The Man Who Fell to Earth (22 page)

Without any hesitation at all Bryce took the record to the trial booth, put the ball in its channel, and turned on the switch. The language that came out was weird indeed—sad, liquid, long-voweled, rising and falling strangely in pitch, completely unintelligible. But the voice, without question, was that of T. J. Newton.

He turned the switch off. At the bottom of the record card was printed:
RECORDED BY “THE THIRD RENAISSANCE,” TWENTY-THREE SULLIVAN STREET, NEW YORK….

The “third renaissance” was in a loft. It’s office staff consisted solely of one person, a dapper young black with an enormous mustache. This person was, fortunately, in an expansive mood when Bryce dropped into his office, and he readily explained that “the visitor” of the record was a rich nut named Tom something-or-other who lived someplace-or-other in the Village. This nut, it seemed, had approached the recording outfit himself and had underwritten the cost of making and distributing the record. He might be found at a coffee-and-booze house around the corner, a place called The Key and Chain….

The Key and Chain was a relic of the old coffeehouses that had gone out in the seventies. Along with a few others it had managed to survive by installing a bar and selling cheap liquor. There were no bongo drums and no announcements of poetry readings—their era had passed away a long time before—but there were amateurish paintings on the walls, cheap wooden tables placed at random around the room, and what few customers there were studiously dressed like bums. Thomas Jerome Newton was not among them.

Bryce ordered himself a whiskey and soda at the bar and drank it slowly, resolved to wait for at least several hours. But he had only begun his second drink when Newton came in. At first Bryce did not recognize him. Newton was slightly stooped and he walked more heavily than before. He had on his usual dark glasses, but now he carried a white cane, and he was wearing, of all absurdities, a gray fedora hat. A fat uniformed nurse led him by the arm. She took him to an isolated table in the back of the room, seated him, and left. Newton faced toward the bar and said, “Good afternoon, Mr. Elbert.” And the bartender said, “I’ll be right with you, dad.” Then the bartender opened a bottle of Gordon’s gin, put it on a tray with a bottle of Angostura bitters and a glass, and carried the tray over to Newton’s table. Newton produced a bill from his shirt pocket, handed it to him, smiled vaguely, and said, “Keep the change.”

Bryce watched him intently from the bar while he groped for the glass, found it, and poured himself a half tumbler full of gin, and added to this a generous dash of bitters. He used no ice and did not stir the drink but began sipping it immediately. Abruptly Bryce began to wonder, almost in panic, what he was going to say to Newton, now that he’d found him. Could he rush over from the bar, clutching his whiskey and soda, and say, “I’ve changed my mind in the past year. I want the Antheans to take over, after all. I’ve been reading the newspapers, and now I want the Antheans to take over.” It all seemed so ridiculous now that he was actually with the Anthean again—and Newton seemed, now, like such a pathetic creature. That shocking conversation in Chicago seemed to have taken place in a dream, or on another planet.

He stared at the Anthean for what seemed a long time, remembering the last time he had seen the Project, Newton’s ferry boat, beneath the Air Force plane that had carried him, together with Betty Jo and fifty others, from the site in Kentucky.

For a moment, thinking about this, he almost forgot where he was. He remembered that fine big absurd ship they had all been building down in Kentucky, remembered the pleasure he had taken in his work on it, the way he had, for a time, been so absorbed in solving those problems of metals and ceramics, of temperature and pressure, that he had felt his life was actually involved in something important, something worthwhile. Probably by now parts of the ship were beginning to rust—if the FBI hadn’t already sealed the whole thing in thermoplastic and sent it off to be filed in the basement of the Pentagon. But whatever had happened, it certainly would not have been the first means of possible salvation to get the official treatment.

Then, in the mood that this line of thinking had put him in, he thought
what the hell
, stood up, walked over to Newton’s table, sat down and said, his voice calm and deliberate, “Hello, Mr. Newton.”

Newton’s voice seemed equally calm. “Nathan Bryce?”

“Yes.”

“Well,” Newton finished the drink in his hand. “I’m glad you came. I thought that maybe you would come.”

For some reason the tone of Newton’s voice, possibly the casual unconcern in it, rattled Bryce. He found himself suddenly feeling awkward. “I found your record,” he said. “The poems.”

Newton smiled dimly. “Yes? How did you like them?”

