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diff --git a/old/68733-0.txt b/old/68733-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9c5f631..0000000 --- a/old/68733-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4874 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The kingdom of the blind, by George O. -Smith - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The kingdom of the blind - -Author: George O. Smith - -Release Date: August 12, 2022 [eBook #68733] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KINGDOM OF THE -BLIND *** - - - - - - The Kingdom of the Blind - - By GEORGE O. SMITH - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Startling Stories, July 1947. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - CHAPTER I - - _Amnesiac!_ - - -Doctor Pollard, psychologist, seemed puzzled. - -"This has happened before," he remarked. - -"Too often," said the director of the laboratory. - -Doctor Pollard nodded in silent agreement. He faced the well-dressed -man seated asprawl in the chair before him and asked, "You have never -heard of James Forrest Carroll?" - -"No," said the other man. - -"But you are James Forrest Carroll." - -"No." - -The laboratory director shrugged. "This is no place for me," he said. -"If I can do anything--?" - -"You can do nothing, Majors. As with the others this case is almost -complete amnesia. Memory completely shot. Even the trained-in mode of -speech is limited to guttural monosyllables and grunts." - -John Majors shook his head, partly in pity and partly in sheer -withdrawal at such a calamity. - -"He was a brilliant man." - -"If he follows the usual pattern, he'll never be brilliant again," -Doctor Pollard continued. "From I.Q. one hundred and eighty down to -about seventy. That's tough to take--for his friends and associates, -that is. He'll be alone in the world until we can bring his knowledge -up to the low I.Q. he owns now. He'll have to make new friends for his -old ones will find him dull and he'll not understand them. His family--" - -"No family." - -"None? A healthy specimen like Carroll at thirty-three years? No wife, -chick nor child? No relations at all." - -"Uncles and cousins only," sighed John Majors. - -The psychologist shook his head. "Women friends?" - -"Several but few close enough." - -"Could that be it?" mused the psychologist. Then he answered his own -question by stating that the other cases were not devoid of spouse or -close relation. - -"I am about to abandon the study of the Lawson Radiation," said Majors -seriously. "It's taken four of my top technicians in the last five -years. This--affliction seems to follow a set course. It doesn't happen -to people who have other jobs that I know of. Only those who are near -the top in the Lawson Laboratory." - -"It might be sheer frustration," offered Dr. Pollard. "I understand -that the Lawson Radiation is about as well understood now as it was -when discovered some thirty years ago." - -"Just about," smiled Majors wearily. "However, you know as well as -I that people going to work at the Lawson Laboratory are thoroughly -checked to ascertain and certify that frustration will not drive them -insane. - -"Research is a study in frustration anyway, and most scientists are -frustrated by the ever-present inability of getting something without -having to give something else up for it." - -"Perhaps I should check them every six months instead of every year," -suggested the psychologist. - -"Good idea if it can be done without arousing their fears." - -"I see what you mean." - -Majors took his hat from the rack and left the doctor's office. Pollard -addressed the man in the chair again. - -"You are James Forrest Carroll." - -"No." - -"I have proof." - -"No." - -"Remove your shirt." - -"No." - -This was getting nowhere. There had to be a question that could not be -answered with a grunted monosyllable. - -"Will you remove your shirt or shall I have it done by force?" - -"Neither!" - -That was better--technically. - -"Why do you deny my right to prove your identity?" - -This drew no answer at all. - -"You deny my right because you know that you have your name, blood -type, birth-date and scientific roster number tattooed on your chest -below your armpit." - -"No." - -"But you have--and I know it because I've seen it." - -"No." - -"You cannot deny your other identification. The eye-retina pattern, the -Bertillion, the fingerprints, the scalp-pattern?" - -"No." - -"I thought not," said the doctor triumphantly. "Now understand, -Carroll. I am trying to help you. You are a brilliant man--" - -"No." This was not modesty cropping up, but the same repeating of the -basic negative reply. - -"You are and have been. You will be once again after you stop fighting -me and try to help. Why do you wish to fight me?" - - * * * * * - -Carroll stirred uneasily in his chair. "Pain," he said with a tremble -of fear in his voice. - -"Where is this pain?" asked the doctor gently. - -"All over." - -The doctor considered that. The same pattern again--a psychotic denial -of identity and a fear of pain at the dimly-grasped concept of return. -Pollard turned to the sheets of notes on his desk. James Forrest -Carroll had been a brilliant theorist and excellent from the practical -standpoint too. - -Thirty-three years old and in perfect health, his enjoyment of life -was basically sound and he was about as stable as any physicist in the -long list of scientific and technical men known to the Solar System's -scientists. - -Yesterday he had been brilliant--working on a problem that had stumped -the technicians for thirty years. Today he was not quite bright, -denying his brilliance with a vicious refusal to help. He remembered -nothing of his work, obviously. - -"You know what the Lawson Radiation is?" - -"No," came the instant reply but a slight twinge of pain-syndrome -crossed his face. - -"You do not want to remember because you think you will have to go back -to the Lawson Lab?" - -"I--don't know it--" faltered James Forrest Carroll. It was obviously a -lie. - -"If I promise that you will never be asked about it?" - -"No," said Carroll uneasily. Then with the first burst of real -intelligence he had shown since his stumbling body had been picked up -by the Terran Police, Carroll added, "You cannot stop me from thinking -about it." - -"Then you do know it?" - -Carroll relapsed instantly. "No," he said sullenly. - -Dr. Pollard nodded. "Tomorrow?" he pleaded. - -"Why?" - -Pollard knew that the wish to aid Carroll would fall on deaf ears. -Carroll did not care to be helped. There were other ways. - -"Because I must do my job or I shall be released," said Pollard. "You -must permit me to try, at least. Will you?" - -"I--yes." - -"Good. No one will know that I am not trying hard. But we'll make it -look good?" - -"Yes." - -"Do you know where your home is?" asked Pollard with his mental fingers -crossed. - -"No." - -Pollard sighed. - -"Then you stay here. Miss Farragut will show you a quiet room where you -can sleep. Tomorrow we'll find your home from the files. Then you can -go home." - -Pollard got out of there. He knew that Carroll would not leave--could -not leave. He prescribed a husky sedative to be put in Carroll's last -drink of water for the night and went home himself, his mind humming -with speculation. - - * * * * * - -The conference was composed of Pollard, Majors, and most of the other -key men in the Lawson Laboratory. Pollard spoke first. - -"James Carroll is a victim of a rather deep-seated amnesia," he said. -"Amnesia is, of course, a mechanism of the mind set up to avoid -some bitter reality. In Carroll's case, not only is the amnesia -passive--some warning agency in Carroll's amnesiac mind warns him that -regaining his true identity will result in great pain. - -"It is something concerned with his work. We'd like to know what about -the study of the Lawson Radiation could produce such a painful reality." - -"We all get a bit fed up at times," remarked Tom Jackwell. "It's -heartbreaking to sit daily and try things that never do anything." - -"We are like an aborigine, born on an isolated island three hundred -yards in diameter who has just discovered that certain blackish rocks -tend to attract one another and point north. Amusing for a time, but -what is it good for and what ungodly mechanism causes it?" said Majors -with a shrug. - -"Just what is the latest theory on the Lawson Radiation?" asked Pollard. - -"You guess," said John Majors ruefully. "We've had too many theories -already. The Lawson Radiation is a strange creation out of Boötes by -Arcturus, and borne like Zephyr on the wind. - -"Certain elemental minerals, when in contact with other minerals, -produce a pulsing radiofrequency current which can be detected after -more amplification than the human mind can contemplate sensibly. - -"The frequency output depends upon the type of minerals used, and it is -completely random so far as any consistent pattern goes. Some elemental -minerals are no good, some are excellent." - -"You've made determinant charts?" - -"Naturally. But there's no determinant. After I said elemental -minerals, I should have said that this was the original premise. Now -we have a detector working with helium gas surrounding a block of lead -bromide. - -"Lead and helium are no good, helium and bromine equally poor. Lead -and bromide are no good--as long as it lasts. Now don't ask me if the -combination of the elements interferes. One good detector operates so -wonderfully all the time, that a bit of yellow phosphorus is forming -phosphorus pentoxid because it is suspended in an atmosphere of pure -oxygen." - -"No apparent determining factors, hey?" - -"None. You might as well pick out the elements with six-letter names. -The periodic chart looks like the scatter-pattern of an open-choke -shotgun. Water works fine when it is contained in a glass vessel, but -in anything else we know of--no dice." - -"You seem to have covered a multitude of things," said Dr. Pollard -approvingly. - -"We've had a corps of brilliant, imaginative technicians working on the -theory and practise for thirty years. Every one of them has come up -with a number of elemental detecting combinations. We're now working on -four and five element permutations. - -"With and without plain and complex electrostatic and magnetic -fields--and mixtures of both. We've gone logically as far as we can -under a system that demands that we try everything. In each set of -permutations, we cover all. You know our motto." - -Majors finished with a slight laugh. He pointed to the end of the -conference room, where, lettered on the wall above the blackboard was-- - - LEAVE NO TURN UNSTONED! - -"Where does it come from?" asked Pollard innocently. - -"Take a fifteen-degree angle from the middle of Boötes. Maybe Arcturus -for all we know. Somewhere within fifteen degrees of an arbitrary point -up there. A total conic solid angle of thirty degrees will encompass -all but wisps of the stuff that filter through once in a year or so." - -"And the velocity of propagation?" - -"That's the simplest thing to check. The pulses from the Lawson -Radiation follow random patterns. A segment printed along a time-scale -can be matched to another segment of the same radiation taken from the -other side of the solar system. - -"It's never perfect enough to do more than approximate the answer, but -we've got to get a lot more dispersion than the breadth of the orbit -of the planet Pluto before we can detect any time-delay--and if we go -too far the synchronization of our test equipment gets more and more -difficult. You guess." - -Pollard thought for a moment. "I can't hope to know all the angles," he -said. "This is sufficient until I have to know more about it. Now tell -me what might drive a man into instability?" - -"You tell us," laughed Majors shortly. His laugh was not genuine for he -felt the loss of Carroll deeply. - -"Is there any insoluble dilemma in this at all?" - -"Not that we know of." - -Pollard nodded. "People are always confronted with insoluble dilemmas -of one sort or another, but most of them could be avoided entirely by -a slight change in personal attitude. The man who cannot get a job -because of inexperience, and can get no experience for lack of job is -in an insoluble dilemma. - -"But it is usually resolved before the subject gets too deeply involved -with his whirly. Someone always turns up needing some sort of help at -any cost, and that gives the required experience which can be magnified -by the applicant. - -"Is it safe to assume that all of these four people who have turned -up with the same affliction might have turned up with some terrific -answer that drove them into a tizzy?" asked Pollard. - -"Who knows?" grumbled Majors irritably. "Might be." - -"What sort of answer would drive a man insane?" asked Jackwell. "If a -man is seeking an answer to a specific question, and he has no penalty -for not answering, what then?" - - * * * * * - -Majors wrinkled his forehead. "If the answer meant danger--of any sort?" - -"No," said Pollard positively. "If it were social danger he would call -for aid and tell the authorities. If it were personal danger, he'd run, -and use his mind to avoid it." - -"And if it could not be averted?" - -Pollard still shook his head. "Men of Carroll's stability do not go -insane when faced with personal danger or even certain death. How about -his notes?" - -"Nothing in them that seems out of line," said Majors. "Just the same -'no effect' or 'no improvement' conclusions." - -"See here," said Pollard. "Do you have to use these improved detectors -on the natural radiation?" - -"Of course," said Majors. "We don't know what the Lawson Radiation is, -and therefore we have no way of simulating it in our lab. What has us -stumped is that the detectors go on detecting Lawson Effects while -they're sitting on a fission-pile with no increase in noise-level or -signal." Majors smiled unhappily. - -"That is, they do until the nuclear bombardment transmutes one of the -detector-elements into another one that is ineffective. So far nothing -we can pour into any of them will result in an indication." - -Dr. Pollard shook his head. "This has been of some help," he said. "But -the big job of gaining his confidence and bringing him back is still -ahead of me. I think this will be all for now. May I count on your -co-operation again?" - -"Any time," said Majors. "We need Carroll--which is quite aside from -the fact that we all like him and it hurts to see him as he is now." - -The conference broke up, and Dr. Pollard left the Lawson Laboratory -and headed slowly toward the hospital where James Carroll was still -sleeping. - -He was praying for a miracle. A mere human, he felt ignorant, helpless, -blind against the sheer disinterest that emanated from Carroll's -blacked-out intelligence. Not so much for the problem of the Lawson -Radiation would Pollard like to bring James Carroll back to himself -as for the benefit of the man--and mankind--for Carroll had been a -definite asset. - -And then Pollard stopped thinking on the subject, for he found himself -rolling around in a tight circle in the problem. Did he want Carroll or -did he want to find out what Carroll had learned that drove him crazy? - -To bring him back to full usefulness--that was admitting that his -interest was as much for the benefit of science as for the man. Science -in Carroll's case meant years and years of intense study of that one -particular field. - -He was rationalizing, he knew, and he went further by admitting that -bringing Carroll back to full intelligence again meant that, unless the -man regained his ability to remember and work on the Lawson Radiation, -his return was incomplete. Would he bring Carroll back--only to have -the man return to this rare state of amnesia at the first touch of -something--and who knew what? - -Pollard closed his mind and returned to the hospital. - -But the days passed with no hope. Carroll was forced to admit his -identity and that was all. His mind meticulously avoided any contact -with the Lawson Radiation. In fact, any minor gains Pollard made were -lost instantly when any phase of Carroll's former studies was mentioned. - -Eventually James Carroll went home. Pollard could keep him there no -longer. The former physicist returned daily, and Pollard helped the man -to make plans for the future. That hurt deeply, for Pollard had to sit -there, helpless to do anything about the man's lack of intellect. - -Things that a normal man would take for granted in his daily life -Pollard had to outline in detail as planning. Luckily Carroll had -financial independence--or unluckily, perhaps, for maybe a job of some -sort might have been good therapy. - -The trouble was that Pollard could not make his own mental adjustment -to see the former, very brilliant James Forrest Carroll working for a -pittance by digging ditches or slogging away his life in a menial job. - -As the days grew into weeks the pattern of Carroll's new life became -fixed in the man's mind and he found it unnecessary to return daily to -the hospital for advice. - -And Dr. Pollard gave up, himself a fine case of frustration. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - _Double Trouble_ - - -James Forrest Carroll was lazily happy with himself. His needs were -quite simple and the apartment he lived in was far beyond them. He -had a gnawing doubt that he could keep it forever, because there was -something about money that did not jibe. - -He could not make enough money to maintain it--and he did not need it -anyway. But it was very nice and he viewed it as any normal man might -view living in his own ideal home, complete with everything that he -ever hoped to have. - -He awoke in the morning by physical habit, dressed by instinct and -his breakfast was served by the housekeeper. Then he left the place -and roamed. He saw the parks and enjoyed with primitive pleasure the -greenery and the natural settings of tree, grass and sky. The park -squirrels knew no fear of him and he found them interesting. Perhaps he -subconsciously envied their obvious adjustment to their environment. - -He visited an art institute once but never returned because it made him -uneasy. The same was true of the museum of natural history, though it -was more to his liking than the artificial art. - -On the same street was a museum of science which, because of a -strange arrangement of windows, portico, and row of columns, took on -a distorted picture of a grinning giant that threatened to swallow -whoever entered. Carroll, without knowing the subconscious connection, -feared and avoided it even though he had to cross the street to pass it. - -They took him from a planetarium once--screaming in fear and crying -to be set free. Claustrophobia, one "expert" said, but he didn't know -that Carroll had been mentally sitting in deep space with no solidity -beneath him when he started to scream. - -He--got along. - -There was no apparent advance. His actions in life were normal to his -preamnesiac self on minor items. He preferred the better restaurants, -took an instinctive liking to the same good clothing that he had lived -with before. In all outward respects James Forrest Carroll was a -well-to-do man without the mental right to carry that position. - -Occasionally it bothered him that something was wrong but he avoided -the reason for it. - -_Why am I?_ he asked himself again and again. _What has happened?_ His -evenings were spent in roaming, just walking the quiet streets and -trying to think of why he was puzzled. On these walks he noticed little -of his fellow men and their actions. If they wanted to be as they were, -James Carroll was not to bother them. - -He often pondered the question of how he would react if one of them -called upon him or spoke to him. Then, he thought, he would act. But -he was not to criticize nor object to the way in which his fellow man -conducted himself so long as it did not bother James Forrest Carroll. - -This wonder of what he would do took ups and downs. There were times -when he wished someone would act toward him so that he could find out -about himself. At other times he did not care. At still other times he -knew that how he would act depended entirely upon the circumstances. -In the final analysis, however, Carroll's first act toward anyone came -from sheer instinct rather than from any plan. - -A girl emerged from a building carrying a file-box of papers. It was -dusk and she was hurrying along the street before him by fifty feet. It -was obvious that her last job for the day was the delivery of this box -of papers to some other building and, once it was delivered, she was -finished. That Carroll understood. - -She stopped for traffic at the end of the block and as she stood there, -a large car drove up to the curb and stopped beside her. Idly she -turned and walked to the car slowly, opened the door and started to -enter. - -That struck a hidden chord in Carroll's mind. - -"Hey!" he exploded, running forward to the car. His voice startled her -and she partly turned. A hand emerged from within the car and grabbed -the box of papers. Carroll arrived at that instant and grabbed for the -other end. There was a quick struggle and the box opened and a hundred -sheets of notes were strewn on the sidewalk. - - * * * * * - -The girl stooped and scooped the papers up roughly, shoving them back -in the box helter-skelter and clapping the top back on. Carroll did not -see this, for the occupant of the back seat was coming out angrily at -this instant. - -Carroll reached forward and clipped the stranger on the nose, driving -him back into the car. The driver's companion snapped his door open, -grabbed the box, hurled the girl asprawl on the floor of the back seat. -The car leaped away, leaving Carroll standing there in wonder. - -That girl--he should know her. Those papers were important to someone. -He stooped and picked one last one up and stared at it. It made no -sense. - -He took it home. It pained him to read it but someone was in bad -trouble because of it, and Carroll did not like the idea of a woman -being in trouble over a sheet of paper--or a hundred sheets of paper. -It made no sense, and he gave up, tired. - -But he returned to the same corner at dusk the following evening. And -the same girl emerged from the same building with the same box and -hurried along the same walk. The same car came up and she entered it -this time, and it drove slowly off in the direction she wanted to go. - -Carroll's instinctive shout died in his throat. The car turned off -about one square further and disappeared. Carroll stood idly on the -corner, wondering what to do next. For fifteen minutes he stood there, -thinking. Then the car returned, turned the corner, and stopped. The -girl emerged and walked up the street for a thousand yards and turned -into a building with her box of papers. - -Carroll waited in front of the building for her. As she came out she -saw him and her face lighted up with mingled pleasure and puzzlement. - -"Hello, Mr. Carroll," she said brightly. - -"Are you all right?" he asked her. - -"Fine," she said. "And you?" - -"I was concerned about you last night," he told her. "What happened?" - -"Why--nothing happened to me." Her eyes widened in wonder and in them -he saw some unknown uneasiness. He smiled at her paternally. - -"Do this every night?" he asked. - -"Uh-huh. You know that I have for years." - -Her name was Sally. And Carroll wondered how he should come to know her -name. But--she knew his. Or at least she knew what everybody claimed -was his name, and what was tattooed on his body. - -He wondered again, and in wondering, let the opportunity for further -conversation pass. The girl was impatient and said, "You must come back -to us someday." - -"That I will," he said--but it was to her retreating back. Sally was -hurrying up the street again. - -Strange, he thought. Does she ride in that car every night? And if -he--or they--were friends, why was there a bit of fight last evening? -Why was Sally surprised at his question about last evening? She seemed -to ignore the fact that she had been roughly hurled into the black car -and that he had tried to help her. She shouldn't be riding in strange -cars all over the city when important papers were in her possession. - -He watched her every evening for a week after that, just to see. And -every night the same performance was played. It bothered Carroll, and -he determined to see what was going on. - -The next evening he was in front of her building as she came out. Her -face again lighted up. - -"Hello, Mr. Carroll," she said brightly. "Can't stay away?" - -"No," he smiled, wondering _away from what?_ "Mind if I walk along?" - -"Not at all," she said. There was no uneasiness in her now. Carroll was -safe enough, an amnesia victim according to Dr. Pollard, who had told -her to cultivate his friendship if she could. Sally and Dr. Pollard had -been in a three hour conference on the day after Carroll had met her -outside of the typing bureau. So Sally was prepared. - -"Mind?" he said, reaching for the box. - -"I shouldn't let you," she said seriously. "I'm charged with their -delivery, you know. But--I guess you may, Mr. Carroll. I know it makes -a man feel foolish to walk along with a woman carrying a big bundle. Go -ahead." - - * * * * * - -He took it. Now they'd have to deal with him! - -They came to the corner, stopped for traffic and Carroll looked about -him nervously. He was expecting trouble of some sort, but no trouble -came. The lights changed with absolutely no sign of that black sedan -and, as they were in mid-street, Sally said, "Mind if we stop off at -the drug store for a sandwich?" - -"Is that all right?" he countered. - -"Yes," she said. "I live a long ride from here and the typing bureau is -on the way to the station. I asked Mr. Majors if this was okay, and he -said it was. I've been doing this every night, now, for months." - -"But the--" he stubbed his toe on the far curb and stumbled. - -She laughed. "I'm sorry," she said, "but the picture of the great James -Carroll stumbling over a curb--" - -"What's so peculiar about me falling over a curb?" he demanded. - -Sally blushed. Her remark had been instinctive. To her youth, barely -out of adolescence, a brilliant physicist of thirty-five years should -not be heir to the mundane misfortunes of the ordinary mortal. But she -knew that she should not call attention to his past at all. - -"Nothing," she chuckled. "Excepting the sight of a man trying to -keep his balance and hang on to a box at the same time. Just struck -my funnybone. I was not laughing at you; I was laughing more at the -situation. Please--" - -He nodded absently. They entered the drug store and sat down. She -ordered and he repeated it. - -"Doesn't this spoil your dinner?" he asked. - -"Nope. It's a long ride home and by the time I get there I'm hungry all -over again." - -"I suppose this snack is a sort of habit," he remarked idly. - -"Uh-huh," she answered. "But it isn't too bad a habit." - -He nodded in silent agreement. The sandwich came and was finished in a -short time, after which Carroll and his young companion left the drug -store. - -Carroll took a quick look around him as they left but there was no car -near them. He walked with her to the typing bureau, waited outside for -her and then walked with her to the station. Then he went home to ask -himself a multitude of questions. - -This was her regular procedure. She said so. But which procedure was -regular? Her drugstore and sandwich habit or the taking of a joyride -with the characters in the car? - -He picked up the paper she had dropped on the first encounter and -looked it over. It was a formal report on the testing of some equipment -that was too complex to understand. Something about a trimetal contact -in an atmosphere of neon, completely sealed in a double-wall shield of -copper with a low noise-level radio amplifier stage enclosed with the -samples of metal in gas. - -It became vaguely familiar after about an hour of study but it was -painfully difficult for him to concentrate on such an abstract idea. - -He considered again. Perhaps his presence had scared off the men in -the black car. He'd do it differently next time. Again he watched her -for a solid week--watched her reach the corner, turn, enter the black -car--watched her return and continue on down the street with her box -after fifteen minutes of being completely gone. - -Then for the second week he watched from the drugstore. - -And he emerged more puzzled than ever. For Sally joined him daily and -talked with him as she had learned to do. - -Then, to top his confusion, he watched the girl enter the car and drive -off one day, after which he entered the store across the corner, to see -Sally sitting there waiting for her sandwich and obviously expecting -him. - -"You're late," she said with a smile. - -"I'm confused," he said dully. - -"Did you ever see a big black sedan?" he asked her. - -"Lots of them," she said. "Why?" - -"Any one that you especially noted?" - -"No. Most of them are filled with people going somewhere in a hurry," -she returned with a laugh. "I often wish I had a car--or a friend with -a car. I haven't got any--at least none that work in this region of -the city." - -"Uh," he grunted. "I've got to hurry," he said with what he knew to be -unpardonable shortness. "See you tomorrow?" - - * * * * * - -She nodded, and Carroll went out on the street in time to see her -emerge from the black car and finish her delivery of the package to the -typing bureau. He looked back into the store, but she was gone. Nor had -she passed him. - -That was enough for Carroll. He sought Dr. Pollard and told him the -story. Pollard looked up with pleasure. James Carroll's acceptance of -such a problem and the attempt to figure it out was an excellent sign. -He could give no answer, of course until ... - -"Then come along," said Carroll. "We've time." - -They went silently. Carroll pointed out the black car as it approached -the curb and then took Pollard into the store to meet Sally. She -greeted them pleasantly and did not demur when they left precipitately -because she knew that Dr. Pollard was trying to help Mr. Carroll out of -his difficulty. Carroll showed Sally's return from the black car, and -the subsequent delivery of the box of papers to the typing bureau. - -"Carroll," said the psychologist sadly, "forget it!" - -"Forget it?" demanded Carroll. - -"I saw no black car. You claim that Sally walked to the corner, turned -away and entered a black sedan. Actually--though I said nothing--Sally -crossed the street and entered the store. As we finished there and left -she followed us, passed us on the sidewalk and delivered her package. -This is merely a delusion, James." - -"Delusion?" said Carroll doubtfully. "Am I--Am I...? - -"I plead with you, James. Let me give you psychiatric help? Please?" - -Carroll considered. Delusion--he must be going mad. "I'll be in to see -you tomorrow," he said. - -Pollard took a deep breath. - -"Thank God!" he said. - -James Carroll returned home in a dither. Regardless of the pain -of--whatever it was--he was going to go through with this. Delusions -and hallucinations of that vividness should not be. He must be in a -severe mental state. He hadn't believed them when they told him that he -had been a brilliant physicist. But this well-proven hallucination was -final. And before he got worse.... - -James Carroll was in a state over his state by the time he opened his -front door. He entered the room, looking idly about him, half in fear -of what he might see next. - -What he saw was the sheet of paper with the report on it. - -Could you feel an hallucination? Could you read an hallucination? How -could a man with five nominal senses, all run by one brain, reach any -decision? - -He pressed the button on his wall and the housekeeper entered. - -"Mrs. Bagby, I am in a slight mental turmoil. Please trust me to the -extent of asking no questions but I beg of you to tell me exactly what -I will be doing for the next few minutes?" - -"I'll try," she said, knowing from Dr. Pollard all about Mr. Carroll's -state of mind. She was willing to help. - -"You are sitting at your desk, reading a sheet of paper upon which -are some handwritten notes and a sketch. Now you are rising. You have -just torn off an inch from the bottom of the page--where there is no -writing. You are lighting a match, touching it to the end of the paper. -It burns. - -"You are walking toward the fireplace--moving swiftly now because -the paper is burning rapidly. You drop it on the hearth--and the -already-laid fire is catching. The chimney is smoking a bit and you are -poking the fresh blaze." - -He turned and faced her. - -"Thanks," he said. "That's what I thought I was doing. Now, to avoid -a mental discussion of personal metaphysics, I must establish the -validity of this sheet of paper!" - -The housekeeper asked if there were anything more to do, and Carroll -shook his head idly. She left, and James Carroll faced himself in the -mirror. - -"Whose hallucination?" he asked himself. "Mine--or Pollard's?" - -He recalled a tale of a man so convinced of his hallucination of utter -smallness that he prepared trick pictures of himself, completely -overwhelmed in size by the common water-hydra and its associated -animalcules. Could he have prepared this report to support his own -belief? - -He smiled. Tomorrow he would know for certain! If his sheet were valid, -it would be missing from the files. If anybody had interfered with the -official channels of the reports it had been someone other than James -Forrest Carroll. Perhaps Dr. Pollard could identify the report. - -Then he'd know who was hallucinating! - - - - - CHAPTER III - - _Kidnaped!_ - - -Dr. Pollard finished telling his story to John Majors and said, "The -whole thing jells, John. Everything fits perfectly." - -"I don't see it," objected Majors. "How can a man driven into a -psychosis by overwork turn up concocting such a wild-eyed yarn as this -hallucination?" - -"Easily. Supposing that Carroll had come upon something basically -unsound. Suppose all the rest had done the same, the other three or -four. The tinkering with the notes is a normal justification for -him--if someone hadn't been tinkering with the notes, the problem might -have been solved long ago. - -"Mrs. Bagby called me just before you came in, remember. I've taken -time to inspect all the compiled notes prepared by the typing bureau -from a couple of days before Carroll's illness to the present date. -They're all present. I've also inspected the originals. There are -none missing. Carroll's note must be a psychotic attempt to prove his -sanity." - -"How could he prepare such?" wondered Majors. - -"Easily. It was done under a psychic block and the patient remembers -only the true--_his_ true--facts of how he found it on the street." - -"Then you believe that Carroll was not on that corner on the day he -first saw Sally get hauled into that black sedan?" - -"He may not have been there at all. We all knew Sally's habits and that -corner very well. That Carroll returned on the following days is a part -of his justification pattern. The whole thing is very logical. And it -is too bad. I was hoping that Carroll's interest in Sally was a glimmer -of returning interest in life and work." - -"The child is half his age," snorted Majors in derision. - -"All right. So she's about seventeen. I don't expect any real -attraction to develop--I'd feel much the same way about them if Sally -happened to have been Tommy, the co-op student. All I want is for -Carroll to have an interest in something or somebody. I'd gladly offer -my wife up as an item for his interest because I know that no fixations -would come of it." - -Majors scowled. "I couldn't say the same," he observed. - -"That's because you do not know Carroll's underlying personality. I do." - -"But you admit he's not the same man." - -"He isn't--but his sense of loyalty is not changed. So long as he's -that way there's hope for him." - -"But what do you intend to do about him?" - -Dr. Pollard laughed. "Me? I'm going to admit that maybe he has -something there, but that this thing is problematical. Oh-oh. He's -here," said Pollard, pointing to a winking pilot light above the door. -An instant later his nurse entered and was told to send Mr. Carroll in. - -"Can you prove the identity of anything?" demanded Carroll once the -opening greetings and informalities were finished. - -"It depends," said Pollard cautiously. - -"Well, I have a sheet of paper here that came from that first day when -I saw Sally confronted by the black sedan. Is this valid or is it -false?" - -"Since I can show you the original of that report, it must be false," -replied Pollard. "You see, Jim, regardless of whether you admit it or -not, you've been so close to the Lawson Radiation that you could easily -fake up what might be a quite valid report if you hoped to show some -proof." - -"But, good heavens, would I fake a report that I know will be matched -by the original?" - -"In your right mind, no. I don't know how much this last couple of -weeks of problem did to sharpen you up, Carroll. But remember that you -were hitting an I.Q. of about seventy after your--accident. A seventy -I.Q. might be that dense and can be that dense. - -"And, of course, the subconscious mind, hoping to salve your conscious -mind, might do it. Now that you know it is false, perhaps your -subconscious mind will bring forth something of a more convincing -nature." - -"If what I think is true," said Carroll slowly, "the same men who -intercept Sally every day are quite capable of producing as good a -counterfeit as I am!" - -"I claim that there are no men in a black sedan." - -"Oh?" - -"Tell me, Carroll, how do you rationalize the fact of two Sallys?" - -"I think there is something to all this that is far deeper than our -five senses will admit," said Carroll flatly. "Some agency is doing all -it can to prevent us from finding out about the Lawson Radiation!" - -Pollard scribbled "persecution complex, too," on his scratchpad in a -brand of his own unreadable shorthand. Then he said, "You're convinced -to the contrary?" - -"I am." - -"Tell you what I'll do," said Pollard. "Since you think this affair is -what you claim, I'm going to give you a chance to prove it. I'm going -to advance Sally into the mailing department and let you take over the -job of delivering those reports yourself. You feel that they might not -be able to pull the wool over your eyes?" - -"You know what I think?" said Carroll sharply. "I think that the days -that I joined Sally for her sandwich I took a ride with her in that -car, instead!" - -"How do you come to that conclusion?" asked the psychologist, -scribbling on his scratchpad. - -"Because every day that I watched I saw her enter the car. Every day I -was with her we saw no car. Could it be mass-hypnosis?" - -"It might--but why weren't you hypnotized?" - -"I don't know. Why have I got this amnesia?" - -"It isn't amnesia anymore," said the psychologist ruefully. "It is now -a definite psychic block against your former line of work, coupled with -self-justified hallucination." - -"I hate to puncture that bubble," said Pollard. "But I must. Take that -job and find out for yourself!" - -"I will," said James Carroll flatly. "You watch!" - -"Good!" - -"And I will not be stopping for sandwiches, either!" snapped Carroll. -"Or, I might add, anything else!" - - * * * * * - -James Carroll tucked the box underneath his arm and set out along the -street. He walked warily, keeping a sharp lookout for the black sedan. -A few hundred feet ahead of him he saw Sally turn into the drug store -for her habitual snack but he suppressed very quickly the impulse to -follow her and talk to her about the job. - -He stood on the corner of the square, waiting for traffic. It was a -reasonably long-time light for the crosstown road, and Carroll reached -for a cigarette. His pack was empty, so he crumpled it and tossed it in -the nearby waste-chute and looked about him questingly. - -The corner upon which he stood held a cigar store and James Carroll -entered the shop to buy cigarettes. The store was rather full and he -was forced to wait. - -And it came to him, then. During that wait it came to his -feebly-groping mind that this was the same sort of pattern that he -had seen before. Was this truth--or reality? He smiled, and as the -storekeeper came towards him, he looked the man in the eye and said: - -"When did you split me off?" - -There was a look of amazement on the proprietor's face--wonder, -puzzlement and a scowl of slight anger. - -"You heard me," said Carroll flatly. "What are you doing to my reports?" - -"You're nuts," said the storekeeper. - -"Am I?" replied Carroll lightly. "Then I'll tell you why. The Lawson -Radiation comes from a system of interstellar travel, used by some race -out in the Boötes region of the sky. The insoluble dilemma is how to go -out to learn the secret of interstellar travel when I need interstellar -travel to go out and ask the questions--" - -The man's face faded, distorted like a cheap oil-clay image under too -warm a light. - -The store flowed down, too, and swirled around in a grand melee of -semiplastic matter. The light inside the store darkened and the only -illumination within the rolling, churning store came from a light that -swung back and forth madly in front of the door. - -Carroll fell backwards into a cushion of soft-plastic floor which -bounced slightly under him from time to time. A low roaring mutter came -to his ears. The light continued to swing but it was swinging past a -window now and only in one direction. - -He opened his eyes wide and faced the man in the seat beside him. - -"Well?" he asked. - -"It isn't, very," growled the man. - -The driver turned, swore in a strange tongue and then turned the car -back. The driver's companion picked up a small phone and spoke rapidly -into it. The car rounded the block, re-passed the corner long enough to -pick up a man dressed as Carroll was. - -Halfway down the next block the man got out and took the box of -reports. Then the car drove away and, as it pulled away, Carroll felt -the jab of a needle in his thigh. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - _Face to Face_ - - -Slowly, the initial thought that filtered through the velvety, -comfortable blackness was that he was James Forrest Carroll. That -established, the rest came with a swift flow of fact and acceptance in -chronological order that brought him to the present date. - -It seemed almost instantaneous, this return to reality. Yet in his -drugged state, or rather the state of fighting off the last dregs of -the potion, Carroll did not recognize the long interim periods of -slumber. Actually it took him six hours to return to a full state of -wakefulness. He was unaware of the slumber periods and they subtracted -from his time-consciousness. - -When finally he did come fully awake, it was to look into the faces of -the two men who had abducted him. - -"Wh--?" he grunted, believing that he uttered a complete sentence -asking what the score was. - -"You know too much," said the man on the left. - -The implication did not filter in at first. It came very slowly that -one who knew too much was often prevented from telling it to the right -people. - -Then he said, "What are you going to do to me?" - -"Eliminate you," came the cold answer. - -The other man shook his head slowly. "No," he said. "Not at once." - -The first one turned abruptly. "Look, Kingallis," he snapped, "This one -is a definite threat." - -"And there may be others," smiled Kingallis. "We could easily eliminate -him. And we will but only after we locate exactly what there is about -him that permits him to be a threat to us. There may be others. We must -stop them." - -Sargenuti nodded in a sardonic manner. "Even in the face of a threat -the great Doctor Kingallis must experiment!" - -"I'll have none of your sarcasm!" snapped Kingallis. "You are not my -equal by four groups. You are my underling and will therefore do my -bidding with no quarrel." - -"Yes, master," sneered Sargenuti. - -Kingallis stepped forward and slapped the other across the face with -the back of his hand. Sargenuti stood four inches taller than the -doctor and outweighed him by at least thirty pounds. He could have -broken Kingallis in half with his bare hands but he accepted the insult -across his face without flinching nor attempt to retaliate. - -"Because we are isolated here, far from our normal surroundings, you -have become slovenly in your attitude," snapped Kingallis. "You are -no planner, Sargenuti. Your method is acceptable in some cases but -you have not the intellectual equipment to cope with a situation as -involved as this is. - -"Whether you continue as you are, advance in your work or are dropped -a group depends upon the future. Suppose there were several people -involved that have his power?" - -"There cannot be," returned Sargenuti. - -"Fool! If there is one there may be others. Now do as I say without -argument!" - -Carroll listened to this discussion with interest. From it he learned -that there was obviously some plot against the Solar System and that -he, Carroll, was possessed of some factor that made his continuance -dangerous to their plotting. - -He half-smiled and said, "There are many like me." - -Kingallis turned back to his captive and shook his head. - -"No," he said. "There are not! Sargenuti had no trouble until he ran -into James Forrest Carroll. That is why he is bloated with delusions -of grandeur. He thinks because he has had no competition that he is -supreme. - -"He forgets the platitude, 'It is a sharp blade that cuts but cheese!' -It is notable, however, that the first time he met James Forrest -Carroll he was forced to call for help." - -"I was puzzled," admitted Sargenuti. - -"A slightly more intelligent moron would have known that this man was -capable of avoiding your block," snapped Kingallis. "When he came -forward to interfere the first time. That is when you should have -caught him. Instead you ignored him for too long. Idiot!" - -"All right," grumbled Sargenuti. "But this is just telling Carroll -things he wants to know." - - * * * * * - -Kingallis smiled sourly. "Perhaps it is better that way," he said. -"When he sees what he is up against he may be less violent." - -"And if he again escapes?" - -"He will not escape." - -Sargenuti laughed roughly. "It would be drastically amusing to find -that James Forrest Carroll is smarter than the great Doctor Kingallis." - -"Shut up!" snapped Kingallis angrily. - -He turned to Carroll. "You know too much," he said. "Yet I have no -qualms about telling you more. It is our job to prevent the spread of -knowledge about the Lawson Radiation, to discourage research and to -cause the importance of the Radiation to diminish. - -"We employ mass hypnotism to intercept the reports, to read them, to -make the minor changes that prevent correlation of certain data that -would lead to some discovery of importance. This happens only once in -a few months. - -"We can tell by the title of the experiment whether it may or may not -include a clue. When someone comes upon a real find we erase his mind." - -"And I came upon something?" - -"You did." - -"What was it?" - -Kingallis smiled tolerantly. "You wouldn't expect me to tell you?" - -Carroll shrugged. "I suppose not," he said. "But just why do you think -I am a basic threat to your plans?" - -"Obvious. Of all, you are the first that ever came back to full control -of his faculties after we erased your mind. The others have pain -syndromes every time they consider research at all. You do not. - -"Not only that, you were capable of avoiding the block. We used mass -hypnosis on the people within a visible radius of that corner. Of them -all, you alone can see the black sedan and the resulting interception." - -"But when I went with Sally you intercepted me, too." - -"Of course. But you were then right in the main focus of the control -beam." - -Kingallis turned to Sargenuti. "I thank you for not killing him under -the beam," he said. "Your unimaginative mind might have done that. It -would have erased a danger, true, but would have prevented our study of -the danger at first hand." - -Then he turned back to Carroll. "We might not have been able to kill -you, at that," he said. "I don't know. You seem to have become stronger -each time you underwent the control instead of becoming weaker like the -average subject of hypnotism." - -"But--?" - -Kingallis shrugged. "Most interesting," he said reflectively. "Most -interesting." - -"What is so interesting?" grunted Sargenuti. - -"Consider," said Kingallis. "He finally entered direct control -alone. He was the focus. You did succeed in controlling him to a -certain point but James Forrest Carroll--mentally living in a perfect -dream--recognized the fact that this was not true. - -"He broke the dream, the power of our beam. His unaided will-power, -Sargenuti, came up from below a sensory delusion and forced recognition -of the truth against the evidence presented by his physical senses." - -"So?" - -"So," concluded Kingallis, "We shall find out what it is about this -man's mind that is powerful enough to overcome the power of our beam. -For, Sargenuti, we may encounter others." - - * * * * * - -In the days that followed, one upon the next in a never varying -monotony, James Forrest Carroll increased both his store of knowledge -and his judgment. It has been said that wide experience is a condition -wherein the possessor can fall back upon some personal precedent for -any situation that arises. - -Carroll, however, could have no such precedent, nor is it likely that -any man or all men combined could piece together a reasonable decision -based on piecemeal precedent. Therefore Carroll faced the situation -with a complete lack of experience. - -He realized that making any decision now would be so much tossing of a -coin. Lacking the full particulars, the reasons, the understanding of -the other race's motives, he could make no plans. - -Yet he did know from experience that the best way to lay a cornerstone -upon which to build a plan was to wait, to study and then, when the -final returns were in, to decide. - -Kingallis had confirmed Carroll's suspicion that an Extrasolar agency -was doing its utmost to prevent the spread of knowledge about the -Lawson Radiation. - -Kingallis had not mentioned why. - -The facts that Carroll had were sketchy. He knew only what he had -already suspected. He had been kidnaped. He knew why. The latter -reason was both logical and also a perfect answer to a paranoid -question. - -He shied away from it, and recognized his own unwillingness to face -the fact. That in itself bothered Carroll because he disliked to think -himself insane, even though he often questioned his sanity. - -Carroll found that none of this was reassuring. There was no equitable -yardstick that the mind could apply to itself. It is often said that -the insane cannot question their own sanity--that to question your own -sanity is a sign of stability. - -Yet it may be quite true that a clever paranoid might question his own -sanity regularly as a means of proving to himself that he is sane. -Carroll played with this mad spiral often and found it a vicious circle. - -So in between his sessions of study, James Forrest Carroll tried to -delve into his own mind. He had come to only one conclusion: That so -long as Kingallis was studying him, he was able also to study Kingallis. - -The problem of why bothered Carroll. - -Mankind has never ceased to study anything that might prove dangerous. -Almost any discovery made is dangerous in some manner. It is just that -mankind has learned to handle its discoveries with care as they became -useful. Or else-- - -He tried broaching the why to Kingallis and was brushed off openly -with, "It is of no consequence." - -Carroll considered two possible answers. One, of course, was that -Kingallis and his people were suppressing all study to prevent the -Terrans from learning about interstellar travel for purely personal -reasons. You do not give away your military secrets to a people you -hope to destroy. - -The other reason was the complete opposite--the other race, knowing the -dangers of research, were trying to keep Terra from becoming involved -until Terra grew up. Handing the secrets of nuclear fission to a race -not yet ready for it was one example, though a bad one, for it takes -considerable technical excellence to handle it. - -A simpler case is plain black gunpowder--sulfur, charcoal and potassium -nitrate. Boys in chemistry class have lost their hands and their eyes -because they played with that which they did not understand well -enough. The nitration of glycerine is not too hard to perform, yet -in the hands of an amateur it may take the house skyward before the -project is finished. - -For, strangely enough, the amateur at any science feels that he must -make a large batch in order to do it at all. In electricity he wants -excessive powers and lethal voltages to do that which a trained -technician can accomplish with less deadly items. - -However--was the motive avarice or altruism? - -James Forrest Carroll studied them as they studied him. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - _Kingallis_ - - -Kingallis himself put an end to one of Carroll's worries. After several -days of study, the alien doctor called him aside. - -"Carroll, you know that you are helpless," he said. "We know that you -are helpless. The point is just this: We can study your mind better if -you are not worrying. Therefore I am going to put an end to one major -worry of yours. Remember, always, we know that you are studying us! - -"We are using the forerunner of our mental control beam to study you, -Carroll. You know that. The mental educator came first, the mental -control without wearing electrodes came long afterwards." - -"Understandable," nodded Carroll easily. "Men learned to communicate -along a wire long before they used radio." - -"The gadget we've been using is none other than a person-to-person -telepathy aid. It was first developed as a means of placing men _en -rapport_ while studying a complex problem. Thus, for instance, a -machinist can do a job for an electrical project while understanding -perfectly just why this must or must not be done despite its mechanical -desirability. - -"It was but a step from that to its use in educating the youth of -our race. A rather complex problem, Carroll, and one that cannot be -appreciated until the whole problem is studied complete with both -successes and failures. - -"We taught then, Carroll, from a teacher-to-student plan. Later it was -discovered how to record certain phases of lessons. The latter removes -one main difficulty of the automatic educator." - -"Mind telling me what?" asked Carroll, fencing for more information. - -"Not at all. You see, the living hookup produces a double flow of -information--which is what I meant to tell you. You are studying me -as I am studying you--and, as in the case of an infant with erroneous -information, you are placing errata in the teacher's mind." - -"All children know--from their limited visible evidence--that the earth -is flat. Only deep study proves otherwise. I can see where a continued -youthful insistence upon a flat earth might cause a bit of mental -collision in any teacher's mind." Carroll's voice was sharp. - -"You have the point exactly," smiled Kingallis. - -"Then tell me," Carroll said suddenly, "why I cannot find out why you -are suppressing the information I want?" - -"Because we are not studying that," smiled the alien doctor. "I -surprise you? You expected me to wish my answer recalled? No, Carroll, -I care not that you know some things about us." - -Carroll shrugged. Kingallis was clever. Had Carroll known that worry -hampered the study he would have felt relieved even though he tried to -worry more. That would have been a minor defeat. - -But the fact that Kingallis knew and cared not, removed all concern -from Carroll's mind but one, and that one was how to hamper the -research alone. It was not a satisfactory question as there was no -satisfactory answer. - -It was many hours later that both a possible answer and a complete -impossibility of its use came to a sleepless man. Carroll arose from -his bed and tried the door. It was open. Carroll's enforced residence -was a large estate, a good many miles from town, in the center of a -hilly country. - -Carroll left his room and went down the hallway to the laboratory. He -prayed that no one was following him with a mind-reading beam of some -sort. He guessed that if these aliens could control an entire community -with a mental beam, it would be no trouble to read his mind. - - * * * * * - -He found the cabinets that contained the records of knowledge used by -the aliens. These were large reels of wire in metal magazines. On the -face and back of each case was its title in the--to Carroll--completely -unreadable alien characters. - -That was a problem in itself. A lot of good it would do to acquire -useless knowledge. Carroll wanted scientific facts or perhaps a -recording of their plans. A complete course in alien geography, for -instance, would be completely useless--the aliens seemed disinclined to -take him from earth. - -Yet Carroll had no way of knowing what these characters represented. A -book might have given a clue--books often contain pictures. There was -no telling on a reel of wire. - -Carroll wondered whether the reels were stored in some sort of -alphabetical order, in some numerical order or according to some -semantic plan that gave the initial startings first and permitted the -selector to progress. He knew, however, that if he were running such -an expedition, he would not include Guffey's First Reader among the -collection of texts. His chances of learning the rudiments of the alien -tongue were remote. - -In selecting a book one scans through the pages. In selecting a reel -one must try it. - -So, making a guess, James Forrest Carroll selected a container at -random and, still amused at the guesswork quality, he carried it to the -machine used by Kingallis to study his mind. - -He flipped the switches as he had seen Kingallis do it. He inserted the -reel magazine in the obvious slot and fiddled with some tiny toggles -until the reel started to feed through the machine. - -Then quickly, Carroll slipped the head electrodes on and reclined on -the soft couch to let the flow of knowledge enter. - -In complete oblivion as the machine ran, Carroll had no control over -his actions. It ran on and on and the unreeling wire passed its -knowledge into Carroll's brain. It concluded finally and Carroll sat up. - -It was faintly light outside and by that faint light Carroll looked at -his watch and was amazed to find that it was almost six o'clock in the -morning. He quickly replaced the reel and turned to go back to his room. - -"Pleased with yourself?" asked a quiet voice. - -Carroll jumped a foot. Then in the dim light he saw the form of a -woman, fully dressed, sitting in an easy chair not far from the door. -To add to his complete surprise he hadn't known that women were with -this outfit. - -"Who are you?" he demanded. - -"Plead, do not demand," she said. "For you have not the right to -courtesy." - -"Madam, I am a prisoner here. Courtesy _per se_ has no meaning at all. -I have as much right to prowl the place, picking up what I can, as you -have to imprison me in the first place." - -"A nice point of ethics and quite devoid of rational answer," smiled -the woman. In the gaining light James Forrest Carroll saw that she -was passably good looking though certainly no raving beauty. When she -spoke, her white teeth gleamed in the dim light. - -"However," she said, "I am Rhinegallis, King's sister." Then she -laughed. "And that," she said, "is the only thing you learned this -evening!" - -"Oh, I'd not say that," said Carroll. - -"Then tell me," she said amusedly, "how you justify yourself." - - * * * * * - -Carroll paused. Somehow it seemed normal to him that he should not -care to appear weak or helpless in front of a woman, even an alien -woman. Yet the truth of the matter was that Carroll was a complete -captive and at the mercy of this bunch. - -Whatever he did he did at their sufferance. There was little to be -gained by quiet ridicule in explaining that he had taken a recording by -sheer blind guesswork because there was no other way. - -There was little to be gained but open ridicule to be forced to admit -to this woman that he, James Forrest Carroll, reputed to be one of the -Solar System's foremost physicists, was in a position seldom if ever -occupied by any human being. - -He knew and he knew that he knew, but he knew not what he knew! - -He laughed helplessly. "_Son lava tin quil norwham enectramic colvay si -tin mer vo si_--" - -"Very lucid," she replied in English. "So in the course of the evening, -James Forrest Carroll has a complete course in our science--in our -language-pattern in our manner of thinking. And," she laughed merrily, -"of none of which he has the slightest comprehension. - -"That was a nice try, Carroll, but availing nothing. I'll tell you -this, however--what you have learned this night is of no more use to -you than a complete knowledge of archeology so far as an answer to your -present problem goes. - -"And for your trouble--it is a rather complimentary thing that you'd -make such a try, and we'll all commend you--I'll be your guest for -breakfast." - -"Thank you," said Carroll cryptically. "I hope I'm amusing." - -Rhinegallis stood up and faced Carroll. "You are quite a man," she said -earnestly. "And though we must--use you--we still admire you." - -"One might admire the tenacity and ability of a pet dog who is working -its way through a maze toward a hunk of steak," he said quietly. "Yet -one does not consider the dog our equal." - -Rhinegallis shook her head. "Would it please you to know that you are a -threat to us?" - -"I've known that," he returned quickly. "And so is a dog a threat -to man. Dogs can kill. They do not because they know that they are -dependent for life upon becoming man's friend." - -"And you?" - -He smiled sourly. "Again the question of ethics," he said. "For no -matter what I say you know that I shall do anything I find necessary to -defeat you." - -"We will never accept your word as bond," she told him. "Were it a -simple matter of personal integrity and honor we could take it and be -satisfied. But there is too much at stake. A man would be a complete -fool to give his word and keep it when his future hangs in the balance." - -"I'd not give it," he said simply. And then he turned to her with a -cryptic smile. "So my future and the future of Sol are really at stake?" - -"Yes," she replied. - -"Then you are a threat." - -Rhinegallis smiled at him. "Is one a threat that does not permit the -child to play with fire?" she said coolly. - -"May I point out that I am not a child," he said crossly. - -"_Ros nile ver tan si vol klys_," she said in her own tongue. "And if -you know what I said you'd know what you studied last night." - -"When a child is deprived of matches, he is told why--in many cases he -is shown mildly what happens. So go ahead, Rhinegallis, treat me as a -child--and tell me, Rhinegallis, why I must not play with the Lawson -Radiation." - -"It is dangerous," she replied. - -"In my lifetime," he said, "I have been responsible for the direction -of many children. I have yet to turn away a curious--honestly -curious--child. Mankind is always curious--providing we know why." - -"It is dangerous," she repeated. - -"Dangerous," he echoed. "Dangerous, Rhinegallis, to whom? You?" - -"Mr. Carroll," she said quietly, "you think you have trapped me into an -admission. You have not. Tell me, do you honestly think you can take -the position of demanding an answer?" - -"I think so." - -"You cannot. You have not." - -"No?" he said with a bitter laugh, "then if your race has no evil -intent it could stop a lot of trouble, suspicion and labor by guiding -us instead of blocking our efforts. Add to that your own refusal to -tell me one thing that would frighten me away. I come up with a rather -unhappy answer, Rhinegallis." - -The girl turned away and left. Her offer to join him for breakfast -was forgotten. Carroll watched her back as she went down the hallway -and considered himself lucky. Even considering that their way of -life was alien to Terran thinking, no advancing race could ever deny -honest curiosity unless it had some ulterior motive. Ergo, they were -suppressing the truth about the Lawson Radiation because they were -afraid that Terra would find the answer! - -From behind him he heard Kingallis chuckling. - -"_Val tas Winel yep frah?_" - -Carroll turned angrily. "Sell it to Tin Pan Alley," he snapped. "I've -heard worse jangle songs!" - -He stamped off angrily to his room. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - _Proof_ - - -Once in his room, Carroll gave way to a period of complete slump, both -mental and physical. He just sat there and felt--not thought about--the -sheer impossibility of a single man successfully fighting an entire -inimical culture. - -The more he considered it the more he felt the futility of it all. -The fact that he of all the teeming billions of Sol's heritage, was -cognizant made it that more hopeless. - -Then out of that last, single, hopeless fact James Forrest Carroll took -a new hope. - -For upon himself and himself alone rested the salvation of mankind! -Regardless of what the world might think of him, regardless of life -itself, he must carry on! - -And when he returned to confront Doctor Pollard he must have visible -proof! - -The day dragged slowly. As usual, Kingallis did his studying, but found -it hopeless because of Carroll's deep funk. Kingallis gave up and left -Carroll, which was worse for Carroll because he had all those long -hours in which to sit and stew. - -Evening came, and with it came more hope. - -Whatever it was that Carroll learned it was there and stuck tight. -Whether valid or useless it was there. It seemed useful but he could -not tell. - -For instance there was a concept of a circlet of silvery wire. This was -mounted on a small cylindrical slug of metal that enclosed a bimorph -crystal. The picture concept showed contour surfaces of force or energy -that grew progressively fainter as they retreated from the circlet of -wire. - -Not magnetism--for Carroll could see no energizing current. Not -electrostatic field--for there could be no gradient. The word-concept -for the thing was "_Selvan thi tan vi son klys vornakal ingra rol vou._" - -Well--whenever Carroll knew words he would know what the circlet of -wire did--and why. - -But as he drew the diagram on a sheet of paper and labeled each part -with a Terran symbol-system representing the alien sounds Carroll -understood one other thing. No book is complete without an index! - -Wire recordings of text books are impractical otherwise. An engineer -seeking information on the winding, packing fraction of a certain type -of wire would not care to wade through four hours of facts. Of course -he should know it already, for the facts would be indelibly impressed -upon his mind. - -But there was the forgetting-factor that comes from disuse of any fact -and doubtless this automatic means of education did not forever endow -the owner with an eidetic memory of everything--never to be lost no -matter how long the facts lie in disuse. But every text book has an -index. - -And so Carroll sought the laboratory again that night and selected -another roll at random. He placed it in the machine and, as he started -it, hurled a thought into the machine. - -Not words, but mere concept--the abstract idea of listing hurled into -the machine and the wire reel sang swiftly through the machine to slow -down at a listing. - -Useless, of course--there were things like, "_Walklin--norva Kin. Fol -sa ganna mel zin._" Chapter and verse, probably. What Carroll sought -was a dictionary. - -He tried another reel and found it as mystifying. A third reel came -upon a listing that seemed vaguely familiar. Along with the mere words, -of course, there were mental pictures. - -"_Zale_," he learned, was a measure of distance equivalent to seventeen -thousand times ten to the eighth power times the wavelength of the -spectroscopic line of _evaalorg_. - -Carroll had hit upon a section of physical identities found in most -physics texts. - - * * * * * - -He also learned a large number of physical identities of no -consequence. The unit of gravity expressed in the alien terms meant -nothing to a man used to dynes and poundals. There was too much left -unsaid. - -What the element _evaalorg_ might be Carroll had no idea, although if -he persisted he might hit upon a chemistry text--and it was safe to -assume that the Periodic Chart of the atoms would be the same in any of -the galaxy. - -He smiled. It was like trying to calculate the true size of Noah's Ark -by assuming the length of a cubit. When you have finished calculating -you have a plus or minus thirty percent. - -He was about to select another case when the door opened softly and -Rhinegallis entered. - -"Why do you try?" she asked. Her voice and her manner were as though -she had not walked away from his question of almost eighteen hours ago. - -"Why?" he repeated dully. - -"Yes why? Why do you insist in the face of the impossible?" - -"Because," he said, facing her deliberately, "when I admit defeat James -Forrest Carroll dies!" - -"You're not suicidal." - -"Madness," he said, "is suicide of the mind!" - -Rhinegallis nodded and then looked down. He went to her and lifted her -face by placing a hand under her chin. - -"Rhinegallis," he said softly, "place yourself in my position. You are -a prisoner of a culture that is inimical to your own. You are kept -alive as a museum piece, a sample of life that refuses to be swayed by -your mind-directing machinery. Of all the people of your race, you are -the only one that knows and believes. - -"Death--or worse--awaits you and yours at the end of some unknown time. -You are in the position of being the only one that can do anything at -all. Tell me, Rhinegallis, would you sit quietly and accept it?" - -"Since I would be unable to do anything alone," replied Rhinegallis, "I -would accept fate." - -"Then die!" snapped Carroll. "Do nothing? Try nothing? That is -stagnation--and stagnation is death!" - -"I think Kingallis knows that," said the alien girl with a flash of -recognition. - -"Oh," said Carroll, crestfallen. "Then Kingallis gives me some old -outdated volumes of books to play with, as a willful child is directed -to cut old rags instead of the lace curtains. Since I must play games, -by all means give me games that will harm no one! - -"Mumbletypeg labeled 'dangerous' and celluloid toys made up to -resemble fierce knives on the theory that children prefer such toys -of the block and rattle nature. Bottles full of colored sand with -skull-and-crossbones on them and directions against certain mixtures. - -"The amusement-park roller coaster that seems dangerous--in fact -someone knows someone who knows of a bad accident on it--but is, in -fact, less dangerous than a ride in an automobile through traffic." - -Rhinegallis was silent. - -"Then what am I to do?" he stormed. "I have no one here of my own kind. -Not a single understanding soul to lean upon in a moment of stress. A -man alone in an inimical environment--and I am expected to play your -tricks for you!" - -"You--" - -"Am I expected to aid you?" - -"No," she said honestly. "Yet in deference to your--" - -"Deference!" he laughed scornfully. "Deference? No, Rhinegallis, not -deference nor even respect. I am the experimental dog that must be -pampered because my life and my mind and my body must be studied. Not -deference, Rhinegallis, but the deadly fear of a spreading poison. -Isolation." - -"I am afraid that I should not have come," she said--but it was more a -spoken thought than an attempt to convey anything. - -"Then you tell Kingallis that no man will strive forever with no -result. The donkey must once in a while get a taste of the carrot." - -"What do you want?" she asked softly. - -"And if I tell you will I get the truth--or just more runaround?" he -asked. - -"You are too suspicious," she said softly. "Deference you may not have, -really. But you do have respect." - -"What manner of respect can you possibly have for me?" he said with an -open sneer. - -"You are a strong man," replied Rhinegallis. "Your strength is -sufficient to penetrate the mental beam. To defy King's attempts to -study you, bar my tries at following your reason. Kingallis can point -the remote hypnosis beam at me and from it can read my innermost -thought. - -"Against all resistance the hypnoscope is best--except against James -Forrest Carroll. You, Carroll, resent this studying and prying. -Know--and feel gratified--that as little as you have learned from my -brother he knows less of you!" - -"And after defying all to completion the defiance is obliterated," -replied Carroll bitterly. "For me--oblivion. For mine--what?" - -"It need not be--loneliness," she said in a soft voice. - -"Joy in the shadow of the sword?" he said sourly. "Pleasures of the -flesh with an alien race that would not even understand my passionate -gesture?" - -He laughed shortly and roughly. - -"Affection is but a prelude to understanding between mates. Tell me," -he said with extreme cynicism, "have you laid your egg this year?" - -"You--_no_!" she said quickly. "I was but trying to ease your lot." - -He dropped his cynicism instantly. Rhinegallis seemed honestly hurt at -his calloused attitude. - -"You cannot, Rhinegallis," he said softly. "I am no longer a youth, -to whom personal passion and pleasure is the ultimate. I give you a -demonstration of affection." He placed both hands upon her shoulders -and squeezed gently. He leaned down and kissed her lightly "Not deep, -but still a genuine gesture. Do you respond? No, you do not, for your -race is utterly alien despite your appearance. Do you then expect me to -continue, knowing that you do not even understand why I might derive -sensual pleasure from such contact?" - -"Even though we be alien," she said, "the fact that you do enjoy -contact might give me--" - -"Stop rationalizing," he said roughly. - -"I'm not," she said. "There is a meeting of minds that far exceeds any -crude mating of bodies." - -"Then," he said with a queer crooked smile, "let's keep this on a -mental basis, huh?" - - * * * * * - -Rhinegallis nodded quietly. She went to a side cupboard and took out a -single reel of wire. - -"Here is what you want," she told him. "Swiftly now, for Kingallis must -never know." - -"A nibble of the carrot," he observed. - -"You want a whole meal?" she returned angrily. "Are you devoid of -understanding?" - -"I am permitted to play with innocuous trifles," he said. "When I -discover their ineffectiveness I am invited to seduction. Failing -that, I am offered some trifle of value. Tell me, Rhinegallis, how far -will you go to lull my mind into inactivity?" - -For answer, Rhinegallis turned and left him. Perhaps if Rhinegallis -had been one of Sol's children she might have been crying or at least -racked with the bitterness that comes of having an honest gesture -scorned. Whatever her reaction Carroll shrugged as she left the room -and he forgot her as he looked at the single recording. - -"I hope," he said, "that this carrot is sweet...." - -Carroll came out of the semi-coma produced by the machine with a -premonition of danger--not danger to himself, but a vague unrest, as -though someone near to him were being threatened. He was alone and he -knew at once that Rhinegallis was the only one of the aliens who knew -the truth of this night. - -Had any of the others come, they would have seen at once that he was -working on a volume of importance and would have stopped him. However, -as the minutes passed, the feeling of worry ceased and Carroll felt -relief. - -He attributed the feeling to a situation known as "wandering concern" -which is based upon insecurity. He had been in the mental coma for -hours, during which time much might have happened. He had succeeded, -with Rhine's aid, in delving into the truth about the alien culture. - -This placed him in jeopardy for while they laughed behind his back for -toying with the useless records, their derision would change to far -deeper distrust and hate were he known to have outguessed them. There -is nothing more dangerous than turning a man's bitter joke against him. - -So for hours Carroll had been both helpless under the machine and also -doing that which was forbidden. He was like the small boy who has been -swimming and is not certain of his future until he meets his parents -and discovers whether they know of his truancy. - -Carroll replaced the record. There was no sense in permitting -Rhinegallis to be trapped. Besides, this might go on for some time--and -if he could he would fight this out to the very bitter end. Who knew -what he might learn next. - -This night's work had been language. Not that the volume taught -him Alien. It was a volume for aliens, to teach them the Terran -languages. But by reverse reasoning it also taught Carroll the alien -tongue as well as a couple of good Terran tongues he did not know. -He was--because he formerly possessed an excellent knowledge of -American--now possessed of Russian, Chinese and Spanish, as well as the -single alien tongue. - -For the record dealt with concepts and then impressed the word-symbol -of the idea in all tongues. And if _Hombre_ means _Man_, conversely, -_Man_ means _Hombre_! - -Best of all it was a specialized course that dealt with the kind of -language scientists and engineers would use, though not exclusively so. -Carroll felt cheered. Now he might mingle with them if he wanted to. -Stealthily he left the laboratory to return to his room. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - _Free-for-all_ - - -Carroll passed a partly opened door down the corridor, and as he -passed, he heard Kingallis utter a single word of dislike at someone -unknown. Though it was in the alien tongue Carroll's well-trained mind -gave him the translation in terms of real meaning rather than the -transliteration of the word in terms of his mother tongue, as is often -the case with a language learned after the initial schooling as a child. - -Carroll paused instantly, and as he did so, the door opened more, -showing both Kingallis and his sister. Kingallis shook his head angrily. - -"So you gave him the record," he said flatly. - -Rhinegallis was silent. It was obvious to Carroll that there had been -accusal and denial previously but that his instant recognition of the -alien word had been perfect evidence. Carroll sailed in instantly. - -"She's given me nothing," he said sharply. "I just happen to be -curious." - -Kingallis turned from his sister to face Carroll. - -"That is a bald-faced lie," he said. - -Carroll's reply was in the alien tongue, a rather harsh alien platitude -pertaining to the fact that a guilty man always requires a sucker to -account for his own mistakes, whereas an honest man can admit an error. - -Kingallis sneered and his eyes became glittery-hard. - -"She gave it to you," he said. "This I know." He pointed to the minute -temple-electrode--flesh-colored--and the spider-web thin wire that ran -to the flat bulge in his coat pocket. - -"So?" snapped Carroll. He measured Kingallis deliberately. The alien -had a few years to give away, but Carroll had a few pounds to make -up the difference. Also Carroll, being slightly older, was more of a -competent judge of men. - -Though this was not a man-to-man affair Carroll's judgment of the alien -might be better than the alien's judgment of him. Furthermore Carroll -knew himself to be cool-headed and alert. - -"So Rhine has defied our rules," snapped Kingallis. - -"And?" inquired Carroll overpolitely. - -"Crime--and punishment! She has endangered our very future!" - -Carroll smiled. "Seems to me that you have spent a number of years -endangering the future of Sol's children," he said cynically. "Perhaps -it is time to switch?" - -Rhinegallis stood up. "I have as much right as you," she snapped at her -brother. "My position is as high as yours. Carroll discovered that he -was being tricked. Therefore there was nothing else to do but to regain -his confidence." - -"Seems to me that Carroll's discovery was entirely due to your -inability to cope with him," snapped Kingallis angrily. - -Rhinegallis laughed bitterly. "When will you learn," she asked -sarcastically, "never to try to play games with your mental superiors?" - -Kingallis fumed, "Shut up!" and, turning, back-handed Rhine across the -mouth. The girl retreated, her hand to her face, covering the patch -that was swiftly growing red. Kingallis followed her across the floor. - -Carroll followed Kingallis. He caught the alien by one shoulder and -whirled Kingallis, spinning him off balance. As the alien turned, -Carroll's fist came across in a short jab that had every pound of -weight and every erg of muscle energy behind it. He connected and it -sent Kingallis reeling crazily across the room. - -Carroll followed, warily. Kingallis recovered and struck out at -Carroll, but his mode of fighting was untrained from Terran standards. -Carroll opened his right hand and chopped viciously at Kingallis's -throat, but caught the alien's arm instead. - - * * * * * - -The alien yipped from the pain and Carroll followed him close and -brought his fist up from under and caught the alien in the pit of the -stomach. Kingallis folded over the blow and then unfolded in a series -of retching gasps, his arms and legs working to bring him air. - -Carroll lifted his foot. He drove it forward, heel-hard, against the -alien's temple. The blow crushed the temple electrode into the skull as -Kingallis went inert upon the floor. - -"Come!" snapped Carroll. - -"Come? Where?" - -"Out of here!" - -"But--?" - -"Come along. You don't want to wait for the rest, do you?" - -Rhinegallis took a quick look at her brother's inert form. - -"Is he...?" - -Carroll grunted. "I'm not interested," he said. "Come on--you've got to -show me the way out!" - -"But I can't do that!" - -Carroll advanced upon her. He caught her arm and brought it up behind -her. He lifted gently. - -"Now," he said, "you're going to show me the way out of here or I'll -twist this off, see?" - -"But I mustn't," she said. - -Carroll smiled sourly. - -"Rhine," he said pointedly, "you've lost your home right now. From here -on in you are on the outside of your camp. Your best bet is to throw in -with me and at least stay alive." - -"I'll never help you." - -"Fair enough," he said. "For I didn't help you. But this will let you -know that Terrans have an attitude known as 'gratitude' which to your -alien concept is both foolhardy and decadent. But no Terran, no matter -how much he hated his enemy, would abandon to them one of their own -that gave him help. We protect our friends, Rhine." - -"Then we must hurry," she breathed. "But where can we go?" - -"Where?" he echoed cheerfully. "We've got the whole world before us!" - -"But you must hide as well," she said simply. "Because my friends will -be seeking you in earnest, now." - -Carroll nodded as he caught the implication. "I shall return to my -friends," he stated flatly, "when I have evidence enough to prove -myself. Then your people can go ahead and kill me if they can--but my -world will be protected. Until I can convince them, I am the slender -reed upon which depends the future of Sol. And," he added bitterly, -"against what?" - -"That I will never tell you," she said. "But we must hurry!" - -It was five days later that Carroll's roadster--stolen from the alien's -garage--arrived before a summer home in Wisconsin. Twenty miles from -the nearest town of consequence it was set in a woodsy area near one of -many small lakes. - -"Here," he said happily, "we can hide--and we can live--and we can -work!" - - * * * * * - -Pollard slowly shook hands. - -"Carroll again?" asked Majors. - -The psychologist nodded wearily. "For some time he has been working -quietly, though with deep preoccupation, which I suppose is normal. -Whether he has been pondering over the absence of that black limousine -and its mythically inimical occupants, I cannot say." - -"But what happened this time?" - -"He has disappeared!" - -Majors blinked. "Just like that?" - -Dr. Pollard smiled and nodded. "Just like that!" - -Majors thought for a moment. "We can locate him," he said uncertainly. - -"No," Pollard said finally. "That will not do. The chances are very -high that Carroll may have gone to his summer home." - -"Well, let's find out." - -"Let him alone. You underestimate the cleverness of the paranoid. He -will detect any surveillance. It is my contention that Carroll may have -had a glimmer of lucidity--that he may have been partially convinced of -his error. - -"Majors, there is only one way to cure a paranoid and that is to let -him cure himself. Once his own evidence shows the truth, then he will -believe. But until that time, all evidence either supports his theory -or it is a canard produced by those who want to show him wrong." - -"So?" - -"So let him be. He can do little harm. In the case of the normal -paranoid harboring a persecution complex, it is something tangible -against him--wife, neighbor or friend. In that case it is best to do -something quickly to protect the innocent. But in Carroll's case it is -an intangible--remember the case, Majors?" - -"Of course." - -"Well, it hasn't changed a bit. Carroll undoubtedly discovered -something that his mind refuses to recognize. Therefore this -hallucination of the inimical race that is barring Terra from progress. - -"What Terra needs more than the man himself is to know what Carroll -discovered. I don't know what he's doing nor where he's doing it, but -we'll find out--and we'll let him alone." - -"Sort of futile, isn't it?" asked Majors. - -"It's soul-scarringly futile," said Pollard hopelessly. "He will resent -any outside help that does not eagerly agree with him--and then suspect -it of chiding tolerance. He can come back only of his own machination. -But to probe further at him will drive him only deeper within himself." - -Majors nodded. "We'll get young Sally back on the delivery job. At -least until James Forrest Carroll reappears again." - -Dr. Pollard nodded absently. "And may whatever he is doing bring him to -reason!" - -James Forrest Carroll sat on a tall stool in front of a workbench in -the cellar of the summer home. Before him was a maze of equipment, -a pile of written notes and some haywire circuits. He was smoking -furiously to the amusement of the girl who sat reading in the single -easy chair in the cellar. Finally she put down her book and looked up -at him. - -"Why did you accuse me of laying eggs?" she asked. - -Carroll turned with a smile. "A shot in the dark," he said. - -"It's not true," she said. "I'm no--" - -Carroll shrugged. "Anthropomorphists have spent a lot of time showing -that the humanoid form is best adapted to house intelligence," he said. -"The upright carriage, the evolution of the forelegs into facile hands, -the placement of the sensory-system in close locale to aid one another. - -"The opposing thumb and the ability to lift either a sheet of cigarette -paper from the floor or a small anvil from its rest. More and -deeper-involved reasons can flow than you can think about." - -"Which may all be true," she said pointedly, taking a cigarette from -the package and lighting it deftly. She stood up then and rotated -swiftly so that her skirt swung out. - -"It may all be true," he said. "But not necessarily a matter of -exclusive truth. There may be a batch of intelligent octopi and I'll -bet that they have ah--er--octopomorphists--sitting around telling the -little octopi that their shape is best adapted to house intelligence." - -"All of which answers no question," she told him with a smile. - -"So you have a humanoid shape to a remarkable degree. This shape is -enhanced by the Terran clothing and the Terran cosmetics and, I might -add, the Terran surroundings." - -"Do go on," she said with grim rumor. - -"Your metabolism is not too different," he observed. "At least your -digestive system is about as unselective as the Terran. That is normal -for any reigning race of a system. Undoubtedly you do have a close -approximation of the molecular structure, since I know that your planet -is very much like Terra. - -"Unfortunately I am not as deeply versed in organic chemistry as I -might be or I'd be able to make a few tests. But, Rhine, the idea that -two races in the galaxy being so similar in every way that they are -cross-fertile is preposterous!" - -"Eternity," said Rhinegallis with a murmur, "is that length of time -necessary to permit everything to happen at least once." - -Carroll grinned. "And that will be the last probability--and -furthermore eternity will be sitting on its fundament for ten thousand -galactic years after everything else has happened waiting for that -little item to show up so it--eternity--can fold up and go home!" - - * * * * * - -He turned away from her and addressed himself to the equipment again. -He worked at it for an hour and then turned to her with a cryptic smile. - -"You're a rather dangerous