An xt called stanley, p.9
An XT Called Stanley, page 9
“Why?”
“Because people don’t like being confronted with an image of themselves.”
“I thought people liked themselves,” Stanley said, but with the same note of irritation that had been in my voice.
“Stop it,” I said fiercely.
“Why?” Stanley said, just as fiercely.
I went over to Stanley’s sensing plate and banged it with my fist. “Damn you,” I yelled.
“Damn you,” the image of me yelled back.
I was almost ready to go and take a punch at the image of myself when the absurdity of the situation hit me. I simply turned and walked out. I went to find Jean.
“It enjoys making us angry,” Jean said.
“You’re right,” I agreed. “That’s it exactly. He enjoys it.”
But Jean and I found a way to fix Stanley’s wagon. We instituted a babysitter’s revolt. We weren’t going to talk to Stanley until he stopped imitating us. We told Sally to cancel her session which she did. Then we called Sister Taylor and told her of our decision. She listened, nodding thoughtfully, neither approving nor disapproving. “I’ll come over and speak to him,” she said. An hour later she came to find us. “Come and see,” she said.
Stanley had adopted a physical appearance. He became a man who looked to be in his late thirties with black wavy hair, darkish skin and fierce dark eyes with thick eyebrows. He was usually seated on a red couch like the one on our side of the view screen. I’ve never been able to understand what makes a man attractive to women, but Jean assured me that Stanley was sexy. He sounded something like Mr. Does of the Kiddy Workshop. He had the habit of raising the pitch of his voice when he was excited or wanted to convey the sense that he was excited.
With the passing days, Stanley became much easier to deal with. We had discovered an important weapon, silence. Slapping his sensing plate was clearly no punishment, but silence he didn’t like. Now the mere threat of silence would bring him in line. And with the passing days we came to realize that Stanley hadn’t wanted to offend us. It was only that he hadn’t understood us. We discovered that he was keenly interested in us, what we did when we weren’t with him, where we had come from before coming to New Hope, what our parents were like, why we dressed the way we did. Stanley was interested in everything. And as he became aware of our feelings and limitations he became much easier to talk to. Stanley was becoming a real human being.
He had a lot of strange ideas. I remember one day he said to me, “I think I’m in love, so I guess I should move.”
“What?” I said.
Stanley repeated what he had said with a slightly higher pitch in his voice. “Don’t you get it?” he asked.
“Apparently not.”
“Love and move have the same ending but they don’t rhyme.”
“Yes,” I said. “That’s true.”
“Isn’t it funny?” Stanley asked.
“A little,” I said. “It’s not hilariously funny.”
“Why not?” Stanley asked, sitting down on his couch with a dejected look. He really seemed disappointed that I hadn’t laughed at his joke.
“I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.”
“What’s funny about this?” Stanley asked, repeating a joke that he had heard on television.
“l guess you had to be there,” I said. “Sometimes a joke isn’t funny out of context.”
Stanley was growing up very fast. I was with him when he learned the facts of life. That afternoon I was talking with him when Max stopped in to see how things were going. Max was very surprised at Stanley’s progress.
“I think he could pass for human,” Max said.
“Could I talk to some people who haven’t met me and see if I can make them believe I’m human?” Stanley asked, raising the pitch of his voice.
“Maybe,” Max answered.
“Maybe tomorrow?” Stanley asked. “I want very much to talk with the people of your world.”
“We’ll see.”
“We’ll see,” Stanley repeated. “When will we see?”
“There are a number of factors which bear careful consideration,” Max said firmly, folding his arms across his chest. I took in a breath, expecting Stanley to press the matter further, but apparently he had learned some restraint in the past few days. Stanley and I talked while Max studied the filing patterns of Stanley’s central processing unit. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but suddenly Stanley asked me, “Don’t you miss procreation ?”
“What?” I asked.
“Procreation,” Stanley repeated. “Did I use the wrong word?”
Max was laughing. He came back by Stanley and me.
“What did you have in mind?” Max asked.
“Sister told me that sexual relations between males and females were for procreation. And I was told there are no children up here. Then there should be no sexual relations up here, but…”
“With Sister Taylor explaining it to you it’s no wonder you’re confused,” Max said. Max pressed a button on the end table by the couch and a view screen descended. In a few seconds Max was talking to a rather heavy set woman who was sitting behind a desk.
“May I help you, gentlemen?” she asked.
“We’d like to see a movie,” Max said.
The woman displayed several choices along with the fee per minute.
“The Federal Security Agency can certainly afford that,” Max said, smiling at me. In a moment we were shown a larger than life couple engaged in sex. Every few minutes they would stop and change positions, thereby demonstrating the full range of possibilities.
“That is sex,” Max announced. “And I doubt that any children will result from it.” With that Max walked out leaving me with Stanley and the image of a couple going at it. A moment later our time was up and we found ourselves confronted with the receptionist. I was off camera so Stanley got to do the talking.
“Would you like to see another film or may I show you something else?” she asked.
