It was Hope’s turn to feel embarrassed. She had to explain to Rasputin how she had refused to pay for the book she had not believed she had ordered, and how to the credit card company had agreed to cancel the debt. “The only ethical thing I can do now,” she said more to herself than to the cat, “Is to write them apologizing for my error and enclosing a check for the cost of the book.” Rasputin tactfully turned the conversation to other things.
Following this lengthy discussion, the close friendship between Hope and Rasputin reached new heights. Each evening, the cat would joyously welcome her arrival as before. She took to preparing dishes for dinner that she thought Rasputin would enjoy more than the dry cat food. Twice a week, she would order delivery of a pizza, which they would share. After dinner, they would settle together on the sofa, sharing a blanked, and watching news programs on TV.
The thing that Hope enjoyed about their new relationship was the ability to chat with Rasputin every evening as they had dinner. No longer obliged to conceal his ability to speak, Rasputin and Hope had lengthy discussions about foreign affairs. Hope was amazed to find that Rasputin had a much better knowledge of the subject than did the State Department officials with whom she worked each day. Their talks reminded her of the many conversations she had had with her parents on the subject before she had left home.
One evening, Hope returned home to find Rasputin waiting anxiously for her at the door. He leaped up and hugged her as he did every night, but she sensed his excitement.
“Wonderful news!” he told her. “I finally managed to contact Xilback Control today. They are sending a ship here to take me back to my home planet. There’s only one trouble,” he added, his voice becoming sorrowful. “I shall hate to leave you.”
Hope’s heart fell at hearing the news of the cat’s imminent departure. “Isn’t there some way you could stay here with me? I’d even eat pizza for dinner every night with you if that would induce you not to leave me.”
“I wish I could stay,” he said sorrowfully. “But I have an obligation to return home and brief them about conditions on earth. I can’t shirk my responsibilities.”
“Possibly I could go with you,” Hope said tentatively.
“That would be possible,” he answered, “The space ship has enough room to carry you back, too. And if you go with me, I will make sure you enjoy living with me on my planet even more than I did enjoy living with you here. But you should know that earth is so distant from my planet that communications are difficult. If you accompany me, you would have to prepare to remain there for some time. Hope sat down and began to review her options.
The next day, Hope’s employees were surprised to find her not at her desk when they arrived at the office. She almost always was the first one to arrive. By noon, she had still not turned up. This was most unusual. She always notified them beforehand if she was taking leaving or otherwise be absent and had appointed one of her unit chiefs to act for her in her absence. On the following day, she was still absent. Phone calls to her home elicited no response. Finally, her employees felt they had to notify State Department Security of her absence.
On the next day, two State Department Security officials came to her house. When she did not answer the bell, they tried the door and found it unlocked. The house, when they entered, was clearly vacant. All Hope’s things were in order; there were no signs of violence. Subsequent calls to her banks revealed no large cash withdrawals or other indications of a planned departure. Frustrated, the officials notified the Washington police, who conducted the usual missing persons’ type investigation. They, too, could come up with no explanation for Hope’s disappearance. Hope has still not returned, and the case remains in the open investigation file of the Washington police.
There is only one footnote to this story. On his birthday this year, Hope’s father found a letter from her in hi mailbox. The handwriting on the envelop was clearly Hope’s. Surprisingly, the envelop bore no postage stamp and was crumbled, as though it had traveled a long way. In the letter within, Hope expressed her best birthday wishes to her father. She added that she was on an extended vacation and was having a wonderful time. She would fill her parents in on the details when she got back home.
When he returned the letter to the envelop, Hope’s father saw what appeared to be a long hair at the bottom of the envelop. He took it out and examined it. It resembled a cat’s whisker but was far longer than any whisker had ever seen on a cat. On a whim, he gave the whisker to one of his colleagues, a biology professor, and asked him if he could properly identify the hair. The Biology professor came to his office the next day, returning the hair. “This is the damnedest thing,” he said. “Where did you get it? I examined it carefully. I would swear that its molecular structure is different from anything that has ever been reported.”
HOMO SUPERIOR
The discovery while excavating for an extension of the Alaska oil pipeline of a perfectly preserved body of an ancient human went largely unnoticed. Although in a much better state of preservation that such previous finds, which fact in itself was not particularly newsworthy. However, when laboratory examination of the specimen indicated that the find could conceivably be not that of a human being but possibly that of a more advanced species, it initiated a cascade of news coverage and intense scientific debate.
The evidence that it was not human was initially attacked as flimsy. The fact that three of its front teeth were much smaller than the others and appeared to represent new teeth formation in an adult could be written off as an anomaly. So could the fact that the specimen’s brain had more than double the number of found in the largest human brain on record. It was only when detailed analysis of the creature’s DNA became available that it could be definitively identified as that of a totally different species. The press dubbed the find homo superior,” and the name stuck.
