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Information about “BABY APRIL”
BABY APRIL is a book-on-disk that you read at your computer monitor,
using the supplied viewing system.
This is a science fiction retelling of the Galatea myth, but updated to
include aesthetics, politics, liberated women, and a whole range of
contemporary subjects. In this story, an advanced extraterrestrial
civilization sends one of its members to earth in order to learn more
about humans and their culture. He gets more than he bargained for!
This is the abridged version...perfect escapist reading for coffee
breaks with your PC!
FILE1.TXT
*****************************************************
** BABY APRIL - A Novel By John Peter **
** **
** Version 0.55a **
** COPYRIGHT 1984, 1987 by Serendipity Systems **
** All rights reserved **
*****************************************************
NOTE: Words enclosed within a pair of smiling face symbols (ASCII
01) are to be understood as being in bold print; words enclosed
within double exclamation marks (ASCII 19) are to be understood
as being underlined.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
1
Carl stood on the trunk of a tree that leaned out
horizontally over the water. He looked for signs of activity
in the rapids below, but couldn't see any. Too early in the
season? Perhaps. But he didn't mind not catching fish. Just
to be out on the open air, alone, and away from the bustle of
the office for three whole days was sufficient. The trout
could wait. There would be time enough for trout when he had
his annual, September, two-week vacation.
Carl smiled to himself, thinking of the prospect of
cooking freshly caught Newfoundland trout--or perhaps a
salmon--over an open fire with Sally hovering nearby, waiting
to sample his gourmet delights; she in her Woolrich down
vest, corduroy slacks, and the rubber-soled boots that he got
for her at L.L. Beans' for Christmas and he in his usual
unkempt, backwoods regulars of faded denims and flannel. His
tent would be just behind them with its snugly inviting nest
of zipped together sleeping bags. A gentle breeze coming off
the water would have just enough force to keep away any
errant mosquitoes. A salmon would leap up the rapids on its
spawning journey upstream. A huge red sun would hang in the
boughs of the trees on the far bank of the river...
Was that a trout rise? Or was it just a current swirl
behind that boulder? Carl watched the water intensely for a
moment, but the movement that he caught out of the corner of
his eye, if indeed there actually had been any movement, did
not return. However, the large boulder amid stream some
fifty feet away was as good a casting target as any.
Besides, it was starting to get dark, and he had only enough
light to make a few more casts before returning upstream to
his campsite.
Carl stripped the line from his reel, then roll-cast to
get the line onto the water. He double-hauled the line to
get it up into the air and, after a few false-casts, dropped
his fly on he far side of the boulder. It danced on the edge
of the eddy for a fraction of a second, then disappeared
underwater. He gave his line a little tug to scud the fly
into the pocket of calm water behind the boulder, then
retrieved the line with short jerks to give the fly action.
There was no strike. He tried several more casts around that
boulder, but the results were the same: no trout.
Yes, it is too early in the season, but there will be
plenty of time later, Carl thought as he climbed back off his
perch.
It was now well into dusk. Carl would just barely have
time enough to get back to camp before it became too dark to
see where he was walking. The river made a large, snake-like
bend between the place where he had been fishing and the spot
where he had set up his camp. The forest appeared to be all
of widely-spaced, hardwood trees. Carl thought that he could
save some time by cutting cross-country rather than following
the river back. He consulted his topographic map. His camp
was near a small, unnamed stream. He questimaed that
following a compass heading of 5 degees would bring him
directly to his camp, and even if he was off a little bit, he
would hit either the river, which he could then follow
upstream to his camp, or hit the brook which would lead him
directly to the camp. This seemed to him to be an excellent,
time-saving maneuver.
Carl clipped the Royal Coachman from the end of his
leader, put the fly in his hatband, wound the line onto the
reel, disassembled his rod, and set out following a 5 degree
line with his Sunnto compass.
Carl hadn't been walking for more than five minutes
before he began to have the feeling that something was wrong.
It seemed to him that, even though he had been religiously
following the path indicated by the compass, somehow he
wasn't walking in a straight line. Although he had never
been a Boy Scout, he knew that trusting your compass and not
your instincts was the prime rule for not getting lost.
It must be the fading light that is giving me this
feeling, he thought.
"Follow the compass," he told himself.
Carl followed the compass for a few hundred yards more
only to become more convinced that there was something wrong.
The forest trees had become more spaced apart and park-like,
and he could see quite a distance ahead of him. Most of the
trees were either maple or beech, but in the distance he
could see several white birches. He could see two birches
which were lined up and spaced a hundred or so feet apart.
They were slightly to the right of his intended path. He
decided to check his compass, mostly to reassure himself of
the infallibity of Finnish compasses, by sighting the trees,
then walking to the first one, and resighting the furthest
one.
This, he thought to himself, will demonstrate that the
compass is giving a straight line and should be followed
irregardless of any hunches to the contrary.
When Carl got to the first birch tree, he pulled the
compass out of his pocket and sighted the second tree. It had
moved. Moved?
"No, that's impossible," he told himself, "it must be
the compass."
A quick inspection revealed no apparent damage, no
bubbles in the fluid, no dents in the housing, nothing. Yet
in a hundred feet the tree had moved several degrees.
But if the tree hadn't moved--surely I would have
noticed the tree moving, he thought to himself--then there
must be something wrong with the compass.
"Now don't panic," he told himself, "there is a logical
explanation for this."
Perhaps I misread the compass that first time, he
thought.
Carl chose another tree, a large beech, that was in
line with his heading and set out to it in a straight-line-
of-sight march. Now he had three points of reference to give
him a straight line to check his compass against. Again he
backsighted. Again the trees moved. Not only that, but
according to the compass they shifted nearly 90 degrees. Yet
he could see that they were really in a line.
Carl rapidly considered he possibilities open to him.
He could go back the way he came, then follow the river to
his camp, but by then it would be dark, and besides, the
forest's growth was much more tangled along the river than it
was here inland. He could go foward, ignoring the compass
and following his instincts, but in what direction was he now
heading? Was he headed towards his camp, or was he headed
towards somewhere into the wild interior of Maine? Even if
he were able to instinctively follow a straight line, if he
headed in the wrong direction, it might mean walking fifty or
one hundred miles before he came to civilization. He might
even end up in Canada first.
Well, no, that's not going to happen, he thought as he
checked his wrist watch, because it will be dark in twenty
minutes.
"Now don't panic," he told himself again.
He didn't have to be at work until the day after
tomorrow, so he actually had a whole day to get himself out
of this silly situation. And he would have to get himself
out of it because no one would have the vaguest idea of where
to look for him should he turn up missing. Even Sally knew
only that he was going to do some fishing on his long
weekend.
"When in doubt, don't," he told himself.
Carl sat down at the base of a birch tree and pondered
what to do next. He got out his pipe, filled it with Amphora
tobacco, and lit it. He tried to figure out which direction
was west, but the light coming through the budding branches
seemed to come equally from all directions. He couldn't use
the sunset compass to get his bearings. He couldn't hear the
river either. He had no point of reference.
"Lost," he admitted.
Carl looked at the compass again and shook his head in
disbelief. The trees, of course, weren't moving. Not unless
he had entered into some kind of Alice's Wonderland, and he
wasn't ready to believe that.
May as well find a comfortable spot to spend the night,
he thought.
Carl noticed a clump of softwoods, pines and firs, off
to what he thought of as being the east, but which the
compass said was north. He set off in that direction,
thinking that he could make himself a comfortable bed out of
pine needles.
As he entered the softwoods, he could see what appeared
to be a large ledge of cliff ahead of him. He knew that this
area was all river bottom land, flat and some six to eight
feet above water level. He couldn't exactly make out the
thing's shape because of the intervening trees, but whatever
it was, it wasn't a forest tree. It was too dark and
massive.
Perhaps it is a large, glacial boulder that will offer
shelter for the night, he thought as he made his way through
the firs to it.
It wasn't a boulder.
2
Carl stood, leaning against the trunk of a tree, and
looked up at the monolith that was before him. It was unlike
anything he had ever seen before. It was unlike anything he
had ever read about. It was unlike anything he had ever
imagined. What he thought might have been a glacial boulder
turned out to be a large cube some fifty feet to a side. It
was matte black in color and starkly plain.
Is it a prehistoric relic like Stonehenge, he wondered.
No, it is too smoothly finished.
Carl went up to it and tapped it with the tip of his
fishing rod. It was no mirage or hallucination, for it
appeared to be solid. He touched it. It was slightly cool
and seemed to him to have the hard texture of glass. It was
like a gigantic, opaque rock crystal. A few paces brought
him to a corner. The angle was crisp, as if it had been cut
off and polished smooth. The second face proved to be as
featureless as the first. He continued to walk around the
block, wondering how someone could build such a bizarre
structure in this isolated place. Then he tripped over a
branch. As he picked himself up, he noticed that the branch,
a pine bough, protruded out from under the structure. He
stared at it for a long, indeterminate time. The branch was
under the block. The block was on top of the branch. The
branch was here first. Someone put the block on top of the
branch. Carl could see all this, but he didn't want to
believe it. It was all too strange.
Carl then thought of his compass and took it out of
his pocket. The needle was pointing directly at the block.
He walked around the next corner of the block, but the needle
continued to point to the monolith. He wondered if the block
was radioactive. Would radioactivity affect a compass
needle, or was it just magnetism? He didn't know. Was he in
any danger from this thing? He didn't feel anything, but he
knew from his anti-nuclear protest activities that
radioactivity gave no indication of its presence. He would
need a geiger counter, which, of course, he didn't happen to
have, it not being standard equipment for fishing trips to
remote areas of Maine.
If this thing is hot, he thought, it's probably too
late as it is.
Carl continued to walk around the monolith; it proved
to be universally featureless. However, when he came back to
his starting side for the second time, he found that there
was now an opening about six feet off the ground. It was a
square aperture about ten feet to a side. There was a
whitish light coming from inside.
"'Curiouser and curiouser,' Alice said, and so it is,"
he mumbled.
He couldn't see anything of the interior, except that
the opening seemed to be a square tunnel. He leaned his
fishing pole against the block and hoisted himself up to the
opening chin-up fashion. He pulled himself up high enough to
look in. There was no evidence of a door. Could this
opening have been there before, but with the light off so
that he didn't notice it? It didn't seem likely. Besides,
the light seemed to be coming from the interior walls
themselves. Along the walls of the passageway Carl could see
that there was a graduation from the dark outside to the
lighted inside. The innermost part seemed to be translucent.
Again, except for the smooth texture, the walls seemed
featureless. He couldn't see anything beyond the passageway
which was a ten-foot long corridor which lead to an
open,interior space. His arms began to ache from holding
himself up, so he dropped back to the ground.
"Now what?" he wondered.
It was now nearly dark, and except for the area
illuminated by the glow from the opening, the forest was an
indistinct mass of dark shapes. There was now no possibility
that Carl could make any progress hiking through the woods,
even if he had any idea about which direction to go, which he
didn't. He wasn't even sure if he could find a good place to
bed down. He looked up at the lighted opening.
Again Carl wondered about the possibility of radiation.
If the glow was radiation, but not powerful enough to kill
him, would it give him cancer? Would it render him sterile?
That last though would have been even more frightening last
month, before Sally announced that she was pregnant. Even if
she didn't marry him--and he fully expected that she
eventually would, in spite of her independent and liberated
ideas--he would have that one progeny no matter what the
results would be from his encounter with this strange cube.
Carl had been so busy thinking about the monolith that
it took him a few minutes to notice that the sensation he was
feeling was the pelting of occasional rain drops. A faint,
distant lightning flash warned him that a storm was coming.
Again he looked up at the illuminated opening.
Well, if anything, it might be a dry sort of cave, he
thought.
Carl placed his fishing pole on the lip of the opening
and hoisted himself up. It wasn't an easy task because there
wasn't anything to grab. He lost his grip on the smooth
surface and tumbled to the ground twice before he as able to
swing a leg up and muscle his way up and in. He lay on his
back for a moment, recovering his expended energy. His
entrance had been, he discovered, complicated by the fact
that the floor of the passageway actually angled upward, thus
giving the lip of the opening an angle of greater than ninety
degrees.
Carl stood and picked up his fishing pole. He then
walked slowly and cautiously towards the interior. It seemed
to him that not only did the walls become brighter towards
the interior, they became softer. He touched the wall and
found that his idea was correct. The walls were also warmer.
At the end of the passageway Carl found himself
standing before a huge, empty room. The ceiling must have
been thirty feet high and the far wall about as far away.
The light was bright, but not blinding. Excellent reading
light.
This would make a great library, Carl thought as he
stepped into the room.
Behind him, Carl could hear the rain and the wind. He
turned and looked back at the forest. A flash of lightning
gave him a brief glimpse of the storm that was just starting,
but the interior of this strange cube was warm and dry. He
walked to the center of the room. He noticed that he had no
shadow. He had equal light from all sides.
Wouldn't Sally love this for a studio? What
absolutely marvelous lighting, he thought.
Carl looked around at the walls. They were all as
featureless as the outside walls. It was a minute before he
realized that there was something missing. He spun around.
All six interior walls were identical.
There was no passageway.
END OF FILE
FILE10.TXT
*****************************************************************
THIS IS AN ABRIDGED EDITION OF THIS NOVEL.
To order a copy of the unabridged edition, send $10.00 (check or
money order) to: SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS P.O. Box 140 San Simeon,
CA 93452. A copy of the 2-disk set will be sent to you postpaid
via first class mail (USA). [Foreign orders include extra
postage for 3 oz.] For other books available from Serendipity
Systems, see the BOOKS-ON-DISKS CATALOG file.
SUMMARY OF ABRIDGED CHAPTERS:
Baby April rapidly goes through the stages of infancy and
quickly goes from the crawling to the walking stage.
Robert suggests that a program of physical exercise be
undertaken to maintain their muscles during the voyage. A
bicycle for exercise is replicated.
END OF FILE
***********
*
FILE11.TXT
"Good. What I want you to do is to project a rural road
scene, either an actual scene, or one that is made up of
ecclectic views, on the walls before the exercise bike so
that the impression will be of riding down that road.
Furthermore, I want the scene to change with a rapidity which
is coordinated with the pedaling speed of the exercise bike.
Now, can you do that?"
"CARL WISHES THE SCENE TO DUPLICATE THE VIEW THAT WOULD
BE HAD BY RIDING DOWN THE HYPOTHETICAL ROAD AND HAVE THE
SCENE GO PAST ON THE TWO WINGS OF THE CORNER?"
"That is the exact idea. Can it be done?"
"AFFIRMATIVE. ROBERT ONCE OBSERVED MARY ... SPECIMEN
QR23 AS SPECIMEN QR23 WALKED ALONG A RURAL, UNOCCUPIED
COUNTRY LANE. SEVERAL MILES OF AMBULATING WERE RECORDED.
ROBERT THINKS THAT THE SCENE WOULD PROVE SATISFACTORY FOR THE
PURPOSES REQUIRED BY CARL."
"Good. Let's give it a try."
The woods scene winked in on the walls, and Carl
climbed aboard the exercise bicycle. April stood slightly
behind and to one side of Carl, watching.
Carl started off very slowly, the balloons and baseball
cards giving off lazy clicks, and the scene changing almost
imperceptively. Then he started picking up speed. The trees
started flashing past them as the scene followed the tempo of
the noisemakers. April had moved in and held on to Carl's
waist, staring at the moving scene in front of them. Then
the road appeared to veer to the right and dip through a
little valley. April's squeal of delight brought Carl back
from the momentary fantasy that he was again a child, riding
his bicycle. He slowed the bike down and stopped it; the
scene followed exactly.
"Now it's your turn," he said to April as he got off
the bike.
It didn't take April very long to become a bicycle
enthusiast, and when the balloons burst and the baseball
cards fell off, she didn't even notice. She pedaled in happy
silence down a country lane in Maine that was, in reality,
hundreds of lightyears away.
Later Robert suggested that a repertoire of different
scenes be offered to April. Rides along the beach, through
the desert, and along various other roads in different
seasons were added. Carl thought that it might be nice to
have scenes from different planets, but Robert insisted on
confining the scenes to April and Carl's own planet, since
the disposition of their case couldn't be determined until
after the voyage, and the offering of such scenes might be
construed as a violation of the non-dissemination clause of
the Regulations of Robert's own cultural matrix. Carl argued
that the addition of a ride around Mars' Mt. Olympus wouldn't
present anything which would be "new knowledge," since that
scene has already been viewed by Earth's robot explorers, but
Robert declined; he said that it would be better for all
concerned to err on the side of caution because he had no
idea how this unprecedented matter would be handled by his
superiors.
The exercise bike, cum scenery, proved to be a great
success with April. Carl, watching her one morning,
commented to Robert that, while this was a great form of
exercise for the legs, the arms were being somewhat
shortchanged. Robert agreed that it was not a complete form
of exercise, but it was contributing to the maintenance of
Carl and April's muscle tone.
"THE OBJECTIVE WAS NOT THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATHLETIC
ABILITIES, BUT TO PREVENT MUSCLE DETERIORATION."
"Perhaps true, but there is no harm in doing more than
just maintaining the status quo. What about adding a
rowing machine for developing the arms, shoulder, and back
muscles?"
"THE EXISTENCE OF SUCH MACHINES IS MENTIONED IN 3
VOLUMES IN STORAGE, BUT SPECIFICATIONS ARE NOT GIVEN."
Carl laughed.
"For a man who has replicated a fully functioning human
being, the development of a simple exercise machine should be
a piece of cake."
"STATEMENT NOT LOGICAL. 'PIECE OF CAKE' IS TAKEN AS AN
IDIOMATIC PHRASE INDICATING EASE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT. IS THAT
CORRECT?"
"Yes, but don't worry about it. I'll build a rowing
machine myself. I've used a couple on my rare excursions to
commercial gyms, so I have some ideas about them, and
besides, it'll give me something to do."
"WILL CARL DESIRE VISUAL SIMULATION TO ACCOMPANY
ROWING?"
"Let's just leave it as a simple exercise machine. If
April ever has to fit back into her society on Earth, then it
would probably be best if she weren't treated to too much of
a fantasy world. As it is now, she has already been exposed
to powers far beyond our cultural matrix."
"AFFIRMATIVE. ROBERT HAS BEEN SOMEWHAT NEGLIGENT IN
LIMITING THE EXPOSURE OF CARL AND APRIL TO DEVELOPMENTS MADE
BY ADVANCED CULTURAL MATRIXES. HOWEVER, SOME DEGREE OF
EXPOSURE WAS NECESSARY TO PROVIDE SATISFACTORY LIVING
CONDITIONS FOR THIS VOYAGE. ROBERT TAKES FULL RESPONSIBILITY
FOR ALL SUCH INSTANCES, BUT DOES NOT WISH TO INCUR ANY
PENALTY FOR EXCEEDING WHAT IS MINIMALLY REQUIRED. BESIDES,
SHOULD CARL AND APRIL BE RETURNED TO THE PLANET THEY CALL
EARTH, NO ONE ON THAT PLANET WILL BELIEVE THEIR ACCOUNT OF
THIS VOYAGE."
"Oh, so true," Carl agreed, "so why not pull out all
the stops, and show us what your cultural matrix can really
do?"
"WILLFUL VOILATION OF THE NON-DISSEMINATION CLAUSE
IS CONSIDERED TO BE A MOST SERIOUS CRIME. ALL TRANSGRESSIONS
MADE TO DATE HAVE BEEN NECESSITATED BY THE UNIQUE AND
UNPRECEDENTED CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS VOYAGE."
"Oh. I'd find you not guilty, but I'd still like to
take that bike ride around Mt. Olympus.
"WERE CARL TO BECOME AN INTEGRATED PART OF THE
INFORMATION GATHERERS OF THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF ROBERT, SUCH
A BICYCLE TRIP WOULD BE POSSIBLE. SUCH CONSIDERATIONS MUST
AWAIT THE JUDGEMENTS OF THE SUPERIORS OF ROBERT."
"Well, while we're wating, I'm going to go build that
rowing machine."
26
"Just between you and me, I don't mind admitting that
this pregnancy thing scares me. I mean, what do I know about
birthing babies? The making part is easy, but the delivering
part ... what if something should go wrong?"
"CARL WILL HAVE ROBERT TO ASSIST CARL."
"Yeah, but you're on one side of the wall, and we're on
the other. For me it's going to be all hands-on experience."
"CIRCUMSTANCES ARE INALTERABLE."
"Yeah, well, I'll just have to muddle through. I'm
concerned about April, though. She can't intellectualize
about what's going on. I don't know how well she understands
what's been happening inside her body. When the birth pains
come, she'll be terrified. Talk about a traumatic
experience: she's having a baby when she is no more than a
big baby herself. What kind of effect will that have on her
psyche? What a mess!"
"SINCE CARL REFUSED TO LET ROBERT RETURN APRIL TO
MOLECULAR STORAGE, CARL MUST DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF
THE ACTS OF CARL."
"That's what I've been trying to do. I've even thought
of not having sex with her, but ... well, I need it, and she
enjoys it too. It makes her so happy she purrs like a
kitten. She doesn't know that infants aren't supposed to
enjoy sex ... even infants with eighteen-year-old bodies.
She enjoys it so much ... what kind of monster have we
created? An infant nymphomaniac with an eighteen-year-old
body. I know, nymphomania is a sexist myth, but what would
the Baptists say about us?"
"BAPTIST OPINIONS ARE IRRELEVANT. APRIL DOES NOT
BELONG TO THE BAPTIST CULTURAL MATRIX. APRIL DOES NOT BELONG
TO ANY CULTURAL MATRIX. CARL IS THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF
APRIL."
"That makes me one hundred percent responsible, doesn't
it?"
"WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF ALMOST ALL CULTURAL MATRIXRES,
ESPECIALLY THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL, CARL IS RESPONSIBLE
FOR APRIL. ALSO, WITHIN THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF ROBERT, CARL
ADDITIONALLY LEGALLY OWNS APRIL: CARL PAID FOR THE
REPLICATION OF APRIL. THEREFORE, CARL HAS DOUBLE
RESPONSIBILITY. FURTHER COMPLICATION: CARL COULD BE
INTERPRETED--NEBULOSITY OF LEGAL SYSTEM EXISTS ON THIS
POINT--AS BEING THE FATHER OF APRIL. THEREFORE, CARL HAS
TRIPPLE RESPONSIBILITY. ALSO POSSIBLE ..."
"Enough of your legalisms! I plead nolo contendre and
take full responsibility for April. She's my ward, my child,
my girl friend, my lover, my mate, my ... my everything.
It's just that I'm worried about how to get her through this
pregnancy without doing her any harm ... physical harm or
psychological harm. And then there is the baby to consider.
I'm not worried about after it's born, after all, I've been
doing alright with Baby April, I think, but getting it born
bothers me. I've been trying to figure out what you do with
the unbilical cord. When, where, and how is that taken care
of?"
"STORAGE LEVEL CONTAINS 5 VOLUMES ON THE HUMANOID BIRTH
PROCESS IN THE LANGUAGE OF CARL, 3 VOLUMES IN THE FRENCH
LANGUAGE, 6 IN THE ..."
"Oh, I intend to read everything I can, but it is one
thing to read a page of a book, and it is quite something
else to have a wet, squirming new-born in your hands. Oh,
Dr. Spock, where are you when I need you ... or even Mr.
Spock ... or even a country midwife--a wise, gentle country
midwife for Baby April's baby."
"MARY JANE ... SPECIMEN QR23 WROTE AND SANG A SONG
CALLED 'THE MIDWIFE'S HYMN.' PERHAPS SPECIMEN QR23 KNEW OF
THE ARTS OF MIDWIFERY."
"Perhaps, but then you let her escape, didn't you, so
she's no help to us in this fix, is she?"
"IF SPECIMEN QR23 DID NOT REMOVE HERSELF FROM THE
SPECIMEN CHAMBER, THEN STOWAWAY CARL EDWARD CHANDLER WOULD
NEVER HAVE COME ON BOARD, AND THIS SITUATION WOULD NOT
EXIST."
"True enough, but I don't mind telling you that, if
specimen Mary Jane had any midwifery skills, I wouldn't mind
having her on board right now. It's too bad that you
couldn't replicate a midwife, but then if you did, then we'd
just have another adult-like infant to worry about, and that
wouldn't solve our birth problem."
"HMMMM ... CARL MAY HAVE AN IDEA ..."
"Now wait a minute, I'm not ready to start a nursery
school for grown-up infants. April is about all I can handle
at one time."
"REPLICATON OF APRIL PROCEEDED ALONG STANDARD
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL LINES. ALMOST COMPLETE DATA
EXISTS ON THAT SUBJECT IN STORAGE. WHERE INCOMPLETE DATA OR
NON-EXISTENT DATA WAS FOUND, INTERPOLATION WAS MADE ...
