The Werewolf Principle

15

The chief of staff was a calm and officious man. He was not the kind of man one would expect to bang his fist upon a desk.

But now he banged his fist.

'What I want to know, he bellowed, 'is what stupid knot-head phoned the police. We could have handled this ourselves. We needed no police.

'I would imagine, sir, said Michael Daniels, 'that whoever might have called them thought they had some reason to. The corridor was littered with people all chewed up.

'We could have taken care of them, said the chief of staff. 'That is the business we are in. We could have taken care of them and then proceeded in, a fashion far more orderly.

'You must realize, sir, said Gordon Barnes, 'that everyone must have been upset. A wolf in the…

The chief of staff waved Barnes to silence, spoke to the nurse.

'Miss Gregerson, you were the first to see this thing.

The girl still was pale and frightened, but she nodded. 'I came out of a room and it was in the corridor. A wolf. I dropped my tray and screamed and ran. It was frightening…

'You're sure it was a wolf?

'Yes, sir, I am sure.

'How could you be sure. It might have been a dog?

'Dr Winston, Daniels said, 'you're trying to confuse the issue. It makes no difference whether it was a wolf or dog.

The chief of staff glared at him angrily, then made an impatient gesture.

'All right, , he said. 'All right. The rest of you may leave. If you'd be so good as to stay, Dr Daniels, I would like to talk with you.

The two waited and the others filed out.

'Now, Mike, said the chief of staff, 'let the two of us sit down and make some sense of it. Blake was your patient, wasn't he?

'Yes, he was. You're acquainted with him, doctor. The man who was found in space. Frozen and encapsulated.

'Yes, I know, said Winston. 'What did he have to do with this?

'I'm not sure, said Daniels. 'I'd suspect he was the wolf. Winston made a face. 'Come now, he said. 'You can't expect me to believe a thing like that. What you are saying is Blake most likely was a werewolf.

'Did you read this evening's papers?

'No, I can't say I have. What would the papers have to do with what happened here?

'Nothing, perhaps, but I'm inclined to think…

Daniels stopped what he had meant to say. Good God, he told himself, it is too fantastic. It simply couldn't happen. Although it was the one thing which might explain what had happened up on the third floor an hour or so ago.

'Doctor Daniels, what are you inclined to think? If you have some information, please come forth with it. You realize, of course, what this means to us. Publicity — too much publicity and the wrong kind of it entirely. Sensationalism, and a hospital can't afford sensationalism. I hate to think what, even now, the papers and dimensino may be doing with it. And there'll be a police inquiry. Already they're snooping around the place, talking to people they have no right to talk with and asking questions that should not be asked. And investigations of all sorts. Congressional hearings maybe. Space Administration will be down our throat, wanting to know what happened to Blake, to this prize pet of theirs. And I can't tell them, Daniels, that he turned into a wolf.

'Not a wolf, sir. But an alien creature. One that looks remarkably like a wolf. You'll recall the police claimed it was a wolf with arms sprouting from its shoulders.

The chief of staff growled. 'No one else said that. The police were panicked. Shooting straight into the lobby. One bullet missed the receptionist by no more than inches. Crashed into the paneling just above her head. They were frightened men, I tell you. They don't know what they saw. What was this you were saying about an alien creature?

Daniels drew in a deep breath and took the plunge. 'A witness by the name of Lukas testified this afternoon at the bioengineering hearing. He'd dug up some old record about two simulated men being processed a couple of centuries ago. Claimed he found the records in the Space Administration files…

'Why those files? Why should a record of that sort…

'Wait, said Daniels. 'You haven't heard the half of it. These were open-ended androids…

'Good Lord! exclaimed Winston. He stared glassily at Daniels. 'The old werewolf principle! An organism that could change, that could be anything at all. There is that old myth…

'Apparently it wasn't a myth, said Daniels, grimly. 'Two of the androids were synthesized and sent out on survey and exploration ships.

