"Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore - Prisoner In The Skull" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

the cause as well as the effectтАФthe mechanism of displacement. Energy has to go somewhere, and if one channel is
blocked, another will be found. Not that Veronica had definitely rejected Fowler, and certainly his emotion for the girl
had not suffered an alchemic transformation, unless one wishes to delve into the abysses of psychology in which love
is merely the other face of hatredтАФbut on those levels of semantic confusion you can easily prove anything.

Call it reorientation. Fowler had never quite let himself believe that Veronica wouldn't fall into his arms. His ego was
damaged. Consequently it had to find some other justification, some assuranceтАФand it was unfortunate for Norman
that the displacement had to occur when he was available as scapegoat. For the moment Fowler began to see the
commercial possibilities of the magic windowpane, Norman was doomed.

Not at .once; in the beginning, Fowler would have been shocked and horrified had he seen the end result of his plan.
He was no villain, for there are no villains. There is a check-and-balance system, as inevitable in nature and mind as in
politics, and the balance was beginning to tip when Fowler locked Norman in the windowless room for safekeeping
and drove to New York to see a patent attorney. He was careful at first. He knew the formula for the
telepathically-receptive window paint by now,

but he merely arranged to patent the light-switch gadget that was operated by a gesture. Afterwards, he regretted his
ignorance, for clever infringements appeared on the heels of his own device. He hadn't known enough dbout the
matter to protect himself thoroughly in the patent.

By a miracle, he had kept the secret of the telepathic paint to himself. All this took time, naturally, and meanwhile
Norman, urged on by his host, had made little repairs and improvements around the house. Some of them were
impractical, but others were decidedly worth usingтАФshort-cuts, conveniences, clever methods of bridging difficulties
that would be worth money in the open market. Norman's way of thinking seemed curiously alien. Given a problem, he
could solve it, but he had no initiative on his own. He seemed satisfied to stay in the houseтАФ

Well, satisfied was scarcely the word. He was satisfied in the same sense that a jellyfish is satisfied to remain in its
pool. If there were quivers of volition, slight directional stirrings, they were very feeble indeed. There were times when
Fowler, studying his guest, decided that Norman was in a psychotic stateтАФ catatonic stupor seemed the most
appropriate label. The man's will was submerged, if, indeed, he had ever had any.

No one has ever detailed the probable reactions of the man who owned the goose who laid the golden eggs. He
brooded over a mystery, and presently took empirical steps, afterwards regretted. Fowler had a more analytical mind,
and suspected that Norman might be poised at a precarious state of balance, during whichтАФand only during
whichтАФhe laid golden eggs. Metal can be pliable until pressure is used, after which it may become work-hardened and
inflexible. Fowler was afraid,of applying too much pressure. But he was equally afraid of not finding out all he could
about the goose's unusual oviparity.

So he studied Norman. It was like watching a shadow. Norman seemed to have none of the higher reflexes; his
activities were little more than tropism. Ego-consciouness was present, certainly, butтАФwhere had he come from? What
sort of place or time had it been? Or was Norman simply a freak, a lunatic, a mutation? All that seemed certain was that
part of his brain didn't know its own function. Without conscious will or volition, it was useless. Fowler had to supply
the volition; he had to give orders. Between orders, Norman simply sat, occasionally quivering slightly.

It was bewildering. It was fascinating.

Also, it might be a little dangerous. Fowler had no intention of letting his captive escape if he could help it, but vague
recollec-

tions of peonage disturbed him sometimes. Probably this was illegal. Norman ought to be in an institution, under