Read Online Our Friends From Frolix 8 by Philip K Dick - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Philip K Dick
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decide. And let her stay if it’s good? he wondered. And if it isn’t, toss her out to the wolves, to Denny and the prowl cars with their telepathic Unusuals listening constantly.
‘I am life,’ the girl said.
‘What?’ he said, startled.
‘To you, I am life. What are you, thirty-eight? Forty? What have you learned? Have you done anything? Look at me, look. I’m life and when you’re with me, some of it rubs off on you. You don’t feel so old, now, do you? With me here in the squib beside you.’
Nick said, ‘I’m thirty-four and I don’t feel old. As a matter of fact, sitting here with you makes me feel older, not younger. Nothing is rubbing off.’
‘It will,’ she said.
‘You know this from experience,’ he said. ‘With older men. Before me.’
Opening her purse she got out her mirror and cheekstick; she began to stroke elaborate lines from her eyes, across her cheekbones, to the rim of her jaw.
‘You use too much makeup,’ he said.
‘All right, call me a two-pop whore.’
‘What?’ he asked, staring at her, his attention momentarily turned away from the mid-morning traffic.
‘Nothing,’ she said. She closed up her cheekstick, placed it and the mirror back in her purse. ‘Do you want some alcohol?’ she asked. ‘Denny and I have a lot of contacts for alc. I might even be able to get you some — what’s it called — oh yes, scotch.’
‘Made in some fly-by-night distillery out of God knows what,’ Nick said.
She began to laugh helplessly; she sat, head down, her right hand over her eyes. ‘I can picture a distillery flapping through the midnight sky, on its way to a new location. Where the PSS won’t find it.’ She continued laughing, holding onto her head as if the idea of it refused to leave her.
‘You can go blind from alcohol,’ Nick said.
‘Smoke.
Wood
alcohol.’
‘How can you be sure it isn’t that?’
‘How can you be sure of anything? Denny may catch us any time and kill us, or the PSS may do it… it’s just not likely, and you have to go by what’s likely, not what’s possible.
Anything
is possible.’ She smiled up at him. ‘But that’s good, don’t you see? It means you can always hope; he says that, Cordon — I remember that. Cordon says it again and again. He really doesn’t have much of a message, but I remember that. You and I might fall in love; you might leave your wife and I’d leave Denny, and then he’d go outright insane — he’d go on a drinking binge — and he’d kill all of us and then himself.’ She laughed, her light eyes dancing. ‘But isn’t it great? Don’t you see how great it is?’
He didn’t.
‘You’ll see,’ Charley said. ‘Meanwhile, don’t talk to mefor the next ten or so minutes, I have to figure out what to tell your wife.’
‘I’ll tell her.’ Nick said.
‘You’d foul it all up.
I’ll
do it.’ She squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating. He drove on, then, turning in the direction of his apartment.
EIGHT
Fred Huff, personal assistant to PSS Director Barnes, placed a list on his superior’s desk and said, ‘Pardon me, but you asked for a daily report on apartment 3XX24J and here it is. We used standard tapes of voices to identify those who came by. Only one person — one new person, I mean — came by. A Nicholas Appleton.
‘Doesn’t sound like much,’ Barnes said.
‘We ran it through the computer, the one we lease from the University of Wyoming. It made an interesting extrapolation as soon as it had all previous material on this Nicholas Appleton, his age, occupation, background, is he married, does he have any children, has he ever—’
‘He’s never broken the law before in any manner whatsoever.’
‘You mean he’s never been caught. We asked the computer that, too. What are the chances, given this particular man, that he would knowingly violate the law, at the felony level. It said probably no, he would not.’
‘He did when he went to 3XX24J,’ Barnes said
‘I am life,’ the girl said.
‘What?’ he said, startled.
‘To you, I am life. What are you, thirty-eight? Forty? What have you learned? Have you done anything? Look at me, look. I’m life and when you’re with me, some of it rubs off on you. You don’t feel so old, now, do you? With me here in the squib beside you.’
Nick said, ‘I’m thirty-four and I don’t feel old. As a matter of fact, sitting here with you makes me feel older, not younger. Nothing is rubbing off.’
‘It will,’ she said.
‘You know this from experience,’ he said. ‘With older men. Before me.’
Opening her purse she got out her mirror and cheekstick; she began to stroke elaborate lines from her eyes, across her cheekbones, to the rim of her jaw.
‘You use too much makeup,’ he said.
‘All right, call me a two-pop whore.’
‘What?’ he asked, staring at her, his attention momentarily turned away from the mid-morning traffic.
‘Nothing,’ she said. She closed up her cheekstick, placed it and the mirror back in her purse. ‘Do you want some alcohol?’ she asked. ‘Denny and I have a lot of contacts for alc. I might even be able to get you some — what’s it called — oh yes, scotch.’
‘Made in some fly-by-night distillery out of God knows what,’ Nick said.
She began to laugh helplessly; she sat, head down, her right hand over her eyes. ‘I can picture a distillery flapping through the midnight sky, on its way to a new location. Where the PSS won’t find it.’ She continued laughing, holding onto her head as if the idea of it refused to leave her.
‘You can go blind from alcohol,’ Nick said.
‘Smoke.
Wood
alcohol.’
‘How can you be sure it isn’t that?’
‘How can you be sure of anything? Denny may catch us any time and kill us, or the PSS may do it… it’s just not likely, and you have to go by what’s likely, not what’s possible.
Anything
is possible.’ She smiled up at him. ‘But that’s good, don’t you see? It means you can always hope; he says that, Cordon — I remember that. Cordon says it again and again. He really doesn’t have much of a message, but I remember that. You and I might fall in love; you might leave your wife and I’d leave Denny, and then he’d go outright insane — he’d go on a drinking binge — and he’d kill all of us and then himself.’ She laughed, her light eyes dancing. ‘But isn’t it great? Don’t you see how great it is?’
He didn’t.
‘You’ll see,’ Charley said. ‘Meanwhile, don’t talk to mefor the next ten or so minutes, I have to figure out what to tell your wife.’
‘I’ll tell her.’ Nick said.
‘You’d foul it all up.
I’ll
do it.’ She squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating. He drove on, then, turning in the direction of his apartment.
EIGHT
Fred Huff, personal assistant to PSS Director Barnes, placed a list on his superior’s desk and said, ‘Pardon me, but you asked for a daily report on apartment 3XX24J and here it is. We used standard tapes of voices to identify those who came by. Only one person — one new person, I mean — came by. A Nicholas Appleton.
‘Doesn’t sound like much,’ Barnes said.
‘We ran it through the computer, the one we lease from the University of Wyoming. It made an interesting extrapolation as soon as it had all previous material on this Nicholas Appleton, his age, occupation, background, is he married, does he have any children, has he ever—’
‘He’s never broken the law before in any manner whatsoever.’
‘You mean he’s never been caught. We asked the computer that, too. What are the chances, given this particular man, that he would knowingly violate the law, at the felony level. It said probably no, he would not.’
‘He did when he went to 3XX24J,’ Barnes said
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