Charles L. Harness

“ The first doesn't happen very often, but when it does it has a tendency to set the world on fire. That's the case that has true merit to it—high invention, if you will—but the invention is so subtle that nobody can see its importance. Only the attorney who wraps the case around his heart can appreciate its vast potential. He goes through the prosecution before the Patent Office and possibly before the courts shouting high praises of the invention, but all the tribunals turn a deaf ear. Sometimes the attorney finally reaches Nirvana; the invention comes into its own. ”

“ John Follansbee—Pickerel's father, incidentally—established years ago that sleep was merely a symptom of boredom induced and accentuated by an excess of waste products, chiefly lactic acid, in the blood stream. If we remove our lactic-acid-laden blood and replace it with glycogen-charged blood, we kill fatigue, and there remains only the psychological inducements to sleep—boredom, habit, and the escape complex that plagues us all. A determined mind can overcome these phantom obstacles."
"I see. You have, then, once a day a free hour—when you are changing blood," insisted Blanchard. ”

“ Spardleton said, "Most patent attorneys are unable to tell the difference between the two ways a case can get away from them, once they get caught in it. They always think that nobody else agrees with them because nobody else understands the case. It is quite a blow when it turns out that they are the one who has been wrong all along. Yes, sometimes an understanding of the facts is as difficult as an understanding of the law." ”

“ Rachs studied the analyst shrewdly. "I would. But whatever you have in mind, it won't work. The 'stat has proved its precision. It's here to stay."
"You've told me what I want to know," Toring continued gravely, "and I accept the responsibility for the Follansbee agathon. At the same time I warn you that murder in the name of humanity is a paradox that I cannot appreciate, and I expect to discredit your system completely."
Rachs grinned balefully. "That's the spirit, you young devil's advocate! If you die and your 'stat goes on running, I'll have the council withdraw the program!" ”

“ Follansbee," replied the preceptor evasively. "Your own remarkable premonitions are ample raw material for a Freudian musician. And Maillon is particularly acute at sensing your moods. As a Freudian associate, it is her duty to help you understand yourself."
"Don't preach to me of Freudian duties," rumbled Follansbee. "I laid the cornerstone to this Lodge before either of you children were born. My youngest son is a Freudian analyst—somewhere."
Toring paled, then laughed uneasily. "All right, I won't preach. ”

“ As the attorney in the case, you never quite see it the same as everybody else. You stand isolated and alone, unable to persuade the Patent Examiners, the Board, the courts, possibly even the inventor, to accept your view of the case. Nothing you do or say matches anyone else's thinking, and you begin to wonder what's the matter with everyone."
I nodded. This was my favorite time of day. It was early evening in Washington, D.C., and my boss, Helix Spardleton, patent attorney extraordinary, was relaxing. ”

“ Toring continued quietly. "Rachs believes that you are now in subconscious communication with your own mind at the moment of death—a unique interweaving of chronopathy and telekinesis. He thinks that you might, under proper stimulation, touch other minds in the future in the same way that you have touched your own."
Follansbee was not listening. "Even if it's true I'm going to die, I don't like to think about it. Disturbs my work."
"Are you still working on Maillon's carcinoma?"
"Yes. Blaine, my eldest son, and I are spending twenty-three hours a day on it." He shook his head sadly. ”

“ I knew something must be wrong with all the specimens; possibly I had placed regular cleaning tissues in my briefcase, or maybe Susan ... but even as I thought it I knew such a mistake was impossible.
I reached over and tried tearing one of the sheets I had passed out to the others. It tore into quarters as easily as it had torn into halves. That finished me. I leaned back and looked around at the silent group and wondered what Mr. Spardleton would have said at a time like that. I started to smile and discovered that my original smile was still frozen on my face. ”

“ Follansbee?"
Toring's cheeks were gray marble, but his nostrils were painfully dilated over trembling lips. At this moment he felt he had lost forever his right to the society of decent human beings, and he swore silently that if he now failed to extract the secret of psychokinesis from his father he would kill himself painfully. If he were successful, he would die too, of course, but there would be no element of self-punishment involved, and that death need not be painful.
"You must do nothing," stammered the patron. "The Freudians are not policemen." ”

“ I said, "Henry, we have already drawn up a complete research program. All we have to do is follow it."
"We have?" Callahan was surprised.
"Sure." And I laid out in front of him a copy of our patent application, and riffled through its pages. "All we have to do is go through all the examples here to make certain they all work. If they do, the program will be complete, except for the product itself and commercial production. Our patent application will make the best research guide we could get." ”

