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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76af9ab --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #60614 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60614) diff --git a/old/60614-8.txt b/old/60614-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fca1dd3..0000000 --- a/old/60614-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1554 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rat in the Skull, by Rog Phillips - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: Rat in the Skull - -Author: Rog Phillips - -Release Date: November 3, 2019 [EBook #60614] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAT IN THE SKULL *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - RAT IN THE SKULL - - BY ROG PHILLIPS - - _Some people will be shocked by this story. - Others will be deeply moved. Everyone who reads - it will be talking about it. Read the first - four pages: then put it down if you can._ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Worlds of If Science Fiction, December 1958. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Dr. Joseph MacNare was not the sort of person one would expect him to -be in the light of what happened. Indeed, it is safe to say that until -the summer of 1955 he was more "normal", better adjusted, than the -average college professor. And we have every reason to believe that he -remained so, in spite of having stepped out of his chosen field. - -At the age of thirty-four, he had to his credit a college textbook on -advanced calculus, an introductory physics, and seventy-two papers that -had appeared in various journals, copies of which were in neat order -in a special section of the bookcase in his office at the university, -and duplicate copies of which were in equally neat order in his office -at home. None of these were in the field of psychology, the field in -which he was shortly to become famous--or infamous. But anyone who -studies the published writings of Dr. MacNare must inevitably conclude -that he was a competent, responsible scientist, and a firm believer -in institutional research, research by teams, rather than in private -research and go-it-alone secrecy, the course he eventually followed. - -In fact, there is every reason to believe he followed this course with -the greatest of reluctance, aware of its pitfalls, and that he took -every precaution that was humanly possible. - -Certainly, on that day in late August, 1955, at the little cabin on -the Russian River, a hundred miles upstate from the university, when -Dr. MacNare completed his paper on _An Experimental Approach to the -Psychological Phenomena of Verification_, he had no slightest thought -of "going it alone." - -It was mid-afternoon. His wife, Alice, was dozing on the small dock -that stretched out into the water, her slim figure tanned a smooth -brown that was just a shade lighter than her hair. Their eight-year-old -son, Paul, was fifty yards upstream playing with some other boys, their -shouts the only sound except for the whisper of rushing water and the -sound of wind in the trees. - -Dr. MacNare, in swim trunks, his lean muscular body hardly tanned at -all, emerged from the cabin and came out on the dock. - -"Wake up, Alice," he said, nudging her with his foot. "You have a -husband again." - -"Well, it's about time," Alice said, turning over on her back and -looking up at him, smiling in answer to his happy grin. - -He stepped over her and went out on the diving board, leaping up and -down on it, higher and higher each time, in smooth coördination, then -went into a one and a half gainer, his body cutting into the water with -a minimum of splash. - -His head broke the surface. He looked up at his wife, and laughed in -the sheer pleasure of being alive. A few swift strokes brought him to -the foot of the ladder. He climbed, dripping water, to the dock, then -sat down by his wife. - -"Yep, it's done," he said. "How many days of our vacation left? Two? -That's time enough for me to get a little tan. Might as well make the -most of it. I'm going to be working harder this winter than I ever did -in my life." - -"But I thought you said your paper was done!" - -"It is. But that's only the beginning. Instead of sending it in for -publication, I'm going to submit it to the directors, with a request -for facilities and personnel to conduct a line of research based on -pages twenty-seven to thirty-two of the paper." - -"And you think they'll grant your request?" - -"There's no question about it," Dr. MacNare said, smiling confidently. -"It's the most important line of research ever opened up to -experimental psychology. They'll be forced to grant my request. It will -put the university on the map!" - -Alice laughed, and sat up and kissed him. - -"Maybe they won't agree with you," she said. "Is it all right for me to -read the paper?" - -"I wish you would," he said. "Where's that son of mine? Upstream?" He -leaped to his feet and went to the diving board again. - -"Better walk along the bank, Joe. The stream is too swift." - -"Nonsense!" Dr. MacNare said. - -He made a long shallow dive, then began swimming in a powerful crawl -that took him upstream slowly. Alice stood on the dock watching him -until he was lost to sight around the bend, then went into the cabin. -The completed paper lay beside the typewriter. - - * * * * * - -Alice had her doubts. "I'm not so sure the board will approve of this," -she said. Dr. MacNare, somewhat exasperated, said, "What makes you -think that? Pavlov experimented with his dog, physiological experiments -with rats, rabbits, and other animals go on all the time. There's -nothing cruel about it." - -"Just the same...." Alice said. So Dr. MacNare cautiously resisted the -impulse to talk about his paper with his fellow professors and his most -intelligent students. Instead, he merely turned his paper in to the -board at the earliest opportunity and kept silent, waiting for their -decision. - -He hadn't long to wait. On the last Friday of September he received -a note requesting his presence in the board room at three o'clock on -Monday. He rushed home after his last class and told Alice about it. - -"Let's hope their decision is favorable," she said. - -"It has to be," Dr. MacNare answered with conviction. - -He spent the week-end making plans. "They'll probably assign me a -machinist and a couple of electronics experts from the hill," he told -Alice. "I can use graduate students for work with the animals. I hope -they give me Dr. Munitz from Psych as a consultant, because I like -him much better than Veerhof. By early spring we should have things -rolling." - -Monday at three o'clock on the dot, Dr. MacNare knocked on the door of -the board room, and entered. He was not unfamiliar with it, nor with -the faces around the massive walnut conference table. Always before he -had known what to expect--a brief commendation for the revisions in his -textbook on calculus for its fifth printing, a nice speech from the -president about his good work as a prelude to a salary raise--quiet, -expected things. Nothing unanticipated had ever happened here. - -Now, as he entered, he sensed a difference. All eyes were fixed on him, -but not with admiration or friendliness. They were fixed more in the -manner of a restaurateur watching the approach of a cockroach along -the surface of the counter. - -Suddenly the room seemed hot and stuffy. The confidence in Dr. -MacNare's expression evaporated. He glanced back toward the door as -though wishing to escape. - -"So it's _you_!" the president said, setting the tone of what followed. - -"This is _yours_?" the president added, picking up the neatly typed -manuscript, glancing at it, and dropping it back on the table as though -it were something unclean. - -Dr. MacNare nodded, and cleared his throat nervously to say yes, but -didn't get the chance. - -"We--all of us--are amazed and shocked," the president said. "Of -course, we understand that psychology is not your field, and you -probably were thinking only from the mathematical viewpoint. We are -agreed on that. What you propose, though...." He shook his head slowly. -"It's not only out of the question, but I'm afraid I'm going to have -to request that you forget the whole thing--put this paper where no -one can see it, preferably destroy it. I'm sorry, Dr. MacNare, but the -university simply cannot afford to be associated with such a thing even -remotely. I'll put it bluntly because I feel strongly about it, as do -the other members of the Board. _If this paper is published or in any -way comes to light, we will be forced to request your resignation from -the faculty._" - -"But why?" Dr. MacNare asked in complete bewilderment. - -"Why?" another board member exploded, slapping the table. "It's the -most inhuman thing I ever heard of, strapping a newborn animal onto -some kind of frame and tying its legs to control levers, with the -intention of never letting it free. The most fiendish and inhuman -torture imaginable! If you didn't have such an outstanding record I -would be for demanding your resignation at once." - -"But that's not true!" Dr. MacNare said. "It's not torture! Not in any -way! Didn't you read the paper? Didn't you understand that--" - -"I read it," the man said. "We all read it. Every word." - -"Then you should have understood--" Dr. MacNare said. - -"We read it," the man repeated, "and we discussed some aspects of it -with Dr. Veerhof without bringing your paper into it, nor your name." - -"Oh," Dr. MacNare said. "Veerhof...." - -"He says experiments, very careful experiments, have already been -conducted along the lines of getting an animal to understand a symbol -system and it can't be done. The nerve paths aren't there. Your line of -research, besides being inhumanly cruel, would accomplish nothing." - -"Oh," Dr. MacNare said, his eyes flashing. "So you know all about the -results of an experiment in an untried field without performing the -experiments!" - -"According to Dr. Veerhof that field is not untried but rather well -explored," the board member said. "Giving an animal the means to make -vocal sounds would not enable it to form a symbol system." - -"I disagree," Dr. MacNare said, seething. "My studies indicate -clearly--" - -"I think," the president said with a firmness that demanded the floor, -"our position has been made very clear, Dr. MacNare. The matter is now -closed. Permanently. I hope you will have the good sense, if I may -use such a strong term, to forget the whole thing. For the good of -your career and your very nice wife and son. That is all." He held the -manuscript toward Dr. MacNare. - - * * * * * - -"I can't understand their attitude!" Dr. MacNare said to Alice when he -told her about it. - -"Possibly I can understand it a little better than you, Joe," Alice -said thoughtfully. "I had a little of what I think they feel, when I -first read your paper. A--a prejudice against the idea of it, is as -closely as I can describe it. Like it would be violating the order of -nature, giving an animal a soul, in a way." - -"Then you feel as they do?" Dr. MacNare said. - -"I didn't say that, Joe." Alice put her arms around her husband and -kissed him fiercely. "Maybe I feel just the opposite, that if there is -some way to give an animal a soul, we should do it." - -Dr. MacNare chuckled. "It wouldn't be quite that cosmic. An animal -can't be given something it doesn't have already. All that can be -done is to give it the means to fully capitalize on what it has. -Animals--man included--can only do by observing the results. When you -move a finger, what you really do is send a neural impulse out from -the brain along one particular nerve or one particular set of nerves, -but you can never learn that, nor just what it is you do. All that you -can know is that when you do a definite _something_ your eyes and sense -of touch bring you the information that your finger moved. But if that -finger were attached to a voice element that made the sound _ah_, and -you could never see your finger, all you could ever know is that when -you did that particular _something_ you made a certain vocal sound. -Changing the resultant effect of mental commands to include things -normally impossible to you may expand the potential of your mind, but -it won't give you a soul if you don't have one to begin with." - -"You're using Veerhof's arguments on me," Alice said. "And I think -we're arguing from separate definitions of a soul. I'm afraid of it, -Joe. It would be a tragedy, I think, to give some animal--a rat, -maybe--the soul of a poet, and then have it discover that it is only a -rat." - -"Oh," Dr. MacNare said. "_That_ kind of soul. No, I'm not that -optimistic about the results. I think we'd be lucky to get any results -at all, a limited vocabulary that the animal would use meaningfully. -But I do think we'd get that." - -"It would take a lot of time and patience." - -"And we'd have to keep the whole thing secret from everyone," Dr. -MacNare said. "We couldn't even let Paul have an inkling of it, because -he might say something to one of his playmates, and it would get back -to some member of the board. How could we keep it secret from Paul?" - -"Paul knows he's not allowed in your study," Alice said. "We could keep -everything there--and keep the door locked." - -"Then it's settled?" - -"Wasn't it, from the very beginning?" Alice put her arms around her -husband and her cheek against his ear to hide her worried expression. -"I love you, Joe. I'll help you in any way I can. And if we haven't -enough in the savings account, there's always what Mother left me." - -"I hope we won't have to use any of it, sweetheart," he said. - -The following day Dr. MacNare was an hour and a half late coming home -from the campus. He had been, he announced casually, to a pet store. - -"We'll have to hurry," said Alice. "Paul will be home any minute." - -She helped him carry the packages from the car to the study. Together -they moved things around to make room for the gleaming new cages with -their white rats and hamsters and guinea pigs. When it was done they -stood arm in arm viewing their new possession. - - * * * * * - -To Alice MacNare, just the presence of the animals in her husband's -study brought the research project into reality. As the days passed -that romantic feeling became fact. - -"We're going to have to do together," Joe MacNare told her at the end -of the first week, "what a team of a dozen specialists in separate -fields should be doing. Our first job, before we can do anything else, -is to study the natural movements of each species and translate them -into patterns of robot directives." - -"Robot directives?" - -"I visualize it this way," Dr. MacNare said. "The animal will be -strapped comfortably in a frame so that its body can't move but its -legs can. Its legs will be attached to four separate, free-moving -levers which make a different electrical contact for every position. -Each electrical contact, or control switch, will cause the robot body -to do one specific thing, such as move a leg, utter some particular -sound through its voice box, or move just one finger. Can you visualize -that, Alice?" - -Alice nodded. - -"Okay. Now, one leg has to be used for nothing but voice sounds. That -leaves three legs for control of the movements of the robot body. In -body movement there will be simultaneous movements and sequences. -A simple sequence can be controlled by one leg. All movements of -the robot will have to be reduced to not more than three concurrent -sequences of movement of the animal's legs. Our problem, then, is to -make the unlearned and the most natural movements of the legs of the -animal control the robot body's movements in a functional manner." - -Endless hours were consumed in this initial study and mapping. Alice -worked at it while her husband was at the university and Paul was at -school. Dr. MacNare rushed home each day to go over what she had done -and continue the work himself. - -He grew more and more grudging of the time his classes took. In -December he finally wrote to the three technical journals that had been -expecting papers from him for publication during the year that he would -be too busy to do them. - -By January the initial phase of research was well enough along so -that Dr. MacNare could begin planning the robot. For this he set up a -workshop in the garage. - -In early February he finished what he called the "test frame." After -Paul had gone to bed, Dr. MacNare brought the test frame into the study -from the garage. To Alice it looked very much like the insides of a -radio. - -She watched while he placed a husky-looking male white rat in the body -harness fastened to the framework of aluminum and tied its legs to -small metal rods. - -Nothing happened except that the rat kept trying to get free, and the -small metal rods tied to its feet kept moving in pivot sockets. - -"Now!" Dr. MacNare said excitedly, flicking a small toggle switch on -the side of the assembly. - -Immediately a succession of vocal sounds erupted from the speaker. They -followed one another, making no sensible word. - -"_He's_ doing that," Dr. MacNare said triumphantly. - -"If we left him in that, do you think he'd eventually associate his -movements with the sounds?" - -"It's possible. But that would be more on the order of what we do when -we drive a car. To some extent a car becomes an extension of the body, -but you're always aware that your hands are on the steering wheel, your -foot on the gas pedal or brake. You extend your awareness consciously. -You interpret a slight tremble in the steering wheel as a shimmy in -the front wheels. You're oriented primarily to your body and only -secondarily to the car as an extension of you." - -Alice closed her eyes for a moment. "Mm hm," she said. - -"And that's the best we could get, using a rat that knows already it's -a rat." - -Alice stared at the struggling rat, her eyes round with comprehension, -while the loudspeaker in the test frame said, "Ag-pr-ds-raf-os-dg...." - -Dr. MacNare shut off the sound and began freeing the rat. - -"By starting with a newborn animal and never letting it know what it -is," he said, "we can get a complete extension of the animal into the -machine, in its orientation. So complete that if you took it out of -the machine after it grew up, it would have no more idea of what had -happened than--than your brain if it were taken out of your head and -put on a table!" - -"Now I'm getting that _feeling_ again, Joe," Alice said, laughing -nervously. "When you said that about my brain I thought, 'Or my soul?'" - -Dr. MacNare put the rat back in its cage. - -"There might be a valid analogy there," he said slowly. "If we have -a soul that survives after death, what is it like? It probably -interprets its surroundings in terms of its former orientation in the -body." - -"That's a little of what I mean," Alice said. "I can't help it, Joe. -Sometimes I feel so sorry for whatever baby animal you'll eventually -use, that I want to cry. I feel so sorry for it, because _we will never -dare let it know what it really is_!" - -"That's true. Which brings up another line of research that should be -the work of one expert on the team I ought to have for this. As it is, -I'll turn it over to you to do while I build the robot." - -"What's that?" - -"Opiates," Dr. MacNare said. "What we want is an opiate that can be -used on a small animal every few days, so that we can take it out of -the robot, bathe it, and put it back again without its knowing about -it. There probably is no ideal drug. We'll have to test the more -promising