The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Part 6

Well, to be here you need a sponsor. All of us have them; I guess they pay for everything, pay until were well and then we can go home, if we have homes. She seated herself by the suitcase, and opened itor at least tried to. The lock did not respond. Darn, she said. This is the wrong one. This is Dr. Smile.

A psychiatrist? Leo asked, alertly. From one of those big conapts? Is it working? Turn it on.

Obligingly the girl turned the psychiatrist on. h.e.l.lo, Monica, the suitcase said tinnily. h.e.l.lo to you, too, Mr. Bulero. It p.r.o.nounced his name wrong, getting the stress on the final syllable. What are you doing here, sir? Youre much too old to be here. Tee-hee. Or are you regressed, due to malappropriate so-called E Therpay rggggg click! It whirred in agitation. Therapy in Munich? it finished.

I feel fine, Leo a.s.sured it. Look, Smile; who do you know that I know that could get me out of here? Name someone, anyone. I cant stay here any more, get it?

I know a Mr. Bayerson, Dr. Smile said. In fact Im with him right now, via portable extension, of course, right in his office.

Theres n.o.body I know named Bayerson, Leo said. What is this place? Obviously its a rest camp of some sort for sick kids or kids with no money or some danm thing. I thought this was maybe in the Prox system but if youre here obviously it isnt. Bayerson . It came to him, then. h.e.l.l, you mean Mayerson . Barney. Back at P. P. Layouts.

Yes, thats so, Dr. Smile said.

Contact him, Leo said. Tell him to get in touch with Felix Blau right away, that Tri-Planet Police Agency or whatever they call themselves. Have him have Blau do research, find out where exactly I am and then send a s.h.i.+p here. Got it?

All right, Dr. Smile said. Ill address Mr. Mayerson right away. Hes conferring with Miss Fugate, his a.s.sistant, who is also his mistress and who today is wearing hmm . Theyre talking about you this very minute. But of course I cant report what theyre saying; seal of the medical profession, you realize. She is wearing Okay, who cares? Leo said irritably.

Youll excuse me a moment, the suitcase said. While I sign off. It sounded huffy. And then there was silence.

I have bad news for you, the child said.

What is it?

I was kidding. Thats not really Dr. Smile; its just pretend, to keep us from loneliness. Its alive but its not connected with anything outside itself; its what they call being on intrinsic.

He knew what that meant; the unit was self-contained. But then how could it have known about Barney and Miss Fugate, even down to details about their personal life? Even as to what she had on? The child was not telling the truth, obviously. Who are you? he demanded. Monica what? I want to know your full name. Something about her was familiar.

Im back, the suitcase announced suddenly. Well, Mr. Bulero Again the faulty p.r.o.nunciation. Ive discussed your dilemma with Mr. Mayerson and he will contact Felix Blau as you requested. Mr. Mayerson thinks he recalls reading in a homeopape once about a UN camp much as you are experiencing, somewhere in the Saturn region, for r.e.t.a.r.ded children. Perhaps h.e.l.l, Leo said, this girl isnt r.e.t.a.r.ded. If anything she was precocious. It did not make sense. But what did make sense was the realization that Palmer Eldritch wanted something out of him; this was not merely a matter of edifying him: it was a question of intimidation.

On the horizon a shape appeared, immense and gray, bloating as it rushed at terrific speed toward them. It had ugly spiked whiskers.

Thats a rat, Monica said calmly.

Leo said, That big? No place in the Sol system, on none of the moons or planets, did such an enormous, feral creature exist. What will it do to us? he asked, wondering why she wasnt afraid.

Oh, Monica said, I suppose itll kill us.

And that doesnt frighten you? He heard his own voice rise in a shriek. I mean, you want to die like that, and right now? Eaten by a rat the size of He grabbed the girl with one hand, picked up Dr. Smile the suitcase in the other, and began lumbering away from the rat.

The rat reached them, pa.s.sed on by, and was gone; its shape dwindled until at last it disappeared.