INTUITIVE GUESS BASED UPON DATA FROM OTHER CULTURAL
MATRIXES. EVIDENCE OF SUCCESSFUL REPRODUCTION--MONITORS
INDICATE DEVELOPMENT PROCEEDING EXACTLY ALONG EXPECTED
PATTERNS--INDICATES THE FEW AREAS OF GUESS WERE CORRECT.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT NOT UNDERTAKEN BECAUSE OF
INSUFFICIENT DATA ON SPECIFIC SPECIMEN, MISS APRIL, USED AS
MODEL. PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT THEREFORE LEFT TABULA RASA.
PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF SPECIMEN QR23 COMPLETED PRIOR TO ...
ESCAPE. FIRST LEVEL MEMORY PATTERNS RECORDED. SECONDARY
LEVEL MEMORY PATTERNS PARTIALLY RECORDED, INTERRUPTED BY ...
ESCAPE."
"What exactly are you driving at?"
"LARGE MINORITY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT OF SPECIMEN
QR23 RECORDED IN STORAGE. TECHNIQUE FOR REPLICATING
HUMANOIDS PERFECTED. CONCLUSION: REPLICATION OF HUMANOID
SPECIMEN QR23 AT NON-INFANT LEVEL POSSIBLE. HIGH PROBABILITY
OF REPLICATION AT FULLY FUNCTIONING ADULT LEVEL. POSSIBILITY
OF MIDWIFING SKILLS CONTAINED IN FIRST MEMORY LEVEL.
THEREFORE: REPLICATION OF SPECIMEN QR23 WITH FUNCTIONAL
MIDWIFERY SKILLS POSSIBLE."
"Let me think about that for a minute. It took you six
days to replicate April, and during that time the climatic
systems were functioning at a minimal level. I can take that
kind of stuff, but I'm not sure how well a pregnant woman,
especially a pregnant April ... the psychological factors, I
mean ... how well she could take it."
"MINIMUM MAINTENANCE OF CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
NECESSATATED BY REQUIREMENT OF DIVERSION OF ENERGY INTO
RESEARCH OF STORAGE AND ANALYSIS OF COMPONENTS OF INCOMPLETE
INFORMATION. REPEAT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF
REPLICATION TECHNIQUES UNNECESSARY. REPLICATION OF HUMANOID
ESTIMATED TO NOW REQUIRE ONLY DIVERSION OF .52 PERCENT OF
ENERGY LEVELS FOR .6 CYCLES. REPLICATION COULD BE DONE
DURING SLEEP PHASE TO MINIMIZE EFFECTS ON APRIL."
"Let's give this a day's thought, or even several day's
thought. What we're talking about is creating a human being,
not just a handy tool. It wouldn't be fair to replicate this
person, use her, then just return her to molecular storage."
"ROBERT HAS NO INTENTION OF RETURNING MARY JANE TO
MOLECULAR STORAGE!"
"That is even more reason for giving this thing careful
thought."
"ROBERT HAS MADE CAREFUL THOUGHT. ROBERT SHOULD HAVE
THOUGHT OF REPLICATING SPECIMEN QR23 BEFORE."
"Can you analyze your own motivations, Robert? An
unbiased observer might suspect that you were acting on an
emotional level, not an intellectual one."
"IS AN INSULT INTENDED?"
"On the contrary, my friend, on the contrary. Look at
April and me. There is very little in our relationship that
could be called intellectual. It's almost all emotional.
That doesn't mean that she hasn't become very important to
me. Could a similar situation have been happening between
you and this Mary Jane?"
"IMPOSSIBLE! ROBERT IS ATTEMPTING TO AID CARL IN THE
MIDWIFE REQUIREMENTS. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR ROBERT TO CROSS
THE BARRIER BETWEEN CHAMBERS TO PERSONALLY ASSIST CARL AND
APRIL, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR ROBERT TO REPLICATE THE ONE
HUMANOID FOR WHOM A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE PARTIALLY EXISTS
AND WHO MAY HAVE MIDWIFERY SKILLS."
"Okay, you're just trying to help. Thanks. But give
me some time to think about this replicating business. There
wasn't really a whole lot of thought on my part on the
consequences of this kind of thing with April."
"REPLICATION OF SPECIMEN QR23 WILL BE MADE PRIOR TO THE
TERMINATION OF THIS VOYAGE. IF CARL OBJECTS, REPLICATION
WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL THE LAST CYCLE. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT
SERIOUS CONSIDERATION BE GIVEN TO REPLICATION OF SPECIMEN
QR23 AS BIRTHING ASSISTANT. SUGGEST SERIOUS CONSIDERATION BE
GIVEN TO IMMEDIATE REPLICATION TO ALLOW FOR AMPLE TIME FOR
PLANNING OF BIRTH ACTIVITY."
"What you say does make sense, it's just my quams about
going around manufacturing people. But you are right, I am
going to need help, and the earlier I get it, the better off
the whole situation will be for April and her baby. Okay,
but let's wait until April is asleep. Tomorrow night, let's
say. I've got to prepare her for having another person come
into her life. After all, all she's ever known is me and
your voice."
"AFFIRMATIVE. REPLICATION OF MARY JANE GALATEA TO
COMMENCE DURING THE NEXT CYCLE WHILE APRIL SLEEPS."
"Mary Jane Galatea?"
"NAME OF SPECIMEN QR23: MARY JANE GALATEA."
"The Mary Jane Galatea?"
"ONLY ONE MARY JANE GALATEA KNOWN IN THE CULTURAL
MATRIX OF CARL. OTHERS OF THAT NAME MIGHT BE POSSIBLE, BUT
NEVER HAVE BEEN ENCOUNTERED."
"Mary Jane Galatea! I'll be damned."
"MOST LIKELY."
****************************************************************
This is the end of VOLUME 1. To continue reading, put VOLUME 2 in
your computer.
COPYRIGHT 1984, 1986 - SEREDIPITY SYSTEMS
All rights reservd.
* * * * *
END OF FILE
FILE12.TXT
****************************************************************
BABY APRIL - A Novel by John Peter
>>> VOLUME TWO <<<
COPYRIGHT 1984, 1987
SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS
***************************************************************
27
Just a moment after specimen QR23 winked in, she did a
double-take.
"What the hell am I doing back here?" Then she noticed
Carl who had been sitting at the table cube with a glass of
brandy before him. "You in charge here, or are you another
... specimen?"
"I am not in charge here in the way that you mean, nor
am I a specimen in the ordinary sense. Other than that, my
status here is somewhat undefined. One could consider me to
be a paying passenger, except that I have never seen the coin
of this realm, and I don't know where we're going. I am
somewhat of an employee--a junior research assistant, sort
of. Sometimes I am a hired artisan. Sometimes I am a
babysitter--a service performed gratis. Other times, I don't
do much of anything. When required, I serve as the welcoming
committee."
She glared at him in silence.
"I also offer damsels with distressed looks on their
faces glasses of brandy."
"This nightmare just goes on and on and gets stranger
at every turn."
Carl filled an empty brandy snifter and held it out to
her, saying: "I'm Carl Chandler."
After a moment's hesitation, she took the glass.
"Thanks. I'm Mary Jane Galatea."
"Welcome, Mary Jane Galatea, to Robert's cube."
"You will excuse me if I don't act overjoyed to be
here. Only a few minutes ago I got out of here, but now I'm
back again, and in the interval the place has filled up with
all this." She indicated the contents of the cube with a
sweep of her hand. "In fact, I suspect that I'm in a
different cube."
"No, it is the same cube, but the interval of time
between your escape and the present is almost a year."
"Impossible!"
"Impossible? No, the impossible is commonplace here,
the improbable barely raises an eyebrow, and the unlikely is
everyday fare."
"Oh, I know that there is some kind of trap door
mechanism here someplace because food kept appearing, but I
know that it is just a slick magician's trick."
"Yes, it does appear to be magic, but it is not.
Advanced technology always seems to be magical to members of
a primitive society."
"Primitive?"
"We both are, we members of Homo sapiens--a colossal
misnomer, if ever there was one. It takes awhile to get used
to it all, but you adjust."
"I prefer to think of it as magic."
"Oh, but it is that too. What do you wish? An
elephant? No, too common a trick. Something more exotic?
Niagara Falls in your living room perhaps?"
"Humph!"
"Robert, I know that you're listening. Turn that wall
into Niagara Falls please."
The shelves, tool benches, and art objects winked
out. For a brief instant the wall was a plain, glowing,
white plane. Then Niagara Falls winked in. Water plunged
from near the top of the ceiling and fell to the floor were
it disappeared. The air filled with a fine mist and the
smell of water. The roar of the waterfall filled the
chamber.
Mary Jane stared at the sight open-mouthed. Slowly,
timidly, she walked to the falls, then, standing on the edge
where the water disappeared, she stuck her hand out into the
cascade. Her sleeve instantly got wet to the elbow.
"Thank you, Robert, that is an excellent job; a first
rate piece of work for such short notice. We can turn
things back to normal now."
The waterfall winked out to a blank wall, then all Carl
and April's stuff returned.
"How did you do that?"
"Magic. Illusion. Technology. God. All of the
above. None of the above. Take your pick."
"Carl? Noise gone?"
"Oh. Yes, April, the noise is gone. Go back to
sleep."
"April thirsty. Milk please?"
"Okay. Come have a glass of milk."
April pushed back the opaque curtain and jumped out of
bed. She stopped short when she saw Mary Jane who had
returned to join Carl at the table cube.
"It's okay, April, we have a visitor. You remember
that I told you we were going to have a visitor. Come meet
Mary Jane."
April approached cautiously.
"This is April," Carl said to Mary Jane as he handed
April her glass of milk.
"Hello, April."
"Marr Jame?"
"Mary Jane," Carl corrected.
"Mary Jame?"
"No, Mary Jane"
"Mary Jane?"
"Yes, that's right. Her name is Mary Jane."
"Mary Jane stand please," April requested.
Mary Jane, puzzled, stood.
April grinned. "Mary Jane high." She turned to Carl.
"Is Mary Jane giant?"
"No, April, Mary Jane is not a giant, she is just a
tall woman," Carl said with a smile.
In her stocking feet Mary Jane stood at six feet even.
The high-lofted, dark, curly hair which framed her face and
fell over her shoulders and her slim figure made her appear
even taller. April, of course, had only herself, at five
foot four, and Carl, with two more inches, as height
references.
"Mary Jane tall because May Jane old?"
Carl laughed. "No, April, you don't keep getting bigger
as you get older." He glanced at Mary Jane. "Mary Jane is
probably younger than Carl, but older than April."
April patted her rotund belly. "April getting bigger."
She grinned and put her now empty milk glass back on the
table. Then she touched her breasts. "April bigger lots of
places."
"Yes, April is doing very well," Carl agreed, "but soon
April will be smaller."
"How old?" April asked Mary Jane.
"I am twenty-two."
"April eight." She held up her hands with eight fingers
extended. Then she grabbed a piece of carrot stick from a
bowl on the table and stuffed it into her mouth. "April
ate!" She giggles, then scampered back to bed.
"Yes, go back to sleep, April," Carl called after her.
"Good night, Carl. Good night, Mary Jane."
"Good night, April." Carl and Mary Jane said together.
April pulled the curtain shut behind her.
"She thinks she's eight? Retarded?"
"April is not retarded! And she is eight. Eight
months."
"You mean eight months pregnant?"
"Yeah, that too."
"Hugh?"
"April has existed for eight months, and she's been
pregnant for almost as long."
"Now wait a minute. Magic and technology tricks are
one thing, but she acts like a three-year-old and is about as
pregnant as you can get, and you say she isn't a 'tard?"
"Look, you were in this cube for less than a day,
right?"
"Yes."
"And what did you do during that time?"
"Most of the time I was interrogated about anything and
everything by some invisible guy with a creepy voice. I
slept for what seemed to be a long period of time--more than
my usual. I think that I was drugged, but I'm not sure.
This creepy-voiced guy said that he was going to take me on a
long trip to someplace from which I would never return. It
was bizarre. The questioning was bizarre too. It didn't
seem to follow any pattern. It seemed that he didn't care
what I said, just as long as I kept talking."
"Yes, your answers were being reassembled in logical
order by the translating mechanism."
"Whatever. Then I escaped. I went out the door, and
then I was back here again, but suddenly the place was filled
with all this stuff and you and the retarded girl ..."
"Damn it! She's not retarded. She's eight months old.
How many eight-month-old kids do you know who can speak in
complete sentences? How many eight-month-old kids do you
know who can make a pun on the word 'eight?' Retarded? I
think that she just might be a genius."
Mary Jane didn't say anything.
"Don't get fooled by her body. She's built like an
eighteen-year-old sex kitten because that's the way she was
made. Now she's a pregnant eighteen-year-old sex kitten."
"Pregnant by you?"
"You don't see anyone else about, do you?"
Mary Jane said nothing, but Carl could see her tense
up.
"Yeah, I know it looks bad. Had I known then what I
know now, it never would have happened, but there is no way
to go back and correct the past. April is a child in a
woman's body, and soon she is going to have a child of her
own. I am presuming that the kid will be normal in
development. I guestimate that April's intelligence will
catch up with her apparent biological age in three years.
Until then I'll have the job of bringing up both babies."
"Well, don't let me interfere with your plans. Just
let me off at the next corner."
"That, I'm afraid, is absolutely impossible. We are
probably hundreds of lightyears away from planet Earth."
"But just a few minutes ago ..."
"No. I know what you're going to say, but you're
wrong." Carl refilled her brandy snifter. "Have a good
stiff drink. I'm going to fill you in on some startling
details."
She took a sip of brandy and waited for him to
continue.
"A few basic facts: it is now some eleven months since
Mary Jane Galatea escaped from this cube ..."
She started to protest, but he held up his hand for
silence.
"Let me finish. It is eleven months as time apparently
flows here inside the cube. I don't know if they've been
able to get around Einstein's relativity of time or not--I
suspect that they have, but perhaps a million years have
elapsed back on Earth. Perhaps Einstein's time and light-
speed ideas aren't valid. I don't know, and it doesn't make
any difference. Mary Jane Galatea exited, then I entered
this cube. Three months after I started this voyage. April
was replicated ... was born a full grown woman, but her
intelligence wasn't developed. She came into the world
innocent and fertile; I was drunk and horny. Viola! One
pregnant woman. I didn't discover her mental condition until
the next day. She was a toy, made for my amusement. Her
pregnancy was a surprise. Everything about April was a
surprise. Time passed and the pregnancy became obvious. I'm
not a doctor. Delivering a baby scares the bejesus out of
me. What if something starts to go wrong? What, me worry?
You'd better believe it. So along comes the idea that what
we need is, if not a doctor, then at least a midwife. Now
the situation is this: April and I are locked in this cube
until the voyage is over, which is to say, until after the
baby is due. There is no way to get outside help. However,
Robert--that creepy-voiced fellow--gets the idea that, since
he has perfected the technique for replicating people--and
April is a replicated humanoid, a manufactured human being--
then the only way for us to get help for the baby is to
replicate another human being. However, replications result
in a developed body, but not a developed mind. The only
other mind, other than April or me, available is the
psychological recordings of one Mary Jane Galatea. Robert
suspects that this Mary Jane Galatea may know something about
midwifery because she once wrote a song called 'The Midwife's
Hymn.' It was a long shot, but the situation was desperate,
and there was no other possible source of help. Using the
information developed during the replication of April, and
using the information collected by the monitors and recorded
from Mary Jane's replies to questions and also the probings
of her mind made while she as in a hypnotically induced deep
sleep ... with all of that, Mary Jane Galatea was replicated.
You are that replication."
"What? That's impossible!"
"Is it? Today is ..." Carl consulted the wrist watch
which was on the table, "April 15th, l984. Do you have any
recollection of the events between today and that May day
when you escaped."
"The last thing I remember is going out the door, but
that doesn't mean anything if I don't accept your assertion
that today is April 15th, l984."
Carl laughed.
"I just thought of something," he said, still smiling,
"I'm going to be in big trouble for not filing my income tax.
Can you imagine trying to explain to the Internal Revenue
Service that you failed to file because you were on a 'flying
saucer' in outer space for the last year. Just think about
that for a minute."
Mary Jane was silent.
"Okay, back to business. How can I prove to you that
you are not Mary Jane Galatea, but a copy of Mary Jane
Galatea ... replicaion, a clone, an entirely new creature,
but one with a large portion of Mary Jane Galatea's memory
and psychology and all of her body?"
"This is insane. I was kidnaped by some force that I
don't understand. I was held in a strange cube and
questioned. Was, by your admission, hypnotized and examined
somehow. Then I escaped, but almost instantly was brought to
a different cube ... this cube with you and that girl. And
now I am here, and you are telling me this strange story that
I am a copy of myself. That's all I know."
"Is there something about Mary Jane Galatea that wasn't
revealed during those interrogations?"
"I don't know."
"Perhaps something physical?"
"The voice even wanted to examine my body. I don't
know why I did it, but I disrobed for it ... spite, I think,
or maybe I was trying to seduce it. In any case, it didn't
work, but it saw all of me."
"A dead end."
"I have a small birthmark inside my thigh, maybe it
didn't notice that ... or maybe it did ..."
"Is it still there?"
"You expect me to strip?"
"Well I am naked, and April was naked. In fact, except
for diapers before she was toilet trained, April has never
worn clothes. I haven't worn anything myself for months.
The climate is controled, so clothes are unnecessary."
Mary Jane didn't say anything.
"You just shy, or are you afraid that I might try and
rape you or something."
"The idea crossed m mind."
"It would be an interesting match. The monitor says
that we have exactly the same weight, even though you are a
lot taller than I am. Besides, rape is really an act of
violence, not sex, and I am a very non-violent person.
Furthermore, I can get all my sexual needs satisfied by
April. Her condition makes regular intercourse inadvisable,
but she has a very talented tongue."
"You're disgusting!"
"You mean you've never tried fellatio?"
"I'm not going to discuss my sexual activities with a
stranger."
"Nor are you required to. Besides, you aren't eight
months pregnant, so there are no limits on your sexual
activities. The issue at hand, however, is not our sexual
practices, but who you are. Let's see your birthmark."
Silently, Mary Jane stood up, then pulled down her
jeans. She looked at herself, then went wide-eyed.
"It was right there!" She pointed to a spot on her
inner thigh about three inches below her crotch. "A tiny,
wine-colored splotch. It's gone, but that's impossible."
"No, the mark continues to exist on Mary Jane Galatea,
but you are someone else."
She looked at him, then looked back at her body. She
sat back down without bothering to pull up her jeans.
"I'm sorry, but you had to be made to face the facts of
this admittedly bizarre situation."
"But, damn it! I feel like me."
"Yes, and a goodly part of you is Mary Jane Galatea,
but she escaped from this cube nearly a year ago and wasn't
recaptured. Her life, in whatever fashion it exists, goes on
back on Earth, while you, an entirely new person, exist in
this cube."
"I don't know ... maybe this is all some sort of a
trick."
"It's no trick. Apparently Robert's replication
techniques involve separate steps for the physical and the
psychological components. Thus, you were aware of your
birthmark, but it was overlooked by Robert's physical scan of
your body. It's nice to know he's not infallible ... perhaps
he was distracted at the time. Anyway, if my understanding
of his analysis is correct, there should be a lot of gaps in
your memory--things that weren't recorded by Robert's
preliminary investigation. Let's give it a test. What do
you remember about your fifth grade?"
"Fifth grade? Let's see ... fifth grade? I can't
think of anything. My mind is a blank. God! Maybe I'm
going crazy."
"No, you're not going crazy."
"But I'm not really a person. I'm just a thing.
Something someone made."
"You are a person. What difference does it make how
you came into the world? You're here. Your body is as full
functional as anyone's. April's pregnancy proves that the
technology of replication equals that of human birth. Okay,
you have a borrowed personality. A lot of Mary Jane Galatea
exists in you. But you are now your own person. What
happens to you from now on depends on you, not Mary Jane
Galatea."
"But I feel like I am Mary Jane Galatea. I have her
memories, don't I?"
"Yes, but they are your memories too."
"If I look in a mirror, except for the missing
birthmark, I see Mary Jane Galatea, but who am I?"
"You are Mary Jane Galatea. No the same one as the
other, but similar. You are a six foot tall woman with pale
blue eyes and curly, rich auburn hair. Your body is thin,
your breasts small, your hips narrow, your legs long ... all
exactly like Mary Jane Galatea. What you don't have is your
birthmark and perhaps some other minor physical
characteristics. You don't have all her childhood memories.
There are gaps where Mary Jane didn't get recorded by the
translator while she was captive. But what you do have is a
life to live in any way that you choose. Admittedly it is
limited in potential at the moment by the fact that you are
confined in this cube. April and I are also confined here,
but who knows what tomorrow will bring? What next year will
bring? Can you accept being this new person?"
"I don't have any choice,do I?"
"If a situation becomes too unbearable, there is always
the choice of not continuing to exist."
"Suicide?"
"In this particular case all you'd have to do is have
yourself unreplicated, and you'd wink out of existence. Just
think of all the money we could make if we could peddle this
technology to the Mafia."
"Buster, that's not even funny."
"Isn't it? Isn't this whole situation ludicrous.
Think about it for a minute. Here we are with more power at
our fingertips than any human being ever had before ... power
to do whatever we wish. What do you want? Diamonds? Furs?
Fancy cars? Money? How about a pile of gold as tall as you
are? All we need do is say: Robert, may I have a cube of
pure gold, six feet on a side please ..."
Mary Jane jumped as a huge cube of gold winked in
beside her.
"Robert! I was speaking retorically, and you bloody
well know it. Take that thing back, and don't credit it to
my account."
"REPLICATION OF 216 CUBIC FEET OF GOLD NOT CHARGED TO
THE ACCOUNT OF CARL. REPLICATION WILL BE CHARGED TO
DISCRETIONARY FUNDS OF ROBERT. SENSE OF HUMOR OF CARL
DEFICIENT. SUGGEST EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL THE
CAUSE."
"I will thank you not to monitor my drinking. Besides,
I am merely sharing a drink with this slightly distressed
damsel."
"HUMOR SENSE CONTINUES DEFICIENT. ROBERT ENTERING REST
PERIOD. COMMUNICATIONS TERMINATED."
"You don't think that I'm going to believe you, do you?
Just when you have this opportunity to eavesdrop?"
There was no reply from Robert.
"Was that gold for real, or did I just dream that,"
Mary Jane asked.
"Oh, it was quite real. Two hundred and sixteen cubic
feet of gold, probably a quarter of a million pounds of it,
probaby worth something on the order of a billion dollars.
Since Robert's paying for the replication himself, that was
probably an expensive little joke, unless it was hollow.
Like I was saying, we've go all this fantastic power and no
way to use it. A six foot cube of gold is as useful to us as
... in fact it is less than useful. It is totally useless,
valueless, since it takes up useful space, and the one thing
we have in limited supply is space. You see, it is a very
funny situation. It brings you down to the bare essentials
of what is valuable and what is not valuable."
Mary Jane was silent for a minute, then took a sip of
her brandy. "You said that this replication business was
charged to accounts?"
"I'm charged for the energy that is used to replicate
something, not for the 'value' of the item itself, for in
this situation, all things are of equal value, but each thing
requires a different amount of energy for its replication.
There is no charge for unreplicating things, however."
"You said that I am ... am replicated. Somebody had to
pay for me?"
"Hmmm. Now that you mention it, yes. Hey, Robert, I
know you're listening. Put down Mary Jane's replication on my
account, but charge it at one monitary unit per energy unit--
she's an essential item, not a luxury."
"Buster, if you think that you own me ..."
"Damp down the hostile vibrations. I'll gladly sign
any proclamation of emancipation for you. You're on your
own, even though the legal system of Robert's culture may
continue to consider you to be my responsibiity. Robert,
start a new account for Mary Jane Galatea and start charging
her now. Keep the brandy on me, but her air is her own
affair."
"Air? I'm being charged for air?"
"Anything requiring energy is charged for. Keeping us
supplied with fresh oxygen takes energy for which we are
charged at a rate of one monitary unit per energy unit.
Luxuries, like cubes of gold, are charged at two monitary
units per energy unit."
"But I don't have any money."
"Then you'll just have to earn some. Perhaps you can
entertain Robert by doing strip teases."
Mary Jane went grim faced, then: "Oh!" She go up and
pulled up her jeans. "I seem to have forgotten that my jeans
were down."
Carl laughed.
"I had forgotten how erotic a semi-clothed woman could
be. You may have noticed that I'm naked ..."
"Well, yes."
