“What’s this?” The biosphere analyst stared at the screen, and adjusted another instrument. “I can’t believe this.”
“Another malfunction?” Allison asked.
“Not serious—just a magnetic effect which the sensitive equipment picks up. It must come from Lherin; the field could reach as high as a hundred gauss inside of her. How the mind’s eye does she manage that?”
Allison’s scalp prickled. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. I don’t know—unless the Dwelling did something. She came from there, just before she came back to Georgeville today.”
Lherin insistently signaled, “Where smell?”
“All right, all right, you magnetic mushroom.” Casimir pulled a fine nozzle from a console nearby. “What chemisense here?”
Seconds passed. Lherin’s tendrils danced. “Four-hydroxy-three-methoxybenzaldehyde. Also three-hydroxy-four-methoxybenzaldehyde.”
Allison said, “It smells like vanilla.”
“Vanillin it is,” said Casimir, “with traces of impurity. How about this?” His fingers touched the control board. “Seventeen-beta-hydroxy…four-enthree-one, seventeen-enanthate. Also…”
“I lost track,” Allison admitted.
“A testosterone derivative, and she got it. Plus impurities…Allison, those impurities are in parts per trillion.”
She nodded, proud of her nonhuman friend. “Why don’t you ask her to make something for you?”
“That’s right, it’s like ‘speech,’ for her.” He rubbed his chin. “Does she have anything like an ABC?”
“Yes, but it’s rather complex. Multidimensional, actually. You wouldn’t want to recite a Japanese ‘alphabet,’ would you?”
“Numbers, then. Can she count?”
“Sure. The middle tendrils, here, would exude most chemicals.”
“All right.” He extended a different nozzle. “Lherin, machine can chemisense. Count by chemisense?”
“Count? What species? Branches? Order?”
Casimir blinked.
Allison suggested, “Count aliphatic alcohols. One branch; first order.”
Lherin remained still.
Compound formulae flashed on the instrument screen. They seemed to be a random set of long-chain alcohols: C12H25OH; C4H9OH; C18H37OH…
“I don’t get it,” said Allison. “Are you sure your machine’s okay?”
“Everything’s in order.”
“Machine low intelligence,” Lherin helpfully signaled.
Allison snapped her fingers. “My mistake. Count second order, Lherin.”
This time a set of smaller chains appeared, carbon numbers two, two, three, five, four, six, nine…
“There,” said Allison, “that’s getting better. Count hundredth order, Lherin?”
The machine now showed a series of chemicals in brief bursts at regular intervals of about four seconds. The numerical sequence was perfect up to twenty-five, where she stopped.
“A Gaussian error function,” Casimir observed. “‘Second order’ meant an even chance of giving a wrong answer; ‘hundredth order,’ one chance in a hundred.”
“I told you, the One thinks in probabilities.”
“Is that why they have trouble counting straight?”
Lherin signaled, “One try branch count?”
“Yes,” signaled Casimir.
Again the alcohol “numbers” flashed on the screen, but this time the entire set of isomers appeared for each one. Hundreds, then thousands of formulae sputtered by. Casimir whistled. “Now that’s what I call ’sponential.”
“Well,” said Allison, “do you think she’s smarter than humans yet?”
“I couldn’t begin to say. I’ll beg off by saying I leave human observation to others.”
“Like Rissa, you mean.”
“The physical, yes. Mental observation is the province of the Adjustor.”
“I see. So I’ve nothing to fear from Rissa, then.”
“You’ve nothing to fear from either the doctor or the Adjustor, Allison.”
“Good afternoon,” said Rissa Nduni as she clasped Allison’s hand in her huge palm. “So pleased to see you again, and your ‘friend,’ too.”
An outer frond extended from Lherin to attract Allison’s attention. “World here, Plant-spike; big World.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “World is bigger than it seemed.” The doctor said, “Why don’t you step over here, Allison?”
Lherin settled watchfully in a corner as Allison sat in a dark contoured seat and let the instruments surround her.
