Science Fiction - Daily Short Stories

The Eyes Have It - Philip K Dick

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Duration:: 10m
Broadcast on:: 26 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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For call, 303-974-9444, to speak to a rent estate advisor today. It's time for today's Lucky Land horoscope with Victoria Cash. Life's gotten mundane, so shake up the daily routine and be adventurous, with a trip to Lucky Land. You know what they say, your chance to win starts with a spin, so go to luckylandslots.com to play over a hundred social casino style games for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes, get lucky today at luckylandslots.com. No purchase necessary. VGW group void were prohibited by law 18 plus terms of condition supply. The eyes have it by Philip K. Dick. It was quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of earth by life forms from another planet. As yet, I haven't done anything about it, I can't think of anything to do. I wrote to the government and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and maintenance of frame houses. Anyhow, the whole thing is known. I'm not the first to discover it. Maybe it's even under control. I was sitting in my easy chair, idly turning the pages of a paperback book someone had left on the bus when I came across the reference that first put me on the trail. For a moment I didn't respond. It took some time for the full import to sink in. After I'd comprehend it, it seemed odd I hadn't noticed it right away. The reference was clearly to a non-human species of incredible properties, not indigenous to earth. A species I hastened to point out, customarily masquerading as ordinary human beings. Their disguise, however, became transparent in the face of the following observations by the author. It was at once obvious the author knew everything, knew everything and was taking it in his stride. The line, and I tremble, remembering it even now, read, his eyes slowly roved about the room. They'd chills assailed me, I tried to picture the eyes. Did they roll like dimes? The passage indicated not. They seemed to move through the air, not over the surface, rather rapidly apparently. No one in the story was surprised. That's what tipped me off. No sign of amazement had such an outrageous thing. Later the matter was amplified. His eyes moved from person to person. There it was in a nutshell. The eyes had clearly come apart from the rest of him and were on their own. My heart pounded and my breath choked in my windpipe. I had stumbled on an accidental mention of a totally unfamiliar race. Obviously non-terrestrial, yet to the characters in the book it was perfectly natural, which suggested they belong to the same species. A slow, suspicion burned in my mind. The author was taking it rather too easily in his stride. Evidently he felt this was quite a usual thing. He made absolutely no attempt to conceal this knowledge. The story continued. Presently his eyes fastened on Julia. Julia, being a lady, had at least the breeding to feel indignant. She is described as blushing and knitting her brows angrily. At this side, side with relief, they weren't all non-terrestrials. The narrative continues. Slowly, calmly, his eyes examined every inch of her. "Great, Scott! but here the girl turned and stomped off and the matter ended. I lay back in my chair, gasping with horror. My wife and family regarded me in wonder. "What's wrong, dear?" my wife asked. I couldn't tell her. Knowledge like this was too much for the ordinary run-of-the-mill person. I had to keep it to myself. "Nothing," I gasped. I leaped up, snatched the book, and hurried out of the room. In the garage I continued reading. There was more. Trembling I read the next revealing passage. He put his arm around Julia. Presently she asked him if he would remove his arm. He immediately did so, with a smile. It's not said what was done with the arm after the fellow had removed it. Maybe it was left standing upright in the corner. Maybe it was thrown away. I don't care. In any case, the full meaning was there, staring me right in the face. Here was a race of creatures capable of removing portions of their anatomy. It will. Eyes, arms, and maybe more, without batting an eyelash. My knowledge of biology came in handy at this point. Obviously they were simple beings, unicellular, some sort of primitive, single-celled things. Beings no more developed than starfish. Starfish can do the same thing, you know. I read on and came to this incredible revelation tossed off coolly by the author without the faintest tremor. Outside the movie theater, we split up. Part of us went inside, part over to the cafe for dinner. Binary fission, obviously, splitting in half and forming two entities. Probably each lower half went to the cafe, it being farther, and the upper halves to the movies. I read on, hands shaking. I had really stumbled onto something here. My mind reeled as I made out this passage. I'm afraid there's no doubt about it. Poor Bipney has lost his head again. Which was followed by, and Bob says he has utterly no guts. Yet Bipney got around as well as the next person. The next person, however, was just as strange. He was soon described as "totally lacking in brains." There was no doubt of the thing in the next passage, Julia, whom I'd had thought to be the one normal person, reveals herself as also being an alien life-form, similar to the rest. Quite deliberately Julia had given her heart to the young man. It didn't relate what the final disposition of the organ was, but I didn't really care. It was evident Julia had gone right on living in her usual manner, like all the others in the book without heart, arms, eyes, brains, viscera, dividing up in two when the occasion demanded, without a qualm. Thereupon she gave him her hand. I sickened. The rascal now had her hand as well as her heart. I shut her to think what he's done with them by this time. He took her arm. Not content to wait, he had started dismantling her on his own. Flushing crimson, I slammed the book-shot and leapt to my feet, but not in time to escape one last reference to those carefree bits of anatomy whose travels had originally thrown me on the track. Her eyes followed him all the way down the road and across the meadow. I rushed from the garage and back inside the warm house, as if the accursed thing were following me. My wife and children were playing Monopoly in the kitchen. I joined them and played with frantic fervor, brow feverish, teeth chattering. I had had enough of the thing. I wanted to hear no more about it. Let them come on, let them invade Earth. I don't want to get mixed up in it. I have absolutely no stomach for it. And if they could pay the rent on time, that would be nice too. Being a landlord can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be. Let renters warehouse handle the hard part of property management for you, like finding quality tenants you can trust. 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