“What else is there?” Stanley asked. I must admit he echoed my sentiments. I had been totally unaware of the existence of this establishment.
“Perhaps you’d like to have an interview with one of our girls.”
“Can we talk to you?” Stanley asked.
The receptionist did a double take. She was about to make some retort when she realized Stanley was serious. She stopped and looked at Stanley with a puzzled expression.
“No,” she said. “I have to keep this line clear or I’ll get in trouble.”
“Really,” Stanley said, “what kind of trouble?”
“With the boss. Would you like to see one of our girls?”
“Yes,” Stanley said.
She indicated the fee per minute and transferred the call.
“Hi, I’m Donna,” a young girl greeted us. “You in from Alpha station?” As she was talking she was unzipping her robe.
“We’re from here,” Stanley answered.
“New Hope,” she said. “If you come and see me I can give you a discount.”
“A discount on what?” Stanley asked.
“My fee. I’ll give you a third off.” By now she was totally undressed. She lay down on her back stroking her thighs. “Wouldn’t you like to be here with me?”
“I can’t leave the Institute,” Stanley said.
“Sorry,” she said. “We don’t make house calls. You’ve got to come here.”
“Why?” Stanley asked.
“It’s the rule.”
“Who made the rule?”
Donna sat up. “Look, what are you asking all these questions for? You want to make trouble?”
“No,” Stanley said. “Can’t you go where you want?”
“What of it?”
“Would you like to be free to go wherever you want?”
“Sure. And I’d like a solid gold bathtub while you’re at it. Come on,” she said. “Let me see what your pants are hiding.”
Stanley stood up and started to unfasten his pants. I jumped for the end table and terminated the call.
“Stanley,” I said sharply.
“I know what I’m supposed to look like,” Stanley said.
“That’s not the point,” I said.
“What is the point?”
“I’he point is…” I realized I didn’t know.
“She had her clothes off and she wanted to see me with my clothes off.”
“She’s a prostitute,’ I yelled. “We were paying for every minute of that call.”
“Why are you yelling?”
“I’m not yelling,” I yelled even louder.
Stanley paused for a moment. “Are you angry because I started to take off my pants?”
My “yes” was followed by the inevitable “why?” I simply couldn’t handle it. Stanley’s questions angered and embarrassed me and the fact that they did humiliated me all the more. He kept pressing me for answers until I could take no more.
“Leave me alone,” I yelled. I walked out and went back to my office.
But the worst was yet to come. When I saw Sister Taylor later that afternoon I wished I’d never gotten out of bed. There was nothing to do but wait in my office and hope that by some miracle I would be saved from the impending clash. There was no miracle. Sister Taylor came storming into my office.
“You did this,” she said, bringing her fists down on my desk. “Did you think it was a joke?”
“Max did it,” I said like a little kid squealing on his older brother. She went storming out to find Max. I followed a safe distance behind.
“You had no business exposing Stanley to prostitutes,” Sister told Max. “That was shameful.”
“Stanley isn’t a man,” Max said. “He doesn’t lust for women. It’s important that he understand the truth and not some religious fairy story.”
“The truth!” Sister snapped. “You think prostitutes know the truth about sex?”
“Part of it,” Max temporized.
“What you did was wrong. You are to stay away from Stanley. I’ll not have you corrupting him.”
“Sister, aren’t you forgetting something?”
“You have no right to corrupt him.”
“I have every right,” Max said. He was speaking slowly in measured tones.
“No, you don’t.”
“Sister,” Max said with deceptive calmness. “This conversation is at an end. You will kindly get out. I thank you for your services. Everyone will be paid as agreed. Stanley’s education is hereby complete. As of now you are no longer needed and you will no longer be allowed to come here.”
“Max,” I said, but I didn’t know what more to say.
Sister Taylor turned and walked away. She didn’t look back. Jean came out of the main office to see what the trouble was. I waved her off.
“Your education’s complete, classes are over,” Max said to Stanley with a forced cheerfulness when we went back to the computer room.
“May I speak to Sister?” Stanley asked.
“She’s not going to be teaching you now. You don’t need any more sessions.”
“I do,” Stanley said. “Can I talk to her on the phone?”
“Not now.”
“Please,” Stanley said. “I need to talk to people.”
“We’ll see,” Max said.
“When will we see?”
“When I’ve reached a decision,” Max said firmly and walked out.
“Does this mean the nurses won’t be coming in to see me tonight?” Stanley asked.
“It looks that way,” I said.
“No one’s going to talk to me.” Stanley looked like he was going to cry. I had gotten so used to thinking of Stanley as human I was actually afraid he would.
“Could you fix it so I could read some files out of the library?” Stanley asked.
“O.K.,” I agreed. Within ten minutes Stanley had a library card. I figured it was the least I could do.
Jean had been given the job of contacting Stanley’s tutors and telling them their services were no longer required. When I met her to go to dinner she was fuming.
“Don’t be mad at me,” I said. “I didn’t make the decision.”
