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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sentiment, Inc., by Poul William Anderson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sentiment, Inc.
+
+Author: Poul William Anderson
+
+Release Date: October 7, 2011 [EBook #37653]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SENTIMENT, INC. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Weeks, Dianna Adair and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: Cover]
+
+
+  [Illustration: Dr. Kennedy's examination room]
+
+
+  [Illustration: the machine]
+
+
+
+
+     _The way we feel about another person, or about objects, is often
+     bound up in associations that have no direct connection with the
+     person or object at all. Often, what we call a "change of heart"
+     comes about sheerly from a change in the many associations which
+     make up our present viewpoint. Now, suppose that these associations
+     could be altered artificially, at the option of the person who was
+     in charge of the process...._
+
+
+
+
+  _Sentiment, Inc._
+
+  _by_ POUL ANDERSON
+
+
+She was twenty-two years old, fresh out of college, full of life and
+hope, and all set to conquer the world. Colin Fraser happened to be on
+vacation on Cape Cod, where she was playing summer stock, and went to
+more shows than he had planned. It wasn't hard to get an introduction,
+and before long he and Judy Sanders were seeing a lot of each other.
+
+"Of course," she told him one afternoon on the beach, "my real name is
+Harkness."
+
+He raised his arm, letting the sand run through his fingers. The beach
+was big and dazzling white around them, the sea galloped in with a
+steady roar, and a gull rode the breeze overhead. "What was wrong with
+it?" he asked. "For a professional monicker, I mean."
+
+She laughed and shook the long hair back over her shoulders. "I wanted
+to live under the name of Sanders," she explained.
+
+"Oh--oh, yes, of course. Winnie the Pooh." He grinned. "Soulmates,
+that's what we are." It was about then that he decided he'd been a
+bachelor long enough.
+
+In the fall she went to New York to begin the upward grind--understudy,
+walk-on parts, shoestring-theaters, and roles in outright turkeys.
+Fraser returned to Boston for awhile, but his work suffered, he had to
+keep dashing off to see her.
+
+By spring she was beginning to get places; she had talent and everybody
+enjoys looking at a brown-eyed blonde. His weekly proposals were also
+beginning to show some real progress, and he thought that a month or two
+of steady siege might finish the campaign. So he took leave from his job
+and went down to New York himself. He'd saved up enough money, and was
+good enough in his work, to afford it; anyway, he was his own
+boss--consulting engineer, specializing in mathematical analysis.
+
+He got a furnished room in Brooklyn, and filled in his leisure time--as
+he thought of it--with some special math courses at Columbia. And he had
+a lot of friends in town, in a curious variety of professions. Next to
+Judy, he saw most of the physicist Sworsky, who was an entertaining
+companion though most of his work was too top-secret even to be
+mentioned. It was a happy period.
+
+There is always a jarring note, to be sure. In this case, it was the
+fact that Fraser had plenty of competition. He wasn't good-looking
+himself--a tall gaunt man of twenty-eight, with a dark hatchet face and
+perpetually-rumpled clothes. But still, Judy saw more of him than of
+anyone else, and admitted she was seriously considering his proposal and
+no other.
+
+He called her up once for a date. "Sorry," she answered. "I'd love to,
+Colin, but I've already promised tonight. Just so you won't worry, it's
+Matthew Snyder."
+
+"Hm--the industrialist?"
+
+"Uh-huh. He asked me in such a way it was hard to refuse. But I don't
+think you have to be jealous, honey. 'Bye now."
+
+Fraser lit his pipe with a certain smugness. Snyder was several times a
+millionaire, but he was close to sixty, a widower of notably dull
+conversation. Judy wasn't--Well, no worries, as she'd said. He dropped
+over to Sworsky's apartment for an evening of chess and bull-shooting.
+
+             *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was early in May, when the world was turning green again, that Judy
+called Fraser up. "Hi," she said breathlessly. "Busy tonight?"
+
+"Well, I was hoping I'd be, if you get what I mean," he said.
+
+"Look, I want to take you out for a change. Just got some unexpected
+money and dammit, I want to feel rich for one evening."
+
+"Hmmm--" He scowled into the phone. "I dunno--"
+
+"Oh, get off it, Galahad. I'll meet you in the Dixie lobby at seven.
+Okay?" She blew him a kiss over the wires, and hung up before he could
+argue further. He sighed and shrugged. Why not, if she wanted to?
+
+They were in a little Hungarian restaurant, with a couple of Tzigani
+strolling about playing for them alone, it seemed, when he asked for
+details. "Did you get a bonus, or what?"
+
+"No." She laughed at him over her drink. "I've turned guinea pig."
+
+"I hope you quit _that_ job before we're married!"
+
+"It's a funny deal," she said thoughtfully. "It'd interest you. I've
+been out a couple of times with this Snyder, you know, and if anything
+was needed to drive me into your arms, Colin, it's his political
+lectures."
+
+"Well, bless the Republican Party!" He laid his hand over hers, she
+didn't withdraw it, but she frowned just a little.
+
+"Colin, you know I want to get somewhere before I marry--see a bit of
+the world, the theatrical world, before turning hausfrau. Don't be
+so--Oh, never mind. I like you anyway."
+
+Sipping her drink and setting it down again: "Well, to carry on with the
+story. I finally gave Comrade Snyder the complete brush-off, and I must
+say he took it very nicely. But today, this morning, he called asking me
+to have lunch with him, and I did after he explained. It seems he's got
+a psychiatrist friend doing research, measuring brain storms or
+something, and--Do I mean storms? Waves, I guess. Anyway, he wants to
+measure as many different kinds of people as possible, and Snyder had
+suggested me. I was supposed to come in for three afternoons
+running--about two hours each time--and I'd get a hundred dollars per
+session."
+
+"Hm," said Fraser. "I didn't know psych research was that well-heeled.
+Who is this mad scientist?"
+
+"His name is Kennedy. Oh, by the way, I'm not supposed to tell anybody;
+they want to spring it on the world as a surprise or something. But
+you're different, Colin. I'm excited; I want to talk to somebody about
+it."
+
+"Sure," he said. "You had a session already?"
+
+"Yes, my first was today. It's a funny place to do research--Kennedy's
+got a big suite on Fifth Avenue, right up in the classy district.
+Beautiful office. The name of his outfit is Sentiment, Inc."
+
+"Hm. Why should a research-team take such a name? Well, go on."
+
+"Oh, there isn't much else to tell. Kennedy was very nice. He took me
+into a laboratory full of all sorts of dials and meters and blinking
+lights and os--what do you call them? Those things that make wiggly
+pictures."
+
+"Oscilloscopes. You'll never make a scientist, my dear."
+
+She grinned. "But I know one scientist who'd like to--Never mind!
+Anyway, he sat me down in a chair and put bands around my wrists and
+ankles--just like the hot squat--and a big thing like a beauty-parlor
+hair-drier over my head. Then he fiddled with his dials for awhile,
+making notes. Then he started saying words at me, and showing me
+pictures. Some of them were very pretty; some ugly; some funny; some
+downright horrible.... Anyway, that's all there was to it. After a
+couple of hours he gave me a check for a hundred dollars and told me to
+come back tomorrow."