responsibility," he said. - -"I know but it was your idea." - -"What bothers me," he said thoughtfully, "is whether you will hinder in -the end. You will not help now. But will you give me trouble later on?" - -"I don't understand." - -Carroll thought for a moment before answering. And when he did, it was -on another subject. - -"I need more information," he said. - -"But why might I hinder?" - -Carroll smiled widely. "If you don't know," he said, "I'll not be the -one to suggest it. But I need information." - -"Don't ask me to get it for you." - -"I won't. I have little need. I can get it myself!" he said with a -deliberate show of independence. - -Rhinegallis looked at him steadily. She nodded. "I'm going too," she -said. - -"No--and why if you deny me help?" - -"Because you aided me." - -He shook his head. "That was because you were in trouble for having -aided me." - -"I aided you in the first place because you deserved it," she said -softly. "And it does not negate my debt." - -"But what do you hope to accomplish? Do you hope to trap me?" - -"No." - -"Rhine," he said, standing up and stretching, "you do not really -understand Terrans. Remember this--I took you out of that concentration -camp because I needed your aid in getting free--the guards, the garage -attendant, to say nothing of the way home. - -"I took you along because you were in danger--because of helping -me, regardless of your reasons. Therefore I shall see that you are -protected--now, against your own race--later against mine." - -"Later?" - -"After I unravel this mad pattern." - -"You always insist upon some mad pattern," she smiled. "Really, it is -very simple." - -He looked at her angrily. "Just ignore it and maybe it will leave, huh? -Bosh!" - -"You can do very little against a phantom," she said. - -"And therein lie my feelings," he said harshly. "This is more than -honor, more than life itself. I'd have little compunction against -killing you if it meant that the truth were to be known." - -Rhinegallis shrugged. Her life was forfeit anyway after the run-in with -her brother. - -"But you said something about wanting more information?" - -He nodded. "I'm no doctor," he said. "And my knowledge of the finer -points of biochemistry is sadly lacking." - -"You--" - -"I intend to find some way of telling you aliens from humans," he said -quickly. "There must be some way." - -She smiled tolerantly though there was a question in her eyes. - -"I intend to see that you have a most thorough medical examination," -he told her. "There must be visible differences which can be told once -they are known. Differences which"--and he nodded at her very human -figure with its soft curves--"cannot be simulated by artificial means." - -She chuckled. "Even though many of the means of wearing a desirable -figure have been invented and used by human beings for many years? -Don't blame me for that, Carroll. My figure is mine own." - -"Then," he said in a hard tone, "let me see!" - -"Call me what you will but I have a normal modesty." - -He frowned scornfully. "Have you forgotten that we are of entirely -different evolutions?" - -Rhinegallis smiled coyly. "You forget," she said, "that to all intents -and purposes I am a human being. You nor anyone else will ever get me -to say or prove that I am not. That includes acting like one too." - -"Let it pass," he said. "My judgment might be faulty. There are -excellent doctors, however. If you claim that you intend to act as -human as you can you'll have no objection to visiting a doctor." - -"Not when necessary," she replied calmly. "But remember, I told you -that I would give you no information that would tend to harm." - -"And I've told you that when I have evidence that tends to show my -correctness I shall not ask for help--I shall take it!" - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - _Matter Transmission_ - - -Using his knowledge of the alien tongue and coupling it to many of the -so-called "harmless" records he had been permitted to toy with, Carroll -found his work much simpler. There was that business of the circlet of -wire mounted on the cylindrical podium in which vibrated a crystal. - -He had a whole measure of that science, most of which, he admitted, was -ridiculous, and meaningless to any Terran physicist unless he had the -key to the art. A complete volume on electronic techniques would be -meaningless to any man who knew nothing of electricity. - -Most texts are written with considerable elision--electronics texts, -for instance, show many circuits but seldom are they entirely complete. -They omit the driving force--the source of energizing electricity, the -filament supply, and other items which are unnecessary to the trained -man. - -Since many such items may be ambiguous it makes no difference whether -the plate voltage is developed by batteries, rectifier-filter supplies, -generators or a vibrator-pack that develops high voltage from a -six-volt battery. It is sensible to omit them and merely label the -"input" terminal with a symbol. - -But couple a text with a complete knowledge of the language, especially -a dictionary that is complete in its scientific sense, and you learn -of batteries, voltage, generators and the like. You discover that an -electron tube has this and that and perhaps why. Using a good sensible -knowledge of physics plus ingenuity the science becomes less puzzling. - -Similarly James Forrest Carroll was able to reproduce the science of -the aliens. - -All of this took time, of course--weeks. Weeks of testing and trying -and fumbling. As Volta might be baffled by a common transformer -where, though the input is shorted together through loops of wire and -the output is similarly shorted, yet there is transfer of energy, so -Carroll was baffled by the strange and bizarre thing that grew in the -cellar of his Wisconsin home. - -It was a large circular loop of silver-plated copper tubing. It -was mounted on a cylindrical slug of high-permeability alloy which -was magnetized to a high charge. The crystal was common enough but -its connection made little sense from the Terran point of view. -The Ancients used to use crystals for jewelry and would have been -bewildered at the modern idea of cutting them in slabs to make -standards of frequency. - -Finally he surveyed his work with a satisfied smile. He snapped it on -and a shining plane of totally reflecting energy filled the circular -loop of wire. - -"It isn't Lewis," he said. "It's James Forrest Carroll Through The -Looking Glass!" - -Rhinegallis shook her head. "The proper title is 'Alice Through The -Looking Glass'," she told him. - -"You have a rather extensive Terran education," he observed. - -"Would any Terran be without an education?" she countered. - -"Doubtless far superior to any normal person," he grunted, "thanks to -that mental educating dingus of yours." - -"And partly due to hard work," she said. "Give me some credit." - -He smiled wanly. Then he snapped the instrument on and off and looked -at the perfect plane with interest. - -"Wonder if it might be possible to warp it into a perfect parabola," he -said thoughtfully. - -"I wouldn't know," she replied, "but it would make a fine telescope, -wouldn't it?" - -"Whole gear weighs about five pounds." He grinned. "The thousand-inch -mirror would be a definite practicality. What we couldn't see with -that!" - -"Might as well go," she said humorously. "You're like the man who -discovered motive power and then used it to yell over great distances -with instead of going there." - -"So far," he said seriously, "there's little to be gained by this -gimmick. I'm like the first man on earth to own a telephone. I've no -one to talk to." - -"But tell me, what did he do?" - -Carroll smiled in a superior fashion. "What I'm going to do to try -this out," he said. "I'm going elsewhere with a second model and -establish my own line of communication. - -"So far as I know the only other ones are in the hands of your -people--and normal, happy, serious-minded folk seldom call their -enemies on the telephone to pass the time of day. So, Rhine, if you'll -stay here--" - -"I've no place to go," she told him. "I'll stay. You'll not be long?" - -"I've got to build it first," he said. "I've got the parts here but -it's not assembled." - -"But--" - -"It's 'tinkertoy' fashion in a suitcase," he said. "I obviously can't -carry a six-foot circle of half-inch copper tubing fastened to a podium -of heavy metal through the streets of Ladysmith without trouble. I'm -leaving tonight, Rhine. You wait for me here." - -"I'll wait," she said with a smile. - - * * * * * - -Doctor Pollard blinked when Miss Farragut announced James Forrest -Carroll. - -"By all means," he said, and then sat back to see what Carroll had to -offer. - -Carroll came to the point at once. "I have proof," he said. - -"You have proof," smiled Pollard, "but you leave too many holes in the -matrix." - -"Meaning?" asked Carroll. - -"From time to time," replied Pollard, "men have come forward with -the idea that all Sol is being guarded or watched or kept suppressed -by some alien culture. Charles Fort said 'Maybe we're Property!' and -others have had the same idea. - -"This alien culture always is superior of mind and body and capable of -furthering any evidence to dispute its being. The discoverer is hunted -down and chased but usually eludes the aliens long enough before he is -caught to tell the world about it. - -"Now," continued the doctor, "aside from the fact that all stories must -have some sort of sensible ending your tale misses one vital point that -all such tales seem to. - -"That is just the simple fact that these omnipotent, omniscient and -omnipresent beings who have kept the world in ignorance for twenty -thousand years have not the intelligence to slay the single discoverer!" - -Carroll smiled. "I was not slain because I was useful to them. I've -spent weeks with them." - -Carroll spent the next hour telling Dr. Pollard of his experiences -among the aliens. He omitted only the truth about Rhinegallis. - -Pollard's comment in his own shorthand was, "Perfect -self-justification." - -"Now," said Carroll. "May I show you something that I've stolen from -them?" - -"Of course." - -Carroll opened his suitcase and set the metal podium on the floor. He -unrolled the length of silver-plated copper tubing and shaped it into a -circle. He fastened the terminals to the podium with thumbscrews. Then -he snapped the switch and the shimmering plane appeared. - -"Wonderful," said Pollard hollowly. "But what is it?" - -Carroll smiled. "You are a hard man to convince," he said. "But now -that I have shown you this, I shall show you one of them!" - -Carroll stepped into the shimmering plane and disappeared. - - * * * * * - -Pollard gave a cry of fright and raced around to the other side of the -plane but Carroll had gone. Then he shrank from the thing; it was as -though the shimmering plane of perfect mirror was beckoning to him. And -for one of the few times in his life, Dr. Pollard knew and recognized a -psychopathic fear of the Unknown. - -Carroll, however, knew the facts. He stepped into the basement of his -home with the same motion that had carried him over the podium into the -mirror in Pollard's office. - -"Now," he told Rhinegallis, "I'm taking Dr. Pollard a live specimen!" - -He grabbed Rhinegallis by the wrist and dragged her through the mirror -into Pollard's office again. - -[Illustration: Carroll grabbed Rhinegallis by the wrist and dragged her -through the mirror into Pollard's office.] - -"Here," he said, "is Rhinegallis, one of the inimical aliens." - -Pollard was dumbfounded. - -Carroll hurled the girl at Pollard. "I want as complete a medical -examination as you can give," he said. "Obviously if she and her race -evolved on some distant stellar system, she can not be more than -humanoid. Follow?" - -Pollard nodded. He faced the girl uncertainly and said, "Do you mind?" - -Rhinegallis blazed. - -"Of course I mind," she snapped, eyes flashing. - -Carroll seated himself indolently on Pollard's desk. "If you are really -alien," he observed ironically, "you will most heartily object!" - -"I'm Terran," she insisted. - -"Then why cavil at proving it?" he urged. - -"I don't have to!" - -"I'm afraid you do," he said. "Fact of the matter is I'm still holding -a rather high position in the Lawson Laboratory. I can--and will--order -Dr. Pollard to do it!" - -Rhinegallis faced the doctor. "I'll not have it." - -Carroll spread his hands out in a self-satisfied gesture. "Q.E.D.," he -said. "Aliens will object. True Terrans have nothing to fear." - -Rhinegallis turned upon him angrily. "How about you?" she snapped. "Are -you willing to have yourself examined?" - -"Dr. Pollard knows me," he said simply. "There is no reason for me to -go through with this." - -"I have friends." - -"Aliens!" He turned to Pollard. "You have always disbelieved me," he -said. "Had I brought you here by any other means Pollard would have -believed that there was nothing to my tale and would have given you at -the most a very superficial examination. - -"However, after bringing you through the teleport, he is amazed enough -to wonder. Pollard, I charge you. Give her as complete an examination -as is within your ability and power!" - -Pollard turned to Rhinegallis and asked her name. - -"I am Rita Galloway," she said. "And I'm Terran!" - -"Normally," he said with a half-smile, "no one is expected to go -through such an outrageous thing. But do you really mind?" - -Rhinegallis paused. "Not really; I have nothing to hide. But like -all people I resent any invasion of my privacy. The Constitution -stipulates that such shall not be done except with just cause. Not that -an innocent man has anything to fear. It is just protection for the -integrity of the individual. However, if you insist." - -"Thank you," said Pollard. "Into this office, please." - -Carroll followed. - -"Not you," snapped Pollard. - -"I'm watching," Carroll insisted. - -"Look," said Pollard testily, "you may give orders to have things done -that I do not approve of but you have no right to tell me how to run -my life. We'll have none of it!" - -"But--" - -"Want it done?" demanded Pollard. - -"I--" - -"Look, Carroll, you can't fire me. You may still hold a responsible -position but it is an honorary status. Now, if you want me to go ahead, -just sit quietly and wait!" - -"I'll wait," said Carroll. - - * * * * * - -Three hours later, Pollard emerged from the inner office with several -sheets of paper. "She is of Anglo-Russian origin and shows the racial -characteristics of that mixture. - -"Her blood type is Type Three, Rh Negative, Sub-classification -three-GH. Temperature, blood-pressure, and heart normal save for a -slight murmur. Saliva test perfection itself. Blood count slightly -low--normal enough and not near anemia. - -"She is, physically, biologically, and emotionally, a specimen of -excellent health, female, age twenty four years. Appendix removed -five years-odd ago. Unmarried. Spent some time in the tropics but is -naturally light complected." - -Pollard shuffled the papers as Rhinegallis entered the room. - -"In the interim," he continued, "I've had her checked on. The Bureau of -Identification confirms her fingerprints and physical characteristics, -Social Security Number and blood type. Photo checks despite several -years interim. - -"Born in Indiana, raised in Chicago on Drexel Avenue. Schooled -primarily in Chicago, left college after three years. Father and mother -deceased. Now," he said angrily, "is there anything more you need?" - -Carroll blinked. "I should have guessed," he replied very slowly. - -"Guessed? Guessed what?" - -Carroll nodded slowly. "Doctor, forgetting the present situation, what -is your opinion on the evolution of an extra-solar race?" - -"I'll try to forget the present idea," replied the doctor, "and tell -you that so far as I can judge, it would be utterly impossible for -any race not our own to have more than a very few superficial items -of resemblance to the human. More than likely they would evolve in an -entirely different shape, though very necessarily functional." - -Carroll nodded. "How about brain surgery?" - -"What about it?" - -Carroll shunned the doctor at that point. He faced Rhinegallis with a -bitter smile. "So you have Terran characteristics. And your offer of -affection might have been honest--despite the alien brain inside your -skull!" - -Rhinegallis gasped. "You accuse me of--" - -"Well, there must be some logic in it!" - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - _Court Is Dismissed_ - - -Insistently the communicator on Pollard's desk buzzed and Miss Farragut -called him. The doctor excused himself and left them alone. - -"There must be proof," insisted Carroll. - -"There has been plenty of it," she told him. - -"There's one thing that your alien brain in a human body will not do," -he said. "The rest can be managed. You can falsify records--perhaps -you were a natural child of Terran parents--Terran parents with alien -brains--as yours is now. I don't know but I'll find out." - -"How?" - -"Pollard's psychiatric notes," he said explosively. He headed for the -examination room and looked around. There, behind the door, was a pile -of papers on a small table. To get at them Carroll nudged the door -shut. It went closed with a faint thud. - -Almost instantly afterwards there came the sounds of many feet in the -other room. - -Rhinegallis screamed something out of fright and peril. There were the -sounds of a scuffle, after which came.... Silence! - -Carroll hurled the door open and raced across Pollard's office -toward the teleport. As he reached there he saw the last traces of -Rhinegallis's feet being dragged over the bottom of the wire circle -into the mirror. With a cry of anger, Carroll hurled himself into the -teleport just as the office door burst open to admit Pollard and Majors. - -Carroll's return passage through the teleport was rough. He bumped -someone and his force sent them sprawling. Then he was through and -facing Kingallis, who was still reeling backwards. - -Carroll plunged forward and caught Kingallis by the throat. The alien -twisted out of Carroll's grasp and fought back. Carroll hit him hard -and followed it with an insane rush that carried them to the far -end of the cellar, where Kingallis tripped on a small box and went -down with Carroll on top. Carroll rapped the alien's head against the -concrete floor and stunned him. - -Kingallis returned almost instantly. - -Carroll looked down in his face and snarled, "Now--why?" - -"Why?" asked the alien defiantly. - -"Yes--why? Why is all this going on?" - -"The universe is not big enough to hold us both," snapped Kingallis. - -"Then it is true. You and your people have been suppressing our -research because you fear that we will be able to beat you. And we -will, Kingallis. We will!" - -"You won't live long enough," snarled the alien. - -Carroll's mind worked rapidly. If nothing else, he had now discovered -the truth of why. The alien culture wanted universal conquest. To -gain it, they were suppressing all research on the Lawson Radiation, -which was their main hope for victory. Instead of fighting to suppress -it, they had found it much easier to weasel their way in and fake a -report here and line there with a mere handful of men. No science could -advance when true discoveries were reported as failures and false data -were supplied to send the investigators along blind trails. - -But now there was real danger. Since Terra was cognizant of the peril -Terra would be destroyed. Destroyed or conquered early--the aliens not -waiting for the normal development of their plans of expansion. - -Carroll looked around for something to tie Kingallis with. And he saw-- - -Rhinegallis, supine upon the floor, a wide thick strap constricting -her ribs. Her eyes were closed. The pulse in her shapely throat was -fluttering weakly. - -"You swine!" said Carroll. - -Kingallis threw him off, leaped to his feet and raced for the teleport -disc. He plunged through as Carroll dropped to the floor on one knee -and started to fumble at the heavy strap. - - * * * * * - -He tore his fingers and he cursed, and he looked wildly for something -to cut the thing with. His eyes caught the tinsnips on the bench and he -arose to get them as Pollard came through the teleport. - -Back in Pollard's office the psychologist looked at the perfection of -the silvery plane and shuddered mentally. Then he said, "I don't know -what's up, but I'm going--through!" - -Majors nodded. He had not seen Carroll using the thing at all. His mind -was baffled but not psychopathically afraid of any gadget that made men -disappear so quickly. - -Pollard stepped gingerly into the circle and came through. It was like -walking through a ring. There was neither pain nor strain nor feeling. -He might have been stepping over a slight, wide sill. Then he was -looking down at Carroll, who was fumbling at the strap. Carroll cut it -through as Pollard knelt beside the girl. - -Then as Pollard made an instant check of the girl's heart and sighed -with relief, Carroll rose and turned on the doctor. - -"Now," he said, "are you satisfied?" - -"Satisfied?" echoed the doctor. - -"They almost got her!" snarled Carroll. - -"Oh?" - -"The teleport is theirs. They have many of them. They were worried -about discovery, so they came and--" - -"They did?" asked the doctor sarcastically. He turned to Majors. "I was -wrong," he said. - -"Wrong?" - -Pollard nodded sadly. "I believed that Carroll would not direct his -hate towards anything living. I did not anticipate his fastening the -embodiment of his hallucination upon a human being!" - -Carroll turned to Pollard with a glassy stare. "Just what do you mean?" -he asked in a flat voice. - -"That was an attempt at sheer wanton murder!" replied the doctor. - -Majors looked down at the girl and his face went black with anger. - -"Why," he said, "that's Rita Galloway!" - -Pollard looked at Majors. "Who?" - -"Rita Galloway. The head librarian over at the Scientific Section of -the Foundation Library." - -"She is Rhinegallis of the aliens," said Carroll quickly. - -Pollard shook his head. Majors growled. He started to speak and then -closed his lips tightly. - -"Go ahead," said Pollard. - -"All right," snarled Majors. "It was my fault!" - -"Your fault?" exploded Pollard. - -"Yes. The day after Carroll took that