The acceptance of the archeological find as that of the remains of a hitherto unknown species and a species superior to man launched a storm of debate. Many scientists argued in favor of DNA testing of all living humans to determine if any had the DNA elements differentiating them from Homo Sapiens and if there were any pure home superiors who survived, although this latter possibility was deemed to be highly unlikely. A small group of scientists asserted that if any such individuals could be found they might provide the basis needed for genetic engineering to produce a race of pure home superiors. This proposal was in turn attacked as advocating fascism and racism. Conservative leaders of all major religious groups argued that only God had the right to create life and that any effort at genetic engineering would be blasphemy.
In the midst of the controversy, a group of eleven individuals gathered together in a remote chateau in Nice, France. They had been summoned to discuss the find and were seated around a large circular table. Rather than speaking, they communicated telepathically, both for speed and to eliminate the possibility of their being overheard.
Opinions of what to do varried widely. At length, they decided it was time to vote, their standard procedure. The joint resolution was proposed and seconded and carried by a tally of nine to one, with one of them choosing to abstain. It provided that the group would do nothing to call the attention of human beings to their existence and that they would do nothing in response to the discovery. Having voted, they agreed to follow the matter closely and to gather again if the situation warranted it. They then said goodbye to each other and adjourned.
The individuals then all went off to make their travel arrangements to return to their respective homes. Three of them had come from North America, but they traveled separately because of their different places of residence. One was to return to the United States. He was the one member who had voted against the resolution, favoring the decision to do nothing to call their existence, but strongly opposing the plan to do nothing. He also possessed the highest intelligence of the group, although he was adroit in keeping this hidden.
This individual believed that God had created them wit
h the intention that they would use their superior intelligence and other gifts for their own benefit and that of mankind. As he boarded his plane, he had already made his decision. When he reached home, he would go into politics and obtain the presidential nomination. He had not yet decided which party he would choose as his political vehicle, but he had absolutely no doubt that he would be successful in using his abilities to win both the nomination and the presidency of the United States.
THE PERFECT DRUG
The Mercedes Pharmaceutical Company was uniquely favored among the host of new drug company startups located in California by the fact that its principal scientific advisor was a winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine. It easily raised hundreds of millions of dollars from hedge funds and other private investors and commenced work on s score of research projects, including on a vaccine to prevent all forms of cancer and a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Its most promising project, however, was the drug labeled “Formula 480.”
This unique drug had been formulated according to new protocols devised by the company. These gave highest priority in the design of any new drug to one that would provide the highest profit if it were successful. In most cases, this required both a high profit margin for each individual dose as well as the merchandizing of a high volume of the drug. “Formula 480” met both these requirements superbly.
Another valuable feature of the new drug was that the processes involved in its formulation were incredibly complex. They would defy efforts of generic drug firms to duplicate them after the patent obtained by Mercedes for the product expired. Finally, “Formula 480’s” ingredients were all inert, eliminating the harmful side effects caused by virtually all pharmaceutical products. This important factor meant that in advertizing it on TV, Mercedes would not have to waste valuable time in its commercials by rapidly mentioning in an inaudible voice all of the possible harmful side effects that might come from using the product.
Progress on the development of “Formula 480”proved to be so promising that Mercedes decided to abort its other research projects and devote all available funds to work on the project. Over the side went the two anti cancer vaccines, which had already reached the late trial stage, as well as a cure for Alzheimer’s. Hundreds of millions more dollars came from hedge funds and private investors eager to reap the great rewards promised from partial ownership in “Formula 40.”
There was only one small flaw in the plan. Being totally inert, of what use was the new drug? This was a problem, but fortunately not an unsolvable one. The answer was to create a totally new disease, for which large and repeated doses of “Formula 480” were the only effective treatment.
The large research staff of Mercedes quickly sprang into action. They worked long and hard, but to no avail. Sadly, it was determined that every part of the human body, from the brain on top to the big toe on the bottom were already subject to known diseases and congenital physical malformation or breakdown in functioning. In short, no new ailment for which “Formula 480” was the answer could be found or created.
Panic raged in the halls of the Mercedes complex. Employees, particularly senior management, saw their potentially lucrative stock options change into worthless pieces of paper. Hedge funds began liquidating their holdings in the company and taking the huge tax losses the beneficial income tax provisions for the financial sector available to them. Fortunately, the Mercedes Board of Directors proved up to meeting the problem. The first step it took was to downgrade the position of the principal scientific advisor, placing him under the supervision of the vice president for administration. It then established the post of chief advertizing adviser and recruited for it the winner of the newly instituted Nobel Prize in Advertizing.