ones." - -Later that night, as they lay beside each other in the silence and -darkness of their bedroom, Dr. MacNare sighed deeply. - -"So many problems," he said. "I sometimes wonder if we can solve them -all. _See_ them all...." - -To Alice MacNare, later, that night in early February marked the end of -the first phase of research--the point where two alternative futures -hung in the balance, and either could have been taken. That night -she might have said, there in the darkness, "Let's drop it," and her -husband might have agreed. - -She thought of saying it. She even opened her mouth to say it. But her -husband's soft snores suddenly broke the silence of the night. The -moment of return had passed. - - * * * * * - -Month followed month. To Alice it was a period of rushing from kitchen -to hypodermic injections to vacuum cleaner to hypodermic injections, -her key to the study in constant use. - -Paul, nine years old now, took to spring baseball and developed an -indifference to TV, much to the relief of both his parents. - -In the garage workshop Dr. MacNare made parts for the robot, and kept a -couple of innocent projects going which he worked on when his son Paul -evinced his periodic curiosity about what was going on. - -Spring became summer. For six weeks Paul went to Scout camp, and during -those six weeks Dr. MacNare reorganized the entire research project in -line with what it would be in the fall. A decision was made to use only -white rats from then on. The rest of the animals were sold to a pet -store, and a system for automatically feeding, watering, and keeping -the cages clean was installed in preparation for a much needed two -weeks' vacation at the cabin. - -When the time came to go, they had to tear themselves away from their -work by an effort of will--aided by the realization that they could get -little done with Paul underfoot. - -September came all too soon. By mid-September both Dr. MacNare and his -wife felt they were on the home stretch. Parts of the robot were going -together and being tested, the female white rats were being bred at -the rate of one a week so that when the robot was completed there would -be a supply of newborn rats on hand. - -October came, and passed. The robot was finished, but there were minor -defects in it that had to be corrected. - -"Adam," Dr. MacNare said one day, "will have to wear this robot all his -life. It has to be just right." - -And with each litter of baby rats Alice said, "I wonder which one is -Adam." - -They talked of Adam often now, speculating on what he would be like. It -was almost, they decided, as though Adam were their second child. - -And finally, on November 2, 1956, everything was ready. Adam would be -born in the next litter, due in about three days. - - * * * * * - -The amount of work that had gone into preparation for the great moment -is beyond conception. Four file cabinet drawers were filled with notes. -By actual measurement seventeen feet of shelf space was filled with -books on the thousand and one subjects that had to be mastered. The -robot itself was a masterpiece of engineering that would have done -credit to the research staff of a watch manufacturer. The vernier -adjustments alone, used to compensate daily for the rat's growth, had -eight patentable features. - -And the skills that had had to be acquired! Alice, who had never before -had a hypodermic syringe in her hand, could now inject a precisely -measured amount of opiate into the tiny body of a baby rat with calm -confidence in her skill. - -After such monumental preparation, the great moment itself was -anticlimactic. While the mother of Adam was still preoccupied with the -birth of the remainder of the brood, Adam, a pink helpless thing about -the size of a little finger, was picked up and transfered to the head -of the robot. - -His tiny feet, which he would never know existed, were fastened with -gentle care to the four control rods. His tiny head was thrust into a -helmet attached to a pivot-mounted optical system, ending in the lenses -that served the robot for eyes. And finally a transparent plastic -cover contoured to the shape of the back of a human head was fastened -in place. Through it his feeble attempts at movement could be easily -observed. - -Thus, Dr. MacNare's Adam was born into his body, and the time of the -completion of his birth was one-thirty in the afternoon on the fifth -day of November, 1956. - -In the ensuing half hour all the cages of rats were removed from the -study, the floor was scrubbed, and deodorizers were sprayed, so that no -slightest trace of Adam's lowly origins remained. When this was done, -Dr. MacNare loaded the cages into his car and drove them to a pet store -that had agreed to take them. - -When he returned, he joined Alice in the study, and at five minutes -before four, with Alice hovering anxiously beside him, he opened the -cover on Adam's chest and turned on the master switch that gave Adam -complete dominion over his robot body. - -Adam was beautiful--and monstrous. Made of metal from the neck down, -but shaped to be covered by padding and skin in human semblance. From -the neck up the job was done. The face was human, masculine, handsome, -much like that of a clothing store dummy except for its mobility of -expression, and the incongruity of the rest of the body. - -The voice-control lever and contacts had been designed so that the -ability to produce most sounds would have to be discovered by Adam -as he gained control of his natural right front leg. Now the only -sounds being uttered were _oh_, _ah_, _mm_, and _ll_, in random order. -Similarly, the only movements of his arms and legs were feeble, -like those of a human baby. The tremendous strength in his limbs -was something he would be unable to tap fully until he had learned -conscious coördination. - -After a while Adam became silent and without movement. Alarmed, Dr. -MacNare opened the instrument panel in the abdomen. The instruments -showed that Adam's pulse and respiration were normal. He had fallen -asleep. - -Dr. MacNare and his wife stole softly from the study, and locked the -door. - - * * * * * - -After a few days, with the care and feeding of Adam all that remained -of the giant research project, the pace of the days shifted to that of -long-range patience. - -"It's just like having a baby," Alice said. - -"You know something?" Dr. MacNare asked. "I've had to resist passing -out cigars. I hate to say it, but I'm prouder of Adam than I was of -Paul when he was born." - -"So am I, Joe," Alice said quietly. "But I'm getting a little of that -scared feeling back again." - -"In what way?" - -"He watches me. Oh, I know it's natural for him to, but I do wish you -had made the eyes so that his own didn't show as little dark dots in -the center of the iris." - -"It couldn't be helped," Dr. MacNare said. "He has to be able to see, -and I had to set up the system of mirrors so that the two axes of -vision would be three inches apart as they are in the average human -pair of eyes." - -"Oh, I know," said Alice. "Probably it's just something I've seized on. -But when he watches me, I find myself holding my breath in fear that he -can read in my expression the secret we have to keep from him, that he -is a rat." - -"Forget it, Alice. That's outside his experience and beyond his -comprehension." - -"I know," Alice sighed. "When he begins to show some of the signs of -intelligence a baby has, I'll be able to think of him as a human being." - -"Sure, darling," Dr. MacNare said. - -"Do you think he ever will?" - -"That," Dr. MacNare said, "is the big question. I think he will. I -think so now even more than I did at the start. Aside from eating and -sleeping, he has no avenue of expression except his robot body, and _no -source of reward except that of making sense--human sense_." - -The days passed, and became weeks, then months. During the daytime when -her husband was at the university and her son was at school, Alice -would spend most of her hours with Adam, forcing herself to smile at -him and talk to him as she had to Paul when he was a baby. But when she -watched his motions through the transparent back of his head, his leg -motions remained those of attempted walking and attempted running. - -Then, one day when Adam was four months old, things changed--as -abruptly as the turning on of a light. - -The unrewarding walking and running movements of Adam's little legs -ceased. It was evening, and both Dr. MacNare and his wife were there. - -For a few seconds there was no sound or movement from the robot body. -Then, quite deliberately, Adam said, "Ah." - -"Ah," Dr. MacNare echoed. "Mm, Mm, ah. Ma-ma." - -"Mm," Adam said. - -The silence in the study became absolute. The seconds stretched into -eternities. Then-- - -"Mm, ah," Adam said. "Mm, ah." - -Alice began crying with happiness. - -"Mm, ah," Adam said. "Mm, ah. Ma-ma. Mamamamama." - -Then, as though the effort had been too much for Adam, he went to -sleep. - - * * * * * - -Having achieved the impossible, Adam seemed to lose interest in it. -For two days he uttered nothing more than an occasional involuntary -syllable. - -"I would call that as much of an achievement as speech itself," Dr. -MacNare said to his wife. "His right front leg has asserted its -independence. If each of his other three legs can do as well, he can -control the robot body." - -It became obvious that Adam was trying. Though the movements of his -body remained non-purposive, the pauses in those movements became more -and more pregnant with what was obviously mental effort. - -During that period there was of course room for argument and -speculation about it, and even a certain amount of humor. Had Adam's -right front leg, at the moment of achieving meaningful speech, suffered -a nervous breakdown? What would a psychiatrist have to say about a -white rat that had a nervous breakdown in its right front leg? - -"The worst part about it," Dr. MacNare said to his wife, "is that if -he fails to make it he'll have to be killed. He can't have permanent -frustration forced onto him, and, by now, returning him to his natural -state would be even worse." - -"And he has such a stout little heart," Alice said. "Sometimes when he -looks at me I'm sure he knows what is happening and he wants me to know -he's trying." - -When they went to bed that night they were more discouraged than they -had ever been. - -Eventually they slept. When the alarm went off, Alice slipped into her -robe and went into the study first, as she always did. - -A moment later she was back in the bedroom, shaking her husband's -shoulder. - -"Joe!" she whispered. "Wake up! Come into the study!" - -He leaped out of bed and rushed past her. She caught up with him and -pulled him to a stop. - -"Take it easy, Joe," she said. "Don't alarm him." - -"Oh." Dr. MacNare relaxed. "I thought something had happened." - -"Something has!" - -They stopped in the doorway of the study. Dr. MacNare sucked in his -breath sharply, but remained silent. - -Adam seemed oblivious of their presence. He was too interested in -something else. - -He was interested in his hands. He was holding his hands up where he -could see them, and he was moving them independently, clenching and -unclenching the metal fingers with slow deliberation. - -Suddenly the movement stopped. He had become aware of them. Then, -impossibly, unbelievably, he spoke. - -"Ma ma," Adam said. Then, "Pa pa." - -"Adam!" Alice sobbed, rushing across the study to him and sinking down -beside him. Her arms went around his metal body. "Oh, Adam," she cried -happily. - - * * * * * - -It was the beginning. The date of that beginning is not known. Alice -MacNare believes it was early in May, but more probably it was in -April. There was no time to keep notes. In fact, there was no longer a -research project nor any thought of one. Instead, there was Adam, the -person. At least, to Alice he became that, completely. Perhaps, also, -to Dr. MacNare. - -Dr. MacNare quite often stood behind Adam where he could watch the rat -body through the transparent skull case while Alice engaged Adam's -attention. Alice did the same, at times, but she finally refused to -do so any more. The sight of Adam the rat, his body held in a net -attached to the frame, his head covered by the helmet, his four legs -moving independently of one another with little semblance of walking or -running motion nor even of coördination, but with swift darting motions -and pauses pregnant with meaning, brought back to Alice the old feeling -of vague fear, and a tremendous surge of pity for Adam that made her -want to cry. - -Slowly, subtly, Adam's rat body became to Alice a pure brain, and his -legs four nerve ganglia. A brain covered with short white fur; and when -she took him out of his harness under opiate to bathe him, she bathed -him as gently and carefully as any brain surgeon sponging a cortical -surface. - -Once started, Adam's mental development progressed rapidly. Dr. MacNare -began making notes again on June 2, 1957, just ten days before the end, -and it is to these notes that we go for an insight into Adam's mind. - -On June 4th Dr. MacNare wrote, "I am of the opinion that Adam will -never develop beyond the level of a moron, in the scale of human -standards. He would probably make a good factory worker or chauffeur, -in a year or two. But he is consciously aware of himself as Adam, he -thinks in words and simple sentences with an accurate understanding -of their meaning, and he is able to do new things from spoken -instructions. There is no question, therefore, but that he has an -integrated mind, entirely human in every respect." - -On June 7th Dr. MacNare wrote, "Something is developing which I -hesitate to put down on paper--for a variety of reasons. Creating Adam -was a scientific experiment, nothing more than that. Both the premises -on which the project was based have been proven: that the principle -of verification is the main factor in learned response, and that, -given the proper conditions, some animals are capable of abstract -symbol systems and therefore of thinking with words to form meaningful -concepts. - -"Nothing more was contemplated in the experiment. I stress this -because--Adam is becoming deeply religious--and before any mistaken -conclusions are drawn from this I will explain what caused this -development. It was an oversight of a type that is bound to happen in -any complex project. - -"Alice's experimental data on the effects of opiates, and especially -the data on increasing the dose to offset growing tolerance, were -based on observation of the subject alone, without any knowledge of -the mental aspects of increased tolerance--which would of course be -impossible except with human subjects. - -"Unknown to us, Adam has been becoming partly conscious during his -bath. Just conscious enough to be vaguely aware of certain sensations, -and to remember them afterward. Few, if any, of these half remembered -sensations are such that he can fit them into the pattern of his waking -reality. - -"The one that has had the most pronounced influence on him is, to quote -him, 'Feel clean inside. Feel good.' Quite obviously this sensation is -caused by his bath. - -"With it is a distinct feeling of disembodiment, of being--and these -are his own words--'outside my body'! This, of course, is an accurate -realization, because to him the robot is his body, and he knows nothing -of the existence of his actual, living, rat body. - -"In addition to these two effects, there is a third one. A feeling of -walking, and sometimes of floating, of stumbling over things he can't -see, of talking, of being talked to by disembodied voices. - -"The explanation of this is also obvious. When he is being bathed his -legs are moved about. Any movement of a leg is to him either a spoken -sound or a movement of some part of his robot body. Any movement of his -right front leg, for example, tells his mind that he is making a sound. -But, since his leg is not connected to the sound system of his robot -body, his ears bring no physical verification of the sound. The mental -anticipation of that verification then becomes a disembodied voice to -him. - -"The end result of all this is that Adam is becoming convinced that -there is a hidden side of things (which there is), and that it is -supernatural (which it is, _in the framework of his orientation_). - -"What we are going to have to do is make sure he is completely -unconscious before taking him out and bathing him. His mental health is -far more important than exploring the interesting avenues opened up by -this unforeseen development. - -"I do intend, however, to make one simple test, while he is fully -awake, before dropping this avenue of investigation." - -Dr. MacNare does not state in his notes what this test was to be: but -his wife says that it probably refers to the time when he pinched -Adam's tail and Adam complained of a sudden, violent headache. This -transference is the one well known to doctors. Unoriented pain in the -human body manifests itself as a "headache," when the source of the -pain is actually the stomach, or the liver, or any one of a hundred -spots in the body. - -The last notes made by Dr. MacNare were those of June 11, 1957, and -are unimportant except for the date. We return, therefore, to actual -events, so far as they can be reconstructed. - -We have said little or nothing about Dr. MacNare's life at the -university after embarking on the research project, nor of the social -life of the MacNares. As conspirators, they had kept up their social -life to avoid any possibility of the board getting curious about any -radical change in Dr. MacNare's habits; but as time went on both Dr. -MacNare and his wife became so engrossed in their project that only -with the greatest reluctance did they go anywhere. - -The annual faculty party at Professor Long's on June 12th was something -they could not evade. Not to have gone would have been almost -tantamount to a resignation from the university. - -"Besides," Alice had said when they discussed the matter in May, "isn't -it about time to do a little hinting that you have something up your -sleeve?" - -"I don't know, Alice," Dr. MacNare had said. Then a smile quirked his -lips and he said, "I wouldn't mind telling off Veerhof. I've never -gotten over his deciding something was impossible without enough data -to pass judgment." He frowned. "We are going to have to let the world -know about Adam pretty soon, aren't we? That's something I haven't -thought about. But not yet. Next fall will be time enough." - - * * * * * - -"Don't forget, Joe," Alice said at dinner. "Tonight's the party at -Professor Long's." - -"How can I forget with you reminding me?" Dr. MacNare said, winking at -his son. - -"And you, Paul," Alice said. "I don't want you leaving the house. You -understand? You can watch TV, and I want you in bed by nine thirty." - -"Ah, Mom!" Paul protested. "Nine thirty?" He suppressed a grin. He had -a party of his own planned. - -"And you can wipe the dishes for me. We have to be at Professor Long's -by eight o'clock." - -"I'll help you," Dr. MacNare said. - -"No, you have to get ready. Besides don't you have to look up something -for one of the faculty?" - -"I'd forgotten," said Dr. MacNare. "Thanks for reminding me." - -After dinner he went directly to the study. Adam was sitting on the -floor playing with his wooden blocks. They were alphabet blocks, but he -didn't know that yet. The summer project was going to be teaching him -the alphabet. Already, though, he preferred placing them in straight -rows rather than stacking them up. - -At seven o'clock Alice rapped on the door to the