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20 - The Soul-Ray · Space Odyssey Sci-Fi Anthology

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  Speaker 1: The Soul Ray by Don Robert Catlin. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Read by Dale Grothman. A weird scientific story The Soul
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  Speaker 1: Ray by Don Robert Catlin. Professor Latour surveyed the young
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  Speaker 1: man through thick lenses. Yes, he said, The young man
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  Speaker 1: shifted from one foot to the other. Are you the
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  Speaker 1: man who advertised? Ah? Yes, murmured the professor. I had
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  Speaker 1: almost forgotten that I should be expecting answers to my
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  Speaker 1: advertisement this evening. Please step in, he waved to a
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  Speaker 1: leather covered armchair near the fireplace. Make yourself comfortable, sir,
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  Speaker 1: while I finished the experiment with which I was engaged.
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  Speaker 1: When you rang, the young man crossed to the chair
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  Speaker 1: and sank into its deep seat. He gazed around him,
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  Speaker 1: noting that the professor had gone into a kind of
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  Speaker 1: alcove fitted up as a laboratory, small but complete. From
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  Speaker 1: time to time bright flashes of dazzling blue light came
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  Speaker 1: from the alcove. But the applicant for the strange position
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  Speaker 1: advertised by the professor, since that the other was covertly
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  Speaker 1: watching him, and he evinced no curiosity concerning what was
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  Speaker 1: going on in the alcove. After a short while, the
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  Speaker 1: professor joined the young man and stood beaming down upon
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  Speaker 1: him through those thick lenses. You have a reason to
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  Speaker 1: believe that you fulfill each requirement, he asked, indicating the
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  Speaker 1: neatly clipped square of paper which the young man still
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  Speaker 1: held in his fingers. The other nodded smile. His eyes
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  Speaker 1: fell to the advertisement, and he reread it. Wanted man
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  Speaker 1: to assist in experimental work. No special experience required. He
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  Speaker 1: may be of any age, but must be a single man.
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  Speaker 1: Must be prepared to bury himself in his work and
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  Speaker 1: have no intercourse with the outside world while engaged in
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  Speaker 1: my employee, which may continue for a year or more.
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  Speaker 1: Professor Jules latour Ken, eighty one West Street, Well Sir,
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  Speaker 1: I am a single man, and I am prepared to
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  Speaker 1: bury myself in my work. May I ask what? The
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  Speaker 1: professor was looking into the young man's face with an
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  Speaker 1: air of deliberate and penetrating scrutiny, a trick which scientific
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  Speaker 1: men seemed to acquire, perhaps from constantly peering through instruments.
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  Speaker 1: His gaze seemed to have a paralyzing effect, and the
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  Speaker 1: other could not help shifting his chair a little so
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  Speaker 1: as to turn his face partly away. As he did so,
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  Speaker 1: his eyes fell on a large glass vessel, which he
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  Speaker 1: had not noticed before, standing in a corner. It was
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  Speaker 1: shaped like an ordinary wide mouthed bottle, but it was
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  Speaker 1: the enormous size of it which arrested his attention. He
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  Speaker 1: had never seen a glass vessel of such large dimensions,
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  Speaker 1: for it must have stood nearly four feet high and
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  Speaker 1: was broad in proportion. He could still feel the professor's
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  Speaker 1: eyes upon him, and he went on, I am tom savage. Sir,
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  Speaker 1: may I ask what kind of experimental work you are
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  Speaker 1: carrying on? Ah? You would like to hear? Behind the
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  Speaker 1: Professor's thick lenses, his oddly shot eyes gleamed with the
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  Speaker 1: enthusiasm of a fanatic. Look you, sir, yonder, in my laboratory.
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  Speaker 1: Do you see the body of that kitten in the
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  Speaker 1: stoppered glass jar? Would you be surprised to hear that
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  Speaker 1: I had separated its soul from its body? The young
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  Speaker 1: man started, Why, I hardly know what to say. I
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  Speaker 1: hadn't known that cats had souls. Neither had I, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: until But I really mean what I say. I have
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  Speaker 1: actually materialized a perfectly visible, though intangible soul. You saw
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  Speaker 1: those bright blue flashes a moment ago. They were rays
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  Speaker 1: of a new kind discovered by myself, which I call
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  Speaker 1: soul rays. Any ordinary substance exposed to the light of
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  Speaker 1: those rays becomes absolutely invisible and leaves no trace on
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  Speaker 1: the sensitive photographic film. I had been testing several kinds
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  Speaker 1: of metals when a most singular phenomenon occurred. On developing
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  Speaker 1: one of the films, before which a tube of mercury
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  Speaker 1: had been exposed, I was astounded to find a perfect
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  Speaker 1: image of a common house lie. The film was otherwise
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  Speaker 1: a blank. I killed a fly and set it in
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  Speaker 1: front of the apparatus, and the film, when developed, was blank.
