"I want to go now, and I want to take that girl with me. Do you
understand?" The man's voice was harsh with anger.
I shut the principle off. The girl lifted her head, but she appeared
to be in a trance. The man took her arm and they walked off through
the park. A murderous rage against the heavy man filled me. I cupped
my hand. He was well within range--but then I thought of my mission,
Excellency, and let him go. For hours afterwards that lovely girl who
was taken from me was in my thoughts.
* * * * *
Your Excellency, two suggestions come out of this experience. They
both concern our induced modifications. Any of us who come to America
should be able to shut off the heat sensor at will. With everyone here
smoking and lighting cigarettes and turning on 300-watt light bulbs in
one's face, with automobiles approaching at night shooting out two
searing heat beams in front of them, the environment is too full of
shocks. It is too easy for us to be spotted because of this weakness.
Also, Your Excellency, a change must be made in the connection between
all of the induced modifications. When I accumulate a heat charge,
that means that the male principle is automatically on. When I was
accumulating a charge to kill the heavy man, the principle was
affecting the woman, and she was reacting to it. The combination was
not desirable at that time. When I light the paper at the theatre, the
male principle is also on, and affects the women in the audience. We
can use the male principle without using the heat ray. Why can't we
use the heat ray without using the male principle? This modification
should be induced.
The next afternoon there was a matinee performance at the theatre. It
was crowded. The management had even provided for standing room at the
back of the theatre. I started, as usual, by selecting an iron
reinforcing bar and tying it into a four-in-hand around my neck.
To my surprise, although it looked exactly the same, it was much
harder to bend. I never did get the ends quite even.
I had just put the second bar around the neck of the stooge from the
audience when I noticed something queer. Although this was usually the
place for hilarious laughter, everyone was silent. I looked out over
the audience. A man was standing in the aisle, just a few feet from
the stage. He was pointing a gun right at me. It was the heavy man.