+
+"Hm." Fraser rubbed his chin. "Apparently he was measuring the electric
+rhythms corresponding to pleasure and dislike. I'd no idea anybody'd
+made an encephalograph that accurate."
+
+"Well," said Judy, "I've told you why we're celebrating. Now come on,
+the regular orchestra's tuning up. Let's dance."
+
+They had a rather wonderful evening. Afterward Fraser lay awake for a
+long time, not wanting to lose a state of happiness in sleep. He
+considered sleep a hideous waste of time: if he lived to be ninety, he'd
+have spent almost thirty years unconscious.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Judy was engaged for the next couple of evenings, and Fraser himself was
+invited to dinner at Sworsky's the night after that. So it wasn't till
+the end of the week that he called her again.
+
+"Hullo, sweetheart," he said exuberantly. "How's things? I refer to
+Charles Addams Things, of course."
+
+"Oh--Colin." Her voice was very small, and it trembled.
+
+"Look, I've got two tickets to _H. M. S. Pinafore_. So put on your own
+pinafore and meet me."
+
+"Colin--I'm sorry, Colin. I can't."
+
+"Huh?" He noticed how odd she sounded, and a leadenness grew within him.
+"You aren't sick, are you?"
+
+"Colin, I--I'm going to be married."
+
+"_What?_"
+
+"Yes. I'm in love now; really in love. I'll be getting married in a
+couple of months."
+
+"But--but--"
+
+"I didn't want to hurt you." He heard her begin to cry.
+
+"But who--how--"
+
+"It's Matthew," she gulped. "Matthew Snyder."
+
+He sat quiet for a long while, until she asked if he was still on the
+line. "Yeah," he said tonelessly. "Yeah, I'm still here, after a
+fashion." Shaking himself: "Look, I've got to see you. I want to talk to
+you."
+
+"I can't."
+
+"You sure as hell can," he said harshly.
+
+They met at a quiet little bar which had often been their rendezvous.
+She watched him with frightened eyes while he ordered martinis.
+
+"All right," he said at last. "What's the story?"
+
+"I--" He could barely hear her. "There isn't any story. I suddenly
+realized I loved Matt. That's all."
+
+"_Snyder!_" He made it a curse. "Remember what you told me about him
+before?"
+
+"I felt different then," she whispered. "He's a wonderful man when you
+get to know him."
+
+_And rich._ He suppressed the words and the thought. "What's so
+wonderful specifically?" he asked.
+
+"He--" Briefly, her face was rapt. Fraser had seen her looking at him
+that way, now and then.
+
+"Go on," he said grimly. "Enumerate Mr. Snyder's good qualities. Make a
+list. He's courteous, cultured, intelligent, young, handsome,
+amusing--To hell! _Why_, Judy?"
+
+"I don't know," she said in a high, almost fearful tone. "I just love
+him, that's all." She reached over the table and stroked his cheek. "I
+like you a lot, Colin. Find yourself a nice girl and be happy."
+
+His mouth drew into a narrow line. "There's something funny here," he
+said. "Is it blackmail?"
+
+"No!" She stood up, spilling her drink, and the flare of temper showed
+him how overwrought she was. "He just happens to be the man I love.
+That's enough out of you, good-bye, Mr. Fraser."
+
+He sat watching her go. Presently he took up his drink, gulped it
+barbarously, and called for another.
+
+
+
+
+2
+
+
+Juan Martinez had come from Puerto Rico as a boy and made his own way
+ever since. Fraser had gotten to know him in the army, and they had seen
+each other from time to time since then. Martinez had gone into the
+private-eye business and made a good thing of it; Fraser had to get past
+a very neat-looking receptionist to see him.
+
+"Hi, Colin," said Martinez, shaking hands. He was a small, dark man,
+with a large nose and beady black eyes that made him resemble a
+sympathetic mouse. "You look like the very devil."
+
+"I feel that way, too," said Fraser, collapsing into a chair. "You can't
+go on a three-day drunk without showing it."
+
+"Well, what's the trouble? Cigarette?" Martinez held out a pack.
+"Girl-friend give you the air?"
+
+"As a matter of fact, yes; that's what I want to see you about."
+
+"This isn't a lonely-hearts club," said Martinez. "And I've told you
+time and again a private dick isn't a wisecracking superman. Our work is
+ninety-nine percent routine; and for the other one percent, we call in
+the police."
+
+"Let me give you the story," said Fraser. He rubbed his eyes wearily as
+he told it. At the end, he sat staring at the floor.
+
+"Well," said Martinez, "it's too bad and all that. But what the hell,
+there are other dames. New York has more beautiful women per square inch
+than any other city except Paris. Latch on to somebody else. Or if you
+want, I can give you a phone number--"
+
+"You don't understand," said Fraser "I want you to investigate this; I
+want to know why she did it."
+
+Martinez squinted through a haze of smoke. "Snyder's a rich and powerful
+man," he said. "Isn't that enough?"
+
+"No," said Fraser, too tired to be angry at the hint. "Judy isn't that
+kind of a girl. Neither is she the kind to go overboard in a few days,
+especially when I was there. Sure, that sounds conceited, but dammit, I
+_know_ she cared for me."
+
+"Okay. You suspect pressure was brought to bear?"
+
+"Yeah. It's hard to imagine what. I called up Judy's family in Maine,
+and they said they were all right, no worries. Nor do I think anything
+in her own life would give a blackmailer or an extortionist anything to
+go on. Still--I want to know."
+
+Martinez drummed the desk-top with nervous fingers. "I'll look into it
+if you insist," he said, "though it'll cost you a pretty penny. Rich
+men's lives aren't easy to pry into if they've got something they want
+to hide. But I don't think we'd find out much; your case seems to be
+only one of a rash of similar ones in the past year."
+
+"Huh?" Fraser looked sharply up.
+
+"Yeah. I follow all the news; and remember the odd facts. There've been
+a good dozen cases recently, where beautiful young women suddenly
+married rich men or became their mistresses. It doesn't all get into the
+papers, but I've got my contacts. I know. In every instance, there was
+no obvious reason; in fact, the dames seemed very much in love with
+daddy."
+
+"And the era of the gold-digger is pretty well gone--" Fraser sat
+staring out the window. It didn't seem right that the sky should be so
+full of sunshine.
+
+"Well," said Martinez, "you don't need me. You need a psychologist."
+
+_Psychologist!_
+
+"By God, Juan, I'm going to give you a job anyway!" Fraser leaped to his
+feet. "You're going to check into an outfit called Sentiment, Inc."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A week later, Martinez said, "Yeah, we found it easily enough. It's not
+in the phone-book, but they've got a big suite right in the high-rent
+district on Fifth. The address is here, in my written report. Nobody in
+the building knows much about 'em, except that they're a quiet,
+well-behaved bunch and call themselves research psychologists. They have
+a staff of four: a secretary-receptionist; a full-time secretary; and a
+couple of husky boys who may be bodyguards for the boss. That's this
+Kennedy, Robert Kennedy. My man couldn't get into his office; the girl
+said he was too busy and never saw anybody except some regular clients.