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  Speaker 1: The thing was a mystery. Was it only living things
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  Speaker 1: that were visible under the rays? Trembling with excitement, I
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  Speaker 1: caught yet another fly, this time alive, and secured it
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  Speaker 1: in a test tube. To my immense delight, the film
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  Speaker 1: now showed a perfect image of the fly. I tried
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  Speaker 1: with other insects, and the results were always the same.
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  Speaker 1: The live ones gave a perfect negative, the dead ones
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  Speaker 1: a blank. You may imagine my excitement over the discovery,
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  Speaker 1: for it seemed to prove that there was something substantial
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  Speaker 1: about life, something not visible to the naked eye, but
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  Speaker 1: which must be present under the rays. The next step
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  Speaker 1: was to discover the precise moment at which the dead
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  Speaker 1: body of the animal became invisible. Owing to the nature
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  Speaker 1: of the rays, it is impossible to observe the phenomenon
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  Speaker 1: directly with one's eyes. It was necessary, therefore, to arrange
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  Speaker 1: for a series of photographic exposures, which was made possible
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  Speaker 1: by means of a motor driven motion picture camera. I
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  Speaker 1: placed the fly in a tube to which poisonous gas
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  Speaker 1: could be introduced at will, and set the camera in motion.
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  Speaker 1: A splendid series of negatives was the result, clearly demonstrating
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  Speaker 1: the fact that the insect became suddenly invisible immediately after
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  Speaker 1: the entry of the gas, that was to say, at
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  Speaker 1: the moment of death. Marvelous discovery, sir, said Tom Savage.
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  Speaker 1: But about this position, it is quite necessary for you
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  Speaker 1: to understand something of my discoveries before we can intelligently
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  Speaker 1: discuss whether or not you will enter my employ interposed
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  Speaker 1: the professor. Yes, it was a most marvelous discovery, but
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  Speaker 1: a closer examination revealed a still more curious phenomenon. On
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  Speaker 1: the first negative after the body of the fly became invisible,
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  Speaker 1: was a series of dark round spots. On each successive
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  Speaker 1: film exposure, the spots were a little higher, until they
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  Speaker 1: at last vanished beyond the upper edge. I then put
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  Speaker 1: a spider in the test tube, killed it, and the
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  Speaker 1: spots were again on the film, ascending as before, but
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  Speaker 1: now they were more numerous. Could it be possible that
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  Speaker 1: the spots represented the life of the insect leaving the
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  Speaker 1: inn body, and that the number of spots corresponded to
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  Speaker 1: the scale of life in which the insect existed. I
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  Speaker 1: experimented with a canary bird only yesterday and this evening.
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  Speaker 1: The subject was a kitten, which you may still see
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  Speaker 1: in the glass stopped bottle. Presuming, as it seems to
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  Speaker 1: be the only possible deduction, that these spots actually depict
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  Speaker 1: the soul escaping from the lifeless body, it would seem
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  Speaker 1: that the insect world is represented by round shaped spots
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  Speaker 1: or organisms, and the emanating spots in the case of
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  Speaker 1: fowls and mammals, are respectively square and hexagonal. The number
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  Speaker 1: of spots may, as I have already suggested, be explained
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  Speaker 1: by the position in the scale of life held by
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  Speaker 1: each creature. You follow my argument, sir. As the professor spoke,
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  Speaker 1: he leaned forward toward the young man and fixed his
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  Speaker 1: precise eyes upon him. Savage felt himself start, as if
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  Speaker 1: waking from a doze, though he had clearly been conscious
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  Speaker 1: all the time of what the other had been saying.
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  Speaker 1: There is one experiment went on, the professor, lowering his
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  Speaker 1: voice to a seductive whisper, Which is indispensable before I
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  Speaker 1: can be really sure of the value of my discovery.
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  Speaker 1: It is to get a record of what happens in
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  Speaker 1: the case of a human being. The young man could
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  Speaker 1: not restrain the feeling of repulsion at the cold blooded
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  Speaker 1: manner in which the experiment on a human being was
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  Speaker 1: clasped with those which had been made on lower forms
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  Speaker 1: of life. He felt, now rather than saw, a pair
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  Speaker 1: of gimlet eyes fixed upon him, though his own gaze
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  Speaker 1: had wandered in the direction of the enormous bottle in
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  Speaker 1: the corner. The enormous bottle in the corner it was
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  Speaker 1: large enough to accommodate a human being. The professor again
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  Speaker 1: began to speak a strange and sinister emphasis in his voice.
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  Speaker 1: You came here in answer to an advertisement which called
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  Speaker 1: for a man who was single and therefore had no
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  Speaker 1: close ties to bind him, and who is ready to
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  Speaker 1: bury himself in his work, assisting me in an experiment.
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  Speaker 1: I am doing you the honor to permit you to
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  Speaker 1: be an active participator in one of the most marvelous
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  Speaker 1: discoveries in physiological science. You will remove the stopper, enter
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  Speaker 1: the large bottle. I will prepare my apparatus. Your demise,
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  Speaker 1: my dear sir, will be entirely painless. I assure you.