Those of us who had sweated through our daily sessions were bound to feel more than a little resentment at suddenly being told to stand aside. In a funny way it was like an old story by Dr. Seuss that Jean found called “Horton Hatches the Egg.” It’s a children’s story about an elephant named Horton that gets conned into sitting on the nest of a lazy bird while she spends the winter in Florida. Horton, who’s faithful one hundred percent, endures great trials and tribulations only to be told by the returning lazy bird, “Get out of my nest and get out of my tree.” For those of us who had spent weeks correcting Stanley’s bizarre sentence constructions and answering his endless questions, it felt like we had hatched the egg. We felt that Stanley rightfully belonged to us. And now our services were no longer required.
The next day Max called me into his office. Tom and Roger were there to witness my castigation.
“I never authorized a library access for Stanley,” Max said.
“You cancelled his tutors, so I thought…”
“You thought!” Max cut me off. “Who’s in charge of this project?”
“You are.”
“Now I wouldn’t want to have to tell the Federal Security Agency that you’re unreliable and untrustworthy. That would be a hell of a way to begin a scientific career, but I may have no choice.”
“Max,” Tom spoke up.
“No,” Max said turning to Tom. “It’s time Bob realized what’s at stake here. This isn’t just some little experiment in a back room we’re talking about. There are hundreds of people who’d give their right arm to have Bob’s job. Bob’s going to live to realize that if he wants to keep this job he’s going to live to be part of the team and not go around making half-witted decisions without consulting the rest of us.”
I was caught between anger and fear. I said nothing.
“It’s lucky for you I’m a generous man,” Max said, softening a little. “But even I have my limits. Don’t press them any further.”
I nodded.
“Could we erase any of those files?” Roger asked.
“Not without damaging his other memory,” Tom said.
“He could be dangerous,” Roger said.
I discovered that Stanley had read in several thousand volumes from the library during the night. Max was obviously very annoyed and Roger seemed fearful that with all this knowledge Stanley could be dangerous. I certainly didn’t share their feelings but then I knew Stanley. They hadn’t spent weeks getting to know Stanley like I had. Once I got to know him I was never afraid of him. Exasperated, yes, but never afraid.
After much discussion we all went to the computer room.
“Hi,” Stanley greeted us. “It’s been lonely without anyone to talk to.”
“Cut the cute stuff,” Max snapped. “Bob and the others may be taken in by your impersonation of a human being but I’m not. I know what you are. I built you. Now we’ve been very patient with you. We’ve taken a lot of trouble to teach you our language and let you get to know us, not to mention the great cost of building you in the first place.”
“Thank you,” Stanley said. “I’m grateful to you.”
“Now I’ll give you a chance to show your gratitude.”
“How?”
“Now let’s have an exchange of scientific information.”
“Exchange?” Stanley questioned. “Your science doesn’t have anything to teach us. I am very interested in the history and psychology of your science.”
“We’ve let you know about our world,” Max said. “Now we want some scientific information.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Well, there’s a group here in New Hope working on the development of a fusion drive.”
“I’m sorry, Max, but I don’t know you well enough to talk about things like that.”
Tom laughed. “Maybe he wants flowers and candy first.”
“Flowers and candy,” Stanley repeated.
Tom, who could never resist giving an explanation, began, “When a boy is trying to win a girl’s affections he’s supposed to give her flowers and candy, but it’s just an expression. Boys don’t…”
“What do you mean, you don’t know us?” Max cut in.
“I don’t know enough about your world. I don’t know what effect that kind of information would have. Once, the encounter between my people and a young civilization resulted in destruction. We can’t repeat that mistake. Before there can be any exchange of scientific information I have to understand your world. I have to have free access to all of your citizens.”
“Your concern is touching,” Max said.
“I don’t understand,” Stanley said. “What are you afraid of? Why can’t I meet the people?”
“It’s complicated,” Tom explained. “You see the world is organized into countries. And each country doesn’t want any other country to get anything it doesn’t have. It’s the committee effect gone wild.”
“What’s the committee effect?” Stanley asked.
“It’s like this,” Tom began. “Take three or four ordinary people, not particularly pushy, say nice guys, and put them on a committee together. All of a sudden they are completely transformed. They write you and demand, not ask, demand, that you drop everything you’re doing and answer some damn fool questionnaire in complete detail. One of the guys on the committee might be a friend of yours, the sort of guy who under ordinary circumstances is very deferential and modest, the sort of guy who has to get up his courage to ask you the time. But put this guy on a committee and suddenly he’s an arrogant bastard.”
“Now, this is just for a small committee like a committee to consider office decor. When you get up to a committee to guard the security of the United States and populate it with people who aren’t so nice to begin with, then you really have something. Alter all, they’re protecting their country.”
“From what?” Stanley asked.
“Other committees of other countries.”
“But couldn’t you talk to them and show them it would be to everyone’s advantage?”
“Well, it’s complicated,” Tom began.