+Nor could he date either of the girls, but he did investigate them.
+
+"The receptionist is just a working girl for routine stuff, married,
+hardly knows or cares what's going on. The steno is unmarried, has a
+degree in psych, lives alone, and seems to have no friends except her
+boss. Who's not her lover, by the way."
+
+"Well, how about Kennedy himself?" asked Fraser.
+
+"I've found out a good bit, but it's all legitimate," said Martinez.
+"He's about fifty years old, a widower, very steady private life. He's a
+licensed psychiatrist who used to practice in Chicago, where he also did
+research in collaboration with a physicist named Gavotti, who's since
+died. Shortly after that happened--
+
+"No, there's no suspicion of foul play; the physicist was an old man and
+died of a heart attack. Anyway, Kennedy moved to New York. He still
+practices, officially, but he doesn't take just anybody; claims that his
+research only leaves him time for a few." Martinez narrowed his eyes.
+"The only thing you could hold against him is that he occasionally sees
+a guy named Bryce, who's in a firm that has some dealings with Amtorg."
+
+"The Russian trading corporation? Hm."
+
+"Oh, that's pretty remote guilt by association, Colin. Amtorg does have
+legitimate business, you know. We buy manganese from them, among other
+things. And the rest of Kennedy's connections are all strictly blue
+ribbon. _Creme de la creme_--business, finance, politics, and one big
+union-leader who's known to be a conservative. In fact, Kennedy's
+friends are so powerful you'd have real trouble doing anything against
+him."
+
+Fraser slumped in his chair. "I suppose my notion was pretty wild," he
+admitted.
+
+"Well, there is one queer angle. You know these rich guys who've
+suddenly made out with such highly desirable dames? As far as I could
+find out, every one of them is a client of Kennedy's."
+
+"Eh?" Fraser jerked erect.
+
+"'S a fact. Also, my man showed the building staff, elevator pilots and
+so on, pictures of these women, and a couple of 'em were remembered as
+having come to see Kennedy."
+
+"Shortly before they--fell in love?"
+
+"Well, that I can't be sure of. You know how people are about
+remembering dates. But it's possible."
+
+Fraser shook his dark head. "It's unbelievable," he said. "I thought
+Svengali was outworn melodrama."
+
+"I know something about hypnotism, Colin. It won't do anything like what
+you think happened to those girls."
+
+Fraser got out his pipe and fumbled tobacco into it. "I think," he said,
+"I'm going to call on Dr. Robert Kennedy myself."
+
+"Take it easy, boy," said Martinez. "You been reading too many weird
+stories; you'll just get tossed out on your can."
+
+Fraser tried to smile. It was hard--Judy wouldn't answer his calls and
+letters any more. "Well," he said, "it'll be in a worthy cause."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The elevator let him out on the nineteenth floor. It held four big
+suites, with the corridor running between them. He studied the
+frosted-glass doors. On one side was the Eagle Publishing Company and
+Frank & Dayles, Brokers. On the other was the Messenger Advertising
+Service, and Sentiment, Inc. He entered their door and stood in a quiet,
+oak-paneled reception room. Behind the railing were a couple of desks, a
+young woman working at each, and two burly men who sat boredly reading
+magazines.
+
+The pretty girl, obviously the receptionist, looked up as Fraser
+approached and gave him a professional smile. "Yes, sir?" she asked.
+
+"I'd like to see Dr. Kennedy, please," he said, trying hard to be
+casual.
+
+"Do you have an appointment, sir?"
+
+"No, but it's urgent."
+
+"I'm sorry, sir; Dr. Kennedy is very busy. He can't see anybody except
+his regular patients and research subjects."
+
+"Look, take him in this note, will you? Thanks."
+
+Fraser sat uneasily for some minutes, wondering if he'd worded the note
+correctly. _I must see you about Miss Judy Harkness._ _Important._ Well,
+what the devil else could you say?
+
+The receptionist came out again. "Dr. Kennedy can spare you a few
+minutes, sir," she said. "Go right on in."
+
+"Thanks." Fraser slouched toward the inner door. The two men lowered
+their magazines to follow him with watchful eyes.
+
+There was a big, handsomely-furnished office inside, with a door beyond
+that must lead to the laboratory. Kennedy looked up from some papers and
+rose, holding out his hand. He was a medium-sized man, rather plump,
+graying hair brushed thickly back from a broad, heavy face behind
+rimless glasses. "Yes?" His voice was low and pleasant. "What can I do
+for you?"
+
+"My name's Fraser." The visitor sat down and accepted a cigarette. Best
+to act urbanely. "I know Miss Harkness well. I understand you made some
+encephalographic studies of her."
+
+"Indeed?" Kennedy looked annoyed, and Fraser recalled that Judy had been
+asked not to tell anyone. "I'm not sure; I would have to consult my
+records first." He wasn't admitting anything, thought Fraser.
+
+"Look," said the engineer, "there's been a marked change in Miss
+Harkness recently. I know enough psychology to be certain that such
+changes don't happen overnight without cause. I wanted to consult you."
+
+"I'm not her psychiatrist," said Kennedy coldly. "Now if you will excuse
+me, I really have a lot to do--"
+
+"All right," said Fraser. There was no menace in his tones, only a
+weariness. "If you insist, I'll play it dirty. Such abrupt changes
+indicate mental instability. But I know she was perfectly sane before.
+It begins to look as if your experiments may have--injured her mind. If
+so, I should have to report you for malpractice."
+
+Kennedy flushed. "I am a licensed psychiatrist," he said, "and any other
+doctor will confirm that Miss Harkness is still in mental health. If you
+tried to get an investigation started, you would only be wasting your
+own time and that of the authorities. She herself will testify that no
+harm was done to her; no compulsion applied; and that you are an
+infernal busybody with some delusions of your own. Good afternoon."
+
+"Ah," said Fraser, "so she _was_ here."
+
+Kennedy pushed a button. His men entered. "Show this gentleman the way
+out, please," he said.
+
+Fraser debated whether to put up a fight, decided it was futile, and
+went out between the two others. When he got to the street, he found he
+was shaking, and badly in need of a drink.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fraser asked, "Jim, did you ever read _Trilby_?"
+
+Sworsky's round, freckled face lifted to regard him. "Years ago," he
+answered. "What of it?"
+
+"Tell me something. Is it possible--even theoretically possible--to do
+what Svengali did? Change emotional attitudes, just like that." Fraser
+snapped his fingers.
+
+"I don't know," said Sworsky. "Nuclear cross-sections are more in my
+line. But offhand, I should imagine it might be done ... sometime in the
+far future. Thought-habits, associational-patterns, the labeling of this
+as good and that as bad, seem to be matters of established neural paths.
