A FEW MINUTES LATER Jill reported to Jubal’s study. Anne was there,seated and enveloped in the long white robe of her guild; she glanced at Jill,said nothing. Jill found a chair and kept quiet, as Jubal was at his desk anddictating to Dorcas; he did not appear to notice Jill’s arrival and went ondictating:

　　.-from under the sprawled body, soaking one corner of the rug and seepingout beyond it in a spreading dark red pool on the tiled hearth, where it wasattracting the attention of two unemployed flies. Miss Simpson clutched at hermouth. .Dear me!’ she said in a distressed small voice, .Daddy’s favorite rug!

　　. . . and Daddy, too, I do believe.’ End of chapter, Dorcas, and end of firstinstallment. Mail it off. Git.“Dorcas stood up and left, taking along her shorthand machine, and noddingand smiling to Jill as she did so. Jubal said, .Where’s Mike?“.In his room,“ answered Gillian, .dressing. He’ll be along soon.“.’Dressing’?“ Jubal repeated peevishly. .I didn’t say the party wasformal.“.But he has to get dressed.“.Why? It makes no never-mind to me whether you kids wear skin or fleecelinedovercoats-and it’s a warm day. Chase him in here.“.Please, Jubal. He’s got to learn how to behave. I’m trying so hard to trainhim.“.Hmmph! You’re trying to force on him your own narrow-minded, middleclass, Bible Belt morality. Don’t think I haven’t been watching.“.I have not! I haven’t concerned myself with his morals; I’ve simply beenteaching him necessary customs.“.Customs, morals-is there a difference? Woman, do you realize what you aredoing? Here, by the grace of God and an inside straight, we have apersonality untouched by the psychotic taboos of our tribe-.—and you want toturn him into a carbon copy of every fourth-rate conformist in this frightenedland! Why don’t you go whole hog? Get him a brief case and make him carryit wherever he goes-make him feel shame if he doesn’t have it.“.I’m not doing anything of the sort! I’m just trying to keep him out of trouble.

　　It’s for his own good.“Jubal snorted. .That’s the excuse they gave the tomcat just before hisoperation.“.Oh!“ Jill stopped and appeared to be counting ten. Then she said formallyand blealdy, .This is your house, Doctor Harshaw, and we are in your debt. Ifyou will excuse me, I will fetch Michael at once.“ She got up to leave.

　　.Hold it, Jill.“.Sir?“.Sit back down-and for God’s sake quit trying to be as nasty as I am; youdon’t have my years of practice. Now let me get something straight: you arenot in my debt. You can’t be. Impossible-because I never do anything I don’twant to do. Nor does anyone, but in my case I am always aware of it. Soplease don’t invent a debt that does not exist, or before you know it you willbe trying to feel gratitude-and that is the treacherous first step downward tocomplete moral degradation. You grok that? Or don’t you?“Jill bit her lip, then grinned. .I’m not sure I know what .grok’ means.“.Nor do I. But I intend to go on taking lessons from Mike until I do. But I wasspeaking dead seriously. Gratitude is a euphemism for resentment.

　　Resentment from most people I do not mind-but from pretty little girls it isdistasteful to me.“.Why, Jubal, I don’t resent you-that’s silly.“.I hope you don’t... but you certainly will if you don’t root out of your mind thisdelusion that you are indebted to me. The Japanese have five different waysto say .thank you’-and every one of them translates literally as resentment, invarious degrees. Would that English had the same built-in honesty on thispoint! Instead, English is capable of defining sentiments that the humannervous system is quite incapable of experiencing. .Gratitude,’ for example.“.Jubal, you’re a cynical old man. I do feel grateful to you and I shall go onfeeling grateful.“.And you are a sentimental young girl. That makes us a perfectcomplementary pair. Hmm - let’s run over to Atlantic City for a weekend ofillicit debauchery, just us two.“.Why, Jubal!“.You see how deep your gratitude goes when I attempt to draw on it?“.Oh. I’m ready. How soon do we leave?“.Hmmmphtt We should have left forty years ago. Shut up. The second point Iwant to make is that you are right; the boy does indeed have to learn humancustoms. He must be taught to take off his shoes in a mosque and to wearhis hat in a synagogue and to cover his nakedness when taboo requires it, orour tribal shamans will burn him for deviationism. But, child, by the myriaddeceptive aspects of Ahrilflafl, don’t brainwash him in the process. Make surehe is cynical about each part of it.“.Uh, I’m not sure how to go about that, Jubal. Well, Mike just doesn’t seem tohave any cynicism in him.“.So? Yes. Well, I’ll take a band in it. What’s keeping him? Shouldn’t he bedressed by now?“.I’ll go see.“.In a moment. Jill, I explained to you why I had not been anxious to accuseanyone of kidnapping Ben . . . and the reports I have had since Serve tosupport the probability that that was a tactically correct decision. If Ben isbeing unlawfully detained (to put it at its sweetest), at least we have notcrowded the opposition into getting rid of the evidence by getting rid o~ Ben.

