Beyond Bedlam

tient is driven to emotive explorations which place the various

ancient passions, and the infamous art of historical gesture,

such as 'give me liberty or give me death', above the wel-

fare of society.'

_ Bill watched the birds flash down the sky, a handful of

''Heavenly coin. Never had it seemed to him so good to look

at the sky. // they hospitalize me, he thought, I will be

content forever to sit and look from windows.

'Our schizophrenic society,' Major Grey was saying, 'holds

together and runs smoothly because, in each individual, the

' personality conflicts have been compartmentalized between

hyperalter and hypoalter. On the social level, conflicting per-

sonalities are kept on opposite shifts and never contact each

other. Or they are kept on shifts where contact is possible no

more than one or two days out of ten. Bill Walden's break

of shift is the type of behaviour designed to reactivate these

conflicts, and to generate the destructive passions on which

an undrugged mind feeds. Already illness and disrupted lives

have resulted.'

Major Grey paused and looked directly at Bill. 'Exhaus-

tive tests have demonstrated that your entire personality is

involved. I might also say that the aberration to live without

the drugs and to break communication codes is your person-

ality. All these Medicorps oflicers are agreed on that diagno-

sis. It remains now for us of the Medicorps to sit with the

laymen intimately involved and decide on the action to be

taken. The only possible alternatives after that diagnosis are

permanent hospitalization or. . . total removal of the per-

sonality by mnemonic erasure.'

Bill could not speak. He saw Major Grey nod to one of the

orderlies and felt the man pushing up his sleeve and inject-

ing his nerveless arm. They were forcing him to shift, he

knew, so that Conrad Manz could sit in on the trial and

participate.

Helplessly, he watched the great sky blacken and the room

dim and disappear.

Major Grey did not avert his face, as did the others, while

the shift was in progress. Helen Walden, he saw, was drama-

tizing her shame at being present during a shift, but the Medi-

corps officers simply stared at the table. Major Grey watched

the face of Conrad Manz take form while the man who was

going to be tried faded.

Bill Walden had been without make-up, and as soon as

he was sure Manz could hear him. Major Grey apologized.

'I hope you won't object to this brief interlude in public

without make-up. You are present at the trial of Bill Wal-

den.'