The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Part 1

THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH.

by Philip K. d.i.c.k.

I mean, after all; you have to consider were only made out of dust. Thats admittedly not much to go on and we shouldnt forget that. But even considering, I mean its a sort of bad beginning, were not doing too bad. So I personally have faith that even in this lousy situation were faced with we can make it. You get me?

From an interoffice audio-memo circulated to Pre-Fash level consultants at Perky Pat Layouts, Inc., dictated by Leo Bulero immediately on his return from Mars.

ONE.

His head unnaturally aching, Barney Mayerson woke to find himself in an unfamiliar bedroom in an unfamiliar conapt building. Beside him, the covers up to her bare, smooth shoulders, an unfamiliar girl slept on, breathing lightly through her mouth, her hair a tumble of cotton-like white.

Ill bet Im late for work, he said to himself, slid from the bed, and tottered to a standing position with eyes shut, keeping himself from being sick. For all he knew he was several hours drive from his office; perhaps he was not even in the United States. However, he was on Earth; the gravity that made him sway was familiar and normal.

And there in the next room by the sofa a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.

Barefoot, he padded into the living room, and seated himself by the suitcase; he opened it, clicked switches, and turned on Dr. Smile. Meters began to register and the mechanism hummed. Where am I? Barney asked it. And how far am I from New York? That was the main point. He saw now a clock on the wall of the apts kitchen; the time was 7:30 A.M. Not late at all.

The mechanism which was the portable extension of Dr. Smile, connected by micro-relay to the computer itself in the bas.e.m.e.nt level of Barneys own conapt building in New York, the Renown 33, tinnily declared, Ah, Mr. Bayerson.

Mayerson, Barney corrected, smoothing his hair with fingers that shook.

What do you remember about last night? Now he saw, with intense physical aversion, half-empty bottles of bourbon and sparkling water, lemons, bitters, and ice cube trays on the sideboard in the kitchen.

Who is this girl?

Dr. Smile said, The girl in the bed is Miss Rondinella Fugate. Roni, as she asked you to call her.

It sounded vaguely familiar, and oddly, in some manner, tied up with his job. Listen, he said to the suitcase, but then in the bedroom the girl began to stir; at once he shut off Dr. Smile and stood up, feeling humble and awkward in only his underpants.

Are you up? the girl asked sleepily. She thrashed about, and sat facing him; quite pretty, he decided, with lovely, large eyes. What time is it and did you put on the coffee pot?

He tramped into the kitchen and punched the stove into life; it began to heat water for coffee. Meanwhile he heard the shutting of a door; she had gone into the bathroom. Water ran. Roni was taking a shower.

Again in the living room he switched Dr. Smile back on. Whats she got to do with P. P. Layouts? he asked.

Miss Fugate is your new a.s.sistant; she arrived yesterday from Peoples China where she worked for P. P. Layouts as their Pre-Fash consultant for that region. However, Miss Fugate, although talented, is highly inexperienced, and Mr. Bulero decided that a short period as your a.s.sistant, I would say under you, but that might be misconstrued, considering Great, Barney said. He entered the bedroom, found his clothesthey had been deposited, no doubt by him, in a heap on the floorand began with care to dress; he still felt terrible, and it remained an effort not to give up and be violently sick. Thats right, he said to Dr. Smile as he came back to the living room b.u.t.toning his s.h.i.+rt. I remember the memo from Friday about Miss Fugate. Shes erratic in her talent. Picked wrong on that U. S. Civil War Picture Window item if you can imagine it, she thought itd be a smash hit in Peoples China. He laughed.

The bathroom door opened a crack; he caught a glimpse of Roni, pink and rubbery and clean, drying herself. Did you call me, dear?

No, he said. I was talking to my doctor.

Everyone makes errors, Dr. Smile said, a trifle vacuously.

Barney said, Howd she and I happen to He gestured toward the bedroom. After so short a time.

Chemistry, Dr. Smile said.

Come on.

