Bradbury, Ray - SSC 13 Read Online Free PDF

pointed to the table.
                   "I don't see what you mean," said
Smith, frankly sincere. "I found myself standing in this room half an hour
ago, stark naked."
                   "That's all?" said McGuire,
hopefully. He seemed relieved.
                   Rockwell explained the origin of the chrysalis
on the table.
                   Smith frowned. "That's ridiculous. Who
are you?"
                   Rockwell introduced the others.
                   Smith scowled at Hartley. "When I first
was sick you came, didn't you. I remember. At the radiations plant. But this is
silly. What disease was it?"
                   Hartley's cheek muscles were taut wire.
"No disease. Don't you know anything about it?"
                   "I find myself with strange people in a
strange sanitarium. I find myself naked in a room with a man sleeping on a cot.
I walk around the sanitarium, hungry. I go to the kitchen, find food, eat, hear
excited voices, and then am accused of emerging from a chrysalis. What am I
supposed to think? Thanks, by the way, for this robe, for food, and the
cigarette I borrowed. I didn't want to wake you at first, Mr. Rockwell. I
didn't know who you were and you looked dead tired."
                   "Oh, that's all right.'' Rockwell
wouldn't let himself believe it. Everything was crumbling. With every word
Smith spoke, his hopes were pulled apart like the crumpled chrysalis. "How
do you feel?"
                   "Fine. Strong. Remarkable, when you
consider how long I was under."
                   "Very remarkable," said Hartley.
                   "You can imagine how I felt when I saw
the calendar. All those months—crack—gone. I wondered what I'd been doing all
that time."
                   "So have we."
                   McGuire laughed. "Oh, leave him alone,
Hartley. Just because you hated him—"
                   "Hated?" Smith's brows went up.
"Me? Why?"
                   "Here. This is why!" Hartley thrust
his fingers out "Your damned radiations. Night after night sitting by you
in your laboratory. What can I do about it?"
                   "Hartley," warned Rockwell.
"Sit down. Be quiet."
                   "I won't sit down and I won't be quiet!
Are you both fooled by this imitation of a man, this pink fellow who's carrying
on the greatest hoax in history? If you had any sense you'd destroy Smith
before he escapes!"
                   Rockwell apologized for Hartley's outburst.
                   Smith shook his head. "No, let him talk.
What's this about?"
                   "You know already!" shouted Hartley,
angrily. "You've lain there for months, listening, planning. You can't
fool me. You've got Rockwell bluffed, disappointed. He expected you to be a
superman. Maybe you are. But whatever you are, you're not Smith any more. Not
any more. It's just another of your misdirections. We weren't supposed to know
all about you, and the world shouldn't know about you. You could kill us,
easily, but you'd prefer to stay and convince us that you're normal. That's the
best way. You could have escaped a few minutes ago, but that would have left
the seeds of suspicion behind. Instead, you waited, to convince us that you're
normal."
                   "He is normal," complained McGuire.
                   "No he's not. His mind's different. He's
clever.'*
                   "Give him word association tests
then," said McGuire.
                   "He's too clever for that, too."
                   "It's very simple, then. We take blood
tests, listen to his heart, and inject serums into him."
                  Smith looked dubious. "I feel like an
experiment, but if you really want to. This is silly."
                   That shocked Hartley. He looked at