The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Part 5

He wished he felt the same way. Because there was one problem that haunted him, one he had not discussed with either Leo or her, although it was certainly bothering Leo, too and should, if she were as rational as she seemed, be bothering her.

It had yet to be established that what had come back from Prox, the person or thing that had crashed on Pluto, was really Palmer Eldritch.

FIVE.

Set up financially by the contract with the Chew-Z people, Richard Hnatt placed a call to one of Dr. w.i.l.l.y Denkmals E Therapy clinics in the Germanies; he picked the central one, in Munich, and began making arrangements for both himself and Emily.

Im up with the greats, he said to himself as he waited, with Emily, in the sw.a.n.ky gnoff-hide decorated lounge of the clinic; Dr. Denkmal, as was his custom, proposed to interview them initially personally, although of course the therapy itself would be carried out by members of his staff.

It makes me nervous, Emily whispered; she held a magazine on her lap but was unable to read. Its sounnatural.

h.e.l.l, Hnatt said vigorously, thats what its not; its an acceleration of the natural evolutionary process thats going on all the time anyway, only usually its so slow we dont perceive it. I mean, look at our ancestors in caves; they were covered with body-hair and they had no chins and a very limited frontal-area brain-wise. And they had huge fused molars in order to chew uncooked seeds.

Okay, Emily said, nodding.

The farther away we can get from them the better. Anyhow, they evolved to meet the Ice Age; we have to evolve to meet the Fire Age, just the opposite. So we need that chitinous-type skin, that rind and the altered metabolism that lets us sleep in midday and also the improved ventilation and the From the inner office Dr. Denkmal, a small, round style of middle-cla.s.s German with white hair and an Albert Schweitzer mustache, emerged. With him came another man, and Richard Hnatt saw for the first time close-up the effects of E Therapy. And it was not like seeing pics on the society pages of the homeopape. Not at all .

The mans head reminded Hnatt of a photograph he had once seen in a textbook; the photo had been labeled hydrocephalic . The same enlargement above the browline; it was clearly domelike and oddly fragile-looking and he saw at once why these well-to-do persons who had evolved were popularly called bubbleheads . Looks about to burst, he thought, impressed. Andthe ma.s.sive rind. Hair had given way to the darker, more uniform pattern of chitinous sh.e.l.l. Bubblehead? More like a coconut.

Mr. Hnatt, Dr. Denkmal said to Richard Hnatt, pausing. And Frau Hnatt, too. Ill be with you in a moment. He turned back to the man beside him. Its just chance that we were able to squeeze you in today, Mr. Bulero, on such short notice. Anyhow you havent lost a bit of ground; in fact youve gained.

However, Mr. Bulero was gazing at Richard Hnatt. Ive heard your name before. Oh, yes. Felix Blau mentioned you. His supremely intelligent eyes became dark and he said, Did you recently sign a contract with a Boston firm called The elongated face, distorted as if by a permanent optically impaired mirror, twisted. Chew-Z Manufacturers?

N-nuts to you, Hnatt stammered. Your Pre-Fash consultant turned us down.

Leo Bulero eyed him, then with a shrug turned back to Dr. Denkmal. Ill see you in two weeks.

Two! But Denkmal gestured protestingly.

I cant make it next week; Ill be off Terra again. Again Bulero eyed Richard and Emily Hnatt, lingeringly, then strode off.

Watching him go, Dr. Denkmal said, Very evolved, that man. Both physically and spiritually. He turned to the Hnatts. Welcome to Eichenwald Clinic. He beamed.

Thank you, Emily said nervously. Doesit hurt?

Our therapy? Dr. Denkmal t.i.ttered with amus.e.m.e.nt. Not in the slightest, although it may shockin the figurative senseat first. As you experience a growth of your cortex area. Youll have many new and exciting concepts occur to you, especially of a religious nature. Oh, if only Luther and Erasmus were alive today; their controversies could be solved so easily now, by means of E Therapy. Both would see the truth, as zum Beiszspiel regard transubstantiationyou know, the Blut und He interrupted himself with a cough. In English, blood and wafer; you know, in the Ma.s.s. Is very much like the takers of Can-D; have you noticed that affinity? But come on; we begin. He slapped Richard Hnatt on the back and led the two of them into his inner office, eying Emily with what seemed to Richard to be a rather unspiritual, covetous look.

They faced a gigantic chamber of scientific gadgets and two Dr. Frankenstein tables, complete with arm and leg brackets. At the sight Emily moaned and shrank back.

