The Standardized Man, Page 2

it checks out, wego into production immediately."

  So Charles went home that night in a new suit and a worried frown.

  * * * * *

  Things were smooth for about two days. Charles continued to wear thesuit and Edwin insisted on his making the preliminary preparations forthe mass-production of thermostatic fabric. Charles was kept busyworking out specifications.

  Then there were two factors that brought about a drastic change in hislife.

  One was that he was worried. Charles wasn't exactly sure what he wasworried about, but at the back of his mind there was something in thecomplicated molecular structure of the new fiber that bothered him.

  The other factor was that Ingrid was still nagging him. Perhaps ifCharles had been able to tell her what he was working on she wouldhave understood why he was worried. But he didn't tell her, and shedidn't understand.

  One day after Charles had come home and eaten, she started an argumentwith him about something or other, and in the most heated part of thebattle she had hurled at him the supreme insult.

  "Charles," she said, "I think you _look_ different!"

  Coupled with the strain that Charles was under, that had been enoughto make him stare at Ingrid for a moment, wheel and stalk out of theapartment.

  After all, to say that one's face was even subtly different--even ifit really was--was an unforgivable insult.

  Charles went out for a long, solitary evening walk and ended up at oneof those places that features six varieties of beer, a continuousfloor show and a loud band. Charles was not quite aware of entering,but once inside, watching the bump-and-grinders who wore nothing buttheir name tags, he found it difficult to leave.

  The room was just ventilated enough to prevent suffocation, but it waspurposely kept hot and stuffy in the hope that this would inducethirst on the part of the customers.

  When he thought about it later he decided it was undoubtedly thehumidity that had caused the catastrophe, but when it happened hehadn't the foggiest notion what was going on.

  All he knew was that he had signalled a waitress for a third beer, shehad come threading her way between the postage-stamp tables, he hadlooked up to give his order, she had looked down impersonally, andthen there was a scream.

  It took a moment to realize that the waitress was screaming at him,and by that time there were shouts from the surrounding tables aswell, and men and women alike were stumbling all over themselves toget away from Charles.

  In no time at all, there was a first-rate riot in progress, then thelights went out, and Charles had brains enough to fight his way to anexit and slip into the dark alley outside.

  And then Charles inspected himself and realized the horrible truth.

  * * * * *

  The key concept to Charles' society was expressed in the word_Standardization_. Standardization had had its beginning in the earlyIndustrial Revolution, when men first discovered that it was far moreefficient to make a thousand pieces of furniture if you made them allexactly alike.

  And since efficiency means economic predictability, and sincepredictability means stability, Standardization quickly became thewatchword in the world's new industrial economy.

  So, in time, virtually every product manufactured was standardized.From the smallest bolts and screws in a wristwatch, through automobilelicense plates, to clothing styles; everything manufactured wasstrictly standard equipment.

  Of course, the only unpredictable factor in this structure was thehuman element, therefore the logical answer was a standardizedconsumer.

  The trend had started, undoubtedly, in Hollywood. The Art ofCinematography had not existed long before becoming the Motion PictureIndustry. And, naturally, an industry must be efficient.

  The Hollywood tycoons had decided that the best way to reduce themargin of risk on any new movie star was to create an arbitrarycriterion, and to require the potential star to measure up to thatstandard.

  Charles was absently aware that the female standard of beauty had beenexemplified by a woman named Marilyn, and that the masculine standardhad been represented in someone named Marlon.

  So, gradually, all of the new female stars that were selected byHollywood resembled Marilyn as much as possible, and male leads wereselected to look like Marlon. If anyone had a nose that wasn't quiteright, or large ears, a little plastic surgery quickly remedied theproblem, and if a female starlet happened to have brown hair, peroxidewas always handy.

  And in time, it became increasingly difficult to tell one movie starfrom another.

  Then the standard, idealized faces and their standards, idealizedpersonal mannerisms became socially fashionable, and with moderncosmetics and readily available plastic surgery, the fashionable menand women in society began to imitate the ideal.

  It became not only fashionable to wear the Standard face, but indecent_not_ to do so. Social conformity was encouraged as much as possible,and the end result was the closest thing to a Standardized,predictable consumer as there ever could be.

  This might have produced difficult problems, because with all womenand all men wearing identical clothing and identical faces, it mighthave become impossible to tell one person from another, which was notdesirable even in a Standardized world.

  Along with the Standard face had come name tags by which a personmight individualize himself to the minimum necessary degree.

  These name tags were worn about the neck on a colorful plastic band,with the tag itself, a white plastic card, on the right side of theneck. On the tag, in gold lettering, was the person's name, address,and Social Security number.

  And--they were worn _all_ the time.

  The name tag was the only means by which a person might be identified.Without it, anyone might impersonate anyone else he pleased. So, ofcourse, it became obscene to appear in public without one.

  And Charles, standing in the alley, looked down at himself andrealized the horrible truth.

  * * * * *

  He found himself running through back streets, sidling around corners,and darting into doorways.

  After an hour or two, he realized that he was no longer within theCity Limits.

  Charles took a good look around him and discovered he was standing ona minor highway just outside of town. There were no cars or people insight, and he dropped off the road into some bushes to get his windand think.

  He had _known_ there was something wrong with the molecular structureof the suit he was wearing, but Edwin wouldn't listen.

  It had undoubtedly been the humidity. The chemical process had nodoubt been going on since he'd first donned the suit, but it had beenthe heat in that beer joint that had accelerated the action enough tofinish the job. Human perspiration acting on the new fiber in thecollar of his suit produced some obscure chemical reaction which had acorrosive effect on the plastic band and plastic card of his name tag.

  He had to get home, somehow, and tell Edwin to hold up production onthe new thermostatic suit. Perhaps the flaw in it could be eliminatedin a short time. If it couldn't....

  He considered. The world Dollar Standard had been absolutely stablefor more years than he knew about. What would happen if it suddenlybecame unstable? A fluctuation of even a fraction of a cent wouldcause widespread panic; it would jolt the Public's faith in itsinfallible economic system. And the panic would cause furtherdeviation in the Dollar's purchasing power, and--more panic.

  He wiped his brow. If the situation in the Textile Industry was ascritical as Edwin said it was, then Edwin and his superiors weren'tgoing to be at all happy when Charles told them about the suit--andCharles was going to be the fall guy.

  But of course he had to get back and tell them. Because Edwin was allset to start production on the all-weather suit immediately, and if heactually went through with that and got a few million of them ontoconsumer's backs, the result would be not panic, but disaster.

  And Charles' present problem was how to get home with
out beingarrested.

  * * * * *

  It was then that one individual got an extremely tough break, andCharles got his first lucky one.

  A turbocar came barreling down the highway and, without warning struckan embankment. The driver was thrown fifty feet from the wreckage.

  Under different circumstances, he would never have considered doingwhat he did then. The penalty for wearing another person's name tagwas severe. But Charles was under an extreme emotional strain; andwithout even thinking, he bent over the limp grey form of the othermarlon and removed his tag.

  He straightened, then, clutching the plastic band and looking aroundat the smoking wreck. Already, he could hear a siren somewhere in thenight.

  He slipped the name tag over his head and struck out through thebushes toward the city.

  His plan was simple; he had another name tag in his apartment foremergency purposes, and if Ingrid was in bed he'd have no troublegetting it, destroying the one he was wearing now, and putting on hisother suit.

  Briefly, he