The Devolutionist and the EmancipatrixFlint, Homer Eon
Science
The Devolutionist and the Emancipatrix
Flint, Homer Eon
Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
"My agent was a Parisian apache, or I'm a bum guesser! I didn't
catch all that was going on, but it certainly sounded like the plans
and specifications of a garroting!"
"No such excitement here," said Smith. But his eyes were sparkling.
"I was going the rounds with a mail-carrier. How do you explain
that, doc? I've never given mail-carrying a second thought."
"That would have nothing to do with it. As for myself, I was looking
through the eyes of some member of the House of Representatives, in
Washington. I recognized the building. They were calling the roll at
the time."
He paused while he made a note of the incident, for the sake of
checking up the hour with the newspaper accounts later on. Then he
rubbed the knuckles of one hand in the palm of the other--a habit
which indicated that a diagnosis was going on in his mind. The
others waited expectantly.
"There's a big difference," commented he, thoughtfully, "between
these experiences and our last experiments. Then, each of us knew
exactly what to expect. Each had a definite image of a certain
particular person in mind when he went into the teleconscious state.
That made it comparatively easy for us to communicate the way we
did, even when you"--indicating the bride and groom--"were still in
Japan.
"But to-day neither of us had the slightest idea what was coming.
That is, if we followed the rule. Did you"--addressing Smith--"take
care to concentrate strictly upon the one idea of view-point?"
"Nothing else. I kept my attention fixed upon eyes and ears, only,
just as the instructions read."
"Same here," answered Billie, for herself and the geologist.
"Then we know this much: So long as the four of us are connected up
in this fashion"--holding up his braceleted wrists--"we combine our
forces to such an extent that we do not need a definite object. It's
simply the power of harmony."
Billie was anxious to get it down pat. "In other words, there's
nothing to prevent me from locating some one, although unknown to
me, so long as we four agree upon the same locality?"
"That's it exactly. If we agree to concentrate upon Greenland, even,
we shall find four people there whose view-points resemble our own.
The main thing is to find similar view-points."
There was some discussion along this line, in which the doctor made
it clear that view-point was simply another name for perspective,
and that it had nothing whatever to do with actual mental
accomplishments. The view-point was really the soul.
"As yet," he went on, "we should make no attempt to 'put ourselves
in the other fellow's place.' Such efforts require a violent
exertion of the imagination, and we need practice before tackling
the more advanced problems.
"Time enough, after a while, to get in touch with the Venusians.
There's none of them that has a view-point like ours. And once we've
done that--"
"What?" from Billie, breathlessly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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