The Divine Invasion by Philip K. Dick Read Free Book Online Page A

created for that."
    Zina said, "Once a calf about to be slaughtered ran to a Rabbi for protection and put its head between the Rabbi's knees. The Rabbi said, 'Go! For this you were created,' meaning, 'You were created to be slaughtered.'"
    "And then?" Emmanuel said.
    Zina said, "God greatly afflicted the Rabbi for a long time."
    "I understand," Emmanuel said. "You have taught me. I will not be the cat."
    "Then I will be the cat," Zina said, "and it will not die because I am not like you." She bent down, her hands on her knees, to address the cat. Emmanuel watched, and presently the cat came to him and asked to speak to him. He lifted it up and held it in his arms and the cat placed its paw against his face. With its paw it told him that mice were annoying and a bother and yet the cat did not wish to see an end of mice because, as annoying as they were, still there was something about them that was fascinating, more fascinating than annoying; and so the cat sought out mice, although the cat did not respect the mice. The cat wanted there to be mice and yet the cat despised mice.
    All this the cat communicated by means of its paw against the boy's cheek.
    "All right," Emmanuel said.
    Zina said, "Do you know where any mice are right now?"
    "You are the cat," Emmanuel said.
    "Do you know where any mice are right now?" she repeated.
    "You are a kind of mechanism," Emmanuel said.
    "Do you know—"
    "You have to find them yourself," Emmanuel said.
    "But you could help me. You could chase them my way. The girl opened her mouth and showed him her teeth. He laughed.
    Against his cheek the paw conveyed more thoughts; that Mr. Plaudet was coming into the building. The cat could hear his steps. Put me down, the cat communicated.
    Emmanuel set the cat down.
    "Are there any mice?" Zina said.
    "Stop," Emmanuel said. "Mr. Plaudet is here."
    "Oh," Zina said, and nodded.
    Entering the room, Mr. Plaudet said, "I see you've found Misty, Emmanuel. Isn't she a nice little animal? Zina, what's wrong with you? Why are you staring at me?"
    Emmanuel laughed; Zina was having trouble disentangling herself from the cat. "Be careful, Mr. Plaudet," he said. "Zina'll scratch you."
    "You mean Misty," Mr. Plaudet said.
    "That's not the kind of brain damage I have," Emmanuel said. "To—" He broke off; he could feel Zina telling him no .
    "He's not very good at names, Mr. Plaudet," Zina said. She had managed to separate herself from the cat, now, and Misty, perplexed, walked slowly away. Obviously Misty had not been able to fathom why, all at once, she found herself in two different places.
    "Do you remember my name, Emmanuel?" Mr. Plaudet asked.
    "Mr. Talk," Emmanuel said.
    "No," Mr. Plaudet said. He frowned. "'Plaudet' is German for 'talk,' though."
    "I told Emmanuel that," Zina said. "About your name."
    After Mr. Plaudet left, Emmanuel said to the girl, "Can you summon the bells? For dancing?"
    "Of course." And then she flushed. "That was a trick question."
    "But you play tricks. You always play tricks. I'd like to hear the bells, but I don't want to dance. I'd like to watch the dancing, though."
    "Some other time," Zina said. "You do remember something, then. If you know about the dancing."
    "I think I remember. I asked Elias to take me to see my father, where they have him stored. I want to see what he looks like. If I saw him, maybe I'd remember a lot more. I've seen pictures of him."
    Zina said, "There's something you want from me even more than the dancing."
    "I want to know about the time power you have. I want to see you make time stop and then run backward. That's the best trick of all."
    "I said you should see your father about that."
    "But you can do it," Emmanuel said. "Right here."
    "I'm not going to. It disturbs too many things. They never line up again. Once they're out of synch—Well, someday I'll do it for you. I could take you back to before the collision. But I'm not sure that's wise because you might have to live it over, and that would