Human experimentation in medicine -- Fiction; Murder -- Fiction; Science fiction
There was no doubt that the data was sound, and properly collected;
naturally, the results of the analysis followed mathematically from
the data. It seemed, therefore, that we were dealing with a disturbing
factor heretofore quite unsuspected. Our investigation leads us to
the inavoidable, though hardly credible, conclusion that Dr. Jacob
A. Meyer _was himself_ the sole disturbing factor in the analysis.
No other possibility fits the facts of the picture. We recommend
therefore that an intensive study of Dr. Meyer's previous work be
undertaken, with a view to answering the obvious questions aroused by
such a report. We also recommend that this be undertaken without
delay.
At the top of the letter, in red letters, was the government's careful
restriction: TOP SECRET.
Another roll went into the reader. This held the letter-head of a New
York psychiatrist. Jeff's eyes caught the name and he read eagerly:
Dear Dr. Schiml:
We have studied the microfilm records you posted to us with extreme
care, and undertaken the study of Jacob Meyer, as instructed. Although
it is impossible to make a positive diagnosis without interviewing
and examining the patient in person, we are inclined to support your
views as stated in your letter. As to the possibility of other more
remarkable phenomena occurring, we are not prepared to comment. But
we must point out that this man almost certainly undergoes a regular
manic-depressive cycle, may be dangerously depressed, even suicidal,
in a depressive low, and may endanger himself and others in a manic
period of elation. Such a person is extremely dangerous and should not
be allowed freedom to go as he chooses.
Jeff looked up, tears streaming from his eyes. His whole body was
wet with perspiration. He could hardly keep his balance as he stood
up. What lies! The idea that his father could have been insane, that
he could have falsified any sort of statistical report that he had
done--it was impossible, a pack of incredible lies. But they were
here, on the files of the greatest medical center on the face of the
earth--lies about his father, lies that Jeff couldn't even attack
because he could not understand them.
The door swung open sharply, and the Nasty Frenchman stuck his head in,
panting. "Better get going," he snarled. "There are guards coming." His
head disappeared abruptly, and Jeff heard Harpo's voice bellow at him:
"Come on, we've got to run!"
Jeff's legs would hardly move. He felt numb as though a thousand nerve
centers had been suddenly struck all at once. He fumbled, pouring the
microfilm rolls into his pockets, his mind whirling. There was no sense
to it: no understanding, no explanation. Somehow, he knew, there was a
tie-in between these records of his father, taken so long ago, and the
absence of any information on Paul Conroe in the files. But he couldn't
find the link.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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