Sales Talk
BY CON BLOMBERG
Illustrated by MORROW
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Galaxy Science Fiction December 1959.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
To live different and exciting lives, all I had
to do was sign here—and give up my own life!
Looking out the window, I saw them crossing the court toward thebuilding—two of them. One, the taller with yellow hair, was carrying aflat, expensive briefcase, and the other, of course, was carrying thelarge square box that contained the Sim.
The buzzer sounded, announcing them at the door, and I opened it withmixed feelings. I wasn't sure myself how I would act and—well, youhear so many stories about EL, and this was really my first contactwith them.
They were standing out in front, looking just like a couple ofdoor-to-door salesmen. And that's just what they were, even if theywere called Electro Medical Consultants. Just a fancy name for salesmen.
They were very neat in appearance, just as good salesmen should be.Their hats looked new and so did their shoes.
"Ah, Mr. Gaines," said the yellow-haired one, sticking out his neatlymanicured but definitely masculine hand, "I'm very happy to meet you,sir." His grin could only be described as sincerely boyish.
"Come in," I said, feeling like smiling back, so effectively pleasantwere their grins. "Come in and sit down, won't you?"
So they came in, doffing their hats, and sat down in two chairs that Iordinarily didn't use. They seemed to know instinctively which was myfavorite chair. Oh, they were smooth!
"Now, Mr. Gaines," said the light-haired man, "perhaps I should startoff with a little introduction all around and a short explanation ofwhat Electronic Living can mean to you."
No one had mentioned EL up to that point, yet they knew without a doubtthat I had correctly identified them. Talk about confidence—it waslike a physical force in the room.
"I'm Jake Long and this is Arnie Blik," said the light-haired one,rising and gripping my hand with a warm, dry, just right handshake.
"Pleased to meet you," said Blik, gripping my hand in turn with anidentical warm, dry, just right handshake.
"I'm going to ask you for a bit of your time," said Long, "andI certainly hope you can grant us a few minutes without too muchinconvenience."
I murmured something about having plenty of time. That was a laugh, andhe and I both knew it. I had so little to do, I almost welcomed themjust for sheer entertainment value.
"Well, that's fine," said Long, "but rest assured we aren't going totry to waste any of your time. We intend to make it short and sweet, asthey say." He did such a good job of keeping up the fiction of me beinga busy man that I almost believed it myself.
"You probably know more about Electronic Living than I do," he said,and I felt for an instant that I did, "but we'll go over it anyway justso you understand me a little better. You'll remember back in 1958-1959there was a lot of work done—or I should say a beginning made—indeveloping an electronic eye for people who had lost their eyesight.This was a start of Electronic Living in its crudest form. These earlypioneers, using what little knowledge was available of the brainthen, were actually able to insert a probe in the brain and enablethe blind person to 'see' light. At first it was just the differencebetween light and dark, but after a whil