Well, youre both precogs. You previewed that youd eventually hit it off, become erotically involved. So you both decidedafter a few drinksthat why should you wait? Life is short, art is The suitcase ceased speaking, because Roni Fugate had appeared from the bathroom, naked, to pad past it and Barney back once more into the bedroom. She had a narrow, erect body, a truly superb carriage, Barney noted, and small, up-jutting b.r.e.a.s.t.s with nipples no larger than matched pink peas. Or rather matched pink pearls, he corrected himself.

Roni Fugate said, I meant to ask you last nightwhy are you consulting a psychiatrist? And my lord, you carry it around everywhere with you; not once did you set it downand you had it turned on right up until She raised an eyebrow and glanced at him searchingly.

At least I did turn it off then, Barney pointed out.

Do you think Im pretty? Rising on her toes she all at once stretched, reached above her head, then, to his amazement, began to do a brisk series of exercises, hopping and leaping, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s bobbing.

I certainly do, he murmured, taken aback.

Id weigh a ton, Roni Fugate panted, if I didnt do these UN Weapons Wing exercises every morning. Go pour the coffee, will you, dear?

Barney said, Are you really my new a.s.sistant at P. P. Layouts?

Yes, of course; you mean you dont remember? But I guess youre like a lot of really topnotch precogs: you see the future so well that you have only a hazy recollection of the past. Exactly what do you recall about last night? She paused in her exercises, gasping for breath.

Oh, he said vaguely, I guess everything.

Listen. The only reason why youd be carrying a psychiatrist around with you is that you must have gotten your draft notice. Right?

After a pause he nodded. That he remembered. The familiar elongated blue-green envelope had arrived one week ago; next Wednesday he would be taking his mental at the UN military hospital in the Bronx.

Has it helped? Has he She gestured at the suitcase. Made you sick enough?

Turning to the portable extension of Dr. Smile, Barney said, Have you?

The suitcase answered, Unfortunately youre still quite viable, Mr. Mayerson; you can handle ten Freuds of stress. Sorry. But we still have several days; weve just begun.

Going into the bedroom, Roni Fugate picked up her underwear, and began to step into it. Just think, she said reflectively. If youre drafted, Mr. Mayerson, and youre sent to the colonies maybe Ill find myself with your job. She smiled, showing superb, even teeth.

It was a gloomy possibility. And his precog ability did not a.s.sist him: the outcome hung nicely, at perfect balance on the scales of cause-and-effect to be.

You cant handle my job, he said. You couldnt even handle it in Peoples China and thats a relatively simple situation in terms of factoring out pre-elements. But someday she could; without difficulty he foresaw that. She was young and overflowing with innate talent: all she required to equal himand he was the best in the tradewas a few years experience. Now he became fully awake as awareness of his situation filtered back to him. He stood a good chance of being drafted, and even if he was not, Roni Fugate might well s.n.a.t.c.h his fine, desirable job from him, a job up to which he had worked by slow stages over a thirteen-year period.

A peculiar solution to the grimness of the situation, this going to bed with her; he wondered how he had arrived at it.

Bending over the suitcase, he said in a low voice to Dr. Smile, I wish youd tell me why the h.e.l.l with everything so dire I decided to I can answer that, Roni Fugate called from the bedroom; she had now put on a somewhat tight pale green sweater and was b.u.t.toning it before the mirror of her vanity table. You informed me last night, after your fifth bourbon and water. You said She paused, eyes sparkling. Its inelegant. What you said was this. If you cant lick em, join em. Only the verb you used, I regret to say, wasnt join.

Hmm, Barney said, and went into the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. Anyhow, he was not far from New York; obviously if Miss Fugate was a fellow employee at P. P. Layouts he was within commute distance of his job. They could ride in together. Charming. He wondered if their employer Leo Bulero would approve of this if he knew. Was there an official company policy about employees sleeping together? There was about almost everything else although how a man who spent all his time at the resort beaches of Antarctica or in German E Therapy clinics could find time to devise dogma on every topic eluded him.

