An xt called stanley, p.16
An XT Called Stanley, page 16
“What are you having for dinner?” I asked him.
“I’m just having a milk shake.”
“A milk shake,” I said, looking at Jean disapprovingly.
She nodded agreement. “Stanley,” she said, “you shouldn’t eat all that junk food.”
The next day I got a call from Jean around ten-thirty. “Bob, could you come here?” she said. There was an urgency in her tone that made me run. When I got to the office I found two men, one standing right in front of Jean who was backed up against the wall. The men turned to me.
“What’s the problem?” I demanded.
“This doesn’t concern you,” the man nearest me said.
“They want to see Stanley,” Jean explained.
“I’m sorry, you can’t see him,” I said.
One of them advanced on me. “Now, look, we don’t want to see anyone get hurt. We just want to talk to Stanley Wright. Now, don’t give us a hard time.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You can’t see him.”
“Now, you don’t want to see your friend here get hurt,” he said, nodding toward Jean.
I broke my I.D. There was an alarm and a recorded voice announced that the police would be there in a moment. A man came on the office view screen and asked if it was a medical emergency.
“These men threatened Jean with physical force,” I said.
“All right,” the officer said. “‘No one is to leave the area. Everything you say will be recorded and can be used in evidence.”
“Can’t you take a joke?” the man nearest me said. “That was just a joke. Can’t you take a joke?”
I walked over to Jean. Max arrived.
“What’s going on?” he demanded.
“These men wanted to see Stanley,” I explained. “When I told them no they threatened Jean so I broke my I.D.”
“What’s the problem?” Max said, turning to the men.
“We didn’t threaten anybody,” one of them said. “We just came to see Stanley Wright. Somehow this gentleman got the impression we were making threats. We just want to talk with Stanley Wright.”
“Stanley is involved in an important project and he won’t be able to see anyone for several days.”
“Well, tell him to stay clear of the R and R Ranch. If he comes around there again and interferes with our employees we will have to take action against him.”
“I’ll give him the message,” Max said.
Two policemen arrived and took statements. They made it clear that they thought I was a fool to have broken my I.D.
“Did either of these men touch you in any way?” a policeman asked Jean.
“Breaking your I.D. is not something to be done lightly,” the policeman said, turning to me.
“I didn’t do it lightly,” I said fiercely. “If these guys come around here and make threats I’ll do it again.”
After fifteen minutes the police left with the two men. No action was taken against them. Max and I went to talk to Stanley. We found Sister Taylor in the computer room with Stanley.
“What’s going on?” Sister asked us.
“That’s what we want to find out,” Max said. “Stanley, what have you been up to? Two rather unsavory characters from the R and R Ranch came looking for you. Bob didn’t like their manners so he called the police. What’s going on?”
“What were their names?” Stanley asked.
“Albert and Douglas,” I said.
“Nicholas Albert and Mark Douglas?” Stanley asked.
“I think so,” I confirmed.
“I’ll take care of it,” Stanley said. “I’m sorry if they caused you any trouble.”
“What have you been up to?” Max repeated. “They said you were to leave the employees of the R and R Ranch alone.”
“Stanley,” Sister spoke up, “Those are prostitutes.”
“I know,” Stanley said.
“Don’t fool around with prostitutes,” Max said. “There are a lot of nasty characters around them and you don’t want to stir them up. If you’re going to get mixed up with prostitutes we’ll be forced to take your phone privilege away.”
“I’ll see that there’s no further trouble.”
“I don’t think you understand,” Max said. “These men who were just here, they’re not like most people you’ve met. They resort to violence.”
“I understand.”
“Bob,” Max said, turning to me, “I want you to go over the tapes of Stanley’s calls and bring me all the calls that pertain to this.”
“And in the meantime,” Max said, turning back to Stanley, “you stay out of this or no phone. Understand?”
Stanley nodded. Max left us.
“You shouldn’t be involved with prostitutes,” Sister said.
“Why not?” Stanley asked.
“Because they defy God’s law.”
“I know how they’re treated,” Stanley said. “They are degraded, beaten, injected with drugs. They have no I.D.s. They have no police protection. They can’t even leave for Earth.”
“That’s what they deserve.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do,” Sister said.
“You don’t know them.”
“And you do. You believe their lies.”
“I admit they’re not always truthful, but I wonder how truthful any of us would be if we were in their position.”
“They’re bad, Stanley, Don’t get mixed up with them.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late,” Stanley said.
Some of Stanley’s former tutors came in to have lunch together, so we dropped the subject. When Jean came in she took me aside. “Thanks for coming to my rescue,” she said. “I’m glad you broke your I.D. for me.”
