Off The Main Sequence

by Robert A. Heinlein

  He supposed that he had been a fool to make a fuss about it. If he had kept his mouth shut they would not have locked him up. He should have been as subtle and as shrewd as they, kept his eyes and ears open and learned the details of and the reasons for the plot against him. He might have learned how to circumvent it.

  But what if they had locked him up — the whole world was an asylum and all of them his keepers.

  A key scraped in the lock, and he looked up to see an attendant entering with a tray. “Here’s your dinner, sir."

  “Thanks, Joe," he said gently. “Just put it down."

  “Movies tonight, sir," the attendant went on. “Wouldn’t you like to go? Dr. Hayward said you could —"

  “No, thank you. I prefer not to."

  “I wish you would, sir." He noticed with amusement the persuasive intentness of the attendant’s manner. “I think the doctor wants you to. It’s a good movie. There’s a Mickey Mouse cartoon —"

  “You almost persuade me, Joe," he answered with passive agreeableness. “Mickey’s trouble is the same as mine, essentially. However, I’m not going. They need not bother to hold movies tonight."

  “Oh, there will be movies in any case, sir. Lots of our other guests will attend."

  “Really? Is that an example of thoroughness, or are you simply keeping up the pretense in talking to me? It isn’t necessary, Joe, if it’s any strain on you. I know the game. If I don’t attend, there is no point in holding movies."

  He liked the grin with which the attendant answered this thrust. Was it possible that this being was created just as he appeared to be — big muscles, phlegmatic disposition, tolerant, doglike? Or was there nothing going on behind those kind eyes, nothing but robot reflex? No, it was more likely that he was one of them, since he was so closely in attendance on him.

  The attendant left and he busied himself at his supper tray, scooping up the already-cut bites of meat with a spoon, the only implement provided. He smiled again at their caution and thoroughness. No danger of that — he would not destroy this body as long as it served him in investigating the truth of the matter. There were still many different avenues of research available before taking that possibly irrevocable step.

  After supper he decided to put his thoughts in better order by writing them; he obtained paper. He should start with a general statement of some underlying postulate of the credos that had been drummed into him all his “life." Life? Yes, that was a good one. He wrote:

  “I am told that I was born a certain number of years ago and that I will die a similar number of years hence. Various clumsy stories have been offered me to explain to me where I was before birth and what becomes of me after death, but they are rough lies, not intended to deceive, except as misdirection. In every other possible way the world around me assures me that I am mortal, here but a few years, and a few years hence gone completely — nonexistent.

  “WRONG — I am immortal. I transcend this little time axis; a seventy-year span on it is but a casual phase in my experience. Second only to the prime datum of my own existence is the emotionally convincing certainty of my own continuity. I may be a closed curve, but, closed or open, I neither have a beginning nor an end. Self-awareness is not relational; it is absolute, and cannot be reached to be destroyed, or created. Memory, however, being a relational aspect of consciousness, may be tampered with and possibly destroyed.

  “It is true that most religions which have been offered me teach immortality, but note the fashion in which they teach it. The surest way to lie convincingly is to tell the truth unconvincingly. They did not wish me to believe.

  “Caution: Why have they tried so hard to convince me that I am going to die in a few years? There must be a very important reason. I infer that they are preparing me for some sort of a major change. It may be crucially important for me to figure out their intentions about this — probably I have several years in which to reach a decision. Note: Avoid using the types of reasoning they have taught me."

  The attendant was back. “Your wife is here, sir."

  “Tell her to go away."

  “Please, sir — Dr. Hayward is most anxious that you should see her."

  “Tell Dr. Hayward that I said that he is an excellent chess player."

  “Yes, sir." The attendant waited for a moment. “Then you won’t see her, sir?"

  “'No, I won’t see her."

  He wandered around the room for some minutes after the attendant had left, too distrait to return to his recapitulation. By and large they had played very decently with him since they had brought him here. He was glad that they had allowed him to have a room alone, and he certainly had more time free for contemplation than had ever been possible on the outside. To be sure, continuous effort to keep him busy and to distract him was made, but, by being stubborn, he was able to circumvent the rules and gain some hours each day for introspection.

  But, damnation! — he did wish they would not persist in using Alice in their attempts to divert his thoughts. Although the intense terror and revulsion which she had inspired in him when he had first rediscovered the truth had now aged into a simple feeling of repugnance and distaste for her company, nevertheless it was emotionally upsetting to be reminded of her, to be forced into making decisions about her.

  After all, she had been his wife for many years. Wife? What was a wife? Another soul like one’s own, a complement, the other necessary pole to the couple, a sanctuary of understanding and sympathy in the boundless depths of aloneness. That was what he had thought, what he had needed to believe and had believed fiercely for years. The yearning need for companionship of his own kind had caused him to see himself reflected in those beautiful eyes and had made him quite uncritical of occasional incongruities in her responses.