Someday, he said to himself, Ill live like Leo Bulero; instead of being stuck in New York City in 180 degree heat Beneath him now a throbbing began; the floor shook. The buildings cooling system had come on. Day had begun.

Outside the kitchen window the hot, hostile sun took shape beyond the other conapt buildings visible to him; he shut his eyes against it. Going to be another scorcher, all right, probably up to the twenty Wagner mark. He did not need to be a precog to foresee this.

In the miserably high-number conapt building 492 on the outskirts of Marilyn Monroe, New Jersey, Richard Hnatt ate breakfast indifferently while, with something greater than indifference, he glanced over the morning homeopapes weather-syndrome readings of the previous day.

The key glacier, Ol Skintop, had retreated 4.62 Grables during the last twenty-four-hour period. And the temperature, at noon in New York, had exceeded the previous days by 1.46 Wagners. In addition the humidity, as the oceans evaporated, had increased by 16 Selkirks. So things were hotter and wetter; the great procession of nature clanked on, and toward what? Hnatt pushed the pape away, and picked up the mail which had been delivered before dawn it had been some time since mailmen had crept out in daylight hours.

The first bill which caught his eye was the apts cooling pro-rated swindle; he owed Conapt 492 exactly ten and a half skins for the last montha rise of three-fourths of a skin over April. Someday , he said to himself, itll be so hot that nothing will keep this place from melting; he recalled the day his l-p record collection had fused together in a lump, back around 04, due to a momentary failure of the buildings cooling network. Now he owned iron oxide tapes; they did not melt. And at the same moment every parakeet and Venusian ming bird in the building had dropped dead. And his neighbors turtle had been boiled dry. Of course this had been during the day and everyoneat least the menhad been at work. The wives, however, had huddled at the lowest subsurface level, thinking (he remembered Emily telling him this) that the fatal moment had at last arrived. And not a century from now, but now . The Caltech predictions had been wrong only of course they hadnt been; it had just been a broken power-lead from the N.Y. utility people. Robot workmen had quickly shown up and repaired it.

In the living room his wife sat in her blue smock, painstakingly painting an unfired ceramic piece with glaze; her tongue protruded and her eyes glowed the brush moved expertly and he could see already that this was going to be a good one. The sight of Emily at work recalled to him the task that lay before him, today: one which he did not relish.

He said, peevishly, Maybe we ought to wait before we approach him.

Without looking up, Emily said, Well never have a better display to present to him than we have now.

What if he says no?

Well go on. What did you expect, that wed give up just because my one-time husband cant foreseeor wont foreseehow successful these new pieces will eventually be in terms of the market?

Richard Hnatt said, You know him; I dont. Hes not vengeful, is he? He wouldnt carry a grudge? And anyhow what sort of grudge could Emilys former husband be carrying? No one had done him any harm; if anything it had gone the other way, or so he understood from what Emily had related.

It was strange, hearing about Barney Mayerson all the time and never having met him, never having direct contact with the man. Now that would end, because he had an appointment to see Mayerson at nine this morning in the mans office at P. P. Layouts. Mayerson of course would hold the whip hand; he could take one brief glance at the display of ceramics and decline ad hoc. No , he would say, P. P. Layouts is not interested in a min of this. Believe my precog ability, my Pre-Fash marketing talent and skill . Andout would go Richard Hnatt, the collection of pots under his arm, with absolutely no other place to go.

Looking out the window he saw with aversion that already it had become too hot for human endurance; the footer runnels were abruptly empty as everyone ducked for cover. The time was eight-thirty and he now had to leave; rising, he went to the hall closet to get his pith helmet and his mandatory cooling-unit; by law one had to be strapped to every commuters back until nightfall.

Goodbye, he said to his wife, pausing at the front door.

