"Olaf Stapledon - Collected Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stapledon Olaf)

as an individual. He recognized that modern research was a cooperative affair and that in it, though one
might gain dazzling prestige, one would not gain any physical power as an individual. Psychokinesis, on
the other hand, might perhaps give him his heart's desire. His interest rapidly shifted to the more
promising field. Henceforth his work in the lab was a mere means of earning a livelihood.

After the conversation in the cottage garden he concentrated more eagerly than ever on his venture. He
must gain even more spectacular powers to impress Helen. He had decided that for him, at any rate, the
promising line was to develop his skill at interfering with small physical and chemical processes, in lifeless
and in living things. He learned how to prevent a struck match from lighting. He tried to bypass the whole
of atomic research by applying his power of psychokinesis to the release of energy pent up in the atom.
But in this exciting venture he had no success at all, perhaps because in spite of his training, he had not
sufficient theoretical knowledge of physics, nor access to the right kind of apparatus for setting up the
experiment. On the biological side he succeeded in killing a small dog by the same process as he had
applied to the robin. He was confident that with practice he would soon be able to kill a man.

He had one alarming experience. He decided to try to stop the sparking of his motorcycle engine. He
started up the bike on its stand and set about "willing" the spark to fail. He concentrated his attention on
the points of the sparking plug and the leaping spark and "willed" the space between the points to
become impenetrable, an insulator. This experiment, of course, involved a far greater interference with
physical processes than freezing a nerve fibre or even preventing a match from lighting. Sweat poured
from him as he struggled with his task. At last the engine began to misfire. But something queer happened
to himself. He had a moment of horrible vertigo and nausea and then he lost consciousness. When he
recovered, the engine was once more running normally.

This mishap was a challenge. He had never been seriously interested in the mere theoretical side of his
experiments for its own sake, but now he had perforce; to ask himself what exactly was happening when
by an "act of will" he interfered with a physical process. The obvious explanation was that in some way
the physical energy that should have crossed the gap between the points had been directed into his own
body; in fact that he had suffered the electric shock that he would have had if he had touched the points.
It may be doubted whether the true explanation was as simple as this, for his symptoms were not those of
electric shock. It might be nearer the truth to say that the inhibition of so much physical energy caused
some sort of profound psychical disturbance in him; or else, to put the matter very crudely, that the
physical energy was in some way converted into psychical energy in him. This theory is borne out by the
fact that, when he recovered consciousness, he was in a state of great excitement and mental vigour, as
though he had taken some stimulating drug.

Whatever the truth of the matter, he adopted the simpler theory and set about sidetracking the intruding
energy so as to protect himself. After much anxious experimentation, he found that he could do so by
concentrating his attention both on the sparking plug and on some other living organism, which then "drew
off the electricity" and suffered accordingly. A sparrow sufficed. It died of the shock, while he himself
remained conscious long enough to stop the engine. On another occasion he used his neighbour's dog as
a "lightning conductor." The animal collapsed, but soon recovered consciousness and careened about the
garden barking hilariously.

His next experiment was more exciting, and much, much more reprehensible. He went into the country
and took up a position on a knoll, whence he could see a fairly long stretch of road. Presently a car came
into sight. He concentrated his attention on the sparking plugs and "willed" the electrical energy to escape
into the driver. The car slowed down, vacillated between the two sides of the road, and came to a
standstill across the fairway. He could see the driver slumped over the steering wheel. There was no one
else in the car. Greatly excited, Jim waited to see what would happen. Presently another car came in the