Chapter 19

Barrent recovered consciousness in a dim, high-ceilinged room. He was lying on a bed. Two people were standing near by. They seemed to be arguing.

“There simply isn’t any more time to wait,” a man was saying. “You fail to appreciate the urgency of the situation.”

“The doctor said he needs at least another three days of rest.” It was a woman’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 it this 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 command of 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 you shortly. 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 chair and told Barrent about The Black One.

“Our Group,” Eylan said, “can’t claim to have started the religion of Evil. That appears to have sprung up spontaneously on Omega. But since it was there, we have made occasional use of it. The priests have been remarkably cooperative. After all, the worshipers of Evil set a high positive value upon corruption. Therefore, in the eyes of an Omegan priest, the appearance of a fraudulent Black One is not anathema. Quite the contrary, for in the orthodox worship of Evil, a great deal of emphasis 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. Looking uncomfortable, 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 about our 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. There are the true criminals guilty of murder, arson, armed robbery, and the like. Those are the people you lived among. And there are the people guilty of deviational crimes such as political unreliability, scientific unorthodoxy, and irreligious attitudes. These people compose our organization, which, for the purposes of identification, we call Group Two. As far as we can remember and reconstruct, our crimes were largely a matter of holding different opinions from those which prevailed upon Earth. We were nonconformists. We probably constituted an unstable element, and a threat to the entrenched powers. Therefore we were deported to Omega.”

“And you separated yourselves from the other deportees,” Barrent said.