Charly Page #5

Time, as you've often taught me, Professor,

is relative...

as it creeps on in its petty pace

from day to day.

- To the last syllable of recorded time.

- Edgar Allen Shakespeare.

- You both look happy!

- I have never felt happier.

There were no telephones

where you were, Mrs. Kinnian...

no post offices until yesterday?

I didn't have a dime, I didn't have a stamp,

I didn't have the time!

She didn't have a dime, time,

or the inclination.

- Hi, Charly, Mrs. Kinnian!

- Bert, how are you? How's Algernon?

Last week he said hello to me in Sanskrit.

What did you say to him?

What do you say to a mouse

that says hello in Sanskrit?

I said hello!

Homecoming! We've still got

a little champagne left.

Champagne with a plastic top:

symbol of our times.

Now that you're here,

I want to run over tomorrow's program.

Very well. What would you like...

a treatise on photosynthesis and its effect

on fourth-generation computers?

By the way, how do your surgical

techniques work on retarded computers?

And you, Dr. Straus...

what would you like for emotional effect?

Would you like...

an ideational activity or would you like

fragmented self-image?

I would like a drink.

- Fragmented grape.

- Thank you.

Come on, Professor, cheer up.

After tomorrow...

you're gonna be on the cover

of Time and Newsweek.

And you, Dr. Straus, are gonna be

in the centerfold of Playboy.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor

at this time to present to you...

the distinguished Dr. Richard Nemur...

and his colleague, Dr. Anna Straus...

who are responsible

for the Algernon-Gordon effect.

You are all acquainted with their

eminent qualifications...

through their published papers...

I told you we're not using

the Phase 5 group.

I asked Bert to bring them.

Some of the behavioral psychologists

might care to see them.

Is that advisable?

I think it is absolutely essential that...

Dr. Anna Straus and Dr. Richard Nemur.

Learned colleagues...

the presentation today will deal first...

Give me a cigarette.

...aspects of the Algernon-Gordon effect...

which my associate will cover.

- Thanks.

- I didn't know you smoked.

I don't.

Listen...

- There's absolutely no need to be nervous.

- No.

There's only a few hundred of the world's

most eminent scientists out there.

- No reason to be nervous.

- Never mind about them.

- You are talking directly to me.

- Yes.

Will you stand where I can see you?

Right there.

Let me know.

...resulted in a maverick enzyme...

of the kind which induces...

defective biochemical reaction

and causes brain damage.

Fortunately, while the destruction

to the tissue is irreversible...

the protein process is not.

Many researchers are able to reverse

the process through control of chemicals...

which combine with the defective enzymes...

and change the molecular shape

of the interfering key, as it were.

This is also central in our technique.

But first we remove

the damaged portions of the brain...

and permit the implanted tissues...

which have been chemically revitalized...

to produce brain protein...

at an accelerated and supernormal rate.

Dr. Straus.

And now we would like to show you...

a film study of Charly Gordon...

when he first came to the clinic.

Got my...

rabbit's foot.

That's very good. Shoes, gloves.

Shoes and gloves...

- You wear them.

- That's right.

Morning, afternoon.

You don't have to worry

about passing or failing. Not these tests.

Morning, afternoon...

That's a very funny face, Charly.

That was Charly Gordon then.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you...

to meet Charly Gordon now.

Are there any questions?

Did you enjoy the film?

Mr. Gordon...

how do you feel at the present moment

about your development?

Grateful, sir.

- You are happy about it?

- Yes.

Why?

Because it has allowed me to see.

To see what?

The world.

And what do you see in that world?

My eyes are new, Doctor.

What do they see, Mr. Gordon?

Things as they are.

And?

And what they are becoming.

Can you give me an example, Mr. Gordon?

No, sir, you give me one.

Very well.

Modern science.

Rampant technology.

Conscience by computer.

Modern art.

Dispassionate draftsmen.

- Foreign policy.

- Brave new weapons.

- Today's youth.

- Joyless, guideless.

- Today's religion.

- Preachment by popularity polls.

- Standard of living.

- A TV in every room.

- Education.

- A TV in every room!

The world's future, Mr. Gordon.

Brave new hates, brave new bombs,

brave new wars.

- The coming generation.

- Test-tube conception, laboratory birth...

TV education, brave new dreams,

brave new hates, brave new wars...

a beautifully purposeless process

of society suicide.

Any more questions?

In the back, any more questions about

things as they are...

and what they're becoming?

No?

I have a question.

Professor Nemur...

Charly Gordon?

Come on, Professor, you know.

You know, but you haven't told me.

Anybody out there answer the question

"Charly Gordon?"

Anyone in the back answer the question

"Charly Gordon?"

No.

Well, I'm disappointed in you doctors.

You're not very smart.

You're not even as smart as a mouse.

Because he knows.

Algernon showed me.

The answer to the question...

"Charly Gordon?" is:

Charly Gordon...

is a fellow...

who will very shortly be...

what he used to be.

Professor Nemur...

why didn't you tell me...

the success of the operation...

was only temporary?

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

- Let me buy you a drink.

- No.

- I wish you would.

- Waitress.

The entire Phase 5 group...

all the same as Algernon.

Not one of the mice is capable anymore

of solving the simplest problem.

Did you find him?

Why didn't you tell me?

Why did you have to hide it?

But we only discovered an indication

of this condition last week, Mrs. Kinnian...

and only in a few of the Phase 5 mice.

I assumed it was simply erratic behavior,

individual behavior.

There was no need to alarm Charly!

With the convention coming up, why should

you both miss your moments of glory?

Before we could run further checks,

he had no right to make it public.

- No right?

- Have you any idea what he's done...

to our standing in the scientific community?

Let us calmly, dispassionately,

try to decide what we are going to do...

- About this situation.

- Which situation?

- Your standing or Charly?

- They're related, you know.

Is that all this means to you?

But don't you understand, Mrs. Kinnian?

Algernon's regression doesn't prove

it will happen to Charly.

Charly's a human being,

not a laboratory animal.

This regressive syndrome may be limited

to the mice.

I will thank you...

Have you been close to something,

but not close enough?

Is there a second operation you can

give him, some corrective surgery?

- No.

- I see.

What do you do here

with the specimens that fail?

The freezer first, then the incinerator?

How can I help?

Consider the human brain

as an information-processing system...

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