(Author’s note: In recounting the events surrounding Stanley’s contact with us, I have tried as much as possible to recount the events as I saw them at the time. In this note I step outside this pattern to tell what happened to Nicholas Albert and Mark Douglas. Two days after the events I have just described they were admitted to the New Hope Hospital with burning rashes on the right side of their bodies. The rashes cleared up as soon as the men returned to Earth. Twenty-three men were stricken with these rashes. The common factor among them was their occupation. The rashes puzzled Dr. Norman, a New Hope dermatologist, but since the rashes cleared up when the men left New Hope, he simply filed the cases. I became aware of the cases a few years ago when the Federal Security Agency gave me access to their files on the Sagittarius project and the exhaustive follow up studies which were conducted by several agencies. The medical studies blamed everything from hypertension to ingrown toenails on Stanley’s presence. The well documented rash cases were the only cases which the Federal Security Agency accepted as genuine. The conclusion of their experts was that Stanley had caused these rashes by hypnotic suggestion. )
That evening I managed to wrest defeat from the jaws of victory. Jean and I were back at my apartment and she called me into the bedroom. When I kissed her on the bed I realized she wasn’t wearing anything under her dress. I know it sounds crazy but it made me angry. I thought she was playing with me. I simply stood up not knowing what to say.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“You know,” I said.
“No, I don’t.”
“Stop playing with me,” I said and went out to the living room.
A little later I went back. I knew I’d hurt her feelings.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
She was putting on her shoes. “You don’t want me,” she said and rushed for the door. I ran out after her and caught her in the hall.
“I want you more than anything,” I cried. “It’s just that I don’t want to fool around with you. I want you for life or not at all.”
“I’m sorry,” I added. “I know I’m supposed to be cool but I can’t be.”
“So now you’re in charge of guarding my virginity. You go to bed with everybody but me.”
“I’m as much a virgin as you are.”
“Don’t kid about it.”
“Would I kid about it? Jean, you’re the only one I’ve had my hands on.”
“What about Karen Miller?”
“I never laid a hand on her. I swear it. I took her to that dinner and afterwards we went back to her apartment and she changed into a robe and I did nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had a drink and left. I told Stanley about it, you can ask him.”
“Bob, you have a stud rating.”
“Do you know why? Because of you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Just after I started going with you one of the raters asked me for a date and I turned her down. I told her that I was going with you and I didn’t want to date her behind your back. So as a joke or for being faithful to you she gave me a stud rating. Ask Stanley. I didn’t even know about it until a week ago.”
Jean just looked at me for a moment as we walked.
“I haven’t made it with anyone,” I went on. “The night after I first asked you to marry me and you told me to get lost I went over to the R and R Ranch to find a whore.”
“You didn’t?”
“I did. She took all my money and gave me nothing. Nothing. Then I went to a bar where I picked up a girl who wanted me to fight with her boyfriend.”
“What happened?”
“He hit me in the stomach and I walked out. She wasn’t worth fighting for.”
“What if it had been me?” Jean asked, smiling.
“If it had been you I would have flattened you for being there.”
We were approaching her dorm. Jean stopped for a moment.
“What about Sara Morse?” she asked. “Stanley showed me what you wrote about her.”
“Dr. Morse,” I laughed. “You think I went to bed with her? I never even ate with her.”
For a moment Jean didn’t say anything. “You have kissed a girl before me?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said heatedly. “But what if I hadn’t? Then I wouldn’t be worthy of you. I see. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Now you know the truth about me you don’t like it. I’m supposed to have made it with hundreds of girls and now be willing to give them all up for you. Well now you know. I told Stanley you’d never respect me if you knew the truth.”
“Bob…” she started.
“Well, now you know,” I shouted. “What am I supposed to do, go out and score with someone else to prove I’m worthy?”
“Bob,” she tried to speak again.
“Don’t worry,” I said, holding up my hands. “This is just a temporary aberration. It’s just that I want to marry you.”
“Well, you’re not asking very nicely.”
“No, I guess I’m not. I’m sorry to be such a crashing bore.” I turned and walked away. It was one of those crazy moments when I was feeling so sorry for myself that I didn’t want Jean to spoil it by being the slightest bit nice to me. I went outside and walked in the dark, but an encounter with a couple making out drove me underground to the vacant level, level one. When I got back to my apartment I found I had had a call from my mother. It was late but I knew she didn’t go to bed early. I returned her call.
“Hi, Bob,” she said when she saw me. “How are things in New Hope?”
“Fine,” I said.
“I got a call from the Odells.”
I nodded.
“Is something in the wind?”
“I asked Jean to marry me, but so far she’s said no.”
“Oh, Bob, that’s what I was afraid of. You don’t want to get married now.”
“I do.”
“But you’re so young. You should have some fun first.”
“I want to have my fun afterward.”
“Bob, I’m sorry to have to say this, but you don’t know the first thing about women.”
I didn’t have an answer.
“How many women have you known?” Mother asked.
“I only want Jean.”
“Bob, don’t you see how foolish this is. You don’t just marry the first girl that comes along.”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t have any experience.”
“Mother, I don’t want experience. I want Jean.”
