Free Night Walk by Bob Shaw Page A

his

stomach would have accepted at that moment was coffee, but Winfield had

warned him not to eat or drink anything, because they were going to be

sealed up in their plastic envelopes for at least two days. He touched

the eyeset controls, and using proximity selection, got behind the eyes

of a guard who was standing near the entrance. The guard was smoking,

so Tallon lit a cigarette, and by raising it to his lips every time he

saw the guard do likewise, he was able to achieve a startlingly realistic

simulation of normal vision for a few minutes. He enjoyed re-creating

a fragment of the warm, secure past. But gathering shadows behind the

buildings around the plaza reminded him that night was falling over the

swamp, and that he, Sam Tallon, would spend that night squirming through

its stinking blackness toward the robot rifles.

Leaving the sounds of mealtime conversation and horseplay behind

him, Tallon struck off across the square toward the cell blocks. The

guard's eyes must have followed him idly, for Tallon had a perfect

view of himself walking toward the blocks silhouetted on the western

horizon. Self-consciously he squared his shoulders, but the action

did nothing to make the receding figure seem any bigger, tougher, or

less lonely.

He wanted to collect Ariadne from the large wire-mesh aviary, which the

board had granted for the use of prisoners who wanted to keep bird pets,

but decided to go to his cell first and clear out his possessions, such

as they were. By the time Tallon reached his own section he was near the

extreme range of the eyeset, and his view of himself was little more

than of a brown speck approaching the entrance to the cell block. He

thought he detected two other specks, wearing the dark green of the

prison guards, detach themselves from the portico. The distance vision

of the guard still smoking outside the mess hall was not very good,

so Tallon decided to switch to a pair of eyes nearer to him.

As he raised his hands to the eyeset controls there was an impact of bodies,

and his arms were pinned to his sides. Tallon saw that the green specks

had attached themselves to the brown speck that was himself.

With his heart jolting violently, Tallon said, "If I've been reported

for stealing cutlery from the mess hall, it's a lie."

"Don't try to be funny, Tallon," a voice crackled in his ear. "We want

Winfield as well. Where is he?"

Tallon guessed that if they had not been able to find the doctor in the

main buildings he must have already left for the rendezvous point. That

meant Winfield might be able to get out of the Pavilion, if he didn't

wait too long for Tallon to show up. But who had tipped off the guards?

Not Hogarth, surely. Even if the little man had guessed what they were up to,

he would hardly have . . .

"Do you not hear so good, Tallon? I asked you where Winfield was."

"I don't know." Tallon tried to think up a convincing stall to give

the doctor more time, but his mind had gone numb. To his surprise,

the guards did not seem to be particularly alarmed.

"What's the difference?" The man on his right spoke casually. "We'll collect

this one now, and get Winfield's as soon as we see him."

"I guess that's all we can do."

As Tallon tried to make sense of their comments, he felt a hand brush

his temple and, instantly, he was blind. They had taken his eyeset!

"What the hell!" He shouted angrily, wrenching his arms from their grasp

and staggering slightly as the guards let go, leaving him free but

helplessly blind.

"Give me that back. That's my own property, you thieving bastards.

I'll report you to . . . Miss Juste for this."

One of the guards laughed. "That's a good one. You and Winfield made these

crazy glasses with stolen government materials, Tallon. And you can report

us to Miss Juste any time you want. She's the one who's confiscating them."

nine

For a second the blunted needle refused to penetrate; then it punctured

the skin and slid deep