The Menace From Earth ssc Read Free

days and forty nights, maybe."
    She decided that he was being humorous and laughed.
    He went on, "Can you remember how you got the idea?"
    She swirled her glass and thought. "I simply don't know."
    He nodded. "That's what I expected."
    "I don't understand you — unless you think I'm crazy. Do you?"
    "No. I think you had to do it and could not help it and don't know why and can't know why."
    "But you know." She said it accusingly.
    "Maybe. At least I have some figures. Ever take any interest in statistics, Meade?"
    She shook her head. "Figures confuse me. Never mind statistics — I want to know why I did what I did!"
    He looked at her very soberly. "I think we're lemmings, Meade."
    -
    She looked puzzled, then horrified. "You mean those little furry mouselike creatures? The ones that —"
    "Yes. The ones that periodically make a death migration, until millions, hundreds of millions of them drown themselves in the sea. Ask a lemming why he does it. If you could get him to slow up his rush toward death, even money says he would rationalize his answer as well as any college graduate. But he does it because he has to — and so do we."
    "That's a horrid idea, Potiphar."
    "Maybe. Come here, Meade. I'll show you figures that confuse me, too." He went to his desk and opened a drawer, took out a packet of cards. "Here's one. Two weeks ago a man sues an entire state legislature for alienation of his wife's affection — and the judge lets the suit be tried. Or this one — a patent application for a device to lay the globe over on its side and warm up the arctic regions. Patent denied, but the inventor took in over three hundred thousand dollars in down payments on South Pole real estate before the postal authorities stepped in. Now he's fighting the case and it looks as if he might win. And here-prominent bishop proposes applied courses in the so-called facts of life in high schools." He put the card away hastily. "Here's a dilly: a bill introduced in the Alabama lower house to repeal the laws of atomic energy — not the present statutes, but the natural laws concerning nuclear physics; the wording makes that plain." He shrugged. "How silly can you get?"
    "They're crazy."
    "No, Meade. One such is crazy; a lot of them is a lemming death march. No, don't object — I've plotted them on a curve. The last time we had anything like this was the so-called Era of Wonderful Nonsense. But this one is much worse." He delved into a lower drawer, hauled out a graph. "The amplitude is more than twice as great and we haven't reached peak. What the peak will be I don't dare guess three separate rhythms, reinforcing."
    She peered at the curves. "You mean that the laddy with the artic real estate deal is somewhere on this line?"
    "He adds to it. And back here on the last crest are the flag-pole sitters and the goldfish swallowers and the Ponzi hoax and the marathon dancers and the man who pushed a peanut up Pikes Peak with his nose. You're on the new crest — or you will be when I add you in."
    She made a face. "I don't like it."
    "Neither do 1. But it's as clear as a bank statement. This year the human race is letting down its hair, flipping its lip with a finger, and saying, 'Wubba, wubba, wubba'."
    She shivered. "Do you suppose I could have another drink? Then I'll go."
    "I have a better idea. I owe you a dinner for answering questions. Pick a place and we'll have a cocktail before."
    She chewed her lip. "You don't owe me anything. And I don't feel up to facing a restaurant crowd. I might ... I might —"
    "No, you wouldn't," he said sharply. "It doesn't hit twice."
    "You're sure? Anyhow, I don't want to face a crowd." She glanced at his kitchen door. "Have you anything to eat in there? I can cook."
    "Um, breakfast things. And there's a pound of ground round in the freezer compartment and some rolls. I sometimes make hamburgers when I don't want to go out."
    She headed for the kitchen. "Drunk or sober, fully dressed or — or naked, I can cook.