Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man

"What's gone?"

"The stars. Don't you see? They're gone."

"I don't know what you're talking about, pilot. Cmon. Let's have us a ball."

He tore himself away from her claws and ran. Halfway down the footway was a public v-phone alcove. He stepped in and dialed information. The screen lit and a robot voice spoke: "Question?"

"What's happened to the stars?" Reich asked. "When did it happen? It must have been noticed by now. What's the explanation?"

There was a click, a pause, then another click. "Will you spell the word, please."

"Star!" Reich roared. "S-T-A-R. Star!"

Click, pause, click. "Noun or verb?"

"God damn you! Noun!"

Click, pause, click. "There is no information listed under that heading," the canned voice announced.

Reich swore, then fought to control himself. "Where's the nearest Observatory to the city?"

"Kindly specify city."

"This city. New York."

Click, pause, click. "The Lunar Observatory at Croton Park is situated thirty miles north. It may be reached by Jumper Route North Coordinate 227. The Lunar Observatory was endowed in the year two thousand---"

Reich slammed down the phone. "No information listed under that heading! My God! Are they all crazy?" He ran out into the streets, searching for a Public Jumper. A piloted machine cruised past and Reich signalled. It swooped to pick him up.

"Northco 227," he snapped as he stepped into the cabin. "Thirty miles. The Lunar Observatory."

"Premium trip," the driver said.

"I'll pay it. Jet!"

The cab jetted. Reich restrained himself for five minutes, then began casually: "Notice the sky?"

"Why, mister?"

"The stars are gone."

Sycophantic laugh.

"It's not supposed to be a joke," Reich said. "The stars are gone."

"If it ain't a joke, it needs explaining," the driver said. "What the hell are stars?"

A blasting reply trembled on Reich's lips. Before it could erupt, the cab landed him on the observatory grounds close to the domed roof. He snapped: "Wait for me," and ran across the lawns to the small stone entrance.

The door was ajar. He entered the observatory and heard the low whine of the dome mechanism and the quiet click of the observatory clock. Except for the low glow of the clock-light, the room was in darkness. The twelve-inch refractor was in operation. He could see the observer, a dim outline, crouched over the eyepiece of the guiding telescope.

Reich walked toward him, nervous, strained, flinching at the loud clack of his footsteps in the silence. There was a chill in the air.

"Listen," Reich began in a low voice. "Sorry to bother you but you must have noticed. You're in the star business. You have noticed, haven't you? The stars. They're gone. All of them. What's happened? Why hasn't there been any alarm? Why's everybody pretending? My God! The stars! We always take them for granted. And now they're gone. What's happened? Where are the stars?"

The figure straightened slowly and turned toward Reich. "There are no stars," it said.

It was the Man With No Face.

Reich cried out. He turned and ran. He flew out of the door, down the steps and across the lawn to the waiting cab. He blundered against the crystal cabin wall with a crack that dropped him to his knees.

The driver pulled him to his feet. "You all right, Mac?"

"I don't know," Reich groaned. "I wish I did."

"None of my business," the driver said, "but I think you ought to see a peeper. You're talkin' crazy."

"About the stars?"

"Yeah."

Reich gripped the man. "I'm Ben Reich," he said, "Ben Reich of Monarch."

"Yeah, Mac. I recognized you."

"Good. You know what I can do for you if you do me a favor? Money... New Job... Anything you want..."

"You can't do nothin' for me, Mac. I already been adjusted at Kingston."

"Better. An honest man. Will you do me a favor for the love of God or anything you love?"

"Sure, Mac."

"Go into that building. Take a look at the man behind the telescope. A good look. Come back and describe him to me."

The driver departed, was gone five minutes, then returned.

"Well?"

"He's just an ordinary guy, Mac. Sixtyish. Bald. Got lines in his face kinda deep. His ears stick out and he's got what they call a weak chin. You know. It kinda backslides."

"It's nobody... nobody," Reich muttered.

"What?"

"About those stars," Reich said. "You never heard of them? You never

saw them? You don't know what I'm talking about?" "Nope." "Oh God..." Reich moaned. "Sweet God..." "Now don't warp your orbit, Mac." The driver thumped him powerfully on

the back. "Tell you something. They taught me plenty up at Kingston. One of them things was... Well, sometimes you get a crazy notion. It's brand new, see? But you think you always had it. Like... oh... for instance, that people always had one eye and now all of a sudden they got two."

Reich stared at him.

"So you run around yellin': `For Chrissakes, where did they all of a sudden get two eyes everybody?' And they say: `They always got two eyes.' And you say: `The hell they did. I distinctly remember everybody got one eye.' And by God you believe it. And they have a hell of a time knockin' the notion outa you." The driver thumped him again. "Seems to me, Mac, like you're on a one-eye kick."

"One eye," Reich muttered. "Two eyes. Tension, apprehension, and

dissension have begun." "What?" "I don't know. I don't know. I've had a rough time the last month.

Maybe... Maybe you're right. But---" "You want to go to Kingston?" "No!" "You want to stay here and mope about them stars?" Abruptly, Reich shouted: "What the hell do I care about the stars!"

His fear turned to hot rage. Adrenalin flooded his system, bringing with it a surge of courage and high spirits. He leaped into the cab. "I've got the world. What do I care if a few delusions go with it?"

"That's the way, Mac. Where to?"

"The Royal Palace."

"The which?"

Reich laughed. "Monarch," he said, and roared with laughter all the

flight through the dawn to Monarch's soaring tower. But it was a semi-hysterical laughter. The office ran around-the-clock shifts, and the night staff was in the

last drowsy stages of the 12-8 shift when Reich bustled in. Although they had not seen much of him in the past month, the staff was accustomed to these visits, and shifted smoothly into high gear. As Reich went to his desk he was followed by secretaries and sub-secretaries carrying the urgent agenda of the day.

"Let all that wait," he snapped. "Call in the entire staff... all department heads and organizational supervisors. I'm going to make an announcement."

The flutter soothed him and recaptured his frame of reference. He was alive again, real again. All this was the only reality... the hustle, the bustle, the annunciator bells, the muted commands, the quick filling of his office with so many awed faces. All this was a preview of the future when bells would ring on planets and satellites and world supervisors would scuttle to his desk with awe on their faces.

"As you all know," Reich began, pacing slowly and darting piercing glances into the faces that watched him, "We of Monarch have been locked in a death-struggle with the D'Courtney Cartel. Craye D'Courtney was killed some time ago. There were complications that have just been ironed out. You'll be pleased to hear that the road is open for us now. We can commence operation of Plan AA to take over the D'Courtney Cartel."

He paused, waiting for the excited murmur that should respond to his announcement. There was no response.

"Perhaps," he said, "some of you do not comprehend the size of the job and the importance of the job. Let me put it this way... in terms you'll understand. Those of you that are city supervisors will become continental supervisors. Continental supervisors will become satellite chiefs. Present satellite chiefs will become planetary chiefs. From now on, Monarch will dominate the solar system. From now on all of us must think in terms of the solar system. From now on..."