David Evans

“ You can take two men, equal physically in every respect, equal in upbringing, education, health, and with the same sized brain. One of them might turn out to be a genius, the other an average individual, and nobody knows what makes the difference. Nobody knows what makes an infant prodigy, or what it is which enables a child of two to read easily, or a kid of five or six to play some instrument as if he'd been at it for years or compose symphonies, or master advanced mathematics. ”

“ Man is the eternal unknown quantity, and you've never had a more clear demonstration of this than what happened to Richardson this afternoon. Oh, I know what you've found out. You know all about man, his insides, his glands, muscles, nerves, brain, and so on. You can even display him on a table as a bucket of water and little piles of salts and minerals, and you can point to them and say: 'That is what man is made of.' Only the other day I was reading about some scientist who thinks he's on the verge of producing a cell of life in a test tube. ”

“ It covered many theories, many beliefs and faiths, all of which Franstein spoke learnedly and with great respect. He talked of reincarnation, spiritualism, the mystery of time, and in this last connection, he paused in the middle of what he was saying and asked: "If this—" and he waved a hand toward the machine—"is a language, and I'm pretty sure it is, how can we be sure that it is a language of the past? Why shouldn't it be one belonging to the future? All languages change with time. We'd probably find it very difficult to understand the English spoken ten centuries ago. ”

“ In other words, the capsule would become a vacuum in which nothing on Earth could live. The astronaut would then have to depend upon his spacesuit which, being pressurized, and being really a capsule within a capsule, with its own supply of oxygen, would be the one hope of survival.
That day, the test had consisted of the "puncturing" of the capsule. At a given signal, the pressure inside it had been reduced to that of fifty miles above the Earth's surface—in other words, to zero—by pumping out the air inside it. Richardson, the ace of the astronauts, had been chosen for this important test. ”

“ When I say imbalance, I mean the sort of thing that makes for genius, a phenomenal memory, an outstanding, effortless talent, amnesia, any form of insanity, or even something like a violent temper. Anything, so to speak, overemphasized. ”

“ Franstein shrugged his shoulders. "How does great music come out of a child of six, and so on? Same question, same answer. Nobody knows. Have you spoken to Richardson about it?"
"No. I rang his bungalow just before dinner and spoke to Sandra. Richardson was in the shower, and she said he was feeling fine. I didn't tell her about this, of course."
"Then it couldn't have been some sort of mediumistic trance. They usually feel the effects of that sooner or later."
"You're not suggesting spiritualism, are you?" and in Snow's voice was a note of amusement. ”

“ You can take the brain of a genius and that of an ordinary person of average intelligence, and find them exactly the same in measurements and tissue condition. The popular conception of the genius as a man with a bulging forehead is so much nonsense. ”

“ Snow stepped to her side, his face tense.
The sounds ceased and Franstein, his eyes alight with excitement, said softly: "Tell us, to whom are you speaking?"
"To my sons."
"Tell us in English what you are saying to them."
There was a silence. Franstein repeated his command, and Richardson spoke again, this time in his normal voice.
"And God saw the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them ”

“ Snow replied, "there are a few things I want to ask you."
"About the test?"
"In a way, but principally about Richardson. Have you ever had any reason to suspect that there is anything unusual about him?"
"In what way?"
"In your line."
Franstein produced an enormous meerschaum pipe and proceeded to fill it from an untidy plastic pouch as he replied.
"Yes, there is. One very unusual thing."
"There is?"
"He's got a very rare type of mind. It's probably perfectly balanced." The little man lit his pipe and continued: "The vast majority of us have some sort of imbalance, mentally. He hasn't. ”

“ Heart, lungs, eyes all right, no fever. I guess we'll just have to wait till he wakes."
They went into the sitting room and Sandra left them to make coffee.
"He's living through something," Franstein said. "Pity you haven't got the recorder here." ”

“ You may even do that, and you may find out one day how to put the water and the salts and the minerals together again and make a man. I've always thought the Frankenstein story was a bit of inspired prophecy. ”