"No." Steve shook his head wearily. "I don't know."
"It was just a thought." Doctor Blair drove slowly off down the narrow tree-lined street, leaving two dark streaks, two soiled lines that marred the packed, glistening snow.
Spring came, warm and sunny. The ground turned black and rich. Overhead the sun shone, a hot white orb, full of strength.
"Stop here," Steve murmured.
Ed Patterson brought the car to a halt at the side of the street. He turned off the motor. The two men sat in silence, neither of them speaking.
At the end of the street children were playing. A high school boy was mowing a lawn, pushing the machine over wet grass. The street was dark in the shade of the great trees growing along each side.
"Nice," Ed said.
Steve nodded without answering. Moodily, he watched a young girl walking by, a shopping bag under her arm. The girl climbed the stairs of a porch and disappeared into an old-fashioned yellow house.
Steve pushed the car door open. "Come on. Let's get it over with."
Ed lifted the wreath of flowers from the back seat and put them in his son's lap. "You'll have to carry it. It's your job."
"All right." Steve grabbed the flowers and stepped out onto the pavement.
The two men walked up the street together, silent and thoughtful.
"It's been seven or eight months, now," Steve said abruptly.
"At least." Ed lit a cigar as they walked along, puffing clouds of gray smoke around them. "Maybe a little more."
"I never should have brought her up here. She lived in town all her life. She didn't know anything about the country."
"It would have happened anyhow."
"If we had been closer to a hospital -"
The doctor said it wouldn't have made any difference. Even if we'd called him right away instead of waiting until morning." They came to the corner and turned. "And as you know -"
"Forget it," Steve said, suddenly tense.
The sounds of the children had fallen behind them. The houses had thinned out. Their footsteps rang out against the pavement as they walked along.
"We're almost there," Steve said.
They came to a rise. Beyond the rise was a heavy brass fence, running the length of a small field. A green field, neat and even. With carefully placed plaques of white marble crisscrossing it.
"Here we are," Steve said tightly.
"They keep it nice."
"Can we get in from this side?"
"We can try." Ed started along the brass fence, looking for a gate.
Suddenly Steve halted, grunting. He stared across the field, his face white. "Look."
"What is it?" Ed took off his glasses to see. "What are you looking at?"
"I was right." Steve's voice was low and indistinct. "I thought there was something. Last time we were here… I saw… You see it?"
"I'm not sure. I see the tree, if that's what you mean."
In the center of the neat green field the little apple tree rose proudly. Its bright leaves sparkled in the warm sunlight. The young tree was strong and very healthy. It swayed confidently with the wind, its supple trunk moist with sweet spring sap.
"They're red," Steve said softly. "They're already red. How the hell can they be red? It's only April. How the hell can they be red so soon?"
"I don't know," Ed said. "I don't know anything about apples." A strange chill moved through him. But graveyards always made him uncomfortable. "Maybe we ought to go."
"Her cheeks were that color," Steve said, his voice low. "When she had been running. Remember?"
The two men gazed uneasily at the little apple tree, its shiny red fruit glistening in the spring sunlight, branches moving gently with the wind.
"I remember, all right," Ed said grimly. "Come on." He took his son's arm insistently, the wreath of flowers forgotten. "Come on, Steve. Let's get out of here."
Human Is
Jill Herrick's blue eyes filled with tears. She gazed at her husband in unspeakable horror. "You're – you're hideous!" she wailed.
Lester Herrick continued working, arranging heaps of notes and graphs in precise piles.
"Hideous," he stated, "is a value judgment. It contains no factual information." He sent a report tape on Centauran parasitic life whizzing through the desk scanner. "Merely an opinion. An expression of emotion, nothing more."
Jill stumbled back to the kitchen. Listlessly, she waved her hand to trip the stove into activity. Conveyor belts in the wall hummed to life, hurrying the food from the underground storage lockers for the evening meal.
She turned to face her husband one last time. "Not even a little while?" she begged. "Not even -"
"Not even for a month. When he comes you can tell him. If you haven't the courage, I'll do it. I can't have a child running around here. I have too much work to do. This report on Betelgeuse XI is due in ten days." Lester dropped a spool on Fomalhautan fossil implements into the scanner. "What's the matter with your brother? Why can't he take care of his own child?"
