John Brunner – Jagged Orbit

“Well, I guess I do sense things sometimes. But so do friends of mine who aren’t pythonesses.”

There was a pause. During it Flamen considered variways in which he could put a cat among Mogpigeons, and reached the depressing conclusion that if he did want to prove that the treatment she was being given had made Celia worse instead of better he’d probably have to have her packled. And personanalog computer logging was hideously expensive, ordinarily reserved for individuals such as government officials or senior executives of giant corporations on whose clear thinking depended the fate of millions.

Still, perhaps his own computers might suggest an alternative; they weren’t the best in the world, but certhey were exceptionally well stocked with inforAnd there was also that tantalizing hint Lyla had just dropped, about there being a saner man than the director in the Ginsberg. That might indicate a line to follow.

“Can you ever figure out what your oracles mean?” he inquired.

“Oh, sometimes. I’m pretty well acquainted with the shorthand my subconscious uses.”

“Do you think you could identify the person you mena moment ago, the man who’s more rational than Mogshack?”

Lyla considered the question with a doubtful ex”I never met any of today’s audience before,” she said at last. “But I suppose I might just possibly be able to spot a useful clue. I’d have to hear the tape, of course. Say, that’s a point. Do you think I could hear yours? Lord only knows when Dan will get home with the recording he made.”

“Surely you can. Now, if you like. I think it’s only fair to show it to you before it’s transmitted, in case there’s something you’d like me to avoid using. Ah-that is, if you don’t mind coming to my place on your own.?”

Lyla gave a wry chuckle. “Think I’m a neo-puritan? It’s a luxury I couldn’t afford.”

“Yes, I guess it is,” Flamen nodded. “It’s not the attibut the upkeep. Hmmm! I hadn’t thought of it like that, but it figures: the extra clothes you buy with more fabric in them, the extra comwebs so you never have to be alone in a room with anyone but deal with them at a distance-”

“I wasn’t thinking of that,” Lyla interrupted. “I meant you just can’t have a puritan pythoness. The subconis completely amoral, isn’t it? It tells the truth, and. Well, like they say,’truth is a naked lady.’ If I could get away with it, I’d take that literally and never wear anything but jewelry-not even Nix like these. It’s astonishing how much it helps. I’ll tell you somevery odd to prove it. I was sent to this very proper school, with uniforms and everything-incredibly Vic-and I never had the slightest suspicion that I might be a pythoness until I ran away from it. I came to New York, I hadn’t any money, I was sleeping on strangers’ floors, I was practically in rags because my clothes were wearing out, and all of a sudden when I was wearing more dirt than cloth, bang. There was the talent. It sort of scared me at first, but I adjusted. And eventually, after I met Dan, I started to figure out how I could encourage it.”

“Such as.?”

Her pretty face soured like cream when you add lemon-juice. “You’re not a kid, Mr. Flamen. How the hell do you think someone learns to identify with the maximum number of other people? You do what they do! You starve with them, you sleep with them, you eat and drink with them, you let them do to you what they want to do, and you don’t pass judgment. But I don’t imagine that’s a point of view you’d appreciate.”

“Why not?”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to be offensive. But as I underit. Hell! I admit, I never watch your show. We didn’t even have a vuset in the apt until yesterday when one of Dan’s friends gave us his old one. But you’re a spoolpigeon, and don’t spoolpigeons make their living by pointing shocked fingers at people so the narrow-minded self-righteous prurient mass audience can prethey’re horrified?”

“Yes, I do pass judgments,” Flamen said after a pause. “But I like to think, at least, my victims deserve what they get. Liars, cheats, stuffed shirts, small-minded powempire-builders. I can’t stand hypocrites. I doubt if you can.”

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