NOR CUSTOM STALE. “They had discovered immortaliy. Oh not for people, nota all; fre immortal. Harry and Freda's House had been In their family for fifteen generations. Of course fifteen generations then-meant much more than fifteen generations did ten or twelve centuries back, for the Houses, with their at: mosphere of protection. and.their soothing monotony, pro longed people’ lives for a good many years. They were proud of [heir House, for, asthe Company always said (after proving to [| Harry and Freda that their House was in perfect working order), Our Houses last, not alifetime, but forever.” J) The House was auractive and sem-spherical and stood on a ule hill some three or four miles from the highway. On fine days, Freda could walk out on to the hill and watch the cars |, shooting past but she usually preferred to watch the artificial | scene (ofthe same thing) asthe House shoved it to her in the artificial window. One artificial scene she liked especilly—that ofa lite gil in aed dress who ran out on tothe highway to | pick up her toy sand-pall. Freda often wished thatthe litle gel | would raise her head and look into the living room, a small | adjustment for the House to perform on is arlifal scene, but fof course no one would think of alerig any part of a House ‘The House: was perfect. It gave them Aix (fr all the windows = any delicious dish you wanted and then send its electric voice call: | sant Foe 0 cook youre would make that for You 160, | age. Thing to dois not change, nota particle, not a molecule.” And. ‘wor custom stave {12% ig aad calling to the nearest city 10 ic under ts own fourdation. For there, sunk miles into the earth, was the source of power for the House, a ferce hot dan- _ gerous heart that no one must ever come neat. It ran everything "and chewed up rock to make Air and Food, and powered Harrys» "Cat, which was attached to the House down below the level of the a i ‘ground in a litle extension built out from the side of the House. Harry and Freda were not rich people and they had not gotten a Car; a Real Car, ‘until their children had grown. up and moved ‘away; you were not wholly comfortable and protected until yo | had a real Car. With a Self-Powered Car, one actually had to walk in the open alr from the Car to the house and then of course one ida’t put on one’s muffler Gr one’s gloves (for such litle walk), ‘and $0 one got a very bad cold. For Harry and Freda lived in what " had been Canada and the winters were very severe. But now they had a Car; Harry could go right from it to the House through the es cee wer mee a4 Ec iar ucnyeren eyaaits ee aoatamelermnaat teria fae cancun ith bce om Bary Tories dha Sela oe ry tego aa a atures une Beh ai alaanee asset Src et an Soon ae pene Soll tate gues ast Tet he Wilberforce (whom Freda had always thought far too rugged) had gotten angry and shouted tht Monotony is Death and Harry had vonotony is Life 30 the end of twas they got very angry. = and Wilberforce sald he hoped Harry would have'a real dose of ‘Monotony soon to make him see how fas he'd ape The guests had been geting into their cars at the extra Car Port inthe basement, | when Freda noticed what was wrong and came over to her hus- band, down the basement staits. pacity, a hang <5:126 | THE MIDDEN siDE OF THE MOON [> -Marotd,” she said, “theres something wrong with the House But Harold was busy tling Wilberforce that Change was Dea Si ie highest Numan Wisdom Wes 6 Bde pte mone and live over and over, “Alarold” said she, but then the guests were gone. They went Ingo the living room and there as Freda pointed out—there on the Panel set ito the wall, hereon the Panel that conlled every thing in the House, there was a red light shining steadily like a ruby House Mana and eld up neer the ee, bu the eyed 0 ut He opened the anal end ifed though i "Transport I," he sail "Not estou” (tea said “Oh” wid rele) ot seus. As any td it on your Panel inde, {bere sl ek your Bel Une rk or oe "This very importa. A sal ek can be maled by use of {hat sean of your House lit becoes sage eal indicated bya geen igh Lage leas ar hight senous” Freda and Harry looked at each other. Everyone knew what. that meant Once--and once only—bad amy lage leak be tome serous but everyone woul meter ta or the rst thes