The girl snickered. It scared you. I knew it wouldnt see us. They cant; theyre blind to us, here.

They are ? He knew, then, where he was. Felix Blau wouldnt find him. n.o.body would, even if they looked forever .

Eldritch had given him an intravenous injection of a translating drug, no doubt Chew-Z. This place was a nonexistent world, a.n.a.logous to the irreal Earth to which the translated colonists went when they chewed his own product, Can-D.

And the rat, unlike everything else, was genuine. Unlike themselves; he and this girlthey were not real, either. At least not here. Somewhere their empty, silent bodies lay like sacks, discarded by the cerebral contents for the time being. No doubt their bodies were at Palmer Eldritchs Lunar demesne.

Youre Zoe, he said. Arent you? This is the way you want to be, a little girl-child again, about eight. Right? With long blonde hair. And even, he realized, with a different name.

Stiffly, the child said, There is no one named Zoe.

No one but you. Your father is Palmer Eldritch, right?

With great reluctance the child nodded.

Is this a special place for you? he asked. To which you come often?

This is my place, the girl said. No one comes here without my permission.

Why did you let me come here, then? He knew that she did not like him. Had not from the very start.

Because, the child said, we think perhaps you can stop the Proxers from whatever it is theyre doing.

Thatagain, he said, simply not believing her. Your father My father, the child said, is trying to save us. He didnt want to bring back Chew-Z; they made him. Chew-Z is the agent by which were going to be delivered over to them. You see?

How?

Because they control these areas. Like this, where you go when youre given Chew-Z.

You dont seem under any sort of alien control; look what youre telling me.

But I will be, the girl said, nodding soberly. Soon. Just like my father is now. He was given it on Prox; hes been taking it for years. Its too late for him and he knows it.

Prove all this to me, Leo said. In fact prove any of it, even one part; give me something actual to go on.

The suitcase, which he still held, now said, What Monica says is true, Mr. Bulero.

How do you know? he demanded, annoyed with it.

Because, the suitcase replied, Im under Prox influence, too; thats why I You did nothing, Leo said. He set the suitcase down. d.a.m.n that Chew-Z, he said, to both of them, the suitcase and the girl. Its made everything confused; I dont know what the h.e.l.ls going on. Youre not Zoeyou dont even know who she is. And youyoure not Dr. Smile, and you didnt call Barney, and he wasnt talking to Roni Fugate; its all just a drug-induced hallucination. Its my own fears about Palmer Eldritch being read back to me, this trash about him being under Prox influence, and you, too. Who ever heard of a suitcase being dominated by minds from an alien star-system? Highly indignant, he walked away from them.

I know whats going on, he realized. This is Palmers way of gaining domination over my mind; this is a form of what they used to call brainwas.h.i.+ng. Hes got me running scared. Carefully measuring his steps, he continued on without looking back.

It was a near-fatal mistake. Somethinghe caught sight of it out of the corner of his eyelaunched itself at his legs; he leaped aside and it pa.s.sed him, circling back at once as it reoriented itself, and picked him up again as its prey.

The rats cant see you, the girl called, but the glucks can! You better run!

Without clearly seeing ithe had seen enoughhe ran.

And what he had seen he could not blame on Chew-Z. Because it was not an illusion, not a device of Palmer Eldritchs to terrorize him. The gluck, whatever it was, did not originate on Terra nor from a Terran mind.

Behind him, leaving the suitcase, the girl ran, too.

What about me? Dr. Smile called anxiously.

No one came back for him.

On the vidscreen the image of Felix Blau said, Ive processed the material you gave me, Mr. Mayerson. It adds up to a convincing case that your employer Mr. Bulerowho is also a client of mineis at present on a small artificial satellite orbiting Earth, legally t.i.tled Sigma 14-B. I have consulted the records of owners.h.i.+p and it appears to belong to a rocket-fuel manufacturer in St. George, Utah. He inspected the papers before him. Robard Lethane Sales. Lethane is their trade-name for their brand of Okay, Barney Mayerson said. Ill contact them. How in G.o.ds name had Leo Bulero gotten there?