+If you could selectively alter the polarization of individual
+neurones--But it's a pretty remote prospect; we hardly know a thing
+about the brain today."
+
+He studied his friend sympathetically. "I know it's tough to get
+jilted," he said, "but don't go off your trolley about it."
+
+"I could stand it if someone else had gotten her in the usual kind of
+way," said Fraser thinly. "But this--Look, let me tell you all I've
+found out."
+
+Sworsky shook his head at the end of the story. "That's a mighty wild
+speculation," he murmured. "I'd forget it if I were you."
+
+"Did you know Kennedy's old partner? Gavotti, at Chicago."
+
+"Sure, I met him a few times. Nice old guy, very unworldly, completely
+wrapped up in his work. He got interested in neurology from the physics
+angle toward the end of his life, and contributed a lot to cybernetics.
+What of it?"
+
+"I don't know," said Fraser; "I just don't know. But do me a favor, will
+you, Jim? Judy won't see me at all, but she knows you and likes you. Ask
+her to dinner or something. Insist that she come. Then you and your wife
+find out--whatever you can. Just exactly how she feels about the whole
+business. What her attitudes are toward everything."
+
+"The name is Sworsky, not Holmes. But sure, I'll do what I can, if
+you'll promise to try and get rid of this fixation. You ought to see a
+head-shrinker yourself, you know."
+
+_In vino veritas_--sometimes too damn much _veritas_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Toward the end of the evening, Judy was talking freely, if not quite
+coherently. "I cared a lot for Colin," she said. "It was pretty
+wonderful having him around. He's a grand guy. Only Matt--I don't know.
+Matt hasn't got half of what Colin has; Matt's a single-track mind. I'm
+afraid I'm just going to be an ornamental convenience to him. Only if
+you've ever been so you got all dizzy when someone was around, and
+thought about him all the time he was away--well, that's how he is.
+Nothing else matters."
+
+"Colin's gotten a funny obsession," said Sworsky cautiously. "He thinks
+Kennedy hypnotized you for Snyder. I keep telling him it's impossible,
+but he can't get over the idea."
+
+"Oh, no, no, no," she said with too much fervor. "It's nothing like
+that. I'll tell you just what happened. We had those two measuring
+sessions; it was kind of dull but nothing else. And then the third time
+Kennedy did put me under hypnosis--he called it that, at least. I went
+to sleep and woke up about an hour later and he sent me home. I felt all
+good inside, happy, and shlo--slowly I began to see what Matt meant to
+me.
+
+"I called him up that evening. He said Kennedy's machine _did_ speed up
+people's minds for a short while, sometimes, so they decided quick-like
+what they'd've worked out anyway. Kennedy is--I don't know. It's funny
+how ordinary he seemed at first. But when you get to know him, he's
+like--God, almost. He's strong and wise and good. He--" Her voice
+trailed off and she sat looking foolishly at her glass.
+
+"You know," said Sworsky, "perhaps Colin is right after all."
+
+"Don't say that!" She jumped up and slapped his face. "Kennedy's _good_,
+I tell you! All you little lice sitting here making sly remarks behind
+his back, and he's so, much bigger than all of you and--" She broke into
+tears and stormed out of the apartment.
+
+Sworsky reported the affair to Fraser. "I wonder," he said. "It doesn't
+seem natural, I'll agree. But what can anybody do? The police?"
+
+"I've tried," said Fraser dully. "They laughed. When I insisted, I damn
+near got myself jugged. That's no use. The trouble is, none of the
+people who've been under the machine will testify against Kennedy. He
+fixes it so they worship him."
+
+"I still think you're crazy. There _must_ be a simpler hypothesis; I
+refuse to believe your screwy notions without some real evidence. But
+what are you going to do now?"
+
+"Well," said Fraser with a tautness in his voice, "I've got several
+thousand dollars saved up, and Juan Martinez will help. Ever hear the
+fable about the lion? He licked hell out of the bear and the tiger and
+the rhinoceros, but a little gnat finally drove him nuts. Maybe I can be
+the gnat." He shook his head. "But I'll have to hurry. The wedding's
+only six weeks off."
+
+
+
+
+3
+
+
+It can be annoying to be constantly shadowed; to have nasty gossip about
+you spreading through the places where you work and live; to find your
+tires slashed; to be accosted by truculent drunks when you stop in for a
+quick one; to have loud horns blow under your window every night. And it
+doesn't do much good to call the police; your petty tormentors always
+fade out of sight.
+
+Fraser was sitting in his room some two weeks later, trying
+unsuccessfully to concentrate on matrix algebra, when the phone rang. He
+never picked it up without a fluttering small hope that it might be
+Judy, and it never was. This time it was a man's voice: "Mr. Fraser?"
+
+"Yeah," he grunted. "Wha'dya want?"
+
+"This is Robert Kennedy. I'd like to talk to you."
+
+Fraser's heart sprang in his ribs, but he held his voice stiff. "Go on,
+then. Talk."
+
+"I want you to come up to my place. We may be having a long
+conversation."
+
+"Mmmm--well--" It was more than he had allowed himself to hope for, but
+he remained curt: "Okay. But a full report of this business, and what I
+think you're doing, is in the hands of several people. If anything
+should happen to me--"
+
+"You've been reading too many hard-boileds," said Kennedy. "Nothing will
+happen. Anyway, I have a pretty good idea who those people are; I can
+hire detectives of my own, you know."
+
+"I'll come over, then." Fraser hung up and realized, suddenly, that he
+was sweating.
+
+The night air was cool as he walked down the street. He paused for a
+moment, feeling the city like a huge impersonal machine around him,
+grinding and grinding. Human civilization had grown too big, he thought.
+It was beyond anyone's control; it had taken on a will of its own and
+was carrying a race which could no longer guide it. Sometimes--reading
+the papers, or listening to the radio, or just watching the traffic go
+by like a river of steel--a man could feel horribly helpless.
+
+He took the subway to Kennedy's address, a swank apartment in the lower
+Fifties. He was admitted by the psychiatrist in person; no one else was
+around.
+
+"I assume," said Kennedy, "that you don't have some wild idea of pulling
+a gun on me. That would accomplish nothing except to get you in
+trouble."
+
+"No," said Fraser, "I'll be good." His eyes wandered about the living
+room. One wall was covered with books which looked used; there were some
+quality reproductions, a Capehart, and fine, massive furniture. It was a
+tasteful layout. He looked a little more closely at three pictures on
+the mantel: a middle-aged woman and two young men in uniform.
+
+"My wife," said Kennedy, "and my boys. They're all dead. Would you like
+a drink?"
+
+"No. I came to talk."
+
+"I'm not Satan, you know," said Kennedy. "I like books and music, good
+wine, good conversation. I'm as human as you are, only I have a
+purpose."
+
+Fraser sat down and began charging his pipe. "Go ahead," he said. "I'm
+listening."
+
+Kennedy pulled a chair over to face him. The big smooth countenance
+behind the rimless glasses held little expression. "Why have you been
+annoying me?" he asked.