study. - -"Time to get dressed, Joe," she called. - -"You'll be all right while we're gone, Adam?" Dr. MacNare said. - -"I be all right, papa," Adam said. "I sleep." - -"That's good," Dr. MacNare said. "I'll turn out the light." - -At the door he waited until Adam had sat down in the chair he always -slept on, and settled himself. Then he pushed the switch just to the -right of the door and went out. - -"Hurry, dear," Alice called. - -"I'm hurrying," Dr. MacNare protested--and, for the first time, he -forgot to lock the study door. - -The bathroom was next to the study, the wall between them soundproofed -by a ceiling-high bookshelf in the study filled with thousands of -books. On the other side was the master bedroom, with a closet with -sliding panels that opened both on the bedroom and the bathroom. These -sliding panels were partly open, so that Dr. MacNare and Alice could -talk. - -"Did you lock the study door?" - -"Of course," Dr. MacNare said. "But I'll check before we leave." - -"How is Adam taking being alone tonight?" Alice called. - -"Okay," Dr. MacNare said. "Damn!" - -"What's the matter, Joe?" - -"I forgot to get razor blades." - -The conversation died down. - -Alice MacNare finished dressing. - -"Aren't you ready yet, Joe?" she called. "It's almost a quarter to -eight." - -"Be right with you. I nicked myself shaving with an old blade. The -bleeding's almost stopped now." - -Alice went into the living room. Paul had turned on the TV and was -sprawled out on the rug. - -"You be sure and stay home, and be in bed by nine thirty, Paul," she -said. "Promise?" - -"Ah, Mom," he protested. "Well, all right." - -Dr. MacNare came into the room, still working on his tie. A moment -later they went out the front door. They had been gone less than five -minutes when there was a knock. Paul jumped to his feet and opened the -door. - -"Hi, Fred, Tony, Bill," he said. - -The boys, all nine years old, sprawled on the rug and watched -television. It became eight o'clock, eight thirty, and finally five -minutes to nine. The commercial began. - -"Where's your bathroom?" Tony asked. - -"In there," Paul said, pointing vaguely at the doorway to the hall. - -Tony got up off the floor and went into the hall. He saw several doors, -all looking much alike. He picked one and opened it. It was dark -inside. He felt along the wall for a light switch and found it. Light -flooded the room. He stared at what he saw for perhaps ten seconds, -then turned and ran down the hall to the living room. - -"Say, Paul!" he said. "You never said anything about having a real -honest to gosh robot!" - -"What are you talking about?" Paul said. - -"In that room in there!" Tony said. "Come on. I'll show you!" - -The TV program forgotten, Paul, Fred, and Bill crowded after him. A -moment later they stood in the doorway to the study, staring in awe at -the strange figure of metal that sat motionless in a chair across the -room. - -Adam, it seems certain, was asleep, and had not been wakened by this -intrusion nor the turning on of the light. - -"Gee!" Paul said. "It belongs to Dad. We'd better get out of here." - -"Naw," Tony said with a feeling of proprietorship at having been the -original discoverer. "Let's take a look. He'll never know about it." - -They crossed the room slowly, until they were close up to the robot -figure, marveling at it, moving around it. - -"Say!" Bill whispered, pointing. "What's that in there? It looks like -a white rat with its head stuck into that kind of helmet thing." - -They stared at it a moment. - -"Maybe it's dead. Let's see." - -"How you going to find out?" - -"See those hinges on the cover?" Tony said importantly. "Watch." With -cautious skill he opened the transparent back half of the dome, and -reached in, wrapping his fingers around the white rat. - -He was unable to get it loose, but he succeeded in pulling its head -free of the helmet. - -At the same time Adam awoke. - -"Ouch!" Tony cried, jerking his hand away. "He bit me!" - -"He's alive all right," Bill said. "Look at him glare!" He prodded the -body of the rat and pulled his hand away quickly as the rat lunged. - -"Gee, look at its eyes," Paul said nervously. "They're getting -blood-shot." - -"Dirty old rat!" Tony said vindictively, jabbing at the rat with his -finger and evading the snapping teeth. - -"Get its head back in there!" Paul said desperately. "I don't want papa -to find out we were in here!" He reached in, driven by desperation, -pressing the rat's head between his fingers and forcing it back into -the tight fitting helmet. - -Immediately screaming sounds erupted from the lips of the robot. (It -was determined by later examination that only when the rat's body was -completely where it should be were the circuits operable.) - -"Let's get out of here!" Tony shouted, and dived for the door, thereby -saving his life. - -"Yeah! Let's get out of here!" Fred shouted as the robot figure rose to -its feet. Terror enabled him to escape. - -Bill and Paul delayed an instant too long. Metal fingers seized them. -Bill's arm snapped halfway between shoulder and elbow. He screamed with -pain and struggled to free himself. - -Paul was unable to scream. Metal fingers gripped his shoulder, with -a metal thumb thrust deeply against his larynx, paralyzing his vocal -cords. - -Fred and Tony had run into the front room. There they waited, ready to -start running again. They could hear Bill's screams. They could hear -a male voice jabbering nonsense, and finally repeating over and over -again, "Oh my, oh my, oh my," in a tone all the more horrible because -it portrayed no emotion whatever. - -Then there was silence. - -The silence lasted several minutes. Then Bill began to sniffle, rubbing -his knuckles in his eyes. "I wanta go home," he whimpered. - -"Me too." - -They took each other's hand and tiptoed to the front door, watching the -open doorway to the hall. When they reached the front door Tony opened -it, and when it was open they ran, not stopping to close the door -behind them. - - * * * * * - -There isn't much more to tell. It is known that Tony and Bill arrived -at their respective homes, saying nothing of what had happened. Only -later did they come forward and admit their share in the night's events. - -Joe and Alice MacNare arrived home from the party at Professor Long's -at twelve thirty, finding the front door wide open, the lights on in -the living room, and the television on. - -Sensing that something was wrong, Alice hurried to her son's room and -discovered he wasn't there. While she was doing that, Joe shut the -front door and turned off the television. - -Alice returned to the living room, eyes round with alarm, and said, -"Paul's not in his room!" - -"Adam!" Joe croaked, and rushed into the hallway, with Alice following -more slowly. - -She reached the open door of the study in time to see the robot figure -pounce on Joe and fasten its metal fingers about his throat, crushing -vertebrae and flesh alike. - -Oblivious to her own danger, she rushed to rescue her already dead -husband, but the metal fingers were inflexible. Belatedly she abandoned -the attempt and ran into the hallway to the phone. - -When the police arrived, they found her slumped against the wall in -the hallway. She pointed toward the open doorway of the study, without -speaking. - -The police rushed into the study. At once there came the sounds of -shots. Dozens of them, it seemed. Later both policemen admitted that -they lost their heads and fired until their guns were empty. - -But it was not yet the end of Adam. - -It would perhaps be impossible to conceive the full horror of his last -hours, but we can at least make a guess. Asleep when the boys entered -the study, he awakened to a world he had never before perceived except -very vaguely and under the soporific veil of opiate. - -But it was a world vastly different even than that. There is no way of -knowing what he saw--probably blurred ghostly figures, monstrous beyond -the ability of his mind to grasp, for his eyes were adjusted only to -the series of prisms and lenses that enabled him to see and coördinate -the images brought to him through the eyes of the robot. - -He saw these impossible figures, he felt pain and torture that were -not of the flesh as he knew it, but of the spirit; agony beyond agony -administered by what he could only believe were fiends from some nether -hell. - -And then, abruptly, as ten-year-old Paul shoved his head back into the -helmet, the world he had come to believe was reality returned. It was -as though he had returned to the body from some awful pit of hell, with -the soul sickness still with him. - -Before him he saw four human-like figures of reality, but beings unlike -the only two he had ever seen. Smaller, seeming to be a part of the -unbelievable nightmare he had been in. Two of them fled, two were -within his grasp. - -Perhaps he didn't know what he was doing when he killed Paul and -Bill. It's doubtful if he had the ability to think at all then, only -to tremble and struggle in his pitiful little rat body, with the -automatic mechanisms of the robot acting from those frantic motions. - -But it is known that there were three hours between the deaths of the -two boys and the entry of Dr. MacNare at twelve thirty, and during -those three hours he would have had a chance to recover, and to think, -and to partially rationalize the nightmare he had experienced in realms -outside what to him was the world of reality. - -Adam must certainly have been calm enough, rational enough, to -recognize Dr. MacNare when he entered the study at twelve thirty. - -Then why did Adam deliberately kill Joe by breaking his neck? Was it -because, in that three hours, he had put together the evidence of his -senses and come to the realization that he was not a man but a rat? - -It's not likely. It is much more likely that Adam came to some -aberrated conclusion dictated by the superstitious feelings that had -grown so strongly into his strange and unique existence, that dictated -he must kill Joseph. - -For it would have been impossible for him to have realized that he was -only a rat. You see, Joseph MacNare had taken great care that Adam -never, in all his life, should see _another_ rat. - - * * * * * - -There remains only the end of Adam to relate. - -Physically it can be only anticlimactic. With his metal body out -of commission from a dozen or so shots, two of which destroyed the -robot extensions of his eyes, he remained helpless until the coroner -carefully removed him. - -To the coroner he was just a white rat, and a strangely helpless one, -unable to walk or stand as rats are supposed to. Also a strangely -vicious one, with red little beads of eyes and lips drawn back from -sharp teeth the same as some rabid wild animal. - -The coroner had no way of knowing that somewhere in that small, -menacing form there was a noble but lost mentality that knew itself as -Adam, and held thoughts of a strange and wonderful realm of peace and -splendor beyond the grasp of the normal physical senses. - -The coroner could not know that the erratic motions of that small left -front foot, if connected to the proper mechanisms, would have been -audible as, perhaps, a prayer, a desperate plea to whatever lay in the -Great Beyond to come down and rescue its humble creature. - -"Vicious little bastard," the coroner said nervously to the homicide -men gathered around Dr. MacNare's desk. - -"Let me take care of it," said one of the detectives. - -"No," the coroner answered. "I'll do it." - -Quickly, so as not to be bitten, he picked Adam up by the tip of the -tail and slammed him forcefully against the top of the desk. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rat in the Skull, by Rog Phillips - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAT IN THE SKULL *** - -***** This file should be named 60614-8.txt or 60614-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/6/1/60614/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/60614-8.zip b/old/60614-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1c64d80..0000000 --- a/old/60614-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60614-h.zip b/old/60614-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2505885..0000000 --- a/old/60614-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60614-h/60614-h.htm b/old/60614-h/60614-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index b957541..0000000 --- a/old/60614-h/60614-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1666 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rat in the Skull, by Rog Phillips. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rat in the Skull, by Rog Phillips - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: Rat in the Skull - -Author: Rog Phillips - -Release Date: November 3, 2019 [EBook #60614] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAT IN THE SKULL *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="349" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>RAT IN THE SKULL</h1> - -<h2>BY ROG PHILLIPS</h2> - -<p class="ph1"><i>Some people will be shocked by this story.<br /> -Others will be deeply moved. Everyone who reads<br /> -it will be talking about it. Read the first<br /> -four pages: then put it down if you can.</i></p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Worlds of If Science Fiction, December 1958.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Dr. Joseph MacNare was not the sort of person one would expect him to -be in the light of what happened. Indeed, it is safe to say that until -the summer of 1955 he was more "normal", better adjusted, than the -average college professor. And we have every reason to believe that he -remained so, in spite of having stepped out of his chosen field.</p> - -<p>At the age of thirty-four, he had to his credit a college textbook on -advanced calculus, an introductory physics, and seventy-two papers that -had appeared in various journals, copies of which were in neat order -in a special section of the bookcase in his office at the university, -and duplicate copies of which were in equally neat order in his office -at home. None of these were in the field of psychology, the field in -which he was shortly to become famous—or infamous. But anyone who -studies the published writings of Dr. MacNare must inevitably conclude -that he was a competent, responsible scientist, and a firm believer -in institutional research, research by teams, rather than in private -research and go-it-alone secrecy, the course he eventually followed.</p> - -<p>In fact, there is every reason to believe he followed this course with -the greatest of reluctance, aware of its pitfalls, and that he took -every precaution that was humanly possible.</p> - -<p>Certainly, on that day in late August, 1955, at the little cabin on -the Russian River, a hundred miles upstate from the university, when -Dr. MacNare completed his paper on <i>An Experimental Approach to the -Psychological Phenomena of Verification</i>, he had no slightest thought -of "going it alone."</p> - -<p>It was mid-afternoon. His wife, Alice, was dozing on the small dock -that stretched out into the water, her slim figure tanned a smooth -brown that was just a shade lighter than her hair. Their eight-year-old -son, Paul, was fifty yards upstream playing with some other boys, their -shouts the only sound except for the whisper of rushing water and the -sound of wind in the trees.</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare, in swim trunks, his lean muscular body hardly tanned at -all, emerged from the cabin and came out on the dock.</p> - -<p>"Wake up, Alice," he said, nudging her with his foot. "You have a -husband again."</p> - -<p>"Well, it's about time," Alice said, turning over on her back and -looking up at him, smiling in answer to his happy grin.</p> - -<p>He stepped over her and went out on the diving board, leaping up and -down on it, higher and higher each time, in smooth coördination, then -went into a one and a half gainer, his body cutting into the water with -a minimum of splash.</p> - -<p>His head broke the surface. He looked up at his wife, and laughed in -the sheer pleasure of being alive. A few swift strokes brought him to -the foot of the ladder. He climbed, dripping water, to the dock, then -sat down by his wife.</p> - -<p>"Yep, it's done," he said. "How many days of our vacation left? Two? -That's time enough for me to get a little tan. Might as well make the -most of it. I'm going to be working harder this winter than I ever did -in my life."</p> - -<p>"But I thought you said your paper was done!"</p> - -<p>"It is. But that's only the beginning. Instead of sending it in for -publication, I'm going to submit it to the directors, with a request -for facilities and personnel to conduct a line of research based on -pages twenty-seven to thirty-two of the paper."</p> - -<p>"And you think they'll grant your request?"</p> - -<p>"There's no question about it," Dr. MacNare said, smiling confidently. -"It's the most important line of research ever opened up to -experimental psychology. They'll be forced to grant my request. It will -put the university on the map!"</p> - -<p>Alice laughed, and sat up and kissed him.</p> - -<p>"Maybe they won't agree with you," she said. "Is it all right for me to -read the paper?"</p> - -<p>"I wish you would," he said. "Where's that son of mine? Upstream?" He -leaped to his feet and went to the diving board again.</p> - -<p>"Better walk along the bank, Joe. The stream is too swift."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense!" Dr. MacNare said.</p> - -<p>He made a long shallow dive, then began swimming in a powerful crawl -that took him upstream slowly. Alice stood on the dock watching him -until he was lost to sight around the bend, then went into the cabin. -The completed paper lay beside the typewriter.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Alice had her doubts. "I'm not so sure the board will approve of this," -she said. Dr. MacNare, somewhat exasperated, said, "What makes you -think that? Pavlov experimented with his dog, physiological experiments -with rats, rabbits, and other animals go on all the time. There's -nothing cruel about it."</p> - -<p>"Just the same...." Alice said. So Dr. MacNare cautiously resisted the -impulse to talk about his paper with his fellow professors and his most -intelligent students. Instead, he merely turned his paper in to the -board at the earliest opportunity and kept silent, waiting for their -decision.</p> - -<p>He hadn't long to wait. On the last Friday of September he received -a note requesting his presence in the board room at three o'clock on -Monday. He rushed home after his last class and told Alice about it.</p> - -<p>"Let's hope their decision is favorable," she said.</p> - -<p>"It has to be," Dr. MacNare answered with conviction.</p> - -<p>He spent the week-end making plans. "They'll probably assign me a -machinist and a couple of electronics experts from the hill," he told -Alice. "I can use graduate students for work with the animals. I hope -they give me Dr. Munitz from Psych as a consultant, because I like -him much better than Veerhof. By early spring we should have things -rolling."</p> - -<p>Monday at three o'clock on the dot, Dr. MacNare knocked on the door of -the board room, and entered. He was not unfamiliar with it, nor with -the faces around the massive walnut conference table. Always before he -had known what to expect—a brief commendation for the revisions in his -textbook on calculus for its fifth printing, a nice speech from the -president about his good work as a prelude to a salary raise—quiet, -expected things. Nothing unanticipated had ever happened here.