[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
might not even be thinking of it. Of course, when she was leading a normal life, when she was not so anxiety-ridden, she would be looking at their situation from the long-range view. He could have asked her if she wanted to make their 108 Traitor to the Living 109 arrangement permanent, but he saw no reason to do so. He did not want to make any commitments until this was over. Meanwhile, though their personal events moved a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r slowly, public events moved swiftly. A Dr. Orenstein of Yeshiva University, a member of the federal committee which had investigated MEDIUM, appeared on the Jack Phillips talk show. During the conversation, he stated that it was possible that the embu was not an expanding universe. If this were indeed so, the energy of eons accumulating in it might destroy it. The so-called "dead," the sembs, would be destroyed along with the rest of that other- world. This was regrettable perhaps, but not dangerous to our world. That is, unless a channel between the embu and our universe happened to be open when the embu "exploded." Who knew what enormous energies, perhaps earth-destroying, might raven through the breach between our worlds? Jack Phillips turned pale and looked as if he was sorry he had brought up the subject. He did manage to rally and ask how that was possible. Wouldn't the first touch of energy destroy MEDIUM and so close the breach? Dr. Orenstein: "It might. But some of us have wondered if the heavy use of MEDIUM hasn't created a weak spot in the wall between our worlds. It could be compared to a trickle in a dike. If that trickle is not stopped up at once, the whole dike will, in a short time, become a wide gap. And the sea pours in." Cries from the audience: "You're crazy!" "What are you trying to do, scare the shit out of us?" "My God, we're doomed!" Jack Phillips, after signaling for silence: "I don't think you should be making public speculations like that. Doctor. It might cause a panic. After all, what evidence do you have for that? It is just a theory, isn't it? 110 Traitor to the Living A wild theory? A hypothesis, I should say, since you have absolutely no data, I repeat, no data at all." Dr. Orenstein: "That's true. But the mere possibility should make us stop to reflect. Should we continue a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r using MEDIUM when we don't know what its long- term effects will be? Now, I'm a scientist, and what I'm saying will be regarded as heresy by many scientists. Science must explore wherever it can. Many of my colleagues would insist on this principle. But many others would agree with me. The very chance, however slight, that we might be tampering with forces which could wipe this earth clean of life in a few seconds should make us evaluate the continued use of MEDIUM. "Anyway, I'm only being a little premature in saying this. My speculations and my recommendations are in the official report. And you'll be reading it soon. That is, if the president ever takes the lid off it." Jack PhiIIips: "Then you definitely recommend that MEDIUM be shut down?" Dr. Orenstein: "At once! We must study it carefully, analyze its possible effects!" Regina Calomela, a guest: "But Doctor Orenstein, how can you possibly know what its effects will be unless you use it?" Dr. Orenstein: "That's a good question. However, I was thinking of an evaluation of the data already derived from medium's operation, a mathematical analysis." Jack PhiIIips, looking relieved: "I have to sell some soap now. We'll continue after this commercial." The viewers were disappointed. PhiIIips announced that Dr. Orenstein had received an emergency call and would not be present. What the emergency was, Phil- lips did not say. Two days later, Mrs. Webster announced over a local talk show that she agreed with Dr. Orenstein. MEDIUM had weakened the "wall." She was finding it far easier to make contact with the spirit world. Bob Jaspers, another guest, a stand-up comic, added Traitor to the Living 111 that he hoped not. It would mean that we'd all be haunted, night and day. And he thought he'd gotten rid of his mother-in-law. a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r The papers and the TV news were full of reports of riots all over the world. The president of the United States undoubtedly thought that this was a poor time to release the official report. But pressure was too strong. Three days after Orenstein's appearance, newsmen were given the three- thousand-page document. The same day, the Vatican issued its official opinion of MEDIUM. Summarized, the federal committee report stated that there was no doubt that MEDIUM had been the means for communicating with the dead. There was no fakery about it. Forty-five interviewees had been identified from voiceprints or personal details which no charlatan could have known. Extracts from interviews with the Etruscan, Menie Athlan, Louis XIV of France, Hamilcar Barca (the father of Hannibal), and Pericles of ancient Athens were included in the report. The linguistic specialists on the committee affirmed their genuineness. It would be impossible for any modern, no matter how learned, to have imitated the language well enough to have posed as these ancients. It was true little had been known of Punic and Etruscan, but much about these had been learned from Menie and Barca. No scholar could have built up a grammar and vocabulary, so self-consistent, from the scanty knowledge previously available. Nor could any scholar have provided such intimate details of ancient Carthaginian, Latin, and Etruscan culture and history. The same day that the report came out, Dr. Oren- stein spoke over a New York City radio station. He had been denied any more time on TV but had found a willing sponsor in the owner of the broadcasting company. Orenstein's charges were grave. The commission's re 112 Traitor to the Living port was not complete. Lengthy sections had been suppressed by the president. He must have known that he could not keep them quiet forever, but he did not want a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r to be responsible for their publication. The committee had located and interviewed Jesus and Joseph Smith. Jesus had been considerably surprised and disgusted to find that the gentiles were worshipping him as a god. His teachings had been intended for the Jews only. Joseph Smith had confessed that the famous tablets of gold on which the Book of Mormon had been inscribed had never existed. He did insist, however, that he had penned them while God Himself dictated them. The tablets were a pious fraud, it was true, but God had ordered him to tell people that he had found the tablets so that the true religion would be accepted more quickly. Dr. Orenstein was shot and killed by two men as he stepped out of the station. A ricocheting 9mm. bullet also killed a ten-year-old girl on her way home from school. The two murderers fled in a car, went through a red light at sixty kilometers per hour, and smashed into a truck. Forty thousand people attended their funerals, and a subscription of eighty thousand was raised to support their survivors. Income tax reduced this to twenty thousand. The statement of the Vatican was ingenious and disprovable. If the sembs did exist, as evidence indicated, then they were also duplicates, as the evidence indicated. They were not truly the souls of the dead. They were "electromagnetic shadows." God, for His mysterious reasons, had allowed them to come into being. But they were not spirits in heaven, purgatory, or hell. The faithful could be reassured of that. The Vatican report mentioned Carfax's theory that they might be alien sentients posing as the dead, doubtless for some evil purpose. This theory, the Vatican said, could be valid. Whatever the truth, it would be [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |