The Dark Tower

And, in spite of himself, one question didslip out.

“Ted, why does the Crimson King want tobring the Tower down? Do you know?”

Ted gave him a brief glance. Eddie thoughtit cool, maybe downright cold, until the man smiled. When he did, his wholeface lit up. Also, his eyes had quit doing that creepy in-and-out thing, whichwas a big improvement.

“He’s mad,” Ted told him. “Nuttier than afruitcake. Riding the fabled rubber bicycle. Didn’t I tell you that?” And then,before Eddie could reply: “Yes, it’s quite nice. Whether you call it Devar-Toi,the Big Prison, or Algul Siento, it looks a treat. It is a treat.”

“Very classy accommos,” Dinky agreed. EvenStanley was looking down at the sunlit community with an expression of faintlonging.

“The food is the best,” Ted went on, “andthe double feature at the Gem Theater changes twice a week. If you don’t wantto go to the movies, you can bring the movies home on DVDs.”

“What are those?” Eddie asked, then shookhis head. “Never mind. Go on.”

Ted shrugged, as if to say What else doyou need?

“Absolutely astral sex, for one thing,”Dinky said. “It’s sim, but it’s still incredible—I made it with MarilynMonroe, Mado

“Booze? Dope?” Eddie asked.

“Booze in limited quantities,” Ted replied.“If you’re into oenology, for instance, you’ll experience fresh wonders atevery meal.”

“What’s oenology?” Jake asked.

“The science of wine-snobbery, sugarbun,”Susa

“If you come to Blue Heaven addicted tosomething,” Dinky said, “they get you off it. Kindly. The one or two guys whoproved especially tough nuts in that area…” His eyes met Ted’s briefly. Tedshrugged and nodded. “Those dudes disappeared.”

“In truth, the low men don’t needany more Breakers,” Ted said. “They’ve got enough to finish the job right now.”

“How many?” Roland asked.

“About three hundred,” Dinky said.

“Three hundred and seven, to be exact,” Tedsaid. “We’re quartered in five dorms, although that word conjures the wrongimage. We have our own suites, and as much—or as little—contactwith our fellow Breakers as we wish.”

“And you know what you’re doing?” Susa

“Yes. Although most don’t spend a lot oftime thinking about it.”

“I don’t understand why they don’t mutiny.”

“What’s your when, ma’am?” Dinky asked her.

“My…?” Then she understood. “1964.”

He sighed and shook his head. “So you don’tknow about Jim Jones and the People’s Temple. It’s easier to explain if youknow about that. Almost a thousand people committed suicide at this religiouscompound a Jesus-guy from San Francisco set up in Guyana. They drank poisonedKool-Aid out of a tub while he watched them from the porch of his house andused a bullhorn to tell them stories about his mother.”

Susa

“Almost a thousand,” Dinky reiterated.“Because they were confused and lonely and they thought Jim Jones was theirfriend. Because—dig it—they had nothing to go back to. Andit’s like that here. If the Breakers united, they could make a mental hammerthat’d knock Prentiss and The Weasel and the taheen and the can-toi all the wayinto the next galaxy. Instead there’s no one but me, Stanley, and everyone’sfavorite super-breaker, the totally eventual Mr. Theodore Brautigan of Milford,Co

“Can we trust you three?” Roland asked. Thequestion sounded deceptively idle, little more than a time-passer.

“You have to,” Ted said. “You’ve no oneelse. Neither do we.”

“If we were on their side,” Dinky said,“don’t you think we’d have something better to wear on our feet than moccasinsmade out of rubber fuckin tires? In Blue Heaven you get everything except for afew basics. Stuff you wouldn’t ordinarily think of as indispensable, but stuffthat… well, it’s harder to take a powder when you’ve got nothing to wear butyour Algul Siento slippers, let’s put it that way.”

“I still can’t believe it,” Jake said. “Allthose people working to break the Beams, I mean. No offense, but—”

Dinky turned on him with his fists clenchedand a tight, furious smile on his face. Oy immediately stepped in front ofJake, growling low and showing his teeth. Dinky either didn’t notice or paid noattention. “Yeah? Well guess what, kiddo? I take offense. I take offenselike a motherfucker. What do you know about what it’s like to spend yourwhole life on the outside, to be the butt of the joke every time, to always beCarrie at the fuckin prom?”

“Who?” Eddie asked, confused, but Dinky wason a roll and paid no attention.

“There are guys down there who can’t walkor talk. One chick with no arms. Several with hydrocephalus, which means theyhave heads out to fuckin New Jersey.” He held his hands two feet beyondhis head on either side, a gesture they all took for exaggeration. Later theywould discover it was not. “Poor old Stanley here, he’s one of the ones whocan’t talk.”

Roland glanced at Stanley, with his pallid,stubbly face and his masses of curly dark hair. And the gunslinger almostsmiled. “I think he can talk,” he said, and then: “Do’ee bear yourfather’s name, Stanley? I believe thee does.”

Stanley lowered his head, and color mountedin his cheeks, yet he was smiling. At the same time he began to cry again. Justwhat in the hell’s going on here? Eddie wondered.

Ted clearly wondered, too. “Sai Deschain, Iwonder if I could ask—”

“No, no, cry pardon,” Roland said. “Yourtime is short just now, so you said and we all feel it. Do the Breakers knowhow they’re being fed? What they’re being fed, to increase theirpowers?”

Ted abruptly sat on a rock and looked downat the shining steel cobweb of rails. “It has to do with the kiddies they bringthrough the Station, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“They don’t know and I don’t know,”Ted said in that same heavy voice. “Not really. We’re fed dozens of pills aday. They come morning, noon, and night. Some are vitamins. Some are no doubtintended to keep us docile. I’ve had some luck purging those from my system,and Dinky’s, and Stanley’s. Only… for such a purging to work, gunslinger, youmust want it to work. Do you understand?”

Roland nodded.

“I’ve thought for a long time that they mustalso be giving us some kind of… I don’t know… brain-booster… but with so manypills, it’s impossible to tell which one it might be. Which one it is thatmakes us ca

“Watch this,” Dinky said. “This is good.”

Ted closed his eyes. So did the other two.For a moment there was nothing to see but three men looking out over the darkdesert toward the Cecil B. DeMille sunbeam… and they were looking,Roland knew. Even with their eyes shut.

The sunbeam winked out. For a space ofperhaps a dozen seconds the Devar-Toi was as dark as the desert, andThunderclap Station, and the slopes of Steek-Tete. Then that absurd golden glowcame back on. Dinky uttered a harsh (but not dissatisfied) sigh and steppedback, disengaging from Ted. A moment later, Ted let go of Stanley and turned toRoland.

“You did that?” the gunslinger asked.

“The three of us together,” Ted said. “Mostlyit’s Stanley. He’s an extremely powerful sender. One of the few things thatterrify Prentiss and the low men and the taheen is when they lose theirartificial sunlight. It happens more and more often, you know, and not alwaysbecause we’re meddling with the machinery. The machinery is just…” He shrugged.“It’s ru