</p> - -<p>Now, as he entered, he sensed a difference. All eyes were fixed on him, -but not with admiration or friendliness. They were fixed more in the -manner of a restaurateur watching the approach of a cockroach along -the surface of the counter.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the room seemed hot and stuffy. The confidence in Dr. -MacNare's expression evaporated. He glanced back toward the door as -though wishing to escape.</p> - -<p>"So it's <i>you</i>!" the president said, setting the tone of what followed.</p> - -<p>"This is <i>yours</i>?" the president added, picking up the neatly typed -manuscript, glancing at it, and dropping it back on the table as though -it were something unclean.</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare nodded, and cleared his throat nervously to say yes, but -didn't get the chance.</p> - -<p>"We—all of us—are amazed and shocked," the president said. "Of -course, we understand that psychology is not your field, and you -probably were thinking only from the mathematical viewpoint. We are -agreed on that. What you propose, though...." He shook his head slowly. -"It's not only out of the question, but I'm afraid I'm going to have -to request that you forget the whole thing—put this paper where no -one can see it, preferably destroy it. I'm sorry, Dr. MacNare, but the -university simply cannot afford to be associated with such a thing even -remotely. I'll put it bluntly because I feel strongly about it, as do -the other members of the Board. <i>If this paper is published or in any -way comes to light, we will be forced to request your resignation from -the faculty.</i>"</p> - -<p>"But why?" Dr. MacNare asked in complete bewilderment.</p> - -<p>"Why?" another board member exploded, slapping the table. "It's the -most inhuman thing I ever heard of, strapping a newborn animal onto -some kind of frame and tying its legs to control levers, with the -intention of never letting it free. The most fiendish and inhuman -torture imaginable! If you didn't have such an outstanding record I -would be for demanding your resignation at once."</p> - -<p>"But that's not true!" Dr. MacNare said. "It's not torture! Not in any -way! Didn't you read the paper? Didn't you understand that—"</p> - -<p>"I read it," the man said. "We all read it. Every word."</p> - -<p>"Then you should have understood—" Dr. MacNare said.</p> - -<p>"We read it," the man repeated, "and we discussed some aspects of it -with Dr. Veerhof without bringing your paper into it, nor your name."</p> - -<p>"Oh," Dr. MacNare said. "Veerhof...."</p> - -<p>"He says experiments, very careful experiments, have already been -conducted along the lines of getting an animal to understand a symbol -system and it can't be done. The nerve paths aren't there. Your line of -research, besides being inhumanly cruel, would accomplish nothing."</p> - -<p>"Oh," Dr. MacNare said, his eyes flashing. "So you know all about the -results of an experiment in an untried field without performing the -experiments!"</p> - -<p>"According to Dr. Veerhof that field is not untried but rather well -explored," the board member said. "Giving an animal the means to make -vocal sounds would not enable it to form a symbol system."</p> - -<p>"I disagree," Dr. MacNare said, seething. "My studies indicate -clearly—"</p> - -<p>"I think," the president said with a firmness that demanded the floor, -"our position has been made very clear, Dr. MacNare. The matter is now -closed. Permanently. I hope you will have the good sense, if I may -use such a strong term, to forget the whole thing. For the good of -your career and your very nice wife and son. That is all." He held the -manuscript toward Dr. MacNare.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"I can't understand their attitude!" Dr. MacNare said to Alice when he -told her about it.</p> - -<p>"Possibly I can understand it a little better than you, Joe," Alice -said thoughtfully. "I had a little of what I think they feel, when I -first read your paper. A—a prejudice against the idea of it, is as -closely as I can describe it. Like it would be violating the order of -nature, giving an animal a soul, in a way."</p> - -<p>"Then you feel as they do?" Dr. MacNare said.</p> - -<p>"I didn't say that, Joe." Alice put her arms around her husband and -kissed him fiercely. "Maybe I feel just the opposite, that if there is -some way to give an animal a soul, we should do it."</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare chuckled. "It wouldn't be quite that cosmic. An animal -can't be given something it doesn't have already. All that can be -done is to give it the means to fully capitalize on what it has. -Animals—man included—can only do by observing the results. When you -move a finger, what you really do is send a neural impulse out from -the brain along one particular nerve or one particular set of nerves, -but you can never learn that, nor just what it is you do. All that you -can know is that when you do a definite <i>something</i> your eyes and sense -of touch bring you the information that your finger moved. But if that -finger were attached to a voice element that made the sound <i>ah</i>, and -you could never see your finger, all you could ever know is that when -you did that particular <i>something</i> you made a certain vocal sound. -Changing the resultant effect of mental commands to include things -normally impossible to you may expand the potential of your mind, but -it won't give you a soul if you don't have one to begin with."</p> - -<p>"You're using Veerhof's arguments on me," Alice said. "And I think -we're arguing from separate definitions of a soul. I'm afraid of it, -Joe. It would be a tragedy, I think, to give some animal—a rat, -maybe—the soul of a poet, and then have it discover that it is only a -rat."</p> - -<p>"Oh," Dr. MacNare said. "<i>That</i> kind of soul. No, I'm not that -optimistic about the results. I think we'd be lucky to get any results -at all, a limited vocabulary that the animal would use meaningfully. -But I do think we'd get that."</p> - -<p>"It would take a lot of time and patience."</p> - -<p>"And we'd have to keep the whole thing secret from everyone," Dr. -MacNare said. "We couldn't even let Paul have an inkling of it, because -he might say something to one of his playmates, and it would get back -to some member of the board. How could we keep it secret from Paul?"</p> - -<p>"Paul knows he's not allowed in your study," Alice said. "We could keep -everything there—and keep the door locked."</p> - -<p>"Then it's settled?"</p> - -<p>"Wasn't it, from the very beginning?" Alice put her arms around her -husband and her cheek against his ear to hide her worried expression. -"I love you, Joe. I'll help you in any way I can. And if we haven't -enough in the savings account, there's always what Mother left me."</p> - -<p>"I hope we won't have to use any of it, sweetheart," he said.</p> - -<p>The following day Dr. MacNare was an hour and a half late coming home -from the campus. He had been, he announced casually, to a pet store.</p> - -<p>"We'll have to hurry," said Alice. "Paul will be home any minute."</p> - -<p>She helped him carry the packages from the car to the study. Together -they moved things around to make room for the gleaming new cages with -their white rats and hamsters and guinea pigs. When it was done they -stood arm in arm viewing their new possession.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>To Alice MacNare, just the presence of the animals in her husband's -study brought the research project into reality. As the days passed -that romantic feeling became fact.</p> - -<p>"We're going to have to do together," Joe MacNare told her at the end -of the first week, "what a team of a dozen specialists in separate -fields should be doing. Our first job, before we can do anything else, -is to study the natural movements of each species and translate them -into patterns of robot directives."</p> - -<p>"Robot directives?"</p> - -<p>"I visualize it this way," Dr. MacNare said. "The animal will be -strapped comfortably in a frame so that its body can't move but its -legs can. Its legs will be attached to four separate, free-moving -levers which make a different electrical contact for every position. -Each electrical contact, or control switch, will cause the robot body -to do one specific thing, such as move a leg, utter some particular -sound through its voice box, or move just one finger. Can you visualize -that, Alice?"</p> - -<p>Alice nodded.</p> - -<p>"Okay. Now, one leg has to be used for nothing but voice sounds. That -leaves three legs for control of the movements of the robot body. In -body movement there will be simultaneous movements and sequences. -A simple sequence can be controlled by one leg. All movements of -the robot will have to be reduced to not more than three concurrent -sequences of movement of the animal's legs. Our problem, then, is to -make the unlearned and the most natural movements of the legs of the -animal control the robot body's movements in a functional manner."</p> - -<p>Endless hours were consumed in this initial study and mapping. Alice -worked at it while her husband was at the university and Paul was at -school. Dr. MacNare rushed home each day to go over what she had done -and continue the work himself.</p> - -<p>He grew more and more grudging of the time his classes took. In -December he finally wrote to the three technical journals that had been -expecting papers from him for publication during the year that he would -be too busy to do them.</p> - -<p>By January the initial phase of research was well enough along so -that Dr. MacNare could begin planning the robot. For this he set up a -workshop in the garage.</p> - -<p>In early February he finished what he called the "test frame." After -Paul had gone to bed, Dr. MacNare brought the test frame into the study -from the garage. To Alice it looked very much like the insides of a -radio.</p> - -<p>She watched while he placed a husky-looking male white rat in the body -harness fastened to the framework of aluminum and tied its legs to -small metal rods.</p> - -<p>Nothing happened except that the rat kept trying to get free, and the -small metal rods tied to its feet kept moving in pivot sockets.</p> - -<p>"Now!" Dr. MacNare said excitedly, flicking a small toggle switch on -the side of the assembly.</p> - -<p>Immediately a succession of vocal sounds erupted from the speaker. They -followed one another, making no sensible word.</p> - -<p>"<i>He's</i> doing that," Dr. MacNare said triumphantly.</p> - -<p>"If we left him in that, do you think he'd eventually associate his -movements with the sounds?"</p> - -<p>"It's possible. But that would be more on the order of what we do when -we drive a car. To some extent a car becomes an extension of the body, -but you're always aware that your hands are on the steering wheel, your -foot on the gas pedal or brake. You extend your awareness consciously. -You interpret a slight tremble in the steering wheel as a shimmy in -the front wheels. You're oriented primarily to your body and only -secondarily to the car as an extension of you."</p> - -<p>Alice closed her eyes for a moment. "Mm hm," she said.</p> - -<p>"And that's the best we could get, using a rat that knows already it's -a rat."</p> - -<p>Alice stared at the struggling rat, her eyes round with comprehension, -while the loudspeaker in the test frame said, "Ag-pr-ds-raf-os-dg...."</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare shut off the sound and began freeing the rat.</p> - -<p>"By starting with a newborn animal and never letting it know what it -is," he said, "we can get a complete extension of the animal into the -machine, in its orientation. So complete that if you took it out of -the machine after it grew up, it would have no more idea of what had -happened than—than your brain if it were taken out of your head and -put on a table!"</p> - -<p>"Now I'm getting that <i>feeling</i> again, Joe," Alice said, laughing -nervously. "When you said that about my brain I thought, 'Or my soul?'"</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare put the rat back in its cage.</p> - -<p>"There might be a valid analogy there," he said slowly. "If we have -a soul that survives after death, what is it like? It probably -interprets its surroundings in terms of its former orientation in the -body."</p> - -<p>"That's a little of what I mean," Alice said. "I can't help it, Joe. -Sometimes I feel so sorry for whatever baby animal you'll eventually -use, that I want to cry. I feel so sorry for it, because <i>we will never -dare let it know what it really is</i>!"</p> - -<p>"That's true. Which brings up another line of research that should be -the work of one expert on the team I ought to have for this. As it is, -I'll turn it over to you to do while I build the robot."</p> - -<p>"What's that?"</p> - -<p>"Opiates," Dr. MacNare said. "What we want is an opiate that can be -used on a small animal every few days, so that we can take it out of -the robot, bathe it, and put it back again without its knowing about -it. There probably is no ideal drug. We'll have to test the more -promising ones."</p> - -<p>Later that night, as they lay beside each other in the silence and -darkness of their bedroom, Dr. MacNare sighed deeply.</p> - -<p>"So many problems," he said. "I sometimes wonder if we can solve them -all. <i>See</i> them all...."</p> - -<p>To Alice MacNare, later, that night in early February marked the end of -the first phase of research—the point where two alternative futures -hung in the balance, and either could have been taken. That night -she might have said, there in the darkness, "Let's drop it," and her -husband might have agreed.</p> - -<p>She thought of saying it. She even opened her mouth to say it. But her -husband's soft snores suddenly broke the silence of the night. The -moment of return had passed.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Month followed month. To Alice it was a period of rushing from kitchen -to hypodermic injections to vacuum cleaner to hypodermic injections, -her key to the study in constant use.</p> - -<p>Paul, nine years old now, took to spring baseball and developed an -indifference to TV, much to the relief of both his parents.</p> - -<p>In the garage workshop Dr. MacNare made parts for the robot, and kept a -couple of innocent projects going which he worked on when his son Paul -evinced his periodic curiosity about what was going on.</p> - -<p>Spring became summer. For six weeks Paul went to Scout camp, and during -those six weeks Dr. MacNare reorganized the entire research project in -line with what it would be in the fall. A decision was made to use only -white rats from then on. The rest of the animals were sold to a pet -store, and a system for automatically feeding, watering, and keeping -the cages clean was installed in preparation for a much needed two -weeks' vacation at the cabin.</p> - -<p>When the time came to go, they had to tear themselves away from their -work by an effort of will—aided by the realization that they could get -little done with Paul underfoot.</p> - -<p>September came all too soon. By mid-September both Dr. MacNare and his -wife felt they were on the home stretch. Parts of the robot were going -together and being tested, the female white rats were being bred at -the rate of one a week so that when the robot was completed there would -be a supply of newborn rats on hand.</p> - -<p>October came, and passed. The robot was finished, but there were minor -defects in it that had to be corrected.</p> - -<p>"Adam," Dr. MacNare said one day, "will have to wear this robot all his -life. It has to be just right."</p> - -<p>And with each litter of baby rats Alice said, "I wonder which one is -Adam."</p> - -<p>They talked of Adam often now, speculating on what he would be like. It -was almost, they decided, as though Adam were their second child.</p> - -<p>And finally, on November 2, 1956, everything was ready. Adam would be -born in the next litter, due in about three days.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The amount of work that had gone into preparation for the great moment -is beyond conception. Four file cabinet drawers were filled with notes. -By actual measurement seventeen feet of shelf space was filled with -books on the thousand and one subjects that had to be mastered. The -robot itself was a masterpiece of engineering that would have done -credit to the research staff of a watch manufacturer. The vernier -adjustments alone, used to compensate daily for the rat's growth, had -eight patentable features.</p> - -<p>And the skills that had had to be acquired! Alice, who had never before -had a hypodermic syringe in her hand, could now inject a precisely -measured amount of opiate into the tiny body of a baby rat with calm -confidence in her skill.</p> - -<p>After such monumental preparation, the great moment itself was -anticlimactic. While the mother of Adam was still preoccupied with the -birth of the remainder of the brood, Adam, a pink helpless thing about -the size of a little finger, was picked up and transfered to the head -of the robot.</p> - -<p>His tiny feet, which he would never know existed, were fastened with -gentle care to the four control rods. His tiny head was thrust into a -helmet attached to a pivot-mounted optical system, ending in the lenses -that served the robot for eyes. And finally a transparent plastic -cover contoured to the shape of the back of a human head was fastened -in place. Through it his feeble attempts at movement could be easily -observed.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="503" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Thus, Dr. MacNare's Adam was born into his body, and the time of the -completion of his birth was one-thirty in the afternoon on the fifth -day of November, 1956.</p> - -<p>In the ensuing half hour all the cages of rats were removed from the -study, the floor was scrubbed, and deodorizers were sprayed, so that no -slightest trace of Adam's lowly origins remained. When this was done, -Dr. MacNare loaded the cages into his car and drove them to a pet store -that had agreed to take them.</p> - -<p>When he returned, he joined Alice in the study, and at five minutes -before four, with Alice hovering anxiously beside him, he opened the -cover on Adam's chest and turned on the master switch that gave Adam -complete dominion over his robot body.</p> - -<p>Adam was beautiful—and monstrous. Made of metal from the neck down, -but shaped to be covered by padding and skin in human semblance. From -the neck up the job was done. The face was human, masculine, handsome, -much like that of a clothing store dummy except for its mobility of -expression, and the incongruity of the rest of the body.</p> - -<p>The voice-control lever and contacts had been designed so that the -ability to produce most sounds would have to be discovered by Adam -as he gained control of his natural right front leg. Now the only -sounds being uttered were <i>oh</i>, <i>ah</i>, <i>mm</i>, and <i>ll</i>, in random order. -Similarly, the only movements of his arms and legs were feeble, -like those of a human baby. The tremendous strength in his limbs -was something he would be unable to tap fully until he had learned -conscious coördination.</p> - -<p>After a while Adam became silent and without movement. Alarmed, Dr. -MacNare opened the instrument panel in the abdomen. The instruments -showed that Adam's pulse and respiration were normal. He had fallen -asleep.