Counter Clock World

17

But time present how do we measure, seeing it bath no space? It is measured while passing, but when it shall have passed, it is not measured; for there will be nothing to be measured.

--St. Augustine

Seizing a rifle from one of the slowed-down Library guards Sebastian Hermes scampered toward the stairs. As he reached them he heard voices below, echoing up. Maybe they're below the next floor down, he hoped; he descended rapidly. And found himself unopposed.

The corridor of the next floor down, like that above, teemed with halting, heavily weighed armed men. He saw, as through a glass clearly, A

Slowly, matching his words to her time-sense, he said, "I-- can't--get--out. So--I--will--kill--you." He raised the rifle.

"Wait," she said, "I'll--make--a--deal--with--you--right--here-and--now." She peered at him, trying to make him out, as if she perceived him only dimly. "You--let--me-- go," she said, "and--you--can--take----Lotta--and--leave."

Did she mean it? He doubted it. "You--have--the--authority--to--order--that?" he asked.

"Yes." She nodded.

"But I'm taking you along," he said. "Until she and I are out of here."

"Pardon?" She strained, trying to follow his too-rapid discourse. "Okay," she said finally, evidently having deciphered what he had said. She seemed fatalisticaily resigned; surprisingly so.

"You're afraid," he said.

"Well _of course_ I am;" Astonishingly, her speech did not seem slowed, now; evidently the injection had begun to wear off. "You come bursting in here and ru

"You have the authority?" he asked, amazed.

"My father is pro tern Chairman of the Erad Council. And you've met my mother. Shall we go up to the roof?" She seemed calmer now, with a good deal of her old poise. "I don't want to get killed by some psychotic," she said patiently. "I know you, don't forget. I just happened to be very much afraid you'd do this, exactly what you've done. I would have stayed away from the Library entirely, but in the present complex situation--"

"Let's get up to the roof," he interrupted. "Come on." He goaded her, with the rifle, toward the nearby elevator.

"Calm down," A

"No," he agreed. She was right; he had, now, to get control of himself. The elevator arrived and A

"Killing Officer Tinbane," Sebastian said, "was a dreadful act of wanton cruelty. What did he ever do to you?"

"He did what you did," A

"Vengeance for that," Sebastian said bitterly. "I assume you're going to go after me, now, for what I've done today. Until you get me, too."

"We'll see," A

"The Library," he said, "respects violence."

"Oh yes; we certainly do. In fact we're very much afraid of it; we know what it can accomplish. We employ it ourselves, not gladly, but in admission of its efficacy. Look what _you_ accomplished, today." They had reached the roof; the elevator had stopped and the doors now slid soundlessly open. "Where did you get that rifle?" she asked curiously. "It looks like one of ours."

"It is," he said. "I came here unarmed."

"Well," A

As soon as he and A

At once A

Stoically, Sebastian herded her into the front seat of his car, got in behind the wheel and handed Lotta the rifle. "Keep this pointed at Miss Fisher," he instructed her.

Hesitantly, Lotta said, "I--"

"Your life," he said, "depends on it, and so does mine. Remember what they did to Joe Tinbane? It was this woman's decision to do that; she gave the order. Now will you keep the rifle pointed at her?"

"Yes," Lotta whispered; he saw the barrel of the rifle come up: realization about Joe Tinbane had done it. "But what about the Anarch?" she asked again.

"I can't get him out," Sebastian said, his voice rising hoarsely. "I can't work miracles. I'm incredibly lucky to get you and me out. So will you lay off me?"

Behind him, Lotta nodded in mute obedience.

He turned on the car's motor and in a moment they were in the air above the Library, joining in with the mid-morning shoppers' traffic.

Parking briefly on the roof of a downtown public building Sebastian Hermes let off A

"I was lucky," he said shortly. He did not tell her that he had given up, that he intended only to destroy A

"I'll never get over his death," Lotta said wanly.

"I don't expect you to. Not for a long time."

Lotta said, "They killed him right in front of me. I saw it happen, all of it. Children, from the Library... it was grotesque, like a dream. He fired at them but he's used to firing up high, at a full grown adult; so his shots passed right over their heads." Again she fell silent.

Roughly, wanting to make her feel better, he said, "Anyhow you're out of the Library. This time it'll be permanent."

"Will the Uditi be mad at you?" she asked. "For not getting the Anarch out? That's really a shame... he's so important a person, and I'm not; it seems so unfair."

"You're important to me," Sebastian pointed out. "Where did you get all those devices you were using? That speeded you up, and that LSD smoke bomb; I heard them discussing it; it took them completely by surprise. You don't normally have possession of LSD and--"

"Udi gave them to me," he broke in harshly. "They outfitted me. Arranged a pretext for getting me in and up to Section B."