Mario said, "Florence-frankly. Would you say I've been a good husband?"
She blinked defiantly at him. "I've no complaints. I've never complained." The pitch of her voice hinted that this perhaps was not literally true. Probably had reason, thought Mario.
"No, I want the truth, Florence."
"You've given me all the money I wanted. You've humiliated me a thousand tunes-snubbed me, made me a laughing stock for the children."
Mario said, "Well, I'm sorry, Florence." He could not vow affection. He felt sorry for Florence-Ebery's wife-but she was Ralston Ebery's wife, not his own. One of Ralston Ebery's victims. "See you this evening," he said lamely, and switched off.
He sat back. Think, think, think. There must be a way out or was this to be his life, his end, in this corpulent unhealthy body? Mario laughed suddenly. If ten million dollars bought Ralston Ebery a new body-presumably his own-then ten million more of Ralston Ebery's dollars might buy the body back. For money spoke a clear loud language to Mervyn Alien. Humiliating, a nauseous obsequious act, a kissing of the foot which kicked you, a submission, an acquiescence-but it was either this or wear the form of Ralston Ebery.
Mario stood up, walked to the window, stepped out on the landing plat, signaled down an aircab.
Ten minutes later he stood at 5600 Exmoor Avenue in Meadowlands, the Chateau d'lf. A gardener clipping the hedges eyed him with distrust. He strode up the driveway, pressed the button.
There was, as before, a short wait, the unseen scrutiny of spy cells. The sun shone warm on his back, to his ears came the shirrrrr of the gardener's clippers.
The door opened.
"Please come in," said the soft commercial voice.
Down the hall, into the green and brown reception room with the painting of the three stark nudes before the olden forest.
The girl of fabulous beauty entered; Mario gazed again into the wide clear eyes which led to some strange brain. Whose brain? Mario wondered. Of man or woman?
No longer did Mario feel the urge to excite her, arouse her. She was unnatural, a thing.
"What do you wish?"
"I'd like to see Mr. Alien."
"On what business?"
"Ah, you know me?"
"On what business?"
"You're a money-making concern, are you not?"
"Yes."
"My business means money."
"Please be seated." She turned; Mario watched the slim body in retreat. She walked lightly, gracefully, in low elastic slippers. He became aware of Ebery's body. The old goat's glands were active enough. Mario fought down the wincing nausea.
The girl returned. "Follow me, please."
Mervyn Alien received him with affability, though not going so far as to shake hands.
"Hello, Mr. Mario. I rather expected you. Sit down. How's everything going? Enjoying yourself?"
"Not particularly. I'll agree that you've provided me with a very stimulating adventure. And indeed-now that I think back-nowhere have you made false representations."
Alien smiled a cool brief smile. And Mario wondered whose brain this beautiful body surrounded.
"Your attitude is unusually philosophical," said Alien. "Most of our customers do not realize that we give them exactly what they pay for. The essence of adventure is surprise, danger, and an outcome dependent upon one's own efforts."
"No question," remarked Mario, "that is precisely what you offer. But don't mistake me. If I pretended friendship, I would not be sincere. In spite of any rational processes, I feel a strong resentment. I would kill you without sorrow-even though, as you will point out, I brought the whole matter on myself."
"Exactly."
"Aside from my own feelings, we have a certain community of interests, which I wish to exploit. You want money, I want my own body. I came to inquire by what circumstances our desires could both be satisfied."
Alien's face was joyous, he laughed delightedly. "Mario, you amuse me. I've heard many propositions, but none quite so formal, so elegant. Yes, I want money. You want the body you have become accustomed to. I'm sorry to say that your old body is now the property of someone else, and I doubt if he'd be persuaded to surrender it. But - I can sell you another body, healthy, handsome, young, for our usual fee. Ten million dollars. For thirty million I'll give you the widest possible choice - a body like mine, for instance. The Empyrean Tower is an exceedingly expensive project."
Mario said, "Out of curiosity, how is this transfer accomplished? I don't notice any scar or any sign of brain graft. Which in any event is probably impossible."
Mervyn Alien nodded. "It would be tedious, splicing several million sets of nerves. Are you acquainted with the physiology of the brain?"
"No," said Mario. "It's complicated, that's about all I know of it-or have cared to know."
Alien leaned back, relaxed, spoke rapidly, as if by rote. "The brain is divided into three parts, the medulla oblongata, the cerebellum-these two control involuntary motions and reflexes-and the cerebrum, the seat of memory, intelligence, personality. Thinking is done in the brain the same way thinking is done in mechanical brains, by the selection of a route through relays or neurons.
"In a blank brain, the relative ease of any circuit is the same, and the electric potential of each and every cell is the same.
"The process is divided into a series of steps-discovered, I may add, accidentally during a program of research in a completely different field. First, the patient's scalp is imbedded in a cellule of what the original research team called golasma, an organic crystal with a large number of peripheral fibers. Between the golasma cellule and the brain are a number of layers-hair, dermal tissue, bone, three separate membranes, as well as a mesh of blood vessels, very complicated. The neural cells however are unique in their high electric potential, and for practical purposes the intervening cells do not intrude.
"Next, by a complicated scanning process, we duplicate the synapses of the brain in the golasma, relating it by a pattern of sensory stimuli to a frame that will be common to all men.
"Third, the golasma cellules are changed, the process is reversed, A's brain is equipped with B's synapses, B with A's. The total process requires only a few minutes. Non-surgical, painless, harmless. A receives B's personality and memories, B takes on A's."
Slowly. Mario rubbed his fat chin. "You mean, I-I-am not Roland Mario at all? That thinking Roland Mario's thoughts is an illusion? And not a cell in this body is Roland Mario?"
"Not the faintest breath. You're all-let me see. Your name is Ralston Ebery, I believe. Every last corpuscle of you is Ralston Ebery. You are Ralston Ebery, equipped with Roland Mario's memories."
"But, my glandular make-up? Won't it modify Roland Mario's personality? After all, a man's actions are not due to his brain alone, but to a synthesis of effects."
"Very true," said Alien. "The effect is progressive. You will gradually change, become like the Ralston Ebery before the change. And the same with Roland Mario's body. The total change will be determined by the environment against heredity ratio in your characters."
Mario smiled. "I want to get out of this body soon. What I see of Ebery I don't like."
"Bring in ten million dollars," said Mervyn Alien. "The Chateau d'lf exists for one purpose-to make money."
Mario inspected Alien carefully, noted the hard clear flesh, the beautiful shape of the face, skull, expression.
"What do you need all that money for? Why build an Empyrean Tower in the first place?"
"I do it for fun. It amuses me. I am bored. I have explored many bodies, many existences. This body is my fourteenth. I've wielded power. I do not care for the sensation. The pressure annoys me. Nor am I at all psychotic. I am not even ruthless. In my business, what one man loses, another man gains. The balance is even."
"But it's robbery!" protested Mario bitterly. "Stealing the years off one man's life to add to another's."
Alien shrugged. "The bodies are living the same cumulative length of time. The total effect is the same. There's no change but the shifting of memory. In any event, perhaps I am, in the jargon of metaphysics, a solipsist. So far as I can see-through my eyes, through my brain-I am the only true individual, the sole conscious intellect." His eye shadowed. "How else can it be that I-I-have been chosen from among so many to lead this charmed life of mine?"