'But there were more and more schizophrenics to lock up.
By 1950 the prisons and hospitals were so full of schizophren-
ic people that the ancients did not have room left to lock
up any more. They were beginning to see that soon everyone
would be schizophrenic.
'Of course, in the 20th Century, the schizophrenic people
were almost as helpless and 'crazy' as the ancient Modern
men. Naturally they did not fight wars and lead the silly life
of the Moderns, but without proper drugs they couldn't con-
trol their Ego-shiftability. The personalities in a brain would
always be fighting each other. One personality would cut the
body or hurt it or make it filthy, so that when the other
personality took over the body, it would have to suffer. No,
the schizophrenic people of the 20th Century were almost
as 'crazy' as the ancient Moderns.
'But then the drugs were invented one by one and the
schizophrenic people of the 20th Century were freed of their
troubles. With the drugs the personalities of each body were
able to live side by side in harmony at last. It turned out that
many schizophrenic people, called overendow6d personalities,
simply had so many talents and viewpoints that it took two
or more personalities to handle everything.
'The drugs worked so well that the ancients had to let
millions of schizophrenic people out from behind the bars of
'crazy' houses. That was the Great Emancipation of the
1990s. From then on, schizophrenic people had trouble only
when they criminally didn't take their drugs. Usually, there
are two egos in a schizophrenic personthe hyperalter, or
prime ego, and the hypoalter, the alternate ego. There often
were more than two, but the Medicorps makes us take our
drugs so that won't happen to us.
'At last someone realized that if everyone took the new
drugs, the great wars would stop. At the World Congress of
1997, laws were passed to make everyone take the drugs.
There were many fights over this because some people want-
ed to stay Modern and fight wars. The Medicorps was or-
ganized and told to kill anyone who wouldn't take their
drugs as prescribed. Now the laws are enforced and every-
body takes the drugs and the hyperalter and hypoalter are
each allowed to have the body for an ego-shift of five
days....'
Mary Walden faltered. She looked up at the faces of her
classmates, started to turn to Mrs. Harris and felt the sickness
growing in her head. Six great waves of crescendo silence
washed through her. The silence swept away everything but
the terror, which stood in her frail body like a shrieking rock.
Mary heard Mrs. Harris hurry to the shining dispensary
along one wall of the classroom and return to stand before
her with a swab of antiseptic and a disposable syringe.