"... and April doesn't even have any clothes. The only
thing she's ever worn was diapers--that was before she was
toilet trained, of course. Oh, I made a couple of attempts
at getting her properly dressed, but she didn't like it at
all. April is the best-natured person I've ever met, but she
does have a rarely exhibited stubborn streak. If April sets
her mind to not doing something, she's not going to do it,
and that is that. Wearing clothes was one of those things.
Of course, with the climate in here clothes are superfluous."
"Diapers?"
"I told you, April is eight months old. Being a
genius, she was toilet trained before two months, but even
with her super development rate, she did start at the same
place were all babies start, meaning that someone had to
change her diapers and wipe her pretty, little ass for her."
"Am I expected to run around here nude too"
"You'll find that rather little is expected from you,
and as far as your clothing, or lack of clothing is
concerned, that is entirely up to you."
"Just what is expected of me?"
"The only thing expected of you is to assist at the
birth of April's baby. A midwife."
"What?"
"You aren't a midwife?"
"Of course not."
"I really didn't think so. Robert thought that, since
you wrote a song on the subject, you would know something
about it. It is, of course, entirely possible to write a
song about something and know only a little about the
subject. I knew that. That was a basic flaw in Robert's
logic. Perhaps in his cultural matrix only experts
write songs about things on which they are expert."
"Well, I don't have any experience as a midwife. You
should have had someone else replicated."
"I would have preferred a medical doctor, but that
wasn't possible. You see, although Robert has perfected the
technique of replicating human beings--he can make any kind
of physical body--he has no way of replicating a personality.
You--Mary Jane Galatea--were the only personality he had a
record of. You were the only intellectually devloped entity
that we could call upon for help. And we do need help. I
need help. April needs help. Even if you aren't a midwife,
you are a woman. Will you help us with the delivery of
April's baby."
"I don't know how much help I'd be ... but ... yes,
I'll do what I can for April when the time comes."
"That's all anyone could ask. Now I'll pour us a
nightcap, and we can call it a night. We don't have a spare
bedroom, obviously. Robert, are you there?"
There was no response.
"Either he is really resting, or he is going to do a
good job of imitating it. In either case, we won't be able
to replicate you a bed tonight. If you aren't a restless
sleeper, you can join April and me. The bed is plenty large
enough."
"Yesterday ... I mean, when I was here before, when
Mary Jane Galatea was here before, I, she, we slept on the
floor. It kept saying: 'Does specimen require resting
apparatus?' but I ... she ignored it. The floor wasn't
uncomfortable."
"It is obvious that you can't differentiate between the
replicated you and the original one, so why make things
confusing for yourself by trying? As far as I am concerned,
you are the one and only Mary Jane Galatea."
"It is confusing, knowing that you are not who you
think you are. But you're right. I'm Mary Jane Galatea, and
if there is another one someplace, that's her problem."
"Yes, your problem is bed."
"I'm not going to sleep with you."
"I'm talking about sleep as in rest, not sleep as in
sex. I've slept on the floor here too, and I assure you that
our bed is a lot more comfortable."
"Might that cause trouble with your girlfriend?"
"I don't think that April is aware of the word jealousy
yet and all that it means. In any case, she won't have
anything to be jealous of since I'll be snuggled up with her
the way we usually are, and what goes on on the other side of
the bed ... who cares who's there?"
"The idea of sleeping in a bed, rather than the floor,
does sound appealing."
"I'm glad that you're going to be sensible. You can
throw your clothes on that box beside the bed. April likes
this edge, so you can have the far side to yourself."
"My clothes ...? I'm expected to join you nudists?"
"Does nudity bother you?"
"Among friends, no. But I don't know you, and I'm not
sure what to expect. Everything that's happened to me today
has been so unexpected."
"Did you notice the commode?" Carl indicated the water
closet in the corner behind him with his hand. "Out in the
open. The shower: no partition or shower curtain. We all
will be seeing each other naked in performing our ordinary
bodily functions. That's the way we've been living, but if
you can't live in that kind of openness, say so, and we'll
fix things up so that you won't be uneasy."
"No, it's okay. It'll just take a little getting used
to. I'm not a Victorian. Maybe I'll even come to like this
sort of Polynesian nakedness that you've got here."
"Good. I've seen you with your pants pulled down, and
I'm curious to see what you look like without the panties and
tee shirt."
"Listen, buster, I'm not some kind of object to be put
on display."
"Now don't take offense. I'm just saying that I liked
what I saw, and I'm looking foward to seeing more of it.
After all, it's only fair. You've seem all of me and all of
April."
Mary Jane laughed.
"If you weren't so young, I'd suspect you of being a
dirty, old man."
"Au contraire, mademoiselle, a dirty, young man," Carl
said with a smile as he set their glasses in the center of
the cube and put the bottle away on the set of shelves beside
his chair. Then he pushed a button on the side of the cube,
and the dirty glass winked out. "Did I mention that the
highest achievement of Robert's culture is that they never
have to do the dishes?"
"I won't object to not doing dishes."
"Nor I. Even liberated, dirty, young men hate to do
the dishes. But it is late, so we'll leave the exploring of
the housekeeping wonders of this place for tomorrow. Come.
Time for bed."
Carl noticed hesitation in Mary Jane.
"Relax," he said, "I'm only interested in seeing that
that lean, viginal body of yours gets its forty winks of
beauty rest."
"Listen, buster, my sexual history is none of your
business. Humph! Virginal, indeed!"
"You may think that you're experienced, and Mary Jane
Galatea's hymen may have been battered out of existence long
ago, but the fact remains that that body," he poked her in
the shoulder with his finger, "was replicated only a short
time ago, and, unlike your mind, is absolutely pure and
virginal."
Mary Jane said nothing.
"Well you may do as you wish, Mary Jane, but I am going
to sleep. So good night and welcome to the menagerie," Carl
said as he strolled over to the bed, then disappeared behind
its opaque curtains.
A minute later Mary Jane cautiously entered the bed
from the other side. They looked at each other in silence
over the curled up, sleeping body of April. Mary Jane was
still wearing her bra and panties. Carl just smiled.
"Oh, what the hell," she said, unclasping her bra and
tossing it out. She slid off her panties and threw them out
also. "There, satisfied? There's not much meat on my bones.
I'm not like your voluptuous friend."
"Who cares how you're built, just as long as you don't
snore."
"Humph! Good night, Mr. Chandler."
She pulled the curtain shut, plunging the bed into
darkness.
"Good night, Mary Jane, and again welcome."
END OF FILE
FILE13.TXT
28
April was awake and sitting up in bed. Carl was still
asleep on her left. Mary Jane was lying on her back, awake.
April put a finger to her mouth. "Ssssss. Carl sleep.
April 'wake," she whispered. She put her hand on her
stomach. "Baby 'wake, too. Feel?"
Mary Jane got up on one elbow and gently touched
April's belly. "That's going to be a big baby."
April grinned. "Wanna see baby?"
"Er ... all right."
"Out bed!" April ordered.
Mary Jane go out of the bed. April followed, then
scampered past her to the workbench where she got Carl's
sketchbook from the bottom shelf.
April sat on the floor and opened the book. "Come
look."
Mary Jane hunkered beside April.
"See baby!"
In the pages of the sketchbook, Carl had drawn the
various stages of the development of the fetus. The last
sketch was of a baby.
"Carl sat baby soon."
"Yes, another month, April."`
April touched Mary Jane's flat stomach with a tentative
caress. "Mary Jane thin. No baby?"
"No. No baby."
"Oh." There was a moment of disappointment, then April
brightened. "Want Carl give Mary Jane baby?"
Mary Jane smiled at April's innocence. "No, I think
not. I'm not ready for a baby, April."
Just then Carl poked his head outside the bed's
curtains. "Ah, there you two are. I had wondered what became
of my bedmates."
"Carl 'wake!" April announced. She abandoned the
sketchbook and Mary Jane to rush (as much as she could in her
condition) back to the bed and threw her arms around Carl.
They kissed. By now April had the art of kissing perfected
to the Nth degree.
Carl got out of the bed and went to the water closet
where he urinated. Then he stepped under the showerhead and
turned on the water. April followed him and then joined him
under the hot spray.
"Hey! You want to join us?" Carl called to Mary Jane as
April soaped his back. He stepped back under the spray, then
came out and soaped April all over.
Mary Jane now stood a few feet away. "I feel like an
intruder in your lives."
"Nonsense. Get wet and I'll soap you."
When she didn't move, Carl reached out and grabbed her
arm. Then he shoved her under the spray. He pulled her out
and began rubbing her body down roughly with soap.
"Hey," she protested, "take it easy."
"We've got plenty of soap, and one thing we don't need
here is dirty, young women. House rules require a minimum of
a daily shower," Carl said as he propelled her back under the
spray to wash the soap off.
April, drying herself off with a fluffy, white towel,
stood by watching Carl and Mary Jane. "Carl, be more gentle
with Mary Jane," she admonished in a serious tone.
"All right, I will be gentle with Mary Jane from now
on, but we had to make sure that she was clean."
Mary Jane, still under the shower, said: "Clean? You
just wanted to ..."
"Wanted what? To touch you all over? Guilty as
charged. I hereby sentence me to provide you with a
scrumptious breakfast," Carl said as he shut off the water,
then handed her a towel. "Three minutes to breakfast."
"Carl, can I make breakfast?" April asked.
"Sure you can. What do you want to make?"
"Can I make waffles?" April grinned with eager
anticipation.
"Waffles with strawberry jam and maple syrup?"
"Can I? Can I?"
"How does that sound to you?" Carl asked Mary Jane.
"That sounds very nice."
"April, you may make three plates-full of waffles with
strawberry jam and syrup, and you may make three glasses of
orange juice, and you may make two cups of coffee, and you
may make one large glass of milk."
"May ... oh, I forgot."
"You'll remember the next time."
"I may make waffles. Oh, goodie!" April went off
towards the table cube to request breakfast from Robert.
"Grammar lessons?" Mary Jane asked.
"She may be a genius, but you've got to keep after the
kid's grammar all the time, especially because I'm the one
unthinkingly making the mistakes, and she just copies me.
Keeping tract of her is doing wonders for my own grammar.
After breakfast was finished, April remembered: "Carl
forget exercise! Exercise now?"
"It's not good to do exercise so soon after eating.
We'll do our exercising before lunch, okay?"
"'Kay."
"Do you want to finish your drawing this morning."
"'Kay. Carl do dishes?"
"Yes, I will unreplicate the dishes."
"Um-replicate? New word?"
"Hmmm. I guess so. I must have used it only with
Robert. It's a technical word that means to make something
wink out, as in making the dirty dishes disappear."
"Um-replicate."
"No. Unreplicate."
"Unreplicate?"
"Yes, unreplicate."
"Unreplicate. Unreplicate. April got it."
"Good. Now go finish your drawing."
April went over to the workbench, cleared a space for
herself, and began to work in her sketchbook.
"She sort of talks baby talk, but you don't answer her
that way," Mary Jane commented.
"If I did, she'd never learn. She's actually doing
very well. She used to have only a collection of nouns and a
collection of verbs at her disposal. She's only recently
started putting the two kinds of words together to make
sentences. It's really a fascinating process because her
progess is so rapid that you can almost hear her language
complexity develop daily. It's a good thing that we've got a
good library at out disposal because I've got the feeling
that it won't be long before she outstrips my ability to
teach her. Then she'll be on her own."
"Then you'll have to retire from the classroom."
"Not necessarily. Perhaps it will be April teaching
me. That is, however, a future problem, not one that we have
to worry about this week."
"April said that you forgot your exercise?"
"Yes, you arrival disrupted our schedule, but what are
schedules for if not to be disrupted? Besides, now that you
are here, a new schedule will have to be devised."
"What was the original schedule like?"
"Extermely lax in most matters. Being confined in
this cube, it would be an easy matter to let our bodies
deteriorate into flabby jelly. As a preventative, we usually
do a half hour's exercise before breakfast. We have an
exercise bike and a rowing machine. We would alternate on
the two machines. Today was my day to row. A tipical day
was exercise, showers, breakfast, school, lunch, an afternoon
of work for me and play or self-entertainment for April,
dinner, music hour--we have a good music library from which
we can replicate either classical or comtemporary
selections--, and any of a variety of activities between
music hour and bed ... that final activity often being
immediately proceeded by sex, an activity which might
interrupt any other activity, including music hour, showers,
story time, et cetera. The day is concluded with snuggled
sleep."
Mary Jane didn't comment.
"That brings us around to the original question of
schedules for exercise. So that you don't get flabby, you
should have a half hour's exercise a day. What do you think
of our pedal and paddle program?"
"I'm not much of a physical enthusiast, but I do see
your point about being cooped up in here. There's not much
opportunity for long hikes, so I guess I'll join your
pedlar's row."
"As a long-time fisherman, rowing was my form of
exercise, and every kid should have a bike, hence the
exercise bike for April, but now that there are three of us,
we should expand our repetoire to include something
particularly suited to you."
I'm afraid that, except for long walks along the sea
shore or in the country, swimming was the only form of
exercise that I enjoyed. Considering our circumstances, that
is not a very practical sport to have indulged in."
"Swimming. Hmmmm. I'll bet April would enjoy that.
She's never even been in a bath tub. I can see her now just
lazily floating on her back with just her face, tits, and
big, baby-filled belly above the surface ... and I can see
your long, lean body going past her, doing the breast stroke,
churning up the water, and making April bob up and down."
Mary Jane's nervous little laugh proceeded: "You've got
sex on the brain ... and maybe water on the brain too."
"Perhaps it is that, being confined to this cube for so
long, I am beginning to revert to primitive archetypes.
Ancient man worshiped female fertility. Many of our oldest
art artifacts depict women in the last stages of pregnancy.
Having watched April's body develop to that state, I know
exactly how they felt."
"Don't get any ideas about me, buster. You just keep
your thing in your pants."
Carl laughed.
"Pants? I did have a pair of pants somewhere around
here, but I haven't seen them for months."
Mary Jane was grimly silent.
"Our nudity aside, the subject under discussion was
your exercise requirements. As you can see, we have just
begun to make use of the fact that our vertical space equals
our other dimensions," Carl said as he gestured towards the
mezzanine above the table cube. "We have room for several
more balconies. I don't see why Robert couldn't make one of
them into a swimming pool."
"Are you serious?
"It might be expensive--all that water won't come
cheap--and I'm not sure about the structural strength of
Robert's building materials ... all that water suspended up
there will weigh quite a bit, but we can inquire. Are you
afraid of heights?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"I was thinking that, if we install a pool, the best
out-of-the-way place would be up near the ceiling. How about
diagonally across the ceiling? That would give you he
longest distance."
Mary Jane looked up at the ceiling, trying to imagine a
swimming pool up there. Carl did a couple of rapid sketches
which resulted in a design of an eight foot wide and five
foot deep pool going from corner to corner. It had seven
feet of clearance between the water level and the ceiling.
One of the corners was filled in as a deck with an opening in
it to allow access from the mezzanine via a sloped ladder.
Carl stretched his sketch out on the table and said:
"Robert, is this feasible from a structural, supply, and
financial point of view?"
"STRUCTURE INDICATED WOULD CONTAIN 1540 UNITS OF
AQUEOUS FLUID AT A WEIGHT OF 28.3 UNITS PER VOLUME UNIT.
SUSPENSION OF SUCH MASS IS POSSIBLE AT THE POINT INDICATED.
REPLICATION OF SUCH A STRUCTURE CONTAINING THE REQUISITE
VOLUME OF LIQUID WOULD DEPLETE THE FINANCIAL BALANCE OF CARL
BY A FACTOR OF 93 PERCENT. MAINTENANCE OF TEMPERATURE AND
PURITY OF FLUID ESTIMATED TO BE 2 MONITARY UNITS PER CYCLE."
"In other words, my bank account would be wiped out
again,"
"SUBSTANTIALLY AFFIRMATIVE."
"Are you figuring this at the luxury rate or the
necessity rate?"
"SWIMMING POOL ADJUDGED LUXURY ITEM WITHIN THE CULTURAL
MATRIX OF CARL, APRIL AND MARY JANE."
"Ah, but under these restrictions of limited space,
such a pool is necessary for the maintenance of the health
and muscle tone of this lithe body," Carl said, placing his
hand on Mary Jane's shoulder."
"REPLICATION OF SWIMMING POOL CLASSIFIED AS LUXURY.
SEARCH OF INFORMATION STORAGE INDICATES THAT EQUIVALENT
SITUATION ADJUDGED SIMILARLY BY ORGANIZATION IDENTIFIED AS
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE. IS DOCCUMENTATION OF THIS CULTURAL
MATRIX PHENOMENON REQUIRED?"
Carl burst into laughter.
"Billions of miles away, and the IRS is still putting
the screws to me. What the hell are you doing with IRS
regulations anyway, Robert?"
"INFORMATION DERIVED FROM PUBLICATION CALLED 'THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL.' INFORMATION STORAGE CONTAINS ALL SQUENCES
OF PUBLICATION FOR 300 CYCLES UP TO 6 CYCLES PRIOR TO
DEPARTURE. CATALOGING OF INFORMATION IN PUBLICATION
PROCEEDING DURING VOYAGE."
"You mean that you've been breaking all the information
in the newspaper down into catagories and them filing them
appropriately."
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"Why on Earth--or elsewhere--for?"
"INFORMATION REQUIRED IN EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND
COMPLICATED FINANCIAL SYSTEMS OF THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL.
SECURITIES AND COMMODIIES TRADING COMMON PHENOMENON. FUTURES
TRADING PHENOMENON HIGHLY UNUASUAL. UNDERSTANDING OF
FINANCIAL SYSTEMS NECESSARY TO UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURAL
MATRIX."
"Perhaps, but what about our swimming pool? Do we have
to consider it as a luxury?"
"AFFIRMATIVE. MAINTENANCE OF SWIMMING POOL MAY BE
CLASSIFIED AS CONTRIBUTING TO THE MAINTENANCE OF SATISFACTORY
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS FOR SPECIMENS DUE TO LESSENING OF ENERGY
EXPENDITURE FOR MAINTAINING OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY. SWIMMING
POOL MAINTENANCE WILL BE ASSESSED AT NECESSITY LEVEL."
"Okay, if that's the best you can do, we'll take it."
Carl turned to Mary Jane. "I'm glad I'm not trying to buy a
car from this character. He drives a hard bargain."
"Are you really going to buy me a swimming pool?"
"I'm buying us a swimming pool."
"PREPARE FOR DIVERSION OF 35 PERCENT OF ENERGY FROM
CLIMATIC CONTROLS SYSTEM DURING REPLICATION OF AQUEOUS FLUID
SUPPLY."
The lights dimmed for a minute, then immediately
returned to full power as the swimming pool winked in.
"Good God!" Mary Jane exclaimed as she stared up at the
pool.
Except for a slight translucency on the vertical sides,
it appeared to be made of glass.
"Mademoiselle, would you care to inspect our new
swimming pool?"
"Is that real?"
"As real as you are."
"Why roof change?" April demanded. She too was staring
up at the new addition.
"Come, April, it is time that you learned to swim,"
Carl said.
"What is swim?"
"You'll see. Come on. Everyone up to the pool."
A minute later they stood on the deck at the edge of
the pool. Only the slight translucency of the pool's sides
indicated the change from solid to liquid, for the water was
colorless, still, and came up even to the deck.
"This, April, is a swimming pool," Carl said as he
hunkered down and splashed a bit of water at April's feet.
"Water!" she squealed in wide-eyed amazement.
Carl's disturbance sent small ripples fanning out
across the pool.
"Yes, and it is deep water, so we'll have to teach you
how to move in it. Moving in water is called swimming,
April."
"I'll be glad to give a demonstration," Mary Jane
offered. She hesitated about diving in because the
appearance was of diving into space--she could clearly see
their living area down below through the clear bottom of the
pool. She eased herself in and held onto the edge until she
felt the bottom with her feet. Then she pushed herself off
gently and floated on her back for a moment.
"Mary Jane fly!" April exclaimed.
Carl laughed, then said: No, you don't fly in water,
you float in it. You can also swim in it."
"What noise?" April asked.
"Damn! We've got a flood!"
Water was cascading over the far rim of the pool and
falling onto the floor below. The addition of Mary Jane's
body volume caused the already full pool to overflow.
"Quick! Out of the pool!" Carl shouted at Mary Jane.
She clambered out of the water.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
Carl merely pointed to the water still going over the
edge.
"Oh, no. Did it ruin anything, do you think?"
"It doesn't look like it, but we may have to sleep in a
soggy bed."
"Oh."
"Why water fall?" April asked.
"The pool was already full, and Mary Jane made it over
full by getting in. The water had to go someplace. See,
some of it lapped at out feet, and some went over the edge."
April studied the situation for a moment with a frown
on her face. "Pool no good?" she asked.
"We'll just have to change it. Robert, can you draw
down about four inches of water and make the far edge about a
foot higher?"
"ADJUSTMENT PROCEEDING."
The modifications winked in.
"Thank you, Robert. Now, Mary Jane, you can give April
a demonstration of the fine art of swimming."
Looking down at the room below, she again hesitated at
the edge of the pool. She then took a deep breath and dove
in. For the next twenty minutes, Mary Jane put on a fine
display of aquatic skills. Later in the morning, she taught
April the rudiments of swimming.
April was delighted. "April swim-fly," she proclaimed
as she dog-paddled around the pool.
In spite of the requirements of gramatical exegesis,
Carl had to agree that swimming in a glass-bottomed pool
suspended from a ceiling was akin to flying.
29
Mary Jane noticed Carl's harmonica on the workbench
where it was serving in the humble capacity of a paperweight.
She picked it up and blew a few practice notes, then launched
into a quick-paced tune. When she realized that she had an
audience, she abruptly stopped.
"Sorry, your harmonica? I should have asked first,"
she said, starting to put it back.
"Not my harmonica, our harmonica. Everything here is
community property. You are, I am happy to report, in the
midsts of the universe's most anarchistic, communist state
... perhaps anarchistic communism can only be successful with
a population of three citizens and one benevolent, unseen
patron, but while it lasts we'll make the most of it. Go on
with the harmonica playing. It's certainly a lot better than
mine," Carl said.
"Mary Jane play good. Carl play bad," April commented.
Carl laughed, then said: "Out of the mouths of babes
... but do play on."
Mary Jane returned to the harmonica, finishing her
tune, then launching into a spirited rendition of "San
Francisco Bay Blues."
"Goodie! Goodie! Goodie!" April said in appreciation,
and Carl applauded.
"Clap your hands, April. When you approve of someone's
performance, you show it by clapping like I'm doing," Carl
said.
April began to clap with enthusiasm.
Mary Jane smiled a bit sheepishly. "It wasn't that
good, but it is always nice to have a friendly audience."
"Of course it was good! You're the best damn harmonica
player within a billion miles--me being the only other
harmonica in the territory and, as April said: 'Carl bad.'"
"I'm not really a harmonica player, but everybody goes
through their Dylan phase--non-electric, early Dylan, that
is. When he went electric, I didn't mind, but when he got
religion ... exit me."
"But when Dylan went electric, you must have been just
a little kid," Carl suggested.
"Precocious, I guess."
"Carl laughed, then said: "As a kid, I was more in the
line of obnoxious myself."
"That's funny ... not your pun ... wait a minute."
Mary Jane closed her eyes and paused for a moment. "I can
remember the musical stuff from my early years, but the rest
has been wiped clean."
"That's understandable. Music was a major part of Mary
Jane Galatea's life. It stands to reason that, when her
primary levels of memory were recorded, all of the music was
included."
"You must be right. I'm glad I haven't lost that."
"Me too. Otherwise we'd have to listen to my harmonica
playing."
"Carl no play harmonica. Mary Jane play harmonica,"
April said.
"Yes, give us another tune, please.... No, wait.
Robert, are you going to pay Mary Jane union scale for her
performance?"
"FINANCIAL CREDITS AT APPROPRIATE LEVELS WILL BE
CREDITED PROVIDED THAT RECORDING OF PERFORMANCES BE ALLOWED."
"As her new agent, that sounds okay to me. How long
will she have to play to earn her keep?"
"PERFORMANCE OF .03125 CYCLES DURATION WILL YIELD
BALANCED ACCOUNT FOR EACH CYCLE. SUGGEST THAT MARY JANE
RECEIVE REMUNERATION FROM CARL AND APRIL ALSO."
"Should we pay? But we're her roadies!"
"ROADIES NULL CONCEPT. SEARCH OF ALL LEVELS FAILS TO
YIELD INTERPRETATION."
"I mean that we're her assistants. I polish her
harmonica and April is in charge of seeing that it is
restored to its proper place after each performance as my
paperweight."
"REMUNERATION FROM 'ROADIES' TO BE DECISION OF MARY
JANE. ACCOUNTS WILL BE ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY."
