He laughed, and the sound echoed from the cold stone walls of the laboratory. "Love!" The laughter mounted. "What a foolish notion, Sheila. You interested me once. You had spirit, and I was impelled to discover how much it would take to break that spirit." The sobs stopped. She paused, then looked up at him. He was smiling, his thin lips twisted, the grey eyes glistening. She stared at him for a long moment. "You're wishing you could hurt me, aren't you, Sheila? You're wishing you could strike out at me ... hear me cry in pain. That's why you bore me. You're so transparent. I can read your every thought ... anticipate your every emotion and they're all dull." He touched the thing on the table again. "That's why I've perfected Ohm here. He'll be the perfect companion." Sheila looked at the contraption he touched, and a shudder of revulsion shook her. Once it had been only a few scraps of steel, a photo-electric eye, a couple of batteries, some condensers and relays. Now it was "alive" and Craig had given it a name: Ohm. She looked from the created to the creator. "I should have known this was the way it would end, and I can believe you when you say you've never loved me. You can't love anyone. You're incapable of love, Craig. Other men work for the happiness of those near to them, but you are only intrigued by pain and suffering. If it's any satisfaction to you, your experiment with me has been very successful." Craig bowed slightly. She moved toward the laboratory door. "It always works out for you, doesn't it, Craig? You always get bored first. You're always the one who smiles and tells someone else to get out." She stopped in the doorway. "Some day, perhaps you'll be the one to go; you'll be the one who has become transparent and uninteresting." He shrugged his shoulders. "I can only hope that when that day arrives I'll be able to resign myself as graciously as you have." For a second, she hesitated and then very quietly she said: "I loved you once, Craig. When we were married, I loved you very much. I could still love you, if ... if you could find it in your heart to be human. But until you can, I guess Ohm is the companion you should have. Goodbye." "A very eloquent speech, my dear. Goodbye and good luck." With a final quick glance at the thing on the table, Sheila stepped through the laboratory door and out of Craig Stevens' life. He sighed as he heard the outside door slam behind her. She had been a fascinating experiment. Little by little, he had tested her, discovered those irritants which were best calculated to make her react. Broken dinner engagements, forgotten birthdays, public insults, lies, deceptions, intrigues--each had played its part in her final nervous disintegration. But toward the end, the game had proved boring. So, he had devised Ohm, and now he was left in solitude to explore the infinite possibilities represented by his electric pet.