+
+"I?" Fraser lifted his brows.
+
+Kennedy made an impatient gesture. "Let's not chop words. There are no
+witnesses tonight. I intend to talk freely, and want you to do the same.
+I know that you've got Martinez sufficiently convinced to help you with
+this very childish persecution-campaign. What do you hope to get out of
+it?"
+
+"I want my girl back," said Fraser tonelessly. "I was hoping my
+nuisance-value--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kennedy winced a bit. "You know, I'm damned sorry about that. It's the
+one aspect of my work which I hate. I'd like you to believe that I'm not
+just a scientific procurer. Actually, I have to satisfy the minor
+desires of my clients, so they'll stay happy and agree to my major
+wishes. It's the plain truth that those women have been only the
+minutest fraction of my job."
+
+"Nevertheless, you're a free-wheeling son, doing something like that--"
+
+"Really, now, what's so horrible about it? Those girls are in love--the
+normal, genuine article. It's not any kind of zombie state, or whatever
+your overheated imagination has thought up. They're entirely sane,
+unharmed, and happy. In fact, happiness of that kind is so rare in this
+world that if I wanted to, I could pose as their benefactor."
+
+"You've got a machine," said Fraser; "it changes the mind. As far as I'm
+concerned, that's as gross a violation of liberty as throwing somebody
+into a concentration camp."
+
+"How free do you think anyone is? You're born with a fixed heredity.
+Environment molds you like clay. Your society teaches you what and how
+to think. A million tiny factors, all depending on blind, uncontrollable
+chance, determine the course of your life--including your love-life....
+Well, we needn't waste any time on philosophy. Go on, ask some
+questions. I admit I've hurt you--unwittingly, to be sure--but I do want
+to make amends."
+
+"Your machine, then," said Fraser. "How did you get it? How does it
+work."
+
+"I was practicing in Chicago," said Kennedy, "and collaborating on the
+side with Gavotti. How much do you know of cybernetics? I don't mean
+computers and automata, which are only one aspect of the field; I mean
+control and communication, in the animal as well as in the machine."
+
+"Well, I've read Wiener's books, and studied Shannon's work, too."
+Despite himself, Fraser was thawing, just a trifle. "It's exciting
+stuff. Communications-theory seems to be basic, in biology and
+psychology as well as in electronics."
+
+"Quite. The future may remember Wiener as the Galileo of neurology. If
+Gavotti's work ever gets published, he'll be considered the Newton. So
+far, frankly, I've suppressed it. He died suddenly, just when his
+machine was completed and he was getting ready to publish his results.
+Nobody but I knew anything more than rumors; he was inclined to be
+secretive till he had a _fait accompli_ on hand. I realized what an
+opportunity had been given me, and took it; I brought the machine here
+without saying much to anyone."
+
+Kennedy leaned back in his chair. "I imagine it was mostly luck which
+took Gavotti and me so far," he went on. "We made a long series of
+improbably good guesses, and thus telescoped a century of work into a
+decade. If I were religious, I'd be down on my knees, thanking the Lord
+for putting this thing of the future into my hands."
+
+"Or the devil," said Fraser.
+
+Briefly, anger flitted across Kennedy's face. "I grant you, the machine
+is a terrible power, but it's harmless to a man if it's used
+properly--as I have used it. I'm not going to tell you just how it
+works; to be perfectly honest, I only understand a fraction of its
+theory and its circuits myself. But look, you know something of
+encephalography. The various basic rhythms of the brain have been
+measured. The standard method is already so sensitive that it can detect
+abnormalities like a developing tumor or a strong emotional disturbance,
+that will give trouble unless corrected. Half of Gavotti's machine is a
+still more delicate encephalograph. It can measure and analyze the
+minute variations in electrical pulses corresponding to the basic
+emotional states. It won't read thoughts, no; but once calibrated for a
+given individual, it will tell you if he's happy, sorrowful, angry,
+disgusted, afraid--any fundamental neuro-glandular condition, or any
+combination of them."
+
+He paused. "All right," said Fraser. "What else does it do?"
+
+"It does _not_ make monsters," said Kennedy. "Look, the specific
+emotional reaction to a given stimulus is, in the normal individual,
+largely a matter of conditioned reflex, instilled by social environment
+or the accidental associations of his life.
+
+"Anyone in decent health will experience fear in the presence of
+danger; desire in the presence of a sexual object, and so on. That's
+basic biology, and the machine can't change that. But most of our
+evaluations are learned. For instance, to an American the word 'mother'
+has powerful emotional connotations, while to a Samoan it means nothing
+very exciting. You had to develop a taste for liquor, tobacco,
+coffee--in fact most of what you consume. If you're in love with a
+particular woman, it's a focusing of the general sexual libido on her,
+brought about by the symbolizing part of your mind: she _means_
+something to you. There are cultures without romantic love, you know.
+And so on. All these specific, conditioned reactions can be changed."
+
+"How?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kennedy thought for a moment "The encephalographic part of the machine
+measures the exact pulsations in the individual corresponding to the
+various emotional reactions. It takes me about four hours to determine
+those with the necessary precision; then I have to make statistical
+analyses of the data, to winnow out random variations. Thereafter I put
+the subject in a state of light hypnosis--that's only to increase
+suggestibility, and make the process faster. As I pronounce the words
+and names I'm interested in, the machine feeds back the impulses
+corresponding to the emotions I want: a sharply-focused beam on the
+brain center concerned.
+
+"For instance, suppose you were an alcoholic and I wanted to cure you.
+I'd put you in hypnosis and stand there whispering 'wine, whisky, beer,
+gin,' and so on; meanwhile, the machine would be feeding the impulses
+corresponding to your reactions of hate, fear, and disgust into your
+brain. You'd come out unchanged, except that your appetite for alcohol
+would be gone; you could, in fact, come out hating the stuff so much
+that you'd join the Prohibition Party--though, in actual practice, it
+would probably be enough just to give you a mild aversion."
+
+"Mmmm--I see. Maybe." Fraser scowled. "And the--subject--doesn't
+remember what you've done?"
+
+"Oh, no. It all takes place on the lower subconscious levels. A new set
+of conditioned neural pathways is opened, you see, and old ones are
+closed off. The brain does that by itself, through its normal
+symbolizing mechanism. All that happens is that the given symbol--such
+as liquor--becomes reflectively associated with the given emotional
+state, such as dislike."
+
+Kennedy leaned forward with an air of urgency. "The end result is in no
+way different from ordinary means of persuasion. Propaganda does the
+same thing by sheer repetition. If you're courting a girl, you try to
+identify yourself in her mind with the things she desires, by
+appropriate behavior.... I'm sorry; I shouldn't have used that
+example.... The machine is only a direct, fast way of doing this,
+producing a more stable result."
+
+"It's still--tampering," said Fraser. "How do you know you're not
+creating side-effects, doing irreparable long-range damage?"