  He sighed. He felt that he had sloughed off most of the typed emotional reactions which they had taught him by precept and example, but Alice had gotten under his skin, 'way under, and it still hurt. He had been happy — what if it had been a dope dream? They had given him an excellent, a beautiful mirror to play with — the more fool he to have looked behind it!

  Wearily he turned back to his summing up:

  “The world is explained in either one of two ways; the common-sense way which says that the world is pretty much as it appears to be and that ordinary human conduct and motivations are reasonable, and the religio-mystic solution which states that the world is dream stuff, unreal, insubstantial, with reality somewhere beyond.

  “WRONG — both of them. The common-sense scheme has no sense to it of any sort. Life is short and full of trouble. Man born of woman is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. His days are few and they are numbered. All is vanity and vexation. Those quotations may be jumbled and incorrect, but that is a fair statement of the common-sense world is-as-it-seems in its only possible evaluation. In such a world, human striving is about as rational as the blind darting of a moth against a light bulb. The common-sense world is a blind insanity, out of nowhere, going nowhere, to no purpose.

  “As for the other solution, it appears more rational on the surface, in that it rejects the utterly irrational world of common sense. But it is not a rational solution, it is simply a flight from reality of any sort, for it refuses to believe the results of the only available direct communication between the ego and the Outside. Certainly the 'five senses’ are poor enough channels of communication, but they are the only channels."

  He crumpled up the paper and flung himself from the chair. Order and logic were no good — his answer was right because it smelled right. But he still did not know all the answer. Why the grand scale to the deception, countless creatures, whole continents, an enormously involved and minutely detailed matrix of insane history, insane tradition, insane culture? Why bother with more than a cell and a strait jacket?

  It must be, it had to be, because it was supremely important to deceive him completely, because a lesser deception would not do. Could it be that they dare not let him suspect his real identity
no matter how difficult and involved the fraud?

  He had to know. In some fashion he must get behind the deception and see what went on when he was not looking. He had had one glimpse; this time he must see the actual workings, catch the puppet masters in their manipulations.

  Obviously the first step must be to escape from this asylum, but to do it so craftily that they would never see him, never catch up with him, not have a chance to set the stage before him. That would be hard to do. He must excel them in shrewdness and subtlety.

  Once decided, he spent the rest of the evening in considering the means by which he might accomplish his purpose. It seemed almost impossible — he must get away without once being seen and remain in strict hiding. They must lose track of him completely in order that they would not know where to center their deceptions. That would mean going without food for several days. Very well — he could do it. He must not give them any warning by unusual action or manner.

  The lights blinked twice. Docilely he got up and commenced preparations for bed. When the attendant looked through the peephole he was already in bed, with his face turned to the wall.

  Gladness! Gladness everywhere! It was good to be with his own kind, to hear the music swelling out of every living thing, as it always had and always would — good to know that everything was living and aware of him, participating in him, as he participated in them. It was good to be, good to know the unity of many and the diversity of one. There had been one bad thought — the details escaped him — but it was gone — it had never been; there was no place for it.

  The early-morning sounds from the adjacent ward penetrated the sleepladen body which served him here and gradually recalled him to awareness of the hospital room. The transition was so gentle that he carried over full recollection of what he had been doing and why. He lay still, a gentle smile on his face, and savored the uncouth, but not unpleasant, languor of the body he wore. Strange that he had ever forgotten despite their tricks and stratagems. Well, now that he had recalled the key, he would quickly set things right in this odd place. He would call them in at once and announce the new order. It would be amusing to see old Glaroon’s expression when he realized that the cycle had ended —

  The click of the peephole and the rasp of the door being unlocked guillotined his line of thought. The morning attendant pushed briskly in with the breakfast tray and placed it on the tip table. “Morning, sir. Nice, bright day — want it in bed, or will you get up?"

  Don’t answer! Don’t listen! Suppress this distraction! This is part of their plan — But it was too late, too late. He felt himself slipping, falling, wrenched from reality back into the fraud world in which they had kept him. It was gone, gone completely, with no single association around him to which to anchor memory. There was nothing left but the sense of heartbreaking loss and the acute ache of unsatisfied catharsis.

  “Leave it where it is. I’ll take care of it."

  “Okey-doke." The attendant bustled out, slamming the door, and noisily locked it.

  He lay quite still for a long time, every nerve end in his body screaming for relief.

  At last he got out of bed, still miserably unhappy, and attempted to concentrate on his plans for escape. But the psychic wrench he had received in being recalled so suddenly from his plane of reality had left him bruised and emotionally disturbed. His mind insisted on rechewing its doubts, rather than engage in constructive thought. Was it possible that the doctor was right, that he was not alone in his miserable dilemma? Was he really simply suffering from paranoia, delusions of self-importance?

  Could it be that each unit in this yeasty swarm around him was the prison of another lonely ego — helpless, blind, and speechless, condemned to an eternity of miserable loneliness? Was the look of suffering which he had brought to Alice’s face a true reflection of inner torment and not simply a piece of play acting intended to maneuver him into compliance with their plans?

