* * * * *
Letter from Fraulein Lise Grauer, nurse, in the city of Bludenz, to
Professor Aigen at Brunn University.
Most respected Herr Professor:
I write this at the request of the Herr Former Police Inspector Grieg,
to whom you directed a letter shortly before his death. The Herr Former
Police Inspector had been ill for some time. I was his nurse. I had
cared for him for months and did many small services for him, such as
writing letters at his direction.
When your letter came he read it and went into a black mood of deep and
bitter recollection. He would not speak for hours, and I had great
difficulty in getting him to take his medicines. Just before his bedtime
he called me and said sardonically;
"Lise, write to this Herr Professor for me. Say to him that I was once a
decent man. When The Leader took power, I received orders that I would
not accept. I submitted my resignation. Then I received orders to come
to The Leader. I obeyed these orders because my resignation was not yet
accepted. I was received in his office. I entered it with respect and
defiance--respect because he was admitted to be the ruler of our nation;
defiance because I would not obey such orders as had been sent me in his
name.
"The Leader spoke to me, kindly, and as he spoke all my views changed.
It suddenly seemed that I had been absurd to refuse the orders sent me.
They seemed right and reasonable and even more lenient than would have
been justified.... I left The Leader in a state in which I could not
possibly fail to do anything he wished. From that moment I obeyed his
orders. I was promoted. Eventually, as you know, I was in command of the
Neusatz prison camp. And you know what orders I carried out there!"
I wept, Herr Professor, because the Herr Grieg's eyes were terrible to
look at. He was a gentle and kindly man, Herr Professor! I was his
nurse, and he was a good patient and a good man in every way. I had
heard of the things that were done at Neusatz, but I could not believe
that my patient had commanded them. Now, in his eyes I saw that he
remembered them and that the memory was intolerable. He said very
bitterly:
"Tell the Herr Professor that I can tell him nothing more. I have no
other memories that would be of service to him. I have resolved, anyhow,
to get rid even of these. I have kept them too long. Say to him that his
letter has decided me."
I did not understand what he meant, Herr Professor. I helped him prepare
for the night, and when he seemed to be resting quietly I retired,
myself. I was wakened by a very loud noise. I went to see what was the
matter. The Herr Former Police Inspector Grieg had managed to get out of
his bed and across the room to a bureau. He opened a drawer and took out
a revolver. He made his way back to his bed. He blew out his brains.
I called the police, and after investigation they instructed me to carry
out his request, which I do.
Herr Professor, I do not myself remember the times of The Leader, but
they must have been very terrible. If the Herr Former Police Inspector
Grieg was actually in command of the Neusatz prison camp, and did
actually order the things done there,--I cannot understand it, Herr
Professor! Because he was a good and kindly man! If you write of him, I
beg that you will mention that he was a most amiable man. I was only his
nurse, but I assure you--(Et cetera.)
* * * * *
Letter from Dr. Karl Thurn, University of Laibach, to Professor Albrecht
Aigen, University of Brunn.
My dear friend:
I could have predicted your failure to secure co-operation from eminent
figures in The Leader's regime. So long as they keep silent, together,
they can pretend to be respectable. And nobody longs so passionately to
be respectable as a man who has prospered by being a swine, while he
awaits an opportunity to prosper again by more swinishness. I would
advise you to expect your best information from little people who
suffered most and most helplessly looked on or helped while enormities
were committed. Such little people will either yearn over the past like
your janitor, or want most passionately to understand so that nothing of
the sort can ever happen again.
Winston as a parallel to The Leader? Or as a contrast? Which? I can name
one marked contrast. I doubt that anybody really and passionately wishes
that Winston had never been born.
You mention my researches. You should see some of our results! I have
found a rat with undeniable psychokinetic power. I have seen him move a
gram-weight of cheese nearly three centimeters to where he could reach
it through the cage bars. I begin to suspect a certain female dog of
abilities I would prefer not to name just yet. If you can find any
excuse to come to Laibach, I promise you amazing demonstrations of psi
phenomena. (Et cetera.)
* * * * *
Quotations from, "_Recollections of the Earl of Humber, formerly Prime
Minister Winston_," by the Hon. Charles Wilberforce.
Page 231; "... This incredible event took place even while it seemed
most impossible. The Prime Minister took it with his usual aplomb. I
asked him what he thought of the matter a week later, at a house party
in Hertfordshire. He said, 'I consider it most unfortunate. This Leader
of theirs is an inherently nasty individual. Therefore he'll make
nastiness the avenue to distinction so long as he's in power. The
results will be tragic, because when you bottle up decency men seem to
go mad. What a pity one can't bottle up nastiness! The world might
become a fit place to live in!'"
Page 247; "The Prime Minister disagreed. 'There was Napoleon,' he
observed. 'You might despise him, but after he talked to you you served
him. He seemed to throw a spell over people. Alexander probably had the
same sort of magic personality. When his personality ceased to operate,
as a result of too much wine too continuously, his empire fell
immediately to pieces. I've known others personally; an Afghan whom I've
always thought did us a favor by getting killed by a sniper. He could
have caused a great deal of trouble. I'd guess at the Khalifa. Most of
the people who have this incredible persuasiveness, however, seem to set
up as successful swindlers. What a pity The Leader had no taste for
simple crime, and had to go in for crimes of such elaboration!'"
* * * * *
Letter from Professor Albrecht Aigen, University of Brunn, to Dr. Karl
Thurn, University of Laibach.
My dear Karl:
You make me curious with your talk of a rat which levitates crumbs of
cheese and a she-dog who displays other psi abilities. I assume that you
have found the experimental conditions which let psi powers operate
without hindrance. I shall hope some day to see and conceivably to
understand.
My own affairs are in hopeless confusion. At the moment I am overwhelmed
with material about The Leader, the value of which I cannot estimate.
Strange! I ask people who should know what I am commissioned to
discover, and they refuse to answer. But it becomes known that I ask,
and thousands of little people write me to volunteer impassioned details
of their experiences while The Leader ruled. Some are bitter because
they did what they did and felt as they felt. These seem to believe in
magic or demoniac possession as the reason they behaved with such
conspicuous insanity. Others gloat over their deeds, which they recount
with gusto--and then express pious regret with no great convincingness.
Some of these accounts nauseate me. But something utterly abnormal was
in operation, somehow, to cause The Leader's ascendancy!
I wish I could select the important data with certainty. Almost
anything, followed up, might reveal the key. But I do not know what to
follow! I plan to go to Bozen, where the new monstrous computer has been
set up, and see if there is any way in which it could categorize my data
and detect a pattern of more than bewildered and resentful frenzy.
On the way back to Brunn I shall stop by to talk to you. There is so
much to say! I anticipate much of value from your detached and analytic
mind. I confess, also, that I am curious about your research. This
she-dog with psi powers, of which you give no account ... I am
intrigued.