He kept thinking of these days as other than his own time, which, in a way, was ridiculous. But a third of a century had passed, of which he had no memories whatsoever.
As they rode up in the elevator Edith murmured, “Father will be furious with me.”
Then it hit him. A guest of the Leetes, so greatly in the debt of the doctor and his wife, he had taken the first opportunity to bed their daughter. He closed his eyes in pain. What kind of a bastard was he?
“I… I suppose there’s no excuse,” he said. “I hate to deliberately lie to the Academician and your mother. After all, we were gone all night, and they aren’t stupid.”
She frowned at him. “What is there to lie about?”
He stared back at her. “You said he would be furious at our sleeping together.”
“That’s not what I said at all. I said he would be furious.”
He was even more confused. “What will he be furious about?”
“That I took so long to see that you—”
“You mean your parents won’t care?”
“Why in the world should they? You’re in your mid-thirties, I’m in my mid-twenties, and we like each other. Isn’t it expected that we have sexual appetites? At present, I have no man I’ve been seeing regularly—or irregularly, for that matter. And, of course, you have met so few outside our family that you haven’t had much opportunity. In fact, have you met any young women at all?”
“One or two, on my way in or out of the building.”
“Well, were any of them attractive?”
He thought about the girl of whom he had asked directions to the Cub Bar. “I suppose so.”
“You could have asked one of them,” she said. “They would have undoubtedly been fascinated to sleep with Julian West. Why didn’t you?”
He said sourly, “Because I didn’t want a bust on the nose.”
“Why in the world would she want to put her breasts on your nose?”
“Never mind,” he told her. “You’re not completely up on the idiom of my day.”
They had reached their floor. Julian left Edith at the door to the Leete apartment.
He said, “I think I’ll go on back to my own place and pick up a few notes I made before you told me about using the data banks. Unless you have something on, I’ll be over shortly.”
“Fine, darling.” She offered her lips for a quick kiss, and he took immediate advantage of the opportunity before taking off.
He hadn’t the vaguest idea of where he stood with her. Had they just had a one-night stand, or was she willing to go into what she called a semi-permanent relationship? He hoped it was the latter. She had mentioned that at present she had no young man. Her parting kiss and the casual endearment might be a good sign.
He entered and headed directly to his study. At the threshold, he stopped dead. Even at a distance, it was obvious to him that the room had been searched. He was immaculate so far as keeping his things in order. Even before he crossed to the desk, he knew very well that his notes had been gone through; they simply were not in the order in which he had left them.
He stared down at the desk for long moments.
Possibly the doctor, or even his wife, had found some reason to come over and, in curiosity, had looked through the notes he had made while studying. It didn’t seem very likely but, on the other hand, he knew practically no one else. In the past month, the doctor had introduced him to a few cut-and-dried types connected with the “Julian West Project,” other doctors or academicians of one sort or another, but he could not imagine that any one of them would have entered his apartment and gone through his things.
He went into the other rooms. Nothing seemed to have been disturbed. For that matter, the few things he had brought with him from the past were those that he carried in his pockets. He hadn’t even gotten around, as yet, to securing a few items in the way of art objects and handicrafts to personalize his quarters, although both Edith and Martha had promised to help him to that end.
It was simply a mystery.
He shrugged it off, found the notes he had wanted to ask the Leetes about, and left for their apartment.
In spite of the fact Edie had assured him that the doctor would in no way object to Julian sleeping with his daughter, he was still embarrassed about facing him. He knew he was probably being foolish. If the girl had received instruction from a sex tutor at the age of fourteen and on, and had had a whole series of affairs since then… But still…
He stood before the identity screen of the Leete apartment and the door swung open. He entered the living room, stepping into what seemed an intense conversation between the academician and his daughter.
They looked up at his approach.
“I’m not intruding, am I?” he said hurriedly, already turning to leave.
“No, no, of course not,” Leete told him. “It’s just that I had another strange experience this morning.”
Julian stopped in his tracks.
The doctor said slowly, “I went out for a drive through the countryside, just to gather my thoughts about a project I’ve been involved in for some time. I was on manual control, of course, most of the surface roads not being automated as yet. When a car pulled up behind me, I edged over to the side of the road to let it pass. However, it didn’t pass. I slowed. It slowed. There were four men in it. I couldn’t make them out very well, but they all seemed to be somewhat young. Still not thinking it overly strange, I sped up. They sped up and deliberately hit my rear bumper, an action that wasn’t particularly safe at that speed.”
“Jesus Christ!” said Julian.
The other went on, “Somewhat shocked now, I sped up still more, and they continued to pursue. In my rear view mirror I could see that the two in the front seat were laughing. I tried everything I could think of; I turned down smaller side roads, thinking that they would continue on the highway, but they didn’t. They kept following, bumping my rear bumper at every opportunity. I was terrified that I might turn over. My car was an open one; theirs wasn’t.”
“Good heavens, Father,” Edith exclaimed. “Why didn’t you summon Highway Security?”
He looked at her strangely. “I couldn’t. My car phone wouldn’t work. They pursued me a good many kilometers before finally dropping away and abandoning the chase. I returned immediately and confronted one of the mechanics at the car pool. He examined the vehicle that I had taken over and, his face’s ace set in amazement, said that the car phone had been tampered with. I simply can’t understand it. And one other thing that would seem impossible…”
He reached into a side pocket and brought forth a piece of paper, handing it first to Julian. “I found this in my pocket, after I got back here to the apartment.”
Julian scowled down at it. “…one must either anticipate change or be its victim.—John K. Gal-braith.”
Julian handed the paper to Edith. As she read it, he asked, “Could someone have slipped it into your pocket down in the lobby, or coming up in the elevator?”
“Why… I suppose so,” the older man said, scowling. “I probably nudged against people all the way up from the car pool.”
Julian slumped into a chair. He suspected that he was more at home in this atmosphere than were these other two, who had lived in a sheltered society for the past thirty years.
He took a deep breath and said, “Look, in this Republic of the Golden Rule society of yours, are there many malcontents?”
They didn’t quite understand him at first.
He said impatiently, “I know this is Utopia, but there must be some who are dragging their heels. Even in Heaven there was a revolt of the angels and they had to kick Lucifer and some of the boys out.”