Goodbye and lots of luck. She had become even more involved in her elaborate glazing and he realized all at once that this showed how vast her tension was; she could not afford to pause even a moment. He opened the door and stepped out into the hall, feeling the cool wind of the portable unit as it chugged from behind him. Oh, Emily said, as he began to shut the door; now she raised her head, brus.h.i.+ng her long brown hair back from her eyes. Vid me as soon as youre out of Barneys office, as soon as you know one way or another.

Okay, he said, and shut the door behind him.

Downramp, at the buildings bank, he unlocked their safety deposit box and carried it to a privacy room; there he lifted out the display case containing the spread of ceramic ware which he was to show Mayerson.

Shortly, he was aboard a thermosealed interbuilding commute car, on his way to downtown New York City and P. P. Layouts, the great pale synthetic-cement building from which Perky Pat and all the units of her miniature world originated. The doll , he reflected, which had conquered man as man at the same time had conquered the planets of the Sol system . Perky Pat, the obsession of the colonists. What a commentary on colonial life what more did one need to know about those unfortunates who, under the selective service laws of the UN, had been kicked off Earth, required to begin new, alien, lives on Mars or Venus or Ganymede or wherever else the UN bureaucrats happened to imagine they could be deposited and after a fas.h.i.+on survive.

And we think weve got it bad here, he said to himself.

The individual in the seat next to him, a middle-aged man wearing the gray pith helmet, sleeveless s.h.i.+rt, and shorts of bright red popular with the businessman cla.s.s, remarked, Its going to be another hot one.

Yes.

What you got there in that great big carton? A picnic lunch for a hovel of Martian colonists?

Ceramics, Hnatt said.

Ill bet you fire them just by sticking them outdoors at high noon. The businessman chuckled, then picked up his morning pape, opened it to the front page. s.h.i.+p from outside the Sol system reported crash-landed on Pluto, he said. Team being sent to find it. You suppose its things? I cant stand those things from other star systems.

Its more likely one of our own s.h.i.+ps reporting back, Hnatt said.

Ever seen a Proxima thing?

Only pics.

Grisly, the businessman said. If they find that wrecked s.h.i.+p on Pluto and it is a thing I hope they laser it out of existence; after all we do have a law against them coming into our system.

Right.

Can I see your ceramics? Im in neckties, myself. The Werner simulated-handwrought living tie in a variety of t.i.tanian colorsI have one on, see? The colors are actually a primitive life form that we import and then grow in cultures here on Terra. Just how we induce them to reproduce is our trade secret, you know, like the formula for Coca-Cola.

Hnatt said, For a similar reason I cant show you these ceramics, much as Id like to. Theyre new. Im taking them to a Pre-Fash precog at P. P. Layouts; if he wants to miniaturize them for the Perky Pat layouts then were in: its just a question of flas.h.i.+ng the info to the P.P. disc jockey whats his name?circing Mars. And so on.

Werner handwrought ties are part of the Perky Pat layouts, the man informed him. Her boyfriend Walt has a closetful of them. He beamed. When P. P. Layouts decided to min our ties It was Barney Mayerson you talked to?

Ididnt talk to him; it was our regional sales manager. They say Mayerson is difficult. Goes on what seems like impulse and once hes decided its irreversible.

Is he ever wrong? Declines items that become fash?

Sure. He may be a precog but hes only human. Ill tell you one thing that might help. Hes very suspicious of women. His marriage broke up a couple of years ago and he never got over it. See, his wife became pregnant twice, and the board of directors of his conapt building, I think its 33, met and voted to expel him and his wife because they had violated the building code. Well, you know 33; you know how hard it is to get into any of the buildings in that low range. So instead of giving up his apt he elected to divorce his wife and let her move, taking their child. And then later on apparently he decided he made a mistake and he got embittered; he blamed himself, naturally, for making a mistake like that. A natural mistake, though; for G.o.ds sake , what wouldnt you and I give to have an apt in 33 or even 34? He never remarried; maybe hes a Neo-Christian. But anyhow when you go to try to sell him on your ceramics, be very careful about how you deal with the feminine angle; dont say these will appeal to the ladies or anything like that. Most retail items are purchased Thanks for the tip, Hnatt said, rising; carrying his case of ceramics he made his way down the aisle to the exit. He sighed. It was going to be tough, possibly even hopeless; he wasnt going to be able to lick the circ.u.mstances which long predated his relations.h.i.+p with Emily and her pots, and that was that.

