The Golden Man

Anita found her voice. “Don’t shoot. He’s—in my custody. You understand? I’m taking him out.” The wall of guards moved back nervously. “No one’s supposed to pass. Director Wisdom gave orders—”

“I’m not subject to Wisdom’s authority.” She managed to edge her voice with a harsh crispness. “Get out of the way. I’m taking him to the Semantics Agency.”

For a moment nothing happened. There was no reactien. Then slowly, uncertainly, one guard stepped aside.

Cris moved. A blur of speed, away from Anita, past the confused guards, through the breach in the line, out the exit, and onto the street. Bursts of energy flashed wildly after him. Shouting guards milled out. Anita was left behind, forgotten. The guards, the heavy- duty gun, were pouring out into the early morning darkness. Sirens wailed. Patrol cars roared into life, Anita stood dazed, confused, leaning against the wall, trying to get her breath.

He was gone. He had left her. Good God—what had she done? She shook her head, bewildered, her face buried in her hands. She had been hypnotized. She had lost her will, her common sense. Her reason! The animal, the great golden beast, had tricked her. Taken advantage of her. And now he was gone, escaped into the night.

Miserable, agonized tears trickled through her clenched fingers. She rubbed at them futilely; but they kept on coming.

“HE’S GONE,”Baines said.“We’ll never get him, now. He’s probably a million miles from here.” Anita sat huddled in the corner, her face to the wall. A litde bent heap, broken and wretched.

Wisdom paced back and forth. “But where can he go? Where can he hide? Nobody’ll hide him! Everybody knows the law about deeves!”

“He’s lived out in the woods most of his life. He’ll hunt—that’s what he’s always done. They wondered what he was up to, off by himself. He was catching game and sleeping under trees.” Baines laughed harshly. “And the first woman he meets will be glad to hide him—as she was.” He indicated Anita with a jerk of his thumb.

“So all that gold, that mane, that god-like stance, was for something. Not just ornament.” Wisdom’s thick lips twisted. “He doesn’t have just one faculty—he has two. One is new, the newest thing in survival methods. The other is as old as life.” He stopped pacing to glare at the huddled shape in the corner. “Plumage. Bright feathers, combs for the roosters swans, birds, bright scales for the fish. Gleaming pelts and manes for the animals. An animal isn’t necessarily bestial. Lions aren’t bestial. Or tigers. Or any of the big cats. They’re anything but bestial.”

“He’ll never have to worry,” Baines said. “He’ll get by—as long as human women exist to take care of him. And since he can see ahead, into the future, he already knows he’s sexually irresistible to human females.” ,

“We’ll get him,” Wisdom muttered. “I’ve had the Government declare an emergency. Military and Civil Police will be looking for him. Armies of men—a whole planet of experts, the most advanced machines and equipment. We’ll flush him, sooner or later.” “By that time it won’t make any difference,” Baines said. He put his hand on Anita’s shoulder and patted her ironically. “You’ll have company, sweetheart. You won’t be the only one. You’re just the first of a long procession.”

“Thanks,” Anita grated.

“The oldest survival method and the newest. Combined to form one perfectly adapted animal. How the hell are we going to stop him? W'e can put you through a sterilization tank—but we can’t pick them all up, all the women he meets along the way. And if we miss one we’re finished.”

“We’ll have to keep trying,” Wisdom said. “Round up as many as we can. Before they can spawn.” Faint hope glinted in his tired, sagging face. “Maybe his characteristics are recessive. Maybe ours will cancel his out.”

“I wouldn’t lay any money on that,” Baines said. “I think I know already which of the two strains is going to turn up dominant.” He grinned wryly. “I mean, I’m making a good guess. It won’t be us.”

• • • THE END