  A knock sounded at the door. He said “Come in," without looking up. Their comings and goings did not matter to him.

  “Dearest —" A well-known voice spoke slowly and hesitantly.

  “Alice!" He was on his feet at once, and facing her. “Who let you in here?"

  “Please, dear, please — I had to see you."

  “It isn’t fair. It isn’t fair." He spoke more to himself than to her. Then: “Why did you come?"

  She stood up to him with a dignity he had hardly expected. The beauty of her childlike face had been marred by line and shadow, but it shone with an unexpected courage. “I love you," she answered quietly. “You can tell me to go away, but you can’t make me stop loving you and trying to help you."

  He turned away from her in an agony of indecision. Could it be possible that he had misjudged her? Was there, behind that barrier of flesh and sound symbols, a spirit that truly yearned toward his? Lovers whispering in the dark — “You do understand, don’t you?"

  “Yes, dear heart, I understand."

  “Then nothing that happens to us can matter, as long as we are together and understand —" Words, words, rebounding hollowly from an unbroken wall — No, he couldn’t be wrong! Test her again — “Why did you keep me on that job in Omaha?"

  “But I didn’t make you keep that job. I simply pointed out that we should think twice before —"

  “Never mind. Never mind." Soft hands and a sweet face preventing him with mild stubbornness from ever doing the thing that his heart told him to do. Always with the best of intentions, the best of intentions, but always so that he had never quite managed to do the silly, unreasonable things that he knew were worth while. Hurry, hurry, hurry, and strive, with an angel-faced jockey to see that you don’t stop long enough to think for yourself —

  “Why did you try to stop me from going back upstairs that day?"

  She managed to smile, although her eyes were already spilling over with tears. “I didn’t know it really mattered to you. I didn’t want us to miss the train."

  It had been a small thing, an unimportant thing. For some reason not clear to him he had insisted on going back upstairs to his study when they were about to leave the house for a short vacation. It was raining, and she had pointed out that there was barely enough time to get to the station. He had surprised himself and her, too, by insisting on his own way in circumstances in which he had never been known to be stubborn.

  He had actually pushed her to one side and forced his way up the stairs. Even then nothing might have come of it had he not — quite unnecessarily — raised the shade of the window that faced toward the rear of the house.

  It was a very small matter. It had been raining, hard, out in front. From this window the weather was clear and sunny, with no sign of rain.

  He had stood there quite a long while, gazing out at the impossible sunshine and rearranging his cosmos in his mind. He re-examined long-suppressed doubts in the light, of this one small but totally unexplainable discrepancy. Then he had turned and had found that she was standing behind him.

  He had been trying ever since to forget the expression that he had surprised on her face.

  “What about the rain?"

  “The rain?" she repeated in a small, puzzled voice. “Why, it was raining, of course. What about it?"

  “But it was not raining out my study window."

  “What? But of course it was. I did notice the sun break through the clouds for a moment, but that was all."

  “Nonsense!"

  “But darling, what has the weather to do with you and me? What difference does it make whether it rains or not — to us?" She approached him timidly and slid a small hand between his arm and side. “Am I responsible for the weather?"

  “I think you are. Now please go."

  She withdrew from him, brushed blindly at her eyes, gulped once, then said in a voice held steady: “All right. I’ll go. But remember — you can come home if you want to. And I’ll be there, if you want me." She waited a moment, then added hesitantly: “Would you … would you k
iss me good-bye?"

  He made no answer of any sort, neither with voice nor eyes. She looked at him, then turned, fumbled blindly for the door, and rushed through it.

  The creature he knew as Alice went to the place of assembly without stopping to change form. “It is necessary to adjourn this sequence. I am no longer able to influence his decisions."

  They had expected it, nevertheless they stirred with dismay.

  The Glaroon addressed the First for Manipulation. “Prepare to graft the selected memory track at once."

  Then, turning to the First for Operations, the Glaroon said: “The extrapolation shows that he will tend to escape within two of his days. This sequence degenerated primarily through your failure to extend that rainfall all around him. Be advised."

  “It would be simpler if we understood his motives."

  “In my capacity as Dr. Hayward, I have often thought so," commented the Glaroon acidly, “but if we understood his motives, we would be part of him. Bear in mind the Treaty! He almost remembered."

  The creature known as Alice spoke up. “Could he not have the Taj Mahal next sequence? For some reason he values it."

  “You are becoming assimilated!"

  “Perhaps. I am not in fear. Will he receive it?"

  “It will be considered."

  The Glaroon continued with orders: “Leave structures standing until adjournment. New York City and Harvard University are now dismantled. Divert him from those sectors.

  “Move!"

  Solution Unsatisfactory

  Astounding Science Fiction, May 1941

  In 1903 the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk. In December, 1938, in Berlin, Dr. Hahn split the uranium atom.

  In April, 1943, Dr. Estelle Karst, working under the Federal Emergency Defense Authority, perfected the Karst-Obre technique for producing artificial radioactives.