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all that vanished. He felt great Fresh. And very male.
The lovely girl took on an almost transcendent quality, as if she shone from within
and as if her already nearly irresistible physical appeal was becoming utterly irresistible. Her
brown eyes fixed on him with plain amorousness and soon she rose.
 Let me show you the rest of this place, she said.
That led to a whirlwind tour of the apartment during which she pointed gayly to each
item she thought needed notice and described it, usually in a single word. She was charming
in that inviting, delighted near-dance.
The tour moved from the living room to the bedroom where she switched on
beautifully shadowed lamps before she beckoned him in.
Here, she continued her antic proceedings with warmth and speed.
 Bedroom, she said, as if that was required.
 Bed, and she pointed to the large bed, and the silken coverlet spread on it.
 Girl, she said next, and flung herself, smiling and overtly inviting, on the bed.
She reached behind her back and undid fastenings, he realized, because her next word
came after two sweeping movements that took off her garments.
 Nude girl, she truly stated.
Her arms reached out.
 Yours.
She could see, of course, as before, the complex effect.
Glenn started toward her without the slightest hesitation but, just before he embraced
the beautiful person with the willing, wanting, yet innocently pure smile, he stopped.
His eyes began to move about the dim walls of this room. His exultant feeling died.
He walked away from the lady and started looking about, closely.
The bugs were well camouflaged, minute tubes with shiny lenses, little electronic
sound pickup devices, but he found several.
 The experiment? he finally said, turning to her at last.
She was crying and getting dressed.
He said,  Never mind. I meant it, darling. Only it occurred to me that I m not for
public lovemaking. Too personal and too important.
 I meant it, too, she half sobbed.  I forgot, myself, there would be 
 Peeping Toms! he said, harshly.  Voyeurs.
Her bright hair swung in negation as she sniffled, took a handkerchief from an
unnoted pocket and blew her nose. Scientists, Glenn. Not duty people. Nobody is dirty-
minded, any more. If I d remembered and thought at all I d have known how you d feel.
I m horribly sorry! Not to say  the lifted face and its first, next smile again dazzled him
 disappointed.
 So am I. He gave her a grin that was sympathetic as well as ardent.  Later? How do
we get some privacy?
 I don t know, she answered, unevenly.  Maybe it ll be permitted.
 I could go around, he suggested, staring at one of the cameralike objects he d
uncovered,  and smash them all.
 Don t do that! She was frightened, to his surprise.  No? Why?
 I guess, she said, standing and feeling with her bare feet for her slippers,  you don t
understand at all. As long as you re being studied, you do what they require. They will make
sound tapes and visuals of all you do, that they want to record. Eventually, providing the
scientists get all the data they want, and providing you are given back all that the President
promised, you ll be as free as anybody else.
He began to understand.  Big Brother, eh?
She laughed feebly.  George Orwell? 1984? I read the contemporary books,
hundreds, of course. But I doubt if anybody in this city, even any member of the Board,
would have the faintest idea of what  Big Brother meant!
 In other words, I m actually a prisoner. Under limited parole. As well as under
observation, by remote electronics, wherever I go?
 That s right.
 And, apparently, everybody s in that boat. Or, at least, subject to spot checks, at
random and unknown times?
 Except the A-Class Alpha-plus people. Which you ll be, if things go all right.
 And what, exactly, is Alpha-plus?
 Any man or woman with an A thru C Class rating who also has undamaged genes is
an Alpha. The Alpha-plusses have genes of new and added and valuable sorts. You re one.
 How in hell do you know that?
 You got a complete workup, didn t you? Or maybe you don t remember. Don t
understand. As you came in, you went thru the physical screening and so on. They had to be
sure you weren t bringing in any outside poison, or disease germ, virus that they couldn t
deal with. And at the same time they automatically made a complete gene-portrait from
blood and other samples.
 Other? Oh. I was out cold, mostly.
 Yes. Biology, and other sciences, and their medical uses, are far ahead of 1971. After
all !
 I guess they are! He led her back to the less distressful frustration of the front room.
He sat with her on the divan with a cautious space between them.
  You can perhaps understand  she began.
There was a break. He suddenly wished for a cigar and without thinking, glanced
about She d said,  Vacuobox, in that one-word dance of explaining his apartment and its
fixtures and that is what he looked at, because he recalled its resemblance to a humidor. It
was on a table, oval, near the divan. It held, he found, cigars and cigarettes.
 Another bit from your history courses?
She smiled, somewhat shyly.  Yes. And maybe I should tell you more. About that
Alpha-plus thing.
He found the cigar excellent and fresh-seeming though, he was sure, it was forty-six
years old, minimally. The arts of preserving or of flavor-renewal had advanced, evidently,
too. He blew smoke, realizing no one he d seen had smoked anything, so far: like drinking,
perhaps, a dead custom.
 It smells wonderful, she murmured.
 You were about to explain my high marks in genes?
 Yes. I wasn t, at first. I thought, we d make love, and then I d tell. Because I have a
selfish interest in doing just that, with you, and often, and for endless days or more! You
see I m possibly sterile.
 I gathered that, somewhere. So?
 But there is a slight chance I might not be. One that would require a male with a very
high and very vigorous sperm index. Which you have. And an Alpha because, except for
that matter of never yet getting pregnant, my genes are fine.
He tried to digest that. Other lovers? Well . . . partners. No luck. Try Glenn Howard,
right off, given the chance.
 It was like that, she said softly,  till I saw you. There at the foyer doors and
looking at me and so madly desirous!
That shocked Glenn slightly. She ignored his look.  It meant I did it to you. I know
I m attractive, of course. But even if I ve sometimes had such instant effect, Glenn, I never
had such a tremendous response. Never. Doesn t that mean anything?
 I guess so, he replied slowly.  Things have changed, tho.
 Yes, they have. She seemed lost in reverie, then, and he waited, smoking quietly, to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]