Jill dabbed at swollen eyes. "Don't you understand? I want Gus here! I begged Frank to let him come. And now you -"
"I'll be glad when he's old enough to be turned over to the Government." Lester's thin face twisted in annoyance. "Damn it, Jill, isn't dinner ready yet? It's been ten minutes! What's wrong with that stove?"
"It's almost ready." The stove showed a red signal light. The robant waiter had come out of the wall and was waiting expectantly to take the food.
Jill sat down and blew her small nose violently. In the living-room, Lester worked on unperturbed. His work. His research. Day after day. Lester was getting ahead; there was no doubt of that. His lean body was bent like a coiled spring over the tape scanner, cold gray eyes taking in the information feverishly, analyzing, appraising, his conceptual faculties operating like well-greased machinery.
Jill's lips trembled in misery and resentment. Gus – little Gus. How could she tell him? Fresh tears welled up in her eyes. Never to see the chubby little fellow again. He could never come back – because his childish laughter and play bothered Lester. Interfered with his research.
The stove clicked to green. The food slid out, into the arms of the robant. Soft chimes sounded to announce dinner.
"I hear it," Lester grated. He snapped off the scanner and got to his feet. "I suppose he'll come while we're eating."
"I can vid Frank and ask -"
"No. Might as well get it over with." Lester nodded impatiently to the robant. "All right. Put it down." His thin lips set in an angry line. "Damn it, don't dawdle! I want to get back to my work!"
Jill bit back the tears.
Little Gus came trailing into the house as they were finishing dinner.
Jill gave a cry of joy. "Gussie!" She ran to sweep him up in her arms. "I'm so glad to see you!"
"Watch out for my tiger," Gus muttered. He dropped his little gray kitten onto the rug and it rushed off, under the couch. "He's hiding."
Lester's eyes flickered as he studied the little boy and the tip of gray tail extending from under the couch.
"Why do you call it a tiger? It's nothing but an alley cat."
Gus looked hurt. He scowled. "He's a tiger. He's got stripes."
"Tigers are yellow and a great deal bigger. You might as well learn to classify things by their correct names."
"Lester, please -" Jill pleaded.
"Be quiet," her husband said crossly. "Gus is old enough to shed childish illusions and develop a realistic orientation. What's wrong with the psych testers? Don't they straighten this sort of nonsense out?"
Gus ran and snatched up his tiger. "You leave him alone!"
Lester contemplated the kitten. A strange, cold smile played about his lips. "Come down to the lab some time, Gus. We'll show you lots of cats. We use them in our research. Cats, guinea pigs, rabbits -"
"Lester!" Jill gasped. "How can you!"
Lester laughed thinly. Abruptly he broke off and returned to his desk. "No
w clear out of here. I have to finish these reports. And don't forget to tell Gus."
Gus got excited. "Tell me what?" His cheeks flushed. His eyes sparkled. "What is it? Something for me? A secret?"
Jill's heart was like lead. She put her hand heavily on the child's shoulder. "Come on, Gus. We'll go sit out in the garden and I'll tell you. Bring – bring your tiger."
A click. The emergency vidsender lit up. Instantly Lester was on his feet. "Be quiet!" He ran to the sender, breathing rapidly. "Nobody speak!"
Jill and Gus paused at the door. A confidential message was sliding from the slot into the dish. Lester grabbed it up and broke the seal. He studied it intently.
"What is it?" Jill asked. "Anything bad?"
"Bad?" Lester's face shone with a deep inner glow. "No, not bad at all." He glanced at his watch. "Just time. Let's see, I'll need -"
"What is it?"
"I'm going on a trip. I'll be gone two or three weeks. Rexor IV is into the charted area."