Nothing to fear, Frau Hnatt. Like electra-convulsive shock, causes certain musculature reactions; reflex, you know? Denkmal giggled. Now you must, ah, you know: take off your clothes. Each of you in private, of course; then don smocks and auskommen understand? A nurse will a.s.sist you. We have your medical charts from Nord Amerika already; we know your histories. Both quite healthy, virile; good Nord Amerikanische people. He led Richard Hnatt to a side room, secluded by a curtain; there he left him off and returned to Emily. As he entered the side room Richard heard Dr. Denkmal talking to Emily in a soothing but commanding tone; the combination was a neat bit of business and Hnatt felt both envious and suspicious and then, at last, glum. It was not quite as he had pictured it, not quite big-time enough to suit him.

However, Leo Bulero had emerged from this room so that proved it was authentic big-time; Bulero would never have settled for less.

Heartened, he began to undress.

Somewhere out of sight Emily squeaked.

He redressed and left the side room, boiling with concern. However, he found Denkmal at a desk, reading Emilys medical chart; she was off, he realized, with a female nurse, so everything was all right.

Criminy, he thought, I certainly am edgy . Once more entering the side room he resumed undressing; his hands, he found, were shaking.

Presently he lay strapped to one of the twin tables, Emily in a similar state beside him. She, too, seemed frightened; she was very pale and quiet.

Your glands, Dr. Denkmal explained, jovially rubbing his hands together and wantonly eying Emily, will be stimulated by this, especially Kresys Gland, which controls rate of evolution, nicht Wahr? Yes, you know that; every schoolchild knows that, is taught now what weve discovered here. Today what you will notice is no growth of chitinous sh.e.l.l or brain-shield or loss of fingernails and toenails you didnt know that, I bet!but only a slight but very, very important change in the frontal lobe it will smart; that is a pun, you know? It smarts and you become, ah, smart. Again he giggled. Richard Hnatt felt miserable; he waited like some hog-tied animal for whatever they had in store for him. What a way to make business contacts, he said ruefully to himself, and shut his eyes.

A male attendant materialized and stood by him, looking blond, Nordic, and without intelligence.

We play soothing Musik , Dr. Denkmal said, pressing a b.u.t.ton. Multiphonic sound, from every corner of the room, filtered out, an insipid orchestral version of some popular Italian opera, Puccini or Verdi; Hnatt did not know. Now hre , Herr Hnatt. Denkmal bent down beside him, suddenly serious. I want you to understand; every now and then this therapywhat do you say? blasts back .

Backfires, Hnatt said gratingly. He had been expecting this.

But mostly we have successes. Here, Herr Hnatt, is what the backfires consist of, I am afraid; instead of evolving the Kresy Gland is very stimulated toregress. Is that correct in English?

Yes, Hnatt muttered. Regress how far?

Just a trifle. But it could be unpleasant. We would catch it quickly, of course, and cease therapy. And generally that stops the regression. Butnot always. Sometimes once the Kresy Gland has been stimulated to He gestured. It keeps on. I should tell you this in case you might have scruples. Right?

Ill take the chance, Richard Hnatt said. I guess. Everyone else does, dont they? Okay, go ahead. He squirmed, saw Emily, even paler now, almost imperceptibly nodding; her eyes were gla.s.sy.

Whatll probably happen, he thought fatalistically, is that one of us will evolve probably Emily and the other, me, will devolve back to Sinanthropus. Back to fused molars, tiny brain, bent legs, and cannibalistic tendencies. Ill have a h.e.l.l of a time closing sales that way.

Dr. Denkmal clamped a switch shut, whistling along with the opera happily to himself.

The Hnatts E Therapy had begun.

He seemed to feel a loss of weight, nothing more, at least not at first. And then his head ached as if rapped by a hammer. With the ache came almost instantly a new and acute comprehension; it was a dreadful risk he and Emily were taking, and it wasnt fair to her to subject her to this, just to further sales. Obviously she didnt want this; suppose she evolved back just enough to lose her ceramic talent? And they both would be ruined; his career hung on seeing Emily remain one of the planets top ceramists.

Stop, he said aloud, but the sound did not seem to emerge; he did not hear it, although his vocal apparatus seemed to functionhe felt the words in his throat. And then it came to him. He was evolving; it was functioning. His insight was due to the change in his brain metabolism. a.s.suming Emily was all right then everything was all right.

He perceived, too, that Dr. w.i.l.l.y Denkmal was a cheap little pseudo-quack, that this whole business preyed off the vanity of mortals striving to become more than they were ent.i.tled to be, and in a purely earthly, transitory way. The h.e.l.l with his sales, his contacts; what did that matter in comparison to the possibility of evolving the human brain to entire new orders of conception? For instance Below lay the tomb world, the immutable cause-and-effect world of the demonic. At median extended the layer of the human, but at any instant a man could plungedescend as if sinkinginto the h.e.l.l-layer beneath. Or: he could ascend to the ethereal world above, which const.i.tuted the third of the trinary layers. Always, in his middle level of the human, a man risked the sinking. And yet the possibility of ascent lay before him; any aspect or sequence of reality could become either , at any instant. h.e.l.l and heaven, not after death but now! Depression, all mental illness, was the sinking. And the other how was it achieved?