+
+"Oh, for Lord's sake!" exploded Kennedy. "Take your mind off that shelf,
+will you? I've told you how delicate the whole thing is. A few
+microwatts of power more or less, a frequency-shift of less than one
+percent, and it doesn't work at all. There's no effect whatsoever." He
+cooled off fast, adding reflectively: "On the given subject, that is. It
+might work on someone else. These pulsations are a highly individual
+matter; I have to calibrate every case separately."
+
+There was a long period of silence. Then Fraser strained forward and
+said in an ugly voice:
+
+"All right You've told me how you do it. Now tell me _why_. What
+possible reason or excuse, other than your own desire to play God? This
+thing could be the greatest psychiatric tool in history, and you're
+using it to--pimp!"
+
+"I told you that was unimportant," said Kennedy quietly. "I'm doing much
+more. I set up in practice here in New York a couple of years ago. Once
+I had a few chance people under control--no, I tell you again, I didn't
+make robots of them. I merely associated myself, in their own minds,
+with the father-image. That's something I do to everyone who comes under
+the machine, just as a precaution if nothing else, Kennedy is all-wise,
+all-powerful; Kennedy can do no wrong. It isn't a conscious realization;
+to the waking mind, I am only a shrewd adviser and a damn swell fellow.
+But the subconscious mind knows otherwise. It wouldn't _let_ my subjects
+act against me; it wouldn't even let them want to.
+
+"Well, you see how it goes. I got those first few people to recommend me
+to certain selected friends, and these in turn recommended me to others.
+Not necessarily as a psychiatrist; I have variously been a doctor, a
+counsellor, or merely a research-man looking for data. But I'm building
+up a group of the people I want. People who'll back me up, who'll follow
+my advice--not with any knowledge of being dominated, but because the
+workings of their own subconscious minds will lead them inevitably to
+think that my advice is the only sound policy to follow and my requests
+are things any decent man must grant."
+
+"Yeah," said Fraser. "I get it. Big businessmen. Labor-leaders.
+Politicians. Military men. And Soviet spies!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kennedy nodded. "I have connections with the Soviets; their agents think
+I'm on their side. But it isn't treason, though I may help them out from
+time to time.
+
+"That's why I have to do these services for my important clients, such
+as getting them the women they want--or, what I actually do more often,
+influencing their competitors and associates. You see, the subconscious
+mind knows I am all-powerful, but the conscious mind doesn't. It has to
+be satisfied by occasional proofs that I _am_ invaluable; otherwise
+conflicts would set in, my men would become unstable and eventually
+psychotic, and be of no further use to me.
+
+"Of course," he added, almost pedantically, "my men don't know how I
+persuade these other people--they only know that I do, somehow, and
+their regard for their own egos, as well as for me, sets up a bloc which
+prevents them from reasoning out the fact that they themselves are
+dominated. They're quite content to accept the results of my help,
+without inquiring further into the means than the easy rationalization
+that I have a 'persuasive personality.'
+
+"I don't like what I'm doing, Fraser. But it's got to be done."
+
+"You still haven't said _what's_ got to be done," answered the engineer
+coldly.
+
+"I've been given something unbelievable," said Kennedy. His voice was
+very soft now. "If I'd made it public, can you imagine what would have
+happened? Psychiatrists would use it, yes; but so would criminals,
+dictators, power-hungry men of all kinds. Even in this country, I don't
+think libertarian principles could long survive. It would be too
+simple--
+
+"And yet it would have been cowardly to break the machine and burn
+Gavotti's notes. Chance has given me the power to be more than a chip in
+the river--a river that's rapidly approaching a waterfall, war,
+destruction, tyranny, no matter who the Pyrrhic victor may be. I'm in a
+position to do something for the causes in which I believe."
+
+"And what are they?" asked Fraser.
+
+Kennedy gestured at the pictures on the mantel. "Both my sons were
+killed in the last war. My wife died of cancer--a disease which would be
+licked now if a fraction of the money spent on armaments had been
+diverted to research. That brought it home to me; but there are hundreds
+of millions of people in worse cases. And war isn't the only
+evil--there is poverty, oppression, inequality, want and suffering. It
+could be changed.
+
+"I'm building up my own lobby, you might say. In a few more years, I
+hope to be the indispensable adviser of all the men who, between them,
+really run this country. And yes, I have been in touch with Soviet
+agents--have even acted as a transmitter of stolen information. The
+basic problem of spying, you know, is not to get the information in the
+first place as much as to get it to the homeland. Treason? No. I think
+not. I'm getting my toehold in world communism. I already have some of
+its agents; sooner or later, I'll get to the men who really matter. Then
+communism will no longer be a menace."
+
+He sighed. "It's a hard row to hoe. It'll take my lifetime, at least;
+but what else have I got to give my life to?"
+
+Fraser sat quiet. His pipe was cold, he knocked it out and began filling
+it afresh. The scratching of his match seemed unnaturally loud. "It's
+too much," he said. "It's too big a job for one man to tackle. The world
+will stumble along somehow, but you'll just get things into a worse
+mess."
+
+"I've got to try," said Kennedy.
+
+"And I still want my girl back."
+
+"I can't do that; I need Snyder too much. But I'll make it up to you
+somehow." Kennedy sighed. "Lord, if you knew how much I've wanted to
+tell all this!"
+
+With sudden wariness: "Not that it's to be repeated. In fact, you're to
+lay off me; call off your dogs. Don't try to tell anyone else what I've
+told you. You'd never be believed and I already have enough power to
+suppress the story, if you should get it out somehow. And if you give me
+any more trouble at all, I'll see to it that you--stop."
+
+"Murder?"
+
+"Or commitment to an asylum. I can arrange that too."
+
+Fraser sighed. He felt oddly unexcited, empty, as if the interview had
+drained him of his last will to resist. He held the pipe loosely in his
+fingers, letting it go out.
+
+"Ask me a favor," urged Kennedy. "I'll do it, if it won't harm my own
+program. I tell you, I want to square things."
+
+"Well--"
+
+"Think about it. Let me know."
+
+"All right." Fraser got up. "I may do that." He went out the door
+without saying goodnight.
+
+
+
+
+4
+
+
+He sat with his feet on the table, chair tilted back and teetering
+dangerously, hands clasped behind his head, pipe filling the room with
+blue fog. It was his usual posture for attacking a problem.
+
+And damn it, he thought wearily, this was a question such as he made his
+living on. An industrial engineer comes into the office. We want this
+and that--a machine for a very special purpose, let's say. What should
+we do, Mr. Fraser? Fraser prowls around the plant, reads up on the
+industry, and then sits down and thinks. The elements of the problem are
+such-and-such; how can they be combined to yield a solution?
+
+Normally, he uses the mathematical approach, especially in machine
+design. Most practicing-engineers have a pathetic math background--they
+use ten pages of elaborate algebra and rusty calculus to figure out
+something that three vector equations would solve. But you have to get
+the logical basics straight first, before you can set up your equations.
+
+All right, what is the problem? To get Judy back. That means forcing
+Kennedy to restore her normal emotional reactions--no, he didn't want
+her thrust into love of him; he just wanted her as she had been.