Mary Jane chuckled, the said: "Roadies don't pay, but
in this case ... they don't get any salary either. Accounts
between Carl, April, and myself are balanced as far as my
music playing goes."
""ACCOUNTS SO ADJUSTED."
"If Mary Jane is goint to be musician-in-residence,
then she should have more instruments than a cheap harmonca.
Mary Jane Galatea's guitar playing is, of course, legendary.
What other instruments do you play?"
"I started with a ukulele at age two, but I positively
refuse to play that instrument, the sound is so ... poor. I
do credible work on a dulcimer, panio, harpsichord, silver
flute and fiddle ... and the guitar, of course."
"This sounds like the addition of a music room is
necessary. Robert? How about extending the mezzanine over
the bed to make it L-shaped? A twenty-two by eight space
should easily accomodate a baby grand panio and the other
instruments that Mary Jane plays. Do you have plans for
musical instuments in storage?"
"AFFIRMATIVE. INFORMATION STORAGE CONTAINS PLANS FOR
3 TYPES OF PANIO, INCLUDING THE BABY GRAND TYPE, 1
HARPSICHORD, COPIED BY A BOSTON CRAFTSMAN FROM A 17TH CENTURY
FRENCH MODEL, 2 DULCIMER DESIGNS, 4 FLUTE DESIGNS, 6 GUITAR
DESIGNS, OF WHICH 3 ARE ACOUSTIC AND 3 ELECTRIC, 7 VIOLIN
DESIGNS, BUT 0 UKULELE DESIGNS. SORRY ..."
"No great loss," Mary Jane commented.
"AND 2 DESIGNS FOR MORE SOPHISTICATED HARMONICAS. A
TOTAL OF 139 OTHER INSTRUMENT DESIGNS ALSO IN INFORMATION
STORAGE."
"Gee. We could outfit a whole symphony," Carl
commented.
"Carl! We've got to be responsible. Besides, the ones
I mentioned are the only instruments I play with any
reasonable amount of skill, and at this stage of life I
prefer to perfect what I already play, not take up new
instruments."
"That's fine. Besides, you're paying for it all."
"Another consideration. You seem to forget that I've
got to play for my supper. I don't know if I can afford any
instrument, let alone a whole room full ... not to mention
paying for the room itself."
"Robert, what would it cost Mary Jane to have a balcony
with a harpsichord, baby grand, flute, violin, dulcimer, and
your two best guitars."
"CALCULATIONS INDICATE THAT THE BALANCE OF THE ACCOUNT
OF MARY JANE WOULD BE DEFICIENT BY 56 MONITARY UNITS.
BALANCED ACCOUNTS COULD BE ACHIEVED BY PLAYING RECORDABLE
MUSIC FOR .062 CYCLES PER CYCLE FOR 35 CYCLES."
Carl turned to Mary Jane. "There you have it. The
finance department has spoken. Give an hour and a half's
concert every day for the next five weeks and the instruments
are yours."
"I don't know ... I never buy things on credit. It's
always been cash or I-can't-afford-it."
"A wise policy on planet Earth, but here ... Robert, do
it!"
"Carl!"
"If she won't pay for it, I will. I'll co-sign her
loan."
"AFFIRMATIVE."
The lights dimmed for a moment as the balcony and
musical instruments winked in.
"Just out of spite, I ought to refuse to pay and let
you get stuck with the bill, Carl," Mary Jane threatened.
Carl laughed, then said: "I don't think that you'd be
able to refrain from playing music, even if it wasn't how
you're earning your keep. And besides, even if you could
stick me with the bill, it'd be worth it. To have one of
America's finast troubadours give us private concerts, even
just her practice sessions, is a momentous thing. Even Saudi
Arabian princes can't buy that. Besides, not only that, we
get to enjoy Mary Jane Galatea's company, which is itself
priceless ..."
"Buster, if you think that you can get anywhere by
flattery, forget it! The music business is filled with that
kind of stuff, and I've seen the best."
"But I really do admire your music," Carl protested
with a pained look on his face.
"Carl, Mary Jane angry?" April, puzzled by this
exchange, asked.
"I'm not angry, April." Then she turned to Carl:
"When I'm angry, you'll know about it." Back to April:
"We're just having a minor disagreement."
"Yes," Carl said, "so minor that we're going to dismiss
the whole subject. Come, April, we're going to inspect the
new music room."
"Carl play other musics like Carl play harmonica?"
Carl winked at Mary Jane, then said to April: "The
harmonica is my best instrument, but I will defer in all
musical matters to Mary Jane. She'll play the music around
here from now on."
"Good! Mary Jane play good." April tugged on Mary
Jane's arm and pulled her towards the ladder that lead to he
mezzanine. "Show me new music machines, please."
Mary Jane smiled and shrugged her shoulders at Carl.
"With such an appreciative audience, how can I resist?"
END OF FILE
FILE14.TXT
*****************************************************************
THIS IS AN ABRIDGED EDITION OF THIS NOVEL.
To order a copy of the unabridged edition, send $10.00 (check or
money order) to: SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS P.O. Box 140 San Simeon,
CA 93452. A copy of the 2-disk set will be sent to you postpaid
via first class mail (USA). [Foreign orders include extra
postage for 3 oz.] For other books available from Serendipity
Systems, see the BOOKS-ON-DISKS CATALOG file.
SUMMARY OF ABRIDGED CHAPTERS:
Carl describes a tipical day for Baby SApril and himself.
Now that Mary Jane has arrived, he suggests that they expand
the exercise program by putting a swimming pool in a balcony near
the ceiling.
Carl orders a collection of musical instruments replicated
for Mary Jane's use.
FILE1488.TXT
Disk No: 1488
Program Title: BABY APRIL
PC-SIG version 1
BABY APRIL is a book-on-disk that you read at your computer monitor,
using the supplied viewing system.
This is a science fiction retelling of the Galatea myth, but updated to
include aesthetics, politics, liberated women, and a whole range of
contemporary subjects. In this story, an advanced extra-terrestrial
civilization sends one of its members to earth in order to learn more
about humans and their culture. He gets more than he bargained for!
This is the abridged version...perfect escapist reading for coffee
breaks with your PC!
Synopsis: Science fiction book-on-disk. What happens when an
extra-terrestrial visits Earth!
Usage: Novel/Books-On-Disk.
Special Requirements: None.
How to Start: Type GO (press enter).
Suggested Registration: $10.00 brings the unabridged two disk
version.
File Descriptions:
GO-2 COM Main program.
AUTOEXEC BAT Program start.
FILE??? TXT Text data files (20 files).
READ ME Documentation file.
WRITER'S DAT Book submission information file.
The PC-SIG Library
1030D E Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1989 PC-SIG, Inc.
FILE15.TXT
31
"How come Carl not love Mary Jane? Carl not like Mary
Jane." April asked from out of the blue.
"I like Mary Jane. I love Mary Jane ... I ..." Carl
turned to Mary Jane. "How do you explain the difference
between love and sex? For April it's always been the same."
"April, Carl loves me, because we're friends, but you
have to have love for a special person to make their two
bodies come together. I'm not ready for Carl to be that
special lover. Do you understand?"
April frowned. "No. Carl ready. April can see. Mary
Jane not ready? Will Carl still be ready when Mary Jane
ready?"
Carl chuckled softly, then said: "Yes, April, I think
that I would be ready, but I have to wait until Mary Jane
gets ready all by herself."
"Mary Jane should hurry get ready. Carl make April so
good inside. Good all over," she said with a grin.
"Yes, I know, and that's very nice for you, April, but
are you sure that you wouldn't get jealous?"
"Jea-lous? Jealous? New word?"
"It means that April would be angry with me if I made
love with Mary Jane," Carl explained.
"Why April get angry?"
"If you thought that I wouldn't love you because I made
love with Mary Jane ..."
April's eyes widened, and she looked from Carl to Mary
Jane and back to Carl. "Happen?"
"No it is not going to happen because even if I were to
make love with Mary Jane, I'm always going to love you."
"Then jealous is silly idea," April concluded,
dismissing the idea with a wave of her hand.
"Yes, it is a silly idea and we won't have anything
more to do with it. I love you and I love Mary Jane and you
love me and you love Mary Jane too."
"Yes," April quickly agreed.
"And I love you both," Mary Jane said, "but I'm not
ready to sleep with Carl."
"Sleep? But Mary Jane sleeps with Carl and April,"
April observed correctly.
Mary Jane laughed.
"Mary Jane made a mistake. She meant that she wasn't
ready to have sex with me."
April was puzzled. "Sex? Mary Jane is sex. Female
sex."
Carl laughed, then commented to Mary Jane: "I think
that this may be the first time the term 'having sex with'
has come up ... no pun intended. We always called it 'making
love.'
"What Carl means is that I am not ready to make love
... to have Carl inside me ... but I can still love him as a
friend."
"April understand ... maybe. Love, sex hard to talk
about. Easier to do."
Carl and Mary Jane both laughed.
"Yes, and if you weren't so damn pregnant ... but we're
going to do the best we can for you," Carl said, sweeping
April up in his arms. He carried her off to the bed where he
gently deposited her, winked back at Mary Jane, then pulled
the curtains shut.
* * *
Mary Jane was sitting at the table cube, softly
fingering high, sad chords on her guitar.
"Sorry about the abrupt departure," Carl said. "Trying
to explain to April that for some people there is a
difference between love and sex just turned me on ..."
Mary Jane put down her guitar and refilled her brandy
snifter. With her raised eyebrow answered by a nod of Carl's
head, she got another glass for him and poured his drink.
"You needn't apologize. After all, you and April are a
family," she said, handing him the glass.
"No, we're a family. We're a billion miles from the
nearest moralist. We've only ourselves to deal with, and
therefore we have the right to make whatever definitions of
family we want for ourselves. At the moment our family
consists of one male and two females, one of whom is
pregnant. Soon the family will include an infant. In the
future, our definition of family can be modified to fit the
circumstances. Whatever happens, you're as much a part of
this family as anyone. You are no an intruder. You're a
necessary and indispensable part. In fact, since you and
April are the only two replicated human beings in the
universe, you two are sisters. Since you were make at my
request, perhaps I can be considered to be your father ...
no, don't do that. Then maybe we'd have to worry about
incest taboos. Consider Robert as your father, or the
replicating machine ... no ... that's not a good idea,
either. See, all the old ideas about relationships and
family don't apply. We're a unique relationship: the, in
order of appearance, Carl-April-Mary Jane-baby family.
Okay?" He clinked the edge of her glass with his.
Mary Jane raised her glass in toast: "To the Carl-
April-Mary Jane-baby family."
"Good. And now the Carl member of this family wants to
present what remains of his libidinal energy to the Mary Jane
member after having made a similar presentation to the April
member."
"Oh ... but it's the wrong time of the month."
"Ah, but I'm not fastidious."
"Not that time of the month, just the opposite time of
the month."
"Oh, that time of the month: ovulation."
"Yes."
"Well, perhaps it would be nice for April's baby to
have a sibling ..."
"No! ... I didn't mean to bark at you. I'm not ready
for babies."
"Okay, fine. I love you anyway. Besides, there are
easy ways to get around that time of the month problems.
Roger, I know you're listening. I can hear your heavy
breathing."
"SITUATION IMPOSSIBLE. BREATHING CHARACTERISTICS NOT
TRANSLATABLE."
Carl laughed, then said: "Want to bet? I can feel your
heavy breathing."
"NOT POSSIBLE."
"Here I am about to explore all the deep mysteries of
Mary Jane's charms with you wide-eyed watching and you mean
to tell me you're not hot and bothered? Not possible."
"MARY JANE ATTRACTIVE WOMANNESS AFFIRMED."
"Oh, I agree, which is why I need a rubber."
"RUBBER?"
"A male contraceptive device. You know, a
prophylactic. Who knows, she might have herpies or
something."
"NOT POSSIBLE. MEDICAL CONDITION OF MARY JANE IS 100
PERCENT SATISFACTORY," Robert said as the prophylactic winked
onto the table.
Carl raised his glass in salute to the wall, and said:
"Sir, I thank you." He drained his glass, put it on the
table, and picked up the red foil packet. "Mademoiselle?"
"I haven't said that I want you for my lover ... I will
admit that you seem a lot nicer than that last bastard, but
appearances are deceptive. On the other hand, I don't have a
lot of men to chose from, do I? ... I'm still a little
afraid of April being jealous, aren't you?"
"April jealous? 'Not possible,' as Robert might say.
Two concepts not in her repertoire are jealosy and frigidity.
In fact, I'd suspect her of being a nymphomaniac if it
weren't for the fact that recent studies have shown
nymphomania to really just be male myth."
"I thought that nymphomania was supposed to have
something to do with the inability to love. April is very
loving."
"QED she is not a nymphomaniac, just extremely erotic,
which is very nice. But at the moment she's asleep, and I'm
tumescent. Mademoiselle, we procrastinate."
"But where?"
"On the float in the middle of the pool," Carl said.
* * *
Mary Jane and Carl lay snuggled together on the float.
"Carl, that was sooo nice," she dreamily said in his
ear.
"Mutual, I thoroughly enjoyed taking your cherry, or
as one particularly delicate student of mine once put it:
devirginize you."
"Are you going to start that again? Devirginize?"
"The girl couldn't bring herself to say rape, as in
'The Rape of the Lock,' so she invented the term
'devirginize' for herself. On the other topic: I promise
never to bring up the question of your virginity, or lack
thereof, again. Hear that, Robert? You be sure and remind
me if it ever appears that I am about to step over the line
of probity."
"Don't be paranoid, it's not listening."
"Roger is not 'it,' he's Roger."
"Well, when I was here before, he was 'it.' Remember,
he kidnaped me. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know
if I was going to be raped, or killed, or eaten, or what.
I'm still not certain he's as benevolent as you seem to
think. Maybe we're just being fattened for soup, or kept
contented so that we're tender."
Carl laughed, then playfully nibbled on her shoulder.
"Mmmm. Your nice and tender already, but perhaps you've read
too much science fiction. In the case of you and April,
you're replications, so he could make as many edible bodies
as he wanted. In my case and in the case of the original
Mary Jane Galatea, to transport a mere one and a quarter
hundredweight of meat for a journey of over a year, and in
such luxurious accommodations, to merely make a few
hambergers--people bergers--is absurd. No, you're not going
to be lunch."
"MMMMMMM. MARY JANE RARE DELICACY."
Carl took the opportunity of Mary Jane's dropped mouth
to plant a deep kiss there. "He's only joking," he told her.
Then to Roger he said: "See, I knew you were listening.
Does your language have the term voyer?"
"SEXUAL PERVERSION NOT SUBJECT FOR COMMUNICATION."
"I didn't say that I thought that you were a pervert, I
was merely asking a question about your language."
"CORRECTION. CULTURAL MATRIX OF ROBERT SIMILAR IN
CONTENT TO CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL. SEXUAL FUNCTIONS
CONSIDERED PRIVATE MATTER BETWEEN PERSONS INVOLVED. VOYERS
TREATED UNDER STATUTES CONCERNING INVASION OF PRIVACY.
INVASION OF PRIVACY CONSIDERED A MAJOR CRIMINAL OFFENSE.
OCCURRANCES ARE RARE. DOES ANSWER MEET THE NEEDS OF CARLS?
DOES CARL DESIRE STATISTICAL INFORMATION ON OCCURRANCES OF
INVASION OF PRIVACY CRIME?"
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"Speaking of invasions of privacy," Mary Jane said,
"what about what you're doing to us? You're watching us
parade around nude, watching us shit, shower, and everything,
even watching us make love. Aren't you invading our
privacy?"
"CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRE MONITORING OF ACTITIES TO INSURE
SAFETY AND WELL BEING OF SPECIMENS ..."
"And besides, it's fun," Carl interrupted.
"BESIDES, IDENTICAL BEHAVIOR EXHIBITED BY SPECIMENS
WITH NO APPARENT DISSENSION."
"Well, that may be true, but we have been a little
discreet in sexual matters," Mary Jane said.
"NEGATIVE SITUATION"
"What do you mean?" Carl asked.
The answer came in the form of giggles from down below
them.
"April, we thought that you were asleep," Carl said.
Mary Jane said: "Oh, no."
April was lieing on the floor, looking up at them
through the transparent pool and equally transparent float.
"Mary Jane looks funny from down here when Mary Jane
and Carl make love. Mary Jane and Carl make lots of waves.
Big waves." Again April giggled.
"When viewed from that angle, coitus probably does look
a bit ridiculous," Carl commented.
"You're not angry with us, are you April?" Mary Jane
asked.
"Carl make Mary Jane feel good?"
"Yes, very good." Mary Jane could not help smiling.
"Good! Carl make April feel good too. April happy.
Mary Jane happy?"
"Yes."
"Good. April go back to sleep now." So saying, she
got up from the floor and went back to bed, drawing the
curtains closed behind her.
"She is a remarkable woman," Mary Jane said.
"You're both remarkable women. We know from what
position April watched us, what I want to know is from what
position Robert watched us."
"MONITORING FROM ALL POSITIONS POSSIBLE EITHER
SIMULTANEOUSLY OR SEQUENTIALLY."
"Ah, voyer's heaven. We'll try to keep you entertained
as much as possible," Carl said, then gave Mary Jane a kiss
on the cheek.
"Haven't you had enough?"
"Between April and you, my hydraulic system is pretty
well exhausted, but I don't need an erection to kiss a pretty
lady." He kissed her nipple. "Besides, you taste so nice."
He kissed her beside the naval. "Robert is right, you are a
rare delicacy. I could kiss you for hours." He gave her a
series of kisses, each one a little lower than the last.
"Nothing wrong with your hydraulics," he mumbled between
kisses.
"Carl. Oooooo."
* * *
"He probably just recorded you kissing me to orgasm."
Mary Jane commented.
"Now don't be so hard on the lad, Mary Jane. Did you
record it?"
"FAILURE TO THINK OF RECORDING MUST BE REPORTED.
STATEMENT OF APPRECIATION FOR THE VALUABLE SUGGESTION OF MARY
JANE."
"Hey, buster, I'm not suggesting it."
"PERMISSION TO RECORD SEXUAL ACTIVITIES DENIED?"
"Let him have his fun, Mary Jane, after all, all he can
do is watch. We have all the fun of doing it, and his
watching and/or recording does us no harm."
"Oh, all right. Do whatever you wish."
"STATEMENT OF PROFOUND APPRECIATION. WILL OBSERVE BUT
NOT RECORD IN DIFFERENCE TO THE WISHES OF MARY JANE UNLESS
MATTER OF CLINICAL INTEREST OCCURS CONCERNING MATTERS RELATED
TO UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURAL MATRIX."
"As you wish," Mary Jane said, dismissing the matter
with a wave of her hand. "We couldn't tell if you were
recording or not, anyway."
"RECORDING DESIRED OF REACTION OF NIPPLES DURING SEXUAL
STIMULATION AND REACTION OF TOES TO DETERMINE IF PHENOMENON
INITIATED SIMULTANEOUSLY OR SEQUENTIALLY, IF SEQUENTIALLY, TO
DETERMINE ORDER OF REACTION. PERMISSION TO RECORD DURING
NEXT OPPORTUNITY DESIRED."
"The next time it might be Carl and April," Mary Jane
said.
"RECORDING OF REACTIONS OF MARY JANE PREFERRED."
"Why," she asked.
"RECORDING OF REACTIONS OF MARY JANE PREFERRED ...
SUBJECTIVE JUDGEMENT INDICATED REACTIONS OF MARY JANE MORE
SEVERE."
"Maybe that's just because she's been getting it more
than me. I've been sex-starved for awhile."
"Not any more, you're going to be," Carl assured her
with a grin.
"Oh, you're impossible!" She gave him a shove and sent
him tumbling off the float and into the water.
Carl tried to pull the float out from under her, but
she jumped clear and landed on the deck.
"Maybe April and I will get together and make you the
sex-starved one," she threatened with a grin.
"Here I do you the great honor of plucking your cherry,
and you treat me in such a fashion. Tisk-tisk!"
Mary Jane had to laugh. Well, my ravisher," she said,
"come out of the water and dry yourself off so that we can go
down the ladder and we both can snuggle with April."
"A very good idea."
END OF FILE
COPYRIGHT 1984, 1986 - SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS
FILE16.TXT
*****************************************************************
THIS IS AN ABRIDGED EDITION OF THIS NOVEL.
To order a copy of the unabridged edition, send $10.00 (check or
money order) to: SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS P.O. Box 140 San Simeon,
CA 93452. A copy of the 2-disk set will be sent to you postpaid
via first class mail (USA). [Foreign orders include extra
postage for 3 oz.] For other books available from Serendipity
Systems, see the BOOKS-ON-DISKS CATALOG file.
SUMMARY OF ABRIDGED CHAPTERS:
Carl tries to explain the difference between love and sex to
Baby April.
Carl's dallaince with Mary Jane proves not to upset his
relationship with April.
END OF FILE
***********
*
FILE17.TXT
*****************************************************************
THIS IS AN ABRIDGED EDITION OF THIS NOVEL.
To order a copy of the unabridged edition, send $10.00 (check or
money order) to: SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS P.O. Box 140 San Simeon,
CA 93452. A copy of the 2-disk set will be sent to you postpaid
via first class mail (USA). [Foreign orders include extra
postage for 3 oz.] For other books available from Serendipity
Systems, see the BOOKS-ON-DISKS CATALOG file.
SUMMARY OF ABRIDGED CHAPTERS:
Robert explains how the replication process works.
Mary Jane suggests that April start doing exercises to
strengthen the muscles used during the birth process.
Carl suggests the replication of a second man, perhaps
Robert Redford, be undertaken for Mary Jane, but Robert points
out that such a man would arrive mentally undeveloped, and no one
wants to deal with Baby Robert Redford.
END OF FILE
***********
8
FILE18.TXT
Copyright 1984, 1986 - SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS
37
First Mary Jane wanted to cry, then she wanted to slug
Carl when, after she trepidatiously explained her
conversation with Robert on the subject of erotic contact
between herself and April, he flippantly said: "So, you've
got the hots for April too." Carl instantly grasped the
seriousness of his faux pas, so he wrapped his arms around
her and gave her a kiss.
"I don't blame you in the least," he said gently. "The
three of us have so much love for each other that we're
really at a loss as to how to express its enormity. No, I
don't think it would be inappropriate for you to express your
feelings towards April in a more physical way. I'm surprised
that it just hadn't erupted spontaneously. Perhaps I have
been an inhibiting factor for you women. In any case, I
don't think that any harm would come to April from it. Quite
to the contrary, I agree with Robert that it would be good
for all of us. Hell, we've got so much love here that we'd
have enough to include Robert no matter what he looked
like."
"What do you mean, 'no matter what he looked like?'"
"Er ... well ... we only know him through his voice,
and that is merely the voice of the translating machine, so
we've never really had any direct contact with him ... if
indeed he is a 'he.' He could be a 'she' or an 'it,' we
don't really know. Robert could look like a crab, or a
shapeless blob of protoplasm."
Mary Jane didn't say anything.
"CARL HAS AN OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION."
"Do I? Perhaps. Will we see what our friend Robert
looks like at the end of this voyage?"
"AFFIRMATIVE. AT THE END OF THE VOYAGE WE WILL MEET."
"I will look forward to that," Carl said.
Mary Jane just smiled.
* * *
Late that evening, sitting beside the pool, Mary Jane
asked: "Xan, what do you look like?"
"DOES IT MATTER?"
Mary Jane smiled and said: "I ... I can't fantasize
about you because I have no point on which to focus. Carl
says that you could look like a crab, and maybe you are ..."
Robert laughed, then said: "CARL HAS BEEN READING FROM
MY SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION AGAIN."
"Can you replicate a picture of yourself for me?"
"IF I WERE A CREATURE OF UGLINESS, WOULDN'T IT BE
BETTER THAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW?"
Mary Jane was silent for a moment, then said: "No
matter what your shape was, I'd still know that you really
were a beautiful person. Isn't that what really matters?"
"ALTHOUGH THERE IS TRUTH IN WHAT YOU SAY, BEAUTY IS A
CONCEPT WHICH IS DEFINED BY THE PARAMETERS OF THE CULTURAL
MATRIX WITHIN WHICH IT OPERATES. THE MALAKAIS CONSIDER
THEMSELVES TO BE BEAUTIFUL--THEY LOOK SOMEWHAT LIKE FURRY
VERSIONS OF TEN-ARMED OCTOPUSES, NOT VERY CUDDLY BY OUR
STANDARDS--BUT THEY ARE THE BEST MUSICIANS IN THE KNOWN
UNIVERSE, AND TO SIT DOWN WITH THEM AND LISTEN TO THEM PLAY
IS ONE OF THE GREATEST EXPERIENCES POSSIBLE. ONCE THE MUSIC
STARTS, YOU FORGET ALL ABOUT WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE."
