The energy came in torrents now. From each Esper in the city, a trickle of latent power that merged and merged into a stream, a river, a swirling sea of Mass Cathexis directed toward Powell, tuned to Powell. He opened all blocks and absorbed it all. His nervous system superheterodyned and screamed and a turbine in his mind whirled faster and faster with a mounting intolerable whine.

He was out of the house, wandering through the streets, blind, deaf, senseless, immersed in that boiling mass of latent energy… like a ship with sails caught in the nexus of a typhoon, fighting to convert a whirlpool of wind into the motive power that would lead to safety… S. Powell fought to absorb that fearful torrent, to Capitalize that latent energy, to Cathectize and direct it toward the Demolition of Reich before it was too late, too late, too late, too late, too late…

16

ABOLISH THE LABYRINTH.

DESTROY THE MAZE.

DELETE THE PUZZLE.

(x² ø Y³d! Space/d! Time)

DISBAND.

(OPERATIONS, EXPRESSIONS, FACTORS, FRACTIONS, POWERS, EXPONENTS, RADICALS, IDENTITIES, EQUATIONS, PROGRESSIONS, VARIATIONS, PERMUTATIONS, DETERMINANTS, AND SOLUTIONS)

EFFACE.

(ELECTRON, PROTON, NEUTRON, MESON AND PHOTON)

ERASE.

(CAYLEY, HENSON, LILLIENTHAL, CHANUTE, LANGLEY, WRIGHT, TURNBUL AND S&ERSON)

EXPUNGE.

(NEBULAE, CLUSTERS, STREAMS, BINARIES, GIANTS, MAIN SEQUENCE, AND WHITE DWARFS)

DISPERSE.

(PISCES, AMPHIBIAN, BIRDS, MAMMALS, AND MAN)

ABOLISH.

DESTROY,

DELETE.

DISBAND.

ERASE ALL EQUATIONS.

INFINITY EQUALS ZERO.

THERE IS NO—

“—there is no what?” Reich shouted. “There is no what?” He struggled upward, fighting the bedclothes and the restraining hands. “There is no what?”

“No more nightmares,” Duffy Wyg& said.

“Who’s that?”

“Me. Duffy.”

Reich opened his eyes. He was in a frilly bedroom in a frilly bed with old-fashioned linen and blankets. Duffy Wyg&, starched and fresh, had her hands against his shoulders. Once again she tried to thrust him back against the pillows.

“I’m asleep,” Reich said. “I want to wake up.”

“You say the nicest things. Lie down and the dream will continue.”

Reich fell back. “I was awake,” he said somberly. “I was wide awake for the first time in my life. I heard… I don’t know what I heard. Infinity and zero. Important things. Reality. Then I fell asleep and I’m here.”

“Correction,” Duffy smiled. “Just for the record. You awoke.”

“I’m asleep!” Reich shouted. He sat up. “Have you got a shot? Anything… opium, hemp, somnar, lethettes… I’ve got to wake up, Duffy. I’ve got to get back to reality.”

Duffy bent over him and kissed him hard on the mouth. “How about this? Real?”

“You don’t understand. It’s all been delusions… hallucinations… everything. I’ve got to readjust, reorientate, reorganize… Before it’s too late, Duffy. Before it’s too late, too late, too late…”

Duffy threw up her hands. “What the hell’s happened to medicine!” she exclaimed. “First that damned doctor scares you into a faint. Then he swears you’re patched up… and now look at you. Psychotic!” She knelt on the bed and shook a finger against Reich’s nose. “One more word out of you and I call Kingston.”