days: Hary looked grove, “Freda” he ld, “in going 6 daconnect the Ca. And you must eal he Company Dut when, man overcoat and nl, he had shut he ca oot son posed the proper buttons, Heda was more upc chan before "They won't come, she sd "No, Hay, hey won't cone: ey sald they have too mich bisinesand no enough help ane besides the male of wine and ea ike that can be tae unl sringine. There was «prety mprinen: young Bion the phone and shes dnt we think we could ve te Out oor Car ora wile and besides twas ater hous, cl Back os Nay deo sa Hay, “its not serio bute ok on aa ect dear nt at al soos og on cusrom srace [127 1¢ don’t use the Cat. These things take time, and now that I've tied, we can treat it as part of our vacation. Anyway” (and he = ‘ooked smug) “I'm almost glad this happened: I'd love to show old | Wilberforce how young you can stay if you don't go ragging your ‘every day just like every other day and you'll see how fast time 5 il Dy.” [So Harry and Freda had a vacation. They watched televis “ing up the Focks on which it stood and changing them into wh: ver you asked it to. twas avery happy day. Freda called up afew fijends and sad that Harry and she were having a vacation and “otto call them for that winter because... well... wel, Iwas a ind of experiment. 2 ‘hie next morning another red eye had appeared on the Pa “Oh, look” sald Freda, annoyed, for she had gotten used tothe ‘dea ofa small leak and it no longer wore het. “Look, whats it this time?" and while Harry went through the Manual she ‘thought ofthe scathing things she would say to that young woman atthe Company and the stern way she would look ino the screen _ when she called her up. “isthe phone,’ Harry sald. For a moment he looked woubled. ut then he closed the Manual with a snap. “So much the beter for Wilberforce,” he sai. “But don't you think 1 ought 10 write somebody?” she sald. [AMteral,dheirstuation was somewhat isolaed and she had just told her frends not to call and — “No, don't be sil" he sald. "We're ina civilized community.” “But don’t you think Yd better write them now?" she sid. “of course not “"But Harry, suppose the Air goes, or the Heat— “Then Tl put on my coat and walk a mille down the road to _ ibertorce.”gut Hary, Luhink Ya beter—" “Oh, write then!” peevishly, She turned into the kitchen, to dicate to the Mailing Extension, ‘but as she did so, another red light appeared on the Panel. Harry ooked through the Manual: “Its the Malling Extension,” he sald. “Now Freda—" but she. Just stared at him. lan notin ay, ary fn wore Pon cost and go down the ou.” "But ts ale aay” esd (reluctant for was ver ea ox “ut dnng soporte All what goes nex. “Dang, the Ae goes, then well do what sys in ‘Manual. ae “ay cal them up and we dont dare “Mo, sas open the fon doo ale some Natural iin ‘Abate Nac A? spinels “Ard bess, cold out and wel et col ‘He got up wearily, ready to go ("Where's my muller?’ he said) bute he deny looked determined and st down ain, "ow dae” he sd, ook ae way. sno sto” wel "ts not sous unl dere green igh, which means a Leaks Atd you know them. the tly wo cf with @ green light for six whole months until— And they simply. Sida’ bother ok opin tee Manual fang gos ong Tl run down the road to Wilberforce’.” He looked gravely at his _ ‘wife. “Freda, don’t you rust our House?” “Tthink so,” she sai. ‘Nothing changed the next day, but there were no more lights on, either. Newspapers arrived. Movies were on call. Freda began. to do a book of crossword puzzles. She cooked Real: Food in the kitchen, happily glad of the leisure given to her by the House. In the evening she moved from the warm, sunny noon ofthe kitchen, well they lived or custom stave [129 © perfectly imitating real sunlight) to the mellow afternoon of the living room and finaly to the soft early evening of the bedroom. ‘The days fll into a pattern—nevespapers, books, magazines, mov- jes. Breakfast, then lunch, then dinner in the twilight of the dining room: always twilight, with the artifical windows just darkening into the first clear blue of evening. As Harry wisely. pointed out, the House was obviously a good House, since the first wouble (in filteen generations, to0) had occurred in inessentials, in the ‘munications, which had really been added on after the house