The Common Man, Page 2

"You mean like aghost?"

  "No, of course not," Braun said in irritation. "By Caesar, man, have youno imagination? Can't you see it was only a matter of time beforesomeone, possibly working away on an entirely different subject ofresearch, stumbled upon a practical method of achieving invisibility?"

  "Now, wait a minute," Crowley said, his voice belligerent. "I'm only acountry boy, maybe, without any egghead background, but I'm just as goodas the next man and just as smart. I don't think I like your altitude."

  "Attitude," Ross Wooley muttered unhappily. He shot a glance at PatriciaO'Gara but she ignored him.

  Patricia turned on the charm. Her face opened into smile and she saidsoothingly, "Don't misunderstand, Mr. Crowley. May I call you Don? I'msure we're going to be associates. You see, Don, we need yourassistance."

  This was more like it. Crowley sat down again and finished the can ofbeer. "O.K., it won't hurt to listen. What's the pitch?"

  The older man cleared his throat. "We'll cover it quickly so that we canget to the immediate practical aspects. Are you interested inbiodynamics ... umah ... no, of course not. Let me see. Are you at allfamiliar with the laws pertaining to refraction of ... umah, no." Hecleared his throat again, unhappily. "Have you ever seen a medusa, Mr.Crowley? The gelatinous umbrella-shaped free swimming form of marineinvertebrate related to the coral polyp and the sea anemone?"

  Ross Wooley scratched his crew cut and grimaced. "Jellyfish, Doctor,jellyfish. But I think the Portuguese Man-of-War might be a betterexample."

  "Oh, jellyfish," Crowley said. "Sure, I've seen jellyfish. I got an auntlives near Baltimore. We used to go down there and swim in ChesapeakeBay. Sting the devil out of you. What about it?"

  Patricia leaned forward, still smiling graciously. "I really don't see agreat deal of point going into theory, gentlemen." She looked at Rossand Dr. Braun, then back at Crowley. "Don, I think that what the doctorwas leading up to was an attempt to describe in layman's language thetheory of the process onto which we've stumbled. He was using thejellyfish as an example of a life form all but invisible. But I'm sureyou aren't interested in technical terminology, are you? A good deal ofgobbledygook, really, don't you think?"

  "Yeah, that's what I say. Let's get to the point. You mean you thinkit's possible to make a guy invisible. Nobody could see him, eh?"

  "It's not a matter of thinking," Ross said sourly. "We've done it."

  Crowley stared at him. "Done it? You mean, you, personal? You gotinvisible?"

  "Yes. All three of us. Once each."

  "And you come back all right, eh? So anybody can see you again."

  The doctor said reasonably, "Here we are, quite visible. The effect ofthe usual dosage lasts for approximately twelve hours."

  They let him assimilate it for a few minutes. Some of the ramificationswere coming home to him. Finally he got up and went into the back againfor another can of beer. By this time Ross Wooley was wishing he wouldrenew his offer, but the other had forgotten his duties as a host.

  He took the can away from his mouth and said, "You want to make meinvisible. You want me to, like, kind of experiment on." His eyesthinned. "Why pick me?"

  The doctor said carefully, "Because you're the common man, the averageman, Mr. Crowley. Before we release this development, we would like tohave some idea of the scope of the effects."

  The beer went down chuck-a-luck. Crowley put the can aside and lickedhis bottom lip, then rubbed it with a fingertip. He said slowly, "Nowtake it easy while I think about this." He blinked. "Why you could justwalk into a bank and...."

  The three were watching him, empty-faced.

  "Exactly," Dr. Braun said.

  * * * * *

  Frederick Braun stared gloomily from the hotel suite's window at thestreet below. He peered absently at his thin wrist, looked blank for amoment, then realized all over again that his watch was being cleaned.He stared down at the street once more, his wrinkled face unhappy.

  The door opened behind him and Patricia O'Gara came in briskly and said,"No sign of the guinea pig yet, eh?"

  "No."

  "Where's Rossie?"