'And you think Blake is one of them?"

'That's the thought I had. Lukas testified this afternoon that the two went out. The records then are silent. No mention of their coming back.

'It just doesn't make good sense, protested Winston. 'Good Lord, man, two hundred years ago. If they made androids then, good, serviceable androids, we'd be swarming with them now. You just don't make two of anything and then drop the entire project.

'You would, said Daniels, 'if those two didn't work. Let's say, just for argument, that not only the androids failed to return, but likewise the ships that they were on. That they just blasted off into nothingness and there was no further word of them. Not only would no more of the androids be made, but the record of the failure would be buried deep inside the files. It wouldn't be anything that Space Administration would want someone digging out.

'But they couldn't know the androids had anything to do with the disappearance of the ships. In the old days, and even now, there are ships that don't come back.

Daniels shook his head. 'One ship maybe. Anything could happen to a single ship. But two ships with one thing in common, each ship with an android aboard — then it wouldn't take anyone long to figure the android might have been the reason. Or that the android set up a certain circumstance…

'I don't like it, complained the chief of staff. 'I don't like the smell of it. I don't want to get tangled up with Space. They swing a lot of weight and they wouldn't like it if we tried to pin it on them. And, anyhow, I don't see how all this would tie up with Blake turning, as you seem to think, into a wolf.

'I told you once before, said Daniels. 'Not a wolf. Into an alien that has the appearance of a wolf. Say the werewolf principle didn't work the way it was thought it would. The android was intended to turn into an alien form, utilizing the data extracted from a captured alien, and to live as that alien for a time. Then the alien data would be erased and the android would be a man again, ready to be changed into something else. But suppose…

'I see, said Winston. 'Suppose it didn't work. Suppose the alien data couldn't be erased. Suppose the android stayed both alien and human — two creatures and either one it wished.

'That, sir, said Daniels, 'is what I have been thinking. And there is something else. We took an electro-encephalogram of Blake and it showed up something strange. As if he had more minds than one. Like shadows of other minds showing in the tracings.

'Shadows? You mean more than one extra mind?

'I don't know, said Daniels. 'The indications were not pronounced. Nothing that you could be sure of.

Winston got up from behind the desk and paced up and down the floor.

'I hope you're wrong, he said. 'I think you are. It's crazy.

'It's one way, Daniels told him, stubbornly, 'that we can explain what happened.

'But one thing we don't explain. Blake was found frozen, in a capsule. No sign of the ship. No other debris. How do we figure that one out?

'We don't, said Daniels. 'There is no way that we can. We can't know what happened. When you talk about debris, you are presuming the ship was destroyed and we don't know if that happened. Even if it had been, over a couple of centuries the debris would have drifted apart, It might even have been in the vicinity of the capsule and not been seen. In space, visibility is poor. Unless something picks up light and reflects it, you wouldn't know that it was there.

'You think perhaps the crew got on to what had happened and grabbed Blake and froze him, then shot him out into space inside the capsule? One way of getting rid of him? An unmessy way to do it?

'I wouldn't know, sir. There is no way that we can know. All we can do is speculate and there are too many areas of speculation for us to be certain we have concentrated on the right one. If the crew did what you said, getting rid of Blake, then why didn't the ship come back? You explain one thing and then you have another to explain and perhaps another and another. It would seem a hopeless task to me.

Winston stopped his pacing, came back to the desk and sat down in the chair. He reached out his hand for the communicator.

'What was the name of this man who testified?

'Lukas. Dr Lukas. I don't recall his first name. It would be in the papers. The switchboard operator more than likely has one.

'I suppose we'd better get the senators down here, too, if they can come. Horton — Chandler Horton. Who is the other one?

'Solomon Stone.

'OK, said Winston. 'we'll see what they think of this. Them and Lukas.

'Space, too, sir?

Winston shook his head. 'No. Not right at the moment. We'll need more to go on before we start tangling with Space.