“Now, relax,” said Rissa. “Be sure to tell me if you feel uncomfortable or have to make a sudden move, all right? Watch the holo stage, now. Have you ever seen your own heart beating?”
“Can’t say that I have.” She stared open-mouthed as a gray fist-shaped organ appeared, suspended above the platform, beating regularly. The beat quickened.
“It isn’t really that large, is it?” Allison asked.
“No; the image is enlarged about tenfold. I see a slight anomaly at this valve,” she pointed out, “as your credo suggested—what you might call a ‘heart murmur’—”
“Doctor Poyser told me not to worry about it.”
“It’s not serious,” Rissa agreed, “though I could correct it for you in a couple of hours.”
“What about your appointment schedule?”
“That’s very thoughtful of you; let me know when you’d like an appointment. Now let’s add the lungs to the picture. There, you have good, strong lungs. You must do a lot of walking.”
“A couple kilometers a day, that’s all.”
“Very good. You Foxfielders do keep in shape, I must say. I’m surprised more citizens don’t, since it adds quite a bit to one’s credit level.”
“It’s ‘socially useful’ to keep fit, then?”
“Very,” said Rissa. “It enormously reduces medical costs. Oh, by the way, place your finger in the blood probe; you won’t feel a thing.”
She tensed, but felt nothing other than the probe’s smooth interior.
“Nuclear magnetic resonance,” Rissa explained, “is a noninvasive technique. Now let’s take a look at your liver…”
As they progressed through her body, Allison relaxed, intrigued despite herself. A thought came to her mind. “Doctor, is it true that women have better endurance than men do?”
Rissa nodded. “They also perform better overall in stressful situations. The statistics are irrefutable. That is why women make better leaders than men.”
“Is that ‘Ultrafeminism’?”
“No, Ultrafeminism is politics, not medicine. Casimir calls me Ultrafeminist, but that’s an over-statement, I certainly would not condone a return to Eradication of men. People didn’t know any better, back then; that was before the Age of Psychosynchrony.”
“Does psychosynchrony show basic mental differences between the sexes?”
Rissa paused to issue commands to her equipment. “Psychosynchrony has barely scratched the surface. I look at history. Men ruled for millennia, and social destruction knew no limits. Now, we’ve lived a century without war. It is clear that women should dominate advanced civilization.”
Allison recalled the ‘games,’ and wondered uneasily what other forms of violence might replace warfare. But the doctor was watching the blood probe screen. “What curious antibodies,” she observed. “Some are specific to Foxfield antigens; many of those chemicals must give your liver a hard time. These other antibodies must be from your pregnancy. I haven’t seen them in years.”
With interest, Allison surveyed the Y-shaped molecular structures. “Aren’t there still noncitizens who become pregnant?” she asked.
“I can’t treat noncitizens.”
“What?” She looked sharply into the doctor’s dark face.
“It’s not permitted,” Rissa explained. “Not for a registered doctor. That’s why I couldn’t send a shuttle down to help your worker who was injured during the storm.”
<
br /> Allison felt a flood of anger and disbelief. “You mean there are people out there who go untreated, just because they don’t wear credos?”
Rissa’s eyes widened. “What are you saying? People don’t go untreated; what a crude thing to suggest.” Her forehead puckered, and she stared off abstractedly as if experiencing inner conflict. “There aren’t many of them left,” she said at last. “It’s just a technicality; any one can get a credo, if they really need help. Allison, would you tell me about your pregnancy; professional interest, you know. It causes an immense strain on the body, doesn’t it? No wonder women evolved such endurance.”
Reluctantly Allison let the issue lapse, for now, since she felt at a disadvantage there, immobilized in the examination seat. She thought back to her pregnancy, thirteen years past. “Let’s see. I guess I felt sick a lot at first. Then I started to get hungry all the time, and tired. I couldn’t really feel him inside until the fifth month.”
“What did it feel like, then?”