was butle the extra limb of the House, s0.to speak. And, he said, if there were any real trouble like Air or Heat, then of course he "would put on his coat and go immediately to the neighbors down the toad. Then the Company would rush over, but ifthe trouble ‘were only incidental, naturally they had a-good deal to handle. ‘And fixing Fuel lines was a tricky job; they would naturally want ‘o wait ntl spring, But of course what Freda had told the young. lady at the Company was undoubtedly on file there. Houses, said he fervently, Houses were the greatest thing the genius of man had er perfected. Fc was only a few weeks later (or was it months?) that a fourth. ‘ye Joined the third—magazines and newspapers stopped coming, ‘and they could not use the movies. But as Harry pointed out, the House seemed to-be wisely spending its restorative powers (for Houses do repair themselves, to a, degree) in Keeping its main fonction well and fi, Freda could not call for eady-fixed meals, but then did she want 10? No, No, no, he would say (shaking his, head) they could watch filmed movies instead of broadcast ones, they could eat Real Food for a while; it would not hurt them, In the morning Freda Would get up at exactly 8:30 by the elec tele clock and make a breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs and real bacon. At9:30 she would wake up Harry andthe two of them ‘would ent breakfast. While the House cleaned the dishes and made the beds, they would do the morning’ crossword puzzle (one apiece) and then read a book until lunch time. At lunch they al ‘Ways had the same mens and at dinner, 100 (after finishing their books). And then afer dinner they would watch a flmed movion =‘picture program. And then, at twelve o'clock precisely, they woul 5910 be Then the next mocng, Freda Would get up et exit 8:30 andthe morning after that she would getup at exact 834 then the ext moming + Ot couse afer a while they had cen all the films and read al j, the books and it got a little boring. There was nothing to be done. but read them and see them over, forgetting when she had read’ book before. Every morning after she finished the crossword uzzle, she would erase it; luckily the puzzle was ma thetic paper and never wore away. “Lreally wish,” she would say, “that it would be spring soon: of Syn- the electri calendar and now when you loked a tit always al ») (Unfortunately one day Harry had been trying to do something to I “March 17.")}1 wish,” she sid, “that it would get wat” though It Was warm enough inside the House, very comfortable and Warm. Every morning after she finished the crossword puzzle she ¢rased it and then the next morning she gor up to 8:30 precisely _ and, after breakfast, did it again and erased it again. The days went ‘on; surely t had not been so long since the first ruby appeared on _ the Panel; and only two strange things interrupted the pleasure of the vacation, 4 ‘They had made all the windows opaque and projected artificial ‘moving scenes upon them, so they did not notice the young man Luntil he shouted through the speaking tube by the front door to le ‘him in and with him came a great gust of snow and the coldest, | bitterest alt: Freda had ever felt. When they asked him If his Car hhad broken down, he laughed in an idiotic, slack-jawed, foolish ‘ay and then when he tried to speak to them, they found they could not understand him, “Did your Car break down?” sald Harry, very slowly and care fully, but the stranger only looked bewildered. Finally (whispering, fo Freda, “I think he must be deaf and dumb’—or maybe he had a eft palate) Harry wrote out on a piece of paper, “Did your Car’ break down?" and to their surptise the stranger wrote “Yes, yes” ‘underneath: “He has a cleft palate,” whispered Harry. ‘he stranger drank their Real Food milk, smacking his lips and then ate their doughnuts. When Harry wrote, “Do yotthave to get NOR CUSTOM STALE |131 | io the city2” he wrote below Ita great scribble of words, of which fry second one seemed to be somie kind of slang. Freda was geiting to be afraid of him. Harry wrote on the paper. “am afraid I's time to go,” and the stranger howled with laughter, + hysterically gasping and choking over his milk. But he got up and ‘wrote “Tham” and then below'it'something