delivery job from little Sally, -he spent the evening in the Library looking up some rather complex -stuff. Miss Galloway was called upon quite often, so she said, and -came to me because she knew we were interested in Carroll. - -"Shut up, Carroll, and sit down before I kill you! I told her the -entire score and she said that if Carroll was truly as interested as he -seemed she was going to ask for a leave of absence and see that he was -helped. He seemed to be interested in her." - -"Does helping him include running off to Wisconsin with him?" asked -Pollard. - -"They had words with her brother Kingston," said Majors. "Seems that -her brother was concerned about her reputation, and said as much. -Carroll made some remark about there being little in common between -them, that no human being would find her interesting from a physical -standpoint, just as she would find any normal relationship with any -human being completely devoid of satisfaction. - -"Kingston Galloway instantly took this to be a slur upon his sister's -character and he jumped Carroll--also making it quite plain that he -would stand for no more foolishness. Carroll clipped him hard and left, -taking Rita with him. I got that from Kingston, who was out loaded for -murder." - -Pollard nodded. "A complex case of misdirected opinions," he said -with a grim smile. "Carroll thoroughly believes that she is alien and -as such incapable of forming any true association with a human. He -says so and her brother misconstrues his belief into an insult to her -character." - -Majors turned on Carroll. "This is a matter for the police," he -snapped. "Come along!" - -Carroll paused, looking down at the girl. Pollard scooped her up across -his arms and went through the teleport. By the time that Carroll -and Majors followed Doctor Pollard was working over the girl in his -laboratory. - -Carroll shrugged. "If he fails," he said, indicating Pollard, "we might -be able to hold an autopsy." - -Majors turned away, sick at heart. - - * * * * * - -Attorney Barnett rose impressively. - -"Your Honor, and Gentlemen of the Court," he said. "We do not deny the -allegation. We wish to point out, however, that despite my client's -state of mind he has and will be of continued value to civilization. - -"Incarceration in a penitentiary will not permit him to continue his -research. He should be permitted this outlet. Therefore, for my first -witness I call Doctor Harold Pollard." - -Pollard was put through the legal ritual and took the stand. - -"Pollard, what happened to James Forrest Carroll?" - -Pollard cleared his throat. "James Forrest Carroll followed the pattern -of several of the top physicists working on the Lawson Radiation," he -said. "May I express a pertinent opinion?" - -"Objection!" shouted prosecution. - -Judge Hawley frowned. "Is the opinion based on the crime?" - -"No, your honor. It is pertinent to all such cases." - -"Objection overruled." - -"May I take exception?" asked Frank Barre, the State's Attorney. - -"Let us examine the personal opinion first," replied the judge. - -Pollard nodded. "It has been the opinion of the men at the Lawson -Laboratory that all of these men have discovered something that has -driven them into amnesia. Amnesia, you understand, is the mind's -withdrawal from a distasteful reality. - -"Of all of them, however, Carroll is the only one who has shown a sign -of recovery from a state of complete amnesia pertaining to his work. -Carroll returned with an hallucination of a strange alien culture at -work to suppress any research." - -"I want to establish Doctor Pollard's reputation and ability as a -physician, surgeon, and practising psychiatrist," said Barnett. - -Frank Barre stood up. "Waived," he said. "Prosecution agrees that -Doctor Pollard's training and position are impeccable." - -"Thank you," replied Barnett. "Go on, Doctor Pollard." - -"In usual cases of paranoia the subject develops a persecution complex. -Usually it is directed against his fellow man. In Carroll's case this -was fastened upon the mythical race on another star. - -"Carroll believes the Lawson Radiation to be the wasted energy from a -space drive capable of interstellar travel. This alien race is supposed -to be suppressing the research for a reason not quite clear, though -Carroll believes--" - -"Tell us what you know, Doctor Pollard." - -"As with usual cases Carroll went to great pains to produce certified -evidence. While preparing the so-called facts, Carroll is in a state of -self-hypnosis--hallucination--in which he was actually living with the -aliens; and stealing their stuff. When he brings his evidence forward -he attributes it to their culture rather than the product of his own -brilliant mind." - -"And what do you recommend?" asked Barnett. - -"Since the Lawson Radiation was the thing that caused his downfall in -the first place whatever he found was important. We may have been lax -in our efforts to bring Carroll 'back'. Yet, we feel that any measure -that will help us to know what it is--is permissible. - -"Even attempts at murder?" - -Pollard shuddered. "Of course not," he said. "I should have said any -legal measure." - -"Thank you," replied Barnett. "I'll now call James Forrest Carroll. I -want the Court to hear his own story." - -"Carroll," said Barnett, once the man was legally installed on the -witness stand, "did you try to kill Rita Galloway?" - -"No!" - -"Did you try to kill a woman you knew as Rhinegallis?" - -"No!" - -"Then who did try to kill her?" - -"Her brother, Kingallis!" - -"Do you see this man in the courtroom now?" - -"Yes," said Carroll pointing to a man at the witnesses's table. "That -is Kingallis." - -"We will show later that the witness identified has been known all of -his life as Kingston Galloway, and is the brother of the woman." Then -Barnett faced Carroll again. "Do you mind talking about this?" - - * * * * * - -Carroll shook his head as he said, "Not at all. I have been most deeply -frustrated. Time after time I have produced evidence to show the truth -of the matter. I have gained no one who will believe me." - -"You say that Kingallis tried to kill his sister. Why?" - -"Because she betrayed him by helping me." - -"Your honor, you will recognize the importance of this statement. -It--like so many others--is a half truth. It is true and yet the -implication is not the same. The fact is, your honor, that Carroll -actually has reason to believe that Kingallis came through the teleport -to take revenge. This is part of the hallucination." - -He turned again to Carroll. "You claim you were held against your will -in a building in Virginia?" - -"I was." - -"Then tell me how it was that you were seen performing your job during -the time you claim to have been prisoner--and disappeared at the time -you went to Wisconsin with Rita Galloway?" - -Carroll smiled. "By the same explanation as the twin Sallys. One, you -remember, went into the black car so that the men could read the day's -reports and fix those that were informative. The other went into the -drugstore for a bite to eat in order to fill in the interim. There was -a man made up to resemble me." - -"You see, your honor, Carroll believes his hallucination implicitly." - -"Obviously." - -Barnett faced Carroll. "Prosecution claims that you, yourself, attacked -the girl in a state of anger because she proved your beliefs wrong--and -in hallucinatory hope that a complete autopsy would prove you correct." - -"This is untrue." - -"Your inventions--" - -"They are not my inventions. They are thefted from the alien library." - -"Carroll, you have a brilliant mind." - -"I was mentally strong enough to defy their thought machines," replied -Carroll. - -"And you have an extensive education in physics and science?" - -"I have." - -"Now tell me, are any of these inventions beyond understanding?" - -"Naturally not. They are based upon physical laws that are at present -unknown on Terra." - -"As--say--electricity was unknown in the days of Galileo?" - -"About like that." - -"Then, Carroll, it might be possible that you yourself made these -discoveries?" - -"I might have," admitted Carroll. "But--" - -"Under a hallucination? To prove to your own mind that you were -stealing something of scientific excellence?" - -"There is the matter of the language." - -"Irrelevant. It is a tongue no one here understands." - -"Kingallis! _Vol thes nil kantil res vi pon tere_...." - - * * * * * - -Kingston Galloway blinked as Carroll tongued his syllables, then began -to laugh. - -"You see," said Barnett, "anyone can mouth meaningless words and call -them a language. You can, if you are brilliant, even assign meanings to -them. Esperanto, among others, is a manufactured language." - -"Yet I claim it true." - -"What about your own future?" - -"I care nothing for myself, it is only the future of Sol that concerns -me." - -"Your honor," said Barnett, "There are two things I want to say before -I close. One is that James Forrest Carroll is not sane. Therefore he -should be committed to an institution. The other is that James Forrest -Carroll, for all of his insanity, is still a brilliant physicist. - -"He knows something about the Lawson Radiation that men have gone mad -for previously, that men have sought for thirty years, that time and -money has been spent for. Therefore, in this institution, James Forrest -Carroll should be permitted to experiment at his own will. - -"For if nothing else he will produce many other marvelous things in -an effort to prove that the science of the aliens is far greater than -ours." - -The judge asked Carroll, "You have a reason for believing all this?" - -"I know why. The alien culture wants to conquer the universe. Because -we are very close to them in scientific achievement they have cause to -fear us. - -"The Lawson Radiation is the spilled energy from their interstellar -ships and possession of this secret will permit Terra--or any other -system--to fight them on their own terms, even to beat them back to -their own system. Therefore they are suppressing all research by clever -misdirection." - -"I see. You seem to have an answer to every angle," mused the judge. - -"The trouble is," said Carroll, "that people insist upon judging me in -accordance with their own views--which means that they have an answer -to my every objection." - -"In other words," smiled the judge, "the world is wrong and you are -right?" - -"Precisely." - -"You know what is said about such people?" - -Carroll smiled. "They said the same thing about Galileo, Columbus, the -Wright brothers, Bell, Edison and Marconi," he said. - -"It is often hard to tell," said the judge. "However, there are some -good ways." - -Carroll faced the judge. "Sentence me," he said in a surly tone. "For -only by silencing me can you stop me from seeking you out." - -"Me?" asked the judge in surprise. - -"Either you are Terran and must therefore do everything to help me -unravel this mad pattern or you are really an alien who has succeeded -in penetrating to a high place in our civilization--and are therefore -interested in seeing that my knowledge of you is not given any -recognition." - -"But why--" - -"It has been said that when the superman arrives, he will be well -concealed and will occupy a high place in the world without anybody -knowing about it. You may or may not be. Yet by your decision you will -prove it to me!" - -"I see no reason to defend my opinion against your attack," replied the -judge. "However, in view of the circumstances, I hereby direct the jury -to return a verdict of 'guilty of criminal assault while in an insane -condition' and a sentence of committal to an institution until such a -time as you are pronounced sane and rational. Court is dismissed!" - - - - - CHAPTER X - - _Flight from Asylum_ - - -James Forrest Carroll was very careful in the days that followed. With -meticulous care he watched those about him in the asylum, always wary -of showing either too much interest or too much neglect. The other -inmates did not bother him particularly nor did they irritate him. Not -even the fact that he was committed to an insane asylum caused him to -lose heart. - -Carroll cared little for his immediate surroundings for he knew that -once he made his point and carried it to the awakened Solar System, not -only would all of the past suspicion be forgotten but he would receive -an even greater reward for having suffered to carry on. - -Then, as the flush of newness wore away, the guards and attendants let -him alone more. All of them were trained in handling the insane and -they treated each new inmate with considerable suspicion until the -exact nature of the patient's instability was known. - -Carroll's main and only argumentative period came when he was not -permitted to work as he pleased. And so long as no one mentioned the -word 'alien' in any way he was silent--lost in his thoughts and his -plans. - -As soon as they furnished him with working space, Carroll knew that his -incarceration was a godsend. For--barring the chance that one of the -guards might be alien--if he could not get out they could not get in. -This was security. - -The one off-chance worried Carroll. It would be hard enough to -segregate the few humanoid aliens from the mass of humanity. But with -the aliens occupying human bodies it was impossible. Just how it was -done Carroll could not say but he considered the problem and arrived at -a solution from sheer deductive reasoning. - -It was pathologically impossible to consider surgery--the gross -transplantation of a brain. For one thing--among many--there is the -matter of blood supply. Incorrect blood matching causes death in a -transfusion. This is not because of the mismatch in the blood stream -per se, it is because the metabolism of the entire human body is not -matched to the different type of blood. - -To transplant a brain would require that something be done about the -blood supply--if changed to match the brain the body would die, if not -the brain would die. And there was no remote possibility that any alien -brain would match human blood. - -It is even difficult in many cases to graft skin from one part of a -human's body to another, let alone grafting skin from one to another -body--and the possibility of cross-grafting across the line of -demarcation between Terran species was unthinkable. - -Just with common skin. - -The brain? - -Impossible! - -There was, however, the whole matrix of mental gadgets, hypnotic beams, -educators and other gewgaws of the alien culture. The old thought -patterns could easily be erased and replaced by a new system. That -would--despite theological arguments to the contrary--result in a new -person. For all beings are what their experiences and their training -makes them. - -A sentience produced in a humanoid body on a remote planet and mentally -hurled into a human brain will change the human to an alien in thought -and deed--but capable of living as a human! There is nothing in -thought that is inimical as there would be in the sheer complexity of -biochemistry. - -Thoughts, even nasty vagrant thoughts, do not kill. But how large is -the lethal dose of polio virus or potassium cyanide or unmatched blood? - - * * * * * - -An autopsy they might some day perform, but unless they could read her -thoughts, they would find nothing! How then to identify the alien? - -_Nay! How then to prove that there were aliens!_ - -There were both excitement and suspicion when Carroll built the -teleport in his asylum laboratory. It was too much like incarcerating a -man who had the ability to walk out of the place without half-trying. -In fact, as one of the guards put it, that's exactly what it was. - -It was Majors who smiled and shook his head. He pointed out that so -far there were but two of them, one in the office of the psychologist -Pollard and the other in the Wisconsin home of the inmate himself. Both -were turned off. - -Majors, not really understanding the principle of the things, had -them both placed in a sealed room. Whether Carroll could turn on an -inert machine from a remote place he did not know and he was taking no -chances. - -But Carroll's experiments with his new teleport seemed innocuous -enough. For several days he fiddled with the tuning and synchronizing -controls that were used to tune one teleport to the other. - -He kept constantly 'ON' the switch that remotely operated any distant -teleport that his own happened to be tuned to but his work did very -little good. He found the two that were sealed in the tiny room and -knew them for what they were. Carroll was seeking the teleports of the -aliens. - -For days he searched the--subspace?--for the alien teleports and found -none. Then in a desperate measure, Carroll finally went through to the -room in the Lawson Laboratory and, using some of his store of tools, -broke the sealed door. - -Brashly Carroll stole an automobile. Equally rash, he drove at -breakneck speed along the roads that led him up into the Virginia -mountains along the back-path that he had traversed only once before -in a conscious condition, and then from the opposite direction with -Rhinegallis pointing out the way. - -It took many hours before he came to the little side-road that led -like a mountain goat's retreat up into the top hills. It changed from -a side-road to a mere trail and then branched from a mere trail to an -unkempt, rutted footpath that jounced the automobile terribly. - -Miles along this rocky path, Carroll turned into a clearing--a -well-remembered clearing, and he looked across it--in surprise. The -building itself was gone! No wonder he could find no teleports! - -And the words of Kingallis returned to him. "You won't live long -enough!" the alien had said. "The universe isn't big enough for both of -us!" - -The rats had deserted the doomed ship! - -It was so pat--so perfect! Now they would say that there never had -been any aliens. At every turn Carroll was blocked and stopped and -frustrated. How long the aliens had been guarding Terra he did not -know. Perhaps about the time that the Lawson Radiation was discovered, -or perhaps even before. - -No matter how good they were at intercepting things, the aliens could -not keep some things from leaking out. They might have been here for -centuries awaiting the man Lawson who was the discoverer. - -They might have been covering information that would have led to the -discovery until they could no longer stop it. At that point in the -rise of any culture the discovery of such a factor would be almost -automatic.... - -Taking any science as a parallel, civilization makes its discoveries as -it is ready for them. The discovery of radio would have been impossible -before the knowledge of electricity. Nuclear physics would have been -impossible without a working knowledge of simple chemistry. - -Each science stood upon the shoulders of the other. Electronics aided -astronomy, mechanics aided electronics and chemistry aided mechanics. -Physics gave men more information about chemistry and chemistry was a -foundation stone for electronics. - - * * * * * - -How long that had been here Carroll did not care. The pertinent thing -at present was the simple fact that _now they were gone_! - -Gone because they dared not stay! - -Carroll cursed. It was his fault. Whatever was being done to eliminate -Terra as a threat to the aliens' ideas of aggrandizement was being done -because James Forrest Carroll had been instrumental in uncovering their -schemes. Had he remained in ignorance there would have been no reason -for their latest plan--conquest for aggrandizement does not include -extermination. - -To exterminate an enemy spells economic failure. There is little -glory in being the Lord of All when _All_ consists of burned planets, -dead cultures and the hollow grinning skulls of a billion billion -intelligences. - -Homage comes not from a skull. - -There, in the moonlight of the clearing where once stood a large -alien edifice, Carroll took from the back seat of his stolen car the -knocked-down teleport and set it up alongside the road. He stepped into -it and emerged in his asylum laboratory. - -He ignored the fact that both car and teleport were stolen and -abandoned. The only thing of importance now was the safety--the -personal safety--of all Terrans, whether they believed or not. That he -alone had good reason to believe in the threat was unimportant. There -have been many cases in the world of history when one man alone stood -against the world and was right. - -Let them scoff. - -Yet Carroll felt the full impact of helpless frustration. He was pitted -against an alien culture capable of scientific marvels such as the -teleport and interstellar travel and other things. They were capable of -destroying the solar system while the only man who stood against them -was incapable even of discovering how they intended to do it. - -He threw himself into his work and the days sped past as he built and -experimented and planned--and all too occasionally failed. When his -cohorts came to him with the announcement that the first sixty-foot -paraboloid of revolution was to be initiated that day at the Lunar -Observatory Carroll merely nodded and returned to his work. - -He cared not at all that the new observatory was to be called the -Carroll Observatory in honor of the man who made possible the perfect -reflector. At that time, Carroll was busy with his invisible fields of -force and spacial planes of stress and did not want to be bothered with -trivia--especially trivia that he had really had no hand in inventing. - -A lot of good the Carroll Observatory would be to mankind if the Solar -System were destroyed! - - * * * * * - -Majors entered Dr. Pollard's office with a large glossy photograph -in one hand. Pollard looked up amusedly as Majors said, "I'm getting -psycho, I guess." - -"Yes? And what makes you think so?" - -Majors laughed. "Because every time I get a problem I seem to come to -you instead of going where it can be answered by theoreticians and -physicists." - -Pollard smiled. "I think you come here because this is one place where -you can hold your own with another man who can hold his own with you," -he observed. - -"Well," admitted Majors, "you don't understand theoretical physics as -well as I do and psychology is over my head. Anyway, what do you make -of this?" - -The photograph was of a patch of sky. Pollard shook his head. - -"Is this a test question?" he