“Just a fluttering at first, like a copterfly inside. Then Josh used to put his head to my belly, and said he could hear the heart beating. Later, the baby started to kick occasionally, inside…”
“Did it disturb you?”
“It was kind of neat, actually. I played music to soothe him.” Allison smiled sheepishly. “Maybe it worked, since Dave turned out to be a good singer.”
“Mm. The final stage must have been quite a strain.”
“You might say that. I was in labor for, oh, about six hours, as I recall. I can still remember the first time I got a good look at him, in the bath while Frances washed him down.”
“Yes, it’s a beautiful thing to make a child. And if you ever have another one, you won’t have to go through the hard part.”
Allison looked up. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we’re just going to seal your Fallopian tubes now, so you don’t have to worry about them, and you’re all set to use the incubator at any time.”
“You’ll what? Hey, wait a minute.”
“It only takes a minute; every citizen has it done. I already stored your full genotype.”
“But I don’t want it done, not now at any rate. I think I’d like to get up now.”
“Allison.” The doctor looked puzzled. “You know, all of you will have it done sooner or later. Why not have it over with? I thought that you had—”
“No. I’m getting up, now.” She tried to stand up, but found herself immobilized in a strange way; not numb, exactly, but not about to move, either.
“Friend Allison, please be calm—”
“Let me out of here.” She strained desperately at her neck.
Rissa said, “Yes, but you’ll hurt yourself if you don’t calm down.”
Suddenly she felt very calm indeed. Of course, everything was all right, everything was just fine. The doctor was just standing there, perfectly rational, and she, Allison, was perfectly rational.
An alarm sounded. “Mind’s eye,” Rissa exclaimed, “something’s burning. This is impossible—”
In an instant Allison was free. She rose slowly and flexed her arms. A peculiar pungent odor filled the room; she recognized it from the lightning fire at the Tech Center, the year before, when electrical components had burned. The commensal Yshrin, a predecessor of Lherin, had been present at the time.
The doctor was pressing controls frantically. “Wakarimasen; everything checks out. But the alarm—I was sure I saw smoke, too.”
“I see no smoke,” Allison calmly observed. “Perhaps Lherin made the odor. She’s had a long day, you know.”
“Of course.” Rissa shut off the alarm. There was no further sign of malfunction. “Perhaps your, er, ‘friend’ would like to return to Foxfield.”
Allison nodded judiciously. “Sounds reasonable. Good day, doctor. Come along, Lherin.”
A group of very grave-looking Friends awaited them as the shuttle craft landed. Seth was back, and he embraced Allison before she could catch her breath.
“The bastards,” he said. “They won’t get away with this.”
“With what?”
He stared at her. “You’re drugged, Sonnie.”
“Sh,” said Martha, “we’ve registered a firm protest. It won’t happen again.”
“Everything’s all right,” Allison insisted. “How did you all know?”
“The System told us,” said Clifford. “Someone must have figured it would be good public relations for folks to tune in on your modern medical exam. Set us an example, and all.” He shook his head. “They really blew it, this time.”
“Mommy, Mommy,” cried Dave as he tugged her arm, “what did they do to you? Did they hurt you? If I were there, I wouldn’t have let them—”
“Yes, dear, but Lherin was there and she managed quite well. Lherin—”
But the commensal Fraction was already moving off down the spongy hill, on business of her own.
XIV. Crisis in Babel
Sunbeams stole in through the shades and played across Allison’s desk and shelves. The desk top was even more jumbled than usual; a haphazard pile of printouts mounted indiscriminately over the coral paperweight, the Thinker, and assorted defunct Bloch units.
“Questor Clifford Fuller,” her credometer announced.
Allison looked up. “Accept.” She tossed her latest printout onto the pile. This last straw precipitated an avalanche, and half the contents of her desk slid gracefully to the floor.
“Damn. I mean, darn. Don’t you laugh, either,” she warned her brother as she bent down to scoop up the papers.
“I’m not laughing,” he said.
She listened. He wasn’t.