that’ didn’t make sense—"blank blank old-fashioned’ only his spelling all along hed been much stranger than that, and Harry had to puzzle out every Word, “Old-fashioned?” sald Freda, coldly: g “old-fashioned?” sald Harty. “Look here; young man, if we don't" know about the riewest things, that’s only ‘because our House hasn't been working for a couple of months. Believe me, yolg nian, when the Company gets here in the spring—" ‘This time the young man wrote down “archaeological sur- — vval?or at least tha’ what it seemed—and when Harry angrily (te up'the whole paper, the young man’ gathered his blanket around him and got up. He was wearing something very lke a blanket; they supposed he had put it over his clothes to keep warm jn the Car. He began to bow, one time after another ll Harry was sorry for tearing up the paper and wrote: “Won't you come and sce ts in the spring?” at which the young ‘man turned quite white and dashed out the door. Freda sighed in relief when he had gone. “(really think he was mad, Harry, don't you?” she said. Her hnusband nodded. “don’t think he had'a thing’on except that blanket,” he ex: claimed. “And did you see his spelling? They don’t teach children. the way they used to when T was young.” He thought for a mo- ‘ment. “Freda lets make the windows opaque all the time and ler lock the door at night.” 2 ‘Which they did. And for a while, nothing out of the ordinary +happeried. But then one night (One night Freda had a bad dream. They had gotten up atthe usual time, made breakfast, done the crosswotd puzzles, read books, "and in short gone through the day as usual and were lying in bed“152 | THE HIDDEN 1D OF THE MooN asleep, when Freda began to dream. She dreamed she saw a ta tire in furs from head to foot, a great tall man with his face al ‘most covered with furs. At his waist he was carrying an electric light that swung back and forth as he walked and lit up fst the stow and then the bare tees, the rocks, the snov-laden pine trees among which he walked. The snow was very deep, she dreamed, and packed; he was not walking through it bt on itbecause it was 0 packed, and he was holding some kind of hhand. The instrument chattered; first he tumed it of€ Way and ‘en it chafferedouder-he went that Way. ie little instrument led him to their front door and,he began Eocene dows hay far glove prog the font doors sowing te etter pene fet 200. Bik pu ec cased Cid enon Sore ne Cornus ite nie Hous wa tent ope the Camron tte he old psa Hs heey ae Pani oom oc wen inane ore wes oeee ae Peon and ede sere be var hing her ‘ening erie touine fo mach ine ve crow ae ‘She woke up., eS "fans ppl tary hs an od over inte “Thee an” hes “Aman pounding on edo And nesting soning eral but howe st > ey ‘ost ary sep : Theses aah he ented “ote alin fa hoe ig mann want oper ie dat” lamp cast its light up to the ceiling, the cozy, familiar furniture stood in its usual places. The room was warm and qulet (abso- lutely soundproof, in fact) and covered with a thick, luxurious rug, (which renewed its own nap). Certainly there could be no man now custom stare [133 | ‘outside, and yet Freda almost thought she sll heard the faraway ‘bration of Blows. “HHacry” she Said, ex Voice shaking, “he was saying something terrible, something about it was too late and we must al go away.” where?” “1 don’t Know, somewhere, but it was too lat. He was looking {or people that liad to go away with the rest of them.” “who?” “Tdon't know. But he Was: Harry, what day Is 2” “Lord, Freda, the end of March sometime. I don’t know. But—" “But it was all snow out.” Silently Harry got up and stood on the deep rug. His slippers slid obediently across the floor and squeezed under his fet. Wearily he plodded out toward the living room and the front door with his Wile behind him. Everything was absolutely quiet. “ates March, there shouldn't be'so much show.” said Freda Carefully Harry turned’ on the front lights, flooding the area in front of the doot. The snow was only few inches deep. “See,” said Harry. “But” said his wife, "we're on a hill and the wind would blow tall away. Down there it was much deeper." “Flow do you know?” “tn my dream." er husband looked amused. “Breda,” he said, “you're getting upset. These few weeks have ‘been too much for You.” He