“All right, live together if you have to, but don’t get married. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“You don’t understand. If I lose Jean it’ll hurt more than anything.”
“You’re young. Most people have several loves in their life.”
“I’m not most people,” I said fiercely.
Mother was momentarily at a loss for words. “I suppose you’re the first man in her life,” she said with a note of sarcasm.
I shrugged.
“I’ll bet she gave you the ‘you’re the first man’ routine?”
I was getting angry but I said nothing.
“Well, did she?” Mother insisted.
“Yes.”
“Bob, that’s no reason for getting married. You should get to know lots of girls. Then you’ll know what you’re doing.”
I just sat there looking back at my mother. I thought of angry things to say but I said nothing. Mother had the television on low in the next room. I guess she’d been watching an old movie. In the silence we could hear a song. A man was singing with an Irish accent:
“More I canna wish you than to wish you find your love, your own true love, this day.”*
The words were hopelessly sentimental and we were both embarrassed. “I’ll turn that off,” Mother said, going off for a moment. When she came back she looked resigned. I think she realized the situation was hopeless.
“When were you thinking of getting married?” Mother asked.
“She hasn’t said she will. Who knows, she may even end up agreeing with you. Tonight I told her that I hadn’t had any experience with women. Maybe she’ll decide to throw me back in the pond.”
“She won’t do that.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Mark my words, she won’t do that. She’s not going to let you go.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Almost as soon as my mother had clicked off, Stanley called.
“Well, you should be happy,” I said. “Now Jean knows just how great a stud I am.”
“I know,” Stanley said cheerfully. “I was talking to her earlier this evening. She asked me all about it.”
“What did you tell her?”
“Just what you told her,” Stanley said defensively. “That she was the first woman in your life.”
“Now she’ll never respect me.”
Stanley shook his head. “You remind me of a saying attributed to Groucho Marx. He said he’d never belong to a club that would have him for a member.”
“What?”
“Why don’t you let Jean decide for herself who she respects and who she doesn’t? Did she say she didn’t respect you?” Stanley asked.
“No, she didn’t have to.”
“Why did you run away from her?”
“I didn’t run away,” I asserted.
Stanley just sat there looking back at me.
“Because I’m crazy,” I admitted. “I was a fool. She was ready to go to bed with me and I made a scene. I hurt her feelings and scared her off. What the hell is wrong with me? I’m my own worst enemy.”
“You were afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Most men are afraid of sex at first. You were afraid it wouldn’t be perfect.” Stanley waited for his words to sink in. “But you have nothing to fear,” he continued. “If it’s not perfect at first you’ll have years and years to try and get it right.”
I smiled.
“Bob, you think that everyone but you is having a marvelous sex life, but it simply isn’t true. Most of the people here are having a miserable time and like you they think everyone else is having a great time.”
“How do you know so much about sex?” I asked.
“I admit my first-hand knowledge is somewhat limited,” Stanley said with a smile. “But I’ve talked to hundreds of people. I analyze and correlate all information I receive to gauge its reliability. So it didn’t take me long to realize that men and, to a lesser extent, women greatly exaggerate their sexual experience. I found men wouldn’t be truthful with me until I told them about my own sexual problems.” Stanley smiled at me. “Naturally, I couldn’t use that approach with you.”
I laughed. “What about women?” I asked.
“I have a girl friend who sometimes helps me. Jean knows her. Some people will tell her things they’d never tell me.”
“Who is she?”
“Judy,” Stanley answered. “She’s like me. She only exists on the view screens of New Hope.” At this point there was a buzzing sound and Stanley got up and walked over to his desk to turn it off. “Time flies,” he said, looking at his watch. “But you see I really do know about sex and I think you’re going to have a wonderful sex life. I think you’re very lucky. And don’t sell yourself short. Jean’s very lucky to have you.”
“You think she’ll marry me?”
“What do you think she was trying to tell you tonight?”
After talking with Stanley I wrote Jean a note and sent her flowers. The next day when I went to the office Jean was out but the flowers I’d sent were on her desk.
“Jean went to rescue a lost mathematician,” Sally Haskins explained.
“Lost mathematician?” I asked.
“Yah, some guy who came up to talk with Stanley. He called in twenty minutes ago and said he was having trouble finding us. Jean went off to get him.”
Ten minutes later Jean stopped by my office. She had Dr. Harold Brown in tow. She introduced us and went back to the office. Dr. Harold Brown was an assistant professor of mathematics at Rutgers. He had come up to New Hope to talk with Stanley about number theory.
“When I learned of the existence of this alien computer, I was very curious.” Dr. Brown explained. “I figured number theory is universal. They must be able to tell us something we don’t know.”
“You’re welcome to talk to Stanley,” I said, “but he hasn’t given us any scientific information. By the way, how did you find out about Stanley?”
“Dr. Harvey told me. He arranged for my travel.”
“The Federal Security Agency paid your way up?”