“So what’s on your mind?” she asked. “Stuffing kids’ minds and chickens’ gullets?”
“Education, all right. Reeducation, if necessary.”
She tilted her head quizzically.
“Some of us,” said Clifford, “felt moved to call a special Meeting tonight.”
“Not because of me, I hope? I thought we straightened that out last week. It was all a mistake, Rissa said.”
“Some Friends remain, shall we say, unclear on that. Besides, that’s not the only thing.”
“No? What have they done now?”
“Not UNI; the One Organism.” Clifford sighed. “Seems She’s gotten upset about something. We’ve taken Her outlook for granted for too long.”
Allison and Dave sat with Frances again. Allison looked up and glanced over the solemn faces. She saw Seth across the room with several visitors whom she recognized from Coral Vale, including Meeting clerk Letitia Mott.
After silence, Lowell took up the matter of Allison’s latest misadventure, and called upon Frances to summarize.
“The doctor,” Frances pointed out, “intended to perform a simple sterilization procedure—routine practice, I emphasize, for UNI citizens, of whom Allison is one.”
“We all are,” Clifford added.
Rennie called out, “not without credos, we aren’t. I don’t see how—”
“Friends,” Lowell smoothly interposed, “let us hear Frances out.”
Frances’s lips hardened. “In any event, Allison objected strongly and the procedure was not performed. Rissa and I have discussed the whole misunderstanding, which better communication should prevent. But,” she added acidly, “the incident does highlight the dilemma unresolved by our nondecision two Sundays ago: are we or are we not to take on the full trappings of citizenship?” She sat down decisively.
“Allison,” Lowell asked, “have you anything to add?”
She shook her head. “That’s about it,” she said in a low voice.
“They drugged her,” said Seth. “Only Lherin stopped them.”
People stirred and muttered about this. Allison bit her lip. “Rissa said I could have gotten hurt, with the equipment and all…”
“Doctor Rissa Nduni,” Lowell asked, “would you have sterilized Allison against her will?”
Ri
ssa’s figure towered above the room. “I have given my sincere apology for this misunderstanding. No medical procedure may be performed without knowledge and consent, ever. That is why I explained as I went along—it’s all on record.
“It is hard for me to get you to understand a century’s worth of medical progress. Remember that before your twenty-first century, many women were unable to bear children at all, for one physiological reason or another—as well as all men, of course. With in vitro incubation anyone can create a child with his or her own genes, or with any assortment from the gene bank, and avoid all the physical hardship of child-bearing.
“The ‘natural’ method is unsafe, compared to the in vitro process, for both mother and child. Also, sterilization eliminates all occasion for contraception and for pregnancy termination—procedures which citizens have opposed for centuries on moral grounds.” She sat down.
Anne observed, “The question of choice remains. We ourselves practice family planning, but—”
“What choice?” demanded Noah. “Allison wanted to back out, but they would have forced her, except that the ’mensal stopped it. Maybe she doesn’t care, but won’t they force us all some day?”
“I resent that,” said Allison hotly. “I was mad as…as anything about what happened, but I happen to believe in learning to live with your neighbors. Who is this ‘they,’ anyway? You call the doctor a liar?”
Allison returned to her seat, shaking. A shocked silence fell.
Martha spoke at last, her grey eyes hard. “I for one see no reason to doubt Friend Rissa’s statement. I move that the recorder so note.”
“How do Friends feel on that?” ventured Lowell. “Noah?”
“Well…” He rubbed his chin. “I just don’t know, Low. I don’t aim to impeach anyone, but—I’m worried, that’s all. I just want to know what’s going on, and not have a bombshell land on us every week.”
Edward said, “I think we all feel unsettled. Still, how shall we proceed unless we build on trust? Let the minutes show we accept Rissa’s statement.”
“That’s fine,” said Noah. “About ‘neighbors,’ though: what kind of neighbors are these ‘citizens,’ to come here and try to force all their rules on us? We get along fine with the commensals, without imposing things, and they’re not even human.”
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