Chapter I

When the first strong sunlight of May covered the tree-arched avenues of Center City with green, the riots started.

The people gathered in angry knots outside the city hall, met in the park and littered its walks with newspapers and magazines as they gobbled up editorial comment at a furious rate, slipped with dark of night through back alleys and planned things with furious futility. Center City’s finest knew when to make themselves scarce: their uniforms stood for everything objectionable at this time and they might be subjected to clubs, stones, taunts, threats, leers--and knives.

But Center City, like most communities in United North America, had survived the Riots before and would survive them again. On past performances, the damage could be estimated, too. Two-hundred fifty-seven plate glass windows would be broken, three-hundred twelve limbs fractured. Several thousand people would be treated for minor bruises and abrasions, Center City would receive half that many damage suits. The list had been drawn clearly and accurately; it hardly ever deviated.

And Center City would meet its quota. With a demonstration of reluctance, of course. The healthy approved way to get over social trauma once every seven-hundred eighty days.

“Shut it off, Kit. Kit, please.”

The telio blared in a cheaply feminine voice, “Oh, it’s a long way to nowhere, forever. And your honey’s not coming back, never, never, never...” A wailing trumpet represented flight.

“They’ll exploit anything, Kit.”

“It’s just a song.”

“Turn it off, please.”

Christopher Temple turned off the telio, smiling. “They’ll announce the names in ten minutes,” he said, and felt the corners of his mouth draw taut.

“Tell me again, Kit,” Stephanie pleaded. “How old are you?”

“You know I’m twenty-six.”

“Twenty-six. Yes, twenty-six, so if they don’t call you this time, you’ll be safe. Safe, I can hardly believe it.”

“Nine minutes,” said Temple in the darkness. Stephanie had drawn the blinds earlier, had dialed for sound-proofing. The screaming in the streets came to them as not the faintest whisper. But the song which became briefly, masochistically popular every two years and two months had spoiled their feeling of seclusion.

“Tell me again, Kit.”

“What.”

“You know what.”

He let her come to him, let her hug him fiercely and whimper against his chest. He remained passive although it hurt, occasionally stroking her hair. He could not assert himself for another--he looked at his strap chrono--for another eight minutes. He might regret it, if he did, for a lifetime.

“Tell me, Kit.”

“I’ll marry you, Steffy. In eight minutes, less than eight minutes, I’ll go down and get the license. We’ll marry as soon as it’s legal.”

“This is the last time they have a chance for you. I mean, they won’t change the law?”

Temple shook his head. “They don’t have to. They meet their quota this way.”

“I’m scared.”

“You and everyone else in North America, Steffy.”

She was trembling against him. “It’s cold for June.”

“It’s warm in here.” He kissed her moist eyes, her nose, her lips.

“Oh God, Kit. Five minutes.”

“Five minutes to freedom,” he said jauntily. He did not feel that way at all. Apprehension clutched at his chest with tight, painful fingers, almost making it difficult for him to breathe.

“Turn it on, Kit.”

He dialed the telio in time to see the announcer’s insincere smile. Smile seventeen, Kit thought wryly. Patriotic sacrifice.

“Every seven-hundred eighty days,” said the announcer, “two-hundred of Center City’s young men are selected to serve their country for an indeterminate period regulated rigidly by a rotation system.”

“Liar!” Stephanie cried. “No one ever comes back. It’s been thirty years since the first group and not one of them...”

“Shh,” Temple raised a finger to his lips.

“This is the thirteenth call since the inception of what is popularly referred to as the Nowhere Journey,” said the announcer. “Obviously, the two hundred young men from Center City and the thousands from all over this hemisphere do not in reality embark on a Journey to Nowhere. That is quite meaningless.”

“Hooray for him,” Temple laughed.

“I wish he’d get on with it.”

“No, ladies and gentlemen, we use the word Nowhere merely because we are not aware of the ultimate destination. Security reasons make it impossible to...”

“Yes, yes,” said Stephanie impatiently. “Go on.”

“ ... therefore, the Nowhere Journey. With a maximum security lid on the whole project, we don’t even know why our men are sent, or by what means. We know only that they go somewhere and not nowhere, bravely and not fearfully, for a purpose vital to the security of this nation and not to slake the thirst of a chessman of regiments and divisions.

“If Center City’s contribution helps keep our country strong, Center City is naturally obligated...”

“No one ever said it isn’t our duty,” Stephanie argued, as if the announcer could indeed hear her. “We only wish we knew something about it--and we wish it weren’t forever.”

“It isn’t forever,” Temple reminded her. “Not officially.”

“Officially, my foot. If they never return, they never return. If there’s a rotation system on paper, but it’s never used, that’s not a rotation system at all. Kit, it’s forever.”

“ ... to thank the following sponsors for relinquishing their time...”

“No one would want to sponsor that,” Temple whispered cheerfully.

“Kit,” said Stephanie, “I--I suddenly have a hunch we have nothing to worry about. They missed you all along and they’ll miss you this time, too. The last time, and then you’ll be too old. That’s funny, too old at twenty-six. But we’ll be free, Kit. Free.”

“He’s starting,” Temple told her.

A large drum filled the entire telio screen. It rotated slowly, from bottom to top. In twenty seconds, the letter A appeared, followed by about a dozen names. Abercrombie, Harold. Abner, Eugene. Adams, Gerald. Sorrow in the Abercrombie household. Despair for the Abners. Black horror for Adams.

The drum rotated.

“They’re up to F, Kit.”

Fabian, Gregory G...

Names circled the drum slowly, like viscous alphabet soup. Meaningless, unless you happened to know them.

“Kit, I knew Thomas Mulvany.”

N, O, P...

“It’s hot in here.”

“I thought you were cold.”

“I’m suffocating now.”

R, S...

“T!” Stephanie shrieked as the names began to float slowly up from the bottom of the drum.

Tabor, Tebbets, Teddley...

Temple’s mouth felt dry as a ball of cotton. Stephanie laughed nervously. Now--or never. Never?

Now.

Stephanie whimpered despairingly.

TEMPLE, CHRISTOPHER.

“Sorry I’m late, Mr. Jones.”

“Hardly, Mr. Smith. Hardly. Three minutes late.”

“I’ve come in response to your ad.”

“I know. You look old.”

“I am over twenty-six. Do you mind?”

“Not if you don’t, Mr. Smith. Let me look at you. Umm, you seem the right height, the right build.”

“I meet the specifications exactly.”

“Good, Mr. Smith. And your price.”

“No haggling,” said Smith. “I have a price which must be met.”

“Your price, Mr. Smith?”

“Ten million dollars.”

The man called Jones coughed nervously. “That’s high.”

“Very. Take it or leave it.”

“In cash?”

“Definitely. Small unmarked bills.”

“You’d need a moving van!”

“Then I’ll get one.”

“Ten million dollars,” said Jones, “is quite a price. Admittedly, I haven’t dealt in this sort of traffic before, but--”

“But nothing. Were your name Jones, really and truly Jones, I might ask less.”

“Sir?”

“You are Jones exactly as much as I am Smith.”