"You're avoiding the subject of you," she gently
chided.
"AM I?"
"Look, I know that you're not going to look like the
knight in shining armor of my adolescent fantasies. Think of
it in terms of equality. You know what we look like. The
fact that we've been parading around here in the nude all
this time is indicative of the fact that we've lost our
bodily self-consciousness ... Wear your full dress uniform
if you're shy."
"IT SHALL BE AS YOU WISH ..."
An image of Robert winked in on the water at the end of
the pool. He was a man of about Carl's height, but with a
much slighter build--a shortened and thinned version of Mary
Jane. At first Mary Jane thought that he was bald, but then
she saw that his hair was short, curled, and almost
translucent. He was definitely humanoid--sort of an albino
Negro--but his eyes were green. He wore a loose, flowing
robe which shimmered with multicolored iridescence. He stood
with his forearms held out at right angles to his body with
the palms facing out.
"GREETINGS, MARY JANE GALATEA."
She smiled, then said: "Greetings Xan. You're a fine
species of crustacean."
The image was expressionless. Silence hung in the air.
"Did I say something wrong?"
After a brief silence, Robert said: "NO, I APOLOGIZE.
THERE WAS A MISUNDERSTANDING ON MY PART. YOU SEE, I WAS
SPEAKING WITHOUT THE TRANSLATOR, AND THE WORD 'CRUSTACEAN' IN
YOUR LANGUAGE IS VERY SIMILAR TO A VERY VULGAR WORD IN MY
LANGUAGE. I WAS MOMENTARILY TAKEN ABACK. I COULDN'T
UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WERE SUDDENLY INSULTING ME, SO FINALLY I
RAN YOUR COMMENT THROUGH THE TRANSLATOR, AND NOW I UNDERSTAND
THAT YOU WERE REFERRING TO A COMMENT MADE EARLIER BY CARL
CONCERNING THE POSSIBILITY THAT I MIGHT BE GROTESQUE IN
APPEARANCE."
"It is obvious that that is not the case. I can't see
what you were so secretive about. True, you don't fit any of
the racial groupings on Earth, but among some of our more
avantguarde New York or L.A. sub-cultures you'd pass without
much comment."
"IT IS TRUE I AM NOT VERY DIFFERENT IN APPEARANCE TO
THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MEMBERS OF YOUR CULTURAL
MATRIX, EVEN DOWN TO THE SAME NUMBER OF FINGERS, HOWEVER,
RELATIVE TO THE BODY TYPE WHICH IS CONSIDERED TO BE NORMAL
AMONG THE MEMBERS OF MY CULTURAL MATRIX, I AM AN ANOMALY. A
PERSON OF MY STATURE WOULD NORMALLY HAVE TWICE MY MASS. SOME
METABOLIC QUIRK HAS PREVENTED ME FROM ATTAINING THE NORMAL
CORPULENCE. SINCE EARLY CHILDHOOD, I HAVE BEEN CALLED 'THE
HALF-MAN.'"
"Yeah, I know how how feel. Being tall sometimes made
me an outcast too."
"BUT YOU ARE WELL WITHIN THE NORMAL RANGE OF BODY TYPES
FOR YOUR CULTURAL MATRIX. THERE ARE A LOT OF TALL PEOPLE ON
YOUR PLANET, MANY SIGNIFICANTLY TALLER THAN YOU. I AM ... I
AM ALMOST THE THINEST MAN ON MY PLANET."
"You have been ostracized?"
"NO, OF COURSE NOT, BUT IT HAS HAD AN EFFECT ON THE
SOCIAL COMPONENT OF MY LIFE. I AN NOT CONSIDERED TO BE VERY
DESIRABLE BY WOMEN, AND WHO CAN BLAME THEM?"
"You don't look too bad to me. Come sit beside me and
tell me about your planet's people."
"SIT? IT IS AN IMAGE THAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT."
"Oh, yeah. You look so real, like you were really
standing there." Mary Jane giggled. "But of course it is an
image. You're standing on the water. Unless you've achieved
becoming god ..."
Robert laughed. "NO, NOT YET, BUT I CAN MANIPULATE THE
IMAGE TO DO INNUMERABLE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE THINGS LIKE
WALKING ON AIR ..." The image took several steps up an non-
existent staircase and thus appeared to be walking up the
air. "OR THE OLD HOUDINI ILLUSION ..." The image rotated to
a horizontal position and floated in the air. "OR MAKE TWINS
..." A second image appeared floating beside the first,
stayed for a moment, then winked out. "OR FULFILL ADOLESCENT
FANTASIES ..." The image became encased in shining, midieval
armor for a moment, then returned to it's original form.
"You'd be great at parties."
"THE MUNDANE OF AN ADVANCED CULTURAL MATRIX ALWAYS
APPEARS TO BE MAGIC TO A LESS ADVANCED ONE. THERE IS ALWAYS
THE TENDENCY TO MAGIFY OR DEIFY ANYTHING WHICH IS NOT
UNDERSTOOD."
"Yes, it's always easy to entertain us primitives,
isn't it?" Mary Jane mockingly said.
"IT IS NOT A MATTER OF BEING PRIMITIVE OR ADVANCED ...
PERHAPS I EXPRESS MYSELF IMPROPERLY. IT IS THAT YOU ARE
STARTING OUT ON THE PATH OF DEVELOPMENT AT A LATER POINT OF
TIME THAN OTHER CULTURAL MATRIXES. THERE ARE, OF COURSE,
ALSO CULTURAL MATRIXES WHICH ARE BEHIND YOU ON THAT PATH.
THINK OF YOUR GRANDPARENTS. IN THEIR YOUTH THEIR MEANS OF
TRANSPORTATION WAS PROBABLY AN ANIMAL POWERED VEHICLE. YOUR
CULTURAL MATRIX HAS NOW MADE VEHICLES WHICH HAVE STARTED TO
TRAVEL OUTSIDE YOUR SOLAR SYSTEM. IN THE LIFETIME OF YOUR
GRANDPARENTS, DEVELOPMENT HAS GONE FROM ANIMAL POWER TO THE
FIRST STEPS TOWARDS INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL. DO YOU CONSIDER
YOUR GRANDPARENTS TO BE 'PRIMITIVES?'"
"Of course not!"
"WOULD NOT EVERYTHING THAT IS COMMON IN YOUR WORLD
APPEAR TO BE MAGICAL IF IT WERE SOMEHOW TRANSPORTED BACK A
HALF A CENTURy OR SO? DEMONSTRATE A WORD PROCESSING COMPUTER
TO A SECRETARY OF 1934, AND WOULD NOT SHE CONSIDER IT TO BE
MAGIC?"
"It seems like magic even to me," Mary Jane said with a
smile. "You've made your point."
"BESIDES, IT IS CONSIDERED GAUCHE IN MY CULTURE TO
FLAUNT ONE'S ADVANCES BEFORE A PERSON FROM A LESS DEVELOPED
CULTURAL MATRIX ... TO SAY NOTHING OF THE FACT THAT IT IS
ILLEGAL."
Mary Jane laughed, then said: "But isn't that what's
been happening throughout this voyage? All this replication
stuff has been flaunting your advances ..."
"IT HAS BEEN NECESSARY TO REPLICATE CERTAIN SUPPLIES
FOR YOUR SURVIVAL ..."
"Ah, but it hasn't been necessary to do so in such a
dramatic way ... The Niagara Falls bit? Our swimming pool?
Even this exquisite holographic image of yourself standing
there on the water? Necessary? Admit it, you've been
showing off to impress us"
"PART OF THE PURPOSE OF THIS VOYAGE WAS TO ACCLIMATIZE
THE PERSON WHO WAS TO HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED INTO OUR
CULTURAL MATRIX ... TO GET HER USED TO THE IDEA THAT THESE
AREN'T MIRACLES, BUT JUST ORDINARY ASPECTS OF OUR CULTURE."
"In other words, the original Mary Jane Galatea was to
have been accustomed to living within your cultural matrix
by the time that she arrived at your planet."
"IT WAS ADJUDGED FROM PRELIMINARY DATA THAT THIS WOULD
BE THE RESULT OF THE VOYAGE. OTHERS HAVE ... ALSO, OUR
KNOWLEDGE OF THE MUSIC OF YOUR CULTURAL MATRIX WOULD HAVE
BEEN EXPANDED FROM THE INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM HER DURING
THE VOYAGE. ALTHOUGH THE MISSION HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY ...
BOTCHED IS THE PROPER WORD, I THINK ... THE AMOUNT OF
INFORMATION ON MUSIC WHICH YOU HAVE PROVIDED FOR OUR
RECORDINGS WILL GO A CONSIDERABLE WAY TOWARDS FULFILLING THE
ORIGINAL GOALS OF THE MISSION. HAVING AN ERSATZ MARY JANE
GALATEA INSTEAD OF THE ORIGINAL ONE DOES MEAN THAT A PORTION
OF HER POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO OUR ACCUMULATION OF
KNOWLEDGE MAY BE LOST, HOWEVER, I AM HOPEFUL THAT THIS WILL
BE A VOYAGE WHICH WILL BE VIEWED AS A SUCCESS."
"But what if it is viewed as a failure by your
supervisors?"
"THEN I SIMPLY WILL NOT BE MAKING ANY OTHER VOYAGES."
"Is it that simple? Such a monumental failure wouldn't
be treated so lightly in my cultural matrix, I assure you."
"WELL, THERE IS ONE COMPLICATION. I MAY BE REQUIRED TO
REIMBURSE THE COSTS OF THIS VOYAGE."
Mary Jane let out a low whistle. "Boy, I'll bet that
won't come cheap."
"CONSIDERING THE TROUBLE I WENT THROUGH TO GET ASSIGNED
TO THIS VOYAGE, THAT IS TRUE."
"How is it that you, a person of ... anomalization
within your cultural matrix because of your physique, got the
job of collecting this obscure troubadour, Mary Jane Galatea?
And speaking of whom, what is this 'preliminary data?' Do
you mean that you've been spying on me all along?
"OBSERVATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE, BUT IT WAS NOTHING
PERSONAL. WHEN NEW CULTURAL MATRIXES ARE DISCOVERED,
SCANNING TEAMS ARE SENT TO DETERMINE THE LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT
AND PINPOINT AREAS OF INFORMATION WHICH WOULD BE SUITABLE FOR
INCLUSION IN THE UNIVERSAL INTERGALACTIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
CULTURAL MATRIXES. THEY ALSO ATTEMPT TO LOCATE PERSONS WHO
MIGHT BE AMENABLE TO RELOCATION ... THAT IS TO SAY, PEOPLE
WHO ARE DISSATISFIED WITH ASPECTS OF THEIR CULTURAL MATRIX
AND WHO HAVE SPECIFIC INFORMATION ON ASPECTS OF CULTURE WHICH
ARE OF INTEREST TO THE COMPILERS OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA. MUSIC
AND ART ARE TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF ANY CULTURE,
AND IT IS THESE AREAS THAT INTEREST US MOST--OBVIOUSLY WE ARE
NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR TECHNOLOGIES. ART AND MUSIC DO NOT
NECESSARILY PROGRESS LINEARLY. UNLIKE TECHNOLOGY, THEY ARE
MORE LIKELY TO BE CYCLIC, THUS TECHNOLOGICALLY PRIMITIVE
SOCIETIES MAY HAVE ADVANCED LEVELS OF ART--YOUR WRITERS ARE
NOW BEGINNING TO USE COMPUTERS, BUT INSTEAD OF SHAKESPEARE
YOU JUST HAVE SIMON. OUR INTEREST IN THESE AREAS MAY EXIST
BECAUSE OUR CULTURAL MATRIX HAS ADVANCED TO A HIGH DEGREE
ALONG TECHNICAL LINES, BUT HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO ATTAIN
SIMILAR ACHIEVEMENTS IN ART OR MUSIC. A PRELIMINARY SURVEY
TEAM DOING WIDE-ANGLE SCANNING LOCATED A MUSICIAN WHO
APPEARED TO BE DISILLUSIONED WITH THE MILIEU OF HER CULTURAL
MATRIX. THAT MUSICIAN WAS ADJUDGED TO BE A PRIME CANDIDATE
FOR RELOCATION TO OUT CULTURAL MATRIX."
"Politically dissatisfied to be sure, but that doesn't
necessarily mean that I was culturally dissatisfied."
"YES, THE DISTINCTION WAS OBVIOUS WHEN MARY JANE
GALATEA ESCAPED. VERY FEW CULTURAL MATRIXES HAVE SUCH A
GREAT GULF BETWEEN THE POLITICAL AND THE CULTURAL ASPECTS.
MOST ARE FAIRLY WELL INTEGRATED SO THAT IF YOU MAP THE
CULTURE, YOU HAVE A REASONABLE IDEA ABOUT THE POLITICS, OR
VICE-VERSA. IN THIS RESPECT, YOUR CULTURAL MATRIX IS ... AN
ANOMALY."
"Okay, I'll agree, we're all screwed up. Forget about
our anomalies for the moment. What I want to know is why you
were involved with this project."
"ONCE THE PRELIMINARY SURVEY LOCATES A PRIME SUBJECT
FOR INCORPORATION INTO OUR CULTURAL MATRIX, THEN THE KNOWN
FACTS OF THE CASE ARE PUBLISHED AND MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO
SUBMIT PROPOSALS OF METHODS OF ... ENTICING THE SUBJECT INTO
ACCEPTING A POSITION WITH THE UNIVERSAL INTERGALACTIC
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CULTURAL MATRIXES AS AN INFORMATION SOURCE."
"Entice? Your modius operandi could hardly be called
enticement. You kidnaped me!"
"I WILL HAVE TO CONFESS THAT I MISCALCULATED YOUR LEVEL
OF DISENCHANTMENT WITH YOUR CULTURAL MATRIX."
"But didn't you say that your plan had to be approved
by some kind of committee?"
"ORDINARILY, YES. BUT THERE ISN'T A LOT OF INTEREST IN
THIS GALAXY SINCE ALL OF THE CULTURAL MATRIXES ARE ISOLATED
DUE TO THE FACT THAT INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL IS NOT YET COMMON
AND MOST OF THE CULTURES THAT HAVE IT ARE IN THE OTHER ARM OF
THE GALAXY. THE AREA OF GREATEST INTEREST IS IN THE INITIAL
CONTACT BETWEEN CULTURAL MATRIXES, ESPECIALLY WHEN BOTH ARE
EXPERIENCING THEIR FIRST CONTACT WITH ANOTHER CULTURAL
MATRIX. MOST OF HE RESEARCH FUNDS ARE SPENT IN THAT AREA.
YOUR CULTURAL MATRIX IS ... A BACK BURNER ITEM. THERE ARE,
HOWEVER, A FEW SPECIALISTS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IT EXACTLY
BECAUSE IT IS 'ALL SCREWED UP' AND ALSO HAPPENS TO BE AT THE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS DEPLOYMENT STAGE .... PERHAPS THEY ARE
INTERESTED BECAUSE THEY THINK THAT IT IS GOING TO SELF-
DESTRUCT. IN ANY CASE, FUNDS WERE APPROPRIATED TO COLLECT A
LIMITED NUMBER OF SPECIMENS. I WAS ABLE TO PERSUADE A
MEMBER OF THE ASSIGNMENT COMMITTEE TO GIVE ME THIS TASK
WITHOUT STIPULATING A PLAN OF ENTICEMENT. WHEN MY AUNT ASKED
FOR THE PLAN, I JUST TOLD HER THAT I WOULD THINK ONE UP ON
THE WAY TO YOUR PLANET. I ADMIT THAT THE IDEA DIDN'T GO OVER
TOO WELL, BUT SINCE THERE WAS ONLY ONE OTHER PARTY WHO
EXPRESED AN INTEREST IN SPECIMEN QR23, AND THEIR PROPOSED
LIST OF EXPENSES WAS SIGNIFICANTLY LARGER THAN MINE, I GOT
THE ASSIGNMENT WITH THE STIPULATION THAT I FILE AN OUTLINE OF
ENTICEMENT PLANNING BEFORE EMBARKING."
"But you said that you didn't have a plan."
"THE PLAN I FILED WAS MERELY A STATEMENT THAT I
INTENDED A RETURN VOYAGE OF 400 OF YOUR CYCLES, DURING WHICH
TIME I WOULD COLLECT AND CATALOG THE INFORMATION THAT WAS
EXPECTED TO BE DERIVED FROM SPECIMEN QR23. ABOUT MY METHODS
OF ENTICEMENT, I SAID NOTHING. THE COMMITTEE MERELY NOTED
THAT A PLAN WAS ON FILE. THEY NEVER CHECKED THE CONTENTS OF
THAT FILE BEFORE ISSUING A COLLECT AND REPORT ORDER."
Mary Jane laughed, then said: "I see that you higher
cultural matrix types haven't solved the inefficiency-of-
bureaucracy problem yet."
Roger also laughed. "NO CULTURAL MATRIX HAS SOLVED THE
BUREAUCRACY PROBLEM. IN MORE COMPLICATED CULTURAL MATRIXES
THERE ARE MORE METHODS OF SIDE-STEPPING THE BUREAUCRACY,
WHEREAS IN LESSER DEVELOPED ONES IT IS NECESSARY TO PLOW
THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF IT."
"Now that I know how you got this assignment, the
question is: why? After all, this is an uninteresting
backwater of the universe."
There was a long silence before Robert replied.
"ALTHOUGH WE ARE DIFFERENT SPECIES AND ARE GENETICALLY
INCOMPATABLE, THERE IS A REMARKABLE SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF OUR TWO SPECIES. PHYSIOLOGICALLY I AM
ACTUALLY CLOSER TO YOU THAN TO MOST MEMBERS OF MY OWN
CULTURE. I THOUGHT THAT ... I HOPED THAT ... PERHAPS A
FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN US COULD RESULT FROM OUR RESPECTIVE
ESTRANGEMENTS FROM OUR OWN CULTURAL MATRIXES. MY
MISCALCULATION OF MARY JANE GALATEA'S UNWILLINGNESS TO BE
ASSIMILATED BY A NEW CUTURAL MATRIX SHOWS HOW FAR OFF MY
IDEAS WERE."
"There is a difference between being dissatisfied with
your culture in wanting to make it better and being
disillusioned to the degree that you would welcome a chance
to run away. Maybe what you were doing was projecting on to
me your own feelings."
"IT IS TRUE THAT I HAVE NOT BEEN ENTIRELY HAPPY WITH MY
FATE, BUT I AM NOT RUNNING AWAY. INDEED, I AM AT THIS MOMENT
EMBARKED ON SOCIALLY USEFUL WORK AND AM IN THE PROCESS OF
RETURNING TO THE BOSOM OF MY CULTURAL MATRIX."
"From some of the things that you have said and from
what Carl has told me, I got the idea that the duration of
this voyage could have been considerably less. If that is
true, isn't it a kind of running away, or at least a hiatus
from your cultural matrix?"
"THE VOYAGE COULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETED ALMOST
INSTANTANEOUSLY HAD THE PROGRAM BEEN SET FOR THAT AT THE
BEGINNING. ONCE THE SPEED OF TRAVEL HAS BEEN SET IT CAN NOT
BE CHANGED WITHOUT CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTY AND AT THE COST OF
TREMENDOUS AMOUNTS OF ENERGY."
"Again the question is: why such a long voyage?"
"I HAD HOPED THAT A LEVEL OF FRIENDSHIP COULD BE
DEVELOPED ..."
"And so it has, even though you are stuck in your part
of the ship, and I am stuck in here."
"OH, I DIDN'T MEAN PHYSICAL FRIENDSHIP."
"No?"
"ER ... THAT WAS TOO MUCH TO HOPE FOR. BESIDES, WE ARE
GENETICALLY INCOMPATABLE."
"But our bodies are, it seems to me, not incompatable
in other ways. We could snuggle together and touch each
other and ... how do your reproductive organs conpare with
those of the males of my species?"
"EXTERNALLY THEY ARE SIMILAR IN SHAPE AND FUNCTION,
ALTHOUGH YOUR MALES SEEM TO ACHIEVE ERECTION MORE EASILY THAN
IS THE NORM FOR MEN OF MY CULTURAL MATRIX."
"In other words, intercourse is possible, but not
babies."
"YES, THAT IS TRUE."
Mary Jane giggled, then said: "You have no idea how
that little fact would make you so popular with the women of
my society. Project me an image of you without your
clothes."
There was a pause in which nothing happened.
"Look, Xan, you've been wacthing me in the nude all
this time. I want to see you."
Roger's image appeared, sans clothes.
Mary Jane giggled, then said: "I see that there is no
deficiency in your male member at the moment."
"I FIND THAT CONVERSATION WITH YOU IS MORE THAN JUST
INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATION."
"Check your monitor. How is my pulse rate and
breathing doing? The stimulation is reciprocal," she said as
she reached out for his hand.
Her hand passed right through his.
"Oh!"
"THE IMAGE IS THREE DIMENTIONAL, BUT NOT CORPOREAL."
"Damn! I wanted to be able to touch you. You look
real enough to touch."
"I TOO WISH THAT IT WERE POSSIBLE. I HAD NOT
ANTICIPATED THE PAIN OF BEING ABLE TO SEE YOU, BUT NOT BEING
ABLE TO TOUCH YOU. WHEN I WATCH YOU AND CARL ..."
"You're jealous?"
"I AM NOT JEALOUS! I HAVE BECOME VERY FOND OF CARL AND
I CERTAINLY DO NOT BEGRUDGE HIM THE PLEASURE OF YOUR BODY.
IT IS JUST THAT I LONG TO ENJOY THOSE PLEASURES MYSELF."
"When this voyage is over it will be possible for us to
physically get together ... I mean our atmospheres aren't
mutually poisonous or anything?"
"NO, THEY ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY DISSIMILAR TO CAUSE
DISCOMFORT. THERE IS MORE OXYGEN IN MINE, BUT THAT WILL
BE BENEFICIAL TO YOU."
"Then why the impenetrable barrier between us?"
"THIS SHIP IS CONSTRUCTED SO AS TO BE ABLE TO TRANSPORT
ANY LIFE FORM IRRESPECTIVE OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ITS LIFE
SUSTAINING REQUIREMENTS AND OURS. THE BARRIER IS TO ASSURE
THE MUTUAL SAFETY OF BOTH SPECIES. IT IS JUST A QUIRK THAT
IT IS UNNECESSARY IN THIS CASE."
"As soon as we can, within the bounds of the decorum of
your culture, why don't just the two of us go off someplace
for a couple of cycles to get ourselves acquainted ...
physically acquainted. Would that be possible?
"SEVERAL CYCLES OF DEBRIEFING, TRANSFERING INFORMATION
FROM THIS VESSEL TO THE MAIN STORAGE BANKS OF THE UNIVERSAL
INTERGALACTIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CULTURAL MATRIXES, AND
CEREMONIES OF WELCOME WILL BE REQUIRED, BUT AFTER THAT WE
COULD WITHDRAW TO MY AUNT'S VACATION VILLA WHICH IS IN A
SPLENDIDLY ISOLATED, BUT SCENIC LOCATION."
"Xan, you've got a date!"
END OF FILE
FILE19.TXT
38
Both Carl and Robert agreed with Mary Jane that the
increase in her level of physical attention to April should
take place gradually. Mary Jane was concerned that any
sudden move on her part might startle or confuse April. Carl
thought that April could take any gesture from Mary Jane in
stride, but he conceded that caution couldn't hurt. Over a
period of several cycles, Mary Jane's increasingly erotic
attention to April was readily greeted with reciprocity.
One afternoon the two women were lounging on the float
in the middle of the pool. April was resting on her side
beside Mary Jane who was on her back, catnapping. April was
watching Carl working below the pool on a sketch of the two
women sitting in bed together with their arms around each
other's sholders.
"Wouldn't it be nice to sometimes have the bed all to
ourselves, Mary Jane? Sometimes Carl sleeps so restlessly,
but you always sleep so calm. Now that I am big, the bed
isn't as large as it was before," April said, ignoring the
fact that the bed now held three people instead of two.
"Ah. make Carl sleep on the cot," Mary Jane dreamily
suggested from her half-sleep state.
"But we don't have a cot ..."
"All the worse for Carl," Mary Jane interrupted,
becoming more awake.
"Besides, it wouldn't be nice for Carl. It's just ...
I don't know. Even asleep Carl is more strenuous than Mary
Jane, and when Carl is awake ..." April laughed, then
continued: "Carl is so excited, and Mary Jane is so calm with
me. Maybe it is because I am so big with the baby, but
sometimes I think t would be nice if Carl was more calm and
Mary Jane was more ... more ... well, less calm."