  The doctor cleared his throat. "There was an item on the newscast. Ahumor bit. It seems that the head waiter of the Gourmet.... Have youever eaten at the Gourmet, Patricia?"

  "Do I look like a millionaire?"

  "At any rate, a half pound of the best Caspian caviar disappeared,spoonful at a time, right before his eyes."

  Patricia looked at him. "Good heavens."

  "Yes. Well, Ross has gone to pay the tab."

  Patricia looked at her watch. "The effects will be wearing off shortly.Crowley will probably be back at any time. We warned him about returningto visibility in the middle of some street, completely nude." She sankinto a seat and looked up at the doctor. "I suppose you admit I wasright." Her voice was crisp.

  The other turned on her. "And just why do you say that?"

  "This caviar bit. Our friend, Donald Crowley, has obviously walked intothe Gourmet restaurant, having heard it was the most expensive in NewYork, and ate as much as he could stuff down of the most expensive itemon the menu."

  The elderly little doctor pushed his battered horn-rims farther back onhis nose. "Tell me, Patricia, when you made the experiment, did you doanything ... umah ... anything at all, that saved you some money?"

  Uncharacteristically, she suddenly giggled. "I had the time of my liferiding on a bus without paying the fare."

  Braun snorted. "Then Donald Crowley, in eating his caviar, didsubstantially the same thing. It's probably been a life's ambition ofhis to eat in an ultra-swank restaurant and then walk out withoutpaying. To be frank," the doctor cleared his throat apologetically,"it's always been one of mine."

  Patricia conceded him a chuckle, but then said impatiently, "It's onething my saving fifteen cents on a bus ride, and his eating twenty-fivedollars worth of caviar."

  "Merely a matter of degree, my dear."

  Patricia said in irritation, "Why in the world did we have to bring himto New York where he could pull such childish tricks? We could haveperformed the experiment right there in Far Cry, Nebraska."

  Dr. Braun abruptly ceased the pacing he had begun and found a chair. Heabsently stuck a hand into a coat pocket, pulled out a crumbled piece ofpaper, stared at it for a moment, as though he had never seen it before,grunted, and returned it to the pocket. He looked at Patricia O'Gara."We felt that on completely unknown territory he would feel lessconstrained, don't you remember? In his home town, his conscience wouldbe more apt to restrict him."

  Something suddenly came to her. She looked at her older companionsuspiciously. "That newscast. Was there anything else on it? Don't lookinnocent, you know what I mean."

  "Well, there was one item."

  "Out with it," she demanded.

  "The Hotel Belefonte threatens to sue that French movie star, Brigettewhatever-her-name is."

  "Brigette Loren," Patricia said, staring. "What's that got to do withDonald Crowley?"

  The good doctor was embarrassed. "It seems that she came running out ofher suite, umah, semi-dressed and screaming that the hotel was haunted."

  "Good heavens," Patricia said with sudden vision. "That's one aspect Ihadn't thought of."

  "Evidently Crowley did."

  Patricia O'Gara said definitely, "My point's been proven. Our averageman is a slob. Give him the opportunity to exercise unlimited freedomwithout danger of consequence and he becomes an undisciplined anddangerous lout."

  * * *

  Ross Wooley had come in, scowling, just in time to catch most of that.He tossed his hat onto a table and fished in his pockets for pipe andtobacco. "Nuts, Pat," he said. "In fact, just the opposite's beenproven. Don's just on a fun binge. Like a kid in a candy shop. He hasn'tdone anything serious. Went into a fancy restaurant and ate someexpensive food. Sneaked into the hotel room of the world's most famoussex-symbol and got a close-up look." He grinned suddenly. "I wish I hadthough
t of that."

  "Ha!" Patricia snorted. "Our engagement is off, you Peeping Tom."

  "Children, children," Braun chuckled. "I'll admit, though, I think Rossis correct. Don's done little we three didn't when first given the robeof invisibility. We experimented, largely playfully, even childishly."

  Patricia bit out, "This experiment is ridiculous, anyway, and I