Prescription for Chaos Read Free Page A

did not doubt she could leave this end of the evening to the built-in skill of the rolov, but she did not think she could bear to watch it. With the hot murmurings still faintly audible behind her, she tiptoed wearily down the hallway and walked into the living room.
    On the sofa, reading the night's paper, sprawled Jackson Mellibant VII, his face a study in boredom.
    Maryn stood transfixed.
    Jackson, flipping the paper, glanced up, snapped the paper around and looked at it. An instant later he glanced up again at Maryn. "Eh!" he gasped, his eyes wide.
    "Well!" said Maryn.
    For a moment they stared at each other. "You're not in there!" Jackson commented stupidly.
    "What about you?" snapped Maryn.
    For a moment, they stared at each other vacantly, then Jackson's face took on a look of shrewd calculation. "Come on," he said. She followed him down the hallway, holding tightly to his hand. They bent to listen at the bedroom door. Giggling murmurs came from within.
    Jackson started to shake silently. He pulled her back to the living room and burst out laughing.
    "I don't see anything funny about it," snapped Maryn. "Who's in there?"
    Jackson sank down on the couch and laughed all the harder.
    "Some friend of yours?" Maryn demanded icily.
    Jackson choked and gasped for breath. "Whew!" he said. "Friend?" He tried to stop laughing and failed. He put his hand on Maryn's arm, as if for patience, and she struck it away angrily. She stamped her foot.
    "Maryn," said Jackson between bursts of laughter, "did you put a rolov in there?"
    "What if I did?" she demanded angrily. "That's better than you—you—"
    "No," said Jackson, "you don't understand." He took a small flat black box out of his side pocket and held it up. " I put one in there, too," he said.
    As Maryn stared, he started to laugh again. "Two love-making machines," he gasped, "locked in steely embrace. Ye gods, there's progress for you."
    "I don't think that's very funny," said Maryn. "Why did you have to send a machine in?"
    "Oh," said Jackson. "The Murches are very influential people. Miss Maryn Murch must have nothing but the best."
    "But—" Maryn stared at him. Jackson Mellibant VII was the precise image of exact physical and social perfection. Very clearly, he was the best. Maryn said so.
    "Oh no," said Jackson. "Don't judge others by yourself. I'm all sham and pretense. You don't get strong leading the lives we lead today. I couldn't compare with that machine."
    "You mean," said the startled Maryn, "that you're made-up? "
    "That's it," said Jackson, rising sadly to his feet. "I'm a fraud, a fake. Well, I'll get my machine and be going."
    "Wait a minute," said Maryn, taking him by the arm.
    "What?"
    "I want to talk to you."
    "Still?" he looked at her in surprise.
    "Yes."
    "What about the machines?"
    "Oh, they can blow a fuse for all I care," said Maryn. "Won't you sit down?"
    "M,m. All right," said Jackson.
    She smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder.
     
    It was well into the morning when Maryn's mother returned, went directly to the memory box in the bedroom and ran it through. "Well," she said to Maryn, "everything seems to have gone off very nicely. Did he ask for another date?"
    Maryn nodded.
    "That's good," said her mother. "Remember, Maryn, the Mellibants are very influential people. You must still do your best."
    "Yes, Mother," said Maryn, obediently. "I will."
     

The New Boccaccio
    Howard Nelson shook hands with the white-haired man who stood behind the desk. "Nelson," said Howard, introducing himself, "of Nelson and Rand, Publishers."
    "I'm Forrick," said the white-haired man, smiling. "Well, we of United Computers seldom meet a publisher. We're usually called in to straighten out production difficulties."
    "That's my trouble exactly," said Howard.
    "Really? You said you were a publisher ?"
    "That is correct. Publishers publish books, and books have to be produced. Let me assure you, we have production difficulties. But my specific problem at the