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thoughts. Let's take Colonel Eriksson's report first. On the condition of this 'plane as it landed at Stockholm Airport. How could eight individuals have been reduced to cylinders of carbon? Colonel Eriksson gives us their dimensions with a macabre precision, and a diagram of their positions, together with the position of Professor Newton at the time he was discovered unconscious. How could all this have been possible?' Kurt Waldheim drew a hand through the quiff of hair which stood up from his broad forehead and, snaking his head deprecatingly, replied: 'You're not referring to the motivations of the people?' 'No, no, I'm referring to what happened.' 'And why,' added the Master, with a keen interest. 'It must have been some kind of discharge, an electrical discharge it is natural for me to assume, that boiled off water,' Kurt Waldheim suggested self-consciously. 'It is lucky Isaac is not here, otherwise I would not have dared to offer that opinion, because he would have laughed for a long time, I think.' 'I must confess, the thought of boiling off water had never occurred to me,' responded the Prime Minister, glancing towards Sir Harry Julian, whose Chestertonian bulk was sunk into an especially large chair which the Master had thoughtfully provided, and who appeared to oscillate rapidly between being asleep and glaring fiercely down the table through his pince nez. 'People who become much dehydrated suddenly look very old. I saw once a picture of a climber who had survived for several days at very high altitude in the Himalayan mountains without water,' Kurt Waldheim said in his slow quiet way. 'He was actually less than thirty years but when he came in a dehydrated condition into camp he looked as if he was eighty. There are pictures to prove it. Now,' Kurt Waldheim continued, lifting his right hand, 'the water which comes out when a person becomes dehydrated is only what biologists call free water. There is also bound water, and if that comes out the person chars. This is what happens when coal is formed from the remains of organic material.' 'Is it what happens when you draw up an open fire with a newspaper? I mean if the paper gets too hot,' asked the Chancellor. 'That is exactly correct,' nodded Kurt Waldheim. 'I did it many times. If the paper actually touches the fire it burns, of course, but if you keep it away from the flames it chars, because the bound water comes out of the paper.' 'I did it many times too,' nodded the Master, 'and the charring always starts as a brown spot which spreads. But why d'you think this happened in the 'plane?' 'There is no water in metal objects, and the Swedish Colonel says the other objects in the 'plane were unaffected. Most objects in a 'plane are 336 COMETHALLEY of metal. So it seemed logical to think it might be the water.' 'So something acted like a fire which charred but didn't burn,' nodded the Prime Minister. 'How would that be possible?' 'I do not know everything,' Kurt Waldheim replied, repeating his slow smile. 'Lightning perhaps?' 'Perhaps, but the electric current in a lightning stroke would be expected to fuse the metal objects. Some people claim lightning can do very strange things, but none has ever been proved in the laboratory. Isaac would know more about that than I do. The biggest mystery for me is to understand why the stroke was so directive. Why it avoided Isaac and hit the others.' 'Colonel Eriksson says it was deliberate,' the Prime Minister reminded the meeting. 'Colonel Eriksson is probably right,' nodded the Master, adding, 'although it sounds a bit daft.' 'Yes, but saying it was deliberate doesn't solve anything,' Kurt Waldheim went on. 'How was it done, even if it was deliberate? That's what I keep asking myself.' 'The Comet,' grunted the Master. 'It's always the Comet, isn't it? I knew it from the moment I saw it shining in the sky, brighter than Venus. I knew we were in for it.' 'For what, Master?' the Prime Minister asked. 'Surprises. Trouble.' 'I'd rather have thought we'd have been in trouble without it,' the Prime Minister replied. 'What is it you find so hard to understand, Dr Waldheim?' 'The precision of the directivity, of course. There are important rules which govern such things - what in physics we call phase control. Control from a big distance requires very large equipment. Here we have control within the 'plane to within a distance of about one metre. To exercise deliberate control from the distance of Comet Halley, and to do it to the precision of one metre only, would require equipment at least as large as the whole Comet itself. It would mean the whole surface of the comet was being used to generate some kind of a directed ray.' 'Literally, a death ray,' the Master breathed. 'But how can you be sure about your rules? There can be things you know nothing about, surely, Dr Waldheim?' 'Yes, but the things I know nothing about cannot contradict what I already know to be true. Otherwise the world would be self- contradictory.' 'Are you absolutely certain about your rules?' the Chancellor intervened. 'Even if I am cautious, I would still say yes. The rules in this case are very fundamental. I can believe in wonders of technique I know nothing about, but I cannot believe the fundamentals can be changed. I have trouble even when I use the whole surface of the Comet, even when I place this death ray thing far out in the ultraviolet. So, you see, I am led by the fundamentals to a strange and disturbing conclusion.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |