“I intended to kill you,” Burton said. “But I can see you’re no more responsible thaw a madman. The people here won’t accept that excuse, though. You know what they’ll do to you; hang you upside down by your ankles and let you hang until you die.”
Goring cried, “I don’t understand it! What’s happening to me? Those nightmares! Believe me, Burton, if I’ve sinned, I’ve paid! But I can’t stop paying! My nights are hell, and soon my days will become hell, too! Then I’ll have only one way to get peace! I’ll kill myself! But it won’t do any good! I’ll wake up then hell again!”
“Stay away from the dreamgum,” Burton said. “You’ll have to sweat it out. You can do it. You told me you overcame the morphine habit on Earth.”
Goring stood up and faced Burton. That’s just it! I haven’t touched the gum since I came to this place!”
Burton said, “What? But I’ll swear…!”
“You assumed I was using the stuff because of the way I was acting! No, I have not had a bit of the gum! But it doesn’t make any difference!”
Despite his loathing of Goring, Burton felt pity. He said, “You’ve opened the Pandora of yourself, and it looks as if you’ll not be able to shut the lid. I don’t know how this is going to end, but I wouldn’t want to be in your mind. Not that you don’t deserve this.”
Goring said, in a quiet and determined voice, “I’ll defeat them.”
“You mean you’ll conquer yourself,” Burton said. He turned to go but halted for a last word. “What are you going to do?”
Goring gestured -at The River. “Drown myself. I’ll get a fresh start. Maybe I’ll be better equipped the next place. And I certainly don’t want to be trussed up like a chicken in a butcher shop window.”
“Au revoir, then,” Burton said. “And good luck.”
“Thank you. You know you’re not a bad sort. Just one word of advice.”
“What’s that?” “You’d better stay away from the dreamgum yourself. So far, you’ve been lucky. But one of these days, it’ll take hold of you as it did me. Your devils won’t be mine, but they’ll be just as monstrous and terrifying to you.”
“Nonsense I I’ve nothing to hide from myself!” Burton laughed loudly. “I’ve chewed enough of the stuff to know.” He walked away, but he was thinking of the warning. He had used the gum twenty-two times. Each time had made him swear never to touch the gum again.
On the way back to the hills, he looked behind him. The dim white figure of Goring was slowly sinking into the black-and silver waters of The River. Burton saluted, since he was not one to resist the dramatic gesture. Afterward, he forgot Goring. The pain in the back of his head, temporarily subdued, came back sharper than before. His knees turned to water and, only a few yards from his hut; he had to sit down.
He must have become unconscious then, or half-conscious since he had no memory of being dragged along on the grass. When his wits cleared, he found himself lying on a bamboo bed inside a hut.
It was dark with the only illumination the starlight filtering is through the tree branches outside the square of window. He turned his head and saw the shadowy and pale-white bulk of a man squatting by him. The man was holding a thin metal object before his eyes, the gleaming end of which was pointed at Burton.
25
As soon as Burton turned his head, the man put the device down. He spoke in English.
“It’s taken me a long time to find you, Richard Burton.” Burton groped around on the floor for a weapon with his left hand, which was hidden from the man’s view. His fingers touched nothing but dirt. He said, “Now you’ve found me, you damn Ethical, what do you intend doing with me?”
The man shifted slightly and he chuckled. “Nothing.” He paused, then said, “I am not one of Them.” He laughed again when Burton gasped. “That’s not quite true. I am with Them, but I am not of Them.” He picked up the device, which he had been aiming at Burton.