+
+What are the elements of the problem? Kennedy acts outside the law, but
+he has blocked all official channels. He even has connections extending
+through the Iron Curtain.
+
+Hmmmm--appeal to the FBI? Kennedy couldn't have control over
+them--_yet_. However, if Fraser tried to tip off the FBI, they'd act
+cautiously, if they investigated at all. They'd have to go slow. And
+Kennedy would find out in time to do something about it.
+
+Martinez could help no further. Sworsky had closer contact with
+Washington. He'd been so thoroughly cleared that they'd be inclined to
+trust whatever he said. But Sworsky doubted the whole story; like many
+men who'd suffered through irresponsible Congressional charges, he was
+almost fanatic about having proof before accusing anyone of anything.
+Moreover, Kennedy knew that Sworsky was Fraser's friend; he'd probably
+be keeping close tabs on the physicist and ready to block any attempts
+he might make to help. With the backing of a man like Snyder, Kennedy
+could hire as many detectives as he wanted.
+
+In fact, whatever the counter-attack, it was necessary to go warily.
+Kennedy's threat to get rid of Fraser if the engineer kept working
+against him was not idle mouthing. He could do it--and, being a fanatic,
+would.
+
+But Kennedy, like the demon of legend, would grant one wish--just to
+salve his own conscience. Only what should the wish be? Another woman?
+Or merely to be reconciled, artificially, to an otherwise-intolerable
+situation?
+
+_Judy, Judy, Judy!_
+
+Fraser swore at himself. Damn it to hell, this was a problem in logic.
+No room for emotion. Of course, it might be a problem without a
+solution. There are plenty of those.
+
+He squinted, trying to visualize the office. He thought of burglary,
+stealing evidence--silly thought. But let's see, now. What was the
+layout, exactly? Four suites on one floor of the skyscraper, three of
+them unimportant offices of unimportant men. And--
+
+_Oh, Lord!_
+
+Fraser sat for a long while, hardly moving. Then he uncoiled himself and
+ran, downstairs and into the street and to the nearest pay phone. His
+own line might be tapped--
+
+"Hello, hello, Juan?... Yes, I know I got you out of bed, and I'm not
+sorry. This is too bloody important.... Okay, okay.... Look, I want a
+complete report on the Messenger Advertising Service.... When?
+Immediately, if not sooner. And I mean _complete_.... That's right,
+Messenger.... Okay, fine. I'll buy you a drink sometime."
+
+"Hello, Jim? Were you asleep too?... Sorry.... But look, would you make
+a list of all the important men you know fairly well? I need it bad....
+No, don't come over. I think I'd better not see you for a while. Just
+mail it to me.... All right, so I am paranoid...."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Jerome K. Ferris was a large man, with a sense of his own importance
+that was even larger. He sat hunched in the chair, his head dwarfed by
+the aluminum helmet, his breathing shallow. Around him danced and
+flickered a hundred meters, indicator lights, tubes. There was a low
+humming in the room, otherwise it was altogether silent, blocked and
+shielded against the outside world. The fluorescent lights were a muted
+glow.
+
+Fraser sat watching the greenish trace on the huge oscilloscope screen.
+It was an intricate set of convolutions, looking more like a plate of
+spaghetti than anything else. He wondered how many frequencies were
+involved. Several thousand, at the very least.
+
+"Fraser," repeated Kennedy softly into the ear of the hypnotized man.
+"Colin Fraser. Colin Fraser." He touched a dial with infinite care.
+"Colin Fraser. Colin Fraser."
+
+The oscilloscope flickered as he readjusted, a new trace appeared.
+Kennedy waited for a while, then: "Robert Kennedy. Sentiment, Inc.
+Robert Kennedy. Sentiment, Inc. Robert Kennedy. Sentiment--"
+
+He turned off the machine, its murmur and glow died away. Facing Fraser
+with a tight little smile, he said: "All right. Your job is done. Are we
+even now?"
+
+"As even, as we'll ever get, I suppose," said Fraser.
+
+"I wish you'd trust me," said Kennedy with a hint of wistfulness. "I'd
+have done the job honestly; you didn't have to watch."
+
+"Well, I was interested," said Fraser.
+
+"Frankly, I still don't see what you stand to gain by the doglike
+devotion of this Ferris. He's rich, but he's too weak and short-sighted
+to be a leader. I'd never planned on conditioning him for my purposes."
+
+"I've explained that," said Fraser patiently. "Ferris is a large
+stockholder in a number of corporations. His influence can swing a lot
+of business my way."
+
+"Yes, I know. I didn't grant your wish blindly, you realize. I had
+Ferris studied; he's unable to harm me." Kennedy regarded Fraser with
+hard eyes. "And just in case you still have foolish notions, please
+remember that I gave him the father-conditioning with respect to myself.
+He'll do a lot for you, but not if it's going to hurt me in any way."
+
+"I know when I'm licked," said Fraser bleakly; "I'm getting out of town
+as soon as I finish those courses I'm signed up for."
+
+Kennedy snapped his fingers. "All right, Ferris, wake up now."
+
+Ferris blinked. "What's been happening?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing much," said Kennedy, unbuckling the electrodes. "I've taken my
+readings. Thank you very much for the help, sir. I'll see that you get
+due credit when my research is published."
+
+"Ah--yes. Yes." Ferris puffed himself out. Then he put an arm around
+Fraser's shoulder. "If you aren't busy," he said, "maybe we could go
+have lunch."
+
+"Thanks," said Fraser. "I'd like to talk to you about a few things."
+
+He lingered for a moment after Ferris had left the room. "I imagine this
+is goodbye for us," he said.
+
+"Well, so long, at least. We'll probably hear from each other again."
+Kennedy shook Fraser's hand. "No hard feelings? I did go to a lot of
+trouble for you--wangling your introduction to Ferris when you'd named
+him, and having one of my men persuade him to come here. And right when
+I'm so infernally busy, too."
+
+"Sure," said Fraser. "It's all right. I can't pretend to love you for
+what you've done, but you aren't a bad sort."
+
+"No worse than you," said Kennedy with a short laugh. "You've used the
+machine for your own ends, now."
+
+"Yeah," said Fraser. "I guess I have."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sworsky asked, "Why do you insist on calling me from drugstores? And why
+at my office? I've got a home phone, you know."
+
+"I'm not sure but that our own lines are tapped," said Fraser.
+"Kennedy's a smart cookie, and don't you forget it. I think he's about
+ready to dismiss me as a danger, but you're certainly being watched;
+you're on his list."
+
+"You're getting a persecution-complex. Honest, Colin, I'm worried."
+
+"Well, bear with me for a while. Now, have you had any information on
+Kennedy since I called last?"
+
+"Hm, no. I did mention to Thomson, as you asked me to, that I'd heard
+rumors of some revolutionary encephalographic techniques and would be
+interested in seeing the work. Why did you want me to do that?"