asked. "Remember, I'm the psychiatrist -and I'm supposed to hand the patient strange items and ask them what -they see in them." - -Majors laughed. "This is a section of Boötes." - -"Boötees," murmured Pollard irrelevantly, "are knitted gadgets you put -on babies' feet." - -"All right, I'll leave quietly," chuckled Majors. "Seriously, though, -look at this." He pointed out a tiny smudge among the myriad of stars. - -"Well?" asked the doctor. - -"It shouldn't be." - -"Maybe a flaw?" - -"Nope," objected Majors. "It persists through twenty-seven photographs -made one minute apart--each exposed for one minute." - -"Um. What is it?" - -"Don't know," replied Majors. "But it is darned interesting." - -"Boötes is the region from whence comes the Lawson Radiation, isn't it?" - -Majors nodded. "That's why they sent it to me. It was taken by the -Carroll Telescope on Luna, a sort of tribute to Carroll that the first -photographs and work done by his invention be directed at that portion -of the sky he worked so long on--to his own downfall." - -"Tell me, Majors, do you often get these kind of smudges?" - -"Not this kind but there have been other kinds." - -Dr. Pollard looked at the smudge. "Let's take this to Carroll," he -suggested. "Maybe it might mean something to that hidden portion of his -mind that refuses to admit what it knows about the Lawson Radiation." - -"Through the teleport?" - -"Why not? If it's not available at the other end, we'll just meet a -solid mirror and can't step through. That worried me for a long time, -that idea of not having a place to go to. Just step out into--heaven -knows what--because the other end wasn't connected. Come on!" - -The teleport in Carroll's asylum laboratory gave the physicist warning -that they were coming through. He turned as they entered with an -annoyed smile on his face. Before him was a long paper record of Lawson -Radiation recordings that Carroll was studying through a magnifier. - -Majors handed Carroll the photo, saying, "What do you make of this?" - -"It's a bad blur--like a misfocused image," replied Carroll. - -"Yes--but why?" - -"You've heard of the Einstein Lens?" - -"Vaguely, but thought it was just a dream--a probability that never -happened." - -Pollard shook his head. "I don't know about it at all," he admitted. - -Carroll smiled tolerantly. "Light has energy and energy has mass," he -said. "Ergo light has mass. Masses attract one another according to the -Newtonian Law of Gravitation. Ergo light is bent by passing close to a -mass." - -"I see," said Pollard leaping to the right conclusion. "Then light -radiated from a very distant galaxy may pass close enough to a dark -mass--with Terra, the mass and the galaxy in line--to have the distant -galaxy focus itself here?" - -"Yes," replied Carroll. "The mass acts as a biconvex lens because it -bends all tangential light toward the center as the beam passes." - -"But the Einstein Lens effect doesn't make smudges like this," objected -Majors. - -Pollard whistled. "You mean to say that the Einstein Lens is known to -be a fact?" - -"Right. Several cases are known and accepted as such!" - -"Well!" - - * * * * * - -Carroll looked up from the smudge. "A negative lens," he said, "would -cause diffusion like this." - -Majors blinked. "That would mean--oh, no!" - -"Negative matter," said Carroll promptly. - -"Um. You postulate a negative mass in line with the light from a star?" - -Carroll nodded. - -Majors smiled and took out a roll of thirty-five millimeter film. He -handed it to Carroll. - -"I took the liberty of making smaller prints," he said. "Those -are the other thirty-five pix made near that area. You'll see the -initiation of the smudge on the second, and the completion of it on the -twenty-eighth. The others are just spares." - -Carroll looked at the smudges, one after the other. - -"You'll note that the thirteenth, the twentieth, and the -twenty-fifth have rather larger areas," said Majors. "Also, on the -thirty-first--after the body presumably has passed out of line--there -is one more faint flare-point. That was minutes after the thing passed -out of line." - -Carroll read the pictures carefully and then without a word he turned -to the desk. He picked up the tape of Lawson Radiation recordings and -handed it to Majors. - -"Here," he said, "is correlation between astronomical fact and the -Lawson Radiation." - -There were four definite pips on the line. Four spikes that reached -up, with each spike labelled as to the time of reception. Though the -intrinsic time did not match by hours the spacing between the pips and -the flared photographs was perfect. - -"Then what?" asked Majors, and Pollard held his breath. - -"A mass of negative matter passing through space," said Carroll, "would -naturally be struck occasionally by meteors or small celestial bodies." - -"But if negative matter is repulsive instead of attractive?" objected -Majors. - -"Then," said Carroll simply, "the only masses that can strike the -repulsive celestial negative-mass are those other masses that possess -the velocity that corresponds to the velocity of escape in normal mass!" - -Majors looked thoughtful. - -"I get it," said Majors. "The velocity of escape is that velocity -attained by any mass in falling to the earth from an infinite distance. -Converted, any mass given that velocity upon the instant of departure -need have no more acceleration applied in order that the mass be driven -to an infinite distance against gravity. Follow?" - -"Uh-huh," said Pollard. - -"In the case of a repulsive mass--negative mass--in order for any other -object to strike it it must possess enough energy to overcome the -repulsion. This would be the inverted equivalent of the velocity of -escape!" - -"Negative mass and positive mass would cancel one another?" - -Carroll nodded. "Producing the Lawson Radiation!" - -"Then all these years we have been following a bit of negative mass -getting hit by normal meteors." - -Carroll shook his head. "You check the orbit of that mass," he said, -"and you'll find out that it is due to strike Sol!" - -"You know?" - -"I suspect," said Carroll. "The aliens must destroy us lest we destroy -them. This is their way. We must stop that mass!" - -"Look," said Majors. "Let's find out the course of that celestial -object first!" - -"It will be," said Carroll. - -"Carroll," objected Majors, "why must you insist upon blaming the -aliens for something that is definitely a matter of celestial chance?" - -"Because it is not celestial chance," snapped Carroll. "And I'll yet -prove it!" - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - _Prophets of Doom_ - - -Rita Galloway came at Pollard's request, and the doctor told her about -the new developments. She listened with interest, finally nodded with -comprehension. - -"So that," she said, "is what drove him mad?" - -Pollard smiled. "Obvious, isn't it?" - -"Not too obvious to one who is not completely informed as to the -workings of the mind." - -Pollard smiled again. "Sorry," he said. "I thought it was simple. It -may be me, but I will try to show you that the mechanics of the mind -are as logical in madness as in sanity--or in plain cause-and-effect -mechanical systems. - -"Somehow during his researches in the Lawson Radiation he stumbled -upon the truth. He studied it, not daring to believe at first the -possibility of a negative mass. Yet the facts were there and in some -manner Carroll managed to develop a system of physical mathematics that -tended to prove his point. - -"I have no doubt, Rita, that if we find any tampering with the Lawson -Laboratory records, they will have been tampered with by Carroll -himself, who refused to let this bizarre affair be known until he was -certain. - -"You see, Carroll knew the storm of protest that would arise if any -physicist tried to promulgate such a theory without almost certain -proof. So he concealed it. But he studied it thoroughly. And in his -studies he discovered that this negative mass was heading for Terra." - -Majors cleared his throat. "Tell me, Doctor Pollard, how you make -these vast assumptions? Aren't you like the classical definition of -a physicist? You know, a man of limited reason who can leap from an -unfounded theory to a foregone conclusion?" - -Pollard laughed. "Rita was not there. But you were. Did you note how -quickly Carroll picked out the point? One look at the photographs, -one look at the Lawson Record and one statement of fact--all tied in -to absolute perfection. Carroll knew that his theory was terribly -thin--also he knew the futility of trying to stop a cosmic body -approaching Terra. The combination drove him into hallucination." - -"Amnesia?" - -"Yes. It all ties in. Every bit." - -"Go ahead and tie, Doc." - -Pollard nodded. "His is a classic form of schizophrenia. For his years -of study he is presented with the knowledge of certain destruction. -This is terrible to face per se. It is terrible to think of one's -self telling the world that he has just discovered the first true and -provable link in the ending of the Solar System. It is like uttering -the clarion of doom. - -"Now remember," said Pollard, pointing off the pertinent spots on his -fingers, "that Carroll probably tampered with the records or at least -did not list the truth. Tampered with or falsified. That's point number -one. Secondly, the true schizophrenic-paranoid cannot rail against a -mechanistic fate. - -"He must find some sentience to fight, some evil mind to combat. For -the paranoid feels that he can win in the end, which of course would be -impossible against a case of mechanistic doom. Therefore Carroll needed -some sentient manifestation of this doom, something that he could -strike at, fight against. Therefore he has accused an 'alien culture' -of tampering with the records to prevent us from knowing the truth. - -"I tried to tell him of many others who claimed to have discovered a -'master-mind' that treated humans as we treat goldfish and guinea pigs. -I tried to ask him why, if these master minds are so omnipotent that -they can spend fifty thousand years watching an experiment in humanity, -they were not smart enough to do away with the one man in that time -that might cause them trouble. That's the link that stumbles most -Prophets of Doom." - - * * * * * - -He paused. - -"But James Forrest Carroll is completely self-justified. His -explanation was simple enough to sound right. He merely claimed that, -since his mind was sufficiently strong to best their 'hypnosis beams', -they kept him alive to study him. You see? He is so mighty that they do -not dare. True paranoia. - -"Now, point three. Carroll is a brilliant man with a vast imagination. -Yet his training as a physicist kept him from trying many wild schemes -or things that might be against the teachings of modern physics. -Therefore he attributes the many superscientific marvels to the -techniques of the 'aliens'. In truth no Terran physicist would believe -them possible. The conscious mind rejects the idea of the teleport for -instance. - -"But there was terrible compulsion. He must avert the destruction of -Sol. This he can do, he believes, by learning much of the alien science -and turning their own trick against them. Things that no sensible -physicist would even consider must be given a try in this period of -emergency. Therefore he went into hallucination in order to invent this -'science'--because his conscious mind tells him that it is impossible." - -"Aren't you missing the motivation?" asked Majors. - -"Not at all, I just stated it. His subconscious mind knew that the only -way to stop this catastrophe was to try the products of an untrammelled -imagination." - -"Rather complex, don't you think?" - -"Not to the mind. It is all self-justification. Remember the attack on -Rita? Her ribs constricted by a heavy leather strap? A normal man with -the impulse to kill doesn't go to such bizarre lengths. A shot, a stab, -a bit of poison. - -"Also," added the psychologist, "it is commentary on the mind of -the paranoid that cruel and unusual forms of torture and death are -uppermost. Since in Carroll's deluded mind this attack was to be used -as proof of the alien culture, the crime must be made to look alien and -unearthly. - -"Well," said Pollard with a deep sigh, "We have smoked him out at last. -We have uncovered the hidden truth in Carroll's mind. Rita, we need you -again." - -"I know," she said quietly. - -"You forgive him?" - -"Of course," she said. "And if I did not I should cover it. After all, -this is no longer a matter of men and women and minor hates. This is -Man against the Universe. And if I must sacrifice myself to see that -Sol remains I shall, and gladly." - -"How about your brother?" - -"He hates Carroll. Terribly." - -Majors grunted. "We'll take care of him. Maybe he's the real madman in -this scramble." - -"At any rate," said Pollard, "we all have something tangible to fight, -now. Go to him, Rita. You have his confidence, even though he believes -you to be one of the 'aliens'." - -"Go to him?" she asked with a smile, "I'll not have to. Carroll will -come to me." - -"You seem certain." - -"You may scoff at feminine intuition," she said with a laugh, "but in -some cases it works. You see, no matter what Carroll thinks of me, he -is aware of the fact that I am a woman. Meanwhile I'll merely borrow -that portable teleport and wait." - - * * * * * - -The room was dark save for a slight streak of yellow moonlight. As -the night progressed, the streak of moonlight passed across the room, -illuminating the sleeping girl, the dresser, the desk, the teleport, -the blank wall. - -And in the early morning hours the perfect plane of the teleport -flashed briefly to admit James Forrest Carroll. Blinking, he looked -around the darkened room until his eyes adapted themselves. Then he -made his way to the side of the bed. The motion of the bed as he sat -upon the edge awakened the girl, who sat up quietly enough to allay -Carroll's fears that she would shriek. - -"Rhine," he said softly. - -"Yes," she replied. - -"I need your help." - -"I know. I'll give it." - -"You will?" was his reply. The tone of his voice was indefinable. There -was mingled wonder, and scorn, and suspicion. - -"I will." - -He laughed sardonically. "Now you'll help," he said. "Why didn't you -help me when they accused me of trying to murder you?" - -She shook her head sadly, and reached for his hand. He tried to -withdraw but she held it fast. - -"James," she said with a note of pleading in her voice. "Please believe -me. I wanted to. But you see, my testimony was worthless. All I -remember was a blow on the back of the head. Blinding lights, roaring -sound and waves of pain that came and went in crescendo and diminuendo -until I came to in Doctor Pollard's surgery." - -"They blamed me." - -"I know," she said. - -"Perhaps you blamed me too." His hand tightened on hers as though he -were silently praying for her denial. - -Rhine lifted her other hand and put its palm against his cheek. -"James," she said softly, "I did not see nor did I hear, but I know -that whoever it was it was not the man who is here tonight." - -He smiled quietly. "I keep forgetting the quality of mind that I am up -against," he said. - -"Mind?" - -"Mind--or mentality," he said. "You see, Rhine, parallel evolution is -impossible. So is the idea of brain transplantation. Hence the only way -in which your race can invade ours is by mental replacement, invasion, -control--or by wiping the other brain clean and clear and taking over. -This leaves you an alien mind in a human body." - -She laughed faintly. "I've often told you that you nor anybody else -would ever get evidence to prove that I am not a very human person," -she said softly. Her hand upon his cheek moved slightly and then slid -around to the back of his head. She drew it forward and met his lips -with hers. - -For but a brief instant he resisted. Then he yielded as her lips parted -beneath his invitingly. His arms went around her and he cradled her -close to him and he knew with sweet completeness that, alien mind or -not, there was no question nor doubt about her responding to him. - -Minutes later she leaned back in his arms and chuckled at him. He -grunted a wordless demand to explain. - -"Why," she said, still chuckling, "you'd have a terrible time -explaining to any one of a hundred billion human beings that I am -utterly alien and that this friendship of ours is strictly platonic and -developed out of a desire for mutual desire for protection against our -respective races." - -Carroll looked around. The streak of moonlight had moved. It was -now casting a pale golden light on an easy chair. Draped across the -easy chair back was a pale green negligee almost as intangible and -diaphanous as the moonlight. Carroll blushed and remembered where he -was--and also why he had come. - -"Rhine," he said. "You'll come with me?" - -"Of course," she told him. - -His suspicion returned vaguely. "Tell me," he pleaded, "Is it because -you know that there is no return for you or--" - -"Sol is menaced," she replied simply. "Sol must be saved and you are -the only man in the world that can do it. I want Sol saved." - -"But why?" he demanded. - -"Because," she replied. - -Carroll shook his head. Question and answer were pat. Human, alien, -animal, vegetable or mineral--the same question and the same answer! - -Rhine chuckled again. "Beat it," she said. "But leave the teleport -running. I'll be through as soon as I'm dressed." - -He nodded, arose and went through the teleport. Rhinegallis followed -him in about ten minutes and once more they were in the laboratory of -Carroll's Wisconsin home. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - _Negative Matter_ - - -For an instant their gaze held. - -"Now," asked Carroll, "what is the Lawson Radiation?" - -"Should I know?" she queried by way of reply. - -"I think so." - -"Why?" - -"As an emissary, you should." - -She laughed. "I'm still giving no evidence, James. I cannot. I am -human." - -He looked down at her, and the recollection of her kiss was strong. -"There are times," he said ruminatively, "when you most certainly are!" - -She let her eyes drop. Then she raised them again. "I know very little -about it," she told him. "And practically nothing but what you've told -me. A lot about alien mathematics and sciences. I think that somewhere -in the maze of data there will be the answer you seek." - -"And that," he replied, "may be either a chance statement based upon -good prediction or the remark of an alien who knows where the body is -hidden but will say nothing more than, 'Getting warmer'." - -"So what do we do?" she asked. "Shall we let this simmer down to the -old unanswerable argument as to my mental status or shall we forget -that and take to real investigation?" - -"Investigation," he said. "You're a darned good librarian, Rhine. You -tabulate and I'll try to juggle it out." - -Rhine went to the draftman's table and sat down. - -"I've maintained all along that the Lawson Radiation was the by-product -of faster-than-light travel," he said. "Ignoring the argument of -aliens and such, we have good evidence at present. There is a body of -negative mass approaching Terra. This negative mass is approaching -Terra at a velocity not only exceeding the velocity of light but -traveling several hundred times the velocity of light." - -He paused. Then he sat down--hard. - -"What's the matter?" she asked, seeing the look of consternation on his -face. - -"The photographs," he said bleakly. - -"Yes?" - -"Can a rifle bullet traveling faster than sound be heard before it -arrives?" he asked enigmatically. - -"No." - -"Then a body traveling faster than light cannot be seen before it -arrives! Those pictures show a region of the sky and a few stellar -catastrophes that took place years ago when the light left there -unless--" - -"Unless what?" - -"Unless the telescope made of the teleport mirror effect utilizes a -type of radiation that propagates faster than light." - -Rhine nodded. "If celestial bodies can travel faster than light," she -said, "it stands to reason that some form of energy can travel faster -than light also. After all, matter is one form of energy." - -Carroll smiled quietly. "This is negative matter," he said. "And so far -as I have been able to calculate, the only thing that can avoid the -Einstein increase in mass with increase in energy would be some object -having negative mass. But negative mass is as meaningless a term as -negative energy." - -"A gentleman by the name of Dirac got the Nobel Prize for postulating -states of negative kinetic energy," said Rhine. - -"The positron," nodded Carroll. - -"Then it must make sense." - -"It does. A normal body possessing energy tends to dissipate that -energy by transferring the excess to other bodies possessing less than -it does. A body possessing negative energy would demand that energy be -applied to it in order for it to acquire a state of energy equilibrium. - -"The positron, according to Dirac, is a state of negative kinetic -energy which is satisfied only when the energy of an electron is -applied to it. In the process known as 'pair-production', where hard -gamma strikes matter and releases an electron and a positron, it is -actually a case of separating the electron from its positron, leaving -in effect a 'hole' in the level of energy. - -"It is a man whose bills are not paid but are merely covered by written -and certified checks. Send away one check and you have a debit in the -man's account. The positron is satisfied very quickly, however, since -there is a large excess of free electrons to fall into place. - -"These cancel the positron--and that process produces hard gamma rays -again--of the same energy content as required to cause the 'pair -production' in the first place. About one million electron volts plus," -he added. - -She hesitated a moment. - -"Now--about this negative mass," she said. - -"Simple," he said. "Very simple. A negative mass is the only thing -that can exceed the speed of light. Similarly negative energy is the -only kind that can propagate in excess of light. So now let's juggle -equations until we can reproduce the same." - -Rhine nodded, picked up a pencil and then looked at him expectantly. - -"Put down," he said with a smile, "the first equation that ever told -the truth about the relationship between mass and energy. Energy 'E' -equals Mass 