Final Reckonings by Robert Bloch Read Free Book Online

conversation, Doctor Jerome toiled, bags in hand. He found his oak-paneled chambers, was instructed in the mysteries of the antique mechanical shower arrangement; then was left to bathe and dress.
    He had no time to marshal his impressions. It was not until later — after a surprisingly good dinner in a small apartment downstairs — that Jerome was able to sit back and appraise his host.
    They retired to a parlor, lit cigars, and sat back before the grateful warmth emanating from the stone fireplace, where a blaze rose to push back the shadows in the room. Doctor Jerome's fatigue had lifted, and he felt stimulated, alert.
    As Sebastian Barsac began to discuss his recent work, Jerome took the opportunity to scrutinize his friend.
    Little Barsac had aged, definitely. He was fat, but flabby rather than rolypoly. The dark hair had receded on his domed forehead, and his myopic eyes peered from spectacles of increased thickness. Despite verbal enthusiasm, the little lord of Castle Barsac seemed oddly languid in his physical movements. But from his talk, Doctor Jerome recognized that Barsac's spirit was unchanged.
    The words began to form a pattern in Jerome's mind — a pattern holding a meaning he did not understand.
    "So you can see what I have been doing these nine years past. All of my life since I left the Sorbonne has been devoted to one end — discovering the linkage between man and animal through the alteration of cell structure in the brain. It is an evolutionary process wherein the cycle occurs in the lifespan of the individual animal. And my key? My key is simple. It lies in the recognition of one fact — that the human soul is divisible."
    "What is all this?" Doctor Jerome interrupted. "I don't see what you're driving at, Barsac. Where's the connection between biology, alteration of cell structure in the brain, and evolution? And what part does a divisible human soul play in all this?"
    "I will be blunt, my friend. I believe that human characteristics can be transferred to animals by means of mechanical hypnosis. I believe that portions of the human soul essence or psyche can be transmitted from man to animal — and that the animal will then begin to ascend the evolutionary scale. In a word, the animal will show human characteristics."
    Doctor Jerome scowled.
    "In the nine years that you've been dabbling in this unscientific romanticism here in your castle retreat, a new word has come into being to describe your kind, Barsac," he said. "The word is 'Kinky.' And that's what I think of you, and that's what I think of your theory."
    "Theory?" Barsac smiled. "It is more than a theory."
    "It's preposterous!" Jerome interrupted. "To begin with, your statement about the human soul being divisible. I defy you to show me a human soul let alone prove that you can cut it in half."
    "I cannot show you one, I grant," said Barsac.
    "Then what about your mechanical hypnosis? I've never heard it explained."
    "I cannot explain it."
    "And what, in an animal, are human characteristics? What is your basis of measurement?"
    "I do not know."
    "Then how do you expect me to understand your ideas?"
    Sebastian Barsac rose. His face was pale, despite the fire's ruddy glow.
    "I cannot show you a human soul," he murmured, "but I can show you what happens to animals when they possess part of one.
    "I cannot explain mechanical hypnosis, but I can show you the machine I use to hypnotize myself and the animals in order to transfer a portion of my soul.
    "I cannot measure the human characteristics of the animals undergoing my treatment, but I can show you what they look like and let you judge.
    "Even then you may not understand my ideas — but you will see that I am actually carrying them out!"
    By this time, Doctor Jerome had also risen to his feet. "You mean you've been transferring your soul to an animal body?"
    Sebastian Barsac shrugged. "I have been transferring part of what I call my soul to the bodies of many animals," he amended.
    "But you