switched the light off, “Now suppose there are footprints out there: I think T saw some, as a matter of act, being covered by drifting snow, but what would that prove? ‘That another young man’s Car had broken down; that’ all. Like the one last week.” “Ob no, it was a month, deat.” "Not that long.” “"Obiyes, a month.” But of course there was no way to prove which it was, since the ‘alendar bad broken down, but it must (thought Harry) have been only a week ago, since it was so obviously winter out. A very odd ‘winter; he thought (they were going back tothe bedroom now) for13¢ | THE HIDDEN 6108 OF THE MOON ‘seemed to be colder than any he remembered. A vague thought ‘moved in his mind; in the moment he had the front-door lights _ 6, he had happened to glance at the thermor and it seemed to have burst at the Very strang though of course they had ever had weather like that. He climbed: into bed beside his wife, dismissing the thought. The stuff they 'made nowadays was shoddy. Not like his House. “Good night, dear.” he said. “We must be missing the nevrs- papers on the biggest cold spell in history.” "Yes, Harry,” she said, ‘You need a good nights sleep.” Yes, Harry. ‘And they settled down once again to wait for spring, Freda finished the crossword puzzle and put it down on. the Jitchen table, as she did with a new crossword puzzle every morn- Ing, now that their: Communications: were out of order, The thought occurred to her that there would be no new one the next “day and she had better erase this one, so she did. But of course— ‘wait—this was yesterday's. Or was it from the day before?, No, yesterday's; she was quite sure of it Behind her the Real Food ‘chute was humming preparatory to delivering her Real Food after- breakfast coffee ast did every morning. That was sill working, at least; it would be ashame to send Harry out inthe cold to a neigh ‘or because thelr House had broken down. But of course a few ays’ deprivation of Communication wouldn't hurt anyone. Yawning, Freda went into the living room and sat down with her crossword puzzle by her favorite window, the one that over- looked the highway. She began to do the puzzle and then sud- denly realized she: had already done it. But had she? It was perfectly blank. No, no, she thought, don’t be silly; of course you id You always do it ia the kitchen and here you are in the living room, Harry was stil asleep, of course; but then he had been. ‘working only a few, days before, so naturally he enjoyed the vaca tion mote than she did, ‘as supposed to go down to eighty below, eolity ve anseadty sawen / du wee he watched the Cas shooting past on the highway. Some day she really must put on an eral seen, Bt wa this an atifial scene or not? She couldn't decide. Suddenly she atthe {tees Duthie the window Wiere in leaf, fll green leat oh how Non cusroM STALE | 123 | | jdvelyl She jumped up to tell Harry (the puzzle falling from her Jap), but then a fancy took her that tis was only an artificial scene after all. ‘must, she thought, go outside, but there was some reason she | could not go out. It was t09 cold. But how could it be too cold if the eaves were ou And there, by the side ofthe highway alte irl ln aed dress an out to retteve her sand-palland then turned Eu ran back among the tees. They mast Behaving a pen tbe § fit of he sumer, 6, waning moved asym rede’ mind She had seen the leg before The morning be-~ fore the ide gil ad run out in jst that way, And the morsing Tefore tat Yes the moming before and the moming before. | “Har” called Freda unceiily, “bow long-—" ut that was sideuous, dhe tough 1 could only bea few weeks. Noone had! ‘ime Wo se tein {ah Ys sider thoughts, but you tld them nt cll, and then you disconnected your mall and your phone) “No one had come from the Company. (Fou never called them back) There was no dust, no scratches, no wea of ny kind {the House leans and renews tel everyday) How long had it been? she thought a month, several months, ‘year? Could it have been a whole year? Or ten? Or twenty? “We haven’ goten a day older” she exclaimed in fight (But said her thoughts, every day was like every other dy. ‘maybe i you do the sane tings everyday, and sy the same things and et the shine thing, lays tthe same ime—) “Har called eda, but not loud