"I'm not always so sedate," Mary Jane asserted.
April grinned and said: "Sometimes when Mary Jane is
with Carl in the pool it is hard to see who is less calm.
Sometimes Mary Jane is very uncalm."
"You've seen us ... after that first time?"
"Most of the times I am asleep when Carl and Mary Jane
go up to the pool, but sometimes I am awake and I watch
through the curtains."
"Oh."
"I like to watch Carl and Mary Jane, but most times it
is late and I fall asleep. Why do you wait so long?" April
paused and thought about this for a moment. "Is it because I
am asleep?"
"We didn't want to upset you with our love-making,"
Mary Jane said, smiled, then continued: "We didn't know that
you sometimes watched us."
"Not often. Is it because Mary Jane thought I would
become this jealous thing we talked about before? How could
I be jealous of Mary Jane? Aren't we like sisters? Maybe it
is Carl I should be jealous of. Some cycles he gets more of
Mary Jane's attention than I do."
Mary Jane wrapped her arms around April's shoulders and
hugged her. She said: "Oh, April, we are sisters. Better
than sisters."
"How better?"
"We're the best of friends and we love each other ...
we all love each other." Mary Jane paused, took a deep
breath, then went on to explain the discussions she had with
Carl and Robert concerning the distribution of physical
attentions between Carl and the two women.
April passed her hand down the front of Mary Jane's
body, pausing for a moment at her delta of rich auburn hair.
"Mary Jane very nice, but Mary Jane like April, not Carl.
Have to make different love ...?"
Mary Jane waited apprehensively for April to continue.
Had she been wrong to broach the subject so frankly? True,
April's maturation had proceeded rapidly in he time that she
had known her, but had this been too sudden? Gazing at the
smiling face of April, Mary Jane's apprehension faded. No,
she knew that everything would work out fine.
" I think ... many things. If Mary Jane and Carl want
to make waves in the pool, they should not have to wait for
me to be asleep. If I want to touch all of Mary Jane and
want Mary Jane to touch all of me, Carl should not feel left
out ... Carl should not be left out. And after the baby
comes, after I am small again, we should all make love
together."
"Oh, yes, yes, it's going to be wonderful for all of
us," Mary Jane said. For a brief instant she wondered if
they'd be able to get Xan to make it a menage a quatre, but
she was confident that he would fit in wonderfully too.
"Now I am tired," April announced. "I want to take my
nap snuggled with Mary Jane. Let's sleep on the float on our
sides with the baby between us,"
They shifted to that position which proved to be very
comfortable on the buoyant float.
"Oh, this is very nice, Mary Jane said, draping her arm
around April. "We're making a sandwich of your baby."
"Our baby."
"A baby with three parents."
"And Robert makes four," April said with a giggle.
"Oh, I love you, April."
"I love us all."
* * *
Mary Jane, having both stayed up later than usual the
previous night and gotten up earlier than usual this morning,
was refreshed by her additional afternoon hour's sleep.
"Oh, that was a very nice little nap ... just what I
needed. It was sweet of you to invite me to join you," Mary
Jane said.
"April sweet?" April asked in mock innocence.
"Grrrrr. Yes, my little bon-bon, and I'm going to
gobble you all up," Mary Jane teased as she playfully gnawed
on April's shoulder.
"Mary Jane sweet too? April taste."
"Mmmmmm. April's good."
"Mary Jane good too. April taste all over."
* * *
Carl, having finished his sketch, was on the mezzanine
reading a copy of D. H. Lawrence's Women In Love. He
chuckled to himself. He had just finished reading the
chapter in which Gerald spends the night at Halliday's. It
was not Lawrence's prose which he found amusing, but the fact
that Gerald's minx as named Minette. Years ago Carl had a
friend who was an aficinado of Lawrence and, in fact, wrote
his Ph.D. thesis on that British writer. The startling thing
was that his friend's wife was named Minette. She was the
only person of that name Carl had ever known, and until he
had encountered it in Lawrence, he had always wondered
exactly how it was spelt. Carl closed his eyes and wondered
what ever happened to his friends, Gene and Minette. Had he
married her because of her Lawrencesque name, or was she
perhaps so named by her parents from the character in the
book ....
Carl's reverie was interrupted by the sounds from
above. Mary Jane and April were engaged in some kind of
nestled together, light, kittenish playing which evoked
giggles from both women.
"Mary Jane, what are you doing to my woman?" Carl
called out in a mock serious tone.
"Your woman? Our woman, don't you mean?"
"'All for one, and one for all,' eh?"
"I'm no Musketeer!" Mary Jane proclaimed.
"Aristocratic pigs, off with their heads!"
Carl laughed, then said: "Speaking of heads, what are
you two doing?"
"We want to know if we all taste the same, or if one of
us is ... sweeter," April answered.
"Ah, perhaps I should come up and consult in the
matter."
"No thank you," Mary Jane said, "this is just between
us women. Besides, you're not likely to be an unbiased judge
in the matter."
"I will have to admit that you both taste very sweet,
but I have been tasting April for longer than Mary Jane, so I
might be slightly tilted in her favor," Carl said.
April giggled and patted her swollen belly. "Carl has
done a lot more than taste."
"Very true, but you also taste quite delicious. Don"t
you think that April tastes very nice, Mary Jane?"
"Let me check," Mary Jane said, then buried her head
in that enchanted box canyon formed by April's thighs and
Mount Baby.
April squealed with delight as Mary Jane's tongue
probed amid the curled thicket. Then there was a sharp yelp
of pain from April.
"Mary Jane! What the hell are you doing?" Carl
shouted, more from concern than anything else.
Mary Jane looked up, confused. "I ... I don't know."
"Not Mary Jane," April said, reassuring her companion,
"not Mary Jane. Baby."
"Baby?" Mary Jane and Carl said together.
"What does the baby have to do with cunnilingus?" Carl
asked.
Robert laughed. "FATHER ANXIETY BEING PROJECTED AS
OVERPROTECTIVENESS TOWARDS THE MOTHER. MONITORS INDICATE
THAT THE BIRTH PROCESS IS COMMENCING."
"Hugh?" from Carl.
April grinned.
"Oh," said Mary Jane. "Oh! A contraction."
After an initial moment of stunned inactivity, they all
sprung into action, following the plans which had been long
in preparation. April was helped into bed, propped up in a
comfortable position with pillows, and given lavish attention
from all sides.
Under Mary Jane's guidance, with Carl's nervous
attention, and assisted by Robert's reassuring commentaries
from the sidelines, April proceeded through the first stage
of labor with ease.
"Shouldn't Robert boil water, or something," Carl
asked.
Robert laughed, then said: "WITHIN THE TRADITIONS OF
THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL, THE PURPOSE OF THE TASK OF
BOILING LARGE QUANTITIES OF WATER IS TO GET THE MEN OUT FROM
UNDERFOOT WHILE THE WOMEN ATTEND TO ASSISTING AT THE BIRTH
PROCESS. IT IS TO TRANQUILIZE THE MEN BY MAKING THEM THINK
THAT THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING USEFUL. INTEGRATION OF THE
SEXES AS FULL PARTICIPANTS IN THE BIRTH PROCESS IS ONE OF THE
IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF
MATURATION OF ANY CULTURAL MATRIX. IT IS ONE OF THE FACTORS
WHICH LEADS TO THE SUPPRESSION OF GROUP AGGRESSION. IN THE
CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL, THE FEMALE, SINCE SHE IS INVOLVED IN
THE BIRTH PROCESS--THE CONTINUATION OF LIFE--IS UNLIKELY TO
PARTICIPATE IN GROUP AGGRESSION ... EXCEPT WHEN MALE
PROPAGANDA OVERCOMES HER NATURAL TENDENCIES. THERE ARE NO
VERIFIABLE INSTANCES OF WARS BEING INITIATED BY WOMEN."
"Perhaps that is only for lack of opportunity," Carl
ironically suggested. "Who knows what kind of hell these
women could unleash if they were put in charge of the
military."
"Listen to these two, blathering political philosophy
like a pair of gossiping truck drivers," Mary Jane said with
mock contempt. "Make yourselves useful by getting us a
short, cold drink of orange juice."
Two glasses appeared in the air in front of Mary Jane.
"Ah, thank you, Robert," she said, plucking the glasses
out of the air and handing one to April. "Someone is being
useful around here at least."
"And what about me?" Carl demanded.
"Oh, fathers are entirely superfluous at this point,"
Mary Jane said with a devilish grin.
"No ... not entirely," April asserted, taking Carl's
hand.
Carl kissed her on the forehead. "Thank you, my
sweet."
"Oh!" April said, then smiled. "Baby again."
Robert reported that the contractions were .00833
cycles apart, that the cervix was less than half dilated, and
that birth was not imminent.
"Does anyone want to bet on the sex of the kid?" Carl
asked.
"ROBERT WILL COVER ALL WAGERS, EVEN MONEY. ROBERT
CONTERNDS THAT THE SEX OF THE CHILD WILL BE MALE."
Carl winked at Mary Jane and said: "He sounds
confident, must have checked it out with the monitor."
"THE FETUS HAS BEEN MONITORED VERY CAREFULLY TO ASSURE
ITS SAFETY AND FREEDOM FROM DEFECTS. HOWEVER, THE MONITOR
WAS NOT PROGRAMMED TO EXAMINE THE SEX OF THE CHILD SINCE THAT
IS NOT A HEALTH DETERMINANT."
"But what was it that W. C. Fields said about it not
being a game of chance the way he played it? I have the
feeling that you know something that you're not telling us."
"IT IS A SIMPLE MATTER OF GENETICS. THE GENTEIC
PATTERN OF CARL WAS USED IN THE REPLICATION OF THE BODY OF
APRIL, EXCEPT THAT MINOR CHANGES WERE MADE TO YIELD THE
FEMININITY OF APRIL. SINCE BOTH PARENTS HAVE ESSENTIALLY THE
SAME GENE PATTERN--THE PATTERN OF CARL--THE CHILD WILL
RECEIVE THAT ONE PATTERN TWICE. THEREFORE IT IS LOGICAL THAT
THE CHILD WILL HAVE THE SEX OF ITS FATHER."
"In that case, I withdraw my offer to make a bet," Carl
said.
Mary Jane dragged a chair to April's bedside. "We
might as well all get comfortable. It's going to be awhile."
* * *
It was late evening, and Mary Jane had just placed the
new-born infant on April's breast. She kissed April on the
cheek, arose, and grinned down on the smiling mother and
child. "Isn't she marvelous?"
"Yes, April is just grand," Carl agreed.
"They both are."
"Both ...?" Carl examined the infant more closely than
he had done during the excitement of birth. He laughed, then
said: "So they are!"
"MY CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW PARENTS. YOU HAVE A
VERY FINE DAUGHTER."
EPILOGUE
IT IS THE FINDING OF THIS COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO THE FIRST
VOYAGE OF XANATHROPLASSE THE YOUNGER
THAT Xanathroplasse The Younger failed in the
accomplishment of his mission to collect, transport,
and derive musical information from Specimen QR23, also
known as Mary Jane Galatea;
THAT Xanathroplasse The Younger expended 147 energy
units in excess of that for which his mission was
budgeted;
THAT Xanathroplasse The Younger allowed a specimen of
no interest, identified as Carl Edward Chandler, to
inadvertently stowaway in the transportation vessel and
subsequently be exposed to developments of cultural
matrixes more advanced than his own;
THAT Xanathroplasse The Younger, without authorization
and in conspiracy with Carl Edward Chandler, engaged in
replication experiments which lead directly to the
replication of two life forms, Mary Jane Galatea--not
the same Mary Jane Galatea as Specimen QR23--and April,
and indirectly lead to the creation of a third life
form, identified as Phoebe, the natural offspring of
April and Carl Edward Chandler;
THAT Carl Edward Chandler entered the vessel of
Xanathroplasse The Younger without fraudulent intent.
IT IS THE JUDGEMENT OF THIS COMMITTEE OF INQUERY INTO THE
FIRST VOYAGE OF XANATHROPLASSE THE YOUNGER
THAT Xanathroplasse The Younger shall be fined 147
monitary units, being the rate of 1 monitary unit per
unit of energy expended in excess of budgeted levels,
except that 75 monitary units shail be suspended for
replicaion information developed during the course of
the voyage and further excepted shall be 1 monitary
unit per information unit placed in storage as a result
of efforts of Carl Edward Chandler, Mary Jane Galatea--
not the same Mary Jane Galatea as Specimen QR23--,
April, and/or Pheobe, up to but not exceeding 72
monitary units;
THAT Xanathroplasse The Younger shall be ineligible for
participating in any voyage of collection and
transportation for a period of 425 cycles;
THAT Xanathroplasse The Younger shall be assigned to
the position of watch and ward for Carl Edward
Chandler, Mary Jane Galatea--not the same Mary Jane
Galatea as Specimen QR23--, April, and Phoebe for the
duration of their visit.
THAT any monitary or other agreements entered into by
Xanathroplasse The Younger and Carl Edward Chandler,
Mary Jane Galatea--not the same Mary Jane Galatea as
Specimen QR23--, April and/or Phoebe shall be declared
null and void, except that the agreement between
Xanathroplasse The Younger and Carl Edward Chandler
concerning the acceptance of full responsibility for
April by Carl Edward Chandler shall binding and that
the responsibility for Phoebe shall be shared by Carl
Edward Chandler and April as a corollary to that
agreement, and further excepting that the artistic
artifacts made by Carl Edward Chandler, including but
not limited to cellulose based bowls and plumbago
sketches, for which 1 monitary unit shall be granted
per unit of information;
THAT Xanathroplasse The Younger and Carl Edward
Chandler share equally the responsibility for Mary Jane
Galatea--not the same Mary Jane Galatea as Specimen
QR23--, except that Mary Jane Galatea--not the same
Mary Jane Galatea as Specimen QR23--has reached the
stage of responsible adulthood and is therefore self-
responsible and shall be so adjudged unless
incapacitated so as to become a ward of society, in
which case the responsibility shall revert back equally
to Xanathroplasse The Younger and Carl Edward Chandler;
THAT Carl Edward Chandler is not guilty of violating
any Regulation and therefore absolved of any
responsibility which might arise out his association
with Xanathroplasse The Younger except as noted in
these findings and judgements of the Committee of
Inquiry into the First Voyage of Xanathroplasse The
Younger.
THAT Carl Edward Chandler, Mary Jane Galatea--not the
same Mary Jane Galatea as Specimen QR23--, April, and
Phoebe be granted visitors' status for a period not to
exceed 426 cycles, but that they, singularly or
collectively, may not claim monitary credit for any
information which might accrue to the Universal
Intergalactic Encyclopedia of Cultural Marixes as a
result of their visit and may not exceed personal
expenditures in excess of the stipend to subsequently
be determined by the Committee of Housing and
Hospitality for Visting Aliens except as noted in these
findings and judgements of the Committee of Inquiry
into the First Voyage of Xanathroplasse The Younger;
THAT Mary Jane Galatea--not the same Mary Jane Galatea
as Specimen QR23--shall be granted 1 monitary unit per
unit of musical informaton recorded subsequent to the
termination of the First Voyage of Xanathroplasse The
Younger;
THAT the expenses involved in the return of Carl Edward
Chandler, Mary Jane Galatea--not the same Mary Jane
Galatea as Specimen QR23--, April and Phoebe to their
own cultural matrix be entirely borne by Xanathroplasse
The Younger;
THAT the matter of the possible violation of the non-
dissemination clause of The Regulations by
Xanathroplassee The Younger be referred to the Central
Committee of the Universal Intergalactic Encyclopedia
of Cultural Matrixes.
GIVEN THIS 234TH CYCLE OF THE YEAR 9987, UNDER SEALS AND
SIGNATURES,
RANUNCULUS THE ELDER
PHILOMENA OF LANGE
MEDEA THE MAGNIFICENT
>>> THIS IS THE END OF THIS BOOK. <<<
>>> END OF FILE <<<
FILE20.TXT
BOOKS-ON-DISKS Catalog
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This is a two-disk set of DS/DD, 360K disks.
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>>>>>>>NOTE: LeFeu will be available after August 31, 1988
GO-7 A MAINE YANKEE IN BIG SUR, a novel by John Peter.
GO-8 Step aside Keroac, Brautigan, and Miller, this is the
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This is a two-disk set of DS/DD, 360K disks.
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END OF FILE
FILE3.TXT
*****************************************************************
THIS IS AN ABRIDGED EDITION OF THIS NOVEL.
To order a copy of the unabridged edition, send $10.00 (check or
money order) to: SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS P.O. Box 140 San Simeon,
CA 93452. A copy of the 2-disk set will be sent to you postpaid
via first class mail (USA). [Foreign orders include extra
postage for 3 oz.] For other books available from Serendipity
Systems, see the BOOKS-ON-DISKS CATALOG file.
SUMMARY OF ABRIDGED CHAPTERS:
Carl's new toilet arrives, a 1904 water closet. Maneuvering
of the cube continues.
Carl discovers that the walls are suitable for drawing, and
he sketches the scene of his discovery of the cube. He wonders
why he is so calm about this situation--it doesn't fit any of the
"I was kidnapped by a flying saucer" stories he ever read.
Carl dreams about his girl friend, Sally. In the dream she
is dressed as the Maid of Leather, and she attacks him for
abandoning her. Upon awakening, he does a sketch of Sally as he
remembers her from the dream.
END OF FILE
***********
*
FILE5.TXT
14
"MONITOR IS IN ALL-PHASE RECORD MODE. STOWAWAY WILL
IDENTIFY HIMSELF."
Carl had just received his requested after-dinner
brandy in the form of an empty crystal snifter and a full
bottle of St. Remy. He would have been more than satisfied
with a small glass of Jenkins, but he wasn't about to
complain, or send the bottle back into the molecular soup
from which it came.
"Would a person from your culture be offended if I
drank some of this very fine brandy during our conversation?"
"COMMUNICATIONS PERMITTED DURING AND SUBSEQUENT TO THE
EQUIVALENT TO YOUR DESERT COURSE. LIQUIDS CATEGORIZED AS
FOOD ONLY IN YOUR CULTURE."
"If you eat and drink, I can assume that I have not
been talking to a computer?"
"ALL TRANSLATIONS ARE MADE BY AND PASS THROUGH CULTURAL
STORAGE, ANALYSIS, AND RESEARCH COMPUTERS. AFFIRMITVE ON
SPECIMEN'S CONCLUSION. SPECIMEN IS NOT SPEAKING TO A
COMPUTER."
"What I am doing is speaking through a computer to a
real, live creature?"
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"Can I invite you to share some of this excellent
brandy?"
"MASS TANSFERENCE BETWEEN SPECIMEN CHAMBER AND
MANEUVERING CHAMBER NOT POSSIBLE UNTIL TERMINATION OF
VOYAGE."
"In other words, you can see me, but I can't see you."
"SPECIMEN CHAMBER NOT EQUIPPED TO MONITOR MANEUVERING
CHAMBER."
"Specimen chamber? ... More like a specimen bottle ..."
"'CHAMBER' AND 'BOTTLE' ARE ACCEPTABLE INTERCHANGE
WITHIN CONTEXT OF TERM'S USE. DOES SPECIMEN PREFER REFERENCE
CHANGED TO BOTTLE TERM IN SUBSEQUENT USE?"
Carl could see that, in spite of his many levels of
language translation, his host couldn't comprehend a simple
pun. Or perhaps it was that he didn't have a sense of humor.
"No, 'chamber' is fine. Continue using that term, please."
"IS SPECIMEN READY TO BEGIN INTRODUCTORY
COMMUNICATIONS?"
Carl took another sip of brandy. "Sure."
"STOWAWAY WILL IDENTIFY HIMSELF FOR RECORDING MONITORS,
PLEASE."
"Who am I? Carl Chandler, formerly--apparently
fomerly--of Cape Neddick, Maine."
"SPECIMEN CARL CHANDLER WILL GIVE BIOGRAPHICAL
SUMMARY."
"Biographical summary? Born Carl Edward Chandler to
Caroline Mayberry Chandler and Edward Mann Chandler, June 16,
1955, Boston Massachusetts. He was a happy, untroubled boy,
given only to occasional fits of stubborness according to
relatives' reports which may or may not be accurate. Chandler
began his education in Miss Karymer's kindergarten where
stubborness was not tolerated. An uneasy truce was effected
between Chandler and the educational system by Grade Three,
but violaions by both sides persisted throughout Chandler's
school days. Nevertheless, Chandler did benefit from his
sojourn in academia. It brought him to the position of
salutatorian in l972. Four years later he graduated magnum
cum laude with a degree in art history from the University of
Massahusetts."
Carl took another sip of brandy. "One quirk might be
Chandler's failure to mention that degree to his lady friend,
Sally MacPherson who has a degree in art herself. Was it
insecurity? Did the fact that he had never used that degree
in any utilitarian way have something to do with it? Ah,
well, I digress from the point, which is biographical
summation. After graduating from college, Chandler took a
job with a school district which was looking for a bizarre
hybrid to teach half-time Art, half-time U.S. History, and
coach girl's softball. They thought that Chandler, with his
Art History degree, his minor in American History, his dozen
and a half credits in the field of Education, and his
experience with college baseball--mostly playing bench-
warmer, although he didn't mention this fact to the hiring
committee--made him the ideal man for the job. He thought so
too. It didn't take long for each to disabuse themselves of
this notion. Why did Chandler think that transferring
himself from one side of the podium to the other would make
any difference? Shouldn't his seventeen years of schooling
taught him at least that? Shouldn't he have known that
education was the least important part of schooling--woe to
any teacher who thought he was there to teach something. But
young, foolish Chandler thought that he could make a
difference, that he could have classes where students could
actually learn something. Well, perhaps he did make a little
difference to a few students, but it wasn't enough of a
difference to satisfy him. He made enough difference to the
schoolboard, however, that his contract was not renewed for
the following year."
Carl poured himself another glass of brandy and
continued. "Chandler drifted for awhile, until his
meanderings chanced to bring him in contact with a small
playhouse that was in need of a jack-of-all-trades.
Fortunately acting was not one of the trades required, for
Chandler had no talent along those lines. He painted flats,
erected stages, ushered, sold tickets, operated the lights,
swept the floors, drew the posters, wrote the advertising
brochures, and did whatever was required to get the show on,
including, on two occasions, sewing costumes. For several
years he was constantly busy, frequently happy, and
occasionally broke. The playhouse rarely made a profit and
finally was forced to shut down. Chandler decided what he
needed to do next was to make some money. With a braiseness
that he would not have been able to muster before his
association with actors and--especially--actresses, he
parlayed his small advertising experience into a well-paying
copy writing position for a large, mail-order hardware
company. He was a surprising success, for writing skills had
so degenerated in the country that his modest efforts seemed
to be prodigious accomplishments in comparison with others in
that trade. Chandler wasn't fooled, but he confined his
laughter to his sleeve all the way to the bank. Chandler's
pitiful finances began to blossom, and so encouraged, he
began to play the corporate game, or at least dress for the
part. This seemed to bring him even more financial success--
bonuses--even though an objective observer wouldn't be able
to detect any improvement in his writing. Perhaps Chandler's
association with the actors and actresses rubbed some of
their talent onto him. About this time he began to date one
Sally MacPherson. He discovered that with her he could leave
off the corporate mask on weekends and pick it up on Monday,
for she, in her own way, was doing the same thing. Sally
drew the illustrations for the company catalog, but her real
ambitions lay in the realm of painting--a notoriously poor-
paying endeavor. Sally considered her nine-to-five
illustration work as a subsidy for her painting which was
judiciously pursued from seven to eleven nightly and during
entire alternate weekends. In spite of Chandler's best
efforts, she doggedly kept to her rigid schedule."
Carl added another splash of brandy to the bottom of
his glass. "But this is Carl Chandler's story that you are
interested in, not Sally MacPherson's. So, when in keeping
with her self-imposed schedule, Sally refused to take a day
off to accompany Chandler on an excursion into the interior
wilds of Maine, in spite of the fact that ... but, anyway ...
Chandler's story concludes with him sallying of by himself to
get away from the craziness of the office and, in the course
of that excursion, stumbling across a strange cube-shaped
monolith into which he enters and disappears. End of story.
And now what of you, my friend? Does your cultural matrix
allow for reciprocity in introductory communications?"
"STATEMENT OF FACTS REGARDING ERROR ALLOWING STOWAWAY
TO ENTER SPECIMEN CHAMBER ALREADY ISSUED. DOES SPECIMEN
REQUIRE SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION REGARDING RELATIONSHIP WITH
SPECIMEN?"
