Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net _This is not a story about the Dero! This _is_ a story about a lost people--a persuasive and haunting story about a people, in a not too distant future, who have been forgotten by history. And it is the story of a little group of courageous people, determined to prove that Death was a Myth!_ out of the earth _by GEORGE EDRICH_ Offences against the State meant elimination in the Black Passage. Death. And these people were to die! First Awake, 2 Juli, 2207 We have walked much this awake and have stopped now for sleep. Last City is far behind us. Except for the two lamps we keep lighted to frighten away the Groles, there is nothing but blackness in the passage. The others are sleeping, and close beside me, Nina sleeps also. The sound of her breathing is all I have in the darkness. Thoughts are not clear when the body is so tired, and the things that have happened seem unreal, like something dreamed. The arrest--the State Guards in their black uniforms--coming to our cubicle in the middle of the sleep hours--frightening Nina. Ten awakes and sleeps of not knowing why. Then the trial--"Jon Farmer 8267, we show you a copy of _The Mushroom Farmers' Journal_ of 21 January 2204. We call your attention to the article _Experiments With Red Lake Mushrooms in Rock Soil_. This article discusses with favor some policies of the Dictatorium of President Charles 27, an Enemy of the State. Do you admit to writing this treason?" You are not permitted to answer the Judges in a State trial because they know the answers to everything they ask you. But while they were talking together, I thought how different things became with time. I remembered the fine letter from the Secretary of Agriculture of the Dictatorium, and the two extra free days they had given me. But there was a new Dictatorium now. President Charles and General William had been lowered into Copper Pit and metallized. Now they were mounted in the Historical Museum in Central City. The others of the Dictatorium had been eliminated in Black Passage. "--Jon Farmer 8267. You have written with favor about Enemies of the State. You are therefore yourself declared an Enemy of the State. By order of the Supreme Council of the Dictatorium of President Joseph 28, you are hereby sentenced to elimination in Black Passage." Then Nina--"Nina Farmerswife 8267, you have mated with an Enemy of the State. By condescension of the Supreme Council of the Dictatorium of President Joseph 28, you are to be permitted to take an oath of renunciation and separation." It is not too difficult for the heart to be strong when there is no decision for the mind to make. But what strength of heart Nina must have had then. I was terribly proud and terribly frightened when she walked over and stood with me.