The next week kept us busy following Edith's instructions. I didn't see
how they would apply to Alice, but Edith knew her species better than
I. Alice's silence and the prying inquisitiveness of her parents and
her boyfriend worked like magic. Alice finally became angry and after
a stormy scene left the house, swearing never to return. Edith picked
her up as she walked away; Ven turned on the control and turned the
threat to fact. Later I took a leaf from Edith's book and sent Alice to
San Francisco, where I had her write a pair of bitter letters to her
parents and her extralegal mate. After that I felt more secure.
The others worked out exactly as Edith predicted. No trouble at all.
By the time Donald returned from the East with a ton of tin ingots in
a small truck our training schedule was well set up. The robots and I
had managed to build a multiplex controller similar to those we used
on Thalassa on the state farms, but much smaller. It could handle the
proxies en masse or as individuals. While far less sensitive than the
one in the ship, it was effective enough for our rather elementary
purposes.
Edith, who was running the group under Ven's supervision, had them
lined up in a row to greet Donald as he came up the hill toward the
ship.
"The place looks like a nudist colony," Donald grumbled. "You haven't
improved it any." He eyed the file of mammals trooping down to the
truck to unload the tin ingots. "I have another ton lined up for
delivery as soon as you get this processed," he said.
"Good," I replied. "We'll leave as soon as it's aboard. I don't like
the looks of your recent actions."
"Mine?" I shook my head. "Oh, you mean the world situation." I nodded.
"You shouldn't worry about it. You should have seen it this time last
year."
I shrugged. I would never really understand these creatures. Their
brains functioned differently. "You frighten me with your wild displays
of emotion. Someday one of you is going to start something and your
world is going to go up in fire."
"I don't think so," he said. "I have some ideas about that. With the
money from your stories and with what you have taught me, I think there
will be some changes." There was a peculiar expression in his eyes that
I couldn't identify. It made me vaguely uneasy. "I've been doing a lot
of thinking since you met up with Edie and me. What this world needs
is someone who can run it."
"That's obvious," I said. "Until your society catches up with your
technology you will be in constant danger. You mammals will have to
learn to discipline your emotions."
His face twisted. "I've had a good practical course in that," he said.
"Now I'm getting post-graduate training." He gestured at the women
coming up the hill carrying the silver tin ingots. "Just how long do
you think I can endure something like this?"
"Like what?" I asked.
"Do I have to draw you a diagram?" he asked. "Ever since you lizards
came into my life I haven't been able to touch a woman. Not even
Edith--and she's my wife. Just how much of this do you think I can
take?"
* * * * *
"Oh!" I exclaimed with dawning comprehension. "I think I see."
The situation would have been amusing if it wasn't so stupid. I was
surprised that I hadn't realized it before. There was, I knew, a
certain amount of feedback in a bipolar control circuit. Obviously
enough of Ven's conditioning, and mine, had seeped through to affect
Donald and Edith's normal relationships. Mammals were far more
preoccupied with sex than we were. Their books, magazines, television
and motion pictures reeked of it. It was present in almost every piece
of advertising, and four of our six new proxies were living histories
of it. Yet Donald and Edith, because of our feedback, had been kept as
continent as novitiates for the priesthood of Authority!
"I'm a perfectly normal male," Donald said. "Just what do you think
you've been doing to me? I can't drink. I can't make love. I can't do
anything except collect tin for you lizards. Just why do you think I
hate you? Now you surround me with a whole damned untouchable harem!
Are you trying to drive me insane?"