Through empathy. Grasping another, not from outside but from the inner. For example, had he ever really looked at Emilys pots as anything more than merchandise for which a market existed? No. What I ought to have seen in them, he realized, is the artistic intention, the spirit shes revealing intrinsically.

And that contract with Chew-Z Manufacturers, he realized; I signed without consulting herhow unethical can one become? I chained her to a firm which she may not want as a minner of her products we have no knowledge of the worth of their layouts. They may be shoddy. Substandard. But too late, now; the road to the h.e.l.l-layer is paved with second-guessing. And they may be involved in the illegal manufacture of a translation drug; that would explain the name Chew-Z it would correspond with Can-D. b.u.t.the fact that theyve selected that name openly suggests they have nothing illegal in mind.

With a lightning leap of intuition it came to him: someone had found a translation drug which satisfied the UNs narcotics agency. The agency had already pa.s.sed on Chew-Z, would allow it on the open market. So, for the first time, a translation drug would be available on thoroughly policed Terra, not in the remote, unpoliced colonies only.

And this meant that Chew-Zs layoutsunlike Perky Patwould be marketable on Terra, along with the drug. And as the weather worsened over the years, as the home planet became more of an alien environment, the layouts would sell faster. The market which Leo Bulero controlled was pitifully meager compared to what lay eventually but not nowbefore Chew-Z Manufacturers.

So he had signed a good contract after all. Andno wonder Chew-Z had paid him so much. They were a big outfit, with big plans; they had, obviously, unlimited capital backing them.

And where would they obtain unlimited capital? Nowhere on Terra; he intuited that, too. Probably from Palmer Eldritch, who had returned to the Sol system after having joined economically with the Proxers; it was they who were behind Chew-Z. So, for the chance to ruin Leo Bulero, the UN was allowing a non-Sol race to begin operations in the system.

It was a bad, perhaps even terminal, exchange.

The next he knew, Dr. Denkmal was slapping him into wakefulness. How goes it? Denkmal demanded, peering at him. Broad, all-inclusive preoccupations?

Y-yes, he said, and managed to sit up; he was unstrapped.

Then we have nothing to fear, Denkmal said, and beamed, his white mustache twitching like antennae. Now we will consult with Frau Hnatt. A female attendant was already unstrapping her; Emily sat up groggily and yawned. Dr. Denkrnal looked nervous. How do you feel, Frau? he inquired.

Fine, Emily murmured. I had all sorts of pot ideas. One after another. She glanced timidly at first him and then at Richard. Does that mean anything?

Paper, Dr. Denkmal said, producing a tablet. Pen. He extended them to Emily. Put down your ideas, Frau.

Tremblingly, Emily sketched her pot ideas. She seemed to have difficulty controlling the pen, Hnatt noticed. But presumably that would pa.s.s.

Fine, Dr. Denkmal said, when she had finished. He showed the sketches to Richard Hnatt. Highly organized cephalic activity. Superior inventiveness, right?

The pot sketches were certainly good, even brilliant. And yet Hnatt felt there was something wrong. Something about the sketches. But it was not until they had left the clinic, were standing together under the ant.i.thermal curtain outside the building, waiting for their jet-express cab to land, that he realized what it was.

The ideas were goodbut Emily had done them already. Years ago, when she had designed her first professionally adequate pots: she had shown him sketches of them and then the pots themselves, even before the two of them were married. Didnt she remember this? Obviously not.

He wondered why she didnt remember and what it meant; it made him deeply uneasy.

However, he had been continually uneasy since receiving the first E Therapy treatment, first about the state of mankind and the Sol system in general and now about his wife. Maybe its merely a sign of what Denkmal calls highly organized cephalic activity, he thought to himself. Brain metabolism stimulation.

Ormaybe not.

Arriving on Luna, with his official press card from P. P. Layouts house journal clutched, Leo Bulero found himself squeezed in with a gaggle of homeopape reporters on their way by surface tractor across the ashy face of the moon to Palmer Eldritchs demesne.

Your ident-pape, sir, an armed guard, but not wearing the colors of the UN, yapped at him as he prepared to exit into the parking area of the demesne. Leo Bulero was thereupon wedged in the doorway of the tractor, while behind him the legitimate homeopape reporters surged and clamored restively, wanting to get out. Mr. Bulero, the guard said leisurely, and returned the press card. Mr. Eldritch is expecting you. Come this way. He was immediately replaced by another guard, who began checking the i.d. of the reporters one by one.

Nervous, Leo Bulero accompanied the first guard through an air-filled pressurized and comfortably heated tube to the demesne proper.

Ahead of him, blocking the tube, appeared another uniformed guard from Palmer Eldritchs staff; he raised his arm and pointed something small and shiny at Leo Bulero.