Fortunately he managed to snare a cab; as it carried him through downtown cross-traffic he read his own morning pape, in particular the lead story about the s.h.i.+p believed to have returned from Proxima only to crash on Plutos frozen wastesan understatement! Already it was conjectured that this might be the well-known interplan industrialist Palmer Eldritch, who had gone to the Prox system a decade ago at the invitation of the Prox Council of humanoid types; they had wanted him to modernize their autofacs along Terran lines. Nothing had been heard from Eldritch since. Now this.

It would probably be better for Terra if this wasnt Eldritch coming back, he decided. Palmer Eldritch was too wild and dazzling a solo pro; he had accomplished miracles in getting autofac production started on the colony planets, butas always he had gone too far, schemed too much. Consumer goods had piled up in unlikely places where no colonists existed to make use of them. Mountains of debris, they had become, as the weather corroded them bit by bit, inexorably. Snowstorms, if one could believe that such still existed somewhere there were places which were actually cold. Too cold, in actual fact.

Thy destination, your eminence, the autonomic cab informed him, halting before a large but mostly subsurface structure. P. P. Layouts, with employees handily entering by its many thermal-protected ramps.

He paid the cab, hopped from it, and scuttled across a short open s.p.a.ce for a ramp, his case held with both hands; briefly, naked sunlight touched him and he felt or imaginedhimself sizzle. Baked like a toad, dried of all life-juices, he thought as he safely reached the ramp.

Presently he was subsurface, being allowed into Mayersons office by a receptionist. The rooms, cool and dim, invited him to relax but he did not; he gripped his display case tighter and tensed himself and, although he was not a Neo-Christian, he mumbled a prolix prayer.

Mr. Mayerson, the receptionist, taller than Hnatt and impressive in her open-bodice dress and resort-style heels, said, speaking not to Hnatt but to the man seated at the desk. This is Mr. Hnatt, she informed Mayerson. This is Mr. Mayerson, Mr. Hnatt. Behind Mayerson stood a girl in a pale green sweater and with absolutely white hair. The hair was too long and the sweater too tight. This is Miss Fugate, Mr. Hnatt. Mr. Mayersons a.s.sistant. Miss Fugate, this is Mr. Richard Hnatt.

At the desk Barney Mayerson continued to study a doc.u.ment without acknowledging the entrance of anyone and Richard Hnatt waited in silence, experiencing a mixed bag of emotions; anger touched him, lodged in his windpipe and chest, and of course Angst, and then, above even those, a tendril of growing curiosity. So this was Emilys former husband, who, if the living necktie salesman could be believed, still chewed mournfully, bitterly, on the regret of having abolished the marriage. Mayerson was a rather heavy-set man, in his late thirties, with unusuallyand not particularly fas.h.i.+onableloose and wavy hair. He looked bored but there was no sign of hostility about him. But perhaps he had not as yet Lets see your pots, Mayerson said suddenly.

Laying the display case on the desk Richard Hnatt opened it, got out the ceramic articles one by one, arranged them, and then stepped back.

After a pause Barney Mayerson said, No.

No? Hnatt said. No what?

Mayerson said, They wont make it. He picked up his doc.u.ment and resumed reading it.

You mean you decided, just like that ? Hnatt said, unable to believe that it was already done.

Exactly like that, Mayerson agreed. He had no further interest in the display of ceramics; as far as he was concerned Hnatt had already packed up his pots and left.

Miss Fugate said, Excuse me, Mr. Mayerson.

Glancing at her Barney Mayerson said, What is it?