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of the claims put forward by Drs. Arvardan and Shekt?"
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"Every word of it?"
"So! Yet unless a second such as you can be found, one who is not involved in the matter, your evidence
would not be valid in law even if we could obtain general belief in you as a telepath."
"But it is not a question of the law," cried Arvardan, "but of the safety of the Galaxy."
"Your Excellency"-the Secretary rose in his seat-"I have a request to make. I would like to have this
Joseph Schwartz removed from the room.,,
"Why so?"
"This man, in addition to reading minds, has certain powers of mental force. I was captured by means of
a paralysis induced by this Schwartz. It is my fear that he may attempt something of the sort now against
me, or even against you, Your Excellency, that forces me to the request."
Arvardan rose to his feet, but the Secretary overshouted him to say, "No hearing can be fair if a man is
present who might subtly influence the mind of the judge, by means of admitted mental gifts."
Ennius made his decision quickly. An orderly entered, and Joseph Schwartz, offering no resistance, nor
showing the slightest sign of perturbation on his moonlike face, was led away.
To Arvardan it was the final blow.
As for the Secretary, he rose now and for the moment stood there-a squat, grim figure in green; strong in
his selfconfidence.
He began, in serious, formal style, "Your Excellency, all of Dr. Arvardan's beliefs and statements rest
upon the testimony of Dr. Shekt. In turn, Dr. Shekt's beliefs rest upon the dying delirium of one man. And
all, this, Your Excellency, all this, somehow never reached the surface until after Joseph Schwartz was
submitted to, the Synapsifier.
"Who, then, is Joseph Schwartz? Until Joseph Schwartz appeared on the scene, Dr. Shekt was a
normal, untroubled man. You yourself, Your Excellency, spent an afternoon with him the day Schwartz
was brought in for treatment. Was he abnormal then? Did he inform you of treason against the Empire?
Of certain babblings on the part of a dying biochemist? Did he seem even troubled? Or suspicious? He
says now that he was instructed by the High Minister to falsify the results of the Synapsifier tests, not to
record the names of those treated. Did he tell you that then? Or only now, after that day on which
Schwartz appeared?
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"Again, who is Joseph Schwartz? He spoke no known language at the time he was brought in. So much
we found out for ourselves later, when we first began to suspect the stability of Dr. Shekt's reason. He
was brought in by a farmer who knew nothing of his identity, or, indeed, any facts about him at all. Nor
have any since been discovered.
"Yet this man has strange mental powers. He can stun at a hundred yards by thought alone-kill at closer
range. I myself have been paralyzed by him; my arms and legs were manipulated by him; my mind might
have been manipulated by him if he had wished.
"I believe, certainly, that Schwartz did manipulate the minds of these others. They say I captured them,
that I threatened them with death, that I confessed to treason and to aspiring to Empire. Yet ask of them
one question, Your Excellency. Have they not been thoroughly exposed to the influence of Schwartz, that
is, of a man capable of controlling their minds?
"Is not perhaps Schwartz a traitor? If not, who is Schwartz?"
The Secretary seated himself, calm, almost genial.
Arvardan felt as though his brain had mounted a cyclotron and was spinning outward now in faster and
faster revolutions.
What answer could one make? That Schwartz was from the past? What evidence was, there for that?
That the man spoke a genuinely primitive, speech. But only he himself
Arvardan-could testify to that. And he, Arvardan, might well have a manipulated mind. After all, how
could he tell his mind had not been manipulated? Who was Schwartz? What had so convinced him of
this, great plan of Galactic conquest?
He thought again. From where came his conviction of the truth of the conspiracy? He was an
archaeologist, given to doubting, but now- Had it been one man's word? One girl's kiss? Or Joseph
Schwartz?
He couldn't think! He couldn't think!
"Well?" Ennius sounded impatient. "Have you anything to say, Dr. Shekt? Or you, Dr. Arvardan?"
But Pola's voice suddenly pierced the silence. "Why do you ask them? Can't you see that it's all a lie?
Don't you see that he's tying us all up with his false tongue? Oh, we're all going to die, and I don't care
any more-but we could stop it, we could stop it- And instead we just sit here and-and-talk-" She burst
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into wild sobs.
The Secretary said, "So we are reduced to the screams of a hysterical girl. Your Excellency, I have this
proposition. My accusers say that all this, the alleged virus and whatever else they have in mind, is [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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