There is one further item of possible interest. Robard Lethane Sales incorporated the same day, four years ago, as Chew-Z Manufacturers of Boston. It seems more than a coincidence to me.

What about getting Leo off the satellite?

You could file a writ of mandamus with the courts demanding Too much time, Barney said. He had a deep, ill sense of personal responsibility for what had happened. Evidently Palmer Eldritch had set up the news conference with the pape reporters as a pretext by which to lure Leo to the Lunar demesneand he, precog Barney Mayerson, the man who could perceive the future, had been taken in, had expertly done his part to get Leo there.

Felix Blau said, I can supply you with about a hundred men, from various offices of my organization. And you ought to be able to raise fifty more from P. P. Layouts. You could try to invest the satellite.

And find him dead.

True. Blau appeared to pout. Well, you could go to Hepburn-Gilbert and plead for UN a.s.sistance. Or try to contactand this sticks in the craw even worsecontact Palmer or whatevers taking Palmers place, and deal directly with it . See if you can buy Leo back.

Barney cut the circuit. He at once dialed for an outplan line, saying, Get me Mr. Palmer Eldritch on Luna. Its an emergency; Id like you to hurry it up, miss.

As he waited for the call to be put through, Roni Fugate said from the far end of the office, Apparently were not going to have time to sell out to Eldritch.

It does look that way. How smoothly it had all been handled; Eldritch had let his adversary do the work. And us, too, he realized, Roni and I; h.e.l.l probably get us the same way. In fact Eldritch could indeed be waiting for our flight to the satellite; that would explain his supplying Leo with Dr. Smile.

I wonder, Roni said, fooling with the clasp of her blouse, if we want to work for a man that clever. If it is a man. It looks more and more to me as if its not actually Palmer who came back but one of them; I think were going to have to accept that. The next thing we can look forward to is Chew-Z flooding the market. With UN sanction. Her tone was bitter. And Leo, who at least is one of us and who just wants to make a few skins, will be dead or driven out She stared straight ahead in fury.

Patriotism, Barney said.

Self-preservation. I dont want to find myself, some morning, chewing away on the stuff, doing whatever you do when you chew it instead of Can-D. Goingnot to Perky Pat land; thats for sure.

The vidphone operator said, I have a Miss Zoe Eldritch on the line, sir. Will you speak to her?

Okay, Barney said, resigned.

A smartly dressed woman, sharp-eyed, with heavy hair pulled back in a bun, gazed at him in miniature. Yes?

This is Mayerson at P. P. Layouts. What do we have to do to get Leo Bulero back? He waited. No response. You do know what Im talking about, dont you? he said.

Presently she said, Mr. Bulero arrived here at the demesne and was taken sick. Hes resting in our infirmary. When hes better May I dispatch an official company physician to examine him?

Of course. Zoe Eldritch did not bat an eye.

Why didnt you notify us?

It just now occurred. My father was about to call. It seems to be nothing more than a reaction to the change of gravity; actually its very common with older persons who arrive here. We havent tried to approximate Earth gravity as Mr. Bulero has at his satellite, Winnie-the-Pooh Acres. So you see its really quite simple. She smiled slightly. Youll have him back sometime later today at the very latest. Did you suspect something else?

I suspect, Barney said, that Leo is not on Luna any longer. That hes on an Earth-satellite called Sigma 14-B which belongs to a St. George firm that you own. Isnt that the case? And what well find in your infirmary at the demesne will not be Leo Bulero.

Roni stared at him.

Youre welcome to see for yourself, Zoe said stonily. It is Leo Bulero, at least as far as we know. Its what arrived here with the homeopape reporters.

