Edmond Hamilton

“ Suppose the answer is that the human body is the only one in which the individual, living mind can live in symbiosis?"
Burke was still unimpressed. "That's just the old dualistic theory of Descartes, at bottom."
"The old has a habit of becoming the very new, in science," retorted Dixon. "Doctor Alexis Carrel was a pretty modern and famous scientist. And Carrel, speculating in one of his books on the riddle of mind, suggested that a mind might be an immaterial being that somehow inserts itself from outside into the human brain and dwells there." ”

“ This ape-species has no true intelligence, but they have instincts of surpassing nervous intensity—instincts of greed and lust and hatred. And that bestial nervous influence warped the symbiosis we intended, distorted our own intelligence, inhibited our thinking until we forgot all about Aarl!
"Yes, we forgot Aarl, forgot our own identities and thought of ourselves only as the minds of these ape-like creatures! And each of us, when his symbiotic partner died, remained so dazed and drugged that he merely drifted on to another ape-host, another partner." ”

“ How many times has your reasoning mind urged you to do one thing, while the instincts of your body led you to do another? Mind and body are always at strife in all of us—it's been so in all human history. ”

“ We talked it over for hours that night, after I had recovered from my shakiness.
"We've stumbled onto experimental proof of the most revolutionary theory in scientific history," Dixon said. "Proof that the mind is a wholly different species and entity from the human body, and is merely a symbiotic partner of that body.
"Good Heavens, think of all the things that it would explain! If you could only remember more, Ellis! Think again—what was it about Aarl?" ”

“ At least we will be able to prevent any more of our race from coming here."
I added, "And before we leave, I will make an effort to save all the millions of us who remain trapped here in the dazing symbiosis with the ape-creatures. If I could make them all remember their true identity, they might be able to break free of this bondage."
That is why I, T'Shal of Aarl, am utilizing the photoelectric signaling device to send back this last message before I leave Earth forever.
You who are listening to my signals, Dixon and Burke! ”

“ I knew that Aarl meant something to me, something wonderful and terrifying. But I couldn't remember what it was.
"There's a possible explanation of your quick forgetfulness," said Dixon finally. "The mind-entity, once it is inhabiting the human brain, is so far overcome by the human animal's rudimentary nervous currents that it is drugged, inhibited.
"That would explain why young children, whose human brains are not yet fully developed, continually have strange, fanciful 'memories' of other things, of queer places that they call fairylands."
Burke nodded thoughtfully. ”

“ I lay down on a table, and he and Burke attached two rubber pads faced with copper to my temples, as the electrodes.
Dixon repeated his final instructions.
"At the slightest crook of your finger we'll cut the current, Ellis. If you feel any dangerous sensations, don't hesitate."
He called, then, "All right, Burke—the switches."
"I feel more like an executioner than a scientist," Burke growled.
The generator was already humming. Dixon fed the current so weakly at first that I could feel only a tingle in my nerves. ”

“ Ellis could signal us that way by the Morse code. He could tell us right at the moment what he remembers, before he returns to his body and forgets."
"If you'll fix up such a device, I'll try the thing again!" I promised. ”