"Rexor IV? You're going there?" Jill clasped her hands eagerly. "Oh, I've always wanted to see an old system, old ruins and cities! Lester, can I come along? Can I go with you? We never took a vacation, and you always promised -"
Lester Herrick stared at his wife in amazement. "You?" he said. "You go along?" He laughed unpleasantly. "Now hurry and get my things together. I've been waiting for this a long time." He rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. "You can keep the boy here until I'm back. But no longer. Rexor IV! I can hardly wait!"
"You have to make allowances," Frank said. "After all, he's a scientist."
"I don't care," Jill said. "I'm leaving him. As soon as he gets back from Rexor IV. I've made up my mind."
Her brother was silent, deep in thought. He stretched his feet out, onto the lawn of the little garden. "Well, if you leave him you'll be free to marry again. You're still classed as sexually adequate, aren't you?"
Jill nodded firmly. "You bet I am. I wouldn't have any trouble. Maybe I can find somebody who likes children."
"You think a lot of children," Frank perceived. "Gus loves to visit you. But he doesn't like Lester. Les needles him."
"I know. This past week has been heaven, with him gone." Jill patted her soft blonde hair, blushing prettily. "I've had fun. Makes me feel alive again."
"When'll he be back?"
"Any day." Jill clenched her small fists. "We've been married five years and every year it's worse. He's so – so inhuman. Utterly cold and ruthless. Him and his work. Day and night."
"Les is ambitious. He wants to get to the top in his field." Frank lit a cigarette lazily. "A pusher. Well, maybe he'll do it. What's he in?"
"Toxicology. He works out new poisons for Military. He invented the copper sulphate skin-lime they used against Callisto."
"It's a small field. Now take me." Frank leaned contentedly against the wall of the house. "There are thousands of Clearance lawyers. I could work for years and never create a ripple. I'm content just to be. I do my job. I enjoy it."
"I wish Lester felt that way."
"Maybe he'll change."
"He'll never change," Jill said bitterly. "I know that, now. That's why I've made up my mind to leave him. He'll always be the same."
Lester Herrick came back from Rexor IV a different man. Beaming happily, he deposited his anti-grav suitcase in the arms of the waiting robant. "Thank you."
Jill gasped speechlessly. "Les! What -"
Lester removed his hat, bowing a little. "Good day, my dear. You're looking lovely. Your eyes are clear and blue. Sparkling like some virgin lake, fed by mountain streams." He sniffed. "Do I smell a delicious repast warming on the hearth?"
"Oh, Lester." Jill blinked uncertainly, faint hope swelling in her bosom. "Lester, what's happened to you? You're so – so different."
"Am I, my dear?" Lester moved about the house, touching things and sighing. "What a dear little house. So sweet and friendly. You don't know how wonderful it is to be here. Believe me."
"I'm afraid to believe it," Jill said.
"Believe what?"
"That you mean all this. That you're not the way you were. The way you've always been."
"What way is that?"
"Mean. Mean and cruel."
"I?" Lester frowned, rubbing his lip. "Hmm. Interesting." He brightened. "Well, that's all in the past. What's for dinner? I'm faint with hunger."
Jill eyed him uncertainly as she moved into the kitchen. "Anything you want, Lester. You know our stove covers the maximum select-list."
"Of course." Lester coughed rapidly. "Well, shall we try sirloin steak, medium, smothered in onions? With mushroom sauce. And white rolls. With hot coffee. Perhaps ice cream and apple pie for dessert."
"You never seemed to care much about food," Jill said thoughtfully.
"Oh?"
"You always said you hoped eventually they'd make intravenous intake universally applicable." She studied her husband intently. "Lester, what's happened?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Lester carelessly took his pipe out and lit it rapidly, somewhat awkwardly. Bits of tobacco drifted to the rug. He bent nervously down and tried to pick them up again. "Please go about your tasks and don't mind me. Perhaps I can help you prepare – that is, can I do anything to help?"
"No," Jill said. "I can do it. You go ahead with your work, if you want."
"Work?"
"Your research. In toxins."
"Toxins!" Lester showed confusion. "Well, for heaven's sake! Toxins. Devil take it!"
"What dear?"
"I mean, I really feel too tired, just now. I'll work later." Lester moved vaguely around the room. "I think I'll sit and enjoy being home again. Off that awful Rexor IV."