</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare and his wife stole softly from the study, and locked the -door.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>After a few days, with the care and feeding of Adam all that remained -of the giant research project, the pace of the days shifted to that of -long-range patience.</p> - -<p>"It's just like having a baby," Alice said.</p> - -<p>"You know something?" Dr. MacNare asked. "I've had to resist passing -out cigars. I hate to say it, but I'm prouder of Adam than I was of -Paul when he was born."</p> - -<p>"So am I, Joe," Alice said quietly. "But I'm getting a little of that -scared feeling back again."</p> - -<p>"In what way?"</p> - -<p>"He watches me. Oh, I know it's natural for him to, but I do wish you -had made the eyes so that his own didn't show as little dark dots in -the center of the iris."</p> - -<p>"It couldn't be helped," Dr. MacNare said. "He has to be able to see, -and I had to set up the system of mirrors so that the two axes of -vision would be three inches apart as they are in the average human -pair of eyes."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I know," said Alice. "Probably it's just something I've seized on. -But when he watches me, I find myself holding my breath in fear that he -can read in my expression the secret we have to keep from him, that he -is a rat."</p> - -<p>"Forget it, Alice. That's outside his experience and beyond his -comprehension."</p> - -<p>"I know," Alice sighed. "When he begins to show some of the signs of -intelligence a baby has, I'll be able to think of him as a human being."</p> - -<p>"Sure, darling," Dr. MacNare said.</p> - -<p>"Do you think he ever will?"</p> - -<p>"That," Dr. MacNare said, "is the big question. I think he will. I -think so now even more than I did at the start. Aside from eating and -sleeping, he has no avenue of expression except his robot body, and <i>no -source of reward except that of making sense—human sense</i>."</p> - -<p>The days passed, and became weeks, then months. During the daytime when -her husband was at the university and her son was at school, Alice -would spend most of her hours with Adam, forcing herself to smile at -him and talk to him as she had to Paul when he was a baby. But when she -watched his motions through the transparent back of his head, his leg -motions remained those of attempted walking and attempted running.</p> - -<p>Then, one day when Adam was four months old, things changed—as -abruptly as the turning on of a light.</p> - -<p>The unrewarding walking and running movements of Adam's little legs -ceased. It was evening, and both Dr. MacNare and his wife were there.</p> - -<p>For a few seconds there was no sound or movement from the robot body. -Then, quite deliberately, Adam said, "Ah."</p> - -<p>"Ah," Dr. MacNare echoed. "Mm, Mm, ah. Ma-ma."</p> - -<p>"Mm," Adam said.</p> - -<p>The silence in the study became absolute. The seconds stretched into -eternities. Then—</p> - -<p>"Mm, ah," Adam said. "Mm, ah."</p> - -<p>Alice began crying with happiness.</p> - -<p>"Mm, ah," Adam said. "Mm, ah. Ma-ma. Mamamamama."</p> - -<p>Then, as though the effort had been too much for Adam, he went to -sleep.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Having achieved the impossible, Adam seemed to lose interest in it. -For two days he uttered nothing more than an occasional involuntary -syllable.</p> - -<p>"I would call that as much of an achievement as speech itself," Dr. -MacNare said to his wife. "His right front leg has asserted its -independence. If each of his other three legs can do as well, he can -control the robot body."</p> - -<p>It became obvious that Adam was trying. Though the movements of his -body remained non-purposive, the pauses in those movements became more -and more pregnant with what was obviously mental effort.</p> - -<p>During that period there was of course room for argument and -speculation about it, and even a certain amount of humor. Had Adam's -right front leg, at the moment of achieving meaningful speech, suffered -a nervous breakdown? What would a psychiatrist have to say about a -white rat that had a nervous breakdown in its right front leg?</p> - -<p>"The worst part about it," Dr. MacNare said to his wife, "is that if -he fails to make it he'll have to be killed. He can't have permanent -frustration forced onto him, and, by now, returning him to his natural -state would be even worse."</p> - -<p>"And he has such a stout little heart," Alice said. "Sometimes when he -looks at me I'm sure he knows what is happening and he wants me to know -he's trying."</p> - -<p>When they went to bed that night they were more discouraged than they -had ever been.</p> - -<p>Eventually they slept. When the alarm went off, Alice slipped into her -robe and went into the study first, as she always did.</p> - -<p>A moment later she was back in the bedroom, shaking her husband's -shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Joe!" she whispered. "Wake up! Come into the study!"</p> - -<p>He leaped out of bed and rushed past her. She caught up with him and -pulled him to a stop.</p> - -<p>"Take it easy, Joe," she said. "Don't alarm him."</p> - -<p>"Oh." Dr. MacNare relaxed. "I thought something had happened."</p> - -<p>"Something has!"</p> - -<p>They stopped in the doorway of the study. Dr. MacNare sucked in his -breath sharply, but remained silent.</p> - -<p>Adam seemed oblivious of their presence. He was too interested in -something else.</p> - -<p>He was interested in his hands. He was holding his hands up where he -could see them, and he was moving them independently, clenching and -unclenching the metal fingers with slow deliberation.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the movement stopped. He had become aware of them. Then, -impossibly, unbelievably, he spoke.</p> - -<p>"Ma ma," Adam said. Then, "Pa pa."</p> - -<p>"Adam!" Alice sobbed, rushing across the study to him and sinking down -beside him. Her arms went around his metal body. "Oh, Adam," she cried -happily.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was the beginning. The date of that beginning is not known. Alice -MacNare believes it was early in May, but more probably it was in -April. There was no time to keep notes. In fact, there was no longer a -research project nor any thought of one. Instead, there was Adam, the -person. At least, to Alice he became that, completely. Perhaps, also, -to Dr. MacNare.</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare quite often stood behind Adam where he could watch the rat -body through the transparent skull case while Alice engaged Adam's -attention. Alice did the same, at times, but she finally refused to -do so any more. The sight of Adam the rat, his body held in a net -attached to the frame, his head covered by the helmet, his four legs -moving independently of one another with little semblance of walking or -running motion nor even of coördination, but with swift darting motions -and pauses pregnant with meaning, brought back to Alice the old feeling -of vague fear, and a tremendous surge of pity for Adam that made her -want to cry.</p> - -<p>Slowly, subtly, Adam's rat body became to Alice a pure brain, and his -legs four nerve ganglia. A brain covered with short white fur; and when -she took him out of his harness under opiate to bathe him, she bathed -him as gently and carefully as any brain surgeon sponging a cortical -surface.</p> - -<p>Once started, Adam's mental development progressed rapidly. Dr. MacNare -began making notes again on June 2, 1957, just ten days before the end, -and it is to these notes that we go for an insight into Adam's mind.</p> - -<p>On June 4th Dr. MacNare wrote, "I am of the opinion that Adam will -never develop beyond the level of a moron, in the scale of human -standards. He would probably make a good factory worker or chauffeur, -in a year or two. But he is consciously aware of himself as Adam, he -thinks in words and simple sentences with an accurate understanding -of their meaning, and he is able to do new things from spoken -instructions. There is no question, therefore, but that he has an -integrated mind, entirely human in every respect."</p> - -<p>On June 7th Dr. MacNare wrote, "Something is developing which I -hesitate to put down on paper—for a variety of reasons. Creating Adam -was a scientific experiment, nothing more than that. Both the premises -on which the project was based have been proven: that the principle -of verification is the main factor in learned response, and that, -given the proper conditions, some animals are capable of abstract -symbol systems and therefore of thinking with words to form meaningful -concepts.</p> - -<p>"Nothing more was contemplated in the experiment. I stress this -because—Adam is becoming deeply religious—and before any mistaken -conclusions are drawn from this I will explain what caused this -development. It was an oversight of a type that is bound to happen in -any complex project.</p> - -<p>"Alice's experimental data on the effects of opiates, and especially -the data on increasing the dose to offset growing tolerance, were -based on observation of the subject alone, without any knowledge of -the mental aspects of increased tolerance—which would of course be -impossible except with human subjects.</p> - -<p>"Unknown to us, Adam has been becoming partly conscious during his -bath. Just conscious enough to be vaguely aware of certain sensations, -and to remember them afterward. Few, if any, of these half remembered -sensations are such that he can fit them into the pattern of his waking -reality.</p> - -<p>"The one that has had the most pronounced influence on him is, to quote -him, 'Feel clean inside. Feel good.' Quite obviously this sensation is -caused by his bath.</p> - -<p>"With it is a distinct feeling of disembodiment, of being—and these -are his own words—'outside my body'! This, of course, is an accurate -realization, because to him the robot is his body, and he knows nothing -of the existence of his actual, living, rat body.</p> - -<p>"In addition to these two effects, there is a third one. A feeling of -walking, and sometimes of floating, of stumbling over things he can't -see, of talking, of being talked to by disembodied voices.</p> - -<p>"The explanation of this is also obvious. When he is being bathed his -legs are moved about. Any movement of a leg is to him either a spoken -sound or a movement of some part of his robot body. Any movement of his -right front leg, for example, tells his mind that he is making a sound. -But, since his leg is not connected to the sound system of his robot -body, his ears bring no physical verification of the sound. The mental -anticipation of that verification then becomes a disembodied voice to -him.</p> - -<p>"The end result of all this is that Adam is becoming convinced that -there is a hidden side of things (which there is), and that it is -supernatural (which it is, <i>in the framework of his orientation</i>).</p> - -<p>"What we are going to have to do is make sure he is completely -unconscious before taking him out and bathing him. His mental health is -far more important than exploring the interesting avenues opened up by -this unforeseen development.</p> - -<p>"I do intend, however, to make one simple test, while he is fully -awake, before dropping this avenue of investigation."</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare does not state in his notes what this test was to be: but -his wife says that it probably refers to the time when he pinched -Adam's tail and Adam complained of a sudden, violent headache. This -transference is the one well known to doctors. Unoriented pain in the -human body manifests itself as a "headache," when the source of the -pain is actually the stomach, or the liver, or any one of a hundred -spots in the body.</p> - -<p>The last notes made by Dr. MacNare were those of June 11, 1957, and -are unimportant except for the date. We return, therefore, to actual -events, so far as they can be reconstructed.</p> - -<p>We have said little or nothing about Dr. MacNare's life at the -university after embarking on the research project, nor of the social -life of the MacNares. As conspirators, they had kept up their social -life to avoid any possibility of the board getting curious about any -radical change in Dr. MacNare's habits; but as time went on both Dr. -MacNare and his wife became so engrossed in their project that only -with the greatest reluctance did they go anywhere.</p> - -<p>The annual faculty party at Professor Long's on June 12th was something -they could not evade. Not to have gone would have been almost -tantamount to a resignation from the university.</p> - -<p>"Besides," Alice had said when they discussed the matter in May, "isn't -it about time to do a little hinting that you have something up your -sleeve?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know, Alice," Dr. MacNare had said. Then a smile quirked his -lips and he said, "I wouldn't mind telling off Veerhof. I've never -gotten over his deciding something was impossible without enough data -to pass judgment." He frowned. "We are going to have to let the world -know about Adam pretty soon, aren't we? That's something I haven't -thought about. But not yet. Next fall will be time enough."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Don't forget, Joe," Alice said at dinner. "Tonight's the party at -Professor Long's."</p> - -<p>"How can I forget with you reminding me?" Dr. MacNare said, winking at -his son.</p> - -<p>"And you, Paul," Alice said. "I don't want you leaving the house. You -understand? You can watch TV, and I want you in bed by nine thirty."</p> - -<p>"Ah, Mom!" Paul protested. "Nine thirty?" He suppressed a grin. He had -a party of his own planned.</p> - -<p>"And you can wipe the dishes for me. We have to be at Professor Long's -by eight o'clock."</p> - -<p>"I'll help you," Dr. MacNare said.</p> - -<p>"No, you have to get ready. Besides don't you have to look up something -for one of the faculty?"</p> - -<p>"I'd forgotten," said Dr. MacNare. "Thanks for reminding me."</p> - -<p>After dinner he went directly to the study. Adam was sitting on the -floor playing with his wooden blocks. They were alphabet blocks, but he -didn't know that yet. The summer project was going to be teaching him -the alphabet. Already, though, he preferred placing them in straight -rows rather than stacking them up.</p> - -<p>At seven o'clock Alice rapped on the door to the study.</p> - -<p>"Time to get dressed, Joe," she called.</p> - -<p>"You'll be all right while we're gone, Adam?" Dr. MacNare said.</p> - -<p>"I be all right, papa," Adam said. "I sleep."</p> - -<p>"That's good," Dr. MacNare said. "I'll turn out the light."</p> - -<p>At the door he waited until Adam had sat down in the chair he always -slept on, and settled himself. Then he pushed the switch just to the -right of the door and went out.</p> - -<p>"Hurry, dear," Alice called.</p> - -<p>"I'm hurrying," Dr. MacNare protested—and, for the first time, he -forgot to lock the study door.</p> - -<p>The bathroom was next to the study, the wall between them soundproofed -by a ceiling-high bookshelf in the study filled with thousands of -books. On the other side was the master bedroom, with a closet with -sliding panels that opened both on the bedroom and the bathroom. These -sliding panels were partly open, so that Dr. MacNare and Alice could -talk.</p> - -<p>"Did you lock the study door?"</p> - -<p>"Of course," Dr. MacNare said. "But I'll check before we leave."</p> - -<p>"How is Adam taking being alone tonight?" Alice called.</p> - -<p>"Okay," Dr. MacNare said. "Damn!"</p> - -<p>"What's the matter, Joe?"</p> - -<p>"I forgot to get razor blades."</p> - -<p>The conversation died down.</p> - -<p>Alice MacNare finished dressing.</p> - -<p>"Aren't you ready yet, Joe?" she called. "It's almost a quarter to -eight."</p> - -<p>"Be right with you. I nicked myself shaving with an old blade. The -bleeding's almost stopped now."</p> - -<p>Alice went into the living room. Paul had turned on the TV and was -sprawled out on the rug.</p> - -<p>"You be sure and stay home, and be in bed by nine thirty, Paul," she -said. "Promise?"</p> - -<p>"Ah, Mom," he protested. "Well, all right."</p> - -<p>Dr. MacNare came into the room, still working on his tie. A moment -later they went out the front door. They had been gone less than five -minutes when there was a knock. Paul jumped to his feet and opened the -door.</p> - -<p>"Hi, Fred, Tony, Bill," he said.</p> - -<p>The boys, all nine years old, sprawled on the rug and watched -television. It became eight o'clock, eight thirty, and finally five -minutes to nine. The commercial began.</p> - -<p>"Where's your bathroom?" Tony asked.</p> - -<p>"In there," Paul said, pointing vaguely at the doorway to the hall.</p> - -<p>Tony got up off the floor and went into the hall. He saw several doors, -all looking much alike. He picked one and opened it. It was dark -inside. He felt along the wall for a light switch and found it. Light -flooded the room. He stared at what he saw for perhaps ten seconds, -then turned and ran down the hall to the living room.</p> - -<p>"Say, Paul!" he said. "You never said anything about having a real -honest to gosh robot!"</p> - -<p>"What are you talking about?" Paul said.</p> - -<p>"In that room in there!" Tony said. "Come on. I'll show you!"</p> - -<p>The TV program forgotten, Paul, Fred, and Bill crowded after him. A -moment later they stood in the doorway to the study, staring in awe at -the strange figure of metal that sat motionless in a chair across the -room.</p> - -<p>Adam, it seems certain, was asleep, and had not been wakened by this -intrusion nor the turning on of the light.</p> - -<p>"Gee!" Paul said. "It belongs to Dad. We'd better get out of here."</p> - -<p>"Naw," Tony said with a feeling of proprietorship at having been the -original discoverer. "Let's take a look. He'll never know about it."</p> - -<p>They crossed the room slowly, until they were close up to the robot -figure, marveling at it, moving around it.</p> - -<p>"Say!" Bill whispered, pointing. "What's that in there? It looks like -a white rat with its head stuck into that kind of helmet thing."</p> - -<p>They stared at it a moment.</p> - -<p>"Maybe it's dead. Let's see."</p> - -<p>"How you going to find out?"</p> - -<p>"See those hinges on the cover?" Tony said importantly. "Watch." With -cautious skill he opened the transparent back half of the dome, and -reached in, wrapping his fingers around the white rat.</p> - -<p>He was unable to get it loose, but he succeeded in pulling its head -free of the helmet.</p> - -<p>At the same time Adam awoke.</p> - -<p>"Ouch!" Tony cried, jerking his hand away. "He bit me!"</p> - -<p>"He's alive all right," Bill said. "Look at him glare!" He prodded the -body of the rat and pulled his hand away quickly as the rat lunged.</p> - -<p>"Gee, look at its eyes," Paul said nervously. "They're getting -blood-shot."</p> - -<p>"Dirty old rat!" Tony said vindictively, jabbing at the rat with his -finger and evading the snapping teeth.</p> - -<p>"Get its head back in there!" Paul said desperately. "I don't want papa -to find out we were in here!" He reached in, driven by desperation, -pressing the rat's head between his fingers and forcing it back into -the tight fitting helmet.</p> - -<p>Immediately screaming sounds erupted from the lips of the robot. (It -was determined by later examination that only when the rat's body was -completely where it should be were the circuits operable.)</p> - -<p>"Let's get out of here!" Tony shouted, and dived for the door, thereby -saving his life.