"A few simple questions: who are you, what are you
trying to do, why were you going to transport this QR23
woman, where were you going with her, and what were you going
to do when you got there? Likewise, what are you going to do
with me when you get whereever it is that you are going.
Finally, where are we going, and how long will it take to get
there? As I said, a few simple questions."
"MY NAME IS NOT TRANSLATEABLE TO AN ANALOGOUS
CONTEXTUAL SOUND IN YOUR LANGUAGE."
"But I have to call you something ... anything."
Several obscene words flashed through Carl's mind, but he
didn't want to alienate his host/captor until he knew exactly
where he stood. Survival of this unknown might require
maintenance of at least the appearance of being a creature
capable of ingratiating himself into the good graces of a
horrible despot. He wasn't about to discard that pawn until
he knew what he was giving up in the process. "Call you
Ishmael ... Call you Smitty. Call you Melmoth ... Call you
... Robert, or Bob for short. Do you have any objections to
taking the name Robert?"
"SATISFACTORY. TRANSLATOR WILL RECOGNIZE THE NAME ROBERT
AND/OR BOB. CONTINUING WITH YOUR QUESTIONS: ALREADY STATED:
ASSIGNMENT WAS TO COLLECT AND TRANSPORT SPECIMEN QR23.
SPECIFICS OF SPECIMEN QR23 NOT SUBJECT FOR COMMUNICATION.
QUESTION OF RESOLUTION OF FATE OF STOWAWAY CARL EDWARD
CHANDLER AWAITS COMPLETION OF VOYAGE. DESTINATION OF VOYAGE
NOT KNOWN TO YOUR CULTURE. VOYAGE SCHEDULED TO TAKE 410 1/2
CYCLES."
"You mean that I'm going to be locked up in this box for
more than a year?"
"VOYAGE SCHEDULED TO TAKE 410 1/2 CYCLES."
"Did this specimen QR23 know that the voyage was to be
so long?"
"MAR ... SPECIMEN QR23 INFORMED OF THE DURATION
COMPONENT."
"No wonder she escaped. You could rob a bank and get
less time than that ... if you had a good lawyer. I wonder
what F. Lee Bailey would charge for an interplanetary writ of
habeas corpus."
"YOUR LEGAL PARAMETERS HAVE NO STATUS BEYOND THE LIMITS
OF YOUR CULTURAL MATRIX."
"Oh, so true. Sometimes they don't even have status
within the culture unless you have sufficient money. Anyway,
a moot point."
"DOES SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL
QUESTIONS?"
"Oh, millions!"
"MILLIONS? PLACE QUESTIONS IN ORDER OF PRIMACY."
"I guess that my biggest question is what I am going to
do for the next thirteen or so months. Solitary confinement
for that stretch of time would be considered cruel and
unuasual punishment in anybody's culture."
"FALSE ASSUMPTION. IN THE LOLOAN CULTURE, WHICH HAS
ONE OF THE HIGHEST POPULATION DENSITIES IN THE KNOWN
UNIVERSE, CONFINEMENT IN A ONE UNIT SQUARE SPACE WOULD BE
CONSIDERED A STATE OF EXTREME ECSTASY."
"I'll revise my statement. Anyone from my culture
would consider it to be a horrible sentence."
"DURATION OF VOYAGE UNALTERABLE ONCE INITIAL
MANEUVERING COMPLETED. ORIGINAL DURATION PLANNED TO
FACILITATE ASSIGNMENT, VIDELICET SPECIMEN QR23."
"What did she do to deserve such a horrible fate?"
"DURATION NECESSARY TO COMPLETELY ANALYZE ENTIRE RANGE
OF CULTURAL, SOCIAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS OF SPECIMEN
QR23 TO CONFIRM, EXPAND, AND AMPLIFY EXISTENT OBSERVATIONS OF
SPECIMEN QR23 AND THE CONCOMITANT CULTURAL MATRIX."
"I'm not sure that I understand that. Do you mean that
you were going to pick every scrap of her brain?"
After a pause: "SPECIMEN QR23 NOT SUBJECT FOR
COMMUNICATION."
Carl laughed.
"But you're the one who keeps bringing her up. Sure,
I'm curious. After all, this whole caper was designed for
her benefit ... or for her detriment, or for her something.
I have the feeling that you would like nothing better than to
talk about specimen QR23, but I know nothing about her, so
can tell you nothing."
"SPECIMEN QR23 NOT SUBJECT FOR COMMUNICATON."
Carl smiled. He thought that by biding his time Robert
would eventually tell him all about specimen QR23 because
Robert was preoccupied with her.
"Okay, forget about specimen QR23. What are you going
to do about me for the next thirteen months?"
"NO CONTINGENCY PLANS EXIST FOR TREATMENT OF STOWAWAYS.
MAINTENANCE OF CLIMATIC CONTROLS AS SET FOR SPECIMEN QR23 OR
AS MODIFIED TO SUIT THE NEEDS OF SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD
CHANDLER WILL CONTINUE FOR THE DURATION OF THE VOYAGE.
CONTINUATION OF FOOD SUPPLIES ON QUARTER-QUARTER-HALF CYCLES,
OR AS MODIFIED, ASSURED. REPLICATION OF ART SUPPLIES
POSSIBLE. REPLICATION OF OTHER SUPPLIES OR OBJECTS NEEDED BY
SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER POSSIBLE PROVIDED THAT
SPECIFICATIONS EXIST AT STORAGE LEVEL."
"What's this 'storage level'?"
"INVENTORY OF STORAGE LEVEL INCLUDES: --AARAU,
SWITZERLAND, 1)STREETMAP OF; 2)FLOOR PLANS OF MAIN MUNICIPAL
BUILDING; 3)INVENTORY OF PUBLIC LIBRARY LOCATED ADJACENT TO
MUNICIPAL BUILDING; 4)FOOD ENTREE FROM PASTRY SHOP LOCATED
BEHIND MAIN MUNICIPAL BUILDING, ALMOND TART; --AARDVARK,
1)ANATOMICAL DRAWING OF; 2)STATISTICS ON POPULATION DENSITY;
3)COOKING INSTRUCTIONS FOR; --AARGAU, SWITZERLAND,
1)TOPOGRAPHIC MAP OF; --ABA, 1)INSTRUCTIONS ON WEAVING;
2)INSTRUCTIONS ON DYING; 3)INSTRUCTIONS ON MAKING GARMENT
MADE FROM THIS CLOTH; --ABACA ..."
"Woah there! I have the feeling that you could go on
reciting this inventory for the rest of the thirteen months
of this voyage. Am I correct in assuming that you have left
no stone unturned in assembling this vast inventory of
information?"
"CONTEXTUAL INTREPRETATION TAKEN TO MEAN THAT IT IS
UNDERSTOOD THAT NO EFFORT WAS SPARED IN COMPLETING INVENTORY.
STATEMENT IS FACTUAL, HOWEVER, INVENTORY IS FAR FROM
COMPLETE. MUSICAL AND CULTURAL SUPPLEMENTATION OF INVENTORY
WAS ... INVENTORY IS FAR FROM COMPLETE. COMPLETION OF
INVENTORY IS CONTINUING."
"Even so, I take it that it is already vast."
"WITHIN CONTEXT OF THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF SPECIMEN CARL
EDWARD CHANDLER, INVENTORY, IN ITS PRESENT STATE, CONSIDERED
AS VAST IS CORRECT STATEMENT."
"And you use this inventory to ... er ... replicate
things?"
"REPLICATION POSSIBLE WHERE INVENTORY INFORMATION IS
COMPLETE. MANY ENTRIES HAVE INCOMPLETE INFORMATION."
"And I take it you are offering to replicate things for
me from your inventory information. If I wanted to spend the
next thirteen months doing art, you could keep me in
supplies?"
"INVENTORY ON ART MATERIALS ESTIMATED TO BE SEVENTY-TWO
PERCENT COMPLETE. THREE PREVIOUS VOYAGES HAVE CONCENTRATED
ON ART SUBJECTS. INVENTORY DEFICIENT IN STONE SCULPTURE,
LITHOGRAPHY, AND WOODCUT TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS.
DEFICIENCIES IN ALL ASPECTS OF INFORMATION EXISTS FOR
INNUMERABLE CATEGORIES PRIOR TO YOUR PERIOD 1650. NO
INFORMATION EXISTS FOR PERIODS PRIOR TO YOUR 315, EXCEPT FOR
SCATTERED ARCHITECTURAL AND SCULPTURE ARTIFACTS CROSS-
REFERENCED FROM LATER PERIODS. SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER
INDICATED EXPERTISE IN ART HISTORY. SUGGEST CONSIDERATION BE
GIVEN TO TRANSACTION WHEREBY REPLCATION ENERGY EXPENDITURES
BE ... PURCHASED BY CONTRIBUTING ART HISTORY INFORMATION TO
INVENTORY DATA BY SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER."
"I always like to pay my own way, however, having a
degree in a subject shouldn't be misconstred as being the
same thing as having expertise in that same subject. I do
have a fairly broad background in art history, although I
haven't made much use of my studies in recent years, and I
may be able to fill in some of the gaps in your information
inventory, but I am not an expert, and my personal knowledge
has gaps also. I'll help where I can, but you shouldn't
expect too much."
"ARRANGEMENT SATISFACTORY. SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD
CHANDLER NOT COLLECTED AND TRANSPORTED AS ART EXPERT.
PERFORMANCE AS ART EXPERT UNREASONABLE EXPECTATION.
UTILIZATION OF SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER AS UNCONFIRMED
SUPPLEMNTAL INFORMATION SOURCE FOR PRELIMINARY BRIDGEMENT OF
INVENTORY GAPS SATISFACTORY. ACCOUNT CREDITING RATE OF .35
OF MAXIMUM OFFERABLE."
"Do I understand correctly that you are offering me a
salary of thirty-five percent of an art expert?"
"ALLOWABLE RANGE FOR UNCONFIRMED INFORMATION IS .1 TO
.35 OF CONFIRMED INFORMATION."
"Seeing how I don't have any other offers, I guess that
I'll take it. How are we going to work this?"
"CREDIT OF 1 MONITARY UNIT WILL BE ENTERED FOR EACH
UNIT OF INFORMATION NOT CONTAINED IN INVENTORY OR STORAGE
LEVELS; 2 MONITARY UNITS WILL BE ENTERED FOR EACH UNIT OF
INFORMATION NOT CONTAINED AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL; 5 MONITARY
UNITS WILL BE ENTERED FOR EACH UNIT OF INFORMATION NOT
CONTAINED AT THE PRIMARY LEVEL. ASSIGNMENT OF INFORMATION
UNITS TO APPROPRIATE LEVELS ACCORDING TO STANDARD
PROCEDURES. MONITARY UNITS THEN PRO RATED TO .35 LEVEL."
"Okay, I guess that I'll just have to take hour word on
all of that. Where do I stand?"
"ACCOUNT NOT PREVIOUSLY KEPT. PAUSE FOR EVALUATION.
ACCOUNT OF SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER: 17 ATMOSPHERE UNITS
AT .0257 ENERGY UNITS PER; 34 HEAT UNITS AT .825 ENERGY UNITS
PER ..."
"Hey, you mean you're charging me for air?"
"MAINENANCE AND REPLENISHMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS
REQUIRE EXPENDITURE OF ENERGY."
"Okay. Under the circumstances that seems reasonable,
but don't let the Republican businessmen get a hold of the
idea.
"IN THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL EDWARD CHANDLER
ATMOSPHERE USE IS NOT A CREDITABLE EXPENSE DUE TO THE NON-
EXPENDITURE OF ENERGY CREDITABLE TO INDIVIDUAL SPECIMENS."
"That's true. It would be hard to charge an elephant
for the air he breathes."
"CONTINUATION OF ACCOUNTING: EGGS REPLICATED AT .0015
ENERGY UNITS PER ..."
"Good grief! I'll take your word that you have an
accurate account of every expenditure since I got here. Why
not just skip down to the bottom line?"
"PAUSE FOR COMPLETION OF ACCOUNTING AND CALCULATION OF
ENERGY UNITS UTILIZED ... 3.285 TOTAL ENERGY UNITS UTILIZED
OF WHICH 3.005 ARE CREDITED UNDER CLIMATE AND FOOD AT A RATE
OF 1 MONITARY UNIT PER ENERGY UNIT, .205 ENERGY UNITS FOR
UTILITIES AT A RATE OF 1.25 MONITARY UNITS PER ENERGY UNIT,
AND .075 ENERGY UNITS FOR NON-ESSENTIAL REPLICATIONS AT A
RATE OF 2 MONITARY UNITS PER ENERGY UNIT. TOTAL MONITARY
UNITS IN THE ACCOUNT OF SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER ARE
NEGATIVE 3.41125."
"Oh, boy, I'm in the red already, eh?"
"OFFER TO PURCHASE THE INFORMATION IN GRAFFITO AT A
RATE OF 1 MONITARY UNIT FOR THE SMALLER GRAFFITO AND 2
MONITARY UNITS FOR THE LARGER GRAFFITO TENDERED."
"You want to buy my sketches?"
NEGATIVE. PURCHASE INFORMATION, CATALOGED AS
CONTEMPORARY ART. SKETCHES ARE TRANSITORY. DOES SPECIMEN
CARL EDWARD CHANDLER WISH TO COMPLETE TRANSACTON AND CREDIT 3
MONITARY UNITS TO THE ACCOUNT OF SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD
CHANDLER?"
"I get to keep the sketches, but you get the
information contained in them?"
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"Sure, go ahead."
For a brief instant the sketches winked out, leaving
the walls blank, then they winked back in again.
"THE ACCOUNT OF SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER IS
CREDITED WITH 3 MONITARY UNITS. BALANCE IS DEFICIENT BY
.41125 MONITARY UNITS."
"Okay, fine, but look, if we're going to be in business
together, you should call me by my first name, Robert. If
we're going to be cooped up together for the next thirteen
months, strict formality is the last thing we're going to
need."
"SPECIMEN CARL EDWARD CHANDLER REFERRED TO AS CARL
HENCEFORTH."
"Good. That sounds more friendly, Robert."
"AFFIRMATIVE."
END OF FILE
FILE6.TXT
*****************************************************************
THIS IS AN ABRIDGED EDITION OF THIS NOVEL.
To order a copy of the unabridged edition, send $10.00 (check or
money order) to: SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS P.O. Box 140 San Simeon,
CA 93452. A copy of the 2-disk set will be sent to you postpaid
via first class mail (USA). [Foreign orders include extra
postage for 3 oz.] For other books available from Serendipity
Systems, see the BOOKS-ON-DISKS CATALOG file.
SUMMARY OF ABRIDGED CHAPTERS:
Carl gives a series of art history lectures, including one
about Aphrodisisa in what is now Turkey. Comments on art and
religion spice the discussion.
Carl had always wanted to take up woodworking. He now tries
his hand at lathe work. It turns out that hand made articles,
such as lathe turned bowls, are highly prized in Robert's
culture.
Carl discovers that Specimen QR23 is a woman songwriter
named Mary, but Robert refuses to discuss her.
FILE7.TXT
17
For a time Carl wavered between a career--if one
accepts the idea that one's academic major has some relevance
to what one's career field might eventually be--in art and
one in architecture. Art, of course, won out, but the road
not taken, architecture, still had a fascination for him. In
fact, there were times when he couldn't figure out why he had
gravatated towards art. When he paused to think about the
question, he remembered: that redhead who was studying
painting during his sophomore year when he was mostly
studying her. What ever happened to her? How long ago it
seems.
There was one particular week that was seen from his
perspective as a student as pure heaven. They cut their
classes on a Thursday and Friday to give themselves a long
weekend to go to New York City to take in a showing of the
girl's aunt's art work. They stayed, snuggled in their
sleeping bags, at the aunt's apatment, but it was a rare
evening if they got to sleep before three in the morning, for
the apartment always seemed to be full of everchanging crouds
of artists, poets, critics, hangers-on, and undefined people
who fluttered in the moth-light of Mary Abraham's Photo-
Abstractionist showing. The great controversy, as Carl
recalled, was if Mary's paintings were a return to the
realist mode of art, or if they were a new facet of abstract
expressionism. Carl had been a partisan of the
abstractonists, whereas his girl friend supported the
realists without asserting any validity for the return-to-
the-old-school idea. She claimed that it was a new kind of
realism. The artist herself remained aloof from the
argument, claiming that her job was to paint, not to play the
role of critic. "Too many critics and not enough artists,"
she had said. Over the weekend several people had attempted
to draw her into discussions of the "meaning" of her work,
but she always declined to participate. Carl himself had
almost succeeded in drawing her in by asserting that the
artist had an obligation to be an articulate advocate of art
to ameloriate the misconceptions that ere held by the public.
She agreed that the artist shouldn't remain aloof from the
masses, but then went on to claim that the artist must make
her statement at the appropiate time and on the appropiate
occasion and that the time and occasion was not yet right for
her.
The New York trip succeeded in drawing Carl deep into
the art world and away from his architectural interests. The
girl dropped out of school the following year, but by then
Carl was commited to his art studies. Now the archiecture
was returning.
Although Carl was not a strict adherant to the "form
follows function" dictum, he did admire the works of Frank
Lloyd Wright, especially Fallingwater. What particularily
intrigued Carl was the ambiguity of the exterior/interiorness
of the building. Carl also admired those stubbornly
independent spirits, Helen and Scott Nearing, whose stone
house constructon techniques were so well suited to rocky New
England.* He had the idea that it might be possible to
combine the masonry technques of the Nearings with the design
principles of Wright.
He sat down with his sketch pad and began to make
architectural doodles. He started with a large window on a
south wall because he knew that he would want to have bright,
sunny rooms. After several hours of tiral and error
sketching, he completed his first design for the Wright-
Nearing House.
*See Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing.
18
Carl's lectures grew perfunctory. He suspected that he
was boring Robert as much as he was boring himself, but that
his host was too genteel to complain. Or perhaps the
lectures were recorded on automatic, and Robert himself had
long ago given up attending the daily monologue. More and
more frequently--whether by Robert or by the automatic
translator, Carl didn't know--the lectures were interrupted
by: "SUBJECT MATTER WAS DISCUSSED ON PREVIOUS OCCASION. DOES
CARL INTEND TO ELABORATE ON ALREADY RECORDED MATERIAL?" Carl
would usually respond by changing the subject. He long ago
has exhausted the subjects that interested him.
When his lecture had been interrupted for the third
time in fifteen minutes, Carl burst out with: "The hell with
it! School's out! Class dismissed! I have nothing more to
say on any art subject." He got out of his chair and began
pacing the perimeter of the cube.
After a few minutes: "MONITORS INDICATE PHYSIOLOGICAL
CHANGE. HEART AND RESPATORY SYSTEMS INCREASE NOTED. DOES
CONDITION INDICATE ONSET OF EMERGENCY CONDITION?"
"Emergency? What emergency? For you perhaps. You've
picked my brain clean. I've given up every last art fact,
opinion, and hypothesis. There's nothing left."
"INFORMATION AMOUNT RECORDED SATISFACTORY. STATEMENT OF
OBSERVATION: THE ACCOUNT OF CARL HAS SUFFICIENT CREDITS
ACCUMULATED TO PROVIDE CLIMATIC AND FOOD REQUIREMENTS FOR
DURATION OF VOYAGE."
"In other words, I could live off my savings for the
next year."
"AFFIRMATIVE, PROVIDED THAT LUXURY REPLICATIONS ARE
MADE ONLY IN MODERATION. CONTINUED ACCRUAL OF CREDITS
THROUGH ARTIFACT INFORMATION POSSIBLE. ONLY REPLICATION
REQUIRING LARGE ENERGY MASS WOULD RESULT IN DEPLETION OF
CREDIT BALANCE PRIOR TO TERMINATION OF VOYAGE."
"Fine, fine," Carl said, dismissing the subject with a
wave of his hand.
The fact was that Carl's creative energies were
exhausted. His woodworking desire had been satiated, he was
no longer interested in architecture--you could only build so
many castles in the sky, and Carl already had a drawer full
of achitectural designs--, his drawing lacked inspiration,
and his desire to read, in spite of the enormous variety of
material at hand in Robert's storage level, waned. Carl
filled his brandy snifter and continued pacing the cube.
"INTERPRETATION OF MONITORS INDICATE THAT CONDITION OF
EMERGENCY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL NATURE POSSIBLY PRESENT.
CONFIRMATION OF DIAGNOSIS REQUESTED."
"'Emergency of psychological nature possibly present?'
That's a nice euphemistic way of putting it. Don't you
people ever get bored?"
"CONDITION OF BOREDOM NOT POSSIBLE WHEN LARGE AMOUNTS
OF NEW INFORMATION IS PRESENT FOR ANALYSIS AND EXAMINATION.
ANALOGOUS SITUATION ONLY POSSIBLE WITHIN THE CULTURAL MATRIX
OF ROBERT WHEN INFORMATION DEPREVATION COEXISTS WITH
CONDITION OF INACTIVITY. INVESTIGATION OF NEW AREA OF
KNOWLEDGE SUGGESTED."
"I'm stuffed to the gills with new knowledge. I read
more books in the last two months than I did in all four
years of college, and I was considered to be an avid reader
then."
"DIVERSION THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN GAME OF CHANCE
SUGGESTED."
Carl's laugh had a harsh edge to it.
"Teaching you to play poker may have been a mistake.
Infatuation with random chance may be addicting to you
information-gathering cultural matrix types. It affects some
human beings that way too, but I am not one of them. An
infrequent evening of small-stakes cards is enough to satisfy
my minute gambler's craving, and we have already had several
sessions this week. Thanks, but no thanks."
"CHESS?"
Carl waved off this idea with his hand. He was beside
his work table where there was a pile of books and magazines.
He accidently knocked over a pile of magazines and one of
them fell open at the center. He picked it up.
"There! That's what I need! Replicate me a 'Miss
April,.'" he said, holding out the centerfold of the
voluptuous, nude woman for Robert's inspection.
There was a long silence, then: "REPLICATION OF
HUMANOIDS WITHIN THE REALM OF THEORY. REPLICATION NOT
PREVIOUSLY ATTEMPTED DUE TO ABUNDANCE OF ORIGINAL ITEMS ..."
"There isn't an abundance of supply here," Carl said,
interrupting.
"... AND THE COMPLEXITY OF THE MOLECULAR STRUCTURE AND
SEQUENTIAL NATURE OF THE CHEMICAL SUB-ASSEMBLIES."
"In practical words, it can't be done."
"PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT EXTENSIVE RESEARCH
ON INFORMATION STORAGE NECESSARY TO DEVELOP REPLICATION
TECHNIQUE FOR HUMANOIDS. BOTH RESEARCH AND REPLICATION WOULD
INVOLVE EXTENSIVE UTILIZING OF ENERGY SUPPLIES. FEMALE
HUMANOIDS CONTAIN SUB-ASSEMBLIES OF CONSIDERABLE COMPLEXITY
DUE TO REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTIONS. SUGGEST THAT MALE HUMANOID
REPLICATION BE CONSIDERED, BEING SIMPLER AND INVOLVING LOWER
LEVELS OF ENERGY USE."
"Oh, a male humanoid would be of no use to me at all.
I am one hundred percent heterosexual. Boys don't interest
me. No, it's Miss April that is required."
"REPLICATION OF FEMALE HUMANOID CLASSIFIED AS
OUTRAGEOUS LUXURY, CHARGEABLE AT THE RATE OF 2 MONITARY UNITS
PER ENERGY UNIT."
Carl looked down at the centerfold. "Ah, but Miss April
would be cheap at twice the price, don't you think?"
"INITIAL EXAMINATION OF SITUATION INDICATES THAT
REPLICATION OF FEMALE HUMANOID WOULD DEPLETE THE BALANCE OF
THE MONITARY CREDITS OF CARL BY A FACTOR OF 110 PERCENT."
"All my poker winnings and everything, eh?"
"REPLICATION WOULD EXCEED PRESENT BALANCE BY 10
PERCENT."
"I have always been a cash buyer, but this may be the
exception that proves the rule. Do you extend credit?"
"CONDITION OF DEFAULT UNLIKELY UNDER PRESENT
CONDITIONS."
"Okay, then do it. Replicate me Miss April."
"STATEMENT OF CAUTION REQUIRED REGARDING WISDOM OF NOT
ACTING IN HASTE."
"Ah, yes, caution. Well, if I acted cautiously, I
wouldn't be in this mess, and if you acted cautiously,
specimen QR23 would never have escaped. So there you have
the results of caution." Carl took a gulp from his brandy
snifter. "I'm putting in my requisition: replicate me Miss
April, a fully functioning female human being."
