The big gas generator at the back of the building roared background music to the drama at the front. To the 25 or more armed regulators and to their bellicose leader, its noise was more than repugnant. That noise represented everything evil about the society that had betrayed them all, the society that had destroyed a significant part of the Earth and made life on the rest of it living hell. Their glaring faces and their upraised pistols clearly defined their attitude and purpose. They would shut this hell-monster down!
Through the open door, Dr. Johns’ “random motion” machine was churning the big drum this way and that as the two big circles moved with ever changing direction and momentum.
Leo, at that point, was not sure what he wanted to do about the machinery, but knew that he had seen enough of armed violence. For the first time since he had been put into the persona of “the Commissioner,” Leo gave an order: “Lower those weapons!”
He stood before them in silent defiance. To them, the revolution outside their own area had been nothing but a myth. He was the only living proof that lawful leadership existed outside their own band. They might not be ready to change even the slightest part of what they had been doing, but these youthful radicals were at least ready to listen. Leo was not sure how long.
The last regulator to slowly lower her firearm was Otharine.
“I guess he’s in there?” Leo asked Jane Early, still standing defiantly at the open door. Without taking her eyes off the menacing regulators, she nodded slowly.
“And you’re planning to stay here with it, till it’s through, then take him out and get him back on his feet?”
"I have to. No one else will."
“All right,” he returned his attention to the assemblage of riders and raised his voice in oratory.
“Here’s the deal. There’s a man in that big drum. It’s Dr. Johns. If you stop the generator, he’ll probably die. If he doesn’t die, he’ll be a mental defect. If you leave Ms Early and the generator alone for a few days or, maybe, a few weeks, the theory is that he’ll come out of there and live the rest of his life. It’s his laboratory, it was his life work and his highest artistic effort. Now, he’s chosen to be his own masterpiece, or die trying.
‘He violated the moratorium by turning this generator on, but you’re not going to kill him for it.
‘Maybe I don’t actually have the authority to order you to leave this thing running. Maybe I don’t have the authority to tell anybody to do anything. You may as well know that I wasn’t sent here to run this territory. My authority was to extend only to whether or not Dr. Johns gets to continue his experiments. Now, he’s taken even that decision away from me. Now, I only get to choose whether to ask you to kill him for breaking the moratorium, or not kill him.”
Leo had made his case, but he hadn’t won it. He continued:
“Our revolution won’t succeed if we depend on following big leaders. Our revolution will only succeed if we each think about it, if we each do our best, and if we decide, ultimately, to pull together. We’ll make our messy mistakes, but we’ll do those together, too.
“Dr. Johns’ generator isn’t the main principle of our revolution, and it doesn’t make a lot of difference either way. It might make a lot of difference if you go on using your weapons and your horsemanship to keep everybody doing things the way you see it, either. Both of those things are temporary. In the long run, what matters is whether or not we’re volunteering as individuals to work for a better world. I’m asking you, individually, to make an individual decision. If you really are committed revolutionaries, you’re going to have to make a lot of them, every day. That’s the essence of our lasting revolution.”
Leo’s audience wasn’t just a band of armed militia, he was also keenly aware that Jane Early, the person he had loved more than any individual, was listening as well. He went on:
“Dr. Johns was, is, one of those people who doesn’t believe in our revolution. He said that individual mankind isn’t capable of starting where we are and reaching where we need to be. Sorry people, like us, could only produce another sorry society, and the next crisis would be as bad or worse as the last one, to Dr. Johns. His theory was that we have to remake people, get them to start over completely, and that’s why he built this laboratory.
‘You could think he’s crazy, or you could think he’s a great genius. You could stand by him for a few days or a few weeks or forever...” he glanced at Jane but read no answer.
“Or you could forget all about him. But I’m asking you to let this final experiment run out. Let him get through that torment he’s concocted in that big drum, and then shut it down.
‘I’m asking you because I don’t want you to kill him. I’m not asking because I think he’s right that the world will be so much better off because of his experiments. I’m not asking you because of this woman, this woman he cares for, has decided to stand by Dr Johns. I’m not asking because the Revolutionary Council made some big decision about it. I’m asking you, just as a man, just as one of you, just as a part of this process, like you. Leave the thing running.”
There was fury in Otharine Jones’ eyes when she looked at Leo, but she holstered her gun. The rest of them did the same and dismounted at last from their steaming mounts. The crisis had passed.
Otharine walked closer and said, through close teeth, “Just until he gets out of there.”
Leo nodded, then turned to Jane Early to make his final plea. “He said anybody could run this contraption, would you let me put somebody else in charge so you could come with me?”
“I am everything he’s done,” she answered. “I have to stay. It looks like you’ve found your work today, and I’ve found mine, at least for the time being.”
“When you want me, come to me, or let me know and I’ll come to you. This last experiment of his won’t take long, and then you can decide.”
She gripped his hand and kissed his cheek. Leo noticed for the first time that her lips had grown redder, normal coloration was coming to her pale face, and a dark line was forming at the roots of her white hair. It took a conscious effort to stop looking at her. A growing sadness within him whispered that he would not likely have the chance again.
Leo then took Otharine Jones’ hands in his and spoke his thanks. “I just need one last favor before I go to the railroad station to leave you and this territory. Can I borrow a horse?”
Finis
//The main thing, first readers, that I really want to know is this: “Does it make any sense at all?” --Gene Lantz 12/28/09//