Clans of the Alphane Moon by Philip K. Dick Read Free Book Online Page A

this.
    “And,” Joan said, “on the floor below you is a greebsloth from Callisto; it’s all wound around a three-way floor lamp that’s standard equipment in these conapts… circa 1960. It’ll wake up as soon as the sun sets; then it goes out and shops for food. And you already met the slime mold.” She puffed vigorously—and a trifle inexpertly—on her cigarette. “I like this place; you meet all sorts of life forms. Before you a Venusian moss inhabited this apt. I saved its life once; it had dried out… they’ve got to keep moist,you know. In the end this climate here in Marin County was too dry for it; finally it moved north to Oregon where it rains all the time.” Turning, she halted and surveyed him. “You look like you’ve had a lot of trouble.”
    “No real trouble. Just the imaginary kind. The avoidable kind.” He thought, Trouble that if I had used my head I never would have become involved with; I never would have married her.
    “What’s your wife’s name?”
    Startled, he said, “Mary.”
    “Don’t kill yourself because you’ve left her,” Joan said. “In a few months or even weeks you’ll feel whole again. Now you feel like one half of an organism that’s split apart. Binary fission always hurts; I know because of a protoplasm that used to live here… it suffered every time it split, but it had to split, it had to grow.”
    “I guess growth hurts.” Going to the picture window he once more looked down at the footer runnels and the wheels and jet hoppers below. He had come so close…
    “This isn’t a bad place to live,” Joan said. “I know; I’ve lived a lot of places. Of course everybody in the Ross Police Department knows The Discarded Arms,” she added candidly. “There’s been a lot of trouble here, petty thefts, fights, even one homicide. It’s not a clean place… you can see that.”
    “And yet—”
    “And yet I believe you ought to stay. You’ll have company. Especially at night the non-T life forms that live here begin to circulate, as you’ll find out. And Lord Running Clam is a very good friend to have made; he’s helped a lot of people. Ganymedeans possess what St. Paul called
caritas
… and remember,Paul said caritas was the greatest of all the virtues.” She added, “The modern word for it would be empathy, I guess.”
    The conapt door opened; Chuck turned instantly. And saw two men whom he knew quite well. His boss, Jack Elwood and his co-worker in script-writing, Pete Petri. At the sight of him both men looked relieved.
    “Darn it,” Elwood said, “we thought we were too late. We stopped by your house, thinking you might be there.”
    Joan Trieste said, speaking to Elwood, “I’m from the Ross Police Department. May I see your ID papers, please?” Her voice was cool.
    Elwood and Petri showed her their CIA identification, briefly, then strolled over to Chuck. “What’s the city police doing here?” Elwood asked.
    “A friend,” Chuck said.
    Elwood shrugged; obviously he did not intend to press for details. “Couldn’t you’ve found a better apt for yourself?” He surveyed the room. “This place literally smells.”
    “It’s only temporary,” Chuck said, uncomfortably.
    “Don’t deteriorate,” Pete Petri said. “And your leave; they canceled it. They think you ought to be at work. For your own good. You shouldn’t be alone where you can brood.” He eyed Joan Trieste, clearly wondering if she had interfered with a suicide attempt. No one, however, enlightened him. “So will you come back to the office with us? There’s a hell of a lot to do; you’ll be there all night, the way it looks.”
    “Thanks,” Chuck said. “But I’ve got to start moving my things. I need to decorate this apt, to some extent anyhow.” He still wanted to be alone, as much as he appreciated their intentions. It was an instinct, tocrawl away, to hide himself; it came from the blood.
    To the two CIA men Joan Trieste said, “I can stay with him for