The Thinking Machine Affair by Joel Bernard Read Free Book Online Page B

in, actually?"
    "This is not a hospital," he told her. "You're in the Medical Room of an organization."
    "I want to leave at once!" she demanded, as she suddenly sensed danger.
    "I'm afraid that's not possible," he said suavely.
    "Are you saying I am your prisoner?"
    "Let's say, a guest—as long as you don't behave foolishly."
    There was now an expression in his eyes she didn't like, yet she was not afraid, and was determined to withstand any pressure on her.
    "I'd advise you to write the note, Miss Novak," he pressed. "It would make matters very much easier all round."
    "I am not going to write anything. I am not going to help you get my father here!" She was adamant, despite his threatening tone.
    "You have five minutes to change your mind. If you..."
    "I am not going to change my mind in five minutes or five thousand hours," Vlasta interrupted.
    He stabbed a button on the wall beside her and seconds later two guards and some THRUSH officers filed into the room. Vlasta was securely strapped to the bed and electronic equipment was attached to her limbs.
    The brainwashing and conditioning of her mind lasted a considerable time. When it was done, she wrote the note to her father.
     
    His daughter's disappearance had brought Professor Novak to the verge of a nervous breakdown. He had visibly aged, and felt physically ill. He couldn't sleep, didn't touch food or drink—only chain-smoked. He was almost continuously in touch with State Security Headquarters, but the people there could only repeatedly tell him that the nationwide search for his daughter had not been slackened for an instant. As the hours dragged on without the slightest clue being found, he lived in fear that he would never see Vlasta again.
    The stillness of his villa was suddenly disturbed by the sound of the doorbell, but he was not interested in learning who his visitor was, being in no mood for seeing anyone. All he wanted was news that his daughter had been found alive, and that, he knew, could only come by telephone from State Security Headquarters.
    The caller continued to ring the doorbell.
    Grudgingly the scientist pulled himself from his arm chair in the living room and walked heavily to the entrance door. When he opened it, a stranger, a well-dressed man of about forty, raised his bat and said:
    "Professor Novak?"
    "Yes."
    "May I come in, please?"
    "What is it about?"
    "It's a private matter which I can't very well convey on the doorstep," the stranger said. "I won't keep you long, Professor."
    "Step inside then."
    As soon as the door was shut, the stranger removed Vlasta's note from the breast pocket of his coat and said: "Your daughter asked me to deliver this to you."
    "My daughter?" the Professor answered in a trembling voice. "Is she all right?"
    "Yes. Why don't you read her letter?"
    The Professor tore open the envelope, read the note, re-read it, and each time stumbled over the sentence, "I'm longing to see you, papa—and the apparatus—I think I have found the solution."
    "How can I be certain this is my daughter's handwriting?" he said after a long pause.
    "You surely know your daughter's handwriting," the stranger returned.
    "I do; but it is also known that good forgeries can be made."
    "I can assure you, sir, that it is your daughter's handwriting," the other assured him. "You'll see for yourself that she's written the letter to you when you meet her."
    "Why didn't she phone me?"
    "Because there's no telephone yet installed where she is. You know how difficult it is to get a phone these days—the majority of applicants wait years…"
    "Where is she?"
    "With friends. I have a car here to take you to her."
    "Very well then," the Professor agreed, and took coat and hat from the clothes rack in the entrance hail. "I'm ready. Let's go."
    "The apparatus, sir," the stranger reminded him. "You've forgotten it."
    "How stupid of me to forget!" the scientist retorted. "If you care to come along with me, we'll fetch it from my laboratory."
    When