“Not very much.” He had been trying for boldness in saying that, but felt as though he only managed to be pettish. He cleared his throat. “Why did you make it, anyway?”

Newton remained smiling. “It’s amazing how people don’t think things out.” he said. “At least that’s what a man with the CIA told me.” He began pouring himself another drink of gin, and Bryce noticed that his hand trembled while he did it. He set the bottle down shakily. “The record is not of Anthean poems at all. It’s something like a letter.”

“A letter to whom?”

“To my wife, Mr. Bryce. And to some of the wise people at my home who trained me for… for this life. I’ve hoped it might be played on FM radio sometimes. You know, only FM goes between planets. But as far as I know it hasn’t been played.”

“What does it say?”

“Oh, ‘Goodbye.’ ‘Go to hell.’ Things of that sort.”

Bryce was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. For a moment he wished he had brought Betty Jo with him. Betty Jo would be marvelous for restoring sanity, for making things understandable, even bearable. But then Betty Jo happened to believe that she was in love with T. J. Newton, and that might even be more awkward than this. He remained silent, not knowing what in the world to say.

“Well, Nathan—I suppose you won’t mind if I call you Nathan. Now that you’ve found me, what do you want of me?” He smiled beneath the glasses and the ridiculous hat. His smile seemed as old as the moon; it was hardly a human smile at all.

Bryce suddenly felt embarrassed, at the smile, at Newton’s grave, tired, terribly weary tone of voice. He poured himself a drink before answering, inadvertently clinking the bottle mouth against the glass. Then he drank, looking hard at Newton, at the flat, unreflecting green of Newton’s glasses. He held the clear plastic drinking glass between both hands, elbows on the table, and said, “I want you to save the world, Mr. Newton.”

Newton’s smile did not change, and his reply was immediate. “Is it worth saving, Nathan?”

He had not come here to exchange ironies. “Yes,” he said. “I think it’s worth saving. I want to live out my life, anyway.”

Abruptly Newton leaned forward in his chair toward the bar. “Mr. Elbert,” he called, “Mr. Elbert.”

The bartender, a small man with a sad, pinched face, looked up from his reveries. “Yeah, dad?” he said gently.

“Mr. Elbert,” Newton said, “are you aware that I’m not a human being? Did you know that I’m from another planet, Anthea by name, and that I came here on a spaceship?”

The bartender shrugged. “I’ve heard that,” he said.

“Well I am and I did,” Newton said, “Oh, I did indeed.” He paused, and Bryce stared at him—shocked not by what Newton had said, but by the childish, adolescent, silly quality in his voice. What had they done to him? Had they only blinded him?

Newton called to the bartender again. “Mr. Elbert, do you know why I came to this world?”

This time the bartender did not even look up. “No, dad,” he said, “I haven’t heard.”

“Well, I came to save you.” Newton’s voice was precise, ironical, but there was a hint of hysteria in it. “I came to save you all.”

Bryce could see the bartender smile a private smile. Then, still behind the bar, he said, “You’d better get with it, dad. We need saving fast.”

Then Newton hung his head, whether in shame, despair, or fatigue Bryce could not tell. “Oh, yes indeed.” he said in what was almost a whisper. “We need saving fast.” Then he looked up and smiled at Bryce. “Do you see Betty Jo?” he asked.

That caught him off guard. “Yes…”

“How is she? How is Betty Jo?”

“She’s all right. She misses you.” And then, “As Mr. Elbert said, ‘We need saving fast.’ Can you do it?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

“Isn’t there a chance?”

“No. Of course not. The government knows all about me…”

“You told them?”

“I might have; but it wasn’t necessary. They seem to have known for a long time. I think we were naive.”

“Who? You and I?”

“You. I. My people back home, my wise people…” He called out softly, “We were naive, Mr. Elbert.”

Elbert’s reply was as soft. “That a fact, dad?” He sounded genuinely concerned, as if he really believed, for a moment, what Newton was talking about.

“You came a long way.”

“Oh, I did indeed. And on a small ship. Sail on, sail on, and on… It was a very long trip, Nathan, but I spent much of the time reading.”

“Yes. But I didn’t mean that. I meant you’ve come a long way since you’ve been here. The money, the new ship…”

“Oh I’ve made a lot of money. I still make a lot. More than ever. I have money in Louisville and money in New York and five hundred dollars in my pocket and a Medicare pension from the government. I’m a citizen now, Nathan. They made me a citizen. And perhaps I could draw unemployment insurance. Oh, World Enterprises is a going concern, without my running it at all, Nathan. World Enterprises.”

