（外文电子版资料）Kuttner, Henry - Ghost.docVIP

GHOST PAGE PAGE 7 GHOST by Henry Kuttner The President of Integration almost fell out of his chair. His ruddy cheeks turned sallow, his jaw dropped, and the hard blue eyes, behind their flexo-lenses, lost their look of keen inquiry and became merely stupefied. Ben Halliday slowly swivelled around and stared out at the skyscrapers of New York, as though to assure himself that he was living in the Twenty-First Century and the golden age of science. No witches, riding on broomsticks, were visible outside the window. Only slightly reassured, Halliday turned back to the prim, grey, tight-mouthed figure across the desk. Dr. Elton Ford did not look like Cagliostro. He resembled what he was: the greatest living psychologist. “What did you say?” Halliday asked weakly. Ford put his finger tips together precisely and nodded. “You heard me. The answer is ghosts. Your Antarctic Integration Station is haunted.” “You’re joking.” Halliday sounded hopeful. “I’m giving you my theory in the simplest possible terms. Naturally, I can’t verify it without field work.” “Ghosts!” The trace of a smile showed on Ford’s thin lips. “Without sheets or clanking chains. This is a singularly logical sort of ghost, Mr. Halliday. It has nothing to do with superstition. It could have existed only in this scientific age. In the Castle of Otranto it would have been absurd. Today – with your integrators – you have paved the way for hauntings. I suspect that this is the first of many, unless you take certain precautions. I believe I can solve this problem – and future ones. But the only possible method is an empirical one. I must lay the ghost, not with bell, book and candle, but through application of psychology.” Halliday was still dazed. “You believe in ghosts?” “Since yesterday, I believe in a certain peculiar type of haunting. Basically, this business has nothing in common with the apparitions of folklore. But as a result of new factors, the equation equals exactly the same a