asked anxiously.

  She was returning his stare. "No," he said. "I was ... looking atyou." For a long moment, neither spoke. Then he said, "We'll betogether for a long time."

  "I know. We'll have to be."

  "I'm glad I found you. I lost my wife to the patrol some time back."

  "I've never been anyone's wife before. There was Frank, but I wasnever really what you could call his wife, exactly."

  "Many people ever stay with your folks?"

  "Not many. Frank only stayed a few days. I liked him. I wanted to gowith him."

  "Why didn't you?"

  She broke off a blade of grass and slowly began tearing it intostrips, intently gazing at it. "He just left suddenly without takingme. I guess he thought I was just a stupid brat. That was maybe two orthree years ago." Her voice sounded as if she were smiling a little.Nelson thought that strange.

  "You ever think much about the sleepers?" he asked suddenly.

  "Sometimes. I wonder what it's like in their dreams."

  "They like it in their dreams. Those dreams are built for them. Theyget along happily in their world, grateful for it. That's the word,grateful." He listened for a moment to nightsounds. "But they'rehelpless. If anything happens, they're asleep and unable to act. Ifthey wake up, they're in a world they don't know how to live in."

  "If you were a sleeper, what kind of world would you want to dreamabout?"

  "I don't want to be a sleeper."

  "Yes, but if you were. Would you live in a castle?"

  He thought on it for the first time. "I don't know," he said finally."I don't think so. I think I'd travel. Go out to the stars. There's awhole universe out there. Men went out there; they're still out there.I guess they've forgotten us."

  "You think they'll ever come back?"

  "Some day I think somebody from out there will come back and land onEarth to see what it's like. Maybe they'll try to invade us. We'd bepretty helpless with most of us asleep in our pipe-dream utopias."

  "I wouldn't like to be caught and put in a dream," she said. "But I'dlike to live in a castle." Nelson gazed at her. She had never known acommune, he realized. If she had, she would have bred when told to andthen docilely filed away to her coffin. But she had never beenindoctrinated. If she went into the dreams, it would be against herwill. But he had to admit that he had some reservations....

  He moved c
lose to her.

  "Maybe some day we can live in a castle. Or go into space to someplanet where men live in castles." He stared at the stars. "Out therethey must be like gods," he said and his voice sounded strange, evento him.

  He looked down at Glynnis. The moonlight was full on her face; shelooked fit to be a goddess to those gods, he thought. She was staringoff and around at the wilderness; she was saying, "Out here there'strees. And air. I like to look at the trees." He reached over