Human-alien encounters -- Fiction; Science fiction, American
"At one extreme, you will have mutual antagonism. This arises when the
ill child becomes jealous of the other's health, while, on the other
hand, the healthy one becomes jealous of the extra consideration that is
shown to his crippled brother.
"At the other extreme, the healthy boy may identify so closely with his
brother that he feels every slight or hurt, real or imagined, which the
ill boy is subjected to. He becomes extremely over-solicitous,
over-protective. At the same time, the invalid brother may come to
depend completely on his healthy twin.
"In both these situations there is a positive feedback that constantly
worsens the condition. It requires a great deal of careful observation
and careful application of the proper educational stimuli to keep the
situation from developing toward either extreme. You'll need expert help
if you want both boys to display the full abilities of which they are
potentially capable."
"I see," the woman said. "Could you give me the name of a good man,
Doctor?"
The doctor nodded and picked up a book on his desk. "I'll give you the
names of several. You can pick the one you like best, the one with whom
you seem to be most comfortable. Try several or all of them before you
decide. They're all good men. There are many good women in the field,
too, but in this case I think a man would be best. Of course, if one of
them thinks a woman is indicated, that's up to him. As I said, that
isn't my field."
He opened the small book and riffled through it to find the names he
wanted.
_[7]_
The image of the Nipe on the glowing screen was clear and finely
detailed. It was, Stanton thought, as though one were looking through a
window into the Nipe's nest itself. Only the tremendous depth of focus
of the lens that had caught the picture gave the illusion a feeling of
unreality. Everything--background and foreground alike--was sharply in
focus.
Like some horrendous dream monster, the Nipe moved in slow motion,
giving Stanton the eerie feeling that the alien was moving through a
thicker, heavier medium than air, in a place where the gravity was much
less than that of Earth. With ponderous deliberation, the fingers of one
of his hands closed upon the handle of an oddly shaped tool and lifted
it slowly from the surface upon which he worked.
"That's our best-placed camera," said Colonel Mannheim, "but some of the
others can always get details that this one doesn't. The trouble is
that we'll never really have enough cameras in there--not unless we stud
the walls, ceilings, and floors with them, and even then I'm not so sure
we'd get everything. It isn't the same as having a trained expert on
camera who is _trying_ to demonstrate what he's doing. An expert plays
to the camera and never obstructs any of his own movements. But the
Nipe ..." He left the sentence unfinished and shook his head sadly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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