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  Speaker 1: An overpowering influence seized upon young Savage. He found his
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  Speaker 1: dragging feet were carrying him slowly but surely to the
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  Speaker 1: immense glass bottle. Never had life seemed so well worth
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  Speaker 1: living as now, when he knew that in a moment,
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  Speaker 1: if the Professor had his way, he would be as
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  Speaker 1: stiff and lifeless as the kitten whose carcass still lay
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  Speaker 1: in its enshrouding little glass bottle. It will soon be over,
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  Speaker 1: said the professor, divining his thoughts. And I expect I
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  Speaker 1: shall get a splendid series of negatives, he added, in
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  Speaker 1: a tone of repulsive callousness, An unquenchable spirit of revolt
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  Speaker 1: arose within the young man's breast. But he had fallen
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  Speaker 1: under the spell of the professor's words, and try as
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  Speaker 1: he might, he could not resist the effects of the
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  Speaker 1: mesmeric trance into which the other had thrown him. He
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  Speaker 1: found himself being lifted inch by inch up the polished
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  Speaker 1: side of the great jar, until its sharp rim rested
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  Speaker 1: against his spine. Suddenly, the encircling arms were loosened, and
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  Speaker 1: he toppled backward into the yawning mouth of glass. He lay,
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  Speaker 1: bruised and breathless at the bottom of the jar, while
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  Speaker 1: the professor adjusted the heavy glass stopper. The air seemed
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  Speaker 1: to grow more and more stuffy. Had the poison fumes
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  Speaker 1: begun to enter. Every pulse in his body seemed to
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  Speaker 1: throb and race in a wild desire for life, and
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  Speaker 1: he exerted a tremendous effort to get to his feet
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  Speaker 1: and push out the stopper, But an unknown mastery held
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  Speaker 1: him in check. His breathing had, no doubt exhausted some
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  Speaker 1: of the air inside the jar, and the partial vacuum
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  Speaker 1: had the sight of the scientist, busy manipulating the apparatus,
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  Speaker 1: spurred Savage to further exertion. Though he strained with all
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  Speaker 1: his might and maine, he could but beat fever with
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  Speaker 1: hands and feet against the smooth walls. Then a strange
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  Speaker 1: and pungent odor filled his nostrils, and he knew that
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  Speaker 1: the end had come. In a half conscious, half spasmodic,
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  Speaker 1: superhuman effort of his dying agony, he hurled himself bodily
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  Speaker 1: against the side of the jar. The scientist was obviously
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  Speaker 1: wrapped in a trance of enthusiasm that overstepped the boundary
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  Speaker 1: line of sanity and entered the realms of frenzy. But
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  Speaker 1: as the doomed man in the jar pounded madly for freedom,
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  Speaker 1: his expression changed. The last impressions limbed upon Tom Savage's
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  Speaker 1: conscious brain were distorted visions of the professor swiftly striding
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  Speaker 1: toward the jar, some blonde instrument raised above his head,
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  Speaker 1: as though to threaten to force him into passivity. Then,
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  Speaker 1: as his eyelids closed, he caught the last clear sight
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  Speaker 1: of the scientist. As he stumbled, came a ringing crash
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  Speaker 1: to his deafened ears. When he awoke, he lay sprawled
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  Speaker 1: half within half, without the now shattered glass bottle his
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  Speaker 1: hands and face were covered with a warm, sticky substance
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  Speaker 1: which he knew to be blood. But he still lived,
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  Speaker 1: and so he scrambled to his feet and stood motionless
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  Speaker 1: for a moment, staring wide eyed at the recumbent form
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  Speaker 1: of the professor. The scientist lay crumbled where he had fallen,
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  Speaker 1: a victim to an overworked and over excited heart. They
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  Speaker 1: thought Tom Savage a madman when he stumbled into the
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  Speaker 1: nearest police station and told his bizarre story. He was
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  Speaker 1: held in custody while the officers investigated his singular tale,
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  Speaker 1: but eventually he was released. Though many experiments were made,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: no one ever succeeded in solving the mystery of Professor
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  Speaker 1: Lettour's soul ray, nor could anyone discover its curious properties.
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  Speaker 1: But the photographic records of the Wild Evening remain and
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  Speaker 1: are still an enigma to the scientific world. The most
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  Speaker 1: valuable part of the Professor's collection consists of a role
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  Speaker 1: of motion picture film depicting a man in curious, distorted attitudes.
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  Speaker 1: They are clear, sharp cut impressions, with the exception of
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  Speaker 1: the last few feet of film, in which the human
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  Speaker 1: form is only faintly visible but above the head, though
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  Speaker 1: still Attached to it is a ring of bright points,
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  Speaker 1: like the halo of some medieval saint. The End of
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  Speaker 1: the Soul Ray by Don Robert Catlan