knew that he himself looked fine: but why shouldn't he? he was cranched. Turning to Parizianski he said,
'Did you see what Chang said about his father? The old boy uses an airplane.'
Parizianski made motions with his mouth, but the sounds meant nothltvg. He took up his tablet and showed it to Martel and Chang.
bzz bzz. Ha ha. Gd ol' boy.
At that moment, Martel heard steps out in the corridor. He could not help looking toward the door. Other eyes followed the direction of his glance.
Vomact came in.
The group shuffled to attention in four parallel lines. They scanned one another.
Numerous hands reached across to adjust the electrochemical controls on chestboxes which had begun to load up. One Scanner held out a broken finger which his counter-Scanner had discovered, and submitted it for treatment and splinting.
Vomact had taken out his Staff of Office. The cube at the top flashed red light through the room, the lines reformed, and all Scanners gave the sign meaning Present and ready!
Vomact countered with the stance signifying, / am the Senior and take Command.
Talking fingers rose in the counter-gesture, We concur and commit ourselves.
Vomact raised his right arm, dropped the wrist as though it were broken, in a queer searching gesture, meaning: Any men around? Any habermans not tied? All clear for the Scanners?
Alone of all those present, the cranched Martel heard the queer rustle of feet as they all turned completely around without leaving position, looking sharply at one another and flashing their beltlights into the dark corners of the great room. When again they faced Vomact, he made a further sign:
All clear. Follow my words.
Martel noticed that he alone relaxed. The others could not know the meaning of relaxation with the minds blocked off up there in their skulls, connected only with the eyes, and the rest of the body connected with the mind only by controlling non-sensory nerves and the instrument boxes on their chests. Martel realized that, cranched as he was, he expected to hear Vomact's voice: the Senior had been talking for some time. No sound escaped his lips. (Vomact never bothered with sound.)
'... and when the first men to go Up and Out went to the Moon, what did they find?'
'Nothing,' responded the silent chorus of lips.
' Therefore they went further, to Mars and to Venus. The ships went out year by year, but they did not come back until the Year One of Space. Then did a ship come back with the First Effect. Scanners, I ask you, what is the First Effect?'
'No one knows. No one knows.'
'No one will ever know. Too many are the variables. By what do we know the First Effect?'
'By the Great Pain of Space,' came the chorus.
'And by what further sign?'
'By the need, oh the need for death.'
Vomact again: 'And who stopped the need for death?'
'Henry Haberman conquered the first effect, in the Year 3 of Space.'
'And, Scanners, I ask you, what did he do?'
'He made the habermans.'
'How, O Scanners, are habermans made?'
'They are made with the cuts. The brain is cut from the heart, the lungs. The brain is cut from the ears, the nose. The brain is cut from the mouth, the belly. The brain is cut from desire, and pain. The brain is cut from the world. Save for the eyes. Save for the control of the living flesh.'
'And how, O Scanners is flesh controlled?'
'By the boxes set in the flesh, the controls set in the chest, the signs made to rule the living body, the signs by which the body lives.'
'How does a haberman live and live?'
'The haberman lives by control of the boxes.'
'Whence come the habermans?'
Martel felt in the coming response a great roar of broken voices echoing through the room as the Scanners, habermans themselves, put sound behind their mouthings:
'Habermans are the scum of Mankind. Habermans are the weak, the cruel, the credulous, and the unfit. Habermans are the sentenced-tomorethan-death. Habermans live in the mind alone. They are killed for Space but they live for Space. They master the ships that connect the earths. They live in the Great Pain while ordinary men sleep in the cold cold sleep of the transit.'
'Brothers and Scanners, I ask you now: are we habermans or are we not?'
'We are habermans in the flesh. We are cut apart, brain and flesh. We are ready to go to the Up and Out. All of us have gone through the Haberman Device.'
'We are habermans then?' Vomact's eyes flashed and glittered as he asked the ritual question.
Again the chorused answer was accompanied by a roar of voices heard only by Martel: 'Habermans we are, and more, and more. We ^e the Chosen who are habermans by our own free will. We are the Agents of the Instrumentality of Mankind.'
“What must the others say to us?'
' They must say to us, 'You are the bravest of the brave, the most skilful of the skilled. All mankind owes most honor to the Scanner, who unites the Earths of Mankind. Scanners are the protectors of the haber- mans. They are the judges in the Up-and-Out. They make men live in the place where men need desperately to die.
They are the most honored of Mankind, and even the Chiefs of the Instrumentality are delighted to pay them homage!'
Vomact stood more erect: 'What is the secret duty of the Scanner?'
'To keep secret our law, and to destroy the acquirers thereof.'
'How to destroy?'
'Twice to the Overload, back and Dead.'
'If habermans die, what the duty then?'
The Scanners all compressed their lips for answer. (Silence was the code.) Martel, who—long familiar with the code—was a little bored with the proceedings, noticed that Chang was breathing too heavily; he reached over and adjusted Chang's Lung-control and received the thanks of Chang's eyes. Vomact observed the interruption and glared at them both. Martel relaxed, trying to imitate the dead cold stillness of the others. It was so hard to do, when you were cranched.
'If others die, what the duty then?' asked Vomact.
'Scanners together inform the Instrumentality. Scanners together accept the punishment. Scanners together settle the case.'
'And if the punishment be severe?'
'Then no ships go.'
'And if Scanners not be honored?'
'Then no ships go.'
'And if a Scanner goes unpaid?'
'Then no ships go.'
'And if the Others and the Instrumentality are not in all ways at all times mindful of their proper obligation to the Scanners?'
'Then no ships go.'
'And what, O Scanners, if no ships go?'
'The Earths fall apart. The Wild comes back in. The Old Machines and the Beasts return.'
'What is the unknown duty of a Scanner?'
'Not to sleep in the Up-and-Out.'
'What is the second duty of a Scanner?'
'To keep forgotten the name of fear.'
'What is the third duty of a Scanner?'