Ill come to the demesne, Barney said. And knew he was making a mistake. His precog ability told him that. And, at the far end of the office, Roni Fugate hopped to her feet and stood rigid; her ability had picked it up, too. Shutting off the vidphone he turned to her and said, P. P. Layouts employee commits suicide. Correct? Or some such wording. The papes tomorrow morning.

The exact wording Roni began.

I dont care to hear the exact wording. But it would be by exposure, he knew. Mans body found on pedestrian ramp at noon; dead from excessive solar radiation. Downtown New York somewhere. At whatever spot the Eldritch organization had dropped him off. Would drop him off.

He could have done without his precog faculty, in this. Since he did not intend to act on its foresight.

What disturbed him the most was the pic on the pape page, a close-up view of his sun-shriveled body.

At the office door he stopped and simply stood.

You cant go, Roni said.

No. Not after previewing the pic. Leo, he realized, will have to take care of himself. Returning to his desk he reseated himself.

The only problem, Roni said, is that if he does get back hes going to be hard to explain the situation to. That you didnt do anything.

I know. But that was not the only problem; in fact that was barely an issue at all.

Because Leo would probably not be getting back.

SIX.

The gluck had him by the ankle and it was trying to drink him; it had penetrated his flesh with tiny tubes like cilia. Leo Bulero cried outand then, abruptly, there stood Palmer Eldritch.

You were wrong, Eldritch said. I did not find G.o.d in the Prox system. But I found something better. With a stick he poked at the gluck; it reluctantly withdrew its cilia, and contracted into itself until at last it was no longer clinging to Leo; it dropped to the ground and traveled away, as Eldritch continued to prod it. G.o.d, Eldritch said, promises eternal life. I can do better; I can deliver it .

Deliver it how? Trembling and weak with relief, Leo dropped to the gra.s.sy soil, seated himself, and gasped for breath.

Through the lichen which were marketing under the name Chew-Z, Eldritch said. It bears very little resemblance to your own product, Leo. Can-D is obsolete, because what does it do? Provides a few moments of escape, nothing but fantasy . Who wants it? Who needs that when they can get the genuine thing from me? He added, Were there, now.

So I a.s.sumed. And if you imagine people are going to pay out skins for an experience like this Leo gestured at the gluck, which still lurked nearby, keeping an eye on both himself and Eldritch. Youre not just out of your body; youre out of your mind, too.

This is a special situation. To prove to you that this is authentic. Nothing excels physical pain and terror in that respect; the glucks showed you with absolute clarity that this is not a fantasy. They could actually have killed you. And if you died here that would be it. Not like Can-D, is it? Eldritch was palpably enjoying the situation. When I discovered the lichen in the Prox system I couldnt believe it. Ive lived a hundred years, Leo, already, using it in the Prox system under the direction of their medical people; Ive taken it orally, intravenously, in suppository formIve burned it and inhaled the fumes, made it into a water-soluble solution and boiled it, sniffed the vapors: Ive experienced it every way possible and it hasnt hurt me. The effect on Proxers is minor, nothing like what it does to us; to them its less of a stimulant than their very best grade tobacco. Want to hear more?

Not particularly.

Eldritch seated himself nearby, rested his artificial arm on his bent knees, and idly swung his stick from side to side, scrutinizing the gluck, which had still not departed. When we return to our former bodiesyou notice the use of the word former, a term you wouldnt apply with Can-D, and for good reason youll find that no time has pa.s.sed. We could stay here fifty years and itd be the same; wed emerge back at the demesne on Luna and find everything unchanged, and anyone watching us would see no lapse of consciousness, as you have with Can-D, no trance, no stupor. Oh, maybe a flicker of the eyelids. A split second; Im willing to concede that.

What determines our length of time here? Leo asked.

Our att.i.tude. Not the quant.i.ty taken. We can return whenever we want to. So the amount of the drug need not be Thats not true. Because Ive wanted out of here for some time, now.

But, Eldritch said, you didnt construct thisestablishment, here; I did and its mine. I created the glucks, this landscape He gestured with his stick. Every d.a.m.n thing you see, including your body.