In its mind the goat-creature laughed; Herb Asher experi- enced its glee. Puzzled, he turned to look at the goat-creature, but in the darkness behind him it seemed invisible; he sensed it, there in the back of his car, but he could not make it out.
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“I’m not sure where to go,” Herb Asher said.
Where you originally were going, the goat-creature thought. To California, to Linda.
‘Okay,” he said, “but I don’t-”
The police won’t stop you this time, the goat-creature thought to him. I will see to that.
“But you are just a little animal,” Herb Asher said.
The goat-creature laughed. You can give me to Linda as a present, it thought.
Uneasily, he turned his car in the direction of California, and rose up into the sky.
The children are here in Washington, D.C., now, the goat- creature thought to him. They were in Canada, in British Colum- bia, but now they have come here. I want to be far away from them.
“I don’t blame you,” Herb Asher said.
As he drove he noticed a smell in his car, the smell of the goat. The goat stank, and this made him uneasy. What a stench, he thought, considering how small it is. I guess it’s normal for the species. But still.., the odor was beginning to make him sick. Do I really want to give this smelly thing to Linda Fox? he asked himself.
Of course you do, the goat-creature thought to him, aware of what was going on in his mind. She will be pleased.
And then Herb Asher caught a really dreadful mental impres- sion from the goat-creature’s mind, one that horrified him and made him drive erratically for a moment. A sexual lust on the part of the creature for Linda Fox.
I must be imagining it! Herb Asher thought.
The goat-creature thought, I want her. It was contemplating her breasts and her loins, her whole body, made naked and avail- able. Jesus, Herb Asher thought. This is dreadful. What have I gotten myself into? He started to steer his car back toward Wash- ington, D.C.
And he found that he could not control the steering wheel. The goat-creature had taken over; it was in power within Herb Asher, at the center of his mind.
She will love me, the goat-creature thought, and I will love her. And, then, its thoughts passed beyond the limits of Herb Asher’s comprehension. Something to do with making Linda Fox into a thing like the goat-creature, dragging her down into its domain. She will be a sacrifice in my place, the goat-creature thought. Her throat-I will see it cut as mine has been. “No,” Herb Asher said. Yes, the goat-creature thought.
And it compelled him to drive on, toward California and Linda Fox. And, as it compelled and controlled him, it exulted in its glee; within the darkness of his car it danced its own kind of dance, a drumming sound that its hooves made: made in triumph. And anticipation. And intoxicated joy.
It was thinking of death, and the thought of death made it celebrate with rapture and an awful song.
He drove as erratically as possible, hoping that once again a police car would grapple him. But as the goat-creature had prom- ised none did.
The image of Linda Fox in Herb Asher’ s mind continued to undergo a dismal transformation; he envisioned her as gross and bad-complexioned, a flabby thing that ate too much and wan- dered about aimlessly, and he realized, then, that this was the view of the accuser; the goat-creature was Linda Fox’s accuser who showed her-who showed everything in creation-under the worst light possible, under the aspect of the ugly. This thing in my back seat is doing it, he said to himself. This is how the goat-creature sees God’s total artifact, the world that God pronounced as good. It is the pessimism of evil itself. The nature of evil is to see in this fashion, to pronounce this verdict of negation. Thus, he thought, it unmakes creation; it undoes what the Creator has brought into being. This also is a form of unreality, this verdict, this dreary aspect. Creation is not like this and Linda Fox is not like this. But the goat-creature would tell me that- I am only showing you the truth, the goat-creature thought to him. About your pizza waitress.
228 Philip K. Dick The Divine Invasion 229
“You are out of the cage that Zina put you in,’ Herb Asher said. “Elias was right.”
Nothing should be caged, the goat-creature thought to him. Especially me. I will roam the world, expanding into it until I fill it; that is my right.
“Belial,” Herb Asher said.
I hear you, the goat-creature thought back.
“And I’m taking you to Linda Fox,” Herb Asher said. “Whom I love most in all the world.” Again he tried to take his hands from the steering wheel and again they remained locked in place.
Let us reason, the goat-creature thought to him. This is my view of the world and I will make it your view and the view of everyone. It is the truth. The light that shone originally was a spurious light. That light is going out and the true nature of reality is disclosed in its absence. That light blinded men to the real state of things. It is my job to reveal that real state.
Gray truth, the goat-creature continued, is better than what you have imagined. You wanted to wake up. Now you are awake; I show you things as they are, pitilessly; but that is how it should be. How do you suppose I defeated Yahweh in times past? By revealing his creation for what it is, a wretched thing to be de- spised. This is his defeat, what you see-see through my mind and eyes, my vision of the world: my correct vision. Recall Rybys Rommey’s dome, the way it was when you first saw it; remember what she was like; consider what she is like now. Do you suppose that Linda Fox is any different? Or that you are any different? You are all the same, and when you saw the debris and spoiled food and rotting matter of Rybys’s dome you saw how reality really is. You saw life. You saw the truth.
I will soon show you that truth about the Fox, the goat- creature continued. That is what you will find at the end of this trip: exactly what you found in Rybys Rommey’s deteriorated dome that day, years ago. Nothing has changed and nothing is different. You could not escape it then and you cannot escape it now.
What do you say to that? the goat-creature asked him.
“The future need not resemble the past,” Herb Asher said.
Nothing changes, the goat-creature answered. Scripture itself tells us that.
“Even a goat can cite Scripture,” Herb Asher said.
They entered the heavy stream of air traffic routed toward the Los Angeles area; cars and commercial vehicles moved on all sides of them, above them, below them. Herb Asher could dis- cern police cars but none paid him any attention.
I will guide you to her house, the goat-creature informed him.
“Creature of dirt,” Herb Asher said, with fury.
A floating signal pointed the way ahead. They had almost reached California.
“I will wager with you that-” Herb Asher began, but the goat-creature cut him off.
I do not wager, it thought to him. I do not play. I am the strong and I prey on the weak. You are the weak, and Linda Fox is weaker yet. Forget the idea of games; that is for children.
“You must be like a little child,” Herb Asher said, “to enter the Kingdom of God.”
I have no interest in that kingdom, the goat-thing thought to him. This is my kingdom here. Lock the auto-pilot computer of your car into the coordinates for her house.
His hands did so, without his volition. There was no way he could hold back; the goat-creature had control of his motor cen- ters.
Call her on your car fone, the goat-creature told him. Inform her that you are arriving.
“No,” he said. But his fingers placed the card with her fone number into the slot.
“Hello.” Linda Fox’ s voice came from the little speaker.
“This is Herb,” he said. “I’m sorry I’m late. I got stopped by a cop. Is it too late?”
“No,” she said. “I was out anyhow for a while. It’ll be nice to see you again. You’re going to stay, aren’t you? I mean, you’re not going back tonight.”
“I’ll stay,” he said.
Tell her, the goat-creature thought to him, that you have me with you. A pet for her, a little kid.
“I have a pet for you,” Herb Asher said.” A baby goat.”
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“Oh, really? Are you going to leave it?”