Bryce, appalled by the strange way that Newton looked and talked, found it difficult to keep his eyes on him, so he looked down at the table instead. “Can’t you finish the ship?”

“Do you think they’d let me?”

“With all your money…”

“Do you think I want to?”

Bryce glanced up at him. “Well, do you?”

“No.” Then, suddenly, Newton’s face fell into its older, more composed, more human appearance. “Or yes, I suppose I do want to, Nathan. But not enough. Not enough.”

“Then what about your own people? What about your family?”

Newton smiled that unearthly smile again. “I imagine they’ll all die. But, then, they’ll probably outlive you.”

Bryce was surprised at his own words. “Did they ruin your mind when they ruined your eyes, Mr. Newton?”

Newton’s expression did not alter. “You don’t know anything at all about my mind, Nathan. That’s because you’re a human being.”

“You’ve changed, Mr. Newton.”

Newton laughed softly. “Into what, Nathan? Have I changed into something new, or back into something old?”

Bryce did not know what to say to this, and he kept silent.

Newton poured himself a small drink and set it on the table. Then he said. “This world is doomed as certainly as Sodom, and I can do nothing whatever about it.” He hesitated. “Yes, a part of my mind is ruined.”

Bryce, searching for protest, said, “The ship…”

“The ship is useless. It had to be finished on time, and now there isn’t enough time. Our planets won’t be close enough to one another for seven more years. They are already moving apart. And the United States would never let me build it. If I built it they would never let me launch it. And if I did launch it they would arrest the Antheans who returned on it, and probably blind them. And ruin their minds…”

Bryce finished his drink. “You said you had a weapon.”

“Yes, I said that. I was lying. I don’t have any weapon.”

“Why should you lie…?”

Newton leaned forward, putting his elbows carefully on the table. “Nathan. Nathan. I was afraid of you then. I am afraid now. I have been afraid of all manner of things every moment I have spent on this planet, on this monstrous, beautiful, terrifying planet with all its strange creatures and its abundant water, and all of its human people. I am afraid now. I will be afraid to die here.”

He paused, and then when Bryce still said nothing, began to talk again. “Nathan, think of living with the monkeys for six years. Or think of living with the insects, of living with the shiny, busy, mindless ants.”

Bryce’s mind, for several minutes, had been becoming extremely clear. “I think you’re lying, Mr. Newton. We aren’t insects to you. Maybe we were at first, but we aren’t now.”

“Oh yes, I love you, certainly. Some of you. But you’re insects anyway. However, I may be more like you than I am like me.” He smiled his old, wry smile. “After all, you’re my field of research, you humans. I’ve studied you all my life.”

Abruptly the bartender called to them. “You fellows want clean glasses?”

Newton drained his. “By all means,” he said, “bring us two clean glasses, Mr. Elbert.”

While Mr. Elbert was sopping the table with a large orange rag Newton said, “Mr. Elbert. I’ve decided not to try to save us, after all.”

“That’s too bad,” Elbert said. He set the clean glasses on the damp table. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It is a pity, isn’t it?” He groped for a newly placed gin bottle, found it, poured. Pouring gin, he said, “Do you see Betty Jo often, Nathan?”

“Yes. Betty Jo and I live together now.”

Newton took a sip from his drink. “As lovers?”

Bryce laughed softly. “Yes, as lovers, Mr. Newton.”

Newton’s face had become impassive, with the impassivity that Bryce had learned was a mask for his feelings. “Then life goes on.”

“Well, what in the name of heaven do you expect?” Bryce said. “Of course life goes on.”

Suddenly Newton began to laugh. Bryce was astonished; he had never heard him laugh before. Then, still trembling with the wave of laughter, Newton said, “It’s a good thing. She won’t be lonely now. Where is she?”

“At home in Louisville, with her cats. Drunk probably.”

Newton’s voice was steady again. “Do you love her?”

“You’re trying to be stupid,” Bryce said. He had not liked the laughter. “She’s a good woman. I’m happy with her.”

Newton smiled now, gently. “Don’t misunderstand my laughing, Nathan. I think it’s a fine thing, the two of you. Are you married?”