"FULFILLMENT OF REQUEST FOR REPLICATON OF FEMALE
HUMANOID IN THE FORM OF MISS APRIL SUSPENDED PENDING COMPLETE
ANALYSIS OF FEASIBILITY. REPORT ON SITUATION TO COMMENCE IN
1/4 CYCLE, WITH DECISION ON REPLICATION TO BE MADE AFTER
DISCUSSION OF ANALYSIS."
"Do what you will. Miss April is what I need. In the
meantime, however, I will studiously apply myself to this
bottle of very fine brandy."
* * *
Robert returned early in the morning.
"INITIAL ANALYSIS OF REPLICATION OF FEMALE HUMANOID
ESSENTIALLY CONFIRMED BY IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS. MAJOR PORTION OF
TIME REQUIRED FOR REPLICATION TO BE SPENT IN DEVELOPING
TECHNIQUES FOR REPLICATION OF CERTAIN MOLECULAR STRUCTURES
NOT HERETOFORE UTILIZED AND NOT CONTAINED IN MOLECULAR
STORAGE. ANALYSIS INDICATED THAT DESIRED MOLECULAR
STRUCTURES MAY BE CONSTRUCTED THROUGH MANIPULATION AND
MODIFICATION OF STANDARD ITEMS IN MOLECULAR STORAGE.
EXISTENCE OF SEVERAL INFORMATIONAL VOIDS DISCOVERED IN
ANATOMICAL INFORMATION ON HUMANOID SYSTEMS CONTAINED IN
STORAGE. INFORMATIONAL VOIDS IN GENETIC ENCODING, BRAIN
FUNCTIONS, AND CONTROL OF SEQUENTIAL NATURE OF FEMALE SEXUAL
SECRETIONS. ANALYSIS INDICATED SEVERAL POSSIBLE AVENUES OF
APPROACH THROUGH EMPERICAL METHODS."
"In other words, you don't know quite how to put the
package together so that it works right?"
"NEGATIVE. FUNCTIONAL HUMANOID REPLICATION POSSIBLE BY
DELETING SYSTEMS AND FUNCTIONS NOT KNOWN TO SCIENTIFIC
PERSONS OF THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL AND NOT YET DISCOVERED
BY MONITORING. SPECIFICATION WAS FOR FULLY FUINCTIONING
HUMANOID IN THE FORM OF MISS APRIL. COMPLIANCE WITH 'FULLY
FUNCTIONAL' REQUIREMENT NECESSATATES DEVELOPMENT OF
ADDITIONAL AREAS OF INFORMATION ON HUMANOID ANATOMY. IS
DELETION OF 'FULLY FUNCTIONAL' REQUIREMENT DESIRED?"
"Of course not. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth
doing well, and Miss April is worth doing well. If you think
that you can accomplish this feat, then by all means do it
'fully functional.'"
"STATEMENT OF AGREEMENT ON PHILOSOPHY OF DOING THINGS
WELL REQUIRED. OTHER FACTORS IN REPLICATION OF FEMALE
HUMANOID TO BE CONSIDERED: FINANCIAL, REQUIREMENT FOR
DIVERSION OF ENERGY FROM CLIMATIC CONTROL, AND CONSIDERATION
OF TIME."
"If I have to ask the price, I can't afford it. But
can I afford not to have it? Continue with your analysis
report."
"INITIAL ESTIMATE OF AMOUNTS OF ENERGY REQUIRED IN
ERROR. COST OF REPLICATION WILL EXCEED FINANCIAL CREDITS OF
CARL BY A FACTOR OF 25 PERCENT."
"Getting more and more expensive all the time. I once
knew a car dealer who used to do that, but go on, I'm still
buying."
"CONSIDERATION GIVEN TO FACTOR OF DEVELOPMENT OF NEW
INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR HUMANOID REPLICATION. CONCLUSION
REACHED THAT NEW INFORMATION VALUED AT 20 PERCENT OF COST OF
ENTIRE PROJECT. CREDITING OF ACCOUNT OF CARL WITH NEW
INFORMATION CREDITS YIELDS BALANCED BALANCE."
Carl laughed.
"Lad, I like the way you do business. What you're
saying is that you'll take all my money, poker winnings
included, and give me Miss April."
"STATEMENT ESSENTIALLY CORRECT. CONTINUING WITH
ANALYSIS: DIVERSION OF ENERGY FROM CLIMATIC CONTROLS FOR
PURPOSE OF DEVELOPING REPLICATION TECHNIQUES REQUIRED TO THE
AMOUNT OF 55 PERCENT OF CLIMATIC ENERGY EXPENDITURE FOR THE
DURATION OF SIX CYCLES. CESSATION OF ALL FOOD AND LIQUID
REPLICATION REQUIRED. RESULTS OF ENERGY DIVERSION TO BE
MAINTENANCE OF HEAT AND LIGHT LEVELS AT MINIMUM LEVEL FOR
SPECIES."
"I'm to be hungry, thursty, and cold for six days?"
"NEGATIVE. REPLICATION OF SUFFICIENT SUPPLIES OF FOOD
AND LIQUIDS TO BE MADE PRIOR TO COMMENCEMENT OF HUMANOID
REPLICATION PROJECT. REPLICATION OF WARM CLOTHING AND
BEDDING TO BE INCLUDED IN PREPARATION FOR PROJECT."
"Ah, that sounds better. Exactly how cold do you
expect it to get in here?"
"SOLIDIFICATION POINT OF AQUATIC BASED SUBSTANCES TO BE
REACHED BY THE BEGINNING OF THE 5TH CYCLE."
"Okay, I can play Eskimo for awhile."
"OTHER FACTOR TO BE CONSIDERED IS JUXTAPOSITION OF TIME
CONSTRAINT AND CONDITION OF PSYCHE OF CARL VIS-A-VIS
MANIFESTATIONS OF CONDITION OF BOREDOM."
"Oh, anticipation of Miss April's arrival will take
care of any boredom. It's like being a kid on Christmas eve.
Anxiety about whether or not you are going to get what you
want--I'm not sure that you can really pull off this
replication trick--a little anxiety, yes, boredom, no. I
mean, look at her!" Carl held out the magazine that contained
the pictoral article on Miss April and flipped through the
half-dozen pages of photographs. "Who in the world could be
bored with such a bedmate?"
'STATEMENT OF AFFIRMATION MADE FOR SPECIMENS FROM THE
CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL. CARL IS PREPARED TO ENDURE CLIMATIC
DEPREVATION FOR 6 CYCLES?"
"Oh, sure."
"REPLICATION WILL COMMENCE IMMEDIATELY WITH ITEMS OF
CLOTHING ANALOGOUS TO DOWN PARKER AND TROUSERS WITH
ACCOMPANYING BOOTIES, HAT, AND MITTENS. SIMILARLY
CONSTRUCTED COMFORTER FOR BED ADDED. REPLICATION OF A DOZEN
AND A HALF HARD BOILED EGGS, 6 LOAVES OF WHOLE WHEAT
BREAD, 1 UNIT OF STRAWBERRY JAM, 1/2 UNIT OF BUTTER, 1
THERMALLY SEALED 10 UNIT CONTAINER OF COFFEE WITH DISPENSING
MECHANISM, 6 THERMALLY SEALED PACKAGES OF SOUPS AND CHOWDERS
IN DIFFERENT FLAVORS, 6 DIFFERENT MEAL ASSEMBLAGES IN
THERMALLY SEALED PACKAGES, ALL AT THEIR APPROPRIATE SERVING
TEMPERATURES, PLUS APPROPRIATE AMOUNTS OF SIVERWARE, DISHES,
AND NAPKINS. DOES CARL DESIRE OTHER SUPPLIES?"
"Let's see, how about a copy of War and Peace and, as
long as temperatures are going to drop for he rest of the
week, some internal heal in the form of alcoholic beverages
might be useful."
"INCREASE IN BODILY HEAT FROM CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL
LACED LIQUIDS IS PERCEPTUAL ILLUSION."
"Oh, I know that. Nevertheless, we can call it
anxiety/boredom preventative medicine."
"ACQUIESCENCE TO REQUEST MADE WITHOUT AFFIRMATION OF
WISDOM OF REQUEST."
All the items winked in, including six bottles of
brandy. The food was in puffy foil packets with each's
contents depicted on the outside, and the coffee was in a
silver globe with a small spigot in its side. The brandy was
in regular glass bottles. Carl picked up one of the bottles.
"I wasn't going to be six bottles worth of being
bored," he commented.
"DURABILITY OF CONTENTS MAKES STORAGE OF BRANDY
PRACTICAL. SUGGEST BACK CORNER UNDER WORKBENCH AS SUITABLE
LOCATION."
"You don't understand. The out-of-sight-out-of-mind
concept doesn't apply to alcoholic beverages for most human
beings. Nice try, though."
"COMMENCEMENT OF PROJECT REPLICATING FULLY FUNCTIONAL
HUMANOID IN THE FORM OF MISS APRIL PENDING AFFIRMATION OF
READINESS ON PART OF CARL."
"Warm clothes, plenty of food, a fat book, coffee, a
drink--I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
"REPLICATION OF MISS APRIL BEGINNING. COMMUNICATIONS
TERMINATING FOR 6 CYCLES."
The lights began to dim.
END OF FILE
FILE8.TXT
19
Carl's assessment of the boredom factor was not
accurate. His condition was much worse than it was before.
Now he didn't even have enough light by which to read, and
the freezing temperatures made anything else impractical. By
the fifth day he took to harmonica playing and drinking, the
latter of which did nothing for the former.
On the sixth day he gave up harmonica playing entirely
to concentrate on the study of brandy. He was sitting at the
table cube with the down comforter wrapped around him and a
nearly empty bottle before him when the room's light returned
to its normal brightness. The shielded his eyes with his
hands and squinted out between his fingers.
"Hey, man, iz that you, Robert?"
"AFFIRMATIVE. THE EXPECTATIONS OF CARL WERE
OTHERWISE?"
"Oooh, what time is it? What day is it?"
"IT IS 7/8THS OF A CYCLE INTO THE 6TH CYCLE SUBSEQUENT
TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REPLICATION PROJECT."
"Replication project? Oh, yeah, Miz April. Do we drink
to success, or to drown the sorrows of bitter defeat?"
"MONITORS INDICATE THAT THE CONDITION OF CARL
CORRESPONDS TO THAT OF EXCESS CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL LACED
LIQUIDS."
"'I"ve been drunk before, but this is a masterpiece.'
But forget about my condition, what about Mzz April?"
"PROCEDURE FOR REPLICATION OF HUMANOID CREATURE OF THE
FEMALE TYPE HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED AND ENTERED INTO THE MEMORY
OF THE REPLICATOR. DOES CARL WISH THAT SUCH A REPLICATION BE
INITIATED?"
"That was the whole idea, my unseen friend. Deliver
the merchandise to yond bed."
Carl's bed, a draped and canopied four-poster with
which he created the illusion of darkness, was in disarray;
he had the comforter draped across his sholders and the rest
of the bedding was half on the matress and half on the floor.
The drapes were drawn back irregularly.
Miss April winked onto the bed.
Carl sat gape-frozen for a full minute, then said: "My
con-grad-you-lay-tons. It seems that yuv' done a fine job a
becomin' god." He raised his glass and drank down its
contents in salute. "I'll go an introduce maself ta Miz
April."
Carl got to his feet, but had to steady himself for a
minute by holding on the the edge of the table cube. "Mus be
'sperencin' sum turb'lence, eh, R'bert? Yer ship seem a bit
unstable. Well, any port in-er storm." He lurched foward
dragging the comforter behind him like some kind of
serpentine tail.
Miss April did not respond to his introduction, but
just stared up at him with wide eyes.
"I 'pollogize fer ma inebriated condtition, 'mam. You
were 'spected, a-course, but ah had no idea when, an' ah had
a long wait."
Just wide-eyed silence from Miss April.
"Yer ... yer skin ... goose bumps?" He touched her
shoulder. "Yer cold! A-corse, the temperature." Carl picked
the sheets and blankets off the floor and spread them over
Miss April. "Better?"
Those blues stared in silence.
"Mind if ah join ya?"
Silence.
Like a fisherman casting a net, Carl whirled the
comforter in the air and dropped it over the supine girl's
body. Then he awkwardly threw off his clothes, stumbling
twice against the bed in the process before managing to get
himself in.
"Yer still cold. R'bert! What 'bout da temperature?"
"CLIMATIC CONDITIONS WILL RETURN TO PREVIOUS SETTINGS
IN .11 CYCLES."
"Good! Ah. Mz April, let me give ya a message to warm
ya up."
Under the covers Carl began to message Miss April's
shoulders, the work slowly towards her thighs, then back up
to her breasts.
"Oh, baby, ya feel sooo good. An yer startin ta warm
up. We're under this nice quilt, but I"m helpin' ya aren't
I? I'm gettin' ya warm."
Carl began to repeat his message sequence.
"Oh, baby, ya got such a great body ... mmmmm ... so
nice. Yer breasts ... so firm, so plump. Such hard thighs.
I'm in terrible shape, compared ta you. Les get our thighs
together fer comparin' ... so firm ... yes, yes ... suck on
me ...iz funny, but ... wit you iz as good az kissin' ...
yes, put yer arm around me ... oh, wit yer touch I've got
erogenous zones in my shoulder ... yes ... let's rub each
other heart-to-heart ... oh, baby, is that yer heart racin',
or is it mine? ... oh, baby ... oh, yer all warmed up now ...
our skins are red hot ... I'm gonna heat you on da inside ...
let me ... oh, yes, baby, yes ... so tight ... so hot ... so
... oooo.
20
Carl awoke to find himself snuggled against April. She
was curled up semi-fetally. He was astonished to discover
that she had the thumb stuck in her mouth and silent tears
were leaking from her eyes.
"Oh, April baby, what's the matter? Last night ...?
Did I ... did I hurt you? Are you okay?"
April just looked at him with wide-eyed silence.
"Oh, baby, I'm sorry. I was a cad, a drunken bounder.
I was totally sloshed, but that's no excuse, is it?"
Silence.
"I'm sorry. What more can I say? I wish I had been as
sober and gentlemanly as a prince, but that doesn't alter the
case. What can I do to make up for it?"
Silence still, but the tears stopped.
"Please say I'm forgiven. What did I do? Robert?
ROBERT? What happened last night? My memory is fuzzy and my
head is still buzzing."
"CARL COMMITED AN ACT OF CARNAL KNOWLEDGE."
"Hugh? Oh, yeah. But she's acting so ... regressive.
I'm not sure ... She didn't say to stop. I don't remember
her saying anything."
"AFFIRMATIVE. MISS APRIL HAS NOT COMMUNICATED
VERBALLY."
Carl shifted from resting on his elbow to sitting up.
"Oh, April, tell me what I can do to make it up to you."
"MISS APRIL UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE VERBALLY."
"What do you mean? What's wrong with her?"
"THE BODY OF MISS APRIL IS FULLY FUNCTIONAL, BUT THE
FACILITY FOR VERBAL COMMUNICATION IS NOT DEVELOPED."
"You mean she's retarded or something?"
"RETARDATION IS NULL CONCEPT. ALL SPECIES HAVE A RANGE
OF INTELLECTUAL POTENTIAL. ALL MEMBERS OF A SPECIES HAVE
INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY DEPENDING UPON THE INTERPLAY OF
NUMEROUS INHERENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS. TO HOLD TO A
THEORY OF RETARDATION WOULD BE TO ASSERT THAT ALL MEMBERS OF
THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL ARE RETARDED IN RELATION TO ALL
MEMBERS OF THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF ROBERT. SUCH A CONTENTION
WOULD BE A POSITION OF EXTREME ARROGANCE WHICH FAILS TO TAKE
INTO CONSIDERATION THE DISCONTINUUM OF INTER AND INTRA
GALACTIC TIME DIFFERENTIALS."
"Hugh? Look, if she isn't retarded, what is she? She
doesn't say anything. She doesn't do anything. She just
lies there sucking her damn thumb!"
"THE BODY OF MISS APRIL IS AT THE 6757 CYCLE
DEVELOPMENT POINT. THE MIND OF MISS APRIL IS AT THE 1/4
CYCLE DEVELOPMENT POINT. SITUATION ANALOGOUS TO THAT OF A
NEW-BORN INFANT. THUMB SUCKING IS BASIC HUMANOID INSTINCT
INDICATING NEED FOR SECURITY AND BODILY NOURISHMENT."
"Do you mean to say that this absolutely beautiful
young woman is actually an infant?"
"REPLICATION OF THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MISS
APRIL FROM THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF MISS APRIL IN THE MAGAZINE
WAS SIMPLY A MATTER OF THREE DIMENTIONAL PROJECTION OF
UNKNOWN AREAS FROM THE DEVELOPED PROFILES OF THE
CHARACTERISTIC SHAPE OF THE FEMALE HUMANOID. REPLICATION OF
PERSONALITY AND MIND NOT POSSIBLE FROM MAGAZINE
ILLUSTRATIONS, THEREFORE CONDITION LEFT TABULA RASA. IT IS
NOW .26 CYCLES SINCE REPLICATION. SUGGEST PRIORITY BE GIVEN
TO NOURISHING THE BODY OF MISS APRIL, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF
THUMB SUCKING INSTINCT BY SUPPLYING NOURISHMENT IN LIQUID
FORM."
"Lord! I've got to bottle feed her? This is getting a
bit more than a man with a hangover bargained for."
"FAILURE TO ANTICIPATE CONSEQUENCES OF TABULA ROSSA
MENTAL CONDITION ADMITTED. IF CONDITIONS ARE UNSATISFACTORY,
DOES CARL WISH ROBERT TO RETURN MISS APRIL TO MOLECULAR
STORAGE?"
"Just kill her? How could anyone harm such a beautiful
body"
"UNREPLICATION. WITHIN THE CULTURAL MATRIX OF CARL THE
CONCEPT OF EUTHANASIA WOULD BE ANALOGOUS."
"But it's not like she were suffering, was seriously
defective, or was dying. It's not her fault she was born an
infant with an eighteen-year-old body. We're all born
infants, aren't we? Someone has got to take care of us even
if it isn't convenient. Unreplicate her? Damn it, no! If
mothering her is the price that I have to pay for a night's
pleasure, then so be it. Damn it, replicate me a nursing
bottle of warm milk."
After the milk winked in, Carl gently removed April's
thumb from her mouth and substituted the baby bottle. She
greedily slurped it down, slobbering the milk down her chin
and into her hair.
Carl laughed.
"I guess you really were hungry, but take it easy,
there's plenty more where that came from," he said as he
wiped up the spilt milk with the corner of the sheet.
"REPLICATION OF AN ADVANCED DESIGN FEEDING BOTTLE WAS
EFFECTED SO THAT BURPING OF MISS APRIL WILL LIKELY BE
UNNECESSARY."
"Thank you, but April is one baby nobody would mind
burping. Any excuse to touch that marvelous body would be
welcomed. However, I wonder if this kind of feeding is
necessary. Afterall, she has all the adult equipment for
eating solid food."
"IT IS AFFIRMED THAT MISS APRIL HAS A FULLY FUNCTIONAL
ADULT BODY. HOWEVER, MISS APRIL DOES NOT HAVE THE EXPERIENCE
OF EATING. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT A SLOW AND GRADUAL
INCREASE OF THE VISCOSITY OF THE NOURISHMENT OF MISS APRIL BE
EMBARKED UPON TO DEVELOP EATING EXPERIENCE."
"Well, we don't have to worry about teaching her to
drink. She's gone through most of the milk bottle already."
"IT IS TO BE NOTED THAT A DIET OF MILK CAN SUSTAIN A
HUMANOID INFANT, HOWEVER MISS APRIL HAS ALMOST 15 TIMES THE
MASS OF AN INFANT AND REQUIRES A PROPORTIONATELY LARGER
QUANTITY OF NOURISHMENT. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT A PROTEEN
PUREE BE FED TO MISS APRIL UPON THE COMPLETION OF THE LIQUID
NOURISHMENT SO THAT BODILY FUNCTIONS CAN BE MAINTAINED AT
OPTIMUM LEVELS."
"Good idea. Make that puree filet mignon flavored. We
might as well start to get our baby used to the good stuff
because anybody with a body like that is going to be able to
command the best."
"AFFIRMATIVE OF POLICY OF REPLICATION OF QUALITY
NOURISHEMENT FOR MISS APRIL."
"Considering the fact that our April is just a big
baby, your referring to her as 'Miss April' does seem a bit
stuffy. we're all informal people here. Let's just call her
April."
"AFFIRMATIVE OF HENCEFORTH REFERRING TO MISS APRIL AS
APRIL, DOES CARL WISH THE REPLICATION OF THE BOWL OF FILET
MIGNON FLAVORED PUREE TO BE REPLICATED IN THE BED OR AT THE
TABLE?"
"Oh, I think that breakfast in bed with April is a
marvelous idea, and I do expect that we will be sharing a lot
of them, but perhaps we shouldn't start off teaching her such
bad habits. I guess we'll eat at the table."
Carl slid out of bed and, standing next to it, extended
a hand to April, saying: "Come, let's have a proper breakfast
... of course, you don't understand me, do you?"
He took her hand and gently tugged, but she didn't
respond.
"Now what? Robert, can't she even walk to the table?"
"APRIL HAS NO EXPERIENCE WITH WALKING."
"Well, damn it, she doesn't have any experience with
anything, does she?"
"A STATEMENT OF AFFIRMATION OF THE STATEMENT OF CARL
MUST BE MADE. IT WILL BE NECESSARY FOR CARL TO TEACH
EVERYTHING HUMAN TO APRIL."
"That's a tall order. For the moment I guess we'll
just have to carry her to the table."
Carl scouped April out of bed, carried her to the table
cube, and set her down on the chair cube.
With his arms still around April, he asked: "Can she
sit, or will she fall over like a newborn would?"
"ALTHOUGH APRIL HAS NO EXPERIENCE WITH SITTING, THE
MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT OF APRIL WAS REPLICATED AT THE OPTIMUM
LEVEL FOR THE BODY TYPE OF APRIL. APRIL SHOULD SIT."
April was sitting, but just to give her added
stability, Carl placed her arms on the table cube.
"Yes, Robert, April's body is at the optimum level of
development," Carl said as he, with his arms still around
her, caressed her right breast. "I've never seen a woman with
such perfictly shaped tits."
"THE TOPOGRAPHY OF APRIL IS IDENTICAL TO THE
ILLUSTRATION OF MISS APRIL IN THE MAGAZINE."
Carl knew, but Robert did not know, that magazine
girl's breasts were secretly shaped and supported by rubber
bands which were later air-brushed out of the photographs. As
a result, April had large, firm breasts which did not require
artificial supports. Numerous photographic tricks--the
special lights and filters, and plastic bags of ice cubes--
were used to create the illusion of perfection for Miss April,
but April was perfection itself.
"Now about breakfast: I think that I will join April in
the filet mignon puree, but I'll have coffee with mine.
Also, some orange juice, a glass for me and a bottle for
April, please."
Carl tried to get April to feed herself, but her
muscles were not yet coordinated enough to perform the
required motions without getting filet mignon puree all over
herself, the table, and Carl. In the end, Carl ended up
sitting on the table, helping himself to the puree and
alternately spoon-feeding April. After their puree, Carl
started drinking his coffee. April watched the cup with
intense interest, as if a man drinking from a cup was the
most fantastic thing she had ever seen.
"Want to try some?" he asked as he held the cup for her
to take a sip from. Her hands went up to his and held his as
she sloppily slurped the coffee.
Carl wondered if he was going to be erect every time
she touched him. Perhaps it was that he was without a woman
for so long. Perhaps the intensity of his reactions to April
would fade in time--he hoped not. They would have to be
touching all the time as Carl taught her. The first cup
lesson went reasonable well, for Carl was rewarded with a
purred "Mmmmmm" and a smile.
END OF FILE
FILE9.TXT
*****************************************************************
THIS IS AN ABRIDGED EDITION OF THIS NOVEL.
To order a copy of the unabridged edition, send $10.00 (check or
money order) to: SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS P.O. Box 140 San Simeon,
CA 93452. A copy of the 2-disk set will be sent to you postpaid
via first class mail (USA). [Foreign orders include extra
postage for 3 oz.] For other books available from Serendipity
Systems, see the BOOKS-ON-DISKS CATALOG file.
SUMMARY OF ABRIDGED CHAPTERS:
Carl finds that Baby April has to be toilet trained and go
through all the phases of childhood.
Robert reports that Baby April was replicated at the peak of
femininity. She is now pregnant as a result of Carl's
attentions. A discussion of responsibilities vis-a-vis parenting
follows.
GO.TXT
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║ <<<< Disk No 1488 BABY APRIL >>>> ║
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║ To start the program, type GO-2 (press enter) ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #1488
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
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