“ The Freudian sighed wearily. "Just an idea that didn't quite click. It doesn't matter, now. How about you? Do you really believe Blanchard will make the trustees appoint you the new director of Follansbee Institute?"
"Why do you think I married his daughter?"
"Of course." Toring fingered the tele-encephalograph tapes thoughtfully. "Tell me, Follansbee, have you seen Naida lately? Your wife's sister?"
The other laughed harshly. "That stupid little mutt! I scared the devil out of her two weeks ago. Haven't seen her since. She scares easy," he added with a reminiscent grin. ”

“ Nathaniel Marchare is unquestionably the greatest organic chemist the world has seen since Emil Fischer. His laboratories in Alexandria, Virginia, constantly pour out a host of exceedingly important inventions. The chemists, physicists, physical chemists, and biologists who work under him are all dedicated men and women, gifted with that scientific insight that so often produces simple solutions to great problems. Dr. Marchare and his people are the principal clients of the firm of Helix Spardleton, Patent Attorney, and as such they are very important to me. ”

“ Softly, Blaine put the tube aside and stood up.
"One more, eh, Piggy?" he laughed. "You've got to be sure, this time. Do you know why you've got to be sure? Because there's a trick catch on the door. We're locked in, and I've got the key." He was ordinarily a poor liar, but he knew it would sound logical to his brother.
Piggy peered toward the desk and took a tentative step, needler pointing generally at Blaine, who immediately tiptoed around to the other side.
"Piggy, few people learn as much in the last minute of their lives as you're about to learn. You ought to feel grateful. ”

“ From bugs, rose oil!"
"Exactly!" agreed Blanchard. "Blaine, you've just made a billionaire out of a poor little millionaire corporation. What they used to sell for thirty-five a quart is now worth thirty-five an ounce, wholesale. Why every woman in the country can buy a drop of this culture at the dime store within a few months and grow her own rose perfume."
"You're wrong there, Father," laughed Maillon. "If it's going to be that common, no self-respecting female will ever use it again. What do you think, Blaine?" ”

“ There's nothing like the actual goods themselves to do most of the talking."
We all laughed as I took half a dozen twelve-by-twelve hand sheets out of my briefcase and passed them around the table. I watched the chemists finger the sheets, savoring their soft coolness, and I heard the whispered comments, "good hand," "excellent softness," "fine color," and a few others. Dr. Rude said, "Are these 'breaking samples', Mr. Saddle? Do you mind if we tear them?" ”

“ The conviction that you are indirectly responsible for two deaths in your immediate family should have left your mind as limp as a rag."
"You aren't far wrong, Rachs"—Toring leaned over the desk with almost impersonal curiosity—"has my biostat stopped?"
The jet eyes blinked, then narrowed sharply. For a long moment each man searched the soul of the other. Then Rachs rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked down.
"Your statement conceals tremendous implications, some of them rather paradoxical. Presumably you contemplate suicide to atone for the deaths of your father and brother. ”

“ What's worse, one of my technicians left this morning to take a job with Lafe Rude Consultants, Inc., up in Boston. The technician is an ethical man, and all that, but I'm afraid the word will be out on this paper now."
My heart sank. Callahan said, "I've already started another of my technicians, John Bostick, on the process to make certain he can repeat my work. But that's all we can do for a few months around here. The laboratories have never been so busy. What do you think we ought to do?"
The answer was obvious. "We've got to file a patent application right away. ”

“ Rather idly, Blanchard blew a smoke ring toward the ceiling fluor. In moments of greatest stress he was always cool—and thinking.
"You are a celibate, of course, Toring. But you must have a family you'd like to benefit. Parents? The senior Torings? Brothers and sisters?"
"Theoretically, Mr. Blanchard, a Freudian has no family. I had a father and two brothers living when I entered the Lodges, but now I have no ties at all. My father knows only that his youngest son is a Freudian, somewhere. He couldn't possibly recognize me if he saw me. Anyway they are all independently wealthy. ”

“ Telekinesis applied to another mind is psychokinesis. You'll be able to cure a psychotic in an hour instead of the months and months of daily sittings now required. Boy, think! This will revolutionize Freudian technique. It will mean we can give a normal, healthy mental life to the millions we have to turn away every year."
The face in the screen suddenly relaxed and smiled—a benevolent Mephistopheles.
"How about it?"
Toring, his hands behind his gray robes, was pacing the room slowly. He stopped and looked with troubled eyes at the older man. ”

“ Spardleton said, "They already know."
Callahan said, "This kicks the whole thing in the head. The paper can never be more than a laboratory curiosity, as far as we can see. The sun, a dry climate, heat, any of these things will drive off the moisture, and the paper will lose its strength. There's no way we can market a product like that when it might lose its strength at any time. ”