Judith Merril - The Year's Greatest Science Fiction & Fantasy

“Remarkable,” said Traub softly to his companion.

“I suppose,” said the man. “But effective.”

“I guess that’s right,” said Traub. “Still, it all seems a little strange to me. We do things rather differently.”

“That’s what makes horse-racing,” said his companion.

Traub listened for a moment to the voices around him. Surprisingly, no one seemed to be discussing the business at hand. Baseball, movies, the weather, gossip, personal small-talk, a thousand-and-one subjects were introduced. It was almost as if they were trying not to mention the hating.

His friend’s voice broke in on Traub’s reverie.

“Think you’ll be okay when we get down to business? I’ve seen ‘em keel over.”

“I’ll be all right,” said Traub. Then he shook his head. “But I still can’t believe it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, you know, the whole thing. How it started. How you found you could do it.”

“Beats the hell out of me,” said the other man. “I think it was that guy at Duke University first came up with the idea. The mind over matter thing has been around for a long time, of course. But this guy, he was the first one to prove scientifically that mind can control matter.”

“Did it with dice, I believe,” Traub said.

“Yeah, that’s it. First he found some guys who could drop a dozen or so dice down a chute of some kind and actually control the direction they’d take. Then they discovered the secret—it was simple. The guys who could control the dice were simply the guys who thought they could.

“Then one time they got the idea of taking the dice into an auditorium and having about 2,000 people concentrate on forcing the dice one way or the other. That did it. It was the most natural thing in the world when you think of it. If one horse can pull a heavy load so far and so fast it figures that 10 horses can pull it a lot farther and a lot faster. They had those dice fallin’ where they wanted ‘em 80 percent of the time.”

“When did they first substitute a living organism for the dice?” Traub asked.

“Damned if I know,” said the man. “It was quite a few years ago and at first the government sort of clamped down on the thing. There was a little last-ditch fight from the churches, I think. But they finally realized you couldn’t stop it.”

“Is this an unusually large crowd?”

“Not for a political prisoner. You take a rapist or a murderer now, some of them don’t pull more than maybe twenty, thirty thousand. The people just don’t get stirred up enough.”

The sun had come out from behind a cloud now and Traub watched silently as large map-shaped shadows moved majestically across the grass.

“She’s warming up,” someone said.

“That’s right,” a voice agreed. “Gonna be real nice.”

Traub leaned forward and lowered his head as he retied the laces on his right shoe and in the next instant he was shocked to attention by a gutteral roar from the crowd that vibrated the floor.

In distant right center-field, three men were walking toward the platform. Two were walking together, the third was slouched in front of them, head down, his gait unsteady.

Traub had thought he was going to be all right but now, looking at the tired figure being prodded toward second base, looking at the bare, bald head, he began to feel slightly sick.

It seemed to take forever before the two guards jostled the prisoner up the stairs and toward the small kitchen chair.

When he reached it and seated himself the crowd roared again. A tall, distinguished man stepped to the speaker’s lectern and cleared his throat, raising his right hand in an appeal for quiet. “All right,” he said, “all right.”

The mob slowly fell silent. Traub clasped his hands tightly together. He felt a little ashamed.

“All right,” said the speaker. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the President of the United States I welcome you to another Public Hating. This particular affair,” he said, “as you know is directed against the man who was yesterday judged guilty in United States District Court here in New York City—Professor Arthur Ketteridge.”

At the mention of Ketteridge’s name the crowd made a noise like an earthquake-rumble. Several pop-bottles were thrown, futilely, from the center-field bleachers.

“We will begin in just a moment,” said the speaker, “but first I should like to introduce the Reverend Charles Fuller, of the Park Avenue Reborn Church, who will make the invocation.”

A small man with glasses stepped forward, replaced the first speaker at the microphone, closed his eyes, and threw back his head.

“Our Heavenly Father,” he said, “to whom we are indebted for all the blessings of this life, grant, we beseech Thee, that we act today in justice and in the spirit of truth. Grant, O Lord, we pray Thee, that what we are about to do here today will render us the humble servants of Thy divine will. For it is written the wages of sin is death . Search deep into this man’s heart for the seed of repentance if there be such, and if there be not, plant it therein, O Lord, in Thy goodness and mercy.”

There was a slight pause. The Reverend Fuller coughed and then said, “Amen.”

The crowd, which had stood quietly during the prayer, now sat down and began to buzz again.

The first speaker rose. “All right,” he said. “You know we all have a job to do. And you know why we have to do it.”

“Yes!” screamed thousands of voices.

“Then let us get to the business at hand. At this time I would like to introduce to you a very great American who, to use the old phrase, needs no introduction. Former president of Harvard University, current adviser to the Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Howard S. Weltmer!”

A wave of applause vibrated the air.

Dr. Weltmer stepped forward, shook hands with the speaker, and adjusted the microphone. “Thank you,” he said. “Now, we won’t waste any more time here since what we are about to do will take every bit of our energy and concentration if it is to be successfully accomplished. I ask you all,” he said, “to direct your unwavering attention toward the man seated in the chair to my left here, a man who in my opinion is the most despicable criminal of our time—Professor Arthur Ketteridge!”

The mob shrieked.

“I ask you,” said Weltmer, “to rise. That’s it, everybody stand up. Now, I want every one of you . . . I understand we have upwards of seventy thousand people here today . . . I want every single one of you to stare directly at this fiend in human form, Ketteridge. I want you to let him know by the wondrous power that lies in the strength of your emotional reservoirs, I want you to let him know that he is a criminal, that he is worse than a murderer, that he has committed treason, that he is not loved by anyone, anywhere in the universe, and that he is, rather, despised with a vigor equal in heat to the power of the sun itself!”

People around Traub were shaking their fists now. Their eyes were narrowed their mouths turned down at the corners. A woman fainted.

“Come on,” shouted Weltmer. “Let’s feel it!”

Under the spell of the speaker Traub was suddenly horrified to find that his blood was racing, his heart pounding. He felt anger surging up in him. He could not believe he hated Ketteridge. But he could not deny he hated something.

“On the souls of your mothers,” Weltmer was saying, “on the future of your children, out of your love for your country, I demand of you that you unleash your power to despise. I want you to become ferocious. I want you to become as the beasts of the jungle, as furious as they in the defense of their homes. Do you hate this man?”