</p> - -<p>"Yeah! Let's get out of here!" Fred shouted as the robot figure rose to -its feet. Terror enabled him to escape.</p> - -<p>Bill and Paul delayed an instant too long. Metal fingers seized them. -Bill's arm snapped halfway between shoulder and elbow. He screamed with -pain and struggled to free himself.</p> - -<p>Paul was unable to scream. Metal fingers gripped his shoulder, with -a metal thumb thrust deeply against his larynx, paralyzing his vocal -cords.</p> - -<p>Fred and Tony had run into the front room. There they waited, ready to -start running again. They could hear Bill's screams. They could hear -a male voice jabbering nonsense, and finally repeating over and over -again, "Oh my, oh my, oh my," in a tone all the more horrible because -it portrayed no emotion whatever.</p> - -<p>Then there was silence.</p> - -<p>The silence lasted several minutes. Then Bill began to sniffle, rubbing -his knuckles in his eyes. "I wanta go home," he whimpered.</p> - -<p>"Me too."</p> - -<p>They took each other's hand and tiptoed to the front door, watching the -open doorway to the hall. When they reached the front door Tony opened -it, and when it was open they ran, not stopping to close the door -behind them.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There isn't much more to tell. It is known that Tony and Bill arrived -at their respective homes, saying nothing of what had happened. Only -later did they come forward and admit their share in the night's events.</p> - -<p>Joe and Alice MacNare arrived home from the party at Professor Long's -at twelve thirty, finding the front door wide open, the lights on in -the living room, and the television on.</p> - -<p>Sensing that something was wrong, Alice hurried to her son's room and -discovered he wasn't there. While she was doing that, Joe shut the -front door and turned off the television.</p> - -<p>Alice returned to the living room, eyes round with alarm, and said, -"Paul's not in his room!"</p> - -<p>"Adam!" Joe croaked, and rushed into the hallway, with Alice following -more slowly.</p> - -<p>She reached the open door of the study in time to see the robot figure -pounce on Joe and fasten its metal fingers about his throat, crushing -vertebrae and flesh alike.</p> - -<p>Oblivious to her own danger, she rushed to rescue her already dead -husband, but the metal fingers were inflexible. Belatedly she abandoned -the attempt and ran into the hallway to the phone.</p> - -<p>When the police arrived, they found her slumped against the wall in -the hallway. She pointed toward the open doorway of the study, without -speaking.</p> - -<p>The police rushed into the study. At once there came the sounds of -shots. Dozens of them, it seemed. Later both policemen admitted that -they lost their heads and fired until their guns were empty.</p> - -<p>But it was not yet the end of Adam.</p> - -<p>It would perhaps be impossible to conceive the full horror of his last -hours, but we can at least make a guess. Asleep when the boys entered -the study, he awakened to a world he had never before perceived except -very vaguely and under the soporific veil of opiate.</p> - -<p>But it was a world vastly different even than that. There is no way of -knowing what he saw—probably blurred ghostly figures, monstrous beyond -the ability of his mind to grasp, for his eyes were adjusted only to -the series of prisms and lenses that enabled him to see and coördinate -the images brought to him through the eyes of the robot.</p> - -<p>He saw these impossible figures, he felt pain and torture that were -not of the flesh as he knew it, but of the spirit; agony beyond agony -administered by what he could only believe were fiends from some nether -hell.</p> - -<p>And then, abruptly, as ten-year-old Paul shoved his head back into the -helmet, the world he had come to believe was reality returned. It was -as though he had returned to the body from some awful pit of hell, with -the soul sickness still with him.</p> - -<p>Before him he saw four human-like figures of reality, but beings unlike -the only two he had ever seen. Smaller, seeming to be a part of the -unbelievable nightmare he had been in. Two of them fled, two were -within his grasp.</p> - -<p>Perhaps he didn't know what he was doing when he killed Paul and -Bill. It's doubtful if he had the ability to think at all then, only -to tremble and struggle in his pitiful little rat body, with the -automatic mechanisms of the robot acting from those frantic motions.</p> - -<p>But it is known that there were three hours between the deaths of the -two boys and the entry of Dr. MacNare at twelve thirty, and during -those three hours he would have had a chance to recover, and to think, -and to partially rationalize the nightmare he had experienced in realms -outside what to him was the world of reality.</p> - -<p>Adam must certainly have been calm enough, rational enough, to -recognize Dr. MacNare when he entered the study at twelve thirty.</p> - -<p>Then why did Adam deliberately kill Joe by breaking his neck? Was it -because, in that three hours, he had put together the evidence of his -senses and come to the realization that he was not a man but a rat?</p> - -<p>It's not likely. It is much more likely that Adam came to some -aberrated conclusion dictated by the superstitious feelings that had -grown so strongly into his strange and unique existence, that dictated -he must kill Joseph.</p> - -<p>For it would have been impossible for him to have realized that he was -only a rat. You see, Joseph MacNare had taken great care that Adam -never, in all his life, should see <i>another</i> rat.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There remains only the end of Adam to relate.</p> - -<p>Physically it can be only anticlimactic. With his metal body out -of commission from a dozen or so shots, two of which destroyed the -robot extensions of his eyes, he remained helpless until the coroner -carefully removed him.</p> - -<p>To the coroner he was just a white rat, and a strangely helpless one, -unable to walk or stand as rats are supposed to. Also a strangely -vicious one, with red little beads of eyes and lips drawn back from -sharp teeth the same as some rabid wild animal.</p> - -<p>The coroner had no way of knowing that somewhere in that small, -menacing form there was a noble but lost mentality that knew itself as -Adam, and held thoughts of a strange and wonderful realm of peace and -splendor beyond the grasp of the normal physical senses.</p> - -<p>The coroner could not know that the erratic motions of that small left -front foot, if connected to the proper mechanisms, would have been -audible as, perhaps, a prayer, a desperate plea to whatever lay in the -Great Beyond to come down and rescue its humble creature.</p> - -<p>"Vicious little bastard," the coroner said nervously to the homicide -men gathered around Dr. MacNare's desk.</p> - -<p>"Let me take care of it," said one of the detectives.</p> - -<p>"No," the coroner answered. "I'll do it."</p> - -<p>Quickly, so as not to be bitten, he picked Adam up by the tip of the -tail and slammed him forcefully against the top of the desk.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rat in the Skull, by Rog Phillips - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAT IN THE SKULL *** - -***** This file should be named 60614-h.htm or 60614-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/6/1/60614/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/60614-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/60614-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ce5cd2e..0000000 --- a/old/60614-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60614-h/images/illus.jpg b/old/60614-h/images/illus.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e6df884..0000000 --- a/old/60614-h/images/illus.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60614.txt b/old/60614.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 210a92a..0000000 --- a/old/60614.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1554 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rat in the Skull, by Rog Phillips - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: Rat in the Skull - -Author: Rog Phillips - -Release Date: November 3, 2019 [EBook #60614] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAT IN THE SKULL *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - RAT IN THE SKULL - - BY ROG PHILLIPS - - _Some people will be shocked by this story. - Others will be deeply moved. Everyone who reads - it will be talking about it. Read the first - four pages: then put it down if you can._ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Worlds of If Science Fiction, December 1958. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Dr. Joseph MacNare was not the sort of person one would expect him to -be in the light of what happened. Indeed, it is safe to say that until -the summer of 1955 he was more "normal", better adjusted, than the -average college professor. And we have every reason to believe that he -remained so, in spite of having stepped out of his chosen field. - -At the age of thirty-four, he had to his credit a college textbook on -advanced calculus, an introductory physics, and seventy-two papers that -had appeared in various journals, copies of which were in neat order -in a special section of the bookcase in his office at the university, -and duplicate copies of which were in equally neat order in his office -at home. None of these were in the field of psychology, the field in -which he was shortly to become famous--or infamous. But anyone who -studies the published writings of Dr. MacNare must inevitably conclude -that he was a competent, responsible scientist, and a firm believer -in institutional research, research by teams, rather than in private -research and go-it-alone secrecy, the course he eventually followed. - -In fact, there is every reason to believe he followed this course with -the greatest of reluctance, aware of its pitfalls, and that he took -every precaution that was humanly possible. - -Certainly, on that day in late August, 1955, at the little cabin on -the Russian River, a hundred miles upstate from the university, when -Dr. MacNare completed his paper on _An Experimental Approach to the -Psychological Phenomena of Verification_, he had no slightest thought -of "going it alone." - -It was mid-afternoon. His wife, Alice, was dozing on the small dock -that stretched out into the water, her slim figure tanned a smooth -brown that was just a shade lighter than her hair. Their eight-year-old -son, Paul, was fifty yards upstream playing with some other boys, their -shouts the only sound except for the whisper of rushing water and the -sound of wind in the trees. - -Dr. MacNare, in swim trunks, his lean muscular body hardly tanned at -all, emerged from the cabin and came out on the dock. - -"Wake up, Alice," he said, nudging her with his foot. "You have a -husband again." - -"Well, it's about time," Alice said, turning over on her back and -looking up at him, smiling in answer to his happy grin. - -He stepped over her and went out on the diving board, leaping up and -down on it, higher and higher each time, in smooth cooerdination, then -went into a one and a half gainer, his body cutting into the water with -a minimum of splash. - -His head broke the surface. He looked up at his wife, and laughed in -the sheer pleasure of being alive. A few swift strokes brought him to -the foot of the ladder. He climbed, dripping water, to the dock, then -sat down by his wife. - -"Yep, it's done," he said. "How many days of our vacation left? Two? -That's time enough for me to get a little tan. Might as well make the -most of it. I'm going to be working harder this winter than I ever did -in my life." - -"But I thought you said your paper was done!" - -"It is. But that's only the beginning. Instead of sending it in for -publication, I'm going to submit it to the directors, with a request -for facilities and personnel to conduct a line of research based on -pages twenty-seven to thirty-two of the paper." - -"And you think they'll grant your request?" - -"There's no question about it," Dr. MacNare said, smiling confidently. -"It's the most important line of research ever opened up to -experimental psychology. They'll be forced to grant my request. It will -put the university on the map!" - -Alice laughed, and sat up and kissed him. - -"Maybe they won't agree with you," she said. "Is it all right for me to -read the paper?" - -"I wish you would," he said. "Where's that son of mine? Upstream?" He -leaped to his feet and went to the diving board again. - -"Better walk along the bank, Joe. The stream is too swift." - -"Nonsense!" Dr. MacNare said. - -He made a long shallow dive, then began swimming in a powerful crawl -that took him upstream slowly. Alice stood on the dock watching him -until he was lost to sight around the bend, then went into the cabin. -The completed paper lay beside the typewriter. - - * * * * * - -Alice had her doubts. "I'm not so sure the board will approve of this," -she said. Dr. MacNare, somewhat exasperated, said, "What makes you -think that? Pavlov experimented with his dog, physiological experiments -with rats, rabbits, and other animals go on all the time. There's -nothing cruel about it." - -"Just the same...." Alice said. So Dr. MacNare cautiously resisted the -impulse to talk about his paper with his fellow professors and his most -intelligent students. Instead, he merely turned his paper in to the -board at the earliest opportunity and kept silent, waiting for their -decision. - -He hadn't long to wait. On the last Friday of September he received -a note requesting his presence in the board room at three o'clock on -Monday. He rushed home after his last class and told Alice about it. - -"Let's hope their decision is favorable," she said. - -"It has to be," Dr. MacNare answered with conviction. - -He spent the week-end making plans. "They'll probably assign me a -machinist and a couple of electronics experts from the hill," he told -Alice. "I can use graduate students for work with the animals. I hope -they give me Dr. Munitz from Psych as a consultant, because I like -him much better than Veerhof. By early spring we should have things -rolling." - -Monday at three o'clock on the dot, Dr. MacNare knocked on the door of -the board room, and entered. He was not unfamiliar with it, nor with -the faces around the massive walnut conference table. Always before he -had known what to expect--a brief commendation for the revisions in his -textbook on calculus for its fifth printing, a nice speech from the -president about his good work as a prelude to a salary raise--quiet, -expected things. Nothing unanticipated had ever happened here. - -Now, as he entered, he sensed a difference. All eyes were fixed on him, -but not with admiration or friendliness. They were fixed more in the -manner of a restaurateur watching the approach of a cockroach along -the surface of the counter. - -Suddenly the room seemed hot and stuffy. The confidence in Dr. -MacNare's expression evaporated. He glanced back toward the door as -though wishing to escape. - -"So it's _you_!" the president said, setting the tone of what followed. - -"This is _yours_?" the president added, picking up the neatly typed -manuscript, glancing at it, and dropping it back on the table as though -it were something unclean. - -Dr. MacNare nodded, and cleared his throat nervously to say yes, but -didn't get the chance. - -"We--all of us--are amazed and shocked," the president said. "Of -course, we understand that psychology is not your field, and you -probably were thinking only from the mathematical viewpoint. We are -agreed on that. What you propose, though...." He shook his head slowly. -"It's not only out of the question, but I'm afraid I'm going to have -to request that you forget the whole thing--put this paper where no -one can see it, preferably destroy it. I'm sorry, Dr. MacNare, but the -university simply cannot afford to be associated with such a thing even -remotely. I'll put it bluntly because I feel strongly about it, as do -the other members of the Board. _If this paper is published or in any -way comes to light, we will be forced to request your resignation from -the faculty._" - -"But why?" Dr. MacNare asked in complete bewilderment. - -"Why?" another board member exploded, slapping the table. "It's the -most inhuman thing I ever heard of, strapping a newborn animal onto -some kind of frame and tying its legs to control levers, with the -intention of never letting it free. The most fiendish and inhuman -torture imaginable! If you didn't have such an outstanding record I -would be for demanding your resignation at once." - -"But that's not true!" Dr. MacNare said. "It's not torture! Not in any -way! Didn't you read the paper? Didn't you understand that--" - -"I read it," the man said. "We all read it. Every word." - -"Then you should have understood--" Dr. MacNare said. - -"We read it," the man repeated, "and we discussed some aspects of it -with Dr. Veerhof without bringing your paper into it, nor your name." - -"Oh," Dr. MacNare said. "Veerhof...." - -"He says experiments, very careful experiments, have already been -conducted along the lines of getting an animal to understand a symbol -system and it can't be done. The nerve paths aren't there. Your line of -research, besides being inhumanly cruel, would accomplish nothing." - -"Oh," Dr. MacNare said, his eyes flashing. "So you know all about the -results of an experiment in an untried field without performing the -experiments!" - -"According to Dr. Veerhof that field is not untried but rather well -explored," the board member said. "Giving an animal the means to make -vocal sounds would not enable it to form a symbol system." - -"I disagree," Dr. MacNare said, seething. "My studies indicate -clearly--" - -"I think," the president said with a firmness that demanded the floor, -"our position has been made very clear, Dr. MacNare. The matter is now -closed. Permanently. I hope you will have the good sense, if I may -use such a strong term, to forget the whole thing. For the good of -your career and your very nice wife and son. That is all." He held the -manuscript toward Dr. MacNare. - - * * * * * - -"I can't understand their attitude!" Dr. MacNare said to Alice when he -told her about it. - -"Possibly I can understand it a little better than you, Joe," Alice -said thoughtfully. "I had a little of what I think they feel, when I -first read your paper. A--a prejudice against the idea of it, is as -closely as I can describe it. Like it would be violating the order of -nature, giving an animal a soul, in a way." - -"Then you feel as they do?" Dr. MacNare said. - -"I didn't say that, Joe." Alice put her arms around her husband and -kissed him fiercely. "Maybe I feel just the opposite, that if there is -some way to give an animal a soul, we should do it." - -Dr. MacNare chuckled. "It wouldn't be quite that cosmic. An animal -can't be given something it doesn't have already. All that can be -done is to give it the means to fully capitalize on what it has. -Animals--man included--can only do by observing the results. When you -move a finger, what you really do is send a neural impulse out from -the brain along one particular nerve or one particular set of nerves, -but you can never learn that, nor just what it is you do. All that you -can know is that when you do a definite _something_ your eyes and sense -of touch bring you the information that your finger moved. But if that -finger were attached to a voice element that made the sound _ah_, and -you could never see your finger, all you could ever know is that when -you did that particular _something_ you made a certain vocal sound. -Changing the resultant effect of mental commands to include things -normally impossible to you may expand the potential of your mind, but -it won't give you a soul if you don't have one to begin with." - -"You're using Veerhof's arguments on me," Alice said. "And I think -we're arguing from separate definitions of a soul. I'm afraid of it, -Joe. It would be a tragedy, I think, to give some animal--a rat, -maybe--the soul of a poet, and then have it discover that it is only a -rat." - -"Oh," Dr. MacNare said. "_That_ kind of soul. No, I'm not that -optimistic about the results. I think we'd be lucky to get any results -at all, a limited vocabulary that the animal would use meaningfully. -But I do think we'd get that." - -"It would take a lot of time and patience." - -"And we'd have to keep the whole thing secret from everyone," Dr. -MacNare said. "We couldn't even let Paul have an inkling of it, because -he might say something to one of his playmates, and it would get back -to some member of the board. How could we keep it secret from Paul?" - -"Paul knows he's not allowed in your study," Alice said. "We could keep -everything there--and keep the door locked." - -"Then it's settled?" - -"Wasn't it, from the very beginning?" Alice put her arms around her -husband and her cheek against his ear to hide her worried expression. -"I love you, Joe. I'll help you in any way I can. And if we haven't -enough in the savings account, there's always what Mother left me." - -"I hope we won't have to use any of it, sweetheart," he said. - -The following day Dr. MacNare was an hour and a half late coming home -from the campus. He had been, he announced casually, to a pet store. - -"We'll have to hurry," said Alice. "Paul will be home any minute." - -She helped him carry the packages from the car to the study. Together -they moved things around to make room for the gleaming new cages with -their white rats and hamsters and guinea pigs. When it was done they -stood arm in arm viewing their new possession. - - * * * * * - -To Alice MacNare, just the presence of the animals in her husband's -study brought the research project into reality. As the days passed -that romantic feeling became fact. - -"We're going to have to do together," Joe MacNare told her at the end -of the first week, "what a team of a dozen specialists in separate -fields should be doing. Our first job, before we can do anything else, -is to study the natural movements of each species and translate them -into patterns of robot directives." - -"Robot directives?" - -"I visualize it this way," Dr. MacNare said. "The animal will be -strapped comfortably in a frame so that its body can't move but its -legs can. Its legs will be attached to four separate, free-moving -levers which make a different electrical contact for every position. -Each electrical contact, or control switch, will cause the robot body -to do one specific thing, such as move a leg, utter some particular -sound through its voice box, or move just one finger. Can you visualize -that, Alice?" - -Alice nodded. - -"Okay. Now, one leg has to be used for nothing but voice sounds. That -leaves three legs for control of the movements of the robot body. In -body movement there will be simultaneous movements and sequences. -A simple sequence can be controlled by one leg. All movements of -the robot will have to be reduced to not more than three concurrent -sequences of movement of the animal's legs. Our problem, then, is to -make the unlearned and the most natural movements of the legs of the -animal control the robot body's movements in a functional manner." - -Endless hours were consumed in this initial study and mapping. Alice -worked at it while her husband was at the university and Paul was at -school. Dr. MacNare rushed home each day to go over what she had done -and continue the work himself. - -He grew more and more grudging of the time his classes took. In -December he finally wrote to the three technical journals that had been -expecting papers from him for publication during the year that he would -be too busy to do them. - -By January the initial phase of research was well enough along so -that Dr. MacNare could begin planning the robot. For this he set up a -workshop in the garage. - -In early February he finished what he called the "test frame." After -Paul had gone to bed, Dr. MacNare brought the test frame into the study -from the garage. To Alice it looked very much like the insides of a -radio. - -She watched while he placed a husky-looking male white rat in the body -harness fastened to the framework of aluminum and tied its legs to -small metal rods. - -Nothing happened except that the rat kept trying to get free, and the -small metal rods tied to its feet kept moving in pivot sockets. - -"Now!" Dr. MacNare said excitedly, flicking a small toggle switch on -the side of the assembly. - -Immediately a succession of vocal sounds erupted from the speaker. They -followed one another, making no sensible word. - -"_He's_ doing that," Dr. MacNare said triumphantly. - -"If we left him in that, do you think he'd eventually associate his -movements with the sounds?" - -"It's possible. But that would be more on the order of what we do when -we drive a car. To some extent a car becomes an extension of the body, -but you're always aware that your hands are on the steering wheel, your -foot on the gas pedal or brake. You extend your awareness consciously. -You interpret a slight tremble in the steering wheel as a shimmy in -the front wheels. You're oriented primarily to your body and only -secondarily to the car as an extension of you." - -Alice closed her eyes for a moment. "Mm hm," she said. - -"And that's the best we could get, using a rat that knows already it's -a rat." - -Alice stared at the struggling rat, her eyes round with comprehension, -while the loudspeaker in the test frame said, "Ag-pr-ds-raf-os-dg...." - -Dr. MacNare shut off the sound and began freeing the rat. - -"By starting with a newborn animal and never letting it know what it -is," he said, "we can get a complete extension of the animal into the -machine, in its orientation. So complete that if you took it out of -the machine after it grew up, it would have no more idea of what had -happened than--than your brain if it were taken out of your head and -put on a table!" - -"Now I'm getting that _feeling_ again, Joe," Alice said, laughing -nervously. "When you said that about my brain I thought, 'Or my soul?'" - -Dr. MacNare put the rat back in its cage. - -"There might be a valid analogy there," he said slowly. "If we have -a soul that survives after death, what is it like? It probably -interprets its surroundings in terms of its former orientation in the -body." - -"That's a little of what I mean," Alice said. "I can't help it, Joe. -Sometimes I feel so sorry for whatever baby animal you'll eventually -use, that I want to cry. I feel so sorry for it, because _we will never -dare let it know what it really is_!" - -"That's true. Which brings up another line of research that should be -the work of one expert on the team I ought to have for this. As it is, -I'll turn it over to you to do while I build the robot." - -"What's that?" - -"Opiates," Dr. MacNare said. "What we want is an opiate that can be -used on a small animal every few days, so that we can take it out of -the robot, bathe it, and put it back again without its knowing about -it. There probably is no ideal drug. We'll have to test the more -promising ones." - -Later that night, as they lay beside each other in the silence and -darkness of their bedroom, Dr. MacNare sighed deeply. - -"So many problems," he said. "I sometimes wonder if we can solve them -all. _See_ them all...." - -To Alice MacNare, later, that night in early February marked the end of -the first phase of research--the point where two alternative futures -hung in the balance, and either could have been taken. That night -she might have said, there in the darkness, "Let's drop it," and her -husband might have agreed. - -She thought of saying it. She even opened her mouth to say it. But her -husband's soft snores suddenly broke the silence of the night. The -moment of return had passed. - - * * * * * - -Month followed month. To Alice it was a period of rushing from kitchen -to hypodermic injections to vacuum cleaner to hypodermic injections, -her key to the study in constant use. - -Paul, nine years old now, took to spring baseball and developed an -indifference to TV, much to the relief of both his parents. - -In the garage workshop Dr. MacNare made parts for the robot, and kept a -couple of innocent projects going which he worked on when his son Paul -evinced his periodic curiosity about what was going on. - -Spring became summer. For six weeks Paul went to Scout camp, and during -those six weeks Dr. MacNare reorganized the entire research project in -line with what it would be in the fall. A decision was made to use only -white rats from then on. The rest of the animals were sold to a pet -store, and a system for automatically feeding, watering, and keeping -the cages clean was installed in preparation for a much needed two -weeks' vacation at the cabin. - -When the time came to go, they had to tear themselves away from their -work by an effort of will--aided by the realization that they could get -little done with Paul underfoot. - -September came all too soon. By mid-September both Dr. MacNare and his -wife felt they were on the home stretch. Parts of the robot were going -together and being tested, the female white rats were being bred at -the rate of one a week so that when the robot was completed there would -be a supply of newborn rats on hand. - -October came, and passed. The robot was finished, but there were minor -defects in it that had to be corrected. - -"Adam," Dr. MacNare said one day, "will have to wear this robot all his -life. It has to be just right." - -And with each litter of baby rats Alice said, "I wonder which one is -Adam." - -They talked of Adam often now, speculating on what he would be like. It -was almost, they decided, as though Adam were their second child. - -And finally, on November 2, 1956, everything was ready. Adam would be -born in the next litter, due in about three days. - - * * * * * - -The amount of work that had gone into preparation for the great moment -is beyond conception. Four file cabinet drawers were filled with notes. -By actual measurement seventeen feet of shelf space was filled with -books on the thousand and one subjects that had to be mastered. The -robot itself was a masterpiece of engineering that would have done -credit to the research staff of a watch manufacturer. The vernier -adjustments alone, used to compensate daily for the rat's growth, had -eight patentable features. - -And the skills that had had to be acquired! Alice, who had never before -had a hypodermic syringe in her hand, could now inject a precisely -measured amount of opiate into the tiny body of a baby rat with calm -confidence in her skill. - -After such monumental preparation, the great moment itself was -anticlimactic. While the mother of Adam was still preoccupied with the -birth of the remainder of the brood, Adam, a pink helpless thing about -the size of a little finger, was picked up and transfered to the head -of the robot. - -His tiny feet, which he would never know existed, were fastened with -gentle care to the four control rods. His tiny head was thrust into a -helmet attached to a pivot-mounted optical system, ending in the lenses -that served the robot for eyes. And finally a transparent plastic -cover contoured to the shape of the back of a human head was fastened -in place. Through it his feeble attempts at movement could be easily -observed. - -Thus, Dr. MacNare's Adam was born into his body, and the time of the -completion of his birth was one-thirty in the afternoon on the fifth -day of November, 1956. - -In the ensuing half hour all the cages of rats were removed from the -study, the floor was scrubbed, and deodorizers were sprayed, so that no -slightest trace of Adam's lowly origins remained. When this was done, -Dr. MacNare loaded the cages into his car and drove them to a pet store -that had agreed to take them. - -When he returned, he joined Alice in the study, and at five minutes -before four, with Alice hovering anxiously beside him, he opened the -cover on Adam's chest and turned on the master switch that gave Adam -complete dominion over his robot body. - -Adam was beautiful--and monstrous. Made of metal from the neck down, -but shaped to be covered by padding and skin in human semblance. From -the neck up the job was done. The face was human, masculine, handsome, -much like that of a clothing store dummy except for its mobility of -expression, and the incongruity of the rest of the body. - -The voice-control lever and contacts had been designed so that the -ability to produce most sounds would have to be discovered by Adam -as he gained control of his natural right front leg. Now the only -sounds being uttered were _oh_, _ah_, _mm_, and _ll_, in random order. -Similarly, the only movements of his arms and legs were feeble, -like those of a human baby. The tremendous strength in his limbs -was something he would be unable to tap fully until he had learned -conscious cooerdination. - -After a while Adam became silent and without movement. Alarmed, Dr. -MacNare opened the instrument panel in the abdomen. The instruments -showed that Adam's pulse and respiration were normal. He had fallen -asleep. - -Dr. MacNare and his wife stole softly from the study, and locked the -door. - - * * * * * - -After a few days, with the care and feeding of Adam all that remained -of the giant research project, the pace of the days shifted to that of -long-range patience. - -"It's just like having a baby," Alice said. - -"You know something?" Dr. MacNare asked. "I've had to resist passing -out cigars. I hate to say it, but I'm prouder of Adam than I was of -Paul when he was born." - -"So am I, Joe," Alice said quietly. "But I'm getting a little of that -scared feeling back again." - -"In what way?" - -"He watches me. Oh, I know it's natural for him to, but I do wish you -had made the eyes so that his own didn't show as little dark dots in -the center of the iris." - -"It couldn't be helped," Dr. MacNare said. "He has to be able to see, -and I had to set up the system of mirrors so that the two axes of -vision would be three inches apart as they are in the average human -pair of eyes." - -"Oh, I know," said Alice. "Probably it's just something I've seized on. -But when he watches me, I find myself holding my breath in fear that he -can read in my expression the secret we have to keep from him, that he -is a rat." - -"Forget it, Alice. That's outside his experience and beyond his -comprehension." - -"I know," Alice sighed. "When he begins to show some of the signs of -intelligence a baby has, I'll be able to think of him as a human being." - -"Sure, darling," Dr. MacNare said. - -"Do you think he ever will?" - -"That," Dr. MacNare said, "is the big question. I think he will. I -think so now even more than I did at the start. Aside from eating and -sleeping, he has no avenue of expression except his robot body, and _no -source of reward except that of making sense--human sense_." - -The days passed, and became weeks, then months. During the daytime when -her husband was at the university and her son was at school, Alice -would spend most of her hours with Adam, forcing herself to smile at -him and talk to him as she had to Paul when he was a baby. But when she -watched his motions through the transparent back of his head, his leg -motions remained those of attempted walking and attempted running. - -Then, one day when Adam was four months old, things changed--as -abruptly as the turning on of a light. - -The unrewarding walking and running movements of Adam's little legs -ceased. It was evening, and both Dr. MacNare and his wife were there. - -For a few seconds there was no sound or movement from the robot body. -Then, quite deliberately, Adam said, "Ah." - -"Ah," Dr. MacNare echoed. "Mm, Mm, ah. Ma-ma." - -"Mm," Adam said. - -The silence in the study became absolute. The seconds stretched into -eternities. Then-- - -"Mm, ah," Adam said. "Mm, ah." - -Alice began crying with happiness. - -"Mm, ah," Adam said. "Mm, ah. Ma-ma. Mamamamama." - -Then, as though the effort had been too much for Adam, he went to -sleep. - - * * * * * - -Having achieved the impossible, Adam seemed to lose interest in it. -For two days he uttered nothing more than an occasional involuntary -syllable. - -"I would call that as much of an achievement as speech itself," Dr. -MacNare said to his wife. "His right front leg has asserted its -independence. If each of his other three legs can do as well, he can -control the robot body." - -It became obvious that Adam was trying. Though the movements of his -body remained non-purposive, the pauses in those movements became more -and more pregnant with what was obviously mental effort. - -During that period there was of course room for argument and -speculation about it, and even a certain amount of humor. Had Adam's -right front leg, at the moment of achieving meaningful speech, suffered -a nervous breakdown? What would a psychiatrist have to say about a -white rat that had a nervous breakdown in its right front leg? - -"The worst part about it," Dr. MacNare said to his wife, "is that if -he fails to make it he'll have to be killed. He can't have permanent -frustration forced onto him, and, by now, returning him to his natural -state would be even worse." - -"And he has such a stout little heart," Alice said. "Sometimes when he -looks at me I'm sure he knows what is happening and he wants me to know -he's trying." - -When they went to bed that night they were more discouraged than they -had ever been. - -Eventually they slept. When the alarm went off, Alice slipped into her -robe and went into the study first, as she always did. - -A moment later she was back in the bedroom, shaking her husband's -shoulder. - -"Joe!" she whispered. "Wake up! Come into the study!" - -He leaped out of bed and rushed past her. She caught up with him and -pulled him to a stop. - -"Take it easy, Joe," she said. "Don't alarm him." - -"Oh." Dr. MacNare relaxed. "I thought something had happened." - -"Something has!" - -They stopped in the doorway of the study. Dr. MacNare sucked in his -breath sharply, but remained silent. - -Adam seemed oblivious of their presence. He was too interested in -something else. - -He was interested in his hands. He was holding his hands up where he -could see them, and he was moving them independently, clenching and -unclenching the metal fingers with slow deliberation. - -Suddenly the movement stopped. He had become aware of them. Then, -impossibly, unbelievably, he spoke. - -"Ma ma," Adam said. Then, "Pa pa." - -"Adam!" Alice sobbed, rushing across the study to him and sinking down -beside him. Her arms went around his metal body. "Oh, Adam," she cried -happily. - - * * * * * - -It was the beginning. The date of that beginning is not known. Alice -MacNare believes it was early in May, but more probably it was in -April. There was no time to keep notes. In fact, there was no longer a -research project nor any thought of one. Instead, there was Adam, the -person. At least, to Alice he became that, completely. Perhaps, also, -to Dr. MacNare. - -Dr. MacNare quite often stood behind Adam where he could watch the rat -body