　　If he is alive he stands a chance of staying alive. But I took 0ther steps theIlrst night you were here. Do you know your Bible?“.Uh, not very well.“.It merits study, it contains very practical advice for most emergencies. .-every one that doeth evil hateth the light-. John something or other, Jesusspeaking to Nicodeus. I have been expecting at any moment an attempt toget Mike away from us, for it didn’t seem likely that you had managed tocover your tracks perfectly. And if they do try? Well, this is a lonely place andwe haven’t any heavy artillery. But there is one weapon that might balk them.

　　Light. The glaring spotlight of publicity. So I made some phone calls andarranged for any ruckus here to have publicity. Not just a little publicity thatthe administration might be able to hush up, but great gobs of publicityworldwide and all at once. The details do not matter-where and how thecameras are mounted and what line of sight linkages have been rigged, Imean. But if a fight breaks out here, it will be picked up by three networksand, at the same time, a number of hold for release messages will bedelivered to a wide spread of V.I.P.s, all of whom would like very much tocatch our Honorable Secretary General with his pants down.“Harshaw frowned. .The weakness in this defense is that I can’t maintain itindefinitely. Truthfully, when I set it up, my worry was to set up fast enough-Iexpected whatever popped’ to pop inside of twenty four hours. Now my worryis reversed and I think we are going to have to force some action quicklywhile I can still keep a spotlight on us.“.What sort of action, Jubal?“.I don’t know. I’ve been fretting about it the past three days, to the pointwhere I can’t enjoy my food. But you gave me a glitn1Uefl0~ of a newapproach when you told me that remarkable story about what happenedwhen they tried to grab you two in Ben’s apartment.“.I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Jubal. But I didn’t think anybody wouldbelieve me and I must say that it makes me feel good that you do believeme.“.I didn’t say I believed you.“.What? But you-.

　　.I think you were telling the truth, Jill. But a dream IS a true experience of asort and so is a hypnotic delusion. But what happens in this room during thenext half hour will be seen by a Fair Witness and by cameras which are“ heleaned forward and pressed a button. .rolling right now. I don’t think Annecan be hypnotized when she’s on duty and I’ll lay long odds that camerascan’t be. We should be able to find out what kind of truth we’re dealing withafterwhich we should be able to decide how to go about forcing the powersthat-be to drop the other shoe . . . and maybe figure a way that will help Benat the same time. Go get Mike.“Mike’s delay was not mysterious, merely worrisome to him. He had managedto tie his left shoestring to his right-then had stood up, tripped himself, fallenflat, and, in so doing, jerked the knots almost hopelessly tight. He had spentthe rest of the time analysing his predicament, concluding correctly why hehad failed, and slowly, slowly, slowly getting the snarl untied and the stringscorrectly tied, one bow to each shoe, unlinked. He had not been aware thathis dressing had taken long; he had simply been troubled that he had failedto repeat correctly something which Jill had already taught him. Heconfessed his failure abjectly to her even though he had repaired it by thetime she came to fetch him.

　　She soothed and reassured him, combed his hair, and herded him in to seeJubal. Harshaw looked up. .Hi, son. Sit down.“.Hi, Jubal,“ Valentine Michael Smith answered gravely, sat down- waited. Jillhad to rid herself of the impression that Smith had bowed deeply, when infact he had not even nodded.

　　Harshaw put aside a hush-mike and said, .Well, boy what have youlearned today?“Smith smiled happily, then answered-as always with a slight pause. .I havetoday learned to do a one-and-a-half gainer. That is a jumping, a dive, forentering our water by-.

　　.I know, I saw you doing it. But you splashed. Keep your toes pointed, yourknees straight, and your feet together.“Smith looked unhappy. .I rightly did not it do?“.You did it very rightly, for a first time. Watch how Dorcas does it. Hardly aripple in the water.“Smith considered this slowly. .The water groks Dorcas. It cherishes him.“.’Her.’ Dorcas is a .her,’ not a .him.’“.’Her,’ . Smith corrected. .Then my speaking was false? I have read inWebster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, ThirdEdition, published in Springfield, Massachusetts, that the masculine genderincludes the feminine gender in speaking. In Hagworth’s Law of Contracts,Fifth Edition, Chicago, Illinois, 1978, on page 1012, it says-.

　　.Hold it,“ Harshaw said hastily. .The trouble is with the English language, notwith you. Masculine speech forms do include the feminine, when you arespeaking in general-but not when you are talking about a particular person.

