The Projected Man Page #4

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working day and night.

You ought to get your

hands on those tapes of his.

You're still sure they are

the key to his experiments?

Yes, they are.

Yes.

We should get them tonight,

before he removes them himself.

Yeah,

we can get them now.

We?

You then.

I hardly think it's my line of country.

I can't do it by myself.

I've got to take care of the security man.

Now, this is what we'll do.

I will drive into the foundation

with you concealed in the boot of my car.

I'll give you my keys,

you find your way up

into the main laboratory,

help yourself to the tapes.

In the meantime,

I'll take the security man up to my office

and that way, no

suspicion will fall on me.

Or on you either, of course.

Well?

Come on.

I want you.

We've been trying to get

you on the telephone, sir.

Me? What for?

Yes, it's Dr. Mitchel, sir.

He's waiting up in your office

with Dr. Hill and Miss Anderson.

There's been some trouble in

Professor Steiner's laboratory.

Is Professor Steiner still here?

Well, he did come in here earlier, sir.

Anybody in the laboratory?

No sir.

Did you want me for anything, sir?

Doesn't matter now.

Well,

it seems just as well that

I decided to return tonight.

Even so, I find your

explanation pure fantasy.

To me it makes sense.

He was obviously trying

to project himself.

The cross on the map is

exactly on your house.

With these calibrations

he worked out distance and

trajectory from the foundation.

The graph bears me out.

And you are seriously suggesting

that he would materialize

himself in my study?

Well, perhaps not in your study,

but in your house, certainly.

Dr. Hill, I can understand

how upset you are,

but what you suggest is illogical.

There is nothing illogical

in what I am saying.

Then tell me, where is he now?

We can't.

Sheila unwittingly disturbed the program.

He could be anywhere

in any state.

Do we have to kep Sheila here?

She looks exhausted.

It's my eyes.

They're hurting.

I'm sorry, Sheila.

Maybe you should see a doctor.

All right, I'll see to it.

It's past 2 o'clock in the morning.

How will you get home?

I can't.

Look, look, look.

You just run to your office

and get those clothes off.

I'll see that you're driven home.

It was an unfortunate accident.

None of you can blame yourselves.

What exactly happened at

your house earlier tonight?

Circumstances forced me to tell him

the project had been canceled.

You can't mean it.

Not now.

It's already been done.

As for you, Mitchel,

you're suspended from your duties

pending an investigation into your conduct

during the course of the project.

Well,

no point of staying here in the dark.

The cancellation is final.

Nothing more to be said about it.

But I must impress upon you both

that the work of this

foundation is classified.

There's no need to remind us.

We both signed the official secret oath.

All I need do is to

emphasize the necessity

of keeping your mouths shut.

Sheila!

There seems no reason

why Dr. Mitchel and I

can not complete the experiment

just to show what success we've achieved

if for Dr. Steiner's sake.

A nice sentiment, Dr. Hill.

You assume I noticed that

Professor Steiner, himself,

would not be able to continue.

But I didn't mean...

Don't fool yourself, Blanchard.

He has succeeded and once

more he will be back here,

in his office, at any time.

Then, if he retains his faculties,

he will know that it will

not be to much purpose.

Sometimes you're so cruel

that I think you must

have some other motive.

Miss Anderson is...

She will think I have forgotten her.

Oh, that man

gives me the shutters.

Well, he certainly has a whip pan now.

God, I'm tired.

What would you like, a drink?

Yes, please.

Is it such a little while

ago since we've been here?

About four hours.

Don't look so worried.

We don't know what's happened.

It's not the end of the world anyway.

For Paul it could be.

You really are fond of him, aren't you?

Of course.

But it's you I love.

Please, let me go.

Not until you've answered my questions.

What do you know about this man, Latham?

But I'm only a secretary.

You helped me once.

Help me again.

It's my eyes.

They're hurting.

Dr. Mitchel thought I

ought to see a doctor,

Professor Stei...

It's all right, Sheila,

you can use the name.

I know who I am.

Tell me about Latham, then

we'll see about a doctor.

Well, he spent a lot of

time with Dr. Blanchard,

but no one ever knew what he was exactly.

What do you think he was doing, Sheila?

Spying on us?

Please, Professor, I don't know.

Truly, I don't.

When I wasn't there,

did either of them go

into the lab without me?

Oh yes.

Wasn't it all right?

No, it wasn't.

How often?

Several times.

Mostly Mr. Latham by himself.

Why didn't you tell me?

Wasn't for me to

question him, professor.

I thought you'd know.

Please, can I go and bath my eyes now?

Did they ask you to keep it as a secret?

Don't worry, I'm not going to harm you.

Did they?

Well, not exactly.

Not exactly?

Either you know or you don't, which is it?

Well, Dr. Blanchard did tell me once

that I was working for the foundation,

not you.

I see.

All right, Sheila, go an bath your eyes.

Then I can go?

We'll see.

How long ago did you leave me?

Just as long as it takes to make coffee.

You move to quietly.

Come back to bed.

Don't you realize that it's a new day?

There's been no word?

No.

Here, drink your coffee.

I'll telephone.

Yes?

Oh, Dr. Blanchard.

Yes.

Yes, as quickly as we can.

Something dreadful has

happened at the lab.

Is it him?

Blanchard didn't say, but he sounded

frightened.

How much longer will they be?

Any moment, I should think.

Dr. Hill, Dr. Mitchel.

It's not...

I am sorry to bring you back.

Who were you expecting it to be?

We were half expecting

it to be Professor Steiner.

I see.

Now answer my questions quickly.

I want my squad here fast

and until this official secret

thing's cleared up, I can't.

What was on those computers?

Programmed tapes of our experiments.

Where are they?

That's roughly what I'm asking you.

Now don't touch anything.

I wasn't going to.

There's no need to look any further.

These were the tapes.

Dr. Blanchard tells me

you are a pathologist.

Until my surgeon gets here,

is there anything you can

tell me about how he died?

At first sight, I

would say electrocution.

Can you see anything that

would account for that?

No.

I think I can.

There's too much for

it to be a coincidence.

I've seen the very same thing earlier on.

Well, there's no possible doubt

why the lights when out last night.

Somebody's fused the main power line.

You mean, him?

No, he's still be hanging there,

charred to a cinder.

What about those tapes?

As far as I can tell, they're all there.

The result of several

years of work in ruins.

You mean all your programs?

Every single one.

Don't you

have records, notes?

Not one.

For security reasons,

the tapes weren't transcribed.

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