The Werewolf Principle

29

A December wind, sharp-toothed and thin, keened across the land, stripping the last of the brown and shrivelled leaves from the lone oak tree that stood halfway up the hill. Atop the hill, where the cemetery stood, the giant pines moaned in the chill of the dying year. Ragged clouds raced across the sky and there was a smell of coming snow riding on the wind. Two trim blue figures stood at the cemetery gates, the pale winter sunlight, shining for a moment through the broken clouds, gleaming off the polished buttons and the rifle barrels. To one side of the gate a small group of sightseers huddled, peering through the iron bars at the whiteness of the chapel.

'Not many here today, Ryan Wilson told Elaine Horton. 'When the weather was good, especially on week-ends, we had quite a crowd.

He shucked the collar of his grey robe close about his neck.

'Not that I approve of it, he said. 'That's Theodore Roberts up there. I don't care what shape he takes, it still is Theodore Roberts.

'Dr Roberts, I take it, said Elaine, 'was well thought of in Willow Grove.

'That he was, said Wilson. 'He was the only one of us who ever gained distinction. The town is proud of him.

'And you resent all this?

'I don't know if you can say resentment. So long as a proper decorum is maintained, I don't think we mind. But at times the crowds take on a holiday aspect and that we do not like.

'Perhaps, said Elaine, 'I should not have come. I thought a long time about it. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed I must.

'You were his friend, said Wilson gravely. 'You have a right to come. I don't imagine he had too many friends.

The small crowd of huddled people had drifted from the gates and was starting down the hill.

'On a day like this, said Wilson, 'there's not much for them to see. So they don't stay very long. Just the chapel. In the good weather, of course, the chapel doors were open and you could catch a glimpse inside. But even then, there wasn't much to see. To begin with just a patch of darkness, a patch of nothingness, and you couldn't always see it. But now, when the doors are open, you get a sense of shining, of something shining there. At first it didn't shine.

You couldn't see a thing. Just like looking into a hole that hung just above the floor. Everything blotted out. A shield of some sort, I suppose. But now, gradually, the shield, the defences, whatever they may be, have been dropped and you can see it shining there. 'Will they let me in? Elaine asked.

'I think they will, said Wilson. 'I'll send word to the captain. You can't blame Space Administration for clamping down so hard. The responsibility for whatever's up there rests solely with them. They started the project two hundred years ago. What happened here would not have happened if it hadn't been for Project Werewolf.

Elaine shuddered.

'You'll pardon me, said Wilson. 'I should not have said that.

'Why shouldn't you? she asked. 'Unpleasant as it is, that's what it's called by everyone.

'I told you about that day he came into the office, Wilson said. 'He was a nice young man.

'He was a frightened man, said Elaine, 'running from the world. If he had only told me…

'Perhaps then he didn't know…

'He knew he was in trouble. The senator and I would have helped him. Dr Daniels would have helped him.

'He didn't want to involve you. It was not the sort of thing one would involve his friends in. And he wanted to keep your friendship. He was afraid, more than likely, if he told you, that he would lose the friendship.

'I can see, said Elaine, 'how he might have thought so. And I didn't even try to make him tell me. I blame myself for that. But I didn't want to hurt him. I thought he should have a chance of finding the answer for himself.

The crowd came down the hill, went by the two of them and continued down the road.