Friends and Enemies

Illustrated by ENGLE
In a world blasted by super-bombs and run by super-thugs, Art vs. Science can be a deadly debate!
The sun hadn't quite risen, but now that the five men were out from under the trees it already felt hot. Far ahead, off to the left of the road, the spires of New Angeles gleamed dusky blue against the departing night. The two unarmed men gazed back wistfully at the little town, dark and asleep under its moist leafy umbrellas. The one who was thin and had hair flecked with gray looked all intellect; the other, young and with a curly mop, looked all feeling.
The fat man barring their way back to town mopped his head. The two young men flanking him with shotgun and squirtgun hadn't started to sweat yet.
The fat man stuffed the big handkerchief back in his pocket, wiped his hands on his shirt, rested his wrists lightly on the pistols holstered either side his stomach, looked at the two unarmed men, indicated the hot road with a nod, and said, There's your way, professors. Get going.
The thin man looked at the hand-smears on the fat man's shirt. But you haven't even explained to me, he protested softly, why I'm being turned out of Ozona College.
Look here, Mr. Ellenby, I've tried to make it easy for you, the fat man said. I'm doing it before the town wakes up. Would you rather be chased by a mob?
But why—?
Because we found out you weren't just a math teacher, Mr. Ellenby. The fat man's voice went hard. You'd been a physicist once. Nu clear physicist.
The young man with the shotgun spat. Ellenby watched the spittle curl in the dust like a little brown worm. He shifted his gaze to a dead eucalyptus leaf. I'd like to talk to the college board of regents, he said tonelessly.
I'm the board of regents, the fat man told him. Didn't you even know that?
At this point the other unarmed man spoke up loudly. But that doesn't explain my case. I've devoted my whole life to warning people against physicists and other scientists. How they'd smash us with their bombs. How they were destroying our minds with 3D and telefax and handies. How they were blaspheming against Nature, killing all imagination, crushing all beauty out of life!