The new advisor, usually described in the press as the “twenty-three year old advertizing genius” quickly solved the problem. He identified the previously undetected problems of “Placebo Disease,” the varying maladies afflicting a sizeable number of individuals who are placed in the test groups used to judge the effectiveness of new drugs. Those who scoffed at the so-called melody were quickly won over by the mass of scientific data provided by independent researchers carefully chosen by Mercedes confirming the disposition of highly emotional individuals to suffer ill effects from placebos
Marketed to the public under the trade name Wonderfulla, “Formula 480” s ales boomed after its quick approval by the Federal Drug Administration. Soon watchers of every TV station and cable channel were bombarded during the commercial breaks in programs inserted every five minutes of the serious threat to life stemming from” Placebo Disease . Actors appearing at the brink of death were shown miraculously recovered and in the best of health after being administered Wonderfulla.
Following a bitter contest between the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ over which exchange would be privileged to list the stock, Mercedes went public in an initial stock offering so large that it dwarfed anything else that year. Bidding for the new issue stock was so great that the underwriting firms allotted most of it to influential members of Congress and to senior officials of a few favored financial institutions.
All those involved in any way with the company became very rich. The underwriting firms reported much higher annual profits for that year thanks to the underwriting, and their senior executives received even higher than usual annual bonuses. All those lucky enough to be able to purchase the stock at or soon after it went public saw their investment triple overnight and then triple again. Every employee of Mercedes became at least a multimillionaire thanks to the stock option they had been furnished without charge, with senior management becoming billionaires due to their larger number of stock options.
Within a few months of going public, the Board of Directors showed their financial acumen, purchasing a small, neighborhood pharmacy in North Ireland. Mercedes accomplished this through a reverse takeover, thereby officially transforming itself from a US firm to one located in the United Kingdom. As a result of this change in status, Mercedes, now known as Mercedes-Jones Ltd., is babble to shelter from American taxes a very high part of its profits earned abroad.
Today the case of Mercedes-Jones Ltd. Is studied at every business school in the county as an illustration of how sound, enlightened management can advance the creation of wealth in the United States. It is truly a story to make every American proud.
LIMBO
The first sensation William Morrison had was one of floating on a body of water. He struggled to open his eyes, and when he succeeded, he found he was lying flat on the deck of what seemed to be a wooden boat. Raising himself up, he saw the boat was indeed on a body of water, the extent of which he could not ascertain because of a dense fog on all sides. The boat appeared to be moving at a slow but steady pace through the water. The stern of the boat was enveloped in fog; he saw no crew member, sails and heard no engine, so that he had no idea of what was propelling the craft.
After some period, Morrison saw what seemed to be land in the distance. The boat moved steadily forward and it became clear that what he saw was indeed land. A white sandy beach along the shore gave rise further inland to a peak covered with trees. There were no traces of human habitation. The boat touched gently on the sand and stopped. Nothing happened. After a few minutes, Morrison climbed out of the boat and cautiously took a few steps.
Turning to reassure himself that the boat was still there, he was horrified to see it had silently departed and was now disappearing into the fog. He had no choice. Apparently he was marooned here, whether for good or evil he knew not...Having no other alternative, he decided to explore. Possibly he might find some civilization, though that appeared too unlikely. Morrison saw no birds or any other form of animal life. Curiously, all of the vegetation seemed to be of a single type, each some dozen feet tall and bearing a reddish fruit he had never seen before.
Morrison found that he was famished. He was tempted to taste the strange fruit, but decided not to because it might be poisonous. He wished that there were some b
irds around since if he saw them eating the fruit; he could be reasonably sure it would not harm him, Further on; he encountered a small stream, rapidly flowing down from the mountain into the sea. He knelt and tasted it. The water was clear and cold. At least, he thought, he would not suffer from thirst.
He continued along the beach until reached a point at which a high ridge ran down from the mountain to the sea, making further progress impossible. He thought of ascending the mountain, but decided to postpone it for another today, hopefully after he had found something to eat. Returning the way he had come, he was heartened and excited when he saw a round thatch hut a short way off beyond the beach under some of the trees. There was no sign of any inhabitant, and when he approached and entered it, he found the hut completely bare. No furniture, no implements, no sign that anyone else had ever been there. Who had made it, since it clearly could not have made itself or put together by nature, was a mystery.
Exhausted, Morrison entered the hut and collapsed on the floor. He was drained of all energy, at the end of his room. He was bewildered by what had happened to him. He had been in his office working all morning, then decided to go for a leisurely lunch at his club. His last conscious memory before waking up in that mysterious boat was of entering the elevator in his office building to descend to the street. Surprisingly the ground that constituted the floor of the hut was reasonably comfortable. All in all, he was more comfortable than he had been while sleeping in his shelter half while on bivouac in the army. He curled up in a fetal position and, still hungry, fell asleep.
STRANGE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OMNIBUS Page 10