"Was it awful?"
"Horrible." A spasm of disgust crossed Lester's face. "Dry and dead. Ancient. Squeezed to a pulp by wind and sun. A dreadful place, my dear."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I always wanted to visit it."
"Heaven forbid!" Lester cried feelingly. "You stay right here, my dear. With me. The – the two of us." His eyes wandered around the room. "Two, yes. Terra is a wonderful planet. Moist and full of life." He beamed happily. "Just right."
"I don't understand it," Jill said.
"Repeat all the things you remember," Frank said. His robot pencil poised itself alertly. "The changes you've noticed in him. I'm curious."
"Why?"
"No reason. Go on. You say you sensed it right away? That he was different?"
"I noticed it at once. The expression on his face. Not that hard, practical look. A sort of mellow look. Relaxed. Tolerant. A sort of calmness."
"I see," Frank said. "What else?"
Jill peered nervously through the back door into the house. "He can't hear us, can he?"
"No. He's inside playing with Gus. In the living-room. They're Venusian otter-men today. Your husband built an otter slide down at his lab. I saw him unwrapping it."
"His talk."
"His what?"
The way he talks. His choice of words. Words he never used before. Whole new phrases. Metaphors. I never heard him use a metaphor in all our five years together. He said metaphors were inexact. Misleading. And -"
"And what?" The pencil scratched busily.
"And they're strange words. Old words. Words you don't hear any more."
"Archaic phraseology?" Frank asked tensely.
"Yes." Jill paced back and forth across the small lawn, her hands in the pockets of her plastic shorts. "Formal words. Like something -"
"Something out of a book?"
"Exactly! You've noticed it?"
"I noticed it." Frank's face was grim. "Go on."
Jill stopped pacing. "What's on your mind? Do you have a theory?"
"I want to know more facts."
She reflected. "He plays. With Gus. He plays and jokes. And he – he eats."
"Didn't he eat before?"
"Not like he does now. Now he loves food. He goes into the kitchen and tries endless c
ombinations. He and the stove get together and cook up all sorts of weird things."
"I thought he'd put on weight."
"He's gained ten pounds. He eats, smiles and laughs. He's constantly polite." Jill glanced away coyly. "He's even – romantic! He always said that was irrational. And he's not interested in his work. His research in toxins."
"I see." Frank chewed his lip. "Anything more?"
"One thing puzzles me very much. I've noticed it again and again."
"What is it?"
"He seems to have strange lapses of -"
A burst of laughter. Lester Herrick, eyes bright with merriment, came rushing out of the house, little Gus close behind.
"We have an announcement!" Lester cried.
"An announzelmen," Gus echoed.
Frank folded his notes up and slid them into his coat pocket. The pencil hurried after them. He got slowly to his feet. "What is it?"
"You make it," Lester said, taking little Gus's hand and leading him forward.
Gus's plump face screwed up in concentration. "I'm going to come live with you," he stated. Anxiously he watched Jill's expression. "Lester says I can. Can I? Can I, Aunt Jill?"
Her heart flooded with incredible joy. She glanced from Gus to Lester. "Do you – do you really mean it?" Her voice was almost inaudible.
Lester put his arm around her, holding her close to him. "Of course, we mean it," he said gently. His eyes were warm and understanding. "We wouldn't tease you, my dear."
"No teasing!" Gus shouted excitedly. "No more teasing!" He and Lester and Jill drew close together. "Never again!"
Frank stood a little way off, his face grim. Jill noticed him and broke away abruptly. "What is it?" she faltered. "Is anything -"
"When you're quite finished," Frank said to Lester Herrick, "I'd like you to come with me."
A chill clutched Jill's heart. "What is it? Can I come, too?"
Frank shook his head. He moved toward Lester ominously. "Come on, Herrick. Let's go. You and I are going to take a little trip."
The three Federal Clearance Agents took up positions a few feet from Lester Herrick, vibro-tubes gripped alertly.
Clearance Director Douglas studied Herrick for a long time. "You're sure?" he said finally.