Stranger in a Strange Land

Jubal saw that Mike believed. that Romeo had been a living person and managed to grasp that Mike expected him to conjure up Romeo's ghost and demand explanations for his conduct in the flesh. But to explain that the Capulets and Montagues had never had corporated existence was another matter. The concept of fiction was beyond Mike's experience; there was nothing on which it could rest. Jubal's attempts to explain were so upsetting to Mike that Jill was afraid that he was about to roll up into a ball.

Mike saw how perilously close he was to that necessity and had learned that he must not resort to this refuge in the presence of friends, because (with the exception of his brother Doctor Nelson) it caused them emotional disturbance. So he made a mighty effort, slowed his heart, calmed his emotions, and smiled. «I will waiting till a grokking comes of itself.»

«Good,» agreed Jubal. «Hereafter, before you read anything, ask me or Jill, or somebody, whether or not it is fiction. I don't want you mixed up.»

«I will ask, Jubal.» Mike decided that, when he did grok this strange idea, he must report the fullness to the Old Ones … and found himself wondering if the Old Ones knew about «fiction.» The incredible idea that there might be something as strange to the Old Ones as it was to himself was so much more revolutionary than the weird concept of fiction that he put it aside to cool, saved it for meditation.

« — but I didn't,» his brother Jubal was saying, «call you in to discuss literary forms. Mike, remember the day that Jill took you away from the hospital?»

«“Hospital”?» Mike repeated.

«I'm not sure, Jubal,» Jill interrupted, «that Mike knew it was a hospital. Let me try.»

«Go ahead.»

«Mike, you remember where you were, where you lived alone in a room, before I dressed you and took you away.»

«Yes, Jill.»

«Then we went to another place and I undressed you and gave you a bath.»

Smith smiled in recollection. «Yes. It was great happiness.»

«Then I dried you off — and two men came.»

Smith's smile wiped away. He began to tremble and huddle into himself.

Jill said, «Mike! Stop it! Don't you dare go away!»

Mike took control of his being. «Yes, Jill.»

«Listen, Mike. I want you to think about that time — but you mustn't get upset. There were two men. One of them pulled you out into the living room.»

«The room with the joyful grasses,» he agreed.

«That's right. He pulled you into the room with the grass floor and I tried to stop him. He hit me. Then he was gone. You remember?»

«You are not angry?»

«What? No, no, not at all. One man disappeared, then the other pointed a gun at me — and then he was gone. I was frightened — but I was not angry.»

«You are not angry with me now?»

«Mike, dear — I have never been angry with you. Jubal and I want to know what happened. Those two men were there; you did something … and they were gone. What was it you did? Can you tell us?»

«I will tell. The man — the big man — hit you … and I frightened, too. So I — » He croaked in Martian, looked puzzled. «I do not know words.»

Jubal said, «Mike, can you explain it a little at a time?»

«I will try, Jubal. Something is in front of me. It is a wrong thing and must not be. So I reach out — » He looked perplexed. «It is an easy thing. Tying shoe laces is much more hard. But the words not are. I am very sorry.» He considered it. «Perhaps the words are in Plants to Raym, or Rayn to Sarr, or Sars to Sorc. I will read them tonight and tell you at breakfast.»

«Maybe,» Jubal admitted. «Just a minute, Mike.» He went to a comer and returned with a case which had contained brandy. «Can you make this go away?»

«This is a wrong thing?»

«Well, assume that it is.»

«But — Jubal, I must know that it is a wrong thing. This is a box. I do not grok it exists wrongly.»

«Mmm — Suppose I picked this up and threw it at Jill?»

Smith said with gentle sadness, «Jubal, you would not do that to Jill.»

«Uh … damn it, I guess not. Jill, will you throw the box at me? Hard — a scalp wound at least, if Mike can't protect me.»

«Jubal, I don't like the idea.»

«Oh, come on! In the interest of science … and Ben Caxton.»

«But — » Jill jumped up, grabbed the box, threw it at Jubal's head. Jubal intended to stand fast — but reflex won; he ducked.

«Missed me,» he said. «Confound it, I wasn't watching. I meant to keep my eyes on it.» He looked at Smith. «Mike, is that the — What's the matter boy?»

The Man from Mars was trembling and looking unhappy. Jill put her arms around him. «There, there, it's all right, dear! You did it beautifully. It never touched Jubal. It simply vanished.»

«I guess it did,» Jubal admitted, looking around and chewing his thumb. «Anne, were you watching?»

«Yes.»

«What did you see?»

«The box did not simply vanish. The process lasted some fraction of a second. From where I am sitting it appeared to shrink, as if it were disappearing into the distance. But it did not go outside the room; I could see it up to the instant it disappeared.»

«Where did it go?»

«That is all I can report.»