Hey, Leo protested feebly, freezing in his tracks; he spun, ducked his head, and then stumbled a few steps back the way he had come.

The beamof a variety he knew nothing about touched him and he pitched forward, trying to break his fall by throwing his arms out.

The next he knew he was once more conscious and swaddledabsurdlyto a chair in a barren room. His head rang and he looked blearily around, but saw only a small table in the center of the room on which an electronic contraption rested.

Let me out of here, he said.

At once the electronic contraption said, Good morning, Mr. Bulero. I am Palmer Eldritch. You wanted to see me, I understand.

This is cruel conduct, Bulero said. Having me put to sleep and then tying me up like this.

Have a cigar. The electronic contraption sprouted an extension which carried in its grasp a long green cigar; the end of the cigar puffed into flame and then the elongated pseudopodium presented it to Leo Bulero. I brought ten boxes of these back from Prox, but only one box survived the crash. Its not tobacco; its superior to tobacco. What is it, Leo? What did you want?

Leo Bulero said, Are you in that thing there, Eldritch? Or are you somewhere else, speaking through it?

Be content, the voice from the metal construct resting on the table said. It continued to extend the lighted cigar, then withdrew it, stubbed it out, and dropped the remains from sight within itself. Do you care to see color slides of my visit to the Prox system?

Youre kidding.

No, Palmer Eldritch said. Theyll give you some idea of what I was up against there. Theyre 3-D time-lapse slides, very good.

No thanks.

Eldritch said, We found that dart embedded in your tongue; its been removed. But you may have something more, or so we suspect.

Youre giving me a lot of credit, Leo said. More than I ought to get.

In four years on Prox I learned a lot. Six years in transit, four in residence. The Proxers are going to invade Earth.

Youre putting me on, Leo said.

Eldritch said, I can understand your reaction. The UN, in particular Hepburn-Gilbert, reacted the same way. But its truenot in the conventional sense, of course, but in a deeper, coa.r.s.er manner that I dont quite get, even though I was among them for so long. It may be involved with Earths heating up, for all I know. Or there may be worse to come.

Lets talk about that lichen you brought back.

I obtained that illegally; the Proxers didnt know I took any of it. They use it themselves, in religious orgies. As our Indians made use of mescal and peyotl. Is that what you wanted to see me about?

Sure. Youre getting into my business. I know youve already set up a corporation; havent you? Nuts to this business about Proxers invading our system; its you Im sore about, what youre doing. Cant you find some other field to go into besides min layouts?

The room blew up in his face. White light descended, blanketing him, and he shut his eyes. Jeez , he thought. Anyhow I dont believe that about the Proxers; hes just trying to turn our attention away from what hes up to. I mean, its strategy.

He opened his eyes, and found himself sitting on a gra.s.sy bank. Beside him a small girl played with a yo-yo.

That toy, Leo Bulero said, is popular in the Prox system. His arms and legs, he discovered, were untied; he stood up stiffly and moved his limbs. Whats your name? he asked.

The little girl said, Monica.

The Proxers, Leo said, the humanoid types anyhow, wear wigs and have false teeth. He took hold of the bulk of the childs luminous blonde hair and pulled.

Ouch, the girl said. Youre a bad man. He let go and she retreated, still playing with her yo-yo and glaring at him defiantly.

Sorry, he murmured. Her hair was real; perhaps he was not in the Prox system. Anyhow, wherever he was Palmer Eldritch was trying to tell him something. Are you planning to invade Earth? he asked the child. I mean, you dont look as if you are. Could Eldritch have gotten it wrong? he wondered. Misunderstood the Proxers? After all, to his knowledge Palmer hadnt evolved, didnt possess the powerful, expanded comprehension which came with E Therapy.

My yo-yo, the child said, is magic. I can do anything I want with it. Whatll I do? You tell me; you look like a kindly man.

Take me to your leader, Leo said. An old joke; you wouldnt understand it. Went out a century ago. He looked around him and saw no signs of habitation, only the gra.s.sy plain. Too cool for Earth, he realized. Above, the blue sky. Good air, he thought. Dense. Do you feel sorry for me, he asked, because Palmer Eldritch is horning into my business and if he does Ill probably be ruined? Im going to have to make some kind of a deal with him. It now looks like killing him is out, he said to himself morosely. But, he said, I cant figure out any deal h.e.l.l take; he seems to hold all the cards. Look for instance how hes got me here, and I dont even know where this is. Not that it matters, he realized. Because where it is its a place Eldritch controls.

Cards, the child said. I have a deck of cards, in my suitcase.

He saw no suitcase. Where?

Kneeling, the girl touched the gra.s.s here and there. All at once a section slid smoothly back; the girl reached into the cavity and brought out a suitcase. I keep it hidden, she explained. From the sponsors.

Whats that mean, that sponsors?