The Annals of the Heechee by Frederick Pohl

Author:Frederick Pohl [Pohl, Frederick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-09-01T16:12:46.475000+00:00

11

Heimat

I've told you about some good people and some flawed people, and now it is time to tell about a really bad person. You won't like him, but you need to know him. I mentioned him briefly when I was talking about terrorists, but I didn't do him justice. I would certainly have liked to do him justice-plenty of justice, preferably at the end of a rope-but that hadn't happened. Unfortunately.

His name was Beaupre Heimat, and once he had been a two-star general on the High Pentagon.

It was Heimat who had persuaded Klara's new husband that the only way to achieve peace and justice was to blow a lot of people up. That was one of the least of his crimes.

Among other bad things, he once tried to kill me personally.

It may have been twice, because not everything came out at his trial. With me he failed. With several hundred others, though-at least several hundred-he was more efficient. Heimat refused to plead guilty to murder at his trial. He wouldn't call it murder. He called it revolution-ary justice, because he was a terrorist. The court, on the other hand, had no trouble calling it murder-calling each individual case of it murder-and they gave him a life sentence for each one of the deaths. And as Heirnat had been not just any mixed-up moke but a trusted general in the American space forces, they made the sentences consecutive. Altogether, Heimat's sentences added up to an aggregate minimum stay in jail of 8,750 years, but time had passed and now Heimat had only 8,683 yet to serve.

He had every reason to believe that he would serve every day of those years, too, because even felons were entitled to machine storage. His prison term would not automatically end with his death.

Actually, I rather enjoy talking about General Beaupre Heimat now. It makes a welcome relief. After Albert's soul-numbing display of immensity and eternity, it is relaxing to think about a mere person, who is merely despicable.

One day for Heimat was much like every other. This is how he started his days: When he woke up, the bedthing was still and curled beside him, but he knew she wasn't asleep. He also knew she was not a she but an it, but as Heimat had almost nothing but its for company anymore, he had stopped recognizing the difference.

As Heirnat threw his legs over the side of the bed, she started to get up, too. He pushed her back down.

Gently enough, after the violence of the night before. Not all that gently, because (disappointingly) she was very strong.

She watched him dress for a moment before she asked, "Where are you going?"

"Why," said Heimat, "I think I will walk down to the beach, then swim across the channel and catch a plane to Los Angeles, where I propose to blow up a few buildings." He waited a moment for a response, and got none. He hadn't expected any. Typically, she had no sense of humor. It was a chronic disappointment.

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