The Psychological RegulatorKornbluth, C. M. (Cyril M.)
Science
The Psychological Regulator
Kornbluth, C. M. (Cyril M.)
Psychological fiction; Science fiction
"No," said Markett. "I should have watched and checked, but the doctor
and I let it go."
"The doctor," said Stevens. "The man I hit?" She nodded, half smiling.
"And you'd better be getting out of here," said Markett. "He might wake
up angry." She pushed the button of the elevator, and the doors rolled
open. "Come on," she said, as the man stood silently. "You're not
afraid any more, are you?"
"Afraid?" Stevens laughed. "I was. It was something that happened in
the mine--" He drew a hand across his eyes; the elevator's doors rolled
shut, and they began their ascent to the roof.
"Explosion?" asked Markett. "They happen, I hear."
"Maybe. What the hell?" he said, grinning happily. "I'm here, you're
here, and I'm just after storming a castle in England with my Norsemen.
It was terrible, but somehow--I don't know. I shouldn't be proud of the
things I did." He shuddered a little. "Killing. Maiming. And I burned
the town when there was nothing left I could take from it."
The doors of the elevator rolled open, and a flood of sunlight poured
into the tiny cage. "There," said the man, pointing out a plane.
"That's the one we'll take."
"Did you fly here?" asked the girl. "I thought you were afraid."
"No," said Stevens, confidently opening the unlocked door of the plane.
"This doesn't belong to me."
Markett gasped, as her twenty-odd years of inculcated respect for
property came down on her head like a ton of bricks. "You can't!" she
cried. "It isn't yours--you said so." Her voice trailed off as she saw
the baffled stare in his eyes.
"Come in," he offered, making room for her beside the pilot's seat.
Limply she entered and closed the door. "Now," said Stevens, "what did
you say?"
"The plane isn't yours, Clark!" Oddly, she flushed as she called him by
his given name.
"Well," said Stevens, puzzlement written over his face, "it is now."
He started the motor with one kick at the pedal and the plane snapped
into the air, hovered for a moment, and shot diagonally up, through and
above low-hanging cumulus clouds that glittered in the afternoon sun.
"Why did you come here?" asked Markett. Somehow she felt safe.
"More beautiful," said Stevens. "And I have plans."
"Plans?" asked the girl. "For yourself?"
"For the world," said Stevens. He nodded his head over the control
board, and a shaft of light was caught in his hair; made it shine like
little curly brass wires. "I must ask you questions," said the man. "I
am different. Can you see it?"
"I can," said the girl. And at that moment she felt that it would be a
better thing for man if she were to seize the controls, send their ship
tearing down to smash into the ground.
Traffic control ship seven (for the district) swooped three times on
the hovering plane. Pilot Petersen scratched his head. "What's he
doing?" he asked Engineer Handel.
"I dunno. Hold it," said Handel, bending over his radio set.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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