Philip Dick - Vulcan's Hammer

Screams and cries of pain. Clouds of smoke billowed up; the air became hot. Barris walked on, the policemen with him. Those of the sympathizers that remained fell back; their group split into two parts. More police fell; again he saw the flash of pencil beams, the official weapon of Unity, now turned against it.

He walked on. Turning a corner, he came out on a stair­way leading down to the field.

Of the police, five made it with him to the edge of the field. He entered the first ship that looked as if it had any capacity for high performance; bringing the police inside with him, he locked the doors of the ship and seated him­self at the controls.

No one opposed their take-off. They rose from the field and headed east out over the Atlantic, in the direction of Europe... and Geneva.

Director William Barris entered the massive UnityControl Building at Geneva, his armed police trailing after him. Outside the central auditorium he was met by Jason Dill.

"We haven't much time," Dill said. He too had his police with him, several dozen of them, all with weapons showing. The man looked gray and sick; he spoke in a voice barely audible to Barris. "They're pushing it through as fast as they can. All "the Directors who're against me got here a long time ago; the uncommitted ones are just now arriving. Obviously, Vulcan 3 saw to it-" He noticed the five policemen. "Is that all you could muster? Five men?" Glancing about to be sure they were not overheard, he muttered, "I've given secret orders to everyone I can trust; they're to arm and be ready outside this auditorium during the trial. This is a trial, you realize, not a meeting."

Barris said, "Who went over to the Healers? Any Di­rectors?"

"I don't know." In a bewildered manner, Dill said, "Vulcan 3 sent each Director an order to appear and a statement on what had happened. A description of my treason -how I deliberately falsified data and maintained a curtain between it and Unity. You got no such state­ment? Of course not; Vulcan 3 knows you're loyal to me?"

"Who'll prosecute?" Barris said. "Who's speaking for Vulcan 3?"

"Reynolds of Eastern Europe. Very young, very aggres­sive and ambitious. If he's successful he'll probably be Managing Director. Vulcan 3 has no doubt supplied him with all the data he needs." Dill clenched and unclenched his fists. "I'm very pessimistic about the outcome of this,

Barris. You yourself were suspicious of me until just re­cently. So much depends on the way this is looked at." Dill started through the doors, into the auditorium. "The inter­pretation that's put on the facts. After all, I did withhold information-that's true."

The auditorium was almost filled. Each of the Directors present had with him armed police from his region. All waited impatiently for the session to begin. Edward Rey­nolds stood behind the speaker's desk on the raised plat­form, his hands resting dramatically on the marble surface, watching the audience intently.

Reynolds was a tall man. He wore his gray suit with confidence, towering over other T-class people. He was thirty-two; he had risen rapidly and efficiently. For a mo­ment his cold blue eyes rested on Jason Dill and Barris.

"The session is about to begin," he stated. "Director Barris will take his seat." He pointed to Dill. "Come up here, so you can be examined."

Uncertainly, Dill moved toward the platform, sur­rounded by his guards. He climbed the marble steps and, after some hesitation, took a seat facing Reynolds; it seemed to be the only vacant one. Barris remained where he was, thinking, Reynolds has done it; he's already man­aged to cut us off from each other. To isolate Dill from me.

"Take your seat," Reynolds ordered him sharply.

Instead, Barris moved down the aisle toward him. "What is the purpose of this session? By what legal au­thority are you standing up there? Or have you merely seized that spot?"

A nervous murmur moved through the auditorium. All eyes were on Barris now. The Directors were uneasy any­how; there had never been, in the history of the Unity structure, a treason indictment of a Managing Director- and, in addition, no Director was unaware, of the pressure of the Healers, the force from outside the building, lapping at their heels. If Jason Dill could be shown to be disloyal, if a scapegoat could be made of him, one that would convince the body of Directors, possibly their inability to deal with the Healers could be explained. Or, Barris thought acidly, rationalized.

Picking up a directive lying in front of him, Reynolds said, "You failed to read the report sent you, evidently. It outlined-"

"I question the legality of this session," Barris broke in, halting directly in front of the platform. "I question your right to give orders to Managing Director Dill-your supe­rior." Stepping up on the platform, Barris said, "This ap­pears to be a crude attempt to seize power and force out Jason Dill. Let's see you demonstrate otherwise. The bur­den of proof is on you-not on Jason Dill!"

The murmur burst into a roar of excitement. Reynolds waited calmly for it to die down. "This is a critical time," he said at last. He gave no sign of being perturbed. "The revolutionary Movement of Healers is attacking us all over the world; their purpose is to reach Vulcan 3 and destroy the structure of Unity. The purpose of this session is to indict Jason Dill as an agent of the Healers--a traitor working against Unity. Dill deliberately withheld infor­mation from Vulcan 3. He made Vulcan 3 powerless to act against the Healers; he rendered it helpless, and so made impotent the entire Unity organization."

Now the audience listened not to Barris but Reynolds.

Rising, John Chai of South Asia said, "What do you say to that Director Barris? Is this true?"

Edgar Stone of West Africa joined Chai. "Our hands have been tied; we've had to stand idle while the Healers grow. You know it as well as we do-in fact, you put di­rect questions to Jason Dill yourself. You mistrusted him too."

Facing the Directors, not Reynolds, Barris said, "I mis­trusted him until I had proof that he acted in the interests of Unity."

"What was that proof?" Alex Faine of Greenland de­manded.

Beside Barris, Jason Dill said, "Show them the memory elements from Vulcan 2. The ones you reconstructed."

"I can't," Barris said.

"Why not?" With panic, Dill said, "Didn't you bring them?"

Barris said, "I had to destroy them."

For a long time Jason Dill stared at him speechlessly. All the color had drained from his face.

"When one of those metal mobile extensions got in," Barris said, "I had to act instantly."

At last some color returned to Dill's aging face. "I see," he said. "You should have told me."

Barris said, "I didn't know at that time that I'd need them for a purpose such as this." He too felt the grim futility of their position. The memory elements would have been effective proof... and they were gone. "The tapes," he said. "That you first showed me. The two final tapes from Vulcan 2."

Nodding, Dill reached into his brief case. He produced the two reels of tape, displaying them for all the Directors to see.

"What do you have?" John Chai demanded, standing up.

"These tapes," Dill said, "are from Vulcan 2. I was working under its instructions. It instructed me to with­hold data from Vulcan 3 and I did so. I acted in the inter­ests of Unity."

At once, Reynolds said, "Why should data-any kind of data-have been withheld from Vulcan 3? How could it be justified?"

Jason Dill said nothing; he started to speak, but evi­dently he found no words. Turning to Barris he said, "Can you-"

"Vulcan 3 is a menace to the Unity system," Barris said. "It has built mobile units which have gone out and murdered. Vulcan 2 was aware of this danger on a theo­retical level. It deduced from the nature of Vulcan 3 that