Judith Merril - The Year's Greatest Science Fiction & Fantasy 4

Dr. Cedric Elton shook his head in disapproval. Fantasy fiction was all right in its place, but too many people took it seriously. Of course, it was not the fault of the fiction. The same type of person took other types of fantasy seriously in earlier days, burning women as witches, stoning men as devils—

Abruptly Cedric deflected the control on the intercom and spoke into it. “Send Gerald Bocek in, please,” he said.

A moment later the door to the reception room opened. Helena flashed Cedric a scared smile and got out of the way quickly. One police officer led the way, followed by Gerald Bocek, closely flanked by two officers with the fourth one in the rear, who carefully closed the door. It was impressive, Cedric decided. He nodded toward a chair in front of his desk and the police officers sat the strait-jacketed man in it, then hovered near by, ready for anything.

“You’re Jerry Bocek?” Cedric asked.

The strait-jacketed man nodded cheerfully.

“I’m Dr. Cedric Elton, a psychiatrist,” Cedric said. “Do you have any idea at all why you have been brought to me?”

“Brought to you?” Jerry echoed, chuckling. “Don’t kid me. You’re my old pal, Gar Castle. Brought to you? How could I get away from you in this stinking tub?”

“Stinking tub?” Cedric said.

“Spaceship,” Jerry said. “Look, Gar. Untie me, will you? This nonsense has gone far enough.”

“My name is Dr. Cedric Elton,” Cedric enunciated. “You are not on a spaceship. You were brought to my office by the four policemen standing in back of you, and—”

Jerry Bocek turned his head and studied each of the four policemen with frank curiosity. “What policemen?” he interrupted. “You mean these four gear lockers?” He turned his head back and looked pityingly at Dr. Elton. “You’d better get hold of yourself, Gar,” he said. “You’re imagining things.”

“My name is Dr. Cedric Elton,” Cedric said.

Gerald Bocek leaned forward and said with equal firmness, “Your name is Gar Castle. I refuse to call you Dr. Cedric Elton because your name is Gar Castle, and I’m going to keep on calling you Gar Castle because we have to have at least one peg of rationality in all this madness or you will be cut completely adrift in this dream world you’ve cooked up.”

Cedric’s eyebrows shot halfway up to his hairline.

“Funny,” he mused, smiling. “That’s exactly what I was just going to say to you!”

Cedric continued to smile. Jerry’s serious intenseness slowly faded. Finally an answering smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. When it became a grin, Cedric laughed, and Jerry began to laugh with him. The four police officers looked at one another uneasily.

“Well!” Cedric finally gasped. “I guess that puts us on an even footing! You’re nuts to me and I’m nuts to you!”

“An equal footing is right!” Jerry shouted in high glee. Then he sobered. “Except,” he said gently, “I’m tied up.”

“In a strait jacket,” Cedric corrected.

“Ropes,” Jerry said firmly.

“You’re dangerous,” Cedric said. “You killed six people, one of them a police officer, and wounded two other officers.”

“I blasted five Venusian lizard pirates who boarded our ship,” Jerry said, “and melted the door off of one gear locker, and seared the paint on two others. You know as well as I do, Gar, how space madness causes you to personify everything. That’s why they drill into you that the minute you think there are more people on board the ship than there were at the beginning of the trip you’d better go to the medicine locker and take a yellow pill. They can’t hurt anything but a delusion.”

“If that is so,” Cedric said, “why are you in a strait jacket?”

“I’m tied up with ropes,” Jerry said patiently. “You tied me up. Remember?”

“And those four police officers behind you are gear lockers?” Cedric said. “OK, if one of those gear lockers comes around in front of you and taps you on the jaw with his fist, would you still believe it’s a gear locker?”

Cedric nodded to one of the officers, and the man came around in front of Gerald Bocek and, quite carefully, hit him hard enough to rock his head but not hurt him. Jerry’s eyes blinked with surprise, then he looked at Cedric and smiled. “Did you feel that?” Cedric said quietly.

“Feel what?” Jerry said. “Oh!” He laughed. “You imagined that one of the gear lockers—a police officer in your dream world—came around in front of me and hit me?” He shook his head in pity. “Don’t you understand, Gar, that it didn’t really happen? Untie me and I’ll prove it. Before your very eyes I’ll open the door on your Policeman and take out the pressure suit, or magnetic grapple, or whatever is in it. Or are you afraid to? You’ve surrounded yourself with all sorts of protective delusions. I’m tied with ropes, but you imagine it to be a strait jacket. You imagine yourself to be a psychiatrist named Dr. Cedric Elton, so that you can convince yourself that you’re sane and I’m crazy. Probably you imagine yourself a very famous psychiatrist that everyone would like to come to for treatment. World famous, no doubt. Probably you even think you have a beautiful receptionist. What is her name?”

“Helena Fitzroy,” Cedric said.

Jerry nodded. “It figures,” he said resignedly. “Helena Fitzroy is the expediter at Mars Port. You try to date her every time we land there, but she won’t date you.”

“Hit him again,” Cedric said to the officer. While Jerry’s head was still rocking from the blow, Cedric said, “Now! Is it my imagination that your head is still rocking from the blow?”

“What blow?” Jerry said, smiling. “I felt no blow.”

“Do you mean to say,” Cedric said incredulously, “that there is no corner of your mind, no slight residue of rationality, that tries to tell you your rationalizations aren’t reality?”

Jerry smiled ruefully. “I have to admit,” he said, “when you seem so absolutely certain you’re right and I’m nuts, it almost makes me doubt. Untie me, ‘Gar, and let’s try to work this thing out sensibly.” He grinned. “You know, Gar, one of us has to be nuttier than a fruit cake.”

“If I had the officers take off your strait jacket, what would you do?” Cedric asked. “Try to grab a gun and kill some more people?”

“That’s one of the things I’m worried about,” Jerry said. “If those pirates came back, with me tied up, you’re just space crazy enough to welcome them aboard. That’s why you must untie me. Our lives may depend on it, Gar.”

“Where would you get a gun?” Cedric asked.

“Where they’re always kept,” Jerry said. “In the gear lockers.”

Cedric looked at the four policemen, at their holstered revolvers. One of them grinned feebly at him.

“I’m afraid we can’t take your strait jacket off just yet,” Cedric said. “I’m going to have the officers take you back now. I’ll talk with you again tomorrow. Meanwhile I want you to think seriously about things. Try to get below this level of rationalization that walls you off from reality. Once you make a dent in it the whole delusion will vanish.” He looked up at the officers. “All right, take him away. Bring him back the same time tomorrow.”

The officers urged Jerry to his feet. Jerry looked down at Cedric, a gentle expression on his face. “I’ll try to do that, Gar,” he said. “And I hope you do the same thing. I’m much encouraged. Several times I detected genuine doubt in your eyes. And—” Two of the officers pushed him firmly toward the door. As they opened it Jerry turned his head and looked back. “Take one of those yellow pills in the medicine locker, Gar,” he pleaded. “It can’t hurt you.”