+
+"Thomson," said Fraser, "is one of Kennedy's men. Now look, Jim, before
+long you're going to be invited to visit Kennedy. He'll give you a spiel
+about his research and ask to measure your brain waves. I want you to
+say yes. Then I want to know the exact times of the three appointments
+he'll give you--the first two, at least."
+
+"Hmmm--if Kennedy's doing what you claim--"
+
+"Jim, it's a necessary risk, but _I'm_ the one who's taking it. You'll
+be okay, I promise you; though perhaps later you'll read of me being
+found in the river. You see, I got Kennedy to influence a big stockowner
+for me. One of the lesser companies in which he has a loud voice is
+Messenger. I don't suppose Kennedy knows that. I hope not!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sworsky looked as if he'd been sandbagged. He was white, and the hand
+that poured a drink shook.
+
+"Lord," he muttered. "Lord, Colin, you were right."
+
+Fraser's teeth drew back from his lips. "You went through with it, eh?"
+
+"Yes. I let the son hypnotize me, and afterward I walked off with a
+dreamy expression, as you told me to. Just three hours ago, he dropped
+around here in person. He gave me a long rigmarole about the stupidity
+of military secrecy, and how the Soviet Union stands for peace and
+justice. I hope I acted impressed; I'm not much of an actor."
+
+"You don't have to be. Just so you didn't overdo it. To one of Kennedy's
+victims, obeying his advice is so natural that it doesn't call for any
+awe-struck wonderment."
+
+"And he wanted data from me! Bombardment cross-sections. Critical
+values. Resonance levels. My Lord, if the Russians found that out
+through spies it'd save them three years of research. This is an FBI
+case, all right."
+
+"No, not yet." Fraser laid an urgent hand on Sworsky's arm. "You've
+stuck by me so far, Jim. Go along a little further."
+
+"What do you want me to do?"
+
+"Why--" Fraser's laugh jarred out. "Give him what he wants, of course."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kennedy looked up from his desk, scowling. "All right, Fraser," he said.
+"You've been a damned nuisance, and it's pretty patient of me to see you
+again. But this is the last time. Wha'd'you want?"
+
+"It's the last time I'll need to see you, perhaps." Fraser didn't sit
+down. He stood facing Kennedy. "You've had it, friend; straight up."
+
+"What do you mean?" Kennedy's hand moved toward his buzzer.
+
+"Listen before you do anything," said Fraser harshly. "I know you tried
+to bring Jim Sworsky under the influence. You asked him for top-secret
+data. A few hours ago, you handed the file he brought you on to Bryce,
+who's no doubt at the Amtorg offices this minute. That's high treason,
+Kennedy; they execute people for doing that."
+
+The psychologist slumped back.
+
+"Don't try to have your bully boys get rid of me," said Fraser. "Sworsky
+is sitting by the phone, waiting to call the FBI. I'm the only guy who
+can stop him."
+
+"But--" Kennedy's tongue ran around his lips. "But he committed treason
+himself. He gave me the papers!"
+
+Fraser grinned. "You don't think those were authentic, do you? I doubt
+if you'll be very popular in the Soviet Union either, once they've tried
+to build machines using your data."
+
+Kennedy looked down at the floor. "How did you do it?" he whispered.
+
+"Remember Ferris? The guy you fixed up for me? He owns a share of your
+next-door neighbor, the Messenger Advertising Service. I fed him a song
+and dance about needing an office to do some important work, only my
+very whereabouts had to be secret. The Messenger people were moved out
+without anybody's knowing. I installed myself there one night, also a
+simple little electric oscillator.
+
+"Encephalography is damn delicate work; it involves amplifications up to
+several million. The apparatus misbehaves if you give it a hard look.
+Naturally, your lab and the machine were heavily shielded, but even so,
+a radio emitter next door would be bound to throw you off. My main
+trouble was in lousing you up just a little bit, not enough to make you
+suspect anything.
+
+"I only worked at that during your calibrating sessions with Sworsky. I
+didn't have to be there when you turned the beam on him, because it
+would be calculated from false data and be so far from his pattern as to
+have no effect. You told me yourself how precise an adjustment was
+needed. Sworsky played along, then. Now we've got proof--not that you
+meddled with human lives, but that you are a spy."
+
+Kennedy sat without moving. His voice was a broken mumble. "I was going
+to change the world. I had hopes for all humankind. And you, for the
+sake of one woman--"
+
+"I never trusted anybody with a messiah complex. The world is too big to
+change single-handed; you'd just have bungled it up worse than it
+already is. A lot of dictators started out as reformers and ended up as
+mass-executioners; you'd have done the same."
+
+Fraser leaned over his desk. "I'm willing to make a deal, though," he
+went on. "Your teeth are pulled; there's no point in turning you in.
+Sworsky and Martinez and I are willing just to report on Bryce, and let
+you go, if you'll change back all your subjects. We're going to read
+your files, and watch and see that you do it. Every one."
+
+Kennedy bit his lip. "And the machine--?"
+
+"I don't know. We'll settle that later. Okay, God, here's the phone
+number of Judy Harkness. Ask her to come over for a special treatment.
+At once."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A month later, the papers had a story about a plausible maniac who had
+talked his way into the Columbia University laboratories, where
+Gavotti's puzzling machine was being studied, and pulled out a hammer
+and smashed it into ruin before he could be stopped. Taken to jail, he
+committed suicide in his cell. The name was Kennedy.
+
+Fraser felt vague regret, but it didn't take him long to forget it; he
+was too busy making plans for his wedding.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+     Transcriber Notes:
+
+     This etext was produced from Science Fiction Stories 1953.
+     Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
+     copyright on this publication was renewed.
+
+     Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired.
+
+     page 17 original: on the mantel: a midle-aged woman and two young
+     men
+
+     replacement: on the mantel: a middle-aged woman and two young men
+
+
+     page 20 original: inpulses corresponding to your reactions of hate,
+     fear, and disgust into
+
+     replacement: impulses corresponding to your reactions of hate,
+     fear, and disgust into
+
+
+     page 25 original: Another woman? Or merely to be reconciled,
+     artifically, to an otherwise-intolerable situation?
+
+     replacement: Another woman? Or merely to be reconciled,
+     artificially, to an otherwise-intolerable situation?
+
+
+     page 26 original: "As even, as we'll ever get, I suppose," said
+     Fraser.
+
+     "Well, I was interested," said Fraser.
+
+     "I wish you'd trust me," said Kennedy with a hint of wistfulness.
+     "I'd have done the job honestly; you didn't have to watch."
+
+     replacement: "As even, as we'll ever get, I suppose," said Fraser.
+
+     "I wish you'd trust me," said Kennedy with a hint of wistfulness.
+     "I'd have done the job honestly; you didn't have to watch."
+
+     "Well, I was interested," said Fraser.
+
+
+     page 29 original: "I don't know. We'll settle that later. Okay,
+     God, here's the phone-number
+
+     replacement: "I don't know. We'll settle that later. Okay, God,
+     here's the phone number (no hyphen used on page 10)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Sentiment, Inc., by Poul William Anderson
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