enough for him t hear in the bedroom, Oh, Is sly she thought; so to make beself fel beter she went Back to looking out the window. The Cas Were Sil seaming pst ie il na red res ran out oreuieve het sand-pall and[be | 1s HIDDEN stDe oF THE MOON Oh rely > suck” fat Freda, forthe scene had suddenly stopped, frozen in place like a photograph. Oh dear, oh deat, she: thought, frightened, so itis an artifical scene after al. ‘The novelty of something actually changing in the House op- Dressed her 50 that she could hardly breathe. She would have to put on another scene, just when she had gotien used to tht one, {and then Harry would be angry and say that every change in thelr grow older. Freda plled the switch that leaves on the trees, the wees, the Cars, the road, all wavered, blurred, began to melt and slide like water, Freda satin her chair Inside the warmth and comfort ofthe House, impatiently, some ‘hat nervously walting for the window to clear and the outside view to, show. through, The window cleared. Freda. began, to tremble, =~ ‘She. found herself looking at_a(ivall of snoW. Perpendicular, straight as steel, it towered above the house ard way above it, way. past the very top ofthe window, were stars n a nghtime sky. The sky was so very black and the stars so very bright that they lanced through Freda's eyes and made her lower her gaze to the wall of snow again Even without the light from the House she could have seen the snow, for the light ofthe stars seemed as intense as moonlight, and it spilled down the sides of the wall of snow. The wall was some twenty fet from the side ofthe House; it stood impenetrable, terr- fyingly solid, but there atthe edge of the wall where the heat from the House had cleared a space around ita very strange thing was ‘happening. The snow melted but it did. not melt; it exhaled, it breathed white vapor, i boiled, it whirled and writhed upward in, ‘a hundred fantastic shapes, hurrying swilly into the black night sky above. On the top of the wall (barely seen from the House) ‘were shining, sparkling pools of liquid. pools that moved slug: sishly this way and that. ‘Behind Freda the House spread its usual rosy warmth, noon in | the kitchen, afternoon in the living room, willght in the dining ‘feared the window and made ie ansparent. As she Wid s0 the Non custom STALE 137 room, but here spring, surnmer, fall and even winter had died. For this immoral cold was a sun away from winter. Ss “Ir war deeper ia the valleys, thought Freda idjtically, and when all the ait on earth froze, most of it must have drifted down there | and my dream was right. But no, no, it could not have been air in ‘my dream, for there was a man walking ont; that must have bees ‘long long time ago. How long, a hundred years? A thousand? A rillion? No, no, she thought, longer than that, much more than. that but... but could it be? The House had begun to break down, only yesterday. I'm sure, she thought, that it was only yesterday. Harzy came out of the bedroom, yawning ashe always did at ‘the time he always came out every morning, and as he looked and, saw, Preda turned, The Pane! near the window glowed with is, five ruby eyes. Five? No, six. Twelve. Twenty. Then more and more until the whole panel glowed red asa cluster of cherries. In case of {allure of Ait, she thought, throw open the front door and admit. Natural Air into'the House. “Oh Harry, what shall we'do?” she sald, but there was'no’ particular need to answer, the cherries, dimmed, darkened, and then became green, green as beech leaves, green as the young gieen on hedges. Freda had time only to say, “Oh, Harry!" and he, “Freda, what" when the House gave a litle tentative ‘shake and'then. another’ and then’ shivered into a hundred—no_a’million—no, | may, many more atoms, atoms that threw the airy snow up in a billowing rise: The crisp noon kitchen, the meliow, living room; the Real Food chute, the self-renewable rig the sealed win- dovs-—all in'a tremendous whoosh into the ait. But not into the ai, rather into the space above the ar, and then it setled down on. the frozen ai, on to the sluggishly living pools of liquid hydrogen, bounced a litle, billowed alittle, and finally lay quledy, invisibly, over a radius of some hundred miles. as such things go. 5 i »