through the transparent skull case while Alice engaged Adam's -attention. Alice did the same, at times, but she finally refused to -do so any more. The sight of Adam the rat, his body held in a net -attached to the frame, his head covered by the helmet, his four legs -moving independently of one another with little semblance of walking or -running motion nor even of cooerdination, but with swift darting motions -and pauses pregnant with meaning, brought back to Alice the old feeling -of vague fear, and a tremendous surge of pity for Adam that made her -want to cry. - -Slowly, subtly, Adam's rat body became to Alice a pure brain, and his -legs four nerve ganglia. A brain covered with short white fur; and when -she took him out of his harness under opiate to bathe him, she bathed -him as gently and carefully as any brain surgeon sponging a cortical -surface. - -Once started, Adam's mental development progressed rapidly. Dr. MacNare -began making notes again on June 2, 1957, just ten days before the end, -and it is to these notes that we go for an insight into Adam's mind. - -On June 4th Dr. MacNare wrote, "I am of the opinion that Adam will -never develop beyond the level of a moron, in the scale of human -standards. He would probably make a good factory worker or chauffeur, -in a year or two. But he is consciously aware of himself as Adam, he -thinks in words and simple sentences with an accurate understanding -of their meaning, and he is able to do new things from spoken -instructions. There is no question, therefore, but that he has an -integrated mind, entirely human in every respect." - -On June 7th Dr. MacNare wrote, "Something is developing which I -hesitate to put down on paper--for a variety of reasons. Creating Adam -was a scientific experiment, nothing more than that. Both the premises -on which the project was based have been proven: that the principle -of verification is the main factor in learned response, and that, -given the proper conditions, some animals are capable of abstract -symbol systems and therefore of thinking with words to form meaningful -concepts. - -"Nothing more was contemplated in the experiment. I stress this -because--Adam is becoming deeply religious--and before any mistaken -conclusions are drawn from this I will explain what caused this -development. It was an oversight of a type that is bound to happen in -any complex project. - -"Alice's experimental data on the effects of opiates, and especially -the data on increasing the dose to offset growing tolerance, were -based on observation of the subject alone, without any knowledge of -the mental aspects of increased tolerance--which would of course be -impossible except with human subjects. - -"Unknown to us, Adam has been becoming partly conscious during his -bath. Just conscious enough to be vaguely aware of certain sensations, -and to remember them afterward. Few, if any, of these half remembered -sensations are such that he can fit them into the pattern of his waking -reality. - -"The one that has had the most pronounced influence on him is, to quote -him, 'Feel clean inside. Feel good.' Quite obviously this sensation is -caused by his bath. - -"With it is a distinct feeling of disembodiment, of being--and these -are his own words--'outside my body'! This, of course, is an accurate -realization, because to him the robot is his body, and he knows nothing -of the existence of his actual, living, rat body. - -"In addition to these two effects, there is a third one. A feeling of -walking, and sometimes of floating, of stumbling over things he can't -see, of talking, of being talked to by disembodied voices. - -"The explanation of this is also obvious. When he is being bathed his -legs are moved about. Any movement of a leg is to him either a spoken -sound or a movement of some part of his robot body. Any movement of his -right front leg, for example, tells his mind that he is making a sound. -But, since his leg is not connected to the sound system of his robot -body, his ears bring no physical verification of the sound. The mental -anticipation of that verification then becomes a disembodied voice to -him. - -"The end result of all this is that Adam is becoming convinced that -there is a hidden side of things (which there is), and that it is -supernatural (which it is, _in the framework of his orientation_). - -"What we are going to have to do is make sure he is completely -unconscious before taking him out and bathing him. His mental health is -far more important than exploring the interesting avenues opened up by -this unforeseen development. - -"I do intend, however, to make one simple test, while he is fully -awake, before dropping this avenue of investigation." - -Dr. MacNare does not state in his notes what this test was to be: but -his wife says that it probably refers to the time when he pinched -Adam's tail and Adam complained of a sudden, violent headache. This -transference is the one well known to doctors. Unoriented pain in the -human body manifests itself as a "headache," when the source of the -pain is actually the stomach, or the liver, or any one of a hundred -spots in the body. - -The last notes made by Dr. MacNare were those of June 11, 1957, and -are unimportant except for the date. We return, therefore, to actual -events, so far as they can be reconstructed. - -We have said little or nothing about Dr. MacNare's life at the -university after embarking on the research project, nor of the social -life of the MacNares. As conspirators, they had kept up their social -life to avoid any possibility of the board getting curious about any -radical change in Dr. MacNare's habits; but as time went on both Dr. -MacNare and his wife became so engrossed in their project that only -with the greatest reluctance did they go anywhere. - -The annual faculty party at Professor Long's on June 12th was something -they could not evade. Not to have gone would have been almost -tantamount to a resignation from the university. - -"Besides," Alice had said when they discussed the matter in May, "isn't -it about time to do a little hinting that you have something up your -sleeve?" - -"I don't know, Alice," Dr. MacNare had said. Then a smile quirked his -lips and he said, "I wouldn't mind telling off Veerhof. I've never -gotten over his deciding something was impossible without enough data -to pass judgment." He frowned. "We are going to have to let the world -know about Adam pretty soon, aren't we? That's something I haven't -thought about. But not yet. Next fall will be time enough." - - * * * * * - -"Don't forget, Joe," Alice said at dinner. "Tonight's the party at -Professor Long's." - -"How can I forget with you reminding me?" Dr. MacNare said, winking at -his son. - -"And you, Paul," Alice said. "I don't want you leaving the house. You -understand? You can watch TV, and I want you in bed by nine thirty." - -"Ah, Mom!" Paul protested. "Nine thirty?" He suppressed a grin. He had -a party of his own planned. - -"And you can wipe the dishes for me. We have to be at Professor Long's -by eight o'clock." - -"I'll help you," Dr. MacNare said. - -"No, you have to get ready. Besides don't you have to look up something -for one of the faculty?" - -"I'd forgotten," said Dr. MacNare. "Thanks for reminding me." - -After dinner he went directly to the study. Adam was sitting on the -floor playing with his wooden blocks. They were alphabet blocks, but he -didn't know that yet. The summer project was going to be teaching him -the alphabet. Already, though, he preferred placing them in straight -rows rather than stacking them up. - -At seven o'clock Alice rapped on the door to the study. - -"Time to get dressed, Joe," she called. - -"You'll be all right while we're gone, Adam?" Dr. MacNare said. - -"I be all right, papa," Adam said. "I sleep." - -"That's good," Dr. MacNare said. "I'll turn out the light." - -At the door he waited until Adam had sat down in the chair he always -slept on, and settled himself. Then he pushed the switch just to the -right of the door and went out. - -"Hurry, dear," Alice called. - -"I'm hurrying," Dr. MacNare protested--and, for the first time, he -forgot to lock the study door. - -The bathroom was next to the study, the wall between them soundproofed -by a ceiling-high bookshelf in the study filled with thousands of -books. On the other side was the master bedroom, with a closet with -sliding panels that opened both on the bedroom and the bathroom. These -sliding panels were partly open, so that Dr. MacNare and Alice could -talk. - -"Did you lock the study door?" - -"Of course," Dr. MacNare said. "But I'll check before we leave." - -"How is Adam taking being alone tonight?" Alice called. - -"Okay," Dr. MacNare said. "Damn!" - -"What's the matter, Joe?" - -"I forgot to get razor blades." - -The conversation died down. - -Alice MacNare finished dressing. - -"Aren't you ready yet, Joe?" she called. "It's almost a quarter to -eight." - -"Be right with you. I nicked myself shaving with an old blade. The -bleeding's almost stopped now." - -Alice went into the living room. Paul had turned on the TV and was -sprawled out on the rug. - -"You be sure and stay home, and be in bed by nine thirty, Paul," she -said. "Promise?" - -"Ah, Mom," he protested. "Well, all right." - -Dr. MacNare came into the room, still working on his tie. A moment -later they went out the front door. They had been gone less than five -minutes when there was a knock. Paul jumped to his feet and opened the -door. - -"Hi, Fred, Tony, Bill," he said. - -The boys, all nine years old, sprawled on the rug and watched -television. It became eight o'clock, eight thirty, and finally five -minutes to nine. The commercial began. - -"Where's your bathroom?" Tony asked. - -"In there," Paul said, pointing vaguely at the doorway to the hall. - -Tony got up off the floor and went into the hall. He saw several doors, -all looking much alike. He picked one and opened it. It was dark -inside. He felt along the wall for a light switch and found it. Light -flooded the room. He stared at what he saw for perhaps ten seconds, -then turned and ran down the hall to the living room. - -"Say, Paul!" he said. "You never said anything about having a real -honest to gosh robot!" - -"What are you talking about?" Paul said. - -"In that room in there!" Tony said. "Come on. I'll show you!" - -The TV program forgotten, Paul, Fred, and Bill crowded after him. A -moment later they stood in the doorway to the study, staring in awe at -the strange figure of metal that sat motionless in a chair across the -room. - -Adam, it seems certain, was asleep, and had not been wakened by this -intrusion nor the turning on of the light. - -"Gee!" Paul said. "It belongs to Dad. We'd better get out of here." - -"Naw," Tony said with a feeling of proprietorship at having been the -original discoverer. "Let's take a look. He'll never know about it." - -They crossed the room slowly, until they were close up to the robot -figure, marveling at it, moving around it. - -"Say!" Bill whispered, pointing. "What's that in there? It looks like -a white rat with its head stuck into that kind of helmet thing." - -They stared at it a moment. - -"Maybe it's dead. Let's see." - -"How you going to find out?" - -"See those hinges on the cover?" Tony said importantly. "Watch." With -cautious skill he opened the transparent back half of the dome, and -reached in, wrapping his fingers around the white rat. - -He was unable to get it loose, but he succeeded in pulling its head -free of the helmet. - -At the same time Adam awoke. - -"Ouch!" Tony cried, jerking his hand away. "He bit me!" - -"He's alive all right," Bill said. "Look at him glare!" He prodded the -body of the rat and pulled his hand away quickly as the rat lunged. - -"Gee, look at its eyes," Paul said nervously. "They're getting -blood-shot." - -"Dirty old rat!" Tony said vindictively, jabbing at the rat with his -finger and evading the snapping teeth. - -"Get its head back in there!" Paul said desperately. "I don't want papa -to find out we were in here!" He reached in, driven by desperation, -pressing the rat's head between his fingers and forcing it back into -the tight fitting helmet. - -Immediately screaming sounds erupted from the lips of the robot. (It -was determined by later examination that only when the rat's body was -completely where it should be were the circuits operable.) - -"Let's get out of here!" Tony shouted, and dived for the door, thereby -saving his life. - -"Yeah! Let's get out of here!" Fred shouted as the robot figure rose to -its feet. Terror enabled him to escape. - -Bill and Paul delayed an instant too long. Metal fingers seized them. -Bill's arm snapped halfway between shoulder and elbow. He screamed with -pain and struggled to free himself. - -Paul was unable to scream. Metal fingers gripped his shoulder, with -a metal thumb thrust deeply against his larynx, paralyzing his vocal -cords. - -Fred and Tony had run into the front room. There they waited, ready to -start running again. They could hear Bill's screams. They could hear -a male voice jabbering nonsense, and finally repeating over and over -again, "Oh my, oh my, oh my," in a tone all the more horrible because -it portrayed no emotion whatever. - -Then there was silence. - -The silence lasted several minutes. Then Bill began to sniffle, rubbing -his knuckles in his eyes. "I wanta go home," he whimpered. - -"Me too." - -They took each other's hand and tiptoed to the front door, watching the -open doorway to the hall. When they reached the front door Tony opened -it, and when it was open they ran, not stopping to close the door -behind them. - - * * * * * - -There isn't much more to tell. It is known that Tony and Bill arrived -at their respective homes, saying nothing of what had happened. Only -later did they come forward and admit their share in the night's events. - -Joe and Alice MacNare arrived home from the party at Professor Long's -at twelve thirty, finding the front door wide open, the lights on in -the living room, and the television on. - -Sensing that something was wrong, Alice hurried to her son's room and -discovered he wasn't there. While she was doing that, Joe shut the -front door and turned off the television. - -Alice returned to the living room, eyes round with alarm, and said, -"Paul's not in his room!" - -"Adam!" Joe croaked, and rushed into the hallway, with Alice following -more slowly. - -She reached the open door of the study in time to see the robot figure -pounce on Joe and fasten its metal fingers about his throat, crushing -vertebrae and flesh alike. - -Oblivious to her own danger, she rushed to rescue her already dead -husband, but the metal fingers were inflexible. Belatedly she abandoned -the attempt and ran into the hallway to the phone. - -When the police arrived, they found her slumped against the wall in -the hallway. She pointed toward the open doorway of the study, without -speaking. - -The police rushed into the study. At once there came the sounds of -shots. Dozens of them, it seemed. Later both policemen admitted that -they lost their heads and fired until their guns were empty. - -But it was not yet the end of Adam. - -It would perhaps be impossible to conceive the full horror of his last -hours, but we can at least make a guess. Asleep when the boys entered -the study, he awakened to a world he had never before perceived except -very vaguely and under the soporific veil of opiate. - -But it was a world vastly different even than that. There is no way of -knowing what he saw--probably blurred ghostly figures, monstrous beyond -the ability of his mind to grasp, for his eyes were adjusted only to -the series of prisms and lenses that enabled him to see and cooerdinate -the images brought to him through the eyes of the robot. - -He saw these impossible figures, he felt pain and torture that were -not of the flesh as he knew it, but of the spirit; agony beyond agony -administered by what he could only believe were fiends from some nether -hell. - -And then, abruptly, as ten-year-old Paul shoved his head back into the -helmet, the world he had come to believe was reality returned. It was -as though he had returned to the body from some awful pit of hell, with -the soul sickness still with him. - -Before him he saw four human-like figures of reality, but beings unlike -the only two he had ever seen. Smaller, seeming to be a part of the -unbelievable nightmare he had been in. Two of them fled, two were -within his grasp. - -Perhaps he didn't know what he was doing when he killed Paul and -Bill. It's doubtful if he had the ability to think at all then, only -to tremble and struggle in his pitiful little rat body, with the -automatic mechanisms of the robot acting from those frantic motions. - -But it is known that there were three hours between the deaths of the -two boys and the entry of Dr. MacNare at twelve thirty, and during -those three hours he would have had a chance to recover, and to think, -and to partially rationalize the nightmare he had experienced in realms -outside what to him was the world of reality. - -Adam must certainly have been calm enough, rational enough, to -recognize Dr. MacNare when he entered the study at twelve thirty. - -Then why did Adam deliberately kill Joe by breaking his neck? Was it -because, in that three hours, he had put together the evidence of his -senses and come to the realization that he was not a man but a rat? - -It's not likely. It is much more likely that Adam came to some -aberrated conclusion dictated by the superstitious feelings that had -grown so strongly into his strange and unique existence, that dictated -he must kill Joseph. - -For it would have been impossible for him to have realized that he was -only a rat. You see, Joseph MacNare had taken great care that Adam -never, in all his life, should see _another_ rat. - - * * * * * - -There remains only the end of Adam to relate. - -Physically it can be only anticlimactic. With his metal body out -of commission from a dozen or so shots, two of which destroyed the -robot extensions of his eyes, he remained helpless until the coroner -carefully removed him. - -To the coroner he was just a white rat, and a strangely helpless one, -unable to walk or stand as rats are supposed to. Also a strangely -vicious one, with red little beads of eyes and lips drawn back from -sharp teeth the same as some rabid wild animal. - -The coroner had no way of knowing that somewhere in that small, -menacing form there was a noble but lost mentality that knew itself as -Adam, and held thoughts of a strange and wonderful realm of peace and -splendor beyond the grasp of the normal physical senses. - -The coroner could not know that the erratic motions of that small left -front foot, if connected to the proper mechanisms, would have been -audible as, perhaps, a prayer, a desperate plea to whatever lay in the -Great Beyond to come down and rescue its humble creature. - -"Vicious little bastard," the coroner said nervously to the homicide -men gathered around Dr. MacNare's desk. - -"Let me take care of it," said one of the detectives. - -"No," the coroner answered. "I'll do it." - -Quickly, so as not to be bitten, he picked Adam up by the tip of the -tail and slammed him forcefully against the top of the desk. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rat in the Skull, by Rog Phillips - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAT IN THE SKULL *** - -***** This file should be named 60614.txt or 60614.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/6/1/60614/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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