'M' times the squared speed of light, 'C^2'." - -"And from there?" - -"And from there we start juggling until we find out how to introduce -the negative factor. And I do not mean by dividing by the square root -of minus one," he told her. - - * * * * * - -Doctor Pollard looked up at the man who stood before his desk. "Mr. -Galloway," he said, "You may believe yourself normally right but you -are ethically wrong." - -"Morals and ethics be hanged!" snarled Rhine's brother. "That nut has -kidnaped my sister again." - -"Not without her aid," smiled Pollard. - -"Aid be hanged too!" shouted Kingston Galloway. "He tried to kill her -once and he may try again." - -"Look," said Pollard quietly. "There are times when personality and -identity mean nothing. I think well of my life, as much as you think of -yours. Yet I'd feel less than human if I permitted myself and my ideas -to stand in the way of civilization." - -"Stop talking like a superior being and come down to facts," yelled -Kingston Galloway. - -"I am. James Forrest Carroll is the only man on earth who can save -Terra from certain destruction. Your sister can be of help to him." - -"How?" demanded Kingston. - -"Rita is an excellent librarian. She has the ability to recall facts -and figures beyond most people. She has almost an eidetic memory. -Whether Carroll is sane or completely schizophrenic-paranoid, his -statements and his theories are solid when based upon his own line of -reason. - -"That his line of reason does not agree with heretofore known physical -facts is of no consequence since several of the unsound, unscientific, -un-factual reasonings have produced things that work. Unsound as they -may seem, they are not unreasonable--excepting to us who can not reason -that way." - -"Get to the point." - -"Whether Carroll urges Rita to display a horde of facts because he -thinks they come from an alien mind in a human body, or whether -he understands the truth--that they are merely repeats of his own -statements made when he does not recall them--the fact remains that -Rita is his tabulator, his encyclopedia of fact, his memory. She and -she alone can put down concurrently things he has reasoned out, once -when himself and next when he is--un-sane." - -"But she's in danger!" - -"So are we all," replied Pollard easily. "And Rita herself knows the -danger. And," he added with a snort of derision, "of what good is your -so-called moral integrity going to do you a year from today if James -Forrest Carroll is stopped from preventing the calamity due to erase -Sol from existence in a month?" - -"He's a madman. How can you believe that this danger really exists?" - -"The danger is what drove him mad." - -"And made him believe that Rita and I are aliens?" - -"Merely manifestations of the hallucination." - -Kingston Galloway growled in his throat. "I ought to kill you," he -snarled. "Not only have you left my sister unprotected, but you've -condoned her kidnaping and now you sit there and tell me that the fate -of the world lies in the mind of a lunatic." - -Pollard smiled. "There have been many historic times when civilization -was nearly torn down by a madman. Let history record once when -civilization was saved by one." - -"At my sister's expense!" Kingston stormed, barely able to control his -rage. - - * * * * * - -Pollard shook his head. Then he said patiently, "James Forrest Carroll -was driven mad by this knowledge of inescapable doom, because his -subconscious mind knew that the answer was hidden in the realm of -physics termed 'unreasonable' to the true physicist. - -"Once James Forrest Carroll has succeeded in removing this menace he -will know that amnesia and mental retreat are not necessary for the -preservation of his sanity. There will undoubtedly be evidences, too, -to support the 'unreasonable' physics in terms of what we know to -be true. Thus Carroll will be completely self-justified and will be -returned to normal." - -"You talk a lot about self-justification," snarled Kingston. - -"Everybody is self-justified," said Pollard. "Sanity is when the -self-justification of the individual is, within certain limits, similar -to the self-justification of the average human being. Insanity is when -the self-justification of the individual lies outside of reasonable -limits. Once Carroll's self-justification--which is one more way of -saying his 'viewpoint'--is reasonably similar to others, sanity will -return." - -"And in the meantime, what about Rita?" - -"Rita is at worst a good soldier," said Pollard. "At best, she alone -will realize the full truth. But just remember neither morals nor -ethics mean a thing to a civilization that has just perished before a -nova. And I have more than a little respect for the morals and ethics -of both Carroll and your sister under any circumstances." - -"But she's my sister and he's--" - -"Shut up. You're talking like a fool. They're doing nothing wrong. -Stop them and you'll destroy the earth. Perhaps if you'd left him -alone--them alone--Carroll might not have identified you with his -hallucinatory aliens." - -"Yeah? And just what is an alien?" demanded Kingston. - -"An alien," smiled Pollard, "is any man who does not think as you do!" - -"Bah!" cried Kingston, turning on his heel. He left the office swearing -eternal vengeance. - -An hour later, Majors came bursting into Pollard's office. "Pollard!" -he exclaimed. "Listen! That wildman Kingston Galloway has just -collected a gang of his cohorts, friends and buddies and they've all -taken off like wildmen. They're heading for Wisconsin!" - -"The stupid idiot!" exploded Pollard, coming out of his chair. "Come -on!" - - * * * * * - -Rhinegallis clasped Carroll's arm tightly as she stood beside him -and looked at the almost-vibrant blackness that seemed to shimmer in -the encircling wire mounted on the wall. Carroll was too busy to pay -attention to her clasp. - -He was busy adjusting knobs on a haywire equipment on the bench -beside him. The shimmering blackness flared briefly at one side, -turned milky for an instant near the top--and then a pinprick of -utter--nothingness--appeared to one side of the circle. - -Carroll adjusted knobs, brought the spot of sheer black into the center -of the artificial plate and then expanded it. It was noticeable only -because it--as a circle of utter no-response--was less energetic than -the misty background. - -"That," he said, "is it." - -"The negative mass?" - -He nodded. "Is the 'fence' ready?" - -"Checked." - -"Now's as good a time as any," he said laconically. He left the -vantage-point and went to another panel in the laboratory and began to -throw switches. - -Five miles from Carroll's home a ten mile circle of wire came to life. -Set on insulators mounted on trees in a rough circle, the area ten -miles in diameter shimmered with a thin, misty film of energy--the same -energy as that of the teleport. - -It thickened as Carroll adjusted the driving gear, thickened and -became more positive until it was as shiningly opaque as the teleport -screen-mirror. Trees in the circle, cut clean at the surface of the -mirror fell, impelled by gravity into the screen. Then above the -perfect plane of energy was nothing. - -The trimmed trees fell helter-skelter into a deep gorge from a smaller -teleport plane twenty miles to the north. - -Then the perfect plane bowed downward into a shallow paraboloid of -revolution. As it went down the up-thrusting trees were trimmed off -and the matter in them converted into energy. A minute but perfect -sphere appeared atop a pillar of energy not far from the rim of the -paraboloid. - -Down went the center of the paraboloid, down into the bowels of the -earth, and the sphere of stored energy grew rapidly. Down went the -center, deep, until a perfect parabolic reflector ten miles in diameter -and twelve miles deep resulted. The cubic mile after cubic mile of -earth, rock, water, and forest were stored as energy in the sphere, now -a full three feet in diameter. - -A landslide started near the rim, and earth rumbled forward down -the side of the depression, disappearing as it touched the outside -of the energy-shell that was Carroll's reflector. The rim of trees -that supported the energizing ring fell into the widening inverted -funnel but its job was over. The mirror was stable, held by the energy -contained in the perfect sphere on the column near its edge. - -The rumbling stopped as stability came. The roar, all of it sheer -physical sound from tortured earth, died and left a hollow vacancy in -comparison. - -Then Carroll took a small set of levers and manipulated them like a man -flying a drone airplane. The sphere of energy left the column and was -driven over the gaping maw of the mighty reflector. Down it dropped -until it was at the exact focus of the paraboloid. There it compressed -to almost a point. - -"This," said Carroll, "is it!" - -He reached for the master switch just as a flashing bolt of coruscating -energy dazzled across the room, searing his arm. - -"King!" screamed Rhinegallis. "Don't!" - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - _Last Chance_ - - -Through the door swarmed Kingallis and four of his henchmen. They -paused to get their bearing and then they plunged forward, shouting. -Rhine made ineffective gestures against them--pure instinct, for her -senses were shocked by their abrupt appearance. - -Carroll cursed. His sense of timing told him that there was no second -to waste, yet his right arm hung useless and he was reeling weakly from -the shock. They did not fire again as they came swarming across the -floor, but their interception of his move was as effective. Kingallis, -with an angry shout, caught Carroll and hurled him away from the panel. - -[Illustration: Kingallis caught Carroll and hurled him away from the -panel.] - -Two of the others took Rhine by the arms and drew her back out of the -way. - -"Now!" snarled Kingallis, with sheer animal tones in his voice. "We'll -see about this!" - -He waved the other two aside and back and then stepped forward to slap -Carroll across the face. The blow, meant as an insult strong enough to -arouse fighting instinct, was strong enough to stagger Carroll. - -"Weakling," scoffed Kingallis. He back-handed the staggering physicist -again and again, driving Carroll against the far wall of the laboratory. - -"Come on and fight," sneered Kingallis. - -Rhine shrieked in mad anger. "Fight?" she shrilled, "after you've shot -him?" - -Kingallis kicked Carroll in the abdomen. "Coward!" screamed -Rhinegallis. With a superhuman strength born of sheer madness, Rhine -hurled herself out of the hands of her captors and raced across the -floor. Her fingernails came down across her brother's face drawing a -torrent of blood from torn eyelids. At the same time she kneed him in -the stomach. Her blow was more effective than Kingallis's had been on -Carroll. He stumbled back writhing in pain. - -But only for a moment--he straightened and cursed blackly, stepped -forward and slapped Rhine across the face, hurling her back into the -hands of the others by the force of the blow. Then he turned quickly -for Carroll had recovered. - -But instead of going to Rhine's rescue Carroll turned and raced madly -across the floor. He hurled his good shoulder against the master -switch, driving it home. - -Relays slapped home-- - -And light itself was tortured. The very walls of the laboratory seemed -to shake and waver because of the mighty electrostatic stresses set up -in the continuum of space. The square, precision-machined equipment -warped into non-mechanical distortions. - -Vastnesses of energy flowed in a mad vortex. Steep gradients of -electrostatic charge flowed back and forth like the surface of a stormy -sea, and corona discharge hissed and trickled out of all sharp corners. - -The nerves tingled and muscles twitched; normal senses produced -abnormal stimuli. In one man's hand one of the weapons discharged into -the floor and he tried to hurl it from him with a cry of pain. He could -not open his clenched hand. - -Twitching with every erratic reversal of the charged field that -surrounded the area, James Forrest Carroll painfully pulled himself -to his feet and looked across the shimmering room. Pride and -self-confidence added to his will-power. He stood there as his tingling -brain considered the facts of the matter. - -Regardless of what happened now--regardless of himself or of -anybody--he had won this battle. He laughed and in the tortured -continuum of the place his laugh sounded like a mad cackle. - -Fear was painfully slow in coming to the faces of Kingallis and his -cohorts. Then it came--fear and the realization of danger. King gave an -angry, wordless cry and tried to cross the laboratory floor. He could -not quite make it. - - * * * * * - -Carroll turned his back on them and watched the viewplate on the far -wall. It was wavering and distorted but it showed the sky and the -sphere of negative mass. - -Out in the parabolic reflector, the tiny compressed sphere of energy -disappeared into a hole of blackness, from which expanded an exploding -shell of sheer light-energy. Against the reflector it poured in a -howling torrent and into the sky it went--and disappeared. - -Faster than the light it created it went, on and out into space. -Gone--unseen--undetectable--save for the black circle on the wall of -Carroll's laboratory. - -There it was evident as a column, a cylinder that blazed like the -fury it was. How long it lasted is beyond guesswork. Its duration -was several seconds in the making, its velocity the speed of light -multiplied by an unknown quantity that registered in the thousands. - -It was--the Lawson Radiation--the Lawson Radiation multiplied -and increased as the light from the sun is greater than the pale -ineffective illumination coming from a Will O' the Wisp. - -It only took seconds, while the continuum heaved and strained to -regain its equilibrium and the sensitive nervous systems of those in -the laboratory tingled and screamed to the dictates of flowing energy. -Seconds only it took for that flying column of energy to reach the -black circle that was the negative mass that menaced Terra. - -[Illustration: It took only seconds for the flying column of energy to -reach the black circle of the negative mass that menaced Terra.] - -Yes, seconds only, it took. The negative mass that menaced Sol could -not have been far away. - -Then cylinder and sphere met in a singular lack of display. The -cylinder, narrow but shining, bored into the sphere, dark and menacing. -Perceptibly, the sphere slowed, dragged, came to a halt--then -accelerated in the reverse direction. - -In milliseconds the celestial body of negative mass had been stopped -and re-started on its return trip. It accelerated swiftly, the -acceleration-factor itself rising as the energy from the column became -the energy of motion of the negative mass. - -A negative mass--similar to a negative energy-level--demands energy -before it can be stable. Its demands were satisfied and then satiated. -It raced into unthinkable velocities before the column of energy was -all used up and still the column poured into the negative mass. - -It could not have been accomplished against a positive mass but the -negative mass possessed negative inertia. The harder it was driven, the -less energy it took to drive it harder. - -Across space it went, becoming a pinpoint in Carroll's artificial -viewplate. The stars of the galaxy behind it shone brightly--all but -the one directly in line with the flight of the negative mass. - -Then, as the spacial stresses diminished and a man could think again in -that area, there was a tiny flash on the viewplate. - -And James Forrest Carroll laughed. "Finis!" he roared. - -King shook himself. "You madman! You destroying fiend--get him!" - -The laboratory echoed and re-echoed with the wild thunder of released -energy. Rhine dropped beside Carroll. Her right hand flicked up to -a switch on the panel, and out of thin air there appeared a tenuous -inverted bowl of light. Flying bits of metal as well as the bursts of -released energy deflected from the inverted bowl. - -Painfully, Carroll stood up and advanced across the floor towards -Kingallis and his cohorts. He walked through a veritable tornado of -sheer death, and Rhinegallis followed him because to get outside of his -protecting shield was to die. - -They looked at him as they would have viewed a specter, for he advanced -through their hail of death unharmed. In fright they herded back, their -weapons lowered helplessly. - -Cornered and helpless against the teleport they waited, shivering in -fright. - -"You said once," snarled Carroll, "that the universe was not large -enough for your kind and mine. As I have destroyed your world so I'll -destroy you!" - -He lunged forward, and they turned and rushed madly into the teleport. -Carroll shook his head. - -"They--?" asked Rhine, shakily. - -"The spacial stress is still present," he quavered. "They were -teleported into the nearest and strongest field." He turned and -stumbled across the floor to the controls and shut off the gigantic -reflector. The rumblings started as a final landslide tumbled down the -declivity into the bowl. The screams of King and his cohorts were lost -in the thunder of avalanche. - - * * * * * - -James Forrest Carroll sat in the easy chair in Pollard's office and -smiled tolerantly at the psychologist. - -"Sure, sure," he said easily. "All in my mind." - -Pollard grunted. "Well, it is." - -"Baloney. I suppose Kingallis didn't come to prevent me from destroying -his world?" - -"He came--" - -"Knowing," said Carroll, "that if he stopped me he and his kind could -go on with their mad plan for conquest. May I ask about this?" he held -up his injured arm. - -"When I last saw Kingston Galloway--" started Majors. - -"You call him Kingston Galloway," laughed Carroll. "But I know he is -Kingallis. Now go ahead." - -"He and his bunch were carrying pistols." - -"He shot at me with some sort of energy weapon. This is a burn, not a -bullet-hole!" - -Majors shook his head. "Not a chance. Admitting that what you sent out -was an energy-beam, it is still impossible to believe that a hand-sized -energy weapon is practical." - -"Granted," said Carroll. "But then there's this evidence. Explain this, -will you? I don't mind getting my arm burned badly if it will only make -you believe." - -Doctor Pollard shook his head with a smile. "Stigmata," he said. -"The 'Bleeding Madonna' who exhibits wounds and bleeding from -hands, feet, sides and forehead on Good Friday. A sheer mental -phenomenon--psychosomatica. This is the same. You are so convinced as -to the positiveness of these aliens that your mind produced this burn -as evidence." - -"Brother, this ain't no mental mirage," snapped Carroll. - -"No one said it was. But the power of the human mind is such that the -cellular structure of the body will exhibit burn-trauma when the mind -believes it so. So one of them creased your arm and you reacted as -though it were the burn your mind believed it to be. - -"We've been through all this before. It's just cause and effect and -result. This time it is only the latter that counts. You've destroyed -the menace that drove you insane." - -"Look," said Carroll, "I've been through it." - -"And nothing you've turned up with can be construed as any evidence -beyond the manufacture of your own mind. And nothing that you will ever -find--" - - * * * * * - -Carroll nodded angrily. "I've got a couple of projects yet. One is the -hand-held weapon--just to prove to the bright boys who think this bum -wing is thought-up--that such is possible. The other may bring proof, -but it may take some time. - -"I've still got me a job. I'm going to develop the faster-than-light -space drive and go out looking for aliens. They had interstellar -travel. They all couldn't have been destroyed." - -"Forget it, Carroll." - -"Forget it?" exploded the physicist. "Forget it when I've a whole world -of physics waiting for me to develop? Not on your life!" - -He stood up and grinned at them boyishly. Then he left and as the door -closed Majors looked askance at Pollard. - -Pollard smiled. "He'll forget it," he said. "The aliens will become -dimmer and dimmer in his memory until they are gone. But right now we -have a fairly stable James Forrest Carroll on our hands. And, Majors, -the final therapy is out there waiting for him. Fine girl." - -"Rhine," said Carroll softly as the door closed behind him. "Rhine." - -"I'm--waiting," she replied. "But why not call me Rita. Everybody else -does." - -"I know," he said, looking at her pointedly. "But I'm amused, sort of." - -"Why?" - -"Because the one thing that permitted you to gain access to our -research was the thing that licked your pals." - -"And?" she asked, puzzled. - -"People too often try to divorce the mind from the body," he told her. -"It can't be done." - -"I don't follow." - -"Infants are all brought into this world alike from a mental -standpoint. Yet within a few short months each is a separate identity -with a different personality, no matter how similar the environment and -heredity. This is because the mind of man is but the accumulated result -of what his sensory channels bring it. - -"An alien you were once, Rhine. But from the instant that you took over -that very nice Terran body your mind began to receive information and -experiences through the sensory channels of a Terran body. - -"Every item, every experience, brought to your mind through Terran -channels forced your mind to interpret it in terms of Terran nervous -stimuli. Therefore, from the second instant after taking over, you -began to change subtly to the Terran." - -"Go on--tell me the rest," she said with a smile. - -"Day by day, week by week, you will become more and more Terran. -Eventually, your alien experiences will fade and you will be as one of -us and no longer alien." - -"You know," she said shyly, "someday I intend to present you with a -little alien." - -"That'll be interesting," he chuckled. "You are becoming more and more -Terran even now." - -"But not," she said with absolute finality, "until we have paid a visit -to the clergy!" - -"See what I mean?" - -She laughed--very humanlike. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KINGDOM OF THE BLIND *** - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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