ly barren. At the great oaken table around which they all
sat, there were three Medicorps officers m addition to Major
Grey.
Helen did not speak to Bill when they brought him in.
He was placed on the same side of the table with an offi-
cer between them. Two orderlies stood behind Bill's chair.
Other than these people, there was no one in the room.
The great windows were high above the floor and displayed
only the blissful sky. Now and then Bill saw a flock of pi-
geons waft aloft on silver-turning wings. Everyone at the ta-
ble except himself had a copy of his case report and they
discussed it with clipped sentences. Between the stone floor
and the vaulted ceiling, a subtle echolalia babbled about
Bill's problem behind their human talk.
The discussion of the report lulled when Major Grey
rapped on the table. He glanced unsmiling from face to face,
and his voice hurried the ritualized words: "This is a court
of medicine, co-joining the results of medical science and con-
sidered lay judgment to arrive at a decision in the case
of patient Bill Walden. The patient is hospitalized for a his-
tory of drug refusal and communication breaks. We have
before us the medical case record of patient Walden. Has ev-
eryone present studied this record?"
All at the table nodded.
"Do all present feel competent to pass judgment in this
case?"
Again there came the agreement.
Major Grey continued, "It is my duty to advise you, in
the presence of the patient, of the profound difference be-
tween a trial for simple drug refusal and one in which that
aberration is compounded with communication breaks.
"It is true that no other aberration is possible when the
drugs are taken as prescribed. After all, the drugs are the
basis for our schizophrenic society. Nevertheless, simple drug
refusal often is a mere matter of physiology, which is easy
enough to remedy.
"A far more profound threat to our society is the break
in communication. This generally is more deeply motivated
in the patient, and is often inaccessible to therapy. Such a pa-
tient is driven to emotive explorations which place the various
ancient passions, and the infamous art of historical gesture,
such as 'give me liberty or give me death', above the wel-
fare of society."
_ Bill watched the birds flash down the sky, a handful of
""Heavenly coin. Never had it seemed to him so good to look
at the sky. // they hospitalize me, he thought, I will be
content forever to sit and look from windows.
"Our schizophrenic society," Major Grey was saying, "holds
together and runs smoothly because, in each individual, the
" personality conflicts have been compartmentalized between
hyperalter and hypoalter. On the social level, conflicting per-
sonalities are kept on opposite shifts and never contact each
other. Or they are kept on shifts where contact is possible no
more than one or two days out of ten. Bill Walden's break
of shift is the type of behaviour designed to reactivate these
conflicts, and to generate the destructive passions on which
an undrugged mind feeds. Already illness and disrupted lives
have resulted."
Major Grey paused and looked directly at Bill. "Exhaus-
tive tests have demonstrated that your entire personality is
involved. I might also say that the aberration to live without
the drugs and to break communication codes is your person-
ality. All these Medicorps oflicers are agreed on that diagno-
sis. It remains now for us of the Medicorps to sit with the
laymen intimately involved and decide on the action to be
taken. The only possible alternatives after that diagnosis are
permanent hospitalization or. . . total removal of the per-
sonality by mnemonic erasure."
Bill could not speak. He saw Major Grey nod to one of the
orderlies and felt the man pushing up his sleeve and inject-
ing his nerveless arm. They were forcing him to shift, he
knew, so that Conrad Manz could sit in on the trial and
participate.
Helplessly, he watched the great sky blacken and the room
dim and disappear.
Major Grey did not avert his face, as did the others, while
the shift was in progress. Helen Walden, he saw, was drama-
tizing her shame at being present during a shift, but the Medi-
corps officers simply stared at the table. Major Grey watched
the face of Conrad Manz take form while the man who was
going to be tried faded.
Bill Walden had been without make-up, and as soon as
he was sure Manz could hear him. Major Grey apologized.
"I hope you won't object to this brief interlude in public
without make-up. You are present at the trial of Bill Wal-
den."
Conrad Manz nodded and Major Grey waited another full
minute for the shift to complete itself before he continued.
"Mr. Manz, during the two days you waited in the hospital
for us to catch Walden in shift, I discussed this case quite
thoroughly with you, especially as it applied to the case of
Clara Manz, on which we were already working.
"You will recall that in the case of your wife, the Modi-
corps diagnosis was one of a clearly localized aberration.
It was quite simple to apply the mnemonic eraser to that
small section without disturbing in any way her basic per-
sonality. Medicorps agreement was for this procedure and
the case did not come to trial, but simply went to opera-
tion, because lay agreement was obtained. First yourself and
eventually" Major Grey paused and let the memory of
Helen's stubborn insistence that Clara die stir in Conrad's
mind"Mrs. Walden agreed with the Medicorps."
Major Grey let the room wait in silence for awhile. "The
case of Bill Walden is quite different. The aberration in-
volves the whole personality, and the alternative actions
to be taken are permanent hospitalization or total erasure.
In this case, I believe that Medicorps opinion will be divided
as to proper action and" Major Grey paused again and
looked levelly at Conrad Manz"this may be true, also, of the
lay opinion."
"How's that, Major?" demanded the highest ranking Medi-
corps officer present, a colonel named Hart, a tall, handsome
man on whom the military air was a becoming skin. "What
do you mean about Medicorps opinion being divided?"
Major Grey answered quietly, "I'm holding out for hospitali-
zation."
Colonel Hart's face reddened. He thrust it forward and
straightened his back. "That's preposterous! This is a clear-
cut case of a dangerous threat to our society, and we, let me
remind you, are sworn to protect that society."
Major Grey felt very tired. It was, after all, difficult to un-
derstand why he always fought so hard against erasure of
these aberrant cases. But he began with quiet determination.
"The threat to society is effectively removed by either of the
alternatives, hospitalization or total erasure. I think you can
all see from Bill Walden's medical record that his is a well-
rounded personality with a remarkable mind. In the environ-
ment of the 20th Century, he would have been an outstanding