The next night I was experimenting with the male principle. I sat on a
bench in a place called Central Park and practiced on the women as
they went by. I discovered that the more feminine the women the
greater the effect the wave has on them. Some would hesitate and look
around as they walked by me. Some would stop and stare at me in a
puzzled fashion. I was growing tired and ravenously hungry. I decided
that when the next attractive woman passed me I would generate one
last powerful wave, and then go on to a restaurant.
* * * * *
I allowed a few unfeminine ones to go by. Then I saw her, a lovely
blonde girl about twenty-five years old. Her hair was a mass of short
curls that covered her head with a uniform thickness like the styles
in our Second Renaissance Period. She had on a black dress and was
carrying a black bag in her hand. I sensed small pieces of different
types of metals in her bag. She was walking slowly and weeping.
Occasionally she dabbed at her nose with a piece of white cloth.
She was so beautiful, Excellency. Her warmth started flowing over my
chin when she was at least sixty feet away. I decided to wait until
she was quite close and then to engulf her with the full force of the
male principle. I was shaken and impatient. Even at the highest point
of excitement, though, Your Excellency should know that the importance
of my mission was in my mind. When she was on the sidewalk directly in
front of me I did as I had planned. She stopped. Her handkerchief
dropped to the ground, and then her bag. She looked at me wildly. She
ran over and sat on the bench beside me. She put her arms around my
neck and kissed me.
"Why were you crying?" I asked.
"I don't remember," she said. "I don't care."
I closed my eyes. My senses were responding to her warmth and her
scent. Suddenly there was a blast of male heat on my chin. I started
and stared. There standing above us was the huge heavy man of the
night before. The mass of metal was still under his left arm pit. He
had an odd expression on his face. He was watching the girl as if her
condition was answering a question for him.
In a sudden flash of intuition everything was clear to me. The girl
was a decoy. I had fallen neatly into a trap. I had thoughtlessly
demonstrated my power to the F.B.I, man--a power I could not explain
by saying it was a trick.
I pushed the girl away and stood up. The man's eyes were fixed upon me
with horror. I saw that he knew there was something monstrous and
menacing about me. Something he did not understand. Something that
meant terrible danger to him and his kind. His right hand started to
creep towards the mass of metal under his arm. I cupped my hand
towards him and started accumulating a heat charge. His glance dropped
fearfully. It fell to my hand, and his temperature went up. He had
undoubtedly seen me burn pieces of paper in the theatre.
His right hand fumbled in his pocket and he drew out a little package.
"Have a cigarette?"
I shook my head. He put one in his own mouth and lighted a match. In
spite of the strongest effort of my will I jumped back. I jerked my
hand up over my chin. A little stick of wood with a flaring flame on
the end of at least 600 degrees Centigrade, right in front of my heat
sensors, took my breath away. The searing heat burned right into my
brain. It was like some of the tortures in Your Excellency's Force
Number Five.
The heavy man observed all of this, but he did not understand it. He
looked at the girl, who had risen and was leaning against me,
oblivious of everything.
"You've got quite a way with women, haven't you?" he said. He dragged
on his cigarette. The tip flamed up painfully. I shrank back and again
brought my hand up to protect my chin.
"What's the matter with you?" the man asked sharply.