　　Dorcas is always .she’ or .her’-never .he’ or .him.’ Remember it.“.I will remember it.“.You had better remember it-~r you may provoke Dorcas into proving justhow female she is.“ Harshaw blinked thoughtfully. .Jill, is the lad sleepingwith you? Or with one of you?“She barely hesitated, then answered flatly, .SO far as I know, Mike doesn’tsleep.“.You evaded my question.“.Then perhaps you had better assume that I intended to evade it. However,he is not sleeping with me.“.Mmm .. damn it, my interest is scientific. However, we’ll pursue another lineof inquiry. Mike, what else have you learned today?“.I have learned two ways to tie my shoes. One way is only good for lyingdown. The other way is good for walking. And I have learned conjugations. .Iam, thou art, he is, we are, you are, they are, I was, thou wast-.

　　.Okay, that’s enough. What else?“Mike smiled delightedly. .To yesterday I am learning to drive the tractor,brightly, brightly, and with beauty.“.Eh?“ Jubal turned to Jill. .When did this happen?“.Yesterday afternoon while you were napping, Jubal. It’s all right- Duke wasvery careful not to let him get hurt.“.Umm ... well, obviously he did not get hurt. Mike, have you been reading?“.Yes, Jubal.“.What?“.I have read,“ Mike recited carefully, .three more volumes of theEncyclopedia, Maryb to Mushe, Mushr to Ozon, P to Planti. You have told menot to read too much of the Encyclopedia at one reading, so I then stopped. Ithen read the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by Master William Shakespeareof London. I then read the Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Sein gait astranslated into English by Arthur Machen. I then read The Art of Cross-Exammat ion by Francis Weilman. I then tried to grok what I had read until Jill toldme that I must come to breakfast.“.And did you grok it?“Smith looked troubled. .Jubal, I do not know.“.Is anything bothering you, Mike?“.I do not grok all fullness of what I read. In the history written by MasterWilliam Shakespeare I found myself full of happiness at the death of Romeo.

　　Then I read on and learned that he had discorporated too soon-or so Ithought I grokked. Why?“.He was a blithering young idiot.“.Beg pardon?“.I don’t know, Mike.“Smith considered this. Then he muttered something in Martian and added,.I am only an egg.“.Eh? You usually say that when you want to ask a favor, Mike. What is it thistime? Speak up.“Smith hesitated. Then he blurted out, .Jubal my brother, would please youask Romeo why he discorporated? I cannot ask him; I am only an egg. Butyou can-and then you could teach me the grokking of it.“For the next several minutes the conversation became very tangled. Jubalsaw at once that Mike believed that Romeo of Montague had been a living,breathing person, and Jubal managed with no special shock to his ownconcepts to realize that Mike expected him to be able, somehow, to conjureup Romeo’s ghost and demand of him explanations for his conduct when inthe flesh.

　　But to get over to Mike the idea that none of the Capulets and Montagueshad ever had any sort of corporate existence was another matter. Theconcept of fiction was nowhere in Mike’s experience; there was nothing onwhich it could rest, and Jubal’s attempts to explain the idea were soemotionally upsetting to Mike that Jill was afraid that he was about to roll upinto a ball and withdraw himself.

　　But Mike himself saw how perilously close he was coming to that necessityand he had already learned that he must not resort to this refuge in thepresence of his friends, because (with the exception of his brother DoctorNelson) it always caused them emotional disturbance. So he made a mightyeffort, slowed down his heart, calmed his emotions, and smiled. .I will waitingtill a grokking comes of itself.“.That’s better,“ agreed Jubal. .But hereafter, before you read anything, askme or ask Jill, or somebody, whether or not it is fiction. I don’t want you to getmixed up.“.I will ask, Jubal.“ Mike decided that, when he did grok this strange idea, thathe must report the fullness to the Old Ones . . . and suddenly found himselfwondering if the Old Ones knew about .fiction.“ The completely incredibleidea that there might be something which was as strange to the Old Ones asit was to himself was so much more revolutionary (indeed heretically so) thanthe sufficiently weird concept of fiction that he hastily put it aside to cool,saved it for future deep contemplation.

　　.-but I didn’t,“ his brother Jubal was saying, .call you in here to discussliterary forms. Mike, you remember the day that Jill took you away from thehospital?“.’Hospital’?“ Mike repeated.

　　.I’m not sure, Jubal,“ Jill interrupted, .that Mike ever knew that it was ahospital-at least I never told him it was one. Let me try it.“.Go ahead.“.Mike, you remember the place where you were, where you lived alone in aroom, before I dressed you and took you away.“.Yes, Jill.“.Then we went to another place and I undressed you and gave you abath.“Smith smiled in pleased recollection. .Yes. It was a great happiness.“.Then I dried you off-and then two men came.“Smith’s smile wiped away. He relived that critical cusp of decision and thehorror of his discovery that, somehow, he had chosen wrong action and hurthis water brother. He began to tremble and huddle into himself.

　　Jill said loudly, .Mike! Stop it! Stop it at once! Don’t you dare go away!“Mike took control of his being and did what his water brother required of him.

　　.Yes, Jill,“ he agreed.

　　.Listen to me, Mike. I want you to think about that time-but you mustn’t getupset or go away. Just remember it. There were two men there. One of thempulled you Out into the living room.“.The room with the joyful grasses on the floor,“ he agreed.

　　.That’s right. He pulled you Out into the room with the grass on the floor and Itried to stop him. He hit me. Then he was gone. Y~u remember?“.You are not angry?“.What? No, no, not at all. But I was frightened. One man disappeared, thenthe other one pointed a gun at me-and then he was gone, too. I was veryfrightened-but I was not angry.“.You are not angry with me now?“.Mike, dear-I have never been angry with you. But sometimes I have beenfrightened. I was frightened that time-but I am not afraid now. Jubal and Iwant to know what happened. Those two men were there, in that room withus. And then you did something . . . and they were gone. You did it twice.

　　What was it you did? Can you tell us?“.Yes, I will tell you. The man-the big man-hit you ... and I was frightened, too.

　　So I-. He croaked a phrase in Martian, then looked puzzled. .I do not knowwords.“Jubal said, .Mike, can you use a lot of words and explain it a little at atime?“.I will try, Jubal. Something is there, in front of me. It is a wrong thing and itmust not be there. It must go. So I reach out and-. He stopped again andlooked perplexed. .It is such a simple thing, such an easy thing. Anyone cando it. Tying shoe laces is much more hard. But the words not are. I am verysorry. I will learn more words.“ He considered it. .Perhaps the words are inPlants to Raym, or Rayn to Sarr, or Sars to Sorc. I will read them tonight andtell you at breakfast.“.Maybe,“ Jubal admitted. .Just a minute, Mike.“ He got up from his desk,went to a corner and returned with a large carton which had lately containedtwelve fifths of brandy. .Can you make this go away?“.This is a wrong thing and it must not be here?“.Well, assume that it is.“.But-Jubal, I must know that it is a wrong thing. This is a box. I do not grokthat it exists wrongly.“.Mmm- I see. I think I see. Suppose I picked up this box and threw it at Jill’shead? Threw it hard, so that it would hurt her?“Smith said with gentle sadness, .Jubal, you would not do that to Jill.“.Uh ... damn it. I guess I wouldn’t. Jill, will you throw the box at me? Goodand hard-a scalp wound at least, if Mike can’t protect me.“.Jubal, I don’t like the idea much better than you do.“.Oh, come on! In the interest of science ... and Ben Caxton.“.But-. Jill jumped up suddenly, grabbed the box, threw it right at Jubal’s head.

　　Jubal intended to stand and take it-but instinct and habit won out; he ducked.

　　.Missed me,“ he said. .But where is it?“ He looked around. .Confound it, Iwasn’t watching. I meant to keep my eyes right on it.“ He looked at Smith.

　　.Mike, is that the way-what’s the matter, boy?“The Man from Mars was trembling and looking unhappy. Jill hurried to himand put her arms around his shoulders. .There, there, it’s all right, dear! Youdid it beautifully-whatever it is. It never touched Jubal. It simply vanished.“.I guess it did,“ Jubal admitted, looking all around the room and chewing histhumb. .Anne, were you watching?“.Yes.“.What did you see?“.The box did not simply vanish. The process was not quite instantaneous butlasted some measurable fraction of a second. From where I am sitting itappeared to shrink very, very rapidly, as if it were disappearing into the fardistance. But it did not go outside the room, for I could see it right up to theinstant it disappeared.“.But where did it go?“.That is all I can report.“.Mmm ... we’ll run off the films later-but I’m convinced. Mike-.

　　.Yes, Jubal?“.Where is that box now?“.The box is-. Smith paused. .Again I have not words. I am sorry.“.I’m not sorry, but I’m certainly confused. Look, son, can you reach in againand haul it out? Bring the box back here?“.Beg pardon?“.You made it go away; now make it come back.“.How can I do that? The box is nor.“Jubal looked very thoughtful. .If this method ever becomes popular, we’llhave to revise the rules concerning corpus delecti. .I’ve got a little list theynever will be missed.’ Jill, let’s find something else that will make a not-quitelethalweapon; this time I’m going to keep my eyes open. Mike, how close doyou have to be to do this trick?“.Beg pardon?“.What’s your range? If you had been standing out there in the hallway and Ihad been clear back by the ............