“I’m awake now. Suppose I come over to the house for lunch?” “Swell. I’ll be waiting.” “Half an hour, then?” “Half an hour. I’m glad you called, Bob. I was worried.” “You needn’t have been.” “Was your experiment a success?” “Can’t tell yet. Keep your fingers crossed.” Ten minutes later Bruno’s fingers were still crossed as he examined Gregson. Parsons and Morrissey were present. The physicist kept making notes, but Morrissey stood silent and watchful. There was very little to be seen as yet. Gregson lay in his bed, the shaved spots on his head white against the dark hair, his features relaxed and peaceful. The typical anxiety expression was gone. Bruno opened the man’s eyes and flashed his light into them. Contraction of the pupils seemed normal. “Can you hear me, Gregson?” Gregson’s lips moved. But he said nothing. “It’s all right. You’re feeling fine, aren’t you? You’re not worried about anything, are you?” “Headache,” Gregson said. “Bad headache.” “We’ll give you something for that. Now try to sleep.” Outside, in the corridor, Bruno tried hard to repress his exultation. Parsons blinked at him, scowling. “Can you tell anything yet?” Bruno checked himself. “No. It’s too soon. But—” “The manic-depressive phase is passed,” Morrissey put in. “He seems rational. And he hasn’t been for three years.” “Those damper bars—” Bruno smiled. “Well, we’ll have to wait and see. We can’t write up a report yet. He’s certainly oriented. We’ll give him a chance to rest. More tests later. I don’t want to jump the gun.” But with Barbara he let himself be more enthusiastic. “We’ve done it, Barbara! Found a specific for insanity.” She leaned across the table to pour coffee. “I thought there were so many types of psychosis that the treatment varied considerably.” “Well, that’s true, but we’ve never got to the real basis of the trouble before. You can cure a cold by rest therapy, force fluids and aspirin, but cold vaccine gets directly to the root of the trouble. Some types of insanity have been thought incurable, but tetanus was incurable till we got a vaccine for it. The empathy surrogate therapy is the lowest common denominator. It works on the electronic structure of the mind, and unless there’s physical deterioration, as in advanced paresis, our treatment should work beautifully.” “So that’s what you were working on,” Barbara said. “Bob, you don’t know how glad I am that it’s successful.” “Well—we hope. We’re almost sure. But—” “You can take a vacation now? You’ve been working so hard!” “A few more weeks, and I’ll be ready. I’ve got to collate my notes. I can’t run out on Parsons at this stage. But very soon, I promise.” * * * * * He looked up to see her smile. Suddenly he stiffened. Her smile was broadening, stretching, the lower lip dropping